Vol. V, No. 10
May 20, 2013
WheelerNotes
Thoughts as He Slips Out of the Door – Chapter 4:
Reflecting on the Wilcox/Wheeler Policy on
Academic Dishonesty: Early in the author’s tenure at
Gordon, Dr. Rhonda Wilcox encouraged him to work
with her to draft some new language on Academic
Dishonesty. The result of these labors went through
channels and now resides on pages 62-63 of the
current catalog. The policy gives individual faculty
members the prerogative to deal with issues of
academic dishonesty within certain parameters so long
as (a) they communicate the resolution to the Vice
President of Student Affairs and (b) they permit the
student to appeal the decision to the VPAA (and to the
Academic Judicial Committee). A key part of the
policy is that when a second report on the same
student arrives in the VPSA’s office, the student faces
a judicial hearing and likely institutional punishment.
Some weeks ago this author had the opportunity to
follow along and participate in a vigorous email
conversation about plagiarism enjoyed by members of
one of the Divisions of the College. One of my
contributions was to remind the discussants of the
Academic Dishonesty Policy. However, events since
the conversation have led to more reflection on the
matter. This spring there were 65 cases of plagiarism
reported to Dr. Chamberlain, an extraordinarily high
number. In reviewing them Dr. Chamberlain
discovered that two different kinds of behavior had
been reported:
Behavior 1: The student “took” the words and ideas
of others and presented them as his or her own.
Behavior 2: The student made no effort to present the
words and ideas of others as his own, but did not
couch his or her attributions* in the correct form. For
example, in paragraph 3 the student says, “Fred says
XXXX in his book YYYY” but then fails to include
either Fred or his book in the bibliography.
Certainly, Behavior 1 is academic dishonesty and
should be dealt with under the auspices of the
Wilcox/Wheeler policy. However, Behavior 2 seems
less an indication of academic dishonesty than simply
the work of a poor or lazy or careless student*.
Certainly this poor and/or lazy and/or careless work
should be reflected in the grading of the paper or the
project, but the Wilcox/Wheeler policy probably has
no relevance. No report should go to Dr.
Chamberlain.
Trying to place these thoughts in the world where this
author has spent much of his career:
Behavior 1 would be analogous to Suzy looking on
Remarcus’ paper and copying the quadratic formula to
help her solve a test problem.
Behavior 2 would be analogous to Suzy sitting through
days of brilliant lectures by Professor Wheeler on the
quadratic formula, failing to study, and then making a
royal hash of the test problems as consequence.
Behavior 1 calls for moral outrage, the
Wheeler/Wilcox Policy, and a report to Chamberlain;
Behavior 2 calls for a low grade on the test.
*It is useful to note that high school students do not
get extensive guidance on what constitutes plagiarism
and what passes for correct mechanisms for
attribution. In many non –AP high school English
classes, the instructor is so focused on the daunting
task of cajoling the students into producing two page
papers with coherent prose that teachers have little
time for the niceties of where the prose came from and
how its source was represented. Hence learning
correct attribution is a non-trivial learning task for
students emerging from the English classes of our high
schools.
University System of Georgia Teaching Excellence
Award Nominee: Dr. Alan Burstein
When one thinks of exciting classes, one does not
often think of accounting. Yet to hear students tell it,
excitement is exactly what happens when Alan
Burstein walks into an accounting class. Suddenly
each cluster of desks becomes a corporation with
CEO, Treasurer, and Recorder; suddenly the economy
(and grades) hinge on acquiring “Burstein Bucks.” In
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the midst of it all wanders Dr. Burstein with quick wit,
bundle of “bucks,” and Mobi Portable Electronic
Whiteboard, somehow managing the controlled chaos
that he has created. We are pleased that Dr. Burstein
represents us in this year’s Teaching Excellence
Competition. We are pleased that his teaching
contributions, in classroom and out, elicit these kinds
of comments from students and colleagues for whom
he has been a “teacher:”
From a colleague at Governor’s Teaching Fellows
Summer Symposium: “This Regent’s Teaching
Excellence Award might have been named with Alan
in mind. … He is the rare professor who is as adept at
lecturing as he is at designing collaborative learning
opportunities for his students.”
From a former student: In Dr. Burstein “I sensed a
love and passion for teaching that I have never
encountered” before.
From an unsolicited email from another former
student: “I will never forget the "tough love" that you
showed us about paying attention to detail.” … “It
was crazy, I was just sitting here doing tax returns and
your name just popped into my head!”
From a colleague: Lennon said, “If you called RockN- Roll something else, you might call it Chuck
Berry.” I would say, “If you called Teaching
Excellence something else, you might call it Alan
Burstein.”
From an administrator: It is supreme irony that this
refugee from Wall Street with an Ivy League pedigree
was the mentor “who taught this career academic to
fully appreciate the raison d’etre of Gordon College.”
Making Decisions about Summer School Pay for
Full-time Faculty:
As we go into the last weeks before the summer
semester of 2013 we need to review the current
policies on summer school pay for full-time faculty.
As a one year pilot, we are using the following
protocol in determining summer school salaries for
full-time faculty:
• Faculty with classes with 20 or more students earn
3% of salary per credit hour.
• Faculty with courses with 10-19 students earn
between 2.5% and 3% of salary per credit hour
prorated by the formula:
025 +[(X-10)/10] * .005.
• Courses with fewer than 10 students are usually
cancelled unless deemed an essential offering by
the VPAA.
Human Resources has confirmed June 28 and July 31
as the pay dates for summer. Faculty teaching first
session summer will be paid on June 28. Faculty
teaching second session summer will be paid on
July 31. Faculty teaching a full session class will be
paid ½ of their compensation on June 28 and the
remaining ½ on July 31.
Faculty members in the first four week term and the
eight week term will be paid based on the larger of
these two numbers –Enrollment in class at 5:00 pm
May 23 and enrollment in class after the 5:00 pm wash
on May 30.
Faculty members in the second four week section will
be paid based on the larger of these two numbers –
Enrollment in the class on June 24 at 5:00 pm and
enrollment in class after the 5:00 pm wash on June 26.
GahrNotes
Dr. Marwan Zabdawi created an online class for
Math 2101 (Introductory Statistics) in which students
can enroll for the first session of the 2013 Summer
Semester. He also created and introduced the Online
Math class with Math 1001A taught during the 2013
Spring Semester.
Dr. Amanda Duffus has been appointed as the
Secretary/Treasurer of the first Executive Board of the
Global Ranavirus Consortium
GarrettNotes
Relay for Life, School of Nursing, and Gordon
Cancer Crushers
This semester the School of Nursing, led by Cathy
Hammond, involved themselves in the American
Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. A team was formed
and members included nursing faculty, staff and
students as well as various members from other
Gordon State College departments. The team
members decided they would be known as the Gordon
Cancer Crushers. Throughout the course of the
semester the Gordon Cancer Crushers held a number
of fund raising activities:
• Chili cook-off on March 25th - (President
Burn’s chili was voted #1 in the taste testing
competition )
• April 29th Opportunity Day
• Sale of luminaries in honor of cancer survivors
and in memory of cancer victims
On Saturday, May 11 the Gordon Cancer Crushers
team coordinated times so that Gordon State was
represented on the walking tracks for the entire 12
hour event. Chances were sold for a gift certificate to
Regal Theaters and a nursing student provided face
painting for anyone at the event. Rebecca Morgan
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from the School of Nursing provided singing
entertainment the evening of the Relay.
A special note of thanks goes out from team captain,
Cathy Hammond, to the Staff Council for matching
the funds that the Gordon Cancer Crushers raised.
These coordinators efforts made it possible for the
Gordon Cancer Crushers to exceed the team goal.
This was a great first year for the School of Nursing
Cancer Crushers and Gordon State College as a whole.
National Nurses Week
On May 7, 2013 Gordon State College’s (GSC) School
of Nursing in conjunction with the Lamar County
Health Department held its first annual Nurses Day
Celebration. The event was held that evening on the
campus of GSC and was organized by Sherry Farr, the
Public Health Nurse Manager for Lamar County, and
Samantha H. Bishop, Associate Professor of
Nursing. The event was catered by Sodexo and
sponsored by the District 4 Health Services
Emergency Preparedness Program. Christy Skinner,
Assistant Professor of Nursing, also spoke on the
future of nursing. The GSC Association for Nursing
Students sponsored the flowers and programs for the
event. There were approximately 20 nurses present
that either worked or lived in Lamar County. The
event coincided with National Nurses Week (5/6 thru
5/10) in which the service of all nurses are honored.
Of the nurses in attendance at the event there was over
200 years of service combined. There are plans to
continue this event annually with the aspirations of
bringing out more nurses within the community that
have dedicated their careers to helping people through
nursing. The City of Barnesville and the Lamar
County Board of Commissioners both recognized this
day with a proclamation which was read during the
event.
MahaNotes
Dr. Mike Borders and Mrs. Donna Borders
presented:
“The Need to Teach Political Literacy to Teacher
Candidates” at The Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning Conference at Georgia Southern University
on March 8, 2013.
“Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice—Three
Characteristics of Effective Teaching” at The Future
Educators Association of Georgia Spring Conference
at St. Simons Island, GA on April 12, 2013.
Dr. Mike Borders:
submitted a book review for Allyn and Bacon on Dr.
Eileen Raymond’s text: “Learners with Mild
Disabilities –A Characteristic Approach” on March 25,
2013.
presented: “Integrating the Theme of Civility into
Teacher Candidates’ Elementary Lesson Plans” at the
Association for Childhood Education International
Conference in Washington, DC on April 19. 2013.
Dr. Pam Bell presented her research to the National
Science Teachers Association (NSTA) at the annual
meeting in San Antonio Texas. Her presentation was
in regards to her PDA system.
Dr. Sheryl O’Sullivan presented her research on
Teaching Dispositions at the National Conference of
the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE). This
summer, Dr. O’Sullivan will be presenting this
research to the international education association in
Athens, Greece.
Dr. Mike Mahan has been selected by ETS to review
the test questions in Biology for the new GACE
exams. “You have been selected to participate on the
GACE Biology standard setting study being conducted
by Educational Testing Service (ETS). The purpose of
this study is to recommend a passing score for the
test”.
RutherfordNotes
Online Inter Library Loan (ILL) request form – An
online ILL request form has been added to the
Hightower Library web page. It may be accessed
under Electronic Resources on the Hightower Library
webpage. Thanks to Troy Stout in computer services
for setting up this form for the library.
ONE-STOP SEARCHING – The GIL catalog
records have been loaded into the Discover GALILEO
service. By using the Discover search box on the
Gordon State College GALILEO page, one may
search the catalog as well as the GALILEO databases.
This search option may be convenient or
overwhelming. Please remember to use the limiters on
the left side of the results list.
WhitelockNotes
Professor Marlin Adams and Professor Bob
Detamore participated in the “Fired Works Show” at
Macon Central Park during the month of April from
the 12th to the 21st.
Dr. Neil Boumpani addressed the Chicago Drum
Show, the largest drum expo in the country, on
"building the biggest marching band drum in the
world" on May 18.
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Dr. Steve Raynie, Dr. Wesley Venus, Professor
Susan Hendricks, and teacher candidate Lori Bush
were recently awarded a $10,000 grant to collaborate
with Lamar County Comprehensive High School
teacher LeslieAnne Williams in developing a series of
lesson plans that would align high school and college
English courses with the new Common Core Georgia
Performance Standards. This alignment will help
students make a smoother transition to college-level
work, and it should help increase course completion
rates in the English composition sequence and
ultimately, the number of students who receive
degrees.
Dates & Deadlines
May 24-28
May 29
May 29-30
May 30
June 5
June 10
June 11
June 19
June 19-26
June 21
June 24
June 25
June 26
June 28
July 3
July 4
July 8
July 11
July 18
July 20
July 22
July 23
******
Open Registration 8 AM -- 4 PM
First Summer Session & Full Session classes
begin.
Drop/Add &Late Registration 8 AM - 4 PM
Payment Deadline for Late Registration and
Drop/Add—4:00 PM
Last day to receive a refund for reduction of hours
for first and full session classes
Faculty Enrollment Verification Deadline 8 AM
for FULL Summer Session and FIRST Summer
session classes
Midterm for 1st Session Classes (5/29-6/21)
Withdrawals after June 10 will be an automatic
WF except in cases of hardship documented &
approved by a student petition.
Deadline for Student Petitions for Reinstatement to
Class Rolls—5:00 PM
Georgia History & US Constitution Exam
Drop/Add and Open/Late Registration
2nd Session Classes
Midterm for Full Session Classes (5/29-7/19) and
all evening classes.
Withdrawals after June 21 will be an automatic
WF except in cases of hardship documented &
approved by a student petition.
Last Day of classes for 1st Session.
Final Exams for 1st Session Classes (5/29-6/21)
2nd Session Classes begin (6/25-7/19)
Final Payment Deadline for 2nd Summer Session
classes
Faculty Enrollment Verification Deadline 8 AM
for 2nd SUMMER SESSION classes
Deadline for Student Petitions for Reinstatement to
Class Rolls—5:00 PM
Independence Day Holiday
Midterm for 2nd Session Classes (6/25–7/19)
Withdrawals after July 8 will be an automatic WF
except in cases of hardship documented &
approved by a student petition.
New Student Orientation – Alumni Mem Hall
Group Advising & Registration (Fall Semester)
New Student Orientation – Alumni Mem Hall
Group Advising & Registration (Fall Semester)
Last Day for 2nd Session Classes
Final Exams for all
M, W evening classes (5/29-7/17),
2nd Session Day Classes (6/25–7/19)
& Full Session Day classes (5/29–7/19)
Final exams for all T, R, evening classes
(5/30-7/18) End of summer semester
Final Exams for the following classes will be
announced by the instructor:
Online Classes & Study Abroad Spanish
Additional COMPASS testing times for Learning
support classes will be announced.
DEANotes is a quasi-monthly publication of Academic Affairs