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Search processes in final stages
ENGAGE YOUR STRENGTHS | COMMUNITY | FUTURE AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
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As we head into the final days of spring semester, search committees in both departments are concluding their work. The Department of University Studies committee, chaired by Heather Scott, finished on-campus interviews for two Leadership Studies positions last week. The Department of First-Year and Transition Studies is concluding a search for the KSU 1111 Course Coordinator position by the end of the month. That search committee is chaired by Jim Davis. Our new faculty members will likely join a college that is growing in size and responsibility thanks to the 2015 consolidation plans. Even as we grow and take advantage of new opportunities, we will stay focused on students and the creation of learning environments that promote their success. Let's get ready to welcome new colleagues in the fall!
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Keleher leads winning team for IGI grant
 Mike Keleher will serve as the Principal Investigator for a $45,000 Strategic Internationalization Grant-funded project to enhance international students' transition to credit-bearing academic courses. The team of faculty who developed the proposal and will implement and assess the "Global Gateways: Learning Communities for International Students" pilot includes Carolee Larsen, Deborah Mixson-Brookshire, Heather Scott and David Schmidt.
Keleher and his team received official notification of the grant funding last week. The "Global Gateways" project is one of only two SIG proposals to receive $45,000 in funding from the Institute for Global Initiatives. The other project funded at that level will be led by Modern Language and Culture professor Sabine Smith and includes Linda Lyons and Judy Craven as part of the collaborative team. Thus, University College had a significant showing in the first SIG competitive proposal process.
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CSL assists UK Fulbright award recipient
 Zack Carter will follow in Katherine Street's footsteps this summer as he heads to York University as a Fulbright scholar. Carter, who will graduate in May with degrees in mathematics and Modern Language and Culture, will attend York on a Fulbright U.S. Postgraduate Fellowship. "I'm incredibly excited to live and study in York, England in the M.Sc. in Fusion Energy program at York University," Carter said. "Clean energy is something I'm very passionate about, and I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to study the subject that I love and to experience a new country and culture."
Carter, who began his KSU experience as a dual enrollment honors student, was aided in the Fulbright application process by the Center for Student Leadership's National Fellowships Adviser. This is one of the many CSL responsibilities that intersect with KSU's new Honors College. "I am very proud to have had the opportunity to study at Kennesaw State as an undergraduate," Carter said. "I know that I could not have done it without the help of the wonderful professors, staff and fellow students at KSU."
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SI facilitator to receive new scholarship
Supplemental Instruction facilitators know how to be serious, and they know how to have fun. One of them will also know how to pay less for their education thanks to a generous donor and a new scholarship designated specifically for an SI facilitator.
Development Directors Natalie Blake and Ellen Jones worked together to secure funding from Dr. Joseph Cook, a retired college professor from Florida, to create the Ed Brooks Annual Scholarship for an SI facilitator majoring in the College of Science and Mathematics who facilities SI sessions in chemistry, biochemistry or calculus.
SI Director Fiona Brantley was thrilled to receive the news that one of her facilitators will be the annual recipient of the first external scholarship designated within University College. "It is very gratifying to find that there are those who see the real asset that our SI leaders are," Brantley said. "Not only are they good students and altruistic individuals, they are also very skilled facilitators and talented in their own right."
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First-year faculty, students receive media attention for innovative service projects
 First-Year and Transition Studies faculty and their students have garnered local media attention for their community service projects. One of Shae Smith's KSU 1121 fall classes planned and implemented the "Step Up" project to promote healthier behaviors among students, faculty and staff members. The Marietta Daily Journal lauded the results of the project in a recent feature, which can be accessed here. University Relations also published a feature story on the students and their project on the KSU homepage, which can be read here, and edited a video as well. Hillary Steiner and Jeannie Parker-Beard (a part-time faculty member in the English Department) were surprised by an 11Alive news crew this month and featured on the news station's "Random Acts of Kindness" segment. Steiner and Beard are teaching together in a spring learning community linking PSYC 1101 and ENGL 1101, and they developed a "happiness project" for their students that incorporates the psychological theories and concepts surrounding happiness. University Relations writer Katherine Bennett not only featured the project in a "Campus News" item for the KSU homepage but nominated the two professors for the station's segment. The video clip, which can be seen here, shows Steiner and Beard receiving several gifts in acknowledgement of their work to model the "pay it forward" concept to first-year students. |
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Bauer joins college as Office Manager
 Lisa Bauer is the newest staff member to join University College. Bauer, who serves as the Office Manager within the Dean's suite, transitioned from an administrative staff position in the Coles College of Business April 14.
Bauer brings years of administrative experience to the position including seven years in the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales. She is a former recipient of KSU's award for administrative staff members and an active member of the Staff Senate.
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Purcell to speak at UGA engagement institute
 CSL Assistant Director Jennifer Purcell will be one of the faculty for the Diving In: Institute for New Community-Service Learning Professionals to be held at the University of Georgia June 2-4. The Institute, co-sponsored by Campus Compact and UGA, is based on Campus Compact's Looking In Reaching Out publication.
Purcell is one of five featured speakers who will work with 30-40 new civic engagement and service learning professionals from across the country. She noted the Institute would provide attendees with both a "boot camp" feel to get them prepared for their roles while also providing insight on institutional strategies to advance community engagement across campuses.
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Faculty publish new model for online learning in latest journal article
Deborah Mixson-Brookshire and Stephanie Foote co-authored "Enhancing Learning with Technology: Applying the Findings from a Study of Students Online, Blended, and Face-to-Face First-Year Seminar Classes," which will be published in a forthcoming issue of Currents in Teaching and Learning. The article will debut their "Model of Student Learning and Engagement in Online and Blended Courses," which has been developed through their longitudinal study of first-year student success in online and blended learning environments.
Foote is also the lead author on a co-authored book chapter that has been accepted for publication in the forthcoming book Examining the Impact of Community Colleges on the Global Workforce. Her chapter, "Focusing on the Forgotten: An Examination of the Influences and Innovative Practices that Affect Community College Transfer Student Success," advances Foote's research in transfer students and their successful transitions to new institutions.
Additional faculty in the college will be engaging in scholarly activities in the next few weeks. Fiona Brantley will be presenting "Using the Results of Assessment for Program Improvement in the areas of Training, SI Leader Performance, Communication, Relationships with Faculty Partners and Marketing - Miles of PosSIbilities!" at the International Supplemental Instruction conference next month. Jim Davis will debut an original piece, "Mr. Punch and the National Club Association," in the Xperimental Puppet Theatre series at the Center for Puppetry Arts in May. It is based on the Punch and Judy performance tradition and is a collaboration between Davis and recent Theatre and Performance Studies graduates. |
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KSU hosts AASCU Global Scholars 
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Ken Hill and I welcomed our fellow AASCU Global Engagement Scholars to KSU April 14-15 for the annual spring meeting. Faculty and administrators from 12 institutions, all of whom were nominated by their Provosts, form the scholars group. Their primary responsibilities are to advance the Global Engagement Initiative within AASCU institutions by developing curricula, engaging in collaborative research, hosting professional development workshops, and integrating the seven Global Challenges into courses on their home campuses.
Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, national director of AASCU's American Democracy Project, joined the scholars for their two days at KSU.
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Boettler selected for CETL's Part-Time Academy 
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Karen Boettler received notification recently that she was selected for the 2014 Teaching Academy for Part-Time Faculty. Boettler, manager of engaged leadership programs in the Center for Student Leadership, has taught both KSU 1121 and KSU 1200.
The Academy will feature workshops on assessment, student motivation, deep learning and teaching strategies. Participants will work on their own courses during the two-day event, putting what they learn into practice to strengthen their effectiveness in the classroom.
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Steiner leads research team publishing in 2015 National Resource Center book on seminars and learning communities 
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Hillary Steiner is the lead author in a book chapter on the successful integration of first-year seminars in learning communities for chemistry majors. Steiner, chemistry professor Michelle Dean, Stephanie Foote and Ruth Goldfine learned their chapter, " The Targeted Learning Community: A Comprehensive Approach to Promoting the Success of First-Year Students in General Chemistry" will be featured in First-Year Seminars and Learning Communities: Building Synergy for Successful College Transitions that will be published by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition next year.
Steiner is the sole author of "Teaching Principles from Cognitive Psychology in the First-Year Seminar," that will be published in a few weeks in E-Source.
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Annual Awards luncheon to set for May 7
| University College is proud to honor its award winners at the annual luncheon and awards celebration, which will be held May 7 at 12:15 in the University Rooms.
Please RSVP to Kelsey Gulledge here if you have not done so already.
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