30 November - Call for Nominations - Director of International Education

To: Faculty

From: Mark Krejci Dean of the College & Vice President for Academic Affairs

The Office of International Education has been restructured so that faculty leadership can have a more active role and the long needed staffing augmentation can take place. The office has been reorganized and will now be staffed by two Program Coordinators, one Assistant to the Director, and the Director of International Education. The Director will develop programmatic direction, will develop faculty program leaders, and will supervise the coordination of International Education. The director will work with the Assistant and the Program Coordinators to ensure the maintenance and development of high quality programs.

The Assistant to the Director will monitor budget development and tracking, will monitor liability concerns, and will be in supervisory contact with the Program Coordinator and student workers. The Assistant will work in conjunction with the Director on contract negotiations with vendors and with our consortium partners. Finally, the Assistant will work directly with a number of programs. Interim Director of International Education, Per Anderson, is in the process of securing qualified personnel for the office.

This Call for Nominations initiates the search for the next Director of International Education. The Director is expected to be a member of the faculty who will have a one-half load reassigned time to this position plus additional support for summer duties. The compensation structure will be similar to the Division Chairs and, as an indicator of the strategic importance of this program, the Director will become a member of the Dean’s Council. The Director will be primarily involved with monitoring the academic integrity of the International Education program, development of current and future leaders, and work in conjunction with the Assistant to ensure fiscal responsibility and develop and maintain appropriate work relationships in the office.

Qualifications include being a member of the faculty of Concordia College, experience in International Education, strong interpersonal skills with colleagues and staff, proclivity for budget and programmatic oversight and a person whose candidacy is supported by their department.

Submit nominations (self-nominations accepted) to Nonnie Tangen by December 13th. Those nominated will be informed as nominations arrive. Nominees who wish to pursue their candidacy will need to submit a letter of interest and current vita, by January 6th. The Dean and the International Education search committee will review applicants and move to interview in a timely fashion. Please encourage qualified faculty members to consider this leadership role at Concordia College.

23 November - Final Call for Credo Inquiry Seminars

To all faculty:

This is the final call for proposals for teaching a Credo Inquiry Seminar next fall (2006). I would like to have received all of the proposals for Credo Inquiry Seminars by the end of this semester (December 2005). A sub-committee of the Credo committee will meet early next January to select six of the proposals to be offered in the Credo program. We would like to have proposals from all three of the division areas: Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Social Sciences; and Humanities and Arts. Some of the criteria that the Credo committee have discussed as desiderata for selecting a Credo Inquiry Seminar are an emphasis on a seminar format with student participation being a key element, that the course have a fairly broad appeal, that course use primary texts (rather than textbook accounts of primary texts), and an explanation of why the course would be best taught to a smaller class (the current proposal for the Credo Inquiry Seminars is that they enroll only twelve students). I have already received some very exciting proposals and I am hoping that I receive many more.

The Credo program also needs some upper level courses, especially in the areas of Sciences and Mathematics and in the Social Sciences. If anyone has any ideas for a course, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Richard Gilmore Director, Credo Honors Program

22 November - Faculty Development Opportunities

The AAC&U annual meeting - "Demanding Excellence: Liberal Education in an Era of Global Competition, Anti-Intellectualism and Disinvestment - will be held in Washington DC, January 25-28, 2006. http://www.aacu.org/meetings/annualmeeting/index.cfm

The Midwest Qualitative Research Conference committee is accepting proposals for 12th annual conference to be held at the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, April 19-21, 2006. www.stthomas.edu/education/events/mqrc

The North Dakota Humanities Council invites faculty in the humanities disciplines to apply for the Larry Remele Memorial Fellowship for 2006-07. Applicants must be a resident of or employed in North Dakota. Application deadline is March 1, 2006. http://www.nd-humanities.org/RemeleGuidelines2006.pdf

18 November - Student Lecture Series--Call for Nominations--Deadline November 21, 2005

The Special Awards Committee asks faculty members to nominate students for participation in the Student Lecture Series for Spring Semester 2006. This series recognizes outstanding scholarly work done by students at Concordia College, providing them with an opportunity to discuss their findings with others in a public forum. Presentations of interest from students in all fields of study are welcome in order to represent the broad spectrum of student talents at Concordia. Lecture topics chosen previously for the Student Lecture Series include:

"Shifting Focus: How the North Korean Invasion Changed U.S. Containment Strategy During the Cold War" 

"Buddhist Psychology and the Cognitive Sciences" 

"From Across the Sea. . . A Look at Two Deadly Tropical Diseases" 

"Body Image, Intercorporeality and the Chiasm: Finding a Theory of Sexual Difference"

Nominating Process 

All students who wish to participate must be nominated by a faculty member. Faculty members are requested to nominate students who are working on a class project or who have completed a project in a previous class. Nomination of a student or student group indicates a faculty member's willingness to be a resource person for the student lecturer.

In order to nominate a student or group of students, a faculty member should submit a letter of nomination that includes:

a) an evaluation of the quality of the proposed presentation, and 

b) an assessment of when the project will be completed

The student(s) should submit:

a) a concise title for the presentation, 

b) an abstract (150 words maximum) of the presentation suitable for publicity purposes, and 

c) a 2-3 page summary of the presentation

The above should be submitted in both hard copy and electronic form.

Deadline: Please submit these materials to Dr. Shawn Carruth, Chair of the Special Awards Committee, carruth@cord.edu, by Monday, November 21, 2005. Notification of selections will be made by Monday, December 5, 2005.

Criteria for Selection 

The Special Awards Committee of the Faculty Senate selects up to three students or student groups to give lectures each semester. Preference will be given to projects and presentations of quality that are likely to stimulate discussion in a general audience. An effort will be made to present a balance in the disciplines represented by the lectures.

Students or faculty members who have any questions about the nomination or selection processes may contact Dr. Shawn Carruth, Chair of the Special Awards Committee, 299-3422 or carruth@cord.edu

15 November - Lilly Vocation Research Scholars

Kim Halvorson will be presenting her Lilly Vocation Research Scholars lecture, "Lutheran World Relief Fair Trade Coffee Project," on Wednesday, November 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Birkeland Alumni Lounge.

Kim's statement: "Through the Lilly Vocation Scholars program, I traveled to Nicaragua to learn about the process of making, growing, buying, and selling coffee. Coffee, the most highly traded good in the world, is grown by local farmers all over Central and South America who are barely making enough to survive. With the help of Fair Trade and Fair Trade organizations like Lutheran World Relief and Equal Exchange, people are working to change this fact. Farmers who grow and sell Fair Trade coffee get paid a livable wage for the goods they provide, thereby becoming more independent, self-sufficient, and able to meet their families' daily needs. My presentation will cover these issues and the role of the American consumer in the Fair Trade movement."

Sandra Paulson, Lilly Call to Serve Project

15 November - F.Y.I. Assessment and Institutional Research Newsletter

The November F.Y.I. Assessment and Institutional Research Newsletter is online at http://www.cord.edu/dept/acd/local/assess/nov2005.pdf

Contents include:

- New student survey results

- Profile of full-time faculty

- Survey Says: Students desire a balance of technological and human contact

Highlights include:

- Only 28% of first-year students indicated that "I wanted to attend a Christian college" was a very important factor in their decision to attend Concordia.

- 50% of first-year students reported that they would have attended a state supported public university if they had not attended Concordia.

- First-year students give high ratings to their high school preparation in the areas of reading, leadership skills, musical/artistic skills but low ratings to choosing a career, study habits, and foreign languages.

- Only 3% of first-year students anticipate they will earn grades below a B+ during their first year.

- 58% of all full-time faculty members are tenured.

Kay Schneider Director of Assessment and Institutional Research

14 November - Announcing The Rewoldt Student Peace Initiative Prize

Concordia students are invited to compete for the Rewoldt Student Peace Initiative award in conjunction with the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Forum. The $1,000 award to a Concordia student will go to an outstanding essay or project focused on the following theme:

The Opportunity and Challenge of Direct Democracy

Many contend that the political process has forever been marred by the power of lobbyists and special interest groups. If the world's citizens had a real voice in government, would nation-states move toward neutrality and peace and away from violence and corruption? Does direct democracy provide an alternative? If not direct democracy, what other approach to effective governance might result in a more just and peaceful world?

The essay or project should involve research on the concept of direct democracy and should include a bibliography. The winner will need to present a 10 minute summary of his or her essay or project at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum to be held at Luther College March 10-11, 2006.

Interested students should submit a 200-word abstract to the Cultural Events Office in the Outreach Center Room 111 by December 1st. The abstract should describe the direction of the student's essay or project. Students will have until January 4th to complete their project, which will be submitted to a panel of judges. For more information, contact Lowell H. Larson, Concordia's Nobel Peace Prize Forum Coordinator, at 299-4366 or email llarson@cord.edu.

Lowell Larson, Nobel Peace Prize Forum Coordinator

14 November - Inquiry Seminar

Dear Faculty,

Although I have a list of nearly 40 names of faculty who are interested in teaching an Inquiry Seminar next year, I am sure not everyone with this interest has been identified. Thus, I am inviting anyone who is interested in this course to attend a meeting in which divisional representatives will be selected to form a working group whose basic charge is to define the nature and purpose of the course and common expectations for all sections. Each division (except Core and Integrative Studies) will have two representatives.

The meeting will be held on Thursday, November 17, 4:30 p.m., in Olin 124.

I apologize for such short notice, but hope you will understand the need to form this group as soon as possible.

Many thanks,

Dan Breedon Academic Division Chair Core and Integrative Studies.

10 November - Application to the Nursing Major

Attention: All Faculty Advising Pre-Nursing Students

Please advise any students who have declared nursing as their intended major that the deadline for application to the major is April 15, 2006 to be admitted in the spring of 2007. Application materials will be available in the nursing department in February.

The pre-nursing students must be in the process of completing their prerequisite courses for the major. Please have the students contact any of the nursing faculty if they have questions about the prerequisites or the application process.

Polly K. Kloster, RN, PhD Chair & Assistant Professor Nursing Department

8 November - Faculty Senate Meetings

Colleagues,

It was the will of the Senate, expressed at the Monday Nov. 7th meeting, that we would not meet on Friday the 12th or Monday the 14th due to advising but that we would schedule a meeting for Friday the 18th. However, many faculty will be involved in interviews for the Presidential Distinction Scholarships during that time and so Senate will next meet on November 21st at 4:00 as scheduled.

Mark J. Krejci, Ph.D. Dean of the College & Vice President for Academic Affairs

7 November - Meetings during advisement

Colleagues,

During Academic Advisement next week (Nov. 15-18) we have been asked to refrain from having meetings. We will not have Senate on Friday the 18th. I suggest you use your discretion so that we have time to devote to our students.

Thanks for all that you do to make our advisement efforts fruitful for our students.

Mark J. Krejci, Ph.D. Dean of the College & Vice President for Academic Affairs

7 November - Advising first year courses

To all Academic Advisors:

Because academic advisors are in a strategic position to assist students in selecting the appropriate courses I wanted to emphasize that all first-year students should successfully complete Discourse 101,102,103,109, Principia 101 and Physical Education 111 during their first year of attendance. It is especially significant this year due to the new Foundation Courses that have been passed by the Faculty Senate to be implemented next year.

Let me take this opportunity to express my appreciation for your continued effective academic advising. This is a critical element in the success of our students.

Carole Stalheim, Registrar