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An interview with the new dean of University College
 On April 17, Kennesaw State University President Daniel S. Papp named Dr. Keisha Hoerrner the dean of University College. Although Papp announced that Hoerrner would take on the responsibilities in her new role immediately, she has already been serving as interim dean of the college since January 2014.
Hoerrner is ready to move forward with positioning University College as a model of academic success and is excited about sharing her leadership vision.
Q. What are your top priorities for the college now that you are the permanent Dean?
A. The college will continue to grow and impact student success in its next 10 years. My top priorities are to facilitate that growth by advocating for new degree programs, working closely with KSU's Development team to raise needed funds for the college, and ensuring we have the personnel, resources, and facilities to serve students on both the Kennesaw and Marietta campuses.
Q. What is your vision for the leadership structure of University College?
A. I am excited about launching a national search in the fall semester for the Associate Dean, the position I vacated to accept my current position. The Associate Dean will ensure University College is continuing to advance academic support initiatives, which play a central role in KSU's RPG goals. We will also launch a campus-only internal search for an Assistant Dean to assist with the administration of the college. This leadership structure is similar to the College of the Arts, which is the academic college most similar in size to University College.
Q. What resources will be available for the fiscal year 2016 budget? How will they be allocated?
A. The Provost's Office has not provided details regarding the FY16 budget, which was just finalized by the Board of Regents at its April meeting. I am hopeful we will receive new funding to hire faculty and staff positions. The unit heads within the college were asked months ago for their FY16 budget requests. I will use those prioritized requests as the foundation for allocating any new funding.
Q. What did you do to celebrate your appointment as Dean of University College?
A. I was actually in the United Kingdom enjoying a family vacation when President Papp announced my appointment, so I toasted the successful completion of the search in a British pub! My family has been very patient as I took close to a year to make the decision to apply for the permanent position, and then the search process took an additional four months. We are all pleased to look toward the future.
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Smith publishes effective uses of discussion boards
Debbie Smith,  assistant department chair in University Studies and director of Leadership Studies authored "Effectively using discussion boards to engage students in introductory leadership courses" which was published in the spring 2015 edition of The Journal of Leadership Education.In her article, Smith discusses the use of online asynchronous discussion boards as a valuable tool for connecting students to leadership concepts, theories, and models in introductory leadership survey courses. Smith also gives recommendations are given for designing effective discussion boards that engage students and enhance their learning. Student outcomes include construction of knowledge, relevant connections between course material and personal lives and critical reflection.
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Habers' class exhibits artwork
The Bentley Rare Book Gallery and the Department of Museums, Archives and Rare Books is hosting the "Sculptural Redux: Taking Pages from Rare Books" exhibition in the KSU Athenaeum, located on the second floor of the Sturgis Library. The exhibition was co-curated by Natasha Lovelace Habers, associate professor of art, and Adam Doskey, Curator of Rare Books. The display features student work from professor Habers' spring 2015 Book Arts and Papermaking classes, which was inspired by select rare books from the children's collection at Kennesaw State University.
The exhibition encourages visitors to explore the dynamic facets of sculptural book works that push the boundaries between two-and three-dimensional art.
During the opening reception April 22, 2015, visitors were invited to touch the art and enter the world of artists' books. The exhibition is open through May 18.
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SI students receive research awards
This summer will be a busy one for two of our Supplemental Instruction leaders, Abdel Sharkasi and Eric Gabilondo. Both students were named as this year's Birla Carbon Scholars.
Sharkasi and Gabilondo are two of 10 students selected to present their research to a team of scientists from Birla Carbon's Marietta facility during the Birla Carbon Symposium 2015. The winner of the symposium will receive $2,000 toward travel expenses to present his/her research at a national scientific conference in the next academic year.
The Birla Carbon Scholar's Program was created in April 2014 to support research opportunities for Kennesaw State University's College of Science and Mathematics students. The pledge of $250,000 ($50,000 per year) was intended to create summer research opportunities for undergraduates each year.
Sharkasi will be working with Dr. Michael Van Dyke to research protein functions and genes associated with the protein functions in e.coli, while Gabilondo will be working with Dr. Heather Abbott-Lyon to design and construct an effusive molecular beam that will launch methane gas, at temperatures from 300-900 K, into the sample chamber of Dr. Abbott-Lyon's Ultra-High Vacuum chamber. Gabilondo will also be performing predictive modeling calculations to evaluate the sticking coefficients of methane on the vanadium sample.
"My leaders are like my own children. I am proud of what Eric and Abdel have accomplished in their respective fields," said Nancy Burney, director of Supplemental Instruction.
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Steiner to present at University of Akron
 Hillary Steiner, assistant director of Learning Communities received an invitation by the University of Akron to lead a workshop for their learning communities faculty on "Creating Integrative Assignments."
The University of Akron is seeking to revitalize their learning communities program by making curricular collaboration and integration more intentional and was identified KSU's Learning Communities Program as an outstanding example of faculty collaboration. Steiner will present May 14. |
Foote receives funding for research
 Stephanie Foote has received a NODA Catalyst Grant for her research study, "A Multi-Campus Study to Measure Perceptions of Academic Exploration and Engagement Measured by a Common Rubric in a Transfer Student Seminar."Foote, the principal investigator, collaborated with co-investigators Reed T. Curtis, an Academic Advisor within the University of North Carolina-Wilmington's University College, and Jason Mastrogiovanni, Director of First-Year Studies at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
The purpose of Foote's research is to determine the extent to which participation in a transfer student seminar influences students' perceptions of development in academic and career exploration, planning and engagement. Transfer student seminar instructors at the three institutions in this pilot study - Kennesaw State University (KSU), University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW), and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK) - will use a common student survey and rubric to evaluate student perceptions before and after participation in each of the seminars.
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Faculty application accepted for course design
 Nyasha M. GuramatunhuCooper, assistant professor of Leadership Studies, received notification that she has been accepted to the Institute for Course (Re)Design. At this institute, she will participate in sessions that focus on enriching courses with technology, writing learning objectives, creating authentic and aligned assessments, exploring active instructional strategies, and establishing structured work time.
"Reflecting as a new faculty member, I have received a tremendous amount of support from my colleagues in University College. The relationships I have formed have richly helped me in my professional development. I have the great fortune to work with interdisciplinary colleagues who have not only challenged me in my thinking and teaching but have also invested in my success by diligently alerting me to many valuable KSU programs such as the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning's Institute for Course (Re)Design and the Center for University Learning's Excel Leadership Program," said GuramatunhuCoooper.
GuramatunhuCooper will attend the May 12-14 and June 11 sessions.
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Students and faculty gather for the first INTS Alumni event
 Alumni of the Integrative Studies degree program, graduating classes 2007 through 2015, returned to their alma mater for the First INTS Alumni Luncheon April 18. Greeted by faculty, staff and the college's dean, the former students were eager to engage in the program.Rebecca Casey, Chair of University Studies, opened the evening's program by welcoming the alums and introducing Michael Keleher, Director of Integrative Studies, who shared a recently produced video presentation highlighting the program's offerings and testimonials from current and former students.
University College's recently appointed dean, Dr. Keisha Hoerrner, expressed her enthusiasm for the achievements of the INTS alums and discussed the importance of becoming active alumni and giving back to the institution.
Award recipients, Distinguished Alumna of the Year Johnell W. Woody (2012) and Distinguished Student of the Year Dominique Simmons (2015), were in attendance to accept their awards. Both alumni expressed their appreciation and posed for a photograph with the dean.
Michael Keleher, director of Integrative Studies, stated, "We are very proud of our INTS graduates past and present, and will be inviting them back next year."
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UC sponsors 2015 SAUPO Symposium
 Shelbee Nguyen, assistant professor of Education, served as a program coordinator for the 2015 SAUPO: Symposium on ASIA-USA Partnership Opportunities in Atlanta, April 17.SAUPO is the largest Asia business conference in the Southern U.S. and provides opportunities for information exchange, network building, global visibility and investment to/from Asia. Approximately, 400 attendees from the U.S., Asia, Europe and Africa participated.
University College was well represented at the event by faculty members Debbie Smith, Ken Hill, Linda Lyons and Todd Shinholster. UC global engagement scholars Aiden Poisal, Sydney Sailers, Catherine Ellis, Ian Westbrook, and Preston Melton all participated as student volunteers.
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Naidu elected president of national tutoring association
Pinder Naidu, assistant professor of mathematics, was recently elected president-elect of the national Association for the Tutoring Profession (ATP).
The ATP offers certification for tutors and tutor trainers with a twofold purpose: to recognize individuals for their expertise and dedication to the tutoring profession and to establish uniform standards for training across the profession.
Naidu was inducted at the annual conference in San Francisco in March of this year. She will serve as president-elect for one year; following that, she will be the incoming President for the year 2016-2017.
Naidu has been active in this organization since 2004 and served as board member in various positions.
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NACADA appoints Hutt to annual conference advisory board
NACADA appointed
Chris Hutt, director of The NEST, as a member of the Annual Conference Advisory Board through 2017.
NACADA, an internationally recognized association that promotes and supports quality academic advising in institutions of higher education to enhance the educational development of students. "Your knowledge, experience, and dedication will be of great benefit to the Board and Association," said David Spight, NACADA's president-elect. |
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New learning communities faculty development initiative launched
The Learning Communities program is excited to announce a new initiative to benefit faculty teaching in learning communities.
The Learning Communities Faculty Scholars (LCFS) Program is a fully online, optional faculty development program that enables learning communities faculty to devote time to learning more about the science of teaching and learning, the needs of students in transition, how to create integrative assignments, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, with particular emphasis on putting this knowledge into practice.
"It's fully online and asynchronous, so times and locations are not applicable. It will be open to faculty during summer and fall semesters. Nineteen learning communities faculty members have signed up to take it so far," said Hillary Steiner, the primary the designer. "The idea grew out of the Learning Communities Institute we attended last summer."
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University College search updates
The Center for Student Leadership (CSL) Executive Director search is currently in process.
The search for a new Director of First-Year Seminars concluded with a verbal offer being extended to Dr. Nirmal Trivedi. Dr. Trivedi has accepted the offer and will join the department July 1, 2015.
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Save the Date
Dr. Dan Papp's annual visit to University College 
When: May 7, 2015
Time: 10am -11am
Where: Room SO 2038 (Social Science Building)
Please use the suggestion box to submit questions for Dr. Papp.
You will also be able to ask questions during the meeting.
All questions will be collected from the suggestion box by 8:30 am May 7.
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