the pedant
VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2
NOVEMBER 2015
\’pe-dant\: A scholar; one prone to ostentatious displays
of learning; a learned academic; a nit-picker.
Claremont Graduate University
EDITOR’S NOTE
GET SQUARE
A professor once told me that TS Eliot got it wrong with the Waste
Land. “April is not the cruellest month,” he said. “It’s November.” I
have since come to agree with him. November tends to contain more
deadlines, projects, crises, papers, conferences, unexpected travel
arrangements, and flu viruses than any other month of the year.
It takes some courage to make it through November, but it’s the final
push of the semester. November bows out modestly and suddenly
becomes December, when the difference between independent and
dependent clauses fades in the shadow of gargantuan blow-up, lightup Santa Clauses. The sweet, sweet bliss of a January break is ahead,
after which you come into spring semester a little older, a little wiser,
and a little more weathered.
It’s around this time of year that I remind myself that I am here for
one thing: to learn.
I’m going to remind you of something that you already know:
Learning is hard. We’re here to ask the most important questions
we can and figure out how to answer them not just for ourselves,
but for anyone who will listen. And learning about the things we
love often means having to look inward to remind ourselves why
and how we got here. It’s this latter part that can take a toll.
Amidst learning, we adapt. We outgrow last year’s skin and settle
somewhat uncomfortably into a new one.
This issue of the Pedant attempts to get more intimate with and
explore some of the more uncomfortable aspects of graduate life. We
cover alternative career paths (see to right and the feature on page 6),
new spaces and rules at CGU (see page 4), and getting to know our
campus and its people better (see page 3 and page 5). Your fearless La
Bonne Vivante ventures into Claremont’s prehistoric past (page 8).
If there’s anything to remember this November, remember that
getting uncomfortable means growth. Your new hardships might give
you scars, but you can show them off later and say with complete
confidence, “I did it anyway.” Keep doing it. We here at the Pedant are
rooting for you—and make sure to tell us when you do succeed, so
we can boast about it in our student achievement section (and in our
hearts). Keep it up.
Cheers,
Emily Schuck
Editor-in-Chief, the Pedant
2
Campus News
5
GSC update
6
Feature Story
8
La Bonne Vivante
10 Student Achievements 12 Calendar & More
the Pedant
Volume 8, Number 2
L
ife after graduate school can feel a lot like the threat of a
zombie apocalypse. The best-case scenario is biologicalagent Z is successfully contained by the CDC (you get
the tenure-track dream job). The worst is a tiny scratch leads
to a full-blown apocalypse and your highly cultivated brain
becomes a meal for the recently undead (your PhD’s
shelf life expires and you’re stuck as a long-term
adjunct or barista [for more on this see feature on
page 6]).
In either scenario, it’s best to
keep your machete sharpened be
prepared.
GradSquare is one way to do this. The site
is a job hub that connects employers with
job seekers of the advanced-degree variety.
Prospective employees can browse jobs,
and recruiters and companies can contact
potential candidates.
The Career Development Office recently
partnered with GradSquare, which
provides a free premium subscription
to CGU students. The service targets companies that are
searching for candidates with advanced degrees, especially
in the humanities and social sciences. The subscription
makes CGU students’ profiles more prominent on the site for
recruiters and companies looking to hire.
“Any other service is like looking for a needle in a haystack,”
Christine Kelly, CGU’s director of Career Development,
said. “This service’s focus on advanced degrees makes it
exceptionally good for graduate students.”
In addition to being a job-search site, GradSquare offers
a regular podcast exploring individual stories. From PhDs
in philosophy to inorganic chemistry, the blog documents
stories of successful transitions from the academy to the
industry.
Students should have received an e-mail with a link inviting
them to create a profile, which will automatically set them
up with their premium subscription. If you missed the e-mail
or it fell through the cyber cracks, visit www.gradsquare.com
to get started.
“It’s so important to remember that there’s a world of things
you can do,” Kelly said.
November 2015
Emily Schuck, Editor-in-Chief
Kerri Dean, Writer
Megan M. Gallagher, Contributor
Many thanks to April Anderson, Chris Bass, Mandy Bennett, José Bayoán
Santiago Calderón, Alfie Christiansen, Sean Dixon, Patricia Easton, Shelby
Hamm, Brittney Harvey, Roberto Hernandez, Christine Kelly, Sheila Lefor,
Rod Leveque, Gloria Page, Jordan Riddle, Tammi Schneider,
President Robert Schult, and Aracely Torres.
For questions or comments, e-mail pedant@cgu.edu
2 Otium cum dignitate
FOR QUESTIONS OR TO REQUEST MORE INFORMATION,
e-mail Christine Kelly at christine.kelly@cgu.edu.
The Pedant, 8.2
WORDS WITH BOB
Y
ou have probably heard one or two things
about CGU’s new prez, Robert Schult.
The trusty Pedant has been covering
his tenure at CGU from long-time board
member to interim president and finally,
to president officialus. But what you
haven’t heard is Bob on the rocks.
The Pedant sat down with President
Schult to get a little insider info on
who our commander in chief is
and what he plans to do while
he’s here.
Pedant: Although you have been serving on the CGU board
since 2011, the majority of your experience comes from corporate
America—as the COO of Nestlé USA. How do you think that
translates into leadership in higher education?
President Schult: I did corporate America for 20-odd
years—I started at the bottom and ended up as the COO. But
then I started my own company. Then I went into investing in
smaller companies, building them up, and selling them to larger
companies, which is a totally different experience and set of skills.
What I found to be most extraordinary with the small companies
were the entrepreneurs. In large companies, you have tons of
resources at your disposal. You have people to help you and
do things for you. In the smaller companies, entrepreneurs are
working with limited resources, and they make sure that those
resources go as far as possible.
That’s a lot like CGU. We’re a relatively small graduate university,
and I want to make sure that our resources go as far as possible.
To answer your question, I come to CGU with those two different
skill sets. And about 70 percent of academia overlaps with
business. There’s 30 percent that is strictly academic. The rest of it
overlaps, and it’s a complementary set of skills. I am not interested
at all in telling faculty members what to teach. What I am
interested in is making sure they have the resources to teach and
do research to the best of their ability. In some cases, that comes
down to fiscal responsibility. And I’m happily responsible for that.
Pedant: CGU’s last WASC [Western Association of Schools &
Colleges, the body that accredits all educational institutions in
the Western United States] review recommended a renewed
focus on transdisciplinarity and an increased focus on diversity.
Any specific plans for meeting these challenges?
President Schult: Transdisciplinarity is one of the main things
that makes CGU so exceptional. A Drucker student can take
a course in the School of Community and Global Health and
ultimately better pave their career path towards healthcare. The
education at CGU can be custom designed, and that’s incredible.
In regard to diversity, it will always be an important issue here.
We’ve asked the Faculty Executive Committee to work on
WASC’s recommendation—they’re a task force to make sure it
remains a top priority.
Pedant: You’ll serve a three-year term; what are your hopes or
plans for what happens between now and then?
President Schult: My main objective is to continue to increase
pride at CGU. When you tell people that you did your graduate
work at Claremont Graduate University, I want them to say,
“That’s a great school!” Because it is—and that is in large part due
to the people here.
When they first offered me the job, I declined. But when I went
home and told my wife, she didn’t bat an eye. She said, “You
ought to do it. You might be good at it.” I had had an opportunity
to work with people like Patricia Easton [vice president for
student and enrollment services] and Jacob Adams [executive
vice president and provost] on the board, and that was ultimately
the reason why I took the job—the people.
One of the other main objectives is student satisfaction. I’m
working to make sure that you have the best experience possible.
A friend of mine gave me the best line: He said, “The front line
doesn’t lie.” That’s why I love to meet with students and student
groups, which I do all the time. If you want to know what is really
happening, you can’t sit in your office and pontificate. That is
yesterday’s news. You need to see what is happening on the front
lines, and in this case, that’s the students. I urge them to come in
and tell me what is working and what is not. My friend is right—
the front line doesn’t lie.
Leisure with dignity 3
Claremont Graduate University
STUDENT LIFE
BREW RULES
T
his fall, CGU’s administration amended its alcohol policy for
student-hosted events.
The new guidelines include a two-drink maximum at events hosted
by students and student councils. It also places restrictions on events
based on the number of people attending. Events with fewer than
50 students require two sober hosts to monitor alcohol consumption
and to help enforce the two-drink max policy, and events with more
than 50 students require a licensed bartender to serve alcohol.
The changes to the policy were brought on primarily for concerns
about student safety, but also to clarify areas on which the previous
policy was silent, according to staff members from the Office of
Student Life and Diversity. Director Aracely Torres researched nationwide alcohol standards to arrive at the two-drink maximum.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines
binge drinking as “pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood
alcohol level concentration (BAC) up .08 grams percent [this is the
legal limit for driving in the state of California] or above.” The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention also notes that this most often
happens “when men consume five or more drinks, and when women
consume four or more drinks, in about two hours.”
The new policy seeks to ensure that alcohol consumption at student
events remains below those levels.
Chris Bass, dean of students and campus life, impressed the
importance of CGU’s dedication to student safety and responsible
drinking practices. “Students should not equate drinking with fun,”
Bass said.
The GSC Halloween Party was the first major event of the year that
enforced the two-drink maximum. The changes surprised some
students.
Many students also expressed concern about the policy to the
student council and the Pedant. “Treat us like adults,” CGU student
Ian Malone tweeted.
The GSC has formed a task force to investigate the changes to
the policy and to open a dialogue with the administration on how
students can be more involved in forming policies such as this one in
the future. José Bayoán Santiago Calderón is leading the task force.
GSC Treasurer Brittney Harvey encouraged students to share their
thoughts on the new policy with the GSC.
“There’s power in numbers,” she said. In other words, if you’re
opposed to the policy, tell someone.
Keep an eye on your inboxes for a forthcoming survey to voice your
opinion.
GIVE FEEDBACK ONLINE at http://bit.ly/1kjzi3s.
TO GET INVOLVED WITH THE TASK FORCE, e-mail Calderón at
jose.santiago-calderon@cgu.edu or get in touch with your GSC representative.
FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING THE POLICY, e-mail Chris Bass at
chris.bass@cgu.edu.
4 Otium cum dignitate
DOWNTOWN FUNK YOU UP
A
s Petula Clark sang in her 1964 number-one hit single, there’s
no finer place than downtown. This finery, for the first time, is
now available as part of the CGU graduate experience.
CGU recently acquired a new space at The Reef, a 12-story office
building located at 1933 S. Broadway, Los Angeles. It houses a variety
of creative endeavors and entrepreneurs. Although CGU is already
displaying art students’ work on the wall, it will have a grand opening
in January 2016.
“CGU had talked for a long
time about how great it would
be to have some CGU space
downtown and create greater
visibility in the Los Angeles
area,” Tammi Schneider, dean
of the School of Arts and
Humanities, said.
The space was acquired
to fulfill the Art Business
program’s promise of classes
in downtown Los Angeles.
It is a more visible location
for art students to showcase their work, university recruitment
opportunities, and a convenience for students in the area.
Along with Art Business and Arts Management, CGU plans to house
parts of the Getty Leadership Institute, host Tufts Poetry events, and
coordinate Executive Management courses or meetings at the Reef.
“Our hope is to have it used all day, every week,” said Schneider.
Other goals for the Reef include offering classes for all of CGU’s
schools and programs and providing a space for student groups.
The Pedant, 8.2
GSC
Challenges and changes
council has shaky start, finds footing
E
very GSC has great ideas for what the upcoming school year will
look like, but often times it takes getting into the meat of the
semester and facing unexpected challenges to reveal whether or
not those ideas will become a reality.
MEET YOUR
NEW GSC
VICE PRESIDENT
The 2015–2016 council has faced its share of hurdles already. And if
the mantra about graduate school is true—that it’s a marathon, not a
sprint—the GSC may have fallen behind, but they’re settling in for the
long haul.
JORDAN
RIDDLE
In the beginning of the semester, the vice president resigned to
accept a full-time job offer. The sudden departure left a vacancy in
one of the most important positions on the council. President Gloria
Page appointed Kerry Moreno to serve as the interim vice president
in the time it took to run special elections for the open position.
The council did not hold a general meeting until late October, during
which several issues came to light, including the new two-drink
maximum alcohol policy (for more on this, see page 4). At the
October meeting, the GSC approved the year’s budget, which will
allocate funds towards GSC parties and projects, travel and material
awards, and a class gift.
In spite of the difficulties of losing a key council member, the GSC
seems to be settling into action. In just a month, the council has
elected a new vice president, Jordan Riddle (for more on Riddle, see
to right); formed a task force to investigate the new alcohol policy;
moved ahead with travel award processes; hosted a successful
Halloween party; and made plans for the annual Friendsgiving dinner
with a coordinating food drive (see calendar on page 12 for more on
this).
The council seems to be gaining momentum that has the potential to
carry through to the spring semester.
GSC Secretary Sean Dixon
dons festive attire for
the Halloween Party
Hometown:
Memphis, Tennessee
Undergraduate school:
University of Memphis
BS in biology
School at CGU:
School of Community and Global Health
Concentration:
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Favorite restaurant in Claremont:
Claremont Craft Ales. Although it’s not a “restaurant,” the brewery schedules food trucks and caterers from across LA County (some of which have
followers). It’s also my place of employment, so I’m
just a tad partial. Why you’re excited about the
VP position:
As a first year at CGU, I made use of my
involvement to gain understanding of different
student organizations and departments. Their
potential is vast! I’m thrilled to be a part of
GSC’s movement towards better serving and
collaborating with student groups and associations.
These partnerships will open the door for many
new connections. It’s also thrilling to consider the
potential legacy these opportunities could have at
CGU! Leisure with dignity 5
Claremont Graduate University
To adjunct, or not to adjunct?
Something is rotten in the state of the academy
Is it nobler in the mind to suffer the slings
and arrows of tenure-track job searches, or
to take up arms against the sea of troubles
that comes with adjuncting? That is certainly
at least one of the questions that soon-to-beon-the-market students (that’s you) have to
ask themselves. If we learned anything from
Hamlet, it’s that indecisiveness ends in a blood
bath—but whichever side of the career track
you’re on, one thing is clear: Something is
rotten in the state of the academy.
P
you teach and how amazing you are. Which is all fine and good, but
what Great-Aunt Hilda is not interested in is the perils of adjuncting.
Adjuncting is a lot like being a 1099 employee. No benefits, no job
security, little to no support from administration, and absolutely no
opportunity for growth. The university has no long-term investment
in you as an employee, and yet expects you to perform on par with
your colleagues, who do have the benefits of an institution that
stands behind their professional development.
The problem of adjuncting hasn’t escaped the attention of higher-ed
publications recently either. It’s not merely a problem of an unreliable
career, but also one of poverty and financial insecurity. In 2012, the
Chronicle of Higher Education reported that between 2007 and 2010
the number of people with master’s degrees who received food
stamps and other aid increased 188 percent; the number of people
with PhDs who received such assistance increased by 244 percent.
hD students are often faced with the infuriating question—it
seems to happen with more frequency over the holidays when
you realize your eggnog is not nearly as spiked as you need it to
be—of how you are progressing in your program (e.g., “when are you
going to be done?”), but the horrible, inevitable, fit-inducing dreaded
question of “So what are you going to do with that? Teach?”
Although the adjunct around whom the Chronicle article was based
has since landed a tenure-track position, the problem of adjuncting is
still as real as ever. The American Association of University Professors
estimates that over 50 percent of all faculty members hold part-time
appointments. That is, they are adjuncts or receive similar treatment
to them.
Contrary to popular opinion, teaching is not the only thing that can
be done with a PhD, which you know as well as I do (see one Alfred
Einstein’s story in the graduate tip on page 12 for an example of this).
Alternative career options for the PhD abound, including research,
administration, as well as an array of alternative career paths that
have nothing whatsoever to do with the academy.
In February of this year, social media helped to spur National
Adjunct Walk-Out Day, during which adjuncts at universities across
the country either walked out, participated in rallies, or gave talks
surrounding the problem. The multi-faceted protest didn’t lead to any
major change, but it did spark discussion in mainstream news outlets
that gave an unprecedented voice to the problem. The proliferation
of stories discussing the lack of long-term job opportunities has
helped bring the problem to the national stage.
However, for some of us the answer is “Yes, I do intend to teach
at the university level.” Or, “Actually, I am already teaching, I’m an
adjunct.” The string of questions that follows is generally about what
6 Otium cum dignitate
The Pedant, 8.2
The New Yorker ran a story by adjunct Carmen Maria Machado the
March following the walk-out, which lauds adjunct professors as
necessary formative parts of all undergraduates’ educations, and
wonders what students would do if they knew how underpaid and
unsupported adjuncts were: “Would they question the value of
their education? Call for reform? Or would they do what I suspect
I would have done if I’d known…the most valuable teacher in my
undergraduate career was an adjunct: burned with embarrassment…
because I’d already received too much?”
Phoebe Maltz Bovy responded to the faith Machado places in
students in an article in the New Republic and warns against relying
on students to help solve the problem, arguing that they are not
“in a position to change the system.” And she is right. But if not to
students, to whom should adjuncts appeal, if any one?
Some have suggested that the biggest problem is in the job market
itself: The ratio for jobs available to PhD students is simply not equal.
Only 60 percent of graduates are getting tenure-track positions
after graduation.
CGU’s very own director of Career Development, Christine Kelly,
turned out to be an ideal person to turn to for navigating the
quagmire at present.
“I was a long-term adjunct. I did it for about 12 years,” Kelly said.
“The thing that made my gig doable was that my partner had a real
job, but it isn’t a sustainable lifestyle.”
Kelly’s experience of adjuncting whilst having a partner with a more
reliable job is not unheard of. Many academics have incomes that are
either supplemented by a partner or another, part-time job that they
do as well. But it comes with its pitfalls.
“When you’re an adjunct you get nothing. If you get sick, you’re
screwed,” Kelly said.
Another alternative is adjuncting at several universities at once.
CGU student April Anderson has been doing this for several years.
“The upside is obvious: getting lots of teaching experience, working
with diverse student populations, and developing my coursestaught repertoire. But it takes its toll. Driving exhausts both my
energy and the gas tank.”
There is some forward movement in closing the gap between tenuretrack and adjunct positions. The UC system has lecturer positions
that include job security and
benefits, but lack the title of
“professor.” Although these are
Some have suggested that the biggest problem
progressive, they are few and
is in the job market itself: The ratio for jobs
far between.
What is a graduate student
to do? To adjunct? Or not to
adjunct?
available to PhD
“Although the goal is a tenuretrack position,” Anderson
continued, “I wouldn’t give up
my adjuncting experience for
students is simply not equal. anything, because teaching
is completely rewarding; it is
why I have pursued a PhD. The
research, the scholarship, and the university mean nothing to me
without the students.”
One option is to avoid adjunct positions altogether. But at an
institution like CGU, where teaching opportunities are not built into
the curriculum (the closest thing we have is PFF, or working with an
undergraduate professor, often for little to no pay), adjuncting is one
way to get teaching experience. It’s expected of students working at
the graduate level to have led a classroom discussion, and to have a
theory of pedagogy—preferably one that we’ve explored in theory as
well as in practice.
In a highly competitive, but not impossible market,
every CV line matters, and that includes teaching
experience. But earning these lines comes with
many risks. It’s possible that a contract won’t
be renewed, or that the long hours of teaching
will take a toll on your research or scholarship.
The pressure of teaching could force you to
reduce your course load, ultimately
lengthening your time in a
graduate program and
increasing the dreaded
student-loan number.
Going on the job
market with an
excellent dissertation
but no teaching
experience could hurt you
more than help. The flip
side of this is that several
of us came to graduate
school so we could teach,
not so we could avoid it.
Kelly expressed similar sentiments. “You have to love teaching,” she
said. “And when you love it, you’ll make the sacrifice for it.”
Kelly, lucky for us at CGU, ultimately gave up on long-term
adjuncting and moved into administration at the graduate level
instead. Many of her efforts at CGU have been focused on alternative
career paths and plan Bs for graduate students if not everything
goes as planned. Kelly impresses the importance of having
a plan B, no matter how confident you are in your ability
to live the dream professorship.
“Sometimes the alternative job search is jumping out
of the plane without a parachute,” said Kelly.
“I’d prefer for you to have a parachute.”
The choice may seem like
a double-edged sword,
as so many swords seem
to be, but whether you
decide to take the path of
adjuncting or not—you’ve
thus been warned.
Something may be
rotten in the state of
the academy, but one
quality certain of the
PhD student is
that they do not
cower from a
challenge.
Leisure with dignity 7
Claremont Graduate University
its coloring, faux-sandbox, reading and noise-making stations with
exposed, child-height, highly valuable and fragile fossils with “do
not touch” signs. And when they say do not touch, they mean it (but
honestly, who wouldn’t stick their head inside a Tyrannosaurus Rex
skull?).
You don’t have to worry about getting lost or losing your party at
this museum. The museum consists of two floors, The Hall of Life and
The Hall of Footprints (and a propaganda film for the Webb Schools
featuring dinosaurs, which runs on loop in the auditorium). Now, I’m
no scientist, but I do know a thing or two about titles and I have to
say that The Hall of Life is a bit of a misnomer (though I can see how
The Hall of Death might be a bit off-putting on the boarding school’s
campus brochures). The Hall of Footprints, however, certainly delivers
on the promises of its name. There are all sorts of tracks to look at
and many you can touch. On this particular national holiday we had
the distinct pleasure of completing a minimalist crayon rubbing of a
set of mammal tracks from the Southwest desert.
La Bonne Vivante
by Megan M. Gallagher — writer, teacher,
epicurean, PhD student in English
Bonne Vivante, French: 1) a person having
cultivated, refined, and sociable tastes; 2) a woman
about town; 3) a pleasure-seeking hedonist.
As part of the Pedant’s mission to enhance student life, La Bonne
Vivante features goings-on about town outside of the moated ivory
tower that is CGU. This month, La Bonne Vivante explores the San
Gabriel Valley’s prehistoric past.
Il faut réfléchir avant d’agir.
One must step back before taking a great leap –French proverb
A
utumn in Southern California is the time of year for pumpkin
spice and looking over your wardrobe each morning while
trying to decide whether it is better to spend the morning
uncomfortably cold or spend the afternoon unconscionably sweaty.
We spend our days longing for Thanksgiving and winter break
and lamenting all of the work you had planned to do but never
got around to over the summer. For academics, this season is both
one of harvest and one of fresh beginnings. It is also, as your editor
Emily and I discovered, home to National Fossil Day (October 14)
and what better way to spend such a mammoth holiday than taking
a trip to our local Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology (or “The
Dinosaur Museum” if you’re in the know).
Located at the Webb Schools compound off of Baseline, this
Dinosaur Museum will really take you back in time. For starters,
they only accept their $6 entrance fee in cash or check and they
are closed on Sundays. They also have a decently sized collection
of dinosaur fossils and footprints. Children under four are free but
that is because, unless they are the prodigies that will soon be
going to the Webb Schools, there is no way to keep a child under
four entertained long enough to justify charging. This museum pairs
8 Otium cum dignitate
Once you overcome the misleading title, “The Hall of Life” has a
wealth of information about dinosaurs you have probably never
heard of. There are a few fan favorites from Jurassic Park, but the
museum is largely concerned with the rich prehistoric life in the
American Southwest. This must be part of some common core
curriculum or No Child Left Behind because everyone under the age
of 10 in this place is an expert paleontologist. Few things are more
degrading than taking a break from your PhD program only to have
an eight-year-old let you know that the “ancient duck” dinosaur
you’ve had a five-minute conversation about, the Huehuecanauhtlus,
is actually pronounced WAY-way-can-OUT-luss. Although its Greek
name is pronounceable and makes it sound boring (“other lizard”),
the Allosaurus (from Utah’s Jurassic period), is the jagged toothed
carnivorous specimen you wanted to see. Who would have guessed
the state that would become the home to notoriously kind people
and nearly impossible liquor laws was once home to such a terrifying
apex predator? Clocking in at 20 miles per hour and described by a
local, astute lad of nine as “a cool T-Rex with claws and horns,” this
was certainly a formidable predecessor to what I can only assume is
now a pigeon of some kind.
As you make your way back to the entrance (approximately 15-20
minutes after getting there) you have the option to go downstairs
and look at footprints. Yes, it really is 90 percent dedicated to
footprints; however, there are things you can touch down here and
this is where you will find the fossil of the now-extinct-but-stillcleverly-named “Giant Bear-Dog,” which, as you may well guess,
is a bear-sized creature with a dog-like face (apparently this is the
floor where names and titles deliver on promises). Amongst some
of their most prized footprints, you’ll find those belonging to one of
the oldest (and, historically speaking, also one of the last) elephant
Photos (left to right): La Bonne
Vivante examines fossils in the dig pit,
shrinks in terror from a T-Rex skull,
and fuels up for the next adventure.
The Pedant, 8.2
species of North America, a few dinosaurs, and, most horrifyingly, a
couple sets from extinct spiders and scorpions. Just take a moment
to think about how heavy a spider or scorpion has to be in order to
leave an impression while skittering across semi-firm mud. I take it
back; the Allosaurus is not the most nightmare-inducing exhibit on
display.
If you have children, particularly those of the younger and always
inexplicably sticky variety, make the Hall of Footprints your first and
final stop on this tour. They have “fossils” to dig up in a recycled tire
“sandbox,” dinosaur coloring stations, and a small library aimed at
this demographic. You can also pull some levers and make dinosaur
sounds or reconstruct a dinosaur skeleton if you are looking for a
bit more excitement for an older child. No matter the age, one thing
that will make every parent’s trip a little easier is that this place does
not have a gift shop. The dinosaur museum is committed to being an
educational center for prehistoric life from cells to mammals without
relying on toys, puzzles, and shark tooth necklaces to lure patrons
inside.
Anyone who has shopped at Whole Foods will tell you that there
is something immensely satisfying about knowing the origin story
of a product. A 19-dollar-per-pound bag of kale sounds almost
reasonable, if not responsible, when you learn it’s from a local farm.
Even if you hate the environment, want to contribute to global
warming, and don’t shop at Whole Foods, you can’t tell me you don’t
appreciate knowing who brought what at the company potluck
(people who will clip their fingernails at their desk do not have
homemade dishes that can be trusted). This is also true the next time
you fill up your tank after visiting the dinosaur museum. Suddenly
your car isn’t running on smog producing unleaded 87—it’s running
on pure, organic bear-dogs and predators from Utah.
THE RAYMOND M. ALF
MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY
LOCATION
1175 W. Baseline Road, Claremont, CA 91711
100 yards west of Towne Avenue, on the north side of
Baseline Road, on the campus of the Webb Schools
CONTACT
909-624-2798
HOURS
Monday–Friday: 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Saturday: 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Sunday: Closed
COST
$6
Leisure with dignity 9
Claremont Graduate University
student achievements
To share your recent achievement of the academic or vocational variety, e-mail pedant@cgu.edu with your name,
department, degree seeking, and a brief description of your achievement (see achievements on this page for examples).
Professional, high-resolution headshots welcomed; please, no other attachments or press releases.
Christina Kull Martens
Drucker School
MA, Management
Martens published Bring your D.O.G. to Work: A (Green) Person’s Best
Friend: The dog-gone easy guide to sustainability in the work place.
The book follows teams of green employees making changes for the
betterment of their companies, all with a lighthearted perspective
about how they go about it.
Gloria Itzel Montiel
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Education Policy, Evaluation and Reform
Montiel’s experience as an undocumented student at Harvard was
featured in the fall 2015 issue of the Harvard Education Magazine
in an article titled, “What About the Dreamers?” She is currently
one of four undocumented students at SES and hopes to continue
raising awareness of the challenges undocumented students face
in pursuing higher education.
Wm. Andrew Schwartz
Renee R. Rivera Duniven
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Special Education
Duniven was selected to present at the
2015 Council for Exceptional Children
(CEC) Teacher Education Division (TED)
conference in Tempe, Arizona. Duniven
presented three times at the conference
on a wide range of topics in special education. Her single-paper
presentation was titled, “Professional Development Influence:
Attitudes of Pre-Service General Education Teachers on Inclusion.”
Her two other presentations were presented in Petcha Kutcha format
titled, “The Art of Inclusion: Benefits of a Peer Buddy Art Program”
and “Teachers’ Evaluation of Their Confidence Levels: Implementing
CCSS for ELLs with LD.” The Teacher Education Division is one of 17
special-interest groups of the Council for Exceptional Children, the
largest international professional organization dedicated to improving
educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities.
Erika Sisneros
School of Arts and Humanities
PhD, Philosophy of Religion and Theology
Schwartz edited the collection Embracing
the Past—Forging the Future: A New
Generation of Wesleyan Theology with
Pickwick Publications. The book seeks to
engage twenty-first century issues from a
Wesleyan theological framework and brings
together contributions by young Wesleyan scholars and contributions
from senior scholars as a way of illustrating and articulating a new
generation of Wesleyan theology. Schwartz also contributed to the
collection with an essay titled, “Comparative Theology: Wesleyan
Theology in a Pluralistic Context.”
School of Community and Global Health
MPH, Leadership and Management
Sisneros has been awarded a scholarship
by the National Hispanic Health Foundation
(NHHF). The national scholarship program
is targeted at Hispanic students who are
committed to careers in healthcare and
enrolled as full-time students in dental, medical, nursing, public
health, and policy schools. She was awarded her scholarship at the
National Hispanic Health Professional Student Scholarship Gala in
November in Los Angeles. Sisneros will use this scholarship to fund
her last year of her MPH and to build her network with other Hispanic
healthcare professionals.
Rachel Hunt Steenblik
Joel Peterson
School of Arts and Humanities
PhD, Philosophy of Religion & Theology
Steenblik co-edited Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings with
Joanna Brooks and Hannah Wheelwright, published by Oxford
University Press.
Jamie Perlman
Sotheby’s Institute of Art
MA, Art Business
Perlman served as a gallery operations intern
in Venice Beach, California, during summer
2015 at The G2 Gallery that features nature
and wildlife photography. She currently works
their open art reception and film festival
events.
10 Otium cum dignitate
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Education Policy and Reform
Peterson’s book, Dreams of My Mothers, received the gold award
in the cultural fiction category for the 2015 Readers’ Favorite Book
Award. Peterson also authored an article for the Huffington Post blog
covering adoption this month.
Brian F. McCabe
School of Arts and Humanities
PhD, English
McCabe was named the Jordan–Potts
Emerging Scholar of the American
Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS).
The Pedant, 8.2
Melissa A. Navarro
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Teaching, Learning and Culture
Navarro, a student in the SDSU/CGU
joint PhD program in education, recently
presented at the California Council on
Teacher Education (CCTE) fall conference.
With her SDSU faculty mentor, Cristina
Alfaro, Navarro presented “Teacher Preparation Collaborative: Making
Rigorous Standards Accessible to Emergent Bilinguals,” a session
where participants critically examined key instructional areas for
supporting both pre-service and in-service teachers in effective
implementation of rigorous standards. Navarro presented her data
evaluation of Project CORE, a program funded by a $1.5 million
grant that prepares teachers to work with emergent bilinguals in
addressing the Common Core State Standards.
Kerri Dean
School of Arts and Humanities
PhD, History
Dean presented a paper titled, “Illuminating the Suburbs: Christmas
Lights and The Suburban Sprawl” at the UCLA/USC Graduate History
Conference: “DeepLA.”
Au Vo
Center for Information Systems and Technology
PhD, Information Systems and Technology
Vo presented his paper “Assessing Healthcare Accessibility
Algorithms: A Comprehensive Investigation of Two-Step Floating
Catchment Methodologies Family” at the twenty-first Americas
Conference on Information Systems held in Puerto Rico in the
summer of 2015. The paper discusses how geographic information
systems can be used to measure healthcare accessibility. The editors
for the special issue on big data of Information System Frontier have
encouraged him and his co-authors to submit an extended version
for publication.
Tamar Salibian
School of Arts and Humanities
PhD, Media Studies
Salibian recently presented research
in a roundtable discussion at the sixth
International Conference on the Image at
the University of California, Berkeley. The
roundtable discussion focused on themes
addressed in her dissertation research,
which is a study of the uses of metacommentary, self-reflexivity, and
confession in the branding of authenticity in reality television.
Ana Gabriela Kovats
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Higher Education
Kovats presented this past October at the
National Association for College Admission
Counseling (NACAC) National Conference
in San Diego, California. In collaboration
with Princeton University’s Preparatory
Program, Kovats presented “Networks
and Strategies to Support Low-Income Students.” Kovats focused
on the importance of parental and familial support for low-income,
first-generation students throughout the college admission process.
The presentation included her experiences from the field as well as
best practices for college counselors across the country working with
diverse student populations and their parents.
Soua Xiong
School of Educational Studies
PhD, Higher Education/Student Affairs
Xiong co-presented a research paper at the 2015 Association for the
Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Conference in Denver, Colorado.
The title of the paper was “Engaging Southeast Asian Men in the
Community College: A Qualitative Examination of Ways Counselors
Foster Welcoming Engagement” and his co-presenters were J. Luke
Wood and Frank Harris III from San Diego State University. Findings
from the study underscored relational facilitators of welcoming
engagement through establishing and developing the counselorstudent relationship with culturally appropriate engagement
strategies.
“Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham
www.phdcomics.com
Leisure with dignity 11
Claremont Graduate University
EVENT IN FOCUS
calendar
December 4
November 10–24 In collaboration with the Drucker School’s
Net Impact and the Peer Mentor Program, the GSC is hosting a
university-wide competative canned goods food drive. Donate
canned goods to your department (especially tuna, other canned
meats, cereal, peanut butter, rice, pasta, soups, and canned fruits
and vegetables). The food drive will benefit Inland Valley Hope
Partners, an organization dedicated to empowering people in West
San Bernadino and Los Angeles counties. For more information,
or to see if your department is participating, e-mail GSC Vice
President Jordan Riddle at jordan.riddle@cgu.edu.
November 23 Preparing Future
Faculty is hosting a workshop on
visualizing and creating learning
outcomes and a syllabus from
4:00 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. in the
Academic Computing Building
(ACB) 108 (130 E. Ninth Street).
November 24 The GSC will host the annual Friendsgiving
celebration at the GSC House (127 E. Twelfth Street) in case you’re
not headed home for the holidays, or if you just want to enjoy a
potluck dinner with friends. Join the festivities from 6:00 to 9:00
p.m.
November 26–27 Time to put the books down and pick up a
fork. Enjoy Thanksgiving break.
December 2 With paper deadlines around the corner, the
Student Success Center (131 E. Tenth Street) is offering a workshop
from 10 a.m. to noon on critical thinking and academic writing just
in time to help you finish finals.
December 4 The Division of Behavioral and Organizational
Sciences (DBOS) is hosting a Beers with Peers event (see event in
focus to right).
December 7 Don’t let digital technology intimidate your
teaching when Preparing Future Faculty is offering a workshop
on “Pedagogy for Technology Integration.” Learn how to correctly
use the daunting digital tools within the frameworks of a teachinglearning design from 4:00 to 6:50 p.m. in ACB 108 (130 E. Ninth
Street).
December 9 Like the zombie apocalypse, we all need a finals
survival plan. Join the Student Council of Arts and Humanities for
a Finals Survival Party at the IAC backyard at 4:00 pm. (1031 N.
Dartmouth Avenue).
December 14-19 A semester of preparation comes down to this:
finals week! Time to show your professor what you learned this
semester; write those essays and ace your tests!
December 19 It’s the last day of fall semester; enjoy your month
off. You’ve earned it!
Fall degrees awarded; Congrats, grads!
January 19 First day of spring classes. Welcome back!
12 Otium cum dignitate
BEERS WITH PEERS
Need a break from studying and want to get to know fellow
CGU students? Whether you chat about school or your love
for craft beer, don’t miss Beers with Peers. The Division of
Behavioral and Organizational Sciences (DBOS) is hosting
a Beers with Peers event at Claremont Craft Ales (1420 N.
Claremont Boulevard) from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. Enjoy two
free pours, unwind, and get to know fellow students.
graduate tips
CGU Professor David E. Drew
and the late Professor Paul Gray,
authors of What they Didn’t Teach You
in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints
for Success in Your Academic Career,
have been kind enough to allow us to
publish one helpful hint from their book
in each issue. This is so that one day
you don’t raise your fist in the air and
curse CGU for not teaching you that . . .
38. YOU MAY FIND as you go through your job search that you
don’t really want to work in academe or you may be one of the
unlucky ones who doesn’t find the right assistant professorship or
postdoc or assistant dean’s job. In that case, you start to think in
terms of finding other employment. The classic case was that of
Albert Einstein. In its April 8, 2007 issue in a story on Einstein, the
Los Angeles Times reported:
“His impudence and lack of deference to authority…alienated all of
his professors at Zurich Polytechnic…he was the only graduate in
his section…not offered a junior professorship.”
It made his career. A job was found for him at the Swiss Patent
Office that gave him time away from the pressures of meeting
classes and grinding out research papers so that he could think.
The result was Relativity Theory and much more. Eventually
he was invited to be a professor. The point of this story is that
innovation and creativity can be gained outside an academic
career as much as they can be inside. When you achieve the PhD
it is a point of discontinuity in your life when many alternative
paths are open to you. The tenure track is only one of them. Life
is, after all, what you make of it.
Claremont Graduate University
The Pedant
150 East Tenth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
www.cgu.edu/pedant