Hope you had an enjoyable spring holiday break. I know a couple of you were in and out of the office, while others remained far away. We are in the home stretch now for the end of the semester. I told the students in the InCommon blog that there's still time left in the semester to get things done. Here we go:
Debate Squad SCORES BIG--and the hits just keep coming!
Our debate team is currently at the National Debate Tournament. Here are some preliminary results:
Martin Osborn won top speaker at the 2008 NDT (and last week top speaker at CEDA)! Applause lasted about 5 minutes. Congrats! Michael Mapes 17th Speaker.
Octofinals began this morning and we await the results. Eric reports that this is the first time in as long as he can recall that we had TWO teams into the octifinals. UPDATE: One team lost in octofinals and one is through to the quarter finals (like elite 8).
Faculty Meeting Wrap Up
Banner changes approved at the faculty meeting. There is still time for additional changes or modification, those need to be forwarded to Randy before May.
Faculty Senate elections were completed.
Department Conditions Survey discussion. I've attached a short summary of this discussion here Dept conditions summary.doc. Please review it and provide comments. As I mentioned at the end of the faculty meeting, I want this to be a living document. Please provide your comments and I will include them. By the end of the semester, I have to provide a summary document to the faculty senate outlining our discussion and the outcome thereof.
Program Review Followup: I have gotten some clarification from Dean Adams about how the program review response is to proceed next. He indicated that it's his responsibility to provide a written response to the department regarding the program review. I have invited Dr. Belinda McCarthy to attend our April 16 faculty meeting at 2:00 and she has accepted. As a result of our faculty meeting discussion it was decided that we should invite Dr. McCarthy in order to discuss program review. Now that we know she won't be providing the written response, it is still an opportunity to ask her to comment on her thoughts of the process and how she imagines that resources will be provided to departments who receive positive reviews.
Getting ready for pre-registration
I have posted on the InCommon blog for students to make appointments for advising WELL in advance of their registration window. Pre-registration begins April 4 for seniors and grad students.
Dr. Lynn Harter guest visit week of April 22
Details to come on this, but Lynn Harter is going to do a guest lecture while here part of that week as well as visit with a graduate class or two. Please notify your graduate students about this visit, especially for those interested in qualitative methods and health com generally. I think Lynn will arrive on Wednesday of that week and stay through the weekend.
Advisory Council Meeting planned for April 25-26.
Details on this to come later as well. I am plannng it currently for Friday dinner and then Saturday business meeting beginning in the morning.
Position Requests forwarded to the college.
Each year the department heads submit position requests to the college in order to identify what positions and how many we can search for in any given year. Based on program review and discussions with the administrative team, I forwarded the following position requests in order of priority.
1. Permanent funding for Associate Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution.
2. A three year temporary Instructor to assist the Debate Team. This would involve teaching 3 sections of public speaking per semester, with 1 course reassigned to assist the debate squad. This position will be using my faculty line (which I negotiated to keep during my three years as head).
At the department head's meeting last week, the Dean announced that he would support the 3 year Instructor position for the debate team. The Associate Director position is on hold for coming year and it will continue to be supported again with money from the department and college. I am meeting with Dean Adams to discuss his plans for this position for FY10.
Kelly
I'm sure everyone is excited to get spring break going next week! What fun and exciting activities do you have planned?? Before we head off in all different directions, we've got an important faculty meeting this coming Wednesday, March 19 at 2:00. I'm attaching the minutes from the last faculty meeting Minutes-doc022008.doc for your review.
You have a memo in your box detailing these items 3_19_08 meeting memo.doc, but I've summarized them for you here: At our faculty meeting, we’ve got three tasks. First, we will discuss the curriculum issues surrounding Banner implementation. You received an email from me with an attachment that outlines a number of the undergraduate changes we might implement. Please review this list and provide feedback to Randy before the meeting. We should know by next week how these changes will be implemented, and we will vote on recommended changes. Second, we will have a number of elections for positions and committees relating to faculty senate.
Third, we will be discussing the results of the department conditions survey that was completed last December. In your box is a copy of the actual survey results for our department (N=13 responses) by item, with themes noted. What you should notice first among the results is that the majority of our collective responses are at or above the MSU and College means! That is indicative of an overall positive climate within the department. I’ve also provided a quick summary sheet Department Conditions Survey.doc of some items where we were far above the university and college means as well as items where there may be room for improvement. Please review these documents in advance of the faculty meeting.
Other Announcements
1. Please plan to attend and send your students to this year's Public Affairs Conference, April 15-18. This year's theme is Seeking Solutions: Conflict, Violence and the Courage to Change. Check out the website for specific panels, key note addresses, and attendees. Dianne Strickland, Professor of Art has organized a fabulous conference this year with with panels and topics that have wide-ranging appeal. Have you ever thought about how video games glorify violent behavior as the only viable course of action? Is violence a part of human nature? Why do we have monuments to wars? These are some of the questions posed at this year's conference.
2. Congratulations to Katie Striley who is the recipient of this year's CCSA Pamela Cooper Award! The
Cooper Award is named after former CSCA President Pamela J. Cooper and
is presented to one M.A. level graduate teaching assistant and one
Ph.D. level graduate teaching assistant. At the annual convention, the
recipients receive a $50 cash award and a certificate.
In addition to a recognition dinner at the conference for the Cooper award, Katie is also receiving the award for the top rhetoric paper at the conference:
Striley, K. M. (2008). Fear and loathing in the White House: A fantasy theme analysis of conservative web-based public relations. Paper to be presented at the Central States Communication Association annual meeting.
In addition to these achievements, Katie is participating on three other panels! CONGRATS Katie!
3. Congrats to the group of graduate and undergraduate students who presented at Oklahoma Sooner's conference last weekend. Isabelle witnessed some great presentations by our students. A couple of notables: Mallory Nolan won a top undergraduate paper and Lindsey Harness won a top graduate paper award. Congrats to everyone who presented!
4. Calendar Reminder: Monday, April 14, 3:00, Communication Honors Ceremony, PSU 400. We will award our COM scholarships, recognize the debate team results of NDT and have the LPH induction ceremony.
Have a great weekend.
Kelly