QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
2008–2012
UNITS, CENTERS, AND
INSTITUTES OF THE COLLEGE
ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT
ART AND DESIGN DEPARTMENT
AUTISM CENTER
BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT
CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT
CLAS ACADEMIC ADVISING CENTER
CLASSICS DEPARTMENT
COMMUNICATIONS, SCHOOL OF
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
GEOGRAPHY AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT
GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT
HISTORY DEPARTMENT
MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT
MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES DEPARTMENT
MOVEMENT SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
MUSIC DEPARTMENT
PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT
POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
PROFESSIONAL SCIENCE MASTERS
PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT
REGIONAL MATH AND SCIENCE CENTER
ROBERT B. ANNIS WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTE (AWRI)
SOCIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
STATISTICS DEPARTMENT
WRITING DEPARTMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sciences
2The College of Liberal Arts and
:
:
MISSION, VISION, AND VALUE STATEMENTS
FROM THE DEAN
COLLEGE OFFICE
in the Portfolios of the Associate Deans
6 Major Achievements
:
:
PROFESSOR GARY STARK
PROFESSOR MARY C. SCHUTTEN
PROFESSOR SHAILY MENON
10 Profile in Excellence
BRIANNE DOCTER
Goals of the College
11Achievements: toward the Strategic
:
:
ACCOMPLISHMENTS SOME VITAL STATISTICS SPACE NEW CLAS SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS SINCE JULY 1, 2008 : AWARDS
CLAS STUDENT SCHOLARS AWARDED HIGHLY COMPETITIVE AWARDS : FACULTY FULBRIGHTS : .OTHER FACULTY AND
STAFF RECOGNITION : GRANTS
Committee Reports
21CLAS Faculty Governance
:
:
CLAS FACULTY COUNCIL CLAS CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
CLAS FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
25Profile in :Excellence:
CLAS PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
:
:
CORY DICARLO FIGEN MEKIK ALICE CHAPMAN : CHARLIE LOWE AND KEITH RHODES : INTERCULTURAL TRAINING CERTIFICATE : .PETER WAMPLER, AZIZUR MOLLA, AND RICK REDISKE : JASON YANCEY AND JAMES BELL : MONICA LLOYD
36Looking Forward
THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
Created in July 2004, CLAS is the largest of Grand Valley’s colleges and offers more than 50 bachelors degrees (and a
growing number of advanced degrees) in the natural and mathematical sciences, humanities, the fine and performing arts,
and the social sciences. Grand Valley undergraduates in all fields build the foundation for their major studies in general
education courses offered by our college.
MISSION
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is a student-centered and diverse
learning community that engages in critical inquiry extending knowledge to
enrich and enliven individual and public life.
VISION
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will set a standard of excellence in liberal education. We will prepare our students to be
responsible citizens, productive professionals, and lifelong learners with a global perspective. We will foster a diverse community
of inquiry, discourse, discovery, expression, and reflection.
VALUE STATEMENTS
We value
• excellence in liberal education facilitated through active
student-teacher engagement and academic achievement
and diverse community of learners which rests upon
supported by appropriate class size and a high proportion
academic freedom, integrity, collaboration, and collegiality;
of permanent faculty;
• access to a quality education for a broad range of students;
• excellence in a broad range of scholarly and artistic
activities supported by appropriate resources;
2
• intellectual inquiry and discourse fostered by an engaged
• university and community service valued for its
contribution and effectiveness; and
• student development as citizens in a democratic society and
as members of the global community of the 21st century.
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
FROM THE DEAN
Our programs have grown over the last four years, offering
more choice to our students and giving them wider access to
our faculty’s expertise. Two CLAS entities became academic
units in their own right — the Annis Water Resources Institute
and the Cell and Molecular Biology Department. Majors were
added in sports leadership and comprehensive science and
arts for teaching. Minors were added in Chinese language,
archaeology, applied linguistics, and Arabic. CLAS faculty
members were involved in the development of three majors
and minors and curricular changes in other colleges. CLAS
saw the introduction of five new certificates. In short, we
grew in areas of our strengths and strategic focus.
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and
importance and should be undertaken with
painstaking excellence.”
Service learning and community engagement have always
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
period we began to quantify this strength and find more
In 2012 our overall goal continues to be clear and simple:
to offer the best undergraduate liberal arts education at a
comprehensive university anywhere. In this Quadrennial
Report of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, we take
this opportunity to provide evidence of the significant progress
toward that goal that we have made in the period between
July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2012.
been strengths of our college and our university. During this
sustainable ways to support it. We learned that CLAS faculty
members and students were involved in nearly a half million
hours a year of engaged learning in the community — and we
increased that figure. We convened a Risk Reduction Taskforce
to create guidelines for our faculty members and students who
go off campus to serve and learn so that we do so safely and
with appropriate planning in place. We created a CLAS alumni
board to help guide us in our efforts. The alumni board in
It was Aristotle who said, “We are what we repeatedly do.
turn created an alumni chapter for CLAS to allow more of our
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” In 2008, CLAS
graduates to participate.
students working with CLAS faculty members accounted for
19 of the 20 Student Summer Scholars. In 2012, 21 of the 22
Student Summer Scholars came from our college. This is a habit
that we are proud to maintain. Similarly, most of the students
awarded prestigious nationally competitive fellowships and
scholarships came from our college. In the last two years alone,
our students became scholars in programs such as Fulbright,
Boren, Gilman, Goldwater, Hollings, Udall, DAAD Young
Ambassador, and Rotary Ambassadorial. This is a habit that we
intend to maintain. Our faculty earned millions of dollars in
external funding for research designed to fuel their teaching,
Meanwhile, existing programs went through a significant period
of fine-tuning. Units’ strategic plans focused their work to
make their offerings better, more sustainable, and responsive
to changes in state policy as well as to the evolution of the
disciplines. We trimmed prerequisites where appropriate to
streamline scheduling for our students. We built our capacity
to advise students about their college careers and the careers
that will follow. We subjected all red tape to scrutiny so that
students, staff members, and faculty members could concentrate
on their primary duties.
improve teaching more generally, address societal problems from
We did not stop at the self-assessment of our work. By making
addiction to water quality, expand our knowledge, and produce
peer institution comparisons, seeking and maintaining program
art and music and literature to expand and enrich our world.
accreditation, and inviting distinguished external colleagues in
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS3
FROM THE DEAN
continued
the disciplines to visit our units and report on their findings,
for the university as a whole. In the last four years, we have
we measure ourselves not by the best we think we can do,
succeeded in becoming a model on campus in areas such as
but by the best nationally. During the period covered in this
strategic planning, assessment, inclusion, sustainability, grants,
report, our programs in music, art and design, photography,
nationally competitive student fellowships, faculty Fulbright
film and video production, and athletic training have all met
scholars, high impact practices, our rate of students studying
with their accrediting bodies. They have either passed with
abroad, and other measures.
flying colors or are awaiting decisions which will arrive in
the fall of 2012. Our chemistry program is certified by the
American Chemical Society every year. External consultants
met with and reported on seven of our units. We also have
collaborated with the GVSU College of Education on its
accreditation. Our programs in teacher preparation were
key contributors in the successful teacher education
accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation
of Teacher Education.
CLAS has a central, crucial role in the success of the university
and its ability to accomplish its goals. It is therefore incumbent
upon us to be strongly aligned with university goals and
goal setting processes. To do this, those in our college make
a conscious effort to be early adopters of new university
systems because we know if it can work for the diversity
in CLAS, it is likely to be successful university wide. We
volunteer to be ‘beta testers’ on everything from new website
functionality to dean evaluation processes. Our professors are
We take justifiable pride that we are now a highly functional
frequently tapped by administration on major projects and
administration working in an envied collaboration with faculty
to assume roles of great responsibility. Our faculty and staff
governance. As you will see in these pages, the governance
members serve the institution as Inclusion Advocates, Allies
committees have been extraordinarily productive on behalf of
and Advocates, task force members, club advisors, leaders in
our faculty and college. Sabbatical applications are supported
university faculty and staff governance, advisors, and mentors.
by relevant and helpful information provided in person and
online. Faculty members were heavily consulted on the drafting
of the CLAS Standards and Criteria for Personnel Evaluation
and, after robust discussion, these guidelines passed the first
faculty vote. Personnel reviews and curricular reviews proceed
Whether CLAS community members serve as leaders,
collaborators, systems innovators, media presenters, or
ambassadors to the community, they do so as the very heart of
the university and its liberal education mission.
by processes that have been made transparent to the faculty
members through the hard work of their committee members
and through the leadership of strong chairs.
And while it is good to be a healthy college made of healthy
units, we know that as Grand Valley State University’s
largest academic division, we must be leaders and take
responsibility for building a successful and sustainable future
4
Frederick J. Antczak, Ph.D.
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
COLLEGE OFFICE
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Frederick J. Antczak, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Faculty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gary Stark, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Students and Curriculum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary C. Schutten, P.E.D.
Associate Dean for Professional Development and Administration until June 30, 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jann Joseph, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Professional Development and Administration from August 6, 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shaily Menon, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean for Budget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pat Haynes, M.A.
Director of CLAS Communications and Advancement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monica Johnstone, Ph.D.
Director of Lab Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aaron Perry
Lab Safety Specialist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jim Seufert
Administrative Assistant for CLAS until May 2, 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pam Kellogg
Administrative Assistant for CLAS from May 5, 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cindy Laug
Dean’s Office Assistant for CLAS until May 2, 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cindy Laug
Dean’s Office Assistant for CLAS from May 12, 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracy McLenithan
Office Coordinator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Keesha Hardiman, M.P.A.
Database Coordinator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heidi Nicholson
Office Coordinator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roxanne Mol
Secretary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Courtney Sherwood
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS5
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE
PORTFOLIOS OF THE ASSOCIATE DEANS
6
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR FACULTY,
PROFESSOR GARY STARK
plan documents. To fill the 42 positions on college governance
committees, our 75 positions on various University Academic
Senate (UAS) committees, and our 48 positions on non-UAS
university committees, CLAS also has adopted an efficient,
completely online nomination and election process.
Our exchange partnership with the University of Education
Schwäbisch-Gmünd, which began in 2005 with the
Department of Sociology, was expanded in 2009 to the entire
college. A faculty member from Schwäbisch-Gmünd normally
teaches at GVSU every fall, and each summer a CLAS faculty
member teaches at Schwäbisch-Gmünd. Faculty from the
fields of sociology, political science, German, English, and
history have participated in this exchange; each year a number
of GVSU and Schwäbisch-Gmünd students also study at
the partner institution. In June 2012, CLAS sent a delegate
The most significant accomplishment in my area has been
to Schwäbisch-Gmünd to represent GVSU at their 50th
the development of the CLAS Standards and Criteria for
anniversary celebration.
Personnel Evaluation, which were developed by the Faculty
Council and myself, approved by a referendum of the CLAS
faculty in December 2009, and approved by the provost in
Fall 2010. These new college personnel standards, which will
be applied to all personnel actions beginning Winter 2013,
ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR
STUDENTS AND CURRICULUM,
PROFESSOR MARY C. SCHUTTEN
are the basis of revisions of the 2007 standards in all CLAS
academic units. Each unit now has clear, concrete, written
expectations for faculty member contract renewals, tenure,
and promotion. Orientation sessions offered by CLAS for
new (first and second year) faculty members now devote a
significant amount of time to the university’s personnel review
process and to the CLAS Standards and Criteria for Personnel
Evaluation. We also have revised the unit head selection and
evaluation process to provide units more advance planning
and preparation and to allow more flexibility in their unit
head selection and evaluation procedures.
The college has moved increasingly to online solutions for
complex processes. In 2008 we adopted the Digital Measures’
The responsibilities of my position included strategic planning
ActivityInsight web-based database program to assist faculty
and assessment in this quadrennial. The CLAS strategic
members in keeping track of and reporting their activities
plan was revised to align with the university 2010–2015
and accomplishments; last year Digital Measures was adopted
by most of the other colleges as well. Beginning in 2012,
Digital Measures was used by all CLAS faculty members to
generate their annual faculty activity report and workload
strategic plan. The revision process involved college-wide
input and support. The outcome was a strategic plan that
served as a model within the university. Several activities were
presented to further the culture of strategic thinking and use
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS7
of assessment to inform decisions throughout the college. The
self-study and assessment reporting activities of all CLAS units
during this reporting phase has led to numerous revisions in
• Study abroad fast track process
• MyPath training
mission, vision, and curricula. All CLAS units completed unit
• Map-Works ®
alignment with the university strategic plan; this provided
• Degree cognate substitutions
opportunity for ever deepening assessment and revision
while prompting the development of a college database to
support these important processes. This work was initiated
under my supervision and transferred into the portfolio of
the new associate dean for professional development and
administration, when some duties were redistributed.
The CLAS Academic Advising Center (CAAC) has increased
its numbers of academic advisors and the level of advising
• Transfer equivalencies
• Prerequisite error reporting
ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
AND ADMINISTRATION,
PROFESSOR SHAILY MENON
services. Training of faculty members, offering graduate
students opportunities to engage in academic advising,
and contributing to both student orientation and life-aftercollege discussions have been some of the contributions
of the center. CAAC was instrumental in the development
and implementation of a personalized approach to transfer
orientation that serves over 1,000 students each year. The
response of students has been that GVSU is welcoming, helps
them get started correctly, and that the advisors are both
helpful and knowledgeable.
Our collaborative efforts with the College of Education have
resulted in the addition of CLAS content faculty members in
the supervision of student teaching in ED 431.
We continued our successful programs for professional
This office has been instrumental in several initiatives,
development of our faculty and staff members and added
curricular and otherwise, intended to reduce unit workload
new programs. The Sabbatical Showcase has seen an increase
while providing high impact learning experiences for students.
in participation by presenters and attendees each year. We
In 2010-11, CLAS faculty members self-reported over 500,000
launched a new event, Teaching Roundtables, to bring faculty
collective hours of high impact practice opportunities for
members together from across the college to share ideas about
CLAS students. Some of these initiatives include:
effective teaching. The seminar series for first year faculty
members was expanded to include seminars on teaching
• A campus-wide student response system (clicker) program
excellence and personnel review, professional development
• Development of the comprehensive major for science and
and grants, engaged service, and advising. Seminars for second
arts in teaching
• Certificate programs in geographic information systems,
intercultural training, sustainable city and regional planning,
green chemistry, and sport coaching
8
and third year faculty members include advising nuts and
bolts, personnel process and writing compelling integrative
statements, career mapping and scholarly publishing in the
digital age, and high impact activities and study abroad. CLAS
events are more inclusive (labeling of foods for intolerances,
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
allergies, and other dietary restrictions) and more sustainable
research space allocation and renewal were streamlined with a
(electronic invitations and healthier menus) than they have
revised rubric and a new online submission process.
been in the past.
Annual outreach events continue to be successful, and we are
The college has seen tremendous increases in extramural grant
forging new partnerships. The Alumni-in-Residence event
submission and awards. A new initiative to foster collaborative
brings successful alumni from various disciplines to campus,
research clusters was launched in Fall 2011. The first five-
providing excellent role models for existing students on how
year National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEMS grant was
their education can shape their futures. A Michigan Teaching
successfully completed, and NSF awarded us a second five-year
Fellowship program was established through a Woodrow
grant for awarding scholarships to help retain students in the
Wilson Foundation Award in partnership with the College
sciences and engineering. A new component of this cycle is
of Education. Fellows in this program teach in Michigan’s
that up to five transfer students from Grand Rapids
high-need secondary schools. Our research collaboration
Community College will receive scholarships to attend
with Van Andel Research Institute is going strong, and we
Grand Valley each year.
are developing a new teaching and research collaboration on
We have expanded spaces for student learning both inside
plastination with Michigan State University.
and outside the classroom. A LEED-certified extension added
All units in the college completed a process of aligning their
to Mackinac Hall increased office spaces and classrooms. In
strategic plans to the revised college and university strategic
June 2012, Governor Rick Snyder signed the capital outlay
plans. A special projects graduate assistant (GA) created a
bill giving approval for the university’s proposed science lab,
database of aligned strategic plans and a proposal for a second
classroom, and office building. Procedures and processes for
GA was recently approved.
In 2011, CLAS launched its newest tradition,
Teaching Roundtables.
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS9
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE — BRIANNE DOCTER
AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP
Undergraduate Science Research Conference, GVSU Student
Scholars Day, as well as co-authorship of publications
submitted for consideration to peer-reviewed journals.
Junior Brianne Docter was named a 2012 Goldwater
Scholar. Docter is a chemistry major, Frederik Meijer
Honors College student, and maintains a 4.0 GPA.
Junior Brianne Docter was named a 2012 Goldwater Scholar
and plans to pursue her doctorate in biochemistry. “I aspire
to work as a biomedical scientist to study how diseases work
at the cellular and molecular level,” she said. “I have always
dreamed of finding cures for diseases. Discovering new
knowledge that no one has yet known is exhilarating.”
Since 2010, Docter has conducted research in the lab of
Bradley Wallar, professor of chemistry.
“The Goldwater Scholarship is a prestigious award that is
only given to the most exceptional undergraduate students
in the STEM fields,” Wallar said. “This national award brings
significant recognition to both Brianne and GVSU. Brianne
has worked very hard and is truly deserving of this award.
We expect outstanding things from her in the future.”
Docter currently investigates the class C beta-lactamase,
AmpC. Beta-lactamases are able to break down antibiotics
such as penicillin and are responsible for antibiotic
resistance in certain strains of bacteria. Last summer, Docter
participated in the National Science Foundation Research
Experience for Undergraduates Program in the
lab of Ora Weisz, Ph.D., professor of medicine and cell
biology and physiology at the University of Pittsburgh.
Docter’s success in these labs has led to poster presentations
of her results at the American Society for Cell Biology
Annual Meetings, the West Michigan Regional
10
Docter’s impressive achievements include being named a
GVSU Presidential Scholar, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
Freshman Honoree, 2010 Outstanding Cell and Molecular
Biology Student, and 2011 Chemistry Department
Outstanding Sophomore. In addition to her research,
Brianne is actively involved in leadership as the vice
president of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Club and service in Campus Ministry and Alternative
Spring Break Programs.
“Brianne is a humble leader who makes a difference in
both our labs and our communities,” said Amanda Cuevas,
director of the Frederik Meijer Office of Fellowships. “We
are very proud of this rising star.”
Docter was one of 284 Goldwater Scholars awarded
nationally; 1,123 sophomores and juniors from all across
the country were nominated to the Barry M. Goldwater
Foundation this year. Docter joins GVSU alumnus Kyle
Schneider, who received a Goldwater Scholarship in
2008 while working in the lab of David Leonard,
professor of chemistry.
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in
Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to
honor Senator Barry M. Goldwater, who served his country
for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of
service in the U.S. Senate. The purpose of the foundation is
to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists,
mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to
college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.
The nationally prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship,
awarded to exceptional college sophomores and juniors
covers eligible expenses for undergraduate tuition, fees,
books, and room and board, up to a maximum of
$7,500 annually.
This feature was provided courtesy of Nate Hoekstra in News and Information Services.
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
ACHIEVEMENTS TOWARD
THE STRATEGIC GOALS OF THE COLLEGE
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS11
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The CLAS strategic plan calls the college to set a standard of
To ensure that we are on the right track, CLAS conducts
excellence in liberal education and foster a diverse community
regular, reflective, and rigorous assessment of its activities and
of inquiry, discourse, discovery, expression, and reflection.
uses the results to guide decision making. We also contribute
The college strives to be a model of inclusiveness and the
to the awareness of and support for the university’s financial
source of creative solutions to challenges we face as a diverse
decisions by CLAS stakeholders. CLAS makes its financial
learning community.
decisions with transparency in alignment with strategic goals.
The plan sets as our abiding goal to produce excellence in
CLAS reaches out to its current and new constituencies
liberal education through active and rigorous student-teacher
to engender their support of and participation in our
engagement and academic achievement through intellectual
college community.
inquiry and discourse. We see it as our job to prepare our
students to be responsible citizens, productive professionals,
and lifelong learners with a global perspective. CLAS educates
well-prepared and well-rounded graduates of GVSU who
positively contribute to West Michigan, the state, the nation,
and the world.
Goals such as these are accomplished in complex and
concerted acts of teamwork. Faculty of the college must
teach well and serve their disciplines well. The faculty and
staff members must provide our students with opportunity
and support. The administration must work in ways that are
transparent, accountable, efficient, and sustainable. Students,
alumni, emeriti, and the community must have a voice and
a collaborative role.
In the early days of the college after its inception in 2004, the
college concentrated many of its efforts on getting its systems in
place and expanding to a size to keep pace with the growth in
our student body. In the most recent four years, these systems
have been refined, new methods tried and added, less efficient
processes have been superseded, and inequities addressed.
This work has included process and training improvements for
the staff. For instance, advising has seen many improvements.
Establishing advising centers within each college has helped
us inform students where they need to be to get appropriate
information — especially those who are switching majors.
Online major declaration has made this process more
accessible to students and provides a better tracking of
assignment of advisors to the students. Revisions in transfer
orientation have been improved for our transfer students.
Student evaluations of this improved orientation have
indicated that they have been made to feel welcome and better
informed about GVSU. The MyPath addition to Banner proved
Reusable name badges for faculty and staff members were
introduced as a sustainable practice.
a valuable asset to the staff, faculty, and students by clearly
outlining requirements for graduation and helping students
plan their schedules toward fulfilling graduation requirements.
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GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
In the college office, services are now delivered in increasingly
meeting papers online. Reusable name badges were provided
efficient ways, and this period saw improvements to the
to the staff and faculty. More extensive recycling options were
offerings for professional development. For instance,
added to our most frequently used meeting room. In short,
many processes, which once required paper invitations or
many practices were improved, and the savings and waste
notifications, are now provided by email and responses are
reduction were considerable.
recorded online to produce easy-to-use spreadsheets. Where
once the college office staff saw faculty members arriving in
our offices with hand trucks loaded with stacks of binders,
now parts of the applications for tenure and promotion are
assembled electronically, and some departments are using
only electronic documents. The processes for many award
submissions have been similarly streamlined. Thanks to
electronic provision, contracts now go out faster and more
cost effectively.
In May of 2008, the college office staff, which had been spread
into two spaces in separate buildings, came together in one
LEED-certified office space. The efficiencies of this merge
allowed the staff to begin taking on new support roles for
some grants, the intercultural training certificate program,
and the Autism Center, and also to help with the conversion
To bring best practices to our increasingly varied opportunities
for students on and off campus, the dean convened a risk
reduction taskforce which produced a website providing the
faculty and staff with easy access to practices and policies. The
dean also convened a grassroots inclusion taskforce to write
the college inclusion plan. This plan is now integrated into
the CLAS strategic plan. Similarly, a writing group including
students, faculty members, and staff members crafted the
2010–2015 CLAS strategic plan.
These improvements were made possible through the initiative
and cooperation of individual faculty members, staff members,
and students, as well as advisory groups ranging from specific
taskforces to standing advisory committees for alumni,
students, emeriti, faculty members, and staff members.
to our first database of faculty workload and achievement,
Digital Measures. The School of Communications put the
vacated space to good use.
The 2008–2012 period saw the introduction of flexible work
arrangements and more extensive use of the university’s
Excellence Training series for staff members. The university
also took the evaluation process for staff members online
through the ePDP system, making tracking and record
keeping automatic. Administrators as well as faculty members
benefitted from the adoption of the Cayuse grant application
processing software, which made budgeting, sign-off, and
frequently requested information easier to provide.
In short, the staff has better, more sustainable tools, fewer
storage issues, and better training than ever before.
Many of these same tools benefitted faculty members and
helped units of the college contain costs and reduce waste.
During this period, additional care was taken to give advanced
notification of food to be served at events and to provide
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS13
SOME VITAL STATISTICS
At GVSU, 53.1 percent of undergraduates are in CLAS, and many of the 6.6 percent who are undeclared seek advising services
and take the majority of their courses in CLAS. Of all the baccalaureate degrees awarded by GVSU, 54.7 percent of
them are from CLAS.
Increase in Students Studying Abroad in CLAS
Fall 20082008-2009
262
2009-2010
2010-2011
2011-2012
365
355
414
GVSU Study Abroad Participation by College
Undecided 1%
Seidman College of
Business 16%
Kirkhof College of
Nursing 1%
College of Community and
Public Service 10%
Seymour and Esther Padnos
College of Engineering and
Computing 2%
College of Health
Professions 5%
Brooks College of
Interdisciplinary
Studies 3%
College of
Education 3%
College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences 59%
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GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
Sections and Credit Hours Taught by Faculty Members of the College
STUDENT
CREDIT HRS SECTIONS
FALL 2008
FALL 2011
UNIVERSITY
CLAS
%
UNIVERSITY
CLAS
%
3,718
2,309
62%
3,999
2,442
61%
295,245 193,247 65%
304,763 196,166 64%
FALL 2011
FALL 2008
CLAS Faculty Member Rank Changes Over the Reporting Period
PROFESSOR
ASSOCIATE
PROFESSOR
ASSISTANT
PROFESSOR
INSTRUCTOR
AFFILIATE
PROFESSOR
VISITING
PROFESSOR
TOTAL
101
200
145
15
58
106
625
121
223
133
8
85
84
654
SPACE
At the beginning of the reporting period, space available to
Some spaces were modified. For instance, in 2008, several labs
the college grew by 82,527 gross square feet in the Mackinac
and research spaces were added or improved. In 2011, a new
Hall addition. The Kelly Family Sports Center (originally
physics lab was added. This year, anatomy facilities are being
the Laker Turf Building) opened, providing the campus
added and improved. In Lake Superior Hall, photography
with another 137,662 gross square feet, some of which the
dark room remediation and exhaust system upgrades took
Movement Science Department shares with Athletics and
place, a dedicated photography classroom was opened, and
Recreation. Some new space in The Connection facility is
a computer lab was converted to Mac computers. Also, Lake
also used by CLAS.
Superior Hall was made more accessible by the addition of an
elevator. Safety upgrades were made for theatre’s scene shop
and photography spaces. In the clay and glaze mixing room of
the Calder Art Center, ventilation was substantially improved.
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS15
NEW CLAS SCHOLARSHIP
FUNDS SINCE JULY 1, 2008
Mathematics Professor Jonathan Hodge and student
In June 2012, CLAS launched a new student scholarship fund
one of the two George Pólya Awards in 2011 for their
with the golf outing CLAS on the Green. Other scholarships
article, Gerrymandering and Convexity published in the
are in the process of development, such as a new scholarship
College Mathematics Journal in 2010. The article was
fund in the History Department. Those constituted during the
the result of the group’s work during 2008 summer
reporting period are:
Research Experiences for Undergraduates sponsored by
•Eric A. Andres Live, Laugh, Love, Learn
Scholarship Endowment
•John Allegrina Nontraditional Student
Endowed Memorial Scholarship
•John J. and Marjorie E. Shepard
Communications Scholarship Endowment
•MaryBeth Koeze Art Scholarship Endowment
•Ott-Stiner Fellowship in Chemistry and Natural Sciences
•Professor Charles Knop Chemistry Scholarship Endowment
•Thomas J. and Marcia Haas Laker Marching Band
Scholarship Endowment
co-authors Geoff Patterson and Emily Marshall received
the National Science Foundation.
CLAS STUDENT SCHOLARS
AWARDED HIGHLY
COMPETITIVE AWARDS
Here is a sampling of the major scholarships and fellowships
awarded to CLAS students.
Fulbright Program
•William Schroeder Undergrad
Endowed Fellowship in Chemistry
Rikki Brown, Russian studies
•AWRI Postdoctoral Fellows Fund — Hines Corporation
Sean Duffie, Spanish secondary education,
group social sciences
•Ada Council for the Arts Scholarship
Laura Kennedy, mathematics
•Dr. Nancy K. Mack Scholarship
•Hugo Salazar Memorial Scholarship
•Warren Reynolds Scholarship
•Marlene Kenneway Love of Dance Scholarship •Grand Valley State University
Symphony Orchestra Scholarship
NSEP Boren Scholarship
Matt Brainovich, international relations,
study Russian in Russia
Meagan Roche, anthropology,
study the Wolof language in Senegal
•Empowering Haiti through Education Fund
Xinyi Ou received a 2012 scholarship from Point
AWARDS
Foundation, an organization that provides financial support
During the period covered by this report, the university
due to sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender
strengthened the infrastructure supporting students’ pursuit
expression. Ou is a double major in history and sociology.
and leadership training to students who are marginalized
of nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships, and
the college redoubled its efforts to support faculty member
achievement of the grants that support many of their
Goldwater Scholar — 2012
research and creative projects and receive awards for their
Brianne Docter, chemistry,
Frederik Meijer Honors College student
accomplishments. In both cases, the number of these special
opportunities sought and attained increased.
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GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
Ibn Battuta Merit Scholarship for Peace and
Diplomacy — Summer 2012
Aubrey McMahan, international relations,
Frederik Meijer Honors College student
McMahan was one of only five students worldwide to receive a full Ibn Battuta Merit Scholarship. She was
also a 2011 Truman Scholarship Finalist.
Freeman-ASIA Award — 2012
Megan DeKievit, music, study in Thailand
Gilman Scholars — 2012
Lydia Benkert, theatre, women and gender studies,
study in Ghana
Eric Wells, philosophy, study in Ghana
Jamie Zimmerman, psychology, study in India
Critical Language Scholarship — 2011
Sandra Braden, international relations, study Arabic
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar — 2011
Jessica Pleyel, visual studies
Saudi Arabia Winter Fellowship from the National
Council on US-Arab Relations and the Saudi Ministry
of Higher Education — 2011
Lizzie Heyboer, international relations
Sarah Bierlein, international relations,
study in Jordan
Post-graduate Knowles Science Teaching
Fellowship — 2011
Megan DeKievit, music, anthropology, study in Thailand
Carlee Hollenbeck, mathematics,
secondary education emphasis
Courtney Hart, history, study in Taiwan
Chaz Hernandez, cell and molecular biology,
study in Costa Rica
Nikole LeCompte, psychology, study in Jordan
Joe Swartz, history, study in China
Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship — 2011
Kate Coveney, applied mathematics,
Frederik Meijer Honors College student
Morgan Talbert, biomedical sciences, study in Ghana
National Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi
$5,000 Grant — 2010
Angela Andrews Ryan Scholarship — 2012
Elizabeth Fetzer, biomedical sciences, biology,
grant dollars toward graduate school
Angela Tramontelli, psychology, applied linguistics,
study in Perugia, Italy
Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Fellowship — 2010
Mario Amaya Velazquez, international relations,
Arabic, study in Perugia, Italy
Rachel Kauff, art and design
Gilman Scholars — 2011
Paolina Barker, English,
Frederik Meijer Honors College student, study in Norway
Catrina Boles, business, psychology, study in Japan
Onawa Gardiner, advertising, public relations,
study in Chile
Antais Harvey, biomedical sciences,
Frederik Meijer Honors College student, study in Jordan
Katie Hekstra, biomedical sciences,
Frederik Meijer Honors College student, study in Spain
Ferris Jumah, statistics, study in Turkey
Dylan Moore, German, philosophy, classics, study in Italy
Regina Robinson, biomedical sciences, study in Ghana
John Rood, political science, philosophy, study in India
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS17
Morris K. Udall Scholarship — 2010
Ashley Keller, behavioral science, sociology, theatre
FACULTY FULBRIGHTS
Grand Valley was recognized as a top producer of
DAAD Young Ambassador — 2010
Fulbright Scholars by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Nicole Summers, German, psychology
CLAS is proud to be the home of several of these scholars.
First Place at International Trumpet Guild Orchestra
Competition — 2010
CLAS Faculty Fulbright Scholars since July 1, 2008
Alex Wilson, music
• Erik Nordman, biology, 2012
• Patricia Bloem, English, 2011
Most Promising Minority Students by the American
Advertising Federation — 2009
• Hermann Kurthen, sociology, 2011
Ebony D. Arnold, advertising and public relations
• Scott Stabler, history, 2010
Amanda Krieger, advertising and public relations
• Amy Masko, English, 2009
Best Performance Award at Sapperlot International
Festival of Youth Theatre in Brixen, Italy — 2009
Bard to Go theatre troupe, part of the educational outreach
programs of the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival
OTHER FACULTY AND STAFF
RECOGNITION
Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship
Competition Selections — 2009
In recent years, our faculty and staff members have been
Kaylee Cornfield, art and design
reputation at the state level, regionally, nationally, and
Corey Miller, art and design
internationally. Here are some examples.
Ian Vanderhill, art and design
2012
Only 144 were selected out of the 5,600 nationwide submissions
Deanna Morse of the School of Communications had her
Carnegie Hall Performance — 2009
GVSU New Music Ensemble
Michigan Excellence in Journalism Competition Award
from the Detroit Press Club Foundation — 2008
Brian Beaupied, journalism, Lanthorn reporter
Kyle Meinke, journalism, Lanthorn reporter
recognized in many ways that speak to their growing
animated film Breathing Room recognized with a Platinum Pixie
Award, the highest honor of the American Pixel Academy, a
coalition of professionals and educators in the field of electronic
moving pixels.
2011
Geography and Planning Department chair Jeroen Wagendorp
was recognized for Excellence as a Geographic Information
Goldwater Scholarship — 2008
Systems Pioneer at the 2011 Michigan Digital
Kyle Schneider, chemistry, continued to conduct science research that led to a cover story in Biochemistry
Government Summit.
Professor Steve Mattox of the Geology Department
was awarded a National Science Foundation award in
the amount of $53,797 for the collaborative project
entitled Track 2: Collaborations for Building Michigan
Geology Talent.
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GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
Patti Rowe, professor in the Movement Science Department,
2010
was selected by the Michigan Association for Health, Physical
Director of University Bands Barry Martin was accepted as a
Education, Recreation, and Dance Board (MAHPERD) of
member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association.
Directors as the 2011 MAHPERD College/University Leader
of the Year.
Peter Anderson, classics, received a 2011 Collegiate Teaching
Excellence Award from the American Philological Association.
Virginia Peterson, chair of the Geology Department, was
selected for the 2010 GSA Fellow Award and the GSA
Geoscience Education Division Distinguished Service Award.
Up From the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Frederick J. Antczak
won “Best Film” at the Astoria International Film Festival
was presented with the Classical Association of the Middle
and the 2010 Paul Robeson Award. Produced by School of
West and South Award for Special Service, which honors
Communications’ Jim Schaub, the film appeared on national
contributions to the promotion of Latin and classical studies.
PBS television in February 2012.
Mary Schutten, associate dean of CLAS and professor of
Theatre Professor Karen Libman was selected as a
movement science, was presented with the 2011 American
Distinguished Professor of the Year 2010 by the Presidents
Association for Health Education’s University Health Education
Council, State Universities of Michigan. She also was honored
Specialist Award.
with the 2008 Lin Wright Special Recognition Award from the
American Alliance for Theatre and Education.
Chemistry’s Deborah Herrington has built on her previous
success with a high school teacher empowerment project
known as Target Inquiry (TI) to bring an additional large
grant to GVSU. This new award will expand the TI program
Janet Vail, associate research scientist at the Annis Water
Resources Institute, received the 2010 William B. Stapp
Award from the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and
Outdoor Education.
at GVSU to include biology, physics, and geology and will
Christopher Toth, Writing Department, was honored with
include middle school teachers.
the Best Dissertation Award by the Association for Business
TI has helped multiple cohorts to rekindle experimental
Communication.
chemistry in their teaching lives. In short, it puts the
2009
scientist back into science teachers.
Writing professor Austin Bunn wrote the short story
This National Science Foundation funding is a
collaborative grant with Miami University that will also
Everything, All At Once, that was published in the June 2008
issue of The Sun, and won a 2009 Pushcart Prize.
involve the expansion of the program to Miami University.
Caitlin Horrocks, writing, was one of 20 authors featured in
Herrington is the principal investigator (PI) for the GVSU
the 2009 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. Her story is entitled,
grant and Ellen Yezierski is the PI for the Miami University
This Is Not Your City.
grant. In total, this is a $2.8 million dollar grant with
GVSU’s portion being $1.1 million over five years. This
award will support a cohort of 15 teachers through the
TI program at GVSU and another 15 teachers at Miami
University. Teachers will begin taking courses in January
2013. The investigators also will study the program
Mary Ann Sheline, Regional Math and Science Center, was
selected by the Michigan Science Teachers Association (MSTA)
to receive the 2009 George G. Mallinson Award. It is the highest
award given by MSTA for contributions to science education
and to the association.
impacts on teachers and their students at the two sites.
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS19
Caroline Cascini, CLAS Academic Advising Center, received a
Dalila Kovacs, chemistry professor, and her GVSU colleagues
Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Academic Advising
on the Green Chemistry Integration in the University
from the Michigan Academic Advising Association.
Curriculum group received the Michigan Green Chemistry
Governor’s Award for 2009.
Jill VanAntwerp, English, was awarded the 2009 Charles
Carpenter Fries Award by the Michigan Council of Teachers
Mary DeYoung, sociology, was awarded the 2009 Charles
of English.
Horton Cooley Award for Distinguished Scholarship.
Joseph Verschaeve, Sociology Department, was awarded the
Marvin Olsen Award for Distinguished Service to Sociology.
Elizabeth R. Arnold, assistant professor in anthropology,
2008
is part of a group that was successful in obtaining a
School of Communications’ Corey Anton was named a
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Fellow in the International Communicology Institute.
Canada Partnership Grant for work at the biblical site of
In recognition of her engaging and innovative teaching style,
Tell es-Safi in Israel. The project is entitled, Nature of
Jennifer Stewart was awarded the 2008 Larry T. Reynolds
Early Urban Neighborhoods in the Southern Levant Early
Award for Outstanding Teaching of Sociology by the Michigan
Bronze Age at Tell es-Safi. The site has been the focus
Sociological Association.
of a long-term multi-year archaeological excavation and
field school directed by Professor Aren Maeir, Bar-Ilan
Bill Ryan, music, received a 2008 Governor’s Arts Award and
University, Israel. The partnership grant builds upon
an Arts Educator Award from ArtServe Michigan.
existing relationships to considerably expand the scale of
the research for the study of the Early Bronze Age at the
site of Tell es-Safi. The partnership grant is valued at
C$ 2.7 million.
GRANTS
As the table below illustrates, faculty and staff members in the college have been pursuing competitive external funding
with a high degree of success. To illustrate, the National Institute of Health publishes its success rate for fiscal year 2011 at
20.1 percent. The National Science Foundation’s success rate for the same period was 22 percent. CLAS faculty and staff
members currently succeed with about half of their applications to local, state, and federal agencies.
CLAS Grant Report as of June 5, 2012
FY 2010
Fall 2008
PENDING (#/$)
APPLICATIONS
AWARDS
111
58
AMOUNT REQUESTED
AMOUNT RECEIVED
$17,789,854*
$4,995,206
FY 2011
(to date)
15 /$1,005,087
83
41
$10,791,988
$4,097,983
FY 2012
(to date)
*Contained one grant application for $10M
34/$6,407,334
78
30
$10,581,027
$2,192,243
20
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
CLAS FACULTY GOVERNANCE
COMMITTEE REPORTS
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS21
CLAS FACULTY COUNCIL
COLLEEN LEWIS, CHAIR
The Faculty Council’s important and ongoing task is
overseeing the CLAS elections to faculty governance
committees and maintaining CLAS representation on those
committees. Over the last four years we have clarified the
by-laws on this topic and streamlined the election process.
In addition to that important job, the Faculty Council wrote
Standards and Criteria for Personnel Evaluation in response to
a mandate from the Higher Learning Commission of the North
Central Association of Colleges and Schools. We collected
feedback on the proposed standards from CLAS faculty
members through a Blackboard site, workshops, and forums,
and used that feedback to improve the standards, which were
later approved by the CLAS faculty in Fall 2009. The Faculty
Council also designed and implemented a feedback process for
Dean Antczak. We worked closely with the CLAS Academic
Advising Center to improve faculty advising and increase the
recognition granted for excellence in advising.
In the period since the last quadrennial report, the CLAS
Faculty Council has designed and run four annual iterations
of Out of the Box sessions to encourage direct faculty
participation in issues of immediate relevance to them. These
topics have been removing obstacles to research, consultation
on the CLAS Standards and Criteria for Personnel Evaluation,
consultation on draft guidelines on academic integrity, and
thriving throughout a sustainable career.
CLAS CURRICULUM
COMMITTEE
CAROLYN SHAPIRO-SHAPIN,
CHAIR
The CLAS Curriculum Committee (CCC) reviews all proposals
to create new courses or modify existing ones, as well as
proposals for new certificates, new programs, or revisions to
department or program requirements. As an elected body,
the committee also considers broader issues relating to the
curriculum when requested by the dean or the Faculty Council.
In doing this, the committee members support curricular
innovation while protecting the prerogatives of particular
academic departments. They pride themselves on a tradition of
diligence, integrity, good humor, and esprit de corps.
The CCC works closely with the CLAS dean’s office to ensure
that curricular changes help students move toward graduation
in a timely fashion. An example of this is that the committee
continues to expedite fast track proposals for prerequisite
reductions. The CCC was integral in the development of the
study abroad fast-track process in Fall 2011.
Between 2008 and 2012, the CCC has reviewed an average of
125 proposals each year (with 150 in 2008–2009 and 180 in
2010–2011). Committee members read each proposal, invite
authors in for a cordial discussion, debate the merits of the
proposed curricular change, provide detailed suggestions for
22
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
moving the proposal through the curriculum process, and,
90 percent of the cases in the past few years. In addition, the
when necessary, evaluate the revised proposal. A committee
departments’ standards have become a little more similar to
member spends an average of 8–10 hours per week on
one another because of the passage of the CLAS Standards
committee work over the course of the academic year. The
and Criteria for Personnel Evaluation and revision of the
CCC chair serves on the newly instituted New Program
department standards to be consistent with them.
Council, a body designed to evaluate new program proposal
prospectuses, regularly attend unit head meetings, and meet
with faculty members seeking advice on curricular matters.
CPC operations have become more efficient with time. Much
of the material that must be reviewed before each meeting
is now available electronically and the review meetings
Over the past four years, the CCC has collaborated in the
themselves have been streamlined with electronic voting and a
review process of proposals from other colleges that draw
more focused review of many applications where there appears
upon CLAS resources and made recommendations on policy
to be little disagreement.
issues including the reporting of academic misconduct and
the shaping of degree cognates. The CCC continues to act
as a conduit for ideas concerning the improvement of the
curriculum development system. New online forms have
been beneficial to both those submitting and those evaluating
curricular changes.
The CPC has 12 members; four new or returning members
are elected each year. Members are limited to two consecutive
terms, and no two members may come from the same
department. Serving on the CPC requires 12–20 hours per
week of work for about nine weeks of the academic year. The
CPC chair and some other members also present occasionally
at workshops for faculty members preparing for reviews and at
CLAS PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
GEORGE MCBANE, CHAIR
unit head meetings. Representatives from the committee met
Each year, roughly 90 faculty members apply to the college
but interesting and rewarding.
with each department during the summer and fall of 2010.
Committee members generally describe the work as intense,
for contract renewal, tenure, or promotion. The main job of
the twelve-member College Personnel Committee (CPC) is to
recommend to the dean a response to each application.
The CPC makes its recommendation after comparing the
applicant’s record of accomplishment to the performance
requirements established by the applicant’s department. The
department also makes its own recommendation; the CPC’s
recommendation is separate, though the CPC pays close
attention to the recommendation and rationale offered by
the department.
In the past few years the job of the CPC has been made
easier by an effort at both university and college levels to
establish clear performance requirements for the faculty in
each department. Because the department evaluators and the
CPC now compare the candidate’s accomplishments to the
same written standards, disagreements between CPC and
department recommendations have become rare; the CPC
has agreed with department recommendations in well over
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS23
CLAS FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
COMMITTEE
DAVID STARK, CHAIR
Additional issues relating to teaching, research, and
The Faculty Development Committee (FDC) is a faculty
identifying solutions to obstacles involving faculty research,
advocacy committee that sees its mission as addressing the
and hosting the first GVSU Undergraduate Research Fair
issues that affect the development of CLAS faculty in the areas
(in partnership with the Center for Scholarly and Creative
of teaching, research, and service. While the committee has
Excellence and the Brooks College).
scholarship that have been addressed include the drafting of
a statement of principle on student evaluation of teaching,
co-sponsoring workshops with the CLAS Faculty Council on
numerous duties related to sabbaticals, issues brought to the
committee’s attention by CLAS faculty members determine
much of our agenda. The committee meets for 90 minutes
every other week, with more frequent and longer meetings
during November for review of CLAS sabbatical proposals.
The FDC supervises the review of nominations for teaching
and research awards in the college. The committee has worked
closely with the Center for Scholarly and Creative Excellence
and the dean’s office to address questions and concerns related
to the submission and selection process, which should make
the application process much smoother in the future. The
committee is also investigating ways to increase the visibility of
the awards.
Much of the FDC’s time and effort is spent in support of
faculty members in the process of proposing a sabbatical.
Two times each year, the FDC hosts a sabbatical proposal
development workshop. Committee members also offer to
pre-read sabbatical proposals to identify problem areas prior
to actual submission. The committee has streamlined the
sabbatical application process, with a centralized location on
the CLAS website, and drafted a set of guidelines for preparing
a successful sabbatical proposal and report. The FDC takes
the position that it wants all faculty members to receive their
sabbatical and the overall quality of the proposals is high, as
reflected by our support for 92 percent of sabbatical proposals
submitted in the last four years.
24
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE — CORY DICARLO
ALL THINGS GREAT AND SMALL: FROM POLICY TO PETS
Cory DiCarlo is an associate professor of chemistry
who came to Grand Valley with significant experience
in industry, in government at the USDA, and with
teaching at other institutions. “This is the first place that
administration really listens to the faculty. Here everything
that comes up — easy or hard — the administration listens
to the faculty about the direction they want to go,” DiCarlo
observes. He bases this opinion on his experience on the
CLAS Faculty Council and as vice chair of the University
Academic Senate, noting that important issues such as
the voting rights of those early in their careers have come
before the Senate. “We got to vote on this personnel
process. We got to decide.” He also notes that the
administration was very helpful in gathering information
to make this an informed decision.
“Through my service in faculty governance,” he explains,
“I’ve had so much more exposure to many more people, the
entire university, and even other universities, and can see
what might work for us. Before I had this opportunity, my
view tended to be restricted to my unit. But deciding things
that impact the whole university requires understanding
of the different perspectives. How will policy affect the
different units? What class sizes are even possible in, say,
dance? We know what works well in our own disciplines,
but you have to hear the other voices or you get it wrong.
Now I’m required to hear them,” he smiles. “It certainly
helps me see why things are the way they are and how to
devise what would be best for all of us.”
This ability to come together and make workable policy
using faculty processes is part of what DiCarlo appreciated
during the recent revisions of the General Education
program. “So many points of view coalesced the opinions
of those ‘in the trenches’ teaching these courses. At the end
of the day, all opinions were heard, and we went with the
majority. It was not mandated from the top down. That’s
really nice, a real plus for a university.”
Professor DiCarlo sees this same sort of process working
at the department level. Chemistry has been working on
curricular efficiency. “All discussions concentrate on doing
all we can for the students. Everyone is willing to go the
extra mile,” DiCarlo notes with obvious admiration for
his colleagues.
These ways of working have inspired some of the
experiments DiCarlo is trying in his own teaching, too.
He is currently exploring the best use of the “flipped
classroom” for his chemistry courses. He’s using summer
months to work on videos of the material he would
traditionally have provided in lecture format. The
opportunity to reclaim some face-to-face class time for
small group discussion is very attractive because this is
where active thinking, rather than just note taking, comes
to the fore. This method will be trialed in the fall of 2012.
“I find it pushes me to work on the most attention
grabbing, stimulating demonstrations I can devise. I want
to capture the interest of the YouTube generation and
get them excited about chemistry. I’m working on one
demo that involves plunging my hand into molten lead
and another that makes it seem as if a dollar bill will be
consumed by flame. These dramatic examples look risky
and will be memorable illustrations of the principles I want
them to grasp,” DiCarlo says, looking forward to the chance
to seemingly risk his own hide in the name of science.
In his own research, DiCarlo is excited about a project
working with his physics colleague Ross Reynolds and
Dave Leonard in chemistry. They are growing mutated
proteins and studying their changed structures using
x-ray crystallography. By observing the changed physical
arrangement in these proteins and measuring the activity
associated with it, the researchers intend to learn how
structure relates to function. This is important knowledge
because it helps us to understand protein malfunctions in
disease states.
“It’s a bit like replacing pieces of a bicycle to see what really
changes its function and what does not. New handlebars
won’t, but square wheels certainly would,” he explains.
“We may be able to find a more direct approach than just
trying thousands of chemicals to address a problem such
as hemophilia.”
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS25
He’s also excited about a class in electrochemistry that
will help prepare Grand Valley students for the emerging
job area of battery design. “We have a new chapter of the
electrochemical society on campus and have been bringing
in speakers to demonstrate applications such as autodarkening mirrors. A representative of Ford came last year
to talk about batteries and hybrids. These talks are popular
with students and faculty.”
Professor DiCarlo’s holistic and cooperative approach works
on the individual level as well. He works with the Grand
Valley Humane Society, does some small animal rescue,
and shares this interest with his wife. “I end up answering
student questions on topics like bunny care,” DiCarlo
admits. Even the softest voices are heard.
Cory DiCarlo and Figen Mekik, vice chair and chair
of the University Academic Senate.
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE — FIGEN MEKIK
SHAPED BY THE CONFLUENCE OF OUR
HABITS OF MIND: MAKING CONNECTIONS
“To develop a complete mind: study the science of art;
study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that
everything connects to everything else.”
— Leonardo da Vinci
Figen Mekik, geology professor, is a teacher and scholar
in the service of others. Instead of feeling tugged in three
different directions, she focuses on the connections with
great success.
“I grew up in a country where west meets east,” Mekik
notes. “Geographically, culturally, and intellectually, Turkey
has been shaped by the confluence of various habits of
mind of its many peoples for the last couple millennia.
I like to bring this heritage into my classroom because
although I am a science teacher, all college professors carry
the obligation of opening students’ minds to the greater
world. The definition of an ‘educated person’ is not only
one who has a well-honed intellectual curiosity, but also
one who can observe a phenomenon or solve a problem
using an expansive knowledge base, diverse approaches,
and a multitude of skills. An academic career, like many
other things in life, requires balance in the coalescence of
teaching, scholarship, and service.”
26
This connection is evident in Mekik’s scholarship. For
instance, she has been working since 2008 with the help of
a $84,029 National Science Foundation grant on a project
called COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A Multi-Proxy Search
for the Deglacial Deep Sea Carbonate Preservation Maximum.
This collaborative research project with Lamont Doherty
Earth Observatory of Columbia University generates
data and models that aid in the analysis of mechanisms
driving climate change over thousands of years. Some of
the methodology was developed with GVSU students.
Four students worked with her on the project and two
publications resulted with two more in progress. All four
students went on to get master’s degrees.
Professor Mekik’s focus on undergraduates permeates her
work in other professional capacities as well. She is the
series editor for Nature Education, a peer-reviewed online
publication of Nature Publishing Group. “I was asked by
Nature to recruit 15–20 Ph.D. bearing scientists specializing
in climate and surficial geosystems to author articles about
their field of expertise for an undergraduate audience,”
she explains.
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
Also, active in faculty governance, Mekik has served on
the CLAS Personnel Committee as its chair, attended
consultations run by the CLAS Faculty Council, served
one year on the Faculty Personnel Policy Committee, and
now serves on the Executive Committee to the University
Academic Senate. She was recently re-elected as chair of
the University Academic Senate. She loves this role in
which she sees her university colleagues rise above their
disciplinary differences to engage in the kind of robust
discussions that they promote in their many classrooms
as part of liberal education. “In the Senate, we consider
the issues from many perspectives simultaneously. This
challenges one’s own convictions on some issues — even
firmly held ones.”
She also enjoys the perspective governance provides on
her CLAS colleagues whom she is quick to promote as
nationally and internationally active and recognized.
“Caitlin Horrocks, Diane Rayor, Debbie Herrington, Steve
Mattox,” she quickly names for their contributions to
writing, translation, chemistry education, and geology.
The experience in faculty governance has taught Mekik
that she is very proud of Grand Valley, and though she
admits that she can be as resistant to change as anyone,
in governance a faculty member becomes a leader in
institutional evolution.
“Here the administration and the faculty can speak their
minds without repercussions. I’ve experienced this first
hand,” Mekik confides. “As chair of the Senate I’ve learned
to be open to criticism in the same way you should be
to grant reviewer’s comments. Step back, try to see what
they are telling you, make a change — then it is better
for everybody. A colleague pointed out to me that those
people with the experience of regularly receiving and
providing critique are better at the difficult conversations
we sometimes need to have. I’m proud to work in a place
where we can move right along.”
“Geology rocks,” she smiles at the joke, “but it is also
about oceanic and atmospheric science.” Appreciating this
diversity inside her own discipline, she teaches students
that they may have several careers and must be liberally
educated. “Speak, write coherently, even eloquently,
calculate,” their tri-lingual professor tells them and observes
that this surprises them a little. To make sure that she, too,
keeps thinking beyond the borders of her own discipline,
she’s started taking psychology classes. “We have to stay at
it to increase our understanding. You have to be learning
yourself. And active scholarship helps you to teach and
serve others well.”
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS27
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE — ALICE CHAPMAN
LIGHTING UP THE DARK AGES
and quash heresy; helped to launch the cult of the Virgin
and the second crusade; wrote prolifically; encouraged
and publicized the Knights Templar; was a friend to popes
and saints; quelled a massacre of Jews; and secured for
himself a place in Dante’s Divine Comedy as well as the
title Doctor of the Church; and gained notoriety as
patron saint of beekeepers, candlemakers, and Cambridge.
All this while advocating austere monastic practice and
defending the church against the expansion of the roles
of kings and princes.
Alice Chapman, assistant professor of history.
In her Mackinac Hall office, the shades are drawn and
amber light glows from a small lamp near her work. Quill
pens jut from an earthenware inkwell beside two computer
screens. Barely audible, a recording of Credo from the Pope
Marcellus Mass by Palestrina also sets the scene. A student’s
illuminated manuscript page is displayed on the bulletin
board on her door. In the midst of this quiet rectitude sits
high-energy, assistant professor of history Alice Chapman, a
medievalist interested in the history of ideas.
28
The writings of Bernard about the distinctions between
authority of the church and the power of the state are central
to a book Chapman is now proofing for publication in the
fall of 2012 (Authority and Power in Bernard of Clairvaux,
Brepols Publishers of Turnhout, Belgium). Chapman
describes the project with characteristic enthusiasm and
simultaneous understatement, “He was involved in the
politics of his day. He discusses how much to the Pope, how
much to the king, the relationship of the two.” Previewing
the book’s final pages’ assessment of Bernard’s work, she
says, “Less like fencing and more of a dance.”
Just returned from a large conference of medievalists held
in Kalamazoo, Chapman is fresh from the pitched argument
over whether Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) was a
Gregorian. Chapman in her paper addressed Bernard’s role
in the reform process at the chapter of Notre Dame in Paris.
She argued that Bernard pushed for ecclesiastical reforms
facing fierce opposition from the king, but instead of trying
to force the issue, his approach was more diplomatic. In this
sense, he was not as intractable as Gregory VII.
Chapman’s own dancing prowess in the classroom was
recognized this year with a Pew Teaching Excellence Award.
Particularly cited was her ability to capture the imagination
of her students about the medieval period through engaging
activities such as singing vespers chants, carving quills to
pen illuminated Latin manuscript pages, listening to period
music, and generally getting a hands-on experience despite
the remove of time. The teacher/scholar model suits her and
helps her to bring vivid experiences to her students. Her own
undergraduate experience at a regional university in Utah,
followed as they were with success as a graduate student at
Yale and Cambridge, can be empowering for her students
and help them to avoid underestimating themselves.
Bernard was many things. A French abbot who encouraged
the growth of the Cistercian order, he became its first monk
to be placed on the calendar of saints. He presided over
decisions between competing claims on the papacy; he used
his considerable powers of persuasion to heal schism
Infectious enthusiasm for students guides her work with the
Theta Club, a history honor society, and fuels her Rotary
Scholars talks, which she sees as a great opportunity to
promote Grand Valley to a wider audience. Her office hours
are full of students seeking mentoring and discussion.
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
She embraces her colleagues with the same enthusiasm.
Very conscious of how her department’s support has helped
her to flourish and with the book project nearly complete,
Chapman is looking forward to the new projects that
might involve campus colleagues interested in the medieval
period. She would like to pursue grants to help run a
reading group for the campus community of medievalists.
She also imagines an even wider network, including
international colleagues, who could be engaged in the
project of strengthening one another’s manuscripts in order
to produce a very high quality of work for publication.
The work she is undertaking is considerable. In addition
to the book, there is a planned contribution to a book
project edited by Sigrid Danielson (GVSU Art and Design
Department) and Evan Gatti (Elon University) and
groundwork toward a project on monastic sign language.
To illustrate this compelling project, which involves
interviewing American and European monks who are
among the last who know how to use this system of
sign, Chapman demonstrates with vigor the signing at an
important juncture in history. She shows the few quick
movements of an abbot to whom it fell to deliver to the
other monks the news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Powerful in its brevity and the distillation of meaning into
gesture, the message had a strong physical effect on several
of the monks present, even collapse and nausea. One can
easily imagine this same story retold in the classroom; no
one will fall over because this event is known all too well,
but neither will anyone ever forget the classroom moment
as the signs silently relay the fact that thousands died in an
instant.
Perhaps these were lessons learned from St. Bernard whose
own talents with people, though seemingly at odds with the
monastic, scholarly life were harnessed nevertheless with
great effectiveness and led to great things for himself and
many of those around him.
Chapman knows that environment matters. Not only
thankful for her departmental colleagues, she is eager to
give Grand Valley its due for being a place in which new
things can be tried and impediments are few.
In the fall, Chapman will teach for the Honors College
a course on the making of Europe and in the History
Department two levels of European history. “Research keeps
you fresh in the classroom,” she explains, “and describing
your own work to students helps them to see that we are all
playing the same game, that writing is hard for all of us.”
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE — LOWE AND RHODES
RECEIVED A WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING
Writing Department faculty members Charlie Lowe and
Keith Rhodes also wear hats as board members of the
Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA). As
such, in 2011 they were invited to the nation’s capital to
meet with executive branch officials as part of an ongoing
initiative organized by Wellstone Action and the White
House’s Office of Public Engagement. The program connects
community leaders with executive branch activities.
Charlie Lowe and Keith Rhodes, Writing Department
faculty members and board members of the Council
of Writing Program Administrators.
Professor Lowe notes that “Our contingent from the CWPA
was ten strong — two of whom were conspicuously wearing
Grand Valley ties and name tags.”
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS29
The CWPA board met with Mark Doms, chief economist,
U.S. Department of Commerce, who shared the
administration’s projections on the economy for the next
several years.
“In the afternoon, we met with liaisons from the Department
of Education and the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and
Policy Development, where we had an open and active
exchange mainly focused on issues of students’ transition
from secondary schools to college. Topics of discussion
included ‘No Child Left Behind’ and Advanced Placement
credit for college level writing courses,” Lowe explained.
with the best scholarship and expert practices in the field of
composition research.”
The GVSU team found the trip an invaluable experience
and thanked Dean Antczak for helping to make it a reality
through the CLAS Fund for Excellence.
Professor Lowe found that the trip to Washington provided
related opportunities, too. “We were able to meet on
our own afterward and discuss strategies for influencing
current discussions so that the core standards and curricula
currently under discussion might become better aligned
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE —
INTERCULTURAL TRAINING CERTIFICATE
SUPPORTS DIVERSITY
of diversity. The curriculum includes three specific
intercultural courses and elective options from across
all disciplines.
Students experience diverse local internships, work in
practicum settings, or participate in a long-term study
abroad experience in a more distant cultural setting.
ITC has graduated its first cohort of certificate bearers in
2012. These five pioneers are the beginning of a new
GVSU tradition.
A new educational option housed in the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences gives Grand Valley students an additional
credential often sought by employers and will soon expand
to providing this opportunity to the wider community.
The Intercultural Training Certificate (ITC) not only
gives students a unique credential to enhance their
career opportunities, but also reinforces Grand Valley’s
commitment to inclusion and an environment supportive
30
“ITC gives students the opportunity to take what they
have learned from an academic perspective and apply it
to real world intercultural problems by working with
those of different genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities,
and religions,” said Regina McClinton, intercultural
training director. “By offering a certificate focused on
competence skills with foundations in knowledge,
Grand Valley is a leader in the area of diversity
curriculum initiatives in the U.S.”
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE — WAMPLER, MOLLA, AND REDISKE
CULTURE AND SCIENCE IN HAITI
providing biosand filtration systems could help in the short
term, the poverty of the areas being served meant that
maintenance and consistency of use of various measures
became a significant factor in the long term.
Tired but inspired, Peter Wampler (geology), Azizur Molla
(anthropology), and Rick Rediske (Annis Water Resources
Institute) returned to Grand Rapids after a long journey
home from a research trip to urban and rural areas of
Haiti. The terrain is rugged and travel in the mountains
is difficult, but their goal to make interventions in Haiti
more effective and sustainable keeps their interdisciplinary
research on track and motivation high.
And they have nothing but praise for a graduate student
member of their field team, videographer Renato Delos
Reyes of the School of Communications, who documented
their work on video for the first time. This video will allow
them to bring compelling images of their work in Haiti
into the classroom. The researchers noted with gratitude
and admiration Renato’s willingness to carry a camera and
tripod into areas in which even a road would be a luxury.
Associate professor of geology Peter Wampler has been
to Haiti on previous trips and has noted the difficult
issues surrounding water and sanitation in a place riddled
with limestone pathways where microbes from latrines
can make their way over considerable distances to water
sources used by Haitians. He also realized that the geology
was not the only hurdle that efforts for better sanitation
would face. Currently, most water quality interventions
and water resource studies lack cultural and ethnographic
context. While non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
and government agencies distributing chlorine tables or
It is not easy to ignore a people whose national experience
with 75 percent of the population below the poverty line
has given rise to expressions like “Hungry dogs don’t
play” and “Rich people have food in the morning; poor
people struggle to have food at night.” The stakes are high
for research that could have a role in preventing cholera
outbreaks caused by washing clothing and bathing in creek
water others will drink. Assessment of what is working has
the potential to make a huge difference in this land of very
little topsoil, where charcoal from felled trees is a main
source of income, with a government under-resourced to
reach all the people in need, and the reputation for being “a
republic of NGOs.”
What was needed was a more interdisciplinary approach
to this complex water problem, in particular, a better
understanding of the nature of the issues where science
and culture intersect, and a better understanding of which
measures had the best chance of working sustainably.
So, in Summer 2012, the primary aim of the joint
study of the geologist, the anthropologist, and the
microbiologist, recorded by their student videographer,
was to better understand the interactions between cultural
perceptions regarding water, to gather water quality
data, and to document water treatment interventions.
The interdisciplinary approach effectively combines their
expertise to better understand behaviors and practices
regarding water in Haiti.
Since socioeconomic, geologic, public health, and cultural
factors that influence drinking water quality are interrelated
in a complex manner, the team spoke to individuals and
focus groups about their water-related practices. It became
clear that while those they spoke to had an understanding
of the fact that microbes could harm their health and that
their knowledge of intervention strategies like chlorine
tablets had grown over the years, there was still a gap in their
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knowledge of how to use them most appropriately. They also
saw sand filters that were no longer working due to easily
fixable maintenance issues. In short, lack of some additional
technical understanding made the efforts to provide these
interventions unsustainable.
Wampler was moved to help establish the Empowering Haiti
through Education Fund, a scholarship that will help support
rising stars from Haitian high schools to attend Grand Valley.
To learn more about this program, see www.gvsu.edu/haiti/.
With the assistance of a Creole translator, Azizur Molla was
able to interview the well off and the poor, young and old,
city dwellers and those of remote interior regions, those
who sold goods for a living and those who were subsistence
farmers. Whether Catholic, Voodoo, or Protestant, in Haiti
there is a widely held belief of “masters” protecting the water
sources, spirits sometimes thought of as having evil attributes
that guard the water. Springs don’t necessarily flow all year,
so local people sometimes give offerings of small bottles of
alcohol, special sticks, or candles to help protect their water
source. The team even met with a leaf doctor, a kind of
expert in herbal medicine, to discuss local practices.
Haiti, something rarely available. The scientifically valid
analytical techniques and ethnographic methods for this
project are readily transferable to other underdeveloped
nations. Misperceptions of water quality, a lack of
contamination data, and an incomplete understanding of
cultural practices often hamper NGOs and government
agencies seeking to address unsafe water. This project
provides contamination and ethnographic data concerning
the interaction of water supply source, cultural context,
and factors such as sanitation and intervention methods
that are so sorely needed. By providing actionable data and
recommendations to governments and NGOs in Haiti, as
well as other underdeveloped countries, the team will help
to reduce illness and mortality associated with unsafe water.
In addition to the intensive ethnographic survey, the team
collected and analyzed samples of surface and groundwater
sources to determine enteric bacteria levels and other water
quality parameters such as turbidity and conductivity.
They plan to use their study findings and resulting
publications to make available information that is key
to providing water systems that are more resilient and
These water samples, collected by Rick Rediske, professor
and senior research scientist of the Annis Water Resources
Institute, provide bacterial contamination data for rural
sustainable to underdeveloped countries and to provide
guidance to policy makers trying to make the best use of
their available funds.
To learn more about this project, see www.gvsu.edu/haitiwater/.
32
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE — YANCEY AND BELL
TRANSLATION AND THE COLLABORATIVE ART OF THE PLAY
undertaken the task of translation, something I very quickly
discovered a great passion for. It made me re-evaluate
everything I thought I knew about the field in a way that
will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on my future
scholarship and teaching. I’m very excited to find more
untranslated literary gems and introduce them to a new
generation.”
Spanish Golden Age playwright Tirso De Molina had a
passionate grasp of characterization. So much so, in fact,
that he gave us a character in Don Juan who would inspire
opera, legend, and popular culture across time and place.
So, it might surprise some to learn that not all of his drama
had been translated into English. Antona Garcia, despite its
compelling heroine, political intrigue, and vibrant action,
remained an untranslated play in large part because its
ending lacked a crucial something.
Jason Yancey, assistant professor of Spanish, and James Bell,
assistant professor of theatre, to the rescue!
In a working relationship Bell describes as symbiotic, this
pair dove into the glorious but troubled script to seek the
deeper structures of the story and bring it in a playable
fashion to the stage at GVSU. Yancey found a new passion:
“I have worked with early modern theater for many years
and in many capacities before, as a scholar, educator,
director, and performer, but this is the first time I have
Bell, the dramaturg, notes, “For me this collaboration
has been really rewarding in what it has taught me about
the nature of translation: translating past words into
a different language, translating ideas when words are
insufficient, translating concepts to parallel concepts a
modern audience would understand, and translating story.
At times we’ve had to develop a hierarchy of priorities with
the translation, with the primary priority being the spirit
of the play and its Golden Age context. Where we needed
to develop an ending and make the play workable for an
audience much more used to visuals than words, we’ve
had to really dissect what the play was about and what was
important to Tirso in telling this story. I believe that has
guided us in how we have adapted the play. So, that for me
has been educational and has caused me to think further
about the whole nature of translating, about how ideas and
concepts are more primal than the words chosen to convey
them. So, translating has been at its core more about
translating ideas than matching words.”
Theatre is among the most collaborative of the arts, so the
contributors soon widened to include the director, Professor
Karen Libman, and a strong cast. “As this has moved away
from Jason and my private work into the public forum of
theatre production,” Bell explains, “it has continued to be a
fascinating exercise in the development of new art. Karen is
very adept at conceiving text into visual theatre production.
She has also been really beneficial to the play development
process in that she brings a new eye to the text, an eye really
focused on connecting the story to the audience through the
bodies and words of the performers.”
The play’s physical demands are considerable, including
not only battle scenes, but also giving birth. This drama
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asks a great deal of its young actors, but the rewards have
already been great — even before it went up on the Louis
Armstrong stage. This production was the only one in the
United States selected to perform at the prestigious 2012
International Spanish Golden Age Drama Festival at the
Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso, Texas, March
6–8, 2012. The production created such a stir that two
performances were scheduled at the festival. A federal grant
for travel helped the students to experience this very special
spring break.
Bell reflects upon the impact of the experience, “First,
there were areas where I have been inexperienced that
have caused more work than I expected to facilitate taking
such a large group to El Paso to perform. Second, the
production has proven more challenging than I would have
thought, or at least more complex, but that has brought
greater rewards. I have learned more about this play and
have come to really like it and enjoy it. I think it is a
really engaging and entertaining piece that audiences will
thoroughly enjoy.”
Bell also recognizes the benefit of the experience to the
students. “I believe for the students involved that this
has been a really unique experience. I’ve worked before
with new material, but not with new translated material.
Dramaturgs in production often sit as a representative
for the playwright and for the context of the original
production, acting in part as a liaison between the original
text and context and the present production and context.
So, in a sense Jason and I represent Tirso and classical
Spain, but we also have a level of ownership to these
English words and this story we have adapted. For the
students, there is the additional responsibility of not only
creating characters, but also seeing those characters develop
with more plasticity than with a tried and true text. They
recognize their own role in not only developing characters
for this production, but also in putting an imprint onto
how the characters will be and remain in the text. That’s a
level of involvement within the creation process actors don’t
always have access to. That is a really valuable educational
experience for them to see theatre at its earliest genesis.
They are learning more about the nature of theatre art from
this experience than we could teach them in a classroom.”
34
Yancey agrees, “I think that through this kind of penetrating
study of the plays they’ve really come to make the literature
literally come to life in a real, lasting, and personal way. I’m
sure they will remember some of their lines for many years
to come.”
It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child, and
a play is very much like a child raised by a sizable one.
“Despite all the challenges this project has faced (and there
have been many over the past year),” Yancey says, “there
has been one tremendous positive to emerge above the rest:
I love Grand Valley! There were many moments along the
way where the powers that be could have pulled the plug
on their support, and with good reason, but no one did.
No one even suggested such a thing. The theatre program
accepted the play and moved forward publicizing it as
part of their upcoming season with little more than my
description of the plot to go on. The Modern Languages
and Literatures Department gave tremendous support to a
creative project far outside the realm of what they normally
do. Fred Antczak and the dean’s office, along with Bob
Smart and CSCE, kept the project financially afloat while
we waited for confirmation from the National Park Service.
The same might be said of many others. No one told me
the project was too big or too strange or too complicated
or unnecessary or simply not of interest. Much to the
contrary, everyone in every office has expressed enthusiastic
support going forward. That kind of ‘can-do,’ ‘let’s do
something amazing’ attitude has had a major impact on
me. It’s given me great faith in the institution I am a part
of. When Grand Valley says it supports students having
high-impact education experiences or encourages faculty
members in their efforts to promote exceptional teaching
and scholarship, it’s not just a fancy pitch-line. I’ve seen it
firsthand. I absolutely believe it. It makes me feel very
lucky to be here and eager to do and be more in the
years to come.”
Antona Garcia opened at GVSU on March 30, 2012.
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
PROFILE IN EXCELLENCE — MONICA LLOYD
STUDENT’S ILLUSTRATION IN NATIONAL EXHIBIT
Lloyd’s piece took roughly 10 hours to complete and was
first drawn with ink and then digitally colored. It was the
third in a series of four illustrations she created based on
the Nigerian folktale The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise.
Lloyd said she is particularly interested in illustrating
folktales because of their universality. “Folktales are a kind
of shared history of people and places, orally passed down,”
she said. “They belong to a culture or tradition, rather than
a person.”
King Isamtim and Tortoise by Monica Lloyd.
Monica Lloyd remembers the illustrations in the books
her parents read to her as a young girl. In fact, they have
served as a source of inspiration for her success as an
illustrator today.
The Society of Illustrators selected Lloyd’s illustration King
Isamtim and Tortoise to be included in its 2012 exhibition
at the Museum of American Illustration in New York City,
May 9–June 2. Her entry was one of 120 pieces chosen
from more than 3,000 submissions from illustration
programs nationwide. The selected works will also be
published in the Society of Illustrators student scholarship
catalog 2012.
A Grand Rapids native, Lloyd had the opportunity to study
abroad in Pondicherry, India, from January–May 2011, and
said the opportunity had a significant influence on the style
of her art. “I saw quite a bit of tribal art and enjoyed how
this art was seen as a trade that anyone can learn in order
to preserve a tradition and illustrate various events, beliefs,
people, animals, or objects,” Lloyd said. “I love detail and
pattern, so I created a style with a combination of these
elements.”
Ed Wong-Ligda, professor of art and design and
coordinator of illustration, said Lloyd’s study abroad
experience helped advance her art significantly, and the
competition will bring it to a wide audience. “The study
abroad experience helped Monica to develop an aesthetic
sensibility that is very personal and unique,” he said. “The
competition validates her talent and proves that she is
competitive on a national level.”
Lloyd has decided that illustration is the best way for
her to turn her passion into a career. The senior art and
design major plans to pursue a freelance career illustrating
books, cards, and magazines, do some craft-based and
gallery work, and possibly work in a community art-based
organization.
This feature was provided courtesy of Jessica Hines, a News and Information Services intern
with a health communication major, and an advertising and public relations minor.
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS35
LOOKING FORWARD
Four years ago, the college was celebrating a large group of
These projects will make way for other priority objectives.
new colleagues to help us address our growing student body
The college needs additional spaces so that our filmmakers,
and some desperately needed new space in the expanded
photographers, actors, musicians, and dancers can reach their
Mackinac Hall. In 2012, the college will be welcoming a
potential and so that the rest of us can benefit more fully from
smaller, though just as necessary, cohort of new colleagues. We
their creative accomplishments. Four years ago, these needs
also look forward to the 2013 opening of the Mary Idema Pew
had already been stated, but now the priority list is a few items
Library Learning and Information Commons and the effects
shorter — with new needs now coming onto the radar screen.
flowing from this new and cutting-edge learning space.
No matter what else the future holds, the college will be
It will be a time of pedagogical challenge as we seek to develop
involved in a process of invigorating the curriculum as new
the best ways to harness the potential of the new library with
undergraduate and graduate programs emerge. It will be
initiatives such as the speech lab, which began this year. The
imperative that we ensure that all undergraduate and graduate
new features and capacities of the library will be an invitation
offerings enrich one another and are never at the expense
to innovation. Not only will the library hold more books on
of one another. Strategically advancing graduate education
open stacks than we have ever enjoyed at GVSU, it will also
must not deflect from our top priority: offering the best
have more sophisticated capabilities for reserve and other
undergraduate liberal arts education at a comprehensive
electronic resources. The college will help the faculty develop
university anywhere.
ways to use the new facilities technology for the good of our
In pursuing this mission, the college will become even more
students. We will explore new ways to publish, new ways
involved in the community. All trends indicate that community
to contain the costs of classroom materials, new ways to
internships, research on topics of direct relevance to regional
collaborate, and new ways to preserve and archive materials
constituencies, and requests from local media will continue
for the benefit of more learners. Sometimes it is our newest
and grow. This will take many forms. Some types of service we
faculty members, many of whom are the so-called digital
already perform and will continue to provide include wetland
natives, who drive the innovation in these areas. The college
restoration, gathering data on voter attitudes, providing
will work to ensure that the possibilities discovered
services to disadvantaged communities, bringing greater
are communicated as emerging better practices throughout
cultural awareness, preserving our history, testing alternative
our faculty and staff, because we are a learning community
energy options, and making the arts accessible to a wider
receptive to fresh approaches.
number of people in West Michigan — that’s only a partial list
We also look forward to a science building to increase our lab
of examples, and we are confident that there are more to come.
capacity. Though ground has not been broken, much planning
It is often noted that Grand Valley is an economic engine.
work has been done in wide consultation. As we know from
It is. The special responsibility of our college is to provide
experience, progress anywhere that addresses space and
expertise and enrichment that can be very hard to quantify,
facilities needs has reverberations throughout the college. New
but are just as necessary for our region to flourish. We intend
space for our rapidly growing sciences will aid pedagogy by
to take our infectious passion for the liberal arts and sciences
allowing us to spread out, immediately benefitting student
to new audiences and give the heartfelt gift of lifelong
research, and to work on projects such as plastination, a
learning to our students, alumni, and all the honorary
joint project with Michigan State University, that allows us
Lakers of our community.
to provide anatomical knowledge needed by majors in our
college and in nursing and the health professions as well.
36
GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY QUADRENNIAL REPORT OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 2008–2012
Special thanks to News and Information Services, Institutional Marketing, the Office of Sponsored
Programs, the Padnos International Center, the Office of Institutional Analysis, the Office of
Fellowships, University Development, CLAS Unit Heads, and CLAS faculty and staff members for
their invaluable assistance in the production of this report.
WWW.GVSU.EDU/CLAS37
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Grand Valley State University
B-4-232 Mackinac Hall
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, MI 49401-9403
Phone: (616) 331-2495
Fax: (616) 331-3675
E-mail: clas@gvsu.edu
Website: www.gvsu.edu/clas
Grand Valley State University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. It encourages diversity
and provides equal opportunity in education, employment, all of its programs, and the use of its facilities. It is
committed to protecting the constitutional and statutory civil rights of persons connected with the university.
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In addition, even if not illegal, acts are prohibited if they harass or discriminate against any university
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© 2012 Grand Valley State University
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