Friday @ the Center
November 21, 2008
Congratulations Faculty Grant Writers!
We’ve had a flurry of grant writing activity this fall, with seven faculty devoting many long hours to the hard work of crafting grant proposals. Applications range from major federal grants to smaller foundations, but all are significant and deserve recognition. Smaller grants often serve as seed proposals for larger grants; an initial study can lead to further work; larger granting organizations take note when work has received prior support. Please join me in congratulating the following faculty for submitting grant applications during fall quarter and wish them the best in receiving awards:
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Debby Espinor, Education: Mannix Canby Foundation, for the “Going to College Program’s expansion into the Eighth Grade.”
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Frank Kline, Education: Wells Fargo Foundation, for the “Opportunities for Minorities” scholarship
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Kathy Lustyk, Beverly Wilson and Baine Craft, Psychology: Norcliffe Foundation, “PowerLab systems in the Applied Psychology Labs”
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Melanie Plett, Engineering: Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship, “Workplace Pathways of Degreed Engineers”
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Melani Plett, Engineering: National Science Foundation (NSF), “STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) ‘Belonging’ grant.”
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Kathy Stetz, School of Health Sciences: Human Resources and Service Administration (HRSA), for a program to increase workforce diversity called “Bridges to Nursing”
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Beverly Wilson, Graduate Psychology: National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), “Executive Attention and Self Regulation in Children”
Additional thanks goes to Laura Lundahl, Academic Grant Writer, for her work on all of these projects. Remember, if you don’t write a grant, you won’t get a grant!
New Books of Interest in the Library
Teaching NonMajors: Advice for Liberal Arts Professors by P. Sven Arvidson, is a short (94 p.) sensible guide written by a philosophy professor from Seattle University. With many concrete examples, Arvidson describes how to break up lectures, how to stimulate discussions, and successful strategies for engaging nonmajor students.
Creating Inclusive Campus Environments for Cross-Cultural Learning and Student Engagement, edited by Shaun R. Harper, is a collection of essays by both academic scholars and student affairs practitioners offering practical solutions, new models, and pedagogical strategies for creating inclusive environments that facilitate learning. One unusual feature is the inclusion of first-person narrative accounts from undergraduate students.
Thinking about Next Quarter
As you begin constructing your syllabi for Winter quarter, these words from Rosemary Feal, Editor of the MLA Newsletter, may provide food for thought and departmental discussion: “If I were preparing syllabi for my undergraduate and graduate classes, I’d wonder what the connection was to the rest of the curriculum of which my courses form a part. For many of you, that query may seem beside the point, because you already sit with your colleagues regularly to discuss the goals and content of first- and second-year courses, the structure of the minor and major, the expected learning outcomes, the approach to course offerings (historical, topical, comparative, and so on). If you do, then you might be surprised to learn that at many institutions faculty members . . . have no such conversations. Sometimes course offerings follow the logic of ‘What advanced course do you want to teach this semester?’ . . . More thoughtful discussions about what we want students to experience in our courses and major programs would steer us away from the notion that somehow we are independent contractors at our institutions.” MLA Newsletter, Fall 2008.
Happy Teaching,
Susan
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