Dear Colleagues,
I’ve finally emerged from the tomes of PTR dossiers. For the last several weeks, my reading pleasure has been philosophical treatises on teaching and research. These carefully crafted personal statements reveal fascinating inner thoughts of talented and dedicated faculty. Their commitment to advancing knowledge and preparing students to be independent and thoughtful thinkers makes the reading of these countless pages similar to being captivated by the intrigue reminiscent of a fine mystery novel. Or so it seems. Nevertheless, these dossiers affirm that IU South Bend has among its professorial ranks the brightest scholars in the nation. I eagerly anticipate their continued growth in the many years that follow.
During spring break approximately fifty students from IU South Bend went to Biloxi,
Mississippi to extend a helping hand to their fellow citizens in re-building their community. Kudos to them and to the faculty and student services staff who accompanied them. I invite you to read their personal reflections on the ADP blog site.
From all accounts, it was an enriching and satisfying experience. As a native of the Gulf
South, I am grateful for their services and thank them for embodying the values that we seek to instill in each student through the power of an IU degree. The general education core, the American Democracy Project, the One Book, One Campus, and the campus theme are purposeful projects that engage our students in understanding the world around them and in empowering them with a critical knowledge in shaping that world.
In early February, I traveled to New Orleans to visit family. I was struck by the contrasts of a tale of two cities, uptown and downtown New Orleans. I dined on turtle soup and redfish Etienne on St. Charles Avenue and had not yet seen my mother’s home and the miles of wasteland that could only be akin to witnessing Nagasaki after the big bomb or a barren, lifeless landscape after the attack of extraterrestrial powers. Many family members and friends have re-located in the once empty spaces between New Orleans and
Baton Rouge. New communities have sprung up in what once had been fertile cow pastures or swampy terrain. Just off the interstate, a billboard proudly boasted of a new subdivision, proclaiming a river community bridging New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
But my family is among the fortunate; the empty and weather beaten houses in New
Orleans were a sad reminder that many remain displaced with dwindling hopes of ever returning to the Big Easy.
The Assessment Committee is now accepting applications for the Spring round of
Assessment Grants. These grants, for up to $3000, are intended to give academic departments the opportunity to research, implement, evaluate and share innovative assessment ideas for assessing student learning. This opportunity is available to all IUSB faculty. Applications will be accepted until March 6th, and recipients will be notified by the 16th. The application and guidelines can be downloaded from the Assessment
Committee website.
The Assessment Committee is sponsoring a workshop this spring, Capstone
Experiences and Their Uses in Learning and Assessment: Mountaintops, Magnets, and Mandates, Steven Hundley and Karen Black from IUPUI will be sharing their material which they have presented in a number of different venues. This practical workshop should be valuable for all departments that are considering, or currently have, a capstone component to their degrees. The workshop will be held the afternoon of Friday
April 7 th
, from 1:00 to 4:00. Registration will be limited. Please contact Rhonda
Culbertson, (x5598) for more information.
We just received another generous donation to our United Way Campaign, so our updated total is now $29,115 or 108% of our goal. These wonderful results would not have been possible without your leadership, time, and commitment in the past few months. Thank you one and all for doing this good work for our campus and our community!
In case you get any questions about the drawing for the AVEO, the 10 finalists and 5 alternates will be randomly selected from those who qualify (i.e. gave $52 more than last year, and completed the paperwork on their form) on March 2. The winner will be announced on September 12, 2006, at the kick-off of the next St. Joseph County United
Way Campaign.
POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT
HONORS PROGRAM DIRECTOR
A search & Screen Committee has been formed for the purpose of advising Vice
Chancellor Guillaume on the selection of an Honors Program Director. The position begins August 1, 2006. The Search Committee seeks nominations and applications for this position; all full-time tenure track or tenured faculty members are eligible for consideration. A letter of nomination or application should be sent to: John McIntosh,
Associate Dean College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 3300G Wiekamp Hall, IU South
Bend
Candidates are asked to submit a vita, three letters of recommendation, and a brief statement describing their interest in Honors education and their specific qualifications for the position. The Search Committee especially is interested in learning about the candidate’s vision, aspirations, and goals for the Honors Program. This material should reach John McIntosh by Friday, March 24, 2006.
Dr. Marianne Castano (Bishop) recently joined the University Center for Excellence in
Teaching as Instructional Strategies Consultant. Before coming to UCET, Marianne was the Manager of Instructional Technology and Training at Rhode Island College, responsible for faculty and staff development as well as the integration of technology with pedagogy and practice. Marianne was also a faculty member at the University of
Massachusetts-Boston and Rhode Island College, and worked as a researcher at the
Education Development Center, Inc. She is also an advocate for disability and diversity issues. Marianne completed her doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of
Education, majoring in Human Development and Psychology, and minoring in
Technology in Education. Her office is located at Northside Hall 233.
Marianne looks forward to meeting more faculty members of IUSB at the 7 th
Annual
Midwest Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) which is cosponsored by FACET and UCET. On April 7 th
, Dr. Ken Bain, founding director of the
Center for Teaching Excellence at New York University will be the keynote speaker from
9:30-10:45 a.m. The title of his presentation is “Start with the Student: Research on How
Students Learn” where he highlights research findings featured in his book, “What the
Best College Teachers Do.” His book won the Virginia and Warren Stone Prize awarded every year by Harvard University Press for outstanding books on education and society.
The SoTL Conference starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. in Wiekamp Hall.
NIBCO will sponsor the capstone seminar in the MS MIT program. It will now be called the NIBCO IT Management Seminar Series
21 st
Century Speaker Series will host Bethany McLean, Fortune Magazine reporter who broke the Enron story; Monday, March 27, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. in Weikamp
1001
$30,000 in workstation furniture is to be donated to the School of Business and
Economics by Northwestern Mutual
B&E chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma awarded Premier Chapter for 2004-05 year
(for 85% or more membership acceptance rate)
Updated SB&E website is completed and will be up soon with great help from
Gary Browning and Dan O’Bryant in IT - Thanks to efforts over the past few months of Gary Browning and Dan O’Bryant from IT, and Asghar and P.N., the School of Business and Economics’ web site has been freshened up. We look forward to further improvements in both its content and functionality but I want to take a moment to express my appreciation for the progress that has been made to date. Have a look if you have a moment
( http://www.iusb.edu/~buse/ ) and please feel free to share any thoughts or suggestions.
New ad campaign under development that will focus on strong student outcomes captured by the Educational Testing Service exit exams
Linda Thorpe Gordon, associate faculty member, named Walton Free Enterprise
Fellow for 2005-06
Best wishes,
Alfred J. Guillaume, Jr.
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs