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                                                              College of Liberal Arts 

CoLA Color
CoLA Weekly
 
Friday, September 18, 2015 


I stopped in my tracks on my way past the Atrium on Tuesday morning. Finally! Our new furniture had arrived! What a huge change this new furniture makes in the whole demeanor of Millett Atrium. Everything is bright, cheery, and comfy with lots of different sized tables and nooks to work at. Everything is also movable to reflect the differing uses of the space. We were able to salvage 6 - count them, 6 - chairs to use in the gathering areas in the upper floors. Don't worry, we are moving forward with new furniture for those areas as well. A Big Thank You to Associate Dean Linda Caron for overseeing all aspects of this make-over!

There continues to be a nation-wide debate on the role, value, and inclusion of adjuncts within higher education. Adjunct faculty are an integral part of CoLA and help us fulfill our teaching mission at all levels - 32% of our courses are taught by adjuncts compared with 50% nationwide for 4-year institutions and 70% when including community colleges. Many of our adjuncts are professionals employed full-time inside and outside of Wright State who teach specialized classes in their areas of expertise. Other adjuncts are teaching a number of courses for us as well as for other institutions. CoLA is working to increase support for and inclusion of our adjuncts. We have raised adjunct pay by 43% over the past 3 years, increased access to newer technology, provided an adjunct handbook summarizing services and processes, and we celebrate CoLA's Outstanding Adjunct Award recipient each year. We will continue to focus on supporting our adjuncts. We hosted our first Adjunct Reception this week on Tuesday, and more than 20 people attended. Our second Adjunct Reception will be Monday, Sept. 21, at 3:00 p.m. in the Millett Atrium.  PLEASE JOIN ME IN WELCOMING AND THANKING OUR ADJUNCTS!
 
Internships are so critical to our students, and I was reminded of that by some recent great news. Elizabeth George, English/Professional and Technical Writing, participated in a great internship at the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance this summer. She did such a wonderful job that when she finished her internship and graduated at the end of the summer, she was hired full-time by DPAA!  Thank you to Sally DeThomas, English, for helping make this internship placement happen.  The Professional and Technical Writing Program works diligently to provide quality internships for English students. Internships provide our students with valuable hands-on experience in the workforce and many times lead to full-time employment.
 
Brittany Erwin, one of our newest advisors in CLASS, has been elected the 4-year Public Institution Representative of the Ohio Academic Advising Association for 2015-16. Brittany will be working with colleagues across Ohio to advance the professional practice of academic advising and student success. Great Job Brittany!
 
This year the Ohio Arts Council awarded more than $11 million to nearly 500 grantees to support artists, arts organizations, and cultural programming across the state of Ohio. CoLA's Robert & Elaine Stein Galleries was one of 254 organizations to receive funds under the Sustainability Program, which provides four-year grants for operating support, artist talks, and quality public art experiences. Congratulations to the Galleries and to Coordinator, Tess Cortés!
 
And you will want to make sure to stop by the Stein Art Galleries within the next couple of weeks. There are two excellent exhibitions that you don't want to miss. The first is the paintings and drawings of Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Deborah Kahn - co-curated by Jeremy Long and Glen Cebulash, Art & Art History. The other exhibit includes student drawings and prints of the CAC construction. A reminder that the galleries will be closed between December, 2015 - April, 2016 as they move into their new expanded space in the new addition of the Creative Arts Center.
 
This week's featured New Faculty member is Shona Jackson, an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literatures. Shona earned her PhD. and M.A. from the interdisciplinary Program in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University and her B.A. in English and Journalism from Rutgers University. Shona will begin teaching classes for both the English Department and the African and African American Studies Program next semester.  Her current research projects include articles on Caribbean culture, with emphases on postcolonial politics and the relationship between the Guyana government and its indigenous peoples after 1992. She is also hard at work on a second book, which focuses on Caribbean labor history. Shona has only been at WSU for a few weeks, but she has loved the engagement and sense of community she has found within her department and around campus. Welcome Shona! 
  
   KSO signature   
 

     
Kristin Sobolik
Dean 
 

CLASS Corner
   
Wayne Stark and CLASS: Workforce Development will be hosting
a weekly Liberal Arts Student Career Success Series every Tuesday 9:30-10:30 a.m. and Thursday 2:00-3:00 p.m., plus every other Wednesday evening, in the Millett Atrium unless otherwise specified. 
This week's topic is Resumes and Cover Letters.  Let your students know!
 
 
Liberal Arts Student Career Success Series: Resumes and Cover Letters  
      • Tuesday, Sept. 22, 9:30-10:30 a.m., Millett Atrium
      • Thursday, Sept. 24, 2:00-3:00 p.m., 125 Oelman Hall
 
CLASSy Office Yoga
Monday, Sept. 21, 3:00-3:30 p.m., 106 Millett Hall
Come practice and learn some yoga moves you can do at your desk! These moves are sure to ease any tension or stress. Open to all CoLA students, faculty, and staff.

Three Steps to Reading a Scholarly Article
Thursday, Sept. 24, 2:00 p.m., 028 Millett Hall
In partnership with University Libraries, students will learn how to pull out the most important information from journal articles and other scholarly writings to use in their own papers and projects. If your class has research papers coming up, this will help your students utilize scholarly articles in a more effective way; please spread the word.
 
For more information, email cola-studentsuccess@wright.edu.
 
  

Other events:
CoLA Adjunct Reception, September 21, 3:00 p.m., Millett Atrium 
  
Retrieving the Lost Worlds of the Past: The Case for an Ontological Turn
by Professor Greg Anderson of The Ohio State University.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - 3:30pm to 5:00pm
The Veterans Center Conference Room, 131 Allyn Hall