This is the time of year when students are weighing their options and selecting a college. I have seen a lot of twitter posts from excited incoming students who have received their official acceptance letters to Wright State. This excitement happened in our own household when our daughter, Emma, received her own letter from Wright State. Emma is interested in Languages, International Studies, and TESOL. How awesome that we have such excellent programs in those areas. But in addition to strong academics, Emma was drawn to some of Wright State's intangibles - how friendly everyone is, the number of student organizations and study abroad options, and most importantly, Rowdy. We are proud Emma will be a Raider! Now the hard part - getting through high school senior year and crossing the finish line.
Congratulations to the recipients of the CoLA Outstanding Faculty and Staff Awards!
- December Green, Political Science - Outstanding CoLA Faculty
- Sean Pollock, History - Outstanding Teaching
- Liam Anderson, Political Science - Outstanding Research
- Chris Hall, English - Outstanding Professional Service
- Drew Swanson, History - Outstanding Early Career Achievement
- Jack Dustin, Urban Affairs - Outstanding Community Engagement
- Cynthia Marshall, English - Outstanding Lecturer/Instructor
- Carmine Anastasio, Religion, Philosophy & Classics - Outstanding Adjunct
- Leanne Moeller, Jennifer Sheets, Sandy Trimboli (the Trifecta), English - Outstanding Staff
We have starting marketing the college, some of our programs, and the liberal arts more generally. In addition to ARTSGALA, the focus so far has been on our graduate programs and certificates. We have specifically featured the MPA (Masters in Public Administration) program with advertising in the Cincinnati region. We are also working with the Dayton Business Journal on a year-long marketing strategy focused on the LEAP program's half-priced fee structure for our local immigrant population, as well as our graduate certificate programs. See our suite of graduate certificate digital ads in the DBJ below. We hope to see increased traffic to these programs and will expand our strategy from there.
Thank you to our wonderful graduate and undergraduate Social Work students who volunteered for the 10th Annual House of Bread Fundraiser by helping set-up, serve, and clean-up. This event was attended by over 80 community members and $4000 has been raised to date, the most ever raised at this event. This was a true collaboration between the Social Work Club and the Catholic Order of Foresters.
Every Friday at noon our Dean's Office Conference Room is taken over by a group of really creative people - the WSU Service Knitting Circle. The Knitting Circle is open to all interested faculty, staff, and students, and they work together to make beautiful blankets, hats, scarves, and other items for a number of regional service units. This past Friday the group started making a block quilt, and I have my own section to sew. The group is open to anyone, including new learners. Come check them out!
This week's featured New Faculty is Assistant Professor Jason Kaufman, Theatre. Originally from Cleveland, Jason lived in Los Angeles and Virginia before returning to live in Dayton. He received his undergraduate degree from Miami University in Oxford for Anthropology. Afterwards, he earned his MFA in acting from the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and the Moscow Art Theatre School. Jason teaches Acting Professionally for senior acting majors and Arc of the Character for sophomore acting majors. Jason enjoys working with his fellow faculty and appreciates the enthusiasm of his students. Welcome Jason!
Have a great weekend, and I hope to see some of you at ARTSGALA!
