The COAL Community

Scholar of Higher Education Named General Secretary of the AAUP

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Gary Rhoades, who directs the University of Arizona's Center for the Study of Higher Education, will take over the leadership of the nation's largest faculty association in January. Read More......(read more)

Purdue Punishes Professor Who Led Disputed Fusion Experiment

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

The nuclear engineer has lost a named professorship and his mentor status with graduate students as a result of what the university called his "deplorable" actions. Read More......(read more)

Professors Use the Democratic Convention as a Teaching Tool

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Political scientists are turning the Democratic National Convention into a learning experience by bringing students along as volunteers, conducting research, and posting videos of interviews with participants. Read More......(read more)

SAT Scores Hold Steady as Test Sees Slight Growth

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

A record number of high-school graduates of 2008 took the test, but the number represents only slow growth in the SAT's popularity. Read More......(read more)

At Democratic Convention, Politicians Advise Aspiring Young Candidates

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

A panel discussion featuring young elected officials gave college students and other young Democrats the chance to learn what it takes to make it in the world of politics. Read More......(read more)

Incompetence Tops List of Complaints About Peer Reviewers

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Scientists criticized peer reviewers of journal manuscripts for careless readings of manuscripts, unfamiliarity with the subject matter, and mistakes of fact or reasoning, a new survey found. Read More......(read more)

Veterans Get Hands-On Training in the Art of Entrepreneurship

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Texas A Read More......(read more)

Fate of Pollock Painting at U. of Iowa Stirs Outcry in Art World

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

A request for a report to evaluate the pros and cons of selling Jackson Pollock's "Mural" to pay for flood repairs at the University of Iowa has led to objections from museum associations and art lovers. Read More......(read more)

Sen. Grassley to Lead a Discussion on Endowment Spending and College Costs

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Sen. Charles E. Grassley and Rep. Peter Welch will hold a round table on September 8 in which higher-education officials and financial experts will discuss the relationship between endowments and college costs. Read More......(read more)

In Platform, Democrats Promise More Money for Research and Student Aid

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

On the first evening of their convention in Denver, Democrats approved a platform that calls for more federal student aid, greater support for research, and an end to the politicization of science. Read More......(read more)

Kentucky Supreme Court Says Foundation Must Release Donor Names

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

The court has ruled that the University of Louisville must disclose the names of 47,000 donors to its foundation because the public's interest in how the institution's fund-raising arm operates outweighs concerns for donors' privacy. Read More......(read more)

Scholars' View of Libraries as Portals Shows Marked Decline

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

The shift toward digital scholarship is changing the relationship between libraries and faculty members at institutions of all sizes, a new report says. Read More......(read more)

Missouri State opening day enrollment shows increase

Missouri State University News RSS — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:53:00 GMT

Opening-day enrollment at Missouri State University-Springfield is the largest on record, with 17,671 students, up 246 (1.4 percent) from last year’s first day total of 17,425. Read More......(read more)

Faculty Meeting Wrap Up

Kelly McNeilis — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:19:00 GMT

Good Monday to you. I hope you have a great first week of the semester. Please check your classrooms for necessary equipment (instructor table, overhead, lectern, etc.) and let us know if something is missing or if the room is in disarray.

Faculty Meeting Overview

Thank you for a very productive meeting last Friday. I think we made some good headway in getting a number of issues developed for this year. Thanks to John we have a rough draft of a leadership minor. I am meeting with Dean Adams tomorrow and will have him review this proposal and we'll move forward from there. We also have some great ideas ruminating about a writing test for admission to the major (among other writing ideas). The catalog copy was reviewed and we have a number of clean up items to attend to this fall. And finally, the discussion of speech and theatre led to some movement on course rotations and staffing of new courses. Thanks to each of your groups for the effort and enthusiasm put forward. We will continue to work on each of these topics, among others, as the semester goes on. I'll be in touch with a couple of members from each group to follow up on the ideas fowarded.

We also completed a number of elections for various committees this year.

Merit Committee: Randy Dillon (1 more year), Janis King and Char Berquist (2 year term)

COAL Scholarship Committee: Lynn Borich

COAL Student Success Committee: Jerri Lynn Kyle

QUICK NOTES

Merit Report: I will work on the annual merit report form in the next couple of weeks. As soon as I get it done, I'll send it out for your review. We should have a brief discussion at the next faculty meeting to confirm the changes from last year and have an opportunity to make further amendments.

Next Faculty Meeting: Wednesday, September 24, 3:-4:30, Craig 337

Colloquium: Monday, September 8, 12-1pm, Craig 337: "Is There a Doctor in the House?" Stephanie Norander and Heather Carmack

THANKS to Gloria and Noah for hosting the beginning of the year party at their house Friday. Great place, good food, and good company!

Additional Agenda Items not covered Friday

A. Current class enrollments and major numbers. I will provide these at the next faculty meeting in September.

B. Departmental commitments/activities this year:
i. Your requests for travel and equipment. Please submit your anticipated travel requests for this year. I've put the travel request forms in your mailboxes this morning and attached it here as well. You may also submit a request for additional equipment and that form is provided here. Please have both those submitted to me before our next faculty meeting in September. I have to submit a budget request to the dean immediately after that.

ii. Space issues: Depending on how you look at it, our temporarily cramped quarters in Craig this year is either a good thing or bad thing. The good news is that we moved all the Siceluff occupants into Craig hall. Additionally, we have welcomed two new faculty members into Craig hall. While Siceluff is being renovated this year...we are admittedly very cramped. That a number of you are sharing offices, in some cases 3 of you, is not the optimal situation for meeting with students nor having privacy to do your work. That is the bad news part of it. I ask that you be patient with one another as you share office space. It is temporary. The plans are to have Siceluff remodeled for a fall 2009 move in for the Language and English departments. When Languages moves out, we will reconfigure their offices across three departments (COM, Media, and Theatre). Those discussions are happening this year. Suffice it to say that I anticipate everyone having their own offices sometime during the 2009-2010 academic year.

iii. Banner changes affecting registration, class enrollments, and major admissions. These issues will be at the forefront this year as we will need to develop strategies for enrolling our students for fall 2009 classes when they don't meet pre-reqs related to admission to the major. The new banner system will NOT allow students to register if they don't have pre-reqs. This is a significant change from our current web reg system. I will continue to work with Nicole Rovig on solutions to our admission pre-req and share those ideas with you at faculty meeting.

iv. If you want to have a wireless account through the university, we can get that started for you this fall. Currently we pay $5 per month, per faculty, per wired port in offices. If you want to go wireless, it is a $5 additional monthly charge as well. In order to save on these costs, if you want a wireless account, we will de-activate your wired port. We will do your wireless set up first and get it established before we de-activate your wired port. Let me know via email if you want to do this. BTW, this does not apply to those already set up on wireless, obviously.

v. Bulletin boards. Thanks to Susan's offer to provide the department with a PR intern (1 or 2 credits probably) for the year, I will work with that person revamp, upgrade and maintain two of our current departmental bulletin boards this year (one in the first floor lobby and then the board to the right of the dept office, which currently has grad school brochures on it). We will then utilize Jerri Lynn's PR class to revise the "School" bookcase to the left of the dept office. If you have ideas of one of these boards/bookcases, let me know.

vi. COM Week, Sept 15-19. The theme this year is "Get your Reality Check: Making it in the real world with your communication degree." I've attached the current draft flyer here for you to review and then share with your classes to attend. I will be putting this information in the student InCommon blog this week too. We're still fine tuning the master classes, but the general ideas apply across them. Eric and I are working with Tom Black (alum) to give a keynote address at the luncheon on Friday and as we get that finalized (hopefully) we'll include that in promotional materials. I will also follow up with folks on the other possible master class presenters (from Noble and Penmack).

vii. Debate Watch Oct 15 at the Gilloiz Theatre. I mentioned this at the faculty meeting. As more details are ironed out, we'll share them with you.

viii. Rhwanda documentary and forgiveness in Com 405. Deborah Craig is taking a focus on forgiveness in her class this fall. She is planning to screen Patrick Mureithi's documentary in her class as well as (hopefully) invite him to speak with her class about the film. This is a great opportunity for the COM 405 students. As this opportunity develops, I'll have Deborah share her experiences at a faculty meeting. You can view a trailer for the film on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IUZSBGe2G4. You also can read Patrick’s blog at http://patrickmureithi.blogspot.com/.

ix. Will continue to use Head’s Up and InCommon blogs this semester...as you can read right now.

That's it for now. As other issues come across my desk this well, I'll send out brief emails. Have a good week.

Kelly

Inquiry Into Higher-Education Group Reveals Odd Connections

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

A higher-education group imitates the name and identity of a defunct organization, leading to questions about its purpose. Read More......(read more)

Debate Coach Fired and Team Suspended After Mooning

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Fort Hays State University fired its debate coach on Friday for his rude behavior at a national tournament and suspended its debate team over concerns that competitions had become too uncivilized. Read More......(read more)

Higher-Education Platforms Develop as Convention Season Begins

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Sen. Barack Obama has offered proposals to broaden access to higher education, while Sen. John McCain has emphasized the use of community colleges to prepare people for jobs requiring high-level skills. Read More......(read more)

Biden, Picked for International Expertise, Is Familiar With College Issues

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

'Cinematic Maps' Animate Historical U.S. Election Data

Chronicle.com - Today's News — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

A digital project by historians illustrates voting patterns over time via a series of animated maps. Read More......(read more)

News Analysis: Will Drinking-Age Fight Elevate Role of University Leaders?