29 April - Committee chairs & committee members

To: Faculty April 29, 2005

From: Senate Coordinating Committee

Below is a list of faculty who will be serving as committee chairs or as committee members beginning in the Fall 2005.

27 April - 2005-2006 Faculty Colloquium Series - Call for Proposals

The 2005-2006 academic year will bring a new Faculty Colloquium Series (FCS) to our campus as an opportunity to come together as an academic community. Faculty from all disciplines are invited to submit proposals for scholarly presentations.

Please send proposal titles and paragraph-length descriptions, along with your preference for a presentation date to Melinda Kovács at kovacs@cord.edu.

Available presentation dates are:

October 18, 2005

January 24, 2006

February 7, 2006.

Applications received before the end of May will be given special consideration, although later submissions may also be accepted.

All FCS events are scheduled on Tuesday afternoons from 4:30 to 5:30 in Frida Nilsen Lounge. Presentations typically run for 40 minutes and are followed by a 20-minute Q&A session. Faculty presenters receive an honorarium of $150.

26 April - Fulbright Scholarship

Fulbright has just announced the opening of their US Student Program for 2006-2007. Because the October 10th deadline for this scholarship comes so early in the Fall semester, students frequently do not have sufficient time to prepare a competitive application; this is most frequently the case when they only hear about the Fulbright Scholarship after their return to campus in the Fall. As a result, I need your help in identifying possible applicants for next year’s competition before they disperse for the summer. Here is some basic information about Fulbright Scholarship Program.

Scholarships are available in a wide variety of academic fields and for professional training in the creative and performing arts. They will fund a year abroad in a country where students already have some language and cultural expertise. Applicants must be graduating seniors (Dec. 2005, May,2005) and US citizens. Consult the Fulbright website, www.fulbrightonline.org (after May 1st) and see David Sandgren, Fulbright campus advisor, (MA 323, tel. 299-3502, email sandgren@cord.edu) for more details. (The campus application deadline next fall is October 10, 2005)

Please send me the names of talented students known to you and members of your department who might be interested in this scholarship and please email the above paragraph directly to them.

Thank you very much for this assistance.

David Sandgren Fulbright advisor

26 April - Faculty development opportunities

To: All Faculty

From: Jim Aageson, Chair, Division of Arts and Humanities

June 1 is the deadline to register for the 11th Annual Midwest Qualitative Research Conference being held at the University of St. Thomas June 22-24, 2005. www.stthomas.edu/aducation/events

This year's conference plenary sessions will focus on critical research and the examination of how power works through policy, organizational structures and practices in our workplaces and communities. Critical research challenges practitioner-scholars to address poverty, violence, racism and other forms of domination and exclusion.

25 April - Workshop on team-based learning (TBL)

To: All Faculty

From: Barbara Aarestad and David Moewes

Colleagues,

Sorry to bother you at such a busy time in our academic schedule, but on June 8 and 9 the college is sponsoring a workshop on team-based learning (TBL) and we would like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about TBL and its capacity to completely change the learning dynamics in your courses. Dr. Larry Michaelsen, Professor of Management and Business Communications at Central Missouri State University, will conduct the two-day workshop. Dr. Michaelsen developed team-based learning after being frustrated at having to give lectures to students that hadn’t read the assigned material, were often absent from class, and had very little motivation.

Why Faculty May Be Interested in TBL

Team-based learning is a powerful and effective way to teach, using teams of students that, through trust and commitment, become cohesive teams that have the capacity to do things that no single individual can do. Through The Readiness Assurance Process, teachers can rely on students coming to class prepared to learn, prepared to discuss substantive aspects of the assigned readings. The TBL grading system provides incentives for students to prepare before class and for working hard on behalf of their teams and peers. Students learn to take responsibility for their own learning, for helping others to learn, and most importantly, learning how to learn on their own. With TBL, teachers spend their time developing creative and focused in-class learning exercises instead of lecturing on basic concepts that students should have read about before they came to class.

TBL addresses most, if not all, of the problems and frustrations that teachers have with group work and assignments. Teams are not groups -- members of teams build trust with one another and commit themselves to the overall welfare of the team. Teams utilize the unique skills and talents of each member to do things that no single student can accomplish on their own.

Teachers in various situations and with varying subject matter have used team-based learning effectively. The strategy is increasingly being used in medical and other health sciences programs as an effective approach encouraging application and cooperation. It works in many classroom settings; for example large classes and students with limited English language ability.

We urge you to seriously consider enrolling in this workshop – it has the capacity to transform your teaching in so many ways. To tempt you further, here is a link to a website with video demonstrations of TBL in action: www.teambasedlearning.org

Thanks for taking time to read this.

Barbara and David

25 April - Grade Submission

TO: Faculty

FROM: Carole Stalheim

Final grades for the Spring 2005 Session will be due on or before MAY 3 at 4:00 p.m. You will be able to access your classes on the WEB beginning, Tuesday, April 26.

Instructions for electronic grade reporting, and information on how to obtain and use faculty web security accounts are available on-line. Please remember to lock the sections after the grades have been finalized. If you have problems accessing the WEB, please contact Dr. Alex Sze, WEB Support Specialist at sze@cord.edu or call x4153.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.

25 April - Summer workshops, 2nd notice

There is still time to sign up for a summer workshop! Please notify Shanda Schmidt (sschmidt@cord.edu) if you would like to attend any of the following workshops:

The following faculty workshops will be offered during the summer of 2005. If you would like to register for one or more of these workshop opportunities, please indicate your selections on the list below; you may register for as many as you like. Faculty with at least half-time appointments, and 9-month contracts during the 2005-2006 academic year will receive participation stipends of $100 per day for most workshops (pro-rated for half-days). The maximum stipend is $300 for the summer. Thank you in advance for your interest.

MAY WORKSHOPS 

May 10th MCARI Workshop (no stipend provided) 

May 16th-18th Conducting Ethical Research Using Human Subjects: What do I need to know? 

May 17th-18th Service Learning & Classroom Engagement 

May 19th Personal Response Systems in the Classroom

JUNE WORKSHOPS 

June 1 Blogs and Wikis? - New Communication Tools for Instruction 

June 2nd-3rd Assessment Workshop 

June 8th-9th Introduction to Team Based Learning 

June 14th Beyond Registration: Advising for Vocation (identical to 6/30 session) 

June 14th-15th Sciences - Library Research 

June 20th-22nd Principia New Faculty Education Workshop 

June 24th Incorporating Video Project Assignments in Your Courses 

June 27th Learning to Use Learning Objects 

June 28th-29th Preparing for Promotion and Tenure Reviews 

June 30th Beyond Registration: Advising for Vocation (identical to 6/14 session)

JULY WORKSHOPS 

July 12th-13th Book Discussion: "The Miner's Canary" 

July 19th-20th Sustaining the Liberal Arts: Strategic Planning for Academic Affairs 

July 26th-28th Vocation in the Academic Life

AUGUST WORKSHOPS 

August 17th-18th Principia Faculty Re-Focus Workshop

20 April - Summer faculty workshops

The following workshops will be offered for faculty this summer:

MCARI Workshop

Conducting Ethical Research Using Human Subjects: What do I need to know?

Service Learning & Classroom Engagement

Personal Response Systems in the Classroom

Blogs and Wikis? – New Communication Tools for Instruction

Assessment Workshop

Introduction to Team Based Learning

Beyond Registration: Advising for Vocation

Sciences – Library Research

Principia New Faculty Education Workshop

Incorporating Video Project Assignments in Your Courses

Learning to Use Learning Objects

Preparing for Promotion and Tenure Reviews

Book Discussion: “The Miner’s Canary”

Sustaining the Liberal Arts: Strategic Planning for Academic Affairs

Vocation in the Academic Life

Principia Faculty Re-Focus Workshop

For more details, see the workshop descriptions and schedule.

18 April - April F.Y.I. Assessment and Institutional Research Newsletter

To: Faculty and administrators

From: Kay Schneider

The April assessment and institutional research newsletter is online (access is restricted to a Concordia internet connection) at: http://www.cord.edu/dept/acd/local/assess/april2005.htm (html version) and http://www.cord.edu/dept/acd/local/assess/april2005.pdf (pdf version.)

Contents include:

Announcement of "Talk About Learning" workshop

Exploration Seminar Survey Results

College Student Beliefs and Values Survey Results

Comparisons of Concordia to other ELCA colleges (enrollment, retention, faculty salaries, etc.)

Hard copy is available on request.

Kay Schneider, Director of Assessment and Institutional Research

15 April - May and July Graduates

The list of 2005 May and July graduates may be viewed at the registrar's website.

Please report the names of seniors who will receive failing grades or a grade of incomplete to the Registrar's Office by 1:00 p.m. on Friday, April 29. (Diploma inserts for these students are withheld until the incompletes are made up or until the student has completed the requirements for the degree.)

Honors for the commencement program are based on the semesters in which grades have been earned (including transfer credits.) Final calculations for honors will be made after the grades for the current term are recorded. Students will be informed of any changes in status at that time.

Final grades must be submitted on or before 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 3. You will be able to access your classes on the web on Tuesday, April 26.

Please Note: The on-line list of graduates is current and is subject to change.

Thank You.

Carole Stalheim Registrar

15 April - Dovre Center Faculty Lecture

To: Faculty

From: Dovre Center for Faith and Learning

The Dovre Center on Faith and Learning Faculty Lecture:

“Muhammad Iqbal and Charles S. Peirce: A Meeting of Two Minds, Two Civilizations and Two Religions”

Dr. Basit Koshul Assistant Professor of Religion

Dr. Richard Gilmore Associate Professor of Philosophy

7:30 P.M. WEDNESDAY, April 20, 2004 Jones Science 212

SPONSORED BY: THE DOVRE CENTER FOR FAITH AND LEARNING

13 April - Written responses to Task Force Report

To: All Faculty

From: Mark Jensen, Chair, Core Committee

The Core Committee has been charged with gathering written responses to the Curriculum Task Force report from all academic departments. Individuals are welcome to respond as well. These responses, along with the feedback received from last week's open forums, will be used to guide the Task Force and Curriculum Coordinating Committee in formulating a series of motions for Senate action in the fall of 2005. We ask that you use the following questions to guide your response:

1. How well does the proposed curriculum reflect the Goals for Liberal Learning?
2. What are the strong points of the proposed curricular model?
3. What changes would you like to see in the proposed model?
4. In what ways will your department be impacted by the adoption of this proposal?

Please send all responses in electronic form to Mark Jensen (jensen@cord.edu) by Friday, April 22.

13 April - Presidential Inauguration

Colleagues,

Saturday, April 23, 2005 will be a historical day in the life of Concordia College. President Pamela Jolicoeur will be inaugurated as the college's 10th president. To celebrate this occasion, the college is planning several events.

Thursday, April 21: Inauguration Symposium: "American Education at the Dawn of the 21st Century" Keynote Speaker: Dr. Paul E. Peterson, '62, Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government, Harvard University

Dr. Peterson will address the state of education in the United States and the implications it has on higher education. His address will be followed by responses and questions by Concordia faculty Max Richardson, Polly Fassinger, and Michael Wohlfeil. I urge you to attend this event which will provide an academic initiation of the Inauguration festivities. The address will be in the Francis Frazier Comstock Theatre and will run from 4:00-5:15.

On Saturday, April 23: The Inauguration begins at 11:00 in Memorial Auditorium. Faculty and staff will meet at 10:20 a.m. in Old Main to prepare for the Procession into Memorial Auditorium. (If the weather is inclement, faculty and staff will assemble on the upper balcony of the Olson Forum.) We are asked to park on the north side parking areas so that the lots closest to the Memorial Auditorium will be free for our guests. Professors, associate professors and the president's cabinet will assemble on the second floor; assistant professors, instructors and staff will assemble on the first floor. We will wear our academic attire for the Inauguration. Following the Inauguration, there will be a reception for President Jolicoeur in the Olson Forum. Coat racks will be available on the Olson Forum's upper balcony for our attire.

Inaugurations are very special occasions and give us an opportunity to celebrate our support for the college and demonstrate our support for President Jolicoeur. I hope that as many faculty and staff as possible are able to attend the events celebrating the inauguration. However, I also know that some faculty and staff may have other engagements on Saturday that you must attend. We want to have just enough seating available for all faculty and staff. Therefore, I am asking faculty to call or e-mail your Division Secretary by Wednesday, April 20th if you are not able to attend the Inauguration on Saturday.

Faculty in the Division of Natural Science and Mathematics and the Division of Social Sciences and Professional Disciplines contact Pat Bastion (299-4514 a.m./299-4513 p.m. -- bastion@cord.edu).

Faculty in the Division of Arts and Humanities and the Division of Literature, Languages and Cultures contact Shanda Schmidt (299-4936 or 299-4344 -- sschmidt@cord.edu)

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Mark J. Krejci, Ph.D., Interim Dean & Vice President for Academic Affairs

12 April - 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Forum Call for Seminar Proposals

TO: Concordia Faculty and Administrative Staff

FROM: Lowell H. Larson, Nobel Peace Prize Forum Coordinator

RE: 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Forum Saturday Seminar Proposals

Luther College, Decorah, Iowa will host the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Forum March 10-11, 2006. The theme is "Striving for Peace: Sustaining the Planet" and the forum will honor the work of Nobel Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai who will be the keynote speaker.

Luther College has asked that we provide our faculty and staff with an early notice for the annual "Call for Proposals for Saturday Seminars" so that you can be thinking about a proposal over the summer, or working with students on a proposal. The documents include the official Call for Proposals, an application form and a theme overview document. Please take time to review this information and give serious thought to submitting a seminar application.

Another announcement will be sent out next fall. There will be an on-line process for submitting proposals in place by this fall, however, you could submit a proposal at this time by using the attached paper application or by email. There will be an on-line process in place next fall.

Please call me at 299-4366 or email me at llarson@cord.edu if you have any questions.

12 April - Community Time 4/15/05

Colleagues,

This is a reminder that we will have a meeting on Friday during community time in the Centrum. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the study document for the social statement: "Our Calling In Education: A Lutheran Study". Paul Dovre, co-chair of the task force responsible for the document, will attend and will solicit our feedback. When you received the document in your P.O. box, Dr. Jolicoeur suggested that you pay particular attention to Chapter 6, "Our Church in Higher Education."

Thank you for your attention to this matter and I look forward to our discussion.

Mark J. Krejci, Ph.D. Interim Dean & Vice President for Academic Affairs

12 April - Tim Wise, anti-racism educator

The attached is information regarding a presentation by Tim Wise on Concordia College's campus on Thursday, April 14, 2005.

Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S., and has been called, "one of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation," by best-selling author and University of Pennsylvania professor Michael Eric Dyson.

Wise has spoken to over 80,000 people in 47 states, and on over 350 college campuses, including Harvard, Stanford, and the Law Schools at Yale and Columbia. He has trained corporate, government, and law enforcement officials on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions. In summer, 2005, Wise will serve as an adjunct faculty member of the School of Social Work at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Wise is the author of two books White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son (Soft Skull Press) and Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Routledge). He has contributed essays to a dozen books and anthologies including White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism and Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations. Wise is also featured in White Men Challenging Racism: Thirty-Five Personal Stories (Duke University Press).

His writings are taught at hundreds of colleges and have appeared in dozens of popular and professional journals. Wise serves as the Race and Ethnicity Editor for LIP Magazine, and articles about his work have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle. He has been a featured guest on hundreds of radio and television programs, worldwide.

Wise has a B.A. in Political Science from Tulane University, where his anti-apartheid work received international attention and the thanks of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Sharon Fineday, Director, American Indian Recruiting and Programming

7 April - Faculty development opportunities

To: All Faculty

From: Jim Aageson, Chair, Division of Arts and Humanities

Following is a list of programs, workshops, grants and conferences available for faculty professional development and growth. Some opportunities are also available for students, so please contact any students who may be qualified.

Complete information including descriptions, eligibility requirements, and registration deadlines about each of these is located in the Division of Arts and Humanities Office in BW247, or contact Shanda Schmidt at the Division of Arts and Humanities (4344 or sschmidt@cord.edu).

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April 15 is the deadline to submit proposals for the Collaboration's November 18-19 conference "Diversity Here and Now" Holistic and Sustainable Approaches to Multicultural Learning"

For more details on the conference, visit The Collaboration's website at www.collab.org

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The Institute for Experiential Learning invites nominations for faculty to attend the "Faculty Fellows Internship Program" in Washington, D.C. Faculty come to Washington for a semester to engage and utilize their skills and knowledge in a setting that complements their discipline. The faculty member then returns to campus with a different understanding of how his/her discipline is valuable within a business, government or nonprofit work setting. For more information: www.ielnet.org

Deadline for Spring Semester (mid-January to early May) is July 31.

6 April - Exploration Seminar Survey Results

We recently received the results of the exploration seminar survey, which was completed by 97 students who participated in an exploration seminar during the 2005 spring break. This feedback will be useful for planning future seminars and for determining the impact of the Exploration Seminars on students' interest in participating in additional study abroad programs. We were pleased that most students (76%) who participated on a seminar this year completed the survey.

Some highlights of the survey include: 

• Nearly 20% of students who participated in an Exploration Seminar had participated in a Concordia-sponsored travel abroad program prior to participating in the Exploration Seminar.
• Nearly 50% of students who participated in an Exploration Seminar had participated in a non-Concordia-sponsored travel abroad program prior to participating in the Exploration Seminar.
• Students rated "opportunity to have fun" and "interest in the locations that will be visited" as the most important factors in their decision to participate in the Exploration Seminar.
• Students rated "opportunity to increase my foreign language skills" and "Information provided by the Office of International Education" as the least important factors in their decision to participate in the Exploration Seminar.
• Most students indicated that are MORE likely to participate in another Exploration Seminar or a May Seminar as a result in participating in an Exploration Seminar. Relatively fewer students indicated that they are more likely to participate in a semester abroad or a year abroad as a result of participating in an Exploration Seminar.

To keep you informed about the assessment information that is gathered and used by the college, occasional "Assessment and You" updates will be sent to you by the office of Assessment and Institutional Research, Kay Schneider, director. For more assessment information, contact Kay at schneide@cord.edu or visit the assessment home page at: http://www.cord.edu/dept/assessment/index.htm. All editions of the"Assessment and You" newsletter are included on this web site, which is accessible via a Concordia internet connection.

Kay Schneider Director of Assessment and Institutional Research Concordia College

6 April - Curriculum Task Force Open Forum

Colleagues,

On behalf of the Core and Curriculum Coordinating Committees, I'd like to remind everyone of the following open forum times for discussion of the newly released Core Curriculum Task Force report:

1. Wednesday, April 6, 4:00-5:15pm 
2. Thursday, April 7, 7:00-8:15pm 
3. Friday, April 8, 9:20-10:20am

All forums will be held in the Centrum. Refreshments will be provided, courtesy of Academic Affairs.

Mark Jensen Chair, Core Committee

1 April - 2005 Faith, Reason and World Affairs Symposium

This is a preliminary announcement of the 2005 Faith, Reason, and World Affairs Symposium. The symposium is an annual event that marks the beginning of the academic year; in 2005 it will take place on September 11th, 12th, and 13th, so please mark your calendars.

Call for Proposals for Concurrent Sessions

We are excited about the symposium and know that many of you are as well. We anticipate a compelling symposium of broad interest to the many perspectives of the campus community and, recognizing our substantial collective expertise, invite your concurrent session contribution. We welcome any and all submissions, based on your experiences, academic analysis, investigation, and many, many perspectives.

To respond, please provide a title and brief (200 word) abstract of your session. Submissions prior to Monday, April 18th would be particularly appreciated. We welcome presentations and events in all modalities that can advance our understanding of the cultural, economic, and scientific issues, including lectures, discussions, reading groups, and performances. We will notify you of acceptance no later than May 1, 2005.

Symposium Theme Overview

This year's theme is HIV/AIDS in the Global South: Scientific, Economic, and Cultural Issues. The HIV/AIDS pandemic presents questions of world-wide importance even as the illness is experienced on individual and community levels; the pandemic raises profound questions in all spheres of human experience and inquiry. Our focus is the pandemic in general, of course, but we are particularly interested in its consequences for the global south-- those regions of our world whose economic and political statuses do not give them equal attention and political influence on the world stage. We will explore the responses of governmental, nonprofit/nongovernmental, and church organizations to this health crisis as we ask questions concerning the northern regions' responsibility to the peoples of the global southern regions. Far from relying on the eventual emergence of an effective vaccine or, more remotely a cure, we are interested in examining what needs to be done now, what is being done, and those factors promoting or inhibiting effective responses.

The planning committee continues to meet regularly as this event takes shape. We have extended invitations to a number of individuals to participate as principle speakers for our symposium, including:

• Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Director General of WHO and former Prime Minister of Norway who has accepted our invitation;
• Ms. Sue Coe, Artist and Activist who will develop and interpret her artistic vision of the effects of the crisis;
•  Students from the Global South enrolled at Concordia.

Additional plenary speakers, including activists from the global private and public sectors will be announced as they accept our invitations. We are certain of an engaging and thoughtful discourse.

HIV/AIDS in the Global South will present innumerable opportunities for the faculty and community of Concordia to advance our understanding of the greatest health challenge to face current and future leaders. As we plan for the fall, we are also pleased that so many of the community have embraced this topic; our summer reading project will be Neely Tucker's Love in the Driest Season and Mr. Tucker will present his book to the incoming first-year class. Our theater department will produce Tony Kushner's Angels in America as their fall main stage production and anticipate inviting other performing artists appropriate to our topic. Several academic departments are promising invited lectures from distinguished scholars in their respective fields throughout the semester such that HIV/AIDS and its effects will become a central theme for the intellectual life of our community during the 2005-2006 academic year.

We know that with your assistance and participation we will better know the issues facing our world and be empowered to do our part. One behalf of the 2005 Faith, Reason, and World Affairs Symposium Committee, we thank you.

Mark Covey, Psychology 

Lowell Larson, Cultural Events

Per Anderson, Religion

John Flaspohler, Biology 

Molly Flaspohler, Library 

Barbara Thill Anderson, Art

Dawn Tommerdahl, Scandinavian Studies

Imran Vaghoo, Student Association

David Wintersteen, Theater Arts