VPAA Blog

This information is quoted directly from the “Dean & Provost” newsletter. It certainly describes the essence of the direction in which education is headed and why we should all be paying attention to this type of information. I believe that with our current student learning outcomes, including the ones we formulated for information literacy, we are heading in the right direction.

“The world your graduates must compete in is changing rapidly because of technology. Diana Oblinger, vice president of Educause, cited the following factors when explaining why you must prepare them at Education in Exponential Times, a Webcast offered by the Society for College & University Planning and the New York Times Knowledge-Network.

-Current students will have had 10-14 jobs by age 38.

-The top 10 in-demand jobs by 2010 did not exist in 2004.

-Employers rating the most important skills in new hires choose teamwork skills most often. Other important skills they list in descending order of importance, are: critical thinking/reasoning, oral/written communication, ability to assemble/organize information, and innovative thinking/creativity.

-The amount of new technical information is doubling every two years. By 2010, it is predicted to double every 72 hours. “

Effective education transforms the way students think. Consider these statements based on research:

Students who were interviewed after a “lecture” class with no opportunity for active learning/engagement in the class, only had a vague general notion of what the class was about.

In another study, 18 students were asked to answer 6 questions from a fourteen minute lecture. Only one student of the 18 got the answers correct.

Students who were taught using active learning strategies, could describe what the class was about and answer post-class questions correctly.

Reference: American Association of State Colleges and Universities Academic Affairs Summer Meeting, July 2007, “From Student- Centered to Learning-Centered.” Notes from a presentation by Carl Wieman, Nobel Prize in Physics (2001) and Carnegie Foundation’s 2004 U.S. University Professor of the Year.

Note that the BOR has created a web site to keep you informed of progress on revising the USG core curriculum. Check it out at:

www.strongfoundations.usg.edu

1. Ensure a smooth transition as Academic Affairs implements a new organizational structure by meeting frequently with deans, department heads, directors, etc to plan the transition and keep the campus community informed.

2. Increase collaboration with Student Affairs.

3. Provide oversight for the development of“service learning” pedagogy at NGCSU.

4. Increase opportunities for dean and department head development.

5. Continue to assess the impact of the N-L student success strategies that were initiated in 2006-07 AY and use the results to improve the strategies (early alert/intervention system, mid-term grades, use of ALTpin number, requirements to meet with advisors etc.).

6. Serve as an effective liaison between the BOR and the university by participating on BOR committees to which I have been assigned (Ecore, Council on General Education, Core Curriculum Steering Committee, and RACAA) and acting on vital aspects that affect NGCSU.

7. Implement the new faculty evaluation process with a special emphasis on rewarding innovative pedagogy and good advisement.

The Office of Institutional Research reports that we are keeping up with the growth in student credit hours with numbers of full-time faculty. From FY 05 to FY07, student credit hours earned increased by 7.3% while the number of full-time faculty increased by 7.4%. The percentages are only for full-time instructional faculty and do not include the instruction provided by administrators (department heads and deans).

Thanks to Charles Hawkins for his work on analyzing credit hours and faculty growth.

August 8, 9, 10, 13, and 14

8:00 - 5:00 New Faculty Orientation - Center of Teaching and
Learning Excellence (HNS Building)

August 10

3:30 - 4:30 Library Orientation for New and Staff - Center of
Teaching and Learning Excellence.

August 15 Returning Faculty Report

10:00 - 12:00 Human Resources Orientation for New Faculty and
Staff - Room ABC
1:00 - 2:15 BANNER Training

BANNER Training Topics include: Logon process, view class
rosters, submitting grades, viewing student transcripts and
generating degree audits/CAPP compliances. Newton Oakes
Center, Room 109

3:00 - 5:00 Faculty/Staff Convocation - Memorial Hall

5:00 - 7:00 Faculty/Staff Social - Memorial Hall

August 16

8:00 - 5:00 School, Division, and Department Activities, Planning meeting
as scheduled.

August 17

8:00 - 5:00 School, Division, and Department Activities, Planning meeting
as scheduled.

August 20

8:30 - 9:45 BANNER Training - Newton Oakes, Room 109

10:00 - 11:15 BANNER Training - Newton Oakes, Room 109 - For training
topics see explanation on August 15 above.

10:00 - 12:00 New Academic Administrator Training - Office of Academic
Affairs.

August 21

8:00 - 5:00 Advisement & Registration

5:00 Student Convocation and Ice Cream Social - Memorial Hall

August 22 Classes Begin

October 11

3:00 Faculty Business Meeting - Hoag Auditorium

January 31, 2008

3:00 Faculty Business Meeting - Hoag Auditorium

Foundations of Leadership (PSYC 1001) is a graded 1 credit core curriculum course.All new students are required to take this class to complete Area B.This gateway course is intended to introduce all students to the theories and principles of leadership.

Tomorrow’s leaders must have a comprehension of leadership theory which will guide their focus and actions; a strong value system with an understanding of how their value system will clash with social responsibility and other individual value systems; an appreciation of how power and culture affect their personal self-interest and empathy for the divergent views of the greater community; and an intuitive understanding of human behavior in interaction.

The course will begin on Sunday, August 19th from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm in the gym.There will be a national speaker to present the material on the first night.Attendance check in will begin at 5:00 pm, please arrive early to get in on time, get your syllabus packet and get a good seat. The course lecture will continue on Monday, August 20th from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.Lunch will be from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm. Commuter students will get a meal voucher for the lunch.If you are a transfer student you should expect a letter providing you with more information about this course.The required text for this class is Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a Difference by Komives, Lucas, & McMahon.

Faculty are required to add the following statement to their course syllabi:

Class Evaluations: Class evaluations at NGCSU are now conducted on-line through Banner. Evaluation of the class is considered a component of the course and students will not be permitted to access their course grade until the evaluation has been completed. The evaluations will be accessible beginning one week prior to Final Exam week.

The Division of Public Services/Continuing Education reports an impressive growth in CEU offerings.

FY 2005 - 268 programs for 3,150 participants resulting in 75,230 contact hours for 7,523 CEUs.

FY 2006 - 298 programs for 3,703 participants resulting in 87,242 contact hours for 8,724 CEUs.

FY 2007 - 322 programs for 3,679 participants resulting in 91,328 contact hours for 9,133 CEUs.

Congratulations to the division staff for a job well done!

As a reminder, today is the first business day of our new Academic Affairs organizational structure. Thanks to Judy McHan, the NGCSU web page has been undated to include the new school structure: http://www.ngcsu.edu/Academic/schools.htm

In addition, Philosophy has a new residence - the Department of History.

In terms of the Office of Academic Affairs and reporting structures, until we hire our new AVPAA, the following units/individuals will report to me as the VPAA:AVPAA - Enrollment Management - Dr. Terry McLeod

AVPAA - Budget and student academics - Dr. Kathy Sisk

Faculty Associate/Advocate - Dr. Richard Oates

CTLE Director - Dr. Irene Kokkala

Institutional Effectiveness - Dr. Denise Young

Deans of Schools - Dr. Bodri, Dr. Jespersen, Dr. Michael, Dr. Skelly

Office of Regional Engagement - Dr. Donna Gessell

Library - Ms. Shawn Tonner

Advisement Center - Ms. Jan Burt and Ms. Melissa Lach

Learning Support and Freshmen Experience - Mr. Campbell

Early Intervention/Early Alert - Ms. Ramona Robinson

Terry McLeod will continue to supervise the offices of the Registrar, Cadet Admissions, Undergraduate Admissions, and Financial Aid.

Donna Gessell will now be supervising the offices of Public Services and Sponsored Programs

Susan Perry will continue as the Graduate Admissions Officer, but will work with the deans per the individual graduate programs. Dr. Oates will have oversight of the Graduate Council.

Do you receive Academe Today by e-mail from The Chronicle of Higher Education? This daily e-mail newsletter is free and chock full of interesting higher education news. Linking to complete articles The Chronicle is just a click away from the library website at www.library.ngcsu.edu.

Here’s how to sign up for Academe Today.Go to https://chronicle.com/services/?slm Select “Create a free Chronicle account” & complete the required fields. Sign up for as many free e-mail newsletters as you can manage. Choose the e-mail format you prefer–either HTML or plain text. A confirmation e-mail with password will be sent to your e-mail account. Use this to set up your profile, change your password, add or stop newsletters, etc. You should begin receiving Academe Today in your e-mail account within 24-48 hours.Questions? Contact Shawn Tonner at sctonner@ngcsu.edu

Members of the FEC are to be commended for their great work on new evaluation methods. There will be more announcements to come regarding their work.

2006-2007 FEC Members:

Dr. Leo Downing, Chair

Mr. Todd Campbell, Learning Support

Dr. John Cruthirds, Math/Computer Science

Dr. Laurie Jossey, HPE

Dr. Barry Friedman, POLS/CRJU

Dr. Carole Brown, Chemistry

Dr. Joe Jones, Physics

Dr. Amy Childers, English

Dr. Brian Mann, MLAN

Dr. Hank Margeson, FNAR

Dr. Richard Byers, History

Dr. Steve Noble, PSY/SOCI

Dr. Lila Schwaner, Teacher Education

Dr. Tom Campbell, Biology

Dr. Marina Slemmons, Nursing

Dr. T.J. Gabriel, Business Administration

Dr. Irene Kokkala, CTLE

Ms. Betsy Whitley, Library

Dr. Carol Miller, PT

Although the BOR data lags behind, we have recently received a report that the total amount received for NGCSU in grants/contracts for 2006 was $1,302,922. Of this amount, $110,267 was classified as “research”, $892,733 as “instruction,” and $299,882 as “public service.”

We had 12 faculty members who underwent Post-Tenure Review for 2006-2007. Of these 12, 5 received a “satisfactory” rating while 7 received an “exemplary” rating. Congratulations to all. Linda R-B