Search results matching tag 'HeadsUp'

Faculty Meeting Wednesday, March 18

Kelly McNeilis — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:03:00 GMT

Hey everyone,

It's the week before Spring Break and all through the halls, the faculty were stir crazy and the students missing in action. Hopefully you aren't nuts yet. We've got a faculty meeting this week. Here are a few highlights and things to prepare for:

1. Faculty Senate Elections: We need to nominate people at Instructor and Associate Professor rank to run for ranked senator positions. Each dept forwards one name for each rank and those are placed on a ballot for faculty (at that rank only) to elect a faculty senator to represent that rank.

2. Health Communication major revisions discussion. Attached Health Communication Major Proposal.doc are a few items for you to review before the meeting. Heather Carmack has headed up an ad hoc committee to discuss how the major can be revised to attract new students. Members of the committee are Heather, John, Lynn, Isabelle, Stephanie, and myself. Heather and I will review the proposal & discussion thus far by the committee. There is no vote planned at the meeting, only for you to provide initial input into the proposal so that the committee can continue to fine tune the proposal.

3. The main item is to provide a forum to discuss our strategies for responding to "low productivity" as described in the president's email. I will share a few comments about what those numbers mean. Also, I have met with the administrative team to brainstorm possible responses and I will share those as a starting point. I've attached a working RecruitmentPlanDraft09.doc document of those items here. I'd like you to review the list of action steps before Wednesday's meeting and provide your input at that time.

4. There will likely be a few miscellaneous items added by Wed. For example, we still have to discuss the writing test plan previously submitted, soI'll put that as old business. If time, we'll follow up on Wednesday, or push it to April. If you have something you'd like to add, please let me know.

Unique Opportunities To Explore: Jobs and New Courses Offered

Kelly McNeilis — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:47:00 GMT

My last post provided information about COM scholarships and I hope you have taken my recommendation to apply based on your qualifications. March 1 is the deadline, so you've got plenty of time to complete your application, request letters of recommendation, or write a short essay. With money tight for everyone these days, finding all available sources of funding for your continued education is very important. These scholarships range from $300-$1000, which will be applied to your 2009-2010 account.

This week's post is about additional opportunities and offerings coming up. Be sure to check out the updated COM bulletin board in the lobby of Craig Hall (next to the newstand). I have updated staff and student profiles as well as a couple of new quotes for February.

Summer 2009 COM courses

The budget for offering summer classes is tight. Of course, we always offer COM 115 sections because students always fill those up. However, other COM classes are more difficult to fill, so I am advertising those that we are offering so you can make plans to take one or both.

COM 209, online, full 8 weeks: Ms. Heather Walters
COM 315, M-R, 12:30-1:45pm, full 8 weeks. Dr. Elizabeth Dudash
If you would like to see another course offered, please email me as soon as possible. If enough people request the same course, we may be able to open a section.

Planning for Fall 2009 Registration

With the arrival of new faculty (Carmack and Norander) we have a great opportunity to offer special topics classes to explore their areas of expertise and current practices in communication. In the next few blog posts I will highlight a specific course that we are offering which I believe you should consider putting in your fall schedule. Here's the first:

COM 597/698: Health Communication and Culture. Tuesday 6:30-9;20pm. Dr. Heather Carmack

Jobs in the health care field are predicted to rise each year, despite the economic downturn. Dr. Carmack's research specialty is health communication, the study of communication processes in the delivery of health care. This special topics class (undergrads register for COM 597 and grad students for 698) focuses on communication in health with an emphasis on how culture influences the experience and delivery of health care. This class explores the role of culture in how we understand and make health decisions. It explores both Western and non-Western cultures and their conceptions of health. Learn about how cultural experiences shape how we communicate about health. This topics (COM 597) course should count in any COM major or minor program...check with your advisor. Health com, intercultural, and interpersonal majors especially should take this course!

Career Expo 2009 Coming Soon

Summer vacation is only 100 days away!

Where will you work?

Find a FULL-TIME job, a SUMMER INTERNSHIP, or a PART-TIME job

at the Missouri State University Career Expo 2009

When? Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 1:00- 5:00 PM

Where? University Plaza Convention Center, St. Louis Street, next to Kentwood Hall

More than 100 EMPLOYERS will be there to meet you!

For additional information or for help preparing for the Expo,

call us at 836-5636

or visit the Career Center- Carrington Hall 309 or Glass Hall 103

Don't be jobless June 1^st!

Speaking of Internships--PR Majors should look into Fleishman-Hillard Internships opportunities.

Did you know that most PR agencies hire college grads only as interns as a "training" period to see if there is a good fit? Fleishman-Hillard is a St. Louis based agency and is a leader in this practice. I'm attaching here a Fleishman-Hillard STL Internship Brochure.pdf with information about their internships and how to apply.

Thinking of something cool to do after graduation?

CIEE Teach Abroad Programs

February 2009

Why CIEE?

Since October, the job outlook for most recent graduates has gone from bad to worse. On January 12th, the New York Times reported, "There are 11.1 million unemployed people in the United States, and the unemployment rate is at a 16-year high." CIEE Teach Abroad programs provide college graduates with semester or academic-year paid teaching positions in Spain, Chile, China, or Thailand. No matter their career aspirations, teaching English abroad is a fantastic opportunity for graduates to:

Build transferable management skills in the classroom
Acquire international savvy and perspective through full cultural immersion
Make a difference in the lives of students and school community
Gain real-world skills and international competency
Improve their foreign language ability

Why CIEE?CIEE Teach Abroad programs are the most comprehensive foreign teaching programs available worldwide, offering complete service and support. With over 60 years experience in international education, you can trust CIEE.

CIEE provides:

An English Teaching position with primary, secondary, or university level students
A local stipend (to cover living expenses and some travel!)
Comprehensive in-country orientation
Accommodations (full housing in Thailand, China, and Volunteach Chile; temporary housing in Spain/Chile)
Knowledgeable staff offering pre-departure and 24-hour in-country emergency support
Visa advice
Travel and medical insurance
TEFL certification at a discounted rate
Teaching, language, and cultural resource materials

Teach TimelineAll of this is good news for frustrated job seekers! CIEE offers programs to accommodate anyone at any point in their job search.

VolunTeach Chile starts May 25, apply by February 15 ~Graduate in May, start working RIGHT AWAY!
Teach in Thailand starts May 5, apply by February 21
Teach in China starts in late August, apply by May 1
Teach in Spain starts in late September, apply by March 15
Teach in Thailand starts in mid-October, apply by June 15

I hope that you encourage your students to explore the experience CIEE Teach Abroad programs offer. If you or your students have any questions or would like additional posters and brochures, please do not hesitate to contact me.

SincerelyJ. Spencer Jones
Director of Non-Credit Programs
CIEE International Work & Study Programs

Tel: .207.553.4045
Fax: .207.553.5045
Email: jsjones@ciee.org
Web: www.ciee.org/teach

In the category of "something to think about"-- FACEBOOK and your boss

Check out this article on CNN.com about if you should friend your boss from work. It's definitely something to think about as you move from school to work. I wonder if you think the same decision rules applies to friending your faculty members as well. What do you think? Post a comment...

Kelly

SNOW DAY Updates

Kelly McNeilis — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:23:00 GMT

HAPPY SNOW DAY! This ice storm is initiation for Heather and Stephanie—Welcome to the winters in Missouri.

Congratulations to Sandra and Cliff House for 45 years of marital bliss! Happy 45th anniversary Sandra.

Budget Update: Dr. Nietzel spoke at dept heads meeting yesterday and echoed what Carey has put in his dean’s blog and emails: we are cautiously optimist about this and next year’s budget because of Governor Nixon’s deal with the state universities. In the meantime, we are not to go back to “business as usual” with our budgets. We are not going full tilt on faculty/staff searches at this point and Carey has yet to give his decision about current college searches. Further, Dr. Nietzel is continuing his policy to restrict international travel and unnecessary in-country travel. Carey has not put a limitation on requests for travel funds this semester, so I anticipate honoring the Central States and Sooners travel requests. There are a few of you with international travel requests and we should meet soon to review those.

I am in the process of reviewing our current budget and as long as we get our expected transfers IN to the budget, we should be fine. At this time we have spent half of our typical budget (allocated budget + carry forward from ‘08 online, course and honors payments). So we are on track to have small carry forward for next year…which, is what we planned on. The president indicated yesterday that he is not going to withhold a portion of each college’s carry forward monies, indicating that salary and other savings should remain in colleges. So, I feel positive that we won’t be “taxed” for carry forward money by the president. What is still unclear is if the dean will do this. I’ll keep you posted on Carey’s budget plans, as I know them. I am happy to report that thus far we have been able to honor most of our budget priorities this year (new faculty initiatives, travel requests, equipment funds, and part-time work for the graduate college and debate team).

Reminders
ADVISEMENT UPDATE: With fall registration we will be using the new Banner registration system. As such because all pre-reqs will be enforced at the time of registration for students, we want as many students who are in progress with their admission requirements not to be encumbered (registration block) due to not being admitted.

As you may recall from our last faculty meeting, we agreed to admit all students who were currently IN PROGRESS with a core course or completing 59 hours. At this time we are not including those who are below the 2.5 gpa and those who are on probation. I will consider exceptions for those who are very close to the gpa. Realize that if a student who is admitted now does not meet those requirements by the end of the semester, his/her registration will be dropped will require a registration override from the dept office in order to re-register for classes. We want to have as few of these as possible, but of course it’s up to the students to complete their requirements.

What to do: Check your advisee list and identify those who are currently in progress with meeting admission requirements (unless they do not have the overall gpa met). Contact them and make an appointment to begin the admission paperwork as soon as possible, preferably in February. The sooner we get this done, the less hassle students will face when it comes time to register. Not only is this a student friendly policy, it also allows us to have as many eligible students as possible to register for our upper division courses this fall. As a reminder, ALL pre-reqs are now being enforced at the point of registration. So there is much at stake here in getting as many undergraduate students admitted as possible. Let me know if you have any questions.

May Commencement: Please plan to attend. You should have already received information about reserving regalia. Please submit this or if you have your own regalia then RSVP by March 13. Our students always enjoy having faculty at graduation to celebrate with them and in many cases they want to introduce you to their family. As before, the dean’s office will award the dept with the most faculty in attendance at commencement with money for food at a future departmental faculty meeting. COAL will walk at the 10:00am ceremony.

Faculty Meeting Agenda: 3:15 in Craig 337 (slight time and room change from previous semesters).

1. General announcements
2. Com 115 mass lecture discussion
3. COM Scholarships 2009-2010 update
3. Banner policy changes review
4. Handouts
    General Education revisions
    Digital Measures (electronic vita) update

Faculty Meeting Items:
COM 115 and large lecture sections. Discussion have been going on with myself, John and Carey about moving a number of Com 115 sections into a mass lecture format with break out sections for giving speeches. Initially we were concerned with some student satisfaction data that John received recently. One option that emerged was to have a full time faculty member give a lecture one or two days a week and then have graduate students grade speeches in smaller breakout sections. We need a 250 seat lecture hall and also discovered those are few and far between on campus.   We have been able to secure Carrington Auditorium and others are becoming more available as administration is working to release more space. Now we’re looking for faculty to provide their input. So, one main issue for discussion on Wednesday is to get your impressions of this format change and the implication of it for the basic course and instruction generally. We look forward to your input.

Other banner reminders/policies:
Beginning the fall 2009 semester, you must declare your grading policy in your syllabus. This deals with the new plus/minus grading option that will be available this fall. You need to inform you students in the syllabus what you grading scale is.
Beginning the spring 2010 semester, MWF classes will begin at 7:30, and have 15 minutes between classes.

A few changes have been discussed relative to the basic skills component of the general education program. IDS 110 has seen the most changes as it is being proposed to become a 2 credit hour course. Additionally, the CIS 101 course may go away for the majority of students who test out of it (likely during SOAR). And financial and information literacy components are being sought as additional elements of the basic skills. GEP 397 is still under review but currently it is unlikely to return to the program and instead replaced with the additional components noted above. I have this information in a table format from faculty senate, but it’s not here at home with me to attach. I will have it for tomorrow’s faculty meeting.

Have a great rest of the day, stay safe, and hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow for our faculty meeting.

Kelly

December 3, 2008 Faculty Meeting

Kelly McNeilis — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:43:00 GMT

Do you recognize this place?

Perhaps not. This is a picture from a few weeks back of one of the rooms in the house that Jay and I are remodeling...Yikes huh? Let me assure you, OUR DEPARTMENTAL HOUSE IS NOT IN THIS DISARRAY. In fact, with respect to our operational budget we are doing very well, so take a deep breath. However, as with any house, there are places to tidy up.

We have a scheduled faculty meeting this Wednesday at 3:00 in Craig 337. Please make every effort to attend—it is our last faculty meeting before break. And, with the news of budget cuts recently from Dr. Nietzel as well as discussions on UDIG and in the halls, we have a number of items to discuss. In particular I will be looking to you for feedback on a number of staffing, course planning, and budget issues. In advance of the faculty meeting, I am meeting with the administrative team to review these items to get some initial ideas floated. Once we’ve narrowed down some of the issues, I’ll email you with ideas to review before the meeting on Wednesday. At this time the faculty meeting agenda will revolve around adjustments to the spring 2009 schedule, planning for fall 2009 course offerings, and some possible curricular items. I’ll also share with you some updates on academic policy changes that are coming down the pike relative to Banner implementation. We also have a number of accomplishments of our faculty and former students to celebrate. My plan is that our meeting will be frank and realistic relative to budget planning and that it includes some enjoyable items too. The holidays are coming, you know.

Events of Note This Week

1) Departmental Colloquium: Noon-1pm, Craig 337. Graduate Student Seminar Paper Presentations.

2)Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 7:00 PM, Glass Hall 101. Leadership Speaker Series will present a lecture by Shawn Askinosie.

3) Wednesday, December 03, 2008, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, PSU 313. Provost Research Forum
Art Spisak, Modern and Classical Languages, speaking on Leadership
Chad Stearman, Chemistry, speaking on Chemistry applications.

4) Thursday, December 4, 11am-1pm, COAL Holiday Open House, Craig Hall Lobby

5) Thursday, December 04, 2008, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, PSU 313. Advisor Forum: "Including the Public Affairs Mission in Advising Sessions." Madeleine Kernen, Dave Lutz and Rhonda Ridinger will serve as panelists on the topic.

6) Friday, December 05, 2008, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM, PSU 313. Banner Informational Session:
Topics will include the registration and advisement time line, the new repeat policy, admission to degree program changes, the overload policy and the last date to drop or withdraw.

7) Friday, December 05, 2008, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, PSU 313. Academic Advisor Forum: Gloria Galanes and Susan Waters will meet with interested academic advisors to present information on generational issues.

8) Friday, December 5th from 5:30-7:00 at PCOB. The CDR is hosting an open house for Volunteers and COM faculty. This open house also coincides with first friday artwalk.

Draft Faculty Meeting Agenda

Budget Update
Scheduling and Course Offerings
   Spring 2009 schedule: Enrollments so far
   Course caps
   Fall 2009 schedule
   Summer 2009 (who wants to teach?)
Curricular items
   Brief review of Banner policy changes
   Tentative: Changing permissions in online courses
Others to be added?

Kelly

Catching up after faculty meeting, planning for next faculty meeting

Kelly McNeilis — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:40:00 GMT

Minutes from Sept 24 faculty meeting were attached to the email you received announcing the blog.

Reminder: Faculty meeting October 15, 3:00, Craig 337

Items for discussion to include: Banner policies and admission to the major, report of writing in the majors committee, Public Affairs in your courses list, NFL tournament participation, and others to be added.

UPCOMING EVENTS for your calendars:

• Debate Watch, Wednesday, Oct 15 at 7:00 at the Gilloiz Theatre. Liz’s 597 class is organizing the event. Consider extra credit to your students for attending! Panel discussion before debate and Q&A afterwards.

• Come to the COAL tailgate party, Saturday from 11:00 a.m. -- 1:00 p.m. FREE FOOD and games for the kids, visit with former students, and enjoy the great weather.

• Celebrating our retired faculty members!

• Russ Keeling to be inducted into the Wall of Fame on Friday, October 10 at 3:30 on the 3rd floor of the PSU near the elevators. PLEASE plan to attend so that we can support Russ’ accomplishments and contributions to the university for over 30 years.
• Don Stanton will receive the Homecoming Award of Recognition Friday, October 10 at the Homecoming Dinner.
• On Friday, October 24, we’ll have a reception for Don to congratulate him on this award. It will likely be at 3:00, location TBA. Please put this item on your calendar!

Let me know if there are other events you'd like to post on the blog.

Kelly

Mid-Summer Updates

Kelly McNeilis — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:06:00 GMT

Good June/July to you,

Hope your summer is going well and that June was productive. We've still got July and part of August to make progress on all our summer projects. I keep telling myself that "there is still time!" so that I don't keep "lamenting" that the summer is almost over. In keeping with that notion that there is still time, I've got a couple of items for your consideration.

1. For full-time faculty, your 2008-2009 salary statements are here and have been placed in your mailboxes!

2. GOOD NEWS: Stephanie Norander has successfully defended her dissertation as of June 24. If you get a chance, do drop her a congratulatory email: snnorander@yahoo.com or sd829494@ohio.edu
MORE GOOD NEWS: Russ Keeling again scored among the highest honors teaching evaluations for COM 115 last spring, according to Art Spisak. Congrats to Russ for posting some of the highest evaluations in all honors courses for fall 2007 and spring 2008!
**Russ will be inducted in the PSU Wall of Fame this October. The entire 2008 class of inductees will be honored during a special ceremony at 3:30 October 10 in the Plaster Student Union's West Ballroom. The event will be open to the public. We should show up en masse to support Russ in this recognition of his service to MSU. Russ joins Holt Spicer, a 2002 inductee.

3. As you work on your syllabi for fall classes, please be sure to include the required boilerplate info from the Provost. Here is the link the that information: http://www.missouristate.edu/provost/syllabi.htm

Also remember that if you are using Turnitin (the plagiarism detection system), we recommend that you inform students via the syllabus. Suggested wording is as follows, and this could be included in the section on academic dishonesty:
“Students’ papers may be submitted to Turnitin, plagiarism detection system. Students will be allowed to submit their own papers, and the instructor may also submit a student’s paper. Please visit the Turnitin website at http://turnitin.com.”

4.August 22 is the date for our beginning of the year faculty retreat.
The CDR is hosting us in their downtown space this year. Some of you may remember the old Bank of America building. It’s now called the PCOB (Park Central Office building) and the CDR is now located there and has some great space there for training and other programs. We have three dedicated classrooms for COM 115 there as well.
We will meet in PCOB, 2nd floor room 209 for a continental breakfast and tour. So, please schedule 8:30-4:00 for our retreat. As the summer progresses I’ll send you draft agenda items.

5. A couple of items for your calendars:
• The COAL all college faculty meeting is set for Thursday, August 21, 9-11 a.m., in Karls 101.
• NCA panel information has now been posted for your review. You are advised to register immediately for the conference, if you plan to attend. I would also recommend that you reserve your hotel space and start checking on flights as soon as possible. Hotel space is at a premium this year, so reserve early. You may contact Karen to reserve your hotel room centrally on our departmental budget. Please keep in mind that your travel allocation will be roughly $750 from the dean, and likely another $350 from the department for a total of $1000 for one major conference this year. I will be asking for your travel requests again at the first faculty meeting.

6. Two Upcoming Issues for consideration this year:

• Plus/minus grading approved at June Board of Governors Meeting

The plus/minus grading proposal passed by Faculty Senate (VD BOG Resolution Plus Minus Grading System.pdf) was approved by the BOG in June, specifically:

• This new grading system will be slated for implementation in Fall 2009 and should be included in syllabi statements.
• The grade C- is defined as “slightly below satisfactory work” and is assigned a point value of 1.7.
Two very practical implications of this:
• Students with a cumulative “C-“ average fall below the 2.0 threshold of academic
eligibility.
• A course grade of C- will not satisfy course and program requirements to earn “a C or
better.” This means we will have to discuss how this affects our core and overall gpa requirements for admission.

Also important to note: Faculty have the choice of whether to use pluses and minuses or not, but your choices must be explicitly noted in course syllabi.

• There will be an appeals process created for students whose eligibility for scholarship
renewal is adversely affected by plus/minus grades.
• There will be a study of the impact of plus/minus grades after two years to determine any
effects on GPAs and scholastic honors at graduation (cum laude, etc.), the results to be
shared with both Faculty Senate and SGA

• SB389
Senate Bill 389 requires that state colleges and universities publish certain “quality” information, ncluding information about their faculties and student evaluations. Based on the preference of Faculty Senate, MSU is attempting to comply with the student evaluation requirement by having students voluntarily answer online five global questions for each of their classes. However, out of over 4000 sections offered this spring, fewer than 1% of those sections had at least 10 student responses. ALC has asked Senate Chair Pauline Nugent to approach the Senate Executive Committee about endorsing the idea of administering these five standardized questions as part of the written, in-class evaluations that students already complete.

Take care and we'll be in touch soon,

Kelly

Salutations, Congratulations, Nice One!

Kelly McNeilis — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:57:00 GMT

Greetings everyone,

Hope you are enjoying the early part of your summer break. Things are rockin' and rollin' here in Craig Hall. As many of you know, Siceluff is being vacated for renovations and the big move day was today. This move included our Basic Course Staff. Thanks to those of you who boxed up all your belongings and marked them accordingly. With John B's able assistance and direction, we got all the furniture, journals, and random items marked and boxed up yesterday for the move today. John's also been working hard these last couple of days to get the GA office in Craig 394 ready for the grad students this fall. I appreciate all your patience as we make this transition. I'm sure it will take a few months to get everything where we want it (including my office...what a pit!). Thanks also go to Karen for her great work in getting all the phone transferred as well as data ports and name plates for the offices. I'll send out another update later this summer when things get more organized.

The real reason for this email is to make some exciting announcements. Please be sure to congratulate these folks on a job well done!

Isabelle has been named the COAL Dean's fellow for graduate education and research. Isabelle will be working with the dean's office next year to coordinate research efforts and graduate program initiatives, all with a one course release. We know Isabelle will represent us well.

Randy #1: has graciously agreed to be acting director of graduate studies next year while Isabelle has her new appointment. "Second time around" Randy, as we like to refer to him, has been grad director before and so he knows the ropes quite well. He'll be teaching COM 601 this fall and working with all things graduate students.

Randy #2: was recently notified that his manuscript "How alumni narratives of intercultural competence can inform the scholarship of teaching and learning of intercultural communication" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Congrats Randy!

Robyn has been appointed Assistant Director of the Basic Course! She will be assisting John with administration of the COM 115 program. A few things she'll sink her teeth into are graduate assistantship mentoring, weekly staff meetings, and other duties as assigned. I'm sure everyone will give their support to Robyn as she embarks on this administrative journey.

Dr. Russell Keeling, Emeritus faculty member has recently been approved by the Board of Governors to be accepted to the Wall of Fame in the Plaster Student Union. He will be officially inducted at a ceremony October 10, 2008 at 3:30 in the PSU ballroom. I hope you will join me in attending the ceremony to support Russ for his "too many to count" accomplishments while a member of this university for 34 years.

Char and the fine folks at the CDR have recently announced the start of Missouri's first ever adult victim offender mediation program with the Greene County Prosecutor's office. You received an email about this earlier in May, but it bears repeating that this is a cutting edge program in restorative justice and our hats go off to Char and Heather and the rest of the many volunteers with the CDR! They want me to remind you that there are trainings coming soon for this program.

FREE VOLUNTEER TRAINING May 30 - June 1, 2008

The CDR is offering a two-and-a-half day victim-offender mediation training on May 30 - June 1. This training will prepare volunteers to mediate juvenile and/or adult victim-offender cases. Click here for more information. <http://www.missouristate.edu/cdr/VictimOffenderMediationTraining.htm>

Basic Juvenile Victim-Offender Mediation Training (Friday, May 30, 5:30 - 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 31, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sunday, June 1, 9 a.m. - noon)

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER

Click here to read more about the training <http://www.missouristate.edu/cdr/VictimOffenderMediationTraining.htm> or to register now! http://www.missouristate.edu/cdr/VictimOffenderRegisterNow.htm. You can also read more about our Victim-Offender Mediation Program at http://www.missouristate.edu/cdr/JuvenileVictimOffenderProgram.htm

If you have other exciting news you'd like to share, please do by posting a COMMENT here on the blog for others to see and appreciate! Have a great summer!

Kelly

April 16 Faculty Meeting Agenda

Kelly McNeilis — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:15:00 GMT

In preparation for Wednesday's faculty meeting, below is the agenda. I want to stress a couple things about this meeting. First, we've invited the Provost and Dean to meet with us to discuss their goals and plans relative to program review. We have recently committed one position in the department to fund the CDR associate director as our main priority. This is tied to our priorities that evolved out of program review. Among other commitments we've made internally as a department (faculty research, debate, basic course), tomorrow is an opportunity to ask both the Provost and Dean to articulate their responses to our very positive program review. I will make a few introductory remarks at the beginning of our meeting in order to set the stage for them to respond. Beyond program review, this is our opportunity to ask questions of the Provost on other issues of interest to you.

Second, we've got a couple of additional items to attend to after the Provost and Dean are done. If you have other items for discussion or questions to pose to the group, let me know before the meeting and we'll add them to the agenda.

1. Welcome:
    Dr. Belinda McCarthy, Provost
    Dr. Carey Adams, Dean, COAL

2. Allison Coltharp – Visit to China report

3. Senior Instructor Criteria process

4. Updates – Congratulations

    May 7 is Showcase, need to change faculty meeting date:
        April 30 or May 14

    Kelly Tenzek – finished 4th in oral presentations at IDF
    Katie Striley – received Graduate Teaching Award at IDF

    Banner changes confirmation of changes
    Graduate faculty needs to meet and recommend all course changes

Kelly

Welcome Back Spring Breakers

Kelly McNeilis — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:16:00 GMT

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

Before Spring Break--Faculty Meeting Prep and Important Announcements

Kelly McNeilis — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:40:00 GMT

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