In addition to relief from August temperatures (we certainly hope), September brings many other welcome occasions to the College of Arts and Letters. The tenth annual Ozarks Celebration Festival kicks off this Friday with a free concert by local favorite Big Smith and continues through September 14, extending the 
traditional weekend event to a full week for the first time. (Festival 
coordinator Barb Jones can still use volunteers, if you're interested!) You can read all about the festival -- and much more about the Ozarks -- in the new edition of Ozarks Watch magazine, recently revived, revised, and redesigned by managing editor and English instructor John Turner. Ozarks Watch is a publication of the Ozarks Studies Institute, directed by Kris Sutliff, Professor of English. Read more about the festival, Ozarks Watch, and Ozarks studies below.
You should have several other dates on your September calendars, as well. President Nietzel will present his third annual address to the campus on Wednesday, September 12 at noon in the PSU Theatre. On Friday, September 21 the College of Arts and Letters will host a New Student Welcome on the patio north of Craig Hall from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Be sure to invite your students to come by for a free ice cream treat. The following Friday is the annual COAL Picnic at Phelps Grove Park, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Here, There, and Everywhere
"Here": The Ozarks. This month's Ozarks Celebration Festival (OCF) is designed to showcase the rich heritage and cultural traditions of the region, from crafts to music and dancing to storytelling. It is a visible and entertaining way to educate the community and the campus about the Ozarks. More broadly and perhaps less visibly, the Ozarks Studies Institute "seeks to preserve the heritage of the Ozarks, its culture, environment and history by fostering a comprehensive knowledge of Ozarks' peoples, places, characteristics and dynamics." The festival is one expression of that mission, as is Ozarks Watch. This year, with resource support from the Provost and COAL, OSI Director Dr. Kris Sutliff hopes to expand participation in the institute and establish its profile as a leading regional studies center.
One first step is expansion of the OCF to include a week's worth of workshops and presentations by scholars and other experts in Ozarks studies. I hope you will browse the schedule and find one or more sessions of interest to you. For example, Dr. Brooks Blevins, Director of Regional Studies at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas, will speak on "Beyond Hillbillies and Mountaineers: Ozarks Studies in the 21st Century; MSU Emeritus Professor Dr. Russ Gerlach will present on "Scotch-Irish and Germans in the Ozarks"; and one of Father Moses Berry's two presentations will focus on "Efforts to Preserve Local African-American History." Media, Journalism and Film Associate Professor Mark Biggs will screen his 1999 documentary, The Ozarks: Just That Much Hillbilly in Me, which many of us have enjoyed before.
I encourage you to be watching this year for more information on Ozarks studies and to consider how your own discipline might contribute to "preserving the heritage" and "fostering comprehensive knowledge" of the peoples, places, culture, and history of the Ozarks.
"There": Asia. No one has to tell us any more how important Asia is in the world and even to us here in the Ozarks. MSU has strong relationships with several universities in China and India; the university is a regional center of the Asian Studies Development Program, of the East-West Center, University of Hawaii; and in September MSU will be host to an international symposium on "Taiwan, China, and Democratization in East Asia." As opportunities for involvement in Asian Studies continue to increase, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and COAL have named an Asian Arts and Letters Coordinator to facilitate cooperation among various parties involved in Asian studies and to promote opportunities within the college and across the university. Weirong Yan Schaeffer, Modern and Classical Languages instructor, will teach Chinese and Japanese in addition to serving as coordinator. A three-year funding commitment from the Provost's Office is providing support for student travel and research, curriculum development, and guest speakers/artists. One example coming up this month: On Monday, September 17 the Music Department presents performances by the Chinese He Nan Song and Dance Troupe. The performances will feature the traditional music and dance of China.
And "Everywhere": Faculty and staff recruitment. Okay, I'm stretching here for parallelism, but the "everywhere" I am referring to is where we should be looking this year to find outstanding applicants for our open faculty and staff positions. We are beginning searches for nearly 20 positions, each one critical to its respective program. As I discussed at the all-college meeting, we have prioritized position requests and are not searching this year for every requested position; this makes the success of every search that much more important. Recruitment is everyone's responsibility, whether or not you are on a search committee. I would ask each of you to contribute to the recruitment (and subsequent retention) of excellent colleagues by doing the following:
- Email or phone colleagues at institutions granting terminal degrees and ask them to: (a) recommend their graduates, (b) recommend us to their graduates, (c) give you information about how to compete for their graduates, or (d) all of the above.
- Talk up openings at professional meetings and conferences.
- Network especially with people who can help you connect to potential minority candidates.
- Help the department put its best collective foot forward by participating in campus interview events like candidate presentations/performances, meals, and department meetings.
- After a promising candidate leaves campus, email them to thank them for coming and offer to answer any additional questions.
- Once an offer has been made, email the candidate to say you hope he/she will accept the position; after they've accepted, send a note of congratulations and welcome.
The college will be doing its part in recruiting by providing adequate recruitment budgets, offering competitive salaries and incentives, and communicating that the departments and the college are exciting, forward-looking places to work.
Also On Your Plates In September
In addition to the many events scheduled this month, departments are working on revising their merit compensation guidelines and other personnel documents, and probationary faculty are looking ahead to reappointment, tenure, and promotion applications. The Dean's Office will host an informational meeting about promotion, tenure, and reappointment processes for all interested faculty on Thursday, September 20 from 7:30-9:00 a.m. in the PSU Ballroom East. The Provost will be in attendance and the meeting will feature examples and advice from successful applicants as well as information from Dr. McCarthy and me.
Thank you for your commitment to an outstanding 2007-08 academic year. I hope to see you at one or more of our many September events.