Academic Affairs in Review Fall 2018
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Fall 2018 Academic Duquesne will become the region’s flagship institution for community engagement Affairs through mutually beneficial partnerships that advance the city, the region and inReview the world. A SEMI6ANNUAL PUBLICATION OF SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS, EVENTS AND NEWS SCHOOLS www.duq.edu Biomedical Engineering 14 Center for 3 Community-Engaged Message from Teaching and Research Enrollment Management 8 the Provost Group DR. DAVID J. DAUSEY Provost/Vice President Academic Aairs We Gumberg Library 9 officially became Provost of Duquesne University on July 1, 2018 following the Honors College 13 retirement of Provost Tim Austin. I wish Dr. Austin a long and happy retirement filled with family and friends and the joy of new pursuits. He was a wonderful mentor and a kind soul, and we will miss his presence on the bluff. Since becoming Learning Skills Center 4 IProvost, I have had the pleasure of meeting many of the talented women and men who work in Academic Affairs. Weir dedication to Duquesne and our students is profound McAnulty College 12 and humbling. I have also had the opportunity to meet and talk with faculty from a wide and Graduate School array of academic programs across all of Duquesne’s nine schools. of Liberal Arts Our faculty represent the best their disciplines have to offer and are the very definition of teacher scholars. We are blessed by their talents and commitment to the success of our Office of International 2 students. I want to thank everyone that I have met so far for their warm welcome to the Programs Duquesne community. A clear strength of Duquesne is the willingness of everyone to work together on a team and treat their colleagues with trust and respect. I look forward to working with each and every one of you in the upcoming months and years to build Online Learning 10 the Duquesne of the future. and Strategy Wis issue of Academic Affairs in Review focuses on the second imperative of the University’s Strategic Plan, Re-Imagining Duquesne’s Spiritan Legacy for a New Era, Rangos School 6 focused on community engagement. Duquesne has always been a university focused on of Health Sciences the community and our engagement in the community. Wat focus has been manifested in our many community collaborations, experiential learning opportunities for students School of Business 10 and joint community ventures. We Strategic Plan challenges us to expand those efforts to become the region’s flagship institution for community engagement. Wis requires us to reconsider what it means to do community engagement. Community engagement School of Education 12 is a two-way street that requires our faculty, students and staff to go into the community. However, we must also find meaningful ways to bring the community to School of Law 16 Duquesne. I look forward to working with all of you to help bring this aspect of our Strategic Plan to life in ways that advance Duquesne, the city, the region and the world. School of Music 14 School of Nursing 5 The deadline for submission to the spring issue of Academic Aairs in Review is April 6, 2019. All items should be submitted via email to Renee Stockey School of Pharmacy 4 at [email protected]. ACADEMIC AFFAIRS IN REVIEW FALL 2018 O&ice of International Programs Community Engagement in Zambia Under the Mandela Reciprocal Exchange Grant through the U.S. Department of State, Dr. Joe DeCrosta from the Office of International Programs traveled to Lusaka, Zambia this June to work with a former Mandela Washington Fellow, Ms. Nsofwa Sampa, who serves as an advocate for individuals living with HIV and disabilities in Zambia. We central theme of the visit was to help Ms. Sampa begin her new advocacy group, We Positive Movement, which aims to transform the hearts and minds of people in Zambia in regards to HIV and disability. Dr. DeCrosta met with several advocates, non- governmental organizations working in Dr. DeCrosta in front of Zambian Parliament with the Honorable HIV awareness and prevention, and a Princess Kasune Zulu (left) and Ms. Nsofwa Sampa. member of Zambian Parliament to help Ms. Sampa think strategically about the efforts of We We Positive Movement. We organization is now poised Positive Movement. Dr. DeCrosta also conducted a two- to work with groups and individuals to begin changing day Seminar for Young Zambian Leaders that focused on the cultural context in Zambian society regarding HIV mindful and narrative leadership and methods of "cultural and disability. shifting," which resulted in a new vision and mission for Twenty-five young Zambian members of We Positive Movement attended the seminar and official launch of the advocacy group, which they hope will have a substantial impact on government entities and non-governmental organizations that support individuals living with HIV and disabilities. We Positive Movement hopes that potentially hundreds — even thousands of Zambians living with HIV and disabilities will benefit directly from its advocacy efforts by helping to effectively change the stigma around people living with HIV and disability and improve social services on a federal and local level for these individuals. Dr. DeCrosta plans to continue to work with the group as it evolves in the coming year. Dr. DeCrosta with members of Ce Positive Movement. 2 ACADEMIC AFFAIRS IN REVIEW FALL 2018 Center for Community-Engaged hesitate to contact CETR at [email protected] or Teaching and Research 412.396.5893. Energizing Students for Community-Engaged Reimagining Community Engagement on the Bluff Learning Opportunities During the upcoming academic year, the Center for We Center for Community-Engaged Teaching and Community-Engaged Teaching and Research aims to Research (CETR) is excited to implement new and deepen community engagement practices across exciting ways to energize students in community- campus through our programming efforts while also engaged learning opportunities so to further develop broadening our reach. Under new leadership, CETR has their civic skill set in order to effectively and reconceived past programming and developed appropriately interact with community. During this innovative opportunities that address the expressed academic year, there are two initiatives CETR wishes needs of our dedicated faculty, valued community to highlight. partners and engaged students. We encourage everyone We Community Engagement Scholars program, while to visit our events webpage to view our robust slate of not a new program, has been revamped this year to workshops, lectures, film screenings, community respond to community agency partner capacity concerns events and much more. while simultaneously acknowledging the time and CETR is especially looking forward to co-sponsoring attention required to support students’ development as the inaugural Social Justice Internship Fair Friday, civically minded agents of change. Wis now year-long Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Academic Walk. program has been crafted to provide a cohort of students At this event, students who are interested in making with a structured, supervised community-based lasting change in their communities through their immersion opportunity in a nonprofit organization, careers can network with agency representatives to citizen action group or community-engaged agency. learn about opportunities throughout the region. Wrough discussion and application of social change CETR’s Student Enrichment Series, another new theories, students within the cohort explore the tenets initiative, will afford opportunities for students to of community engagement. Students reflect critically engage with and learn from community partners on on their emerging civic agency and the development campus. Events will range in nature from interactive art of their civic identity. exhibits created by formerly homeless people to small In addition, through a collaboration with the Office of group discussions with partners about their work Online Learning and Strategy (OL&S), CETR is crafting surrounding concepts of social justice. All members of sidecar modules for Blackboard to strategically support the campus community are welcome and encouraged to faculty as they seek to implement community-engaged attend. learning opportunities for students in their courses. Moreover, in an effort to advance community Wese modules have been carefully crafted in response engagement practice, as well as assist campus to student, faculty and community partner feedback to community members in effectively planning, provide high-quality, student-centered information implementing and assessing their community-engaged related to cultural competency, social justice and work, we are excited to introduce CETR’s 2018-2019 effectively engaging in community on behalf of the Gaultier fellows: Drs. Cathy Appelt (Sociology), Jessica institution. By utilizing an online learning platform to Devido (Nursing) and Andrew Simpson (History). Wese supplement classroom course content, CETR and OL&S fellows bring a unique interdisciplinary lens to this seek to enhance the civic development of students, as year’s theme of assessment and have an exciting well as support and encourage the successful schedule of enriching programs lined up for the year. implementation of community-engaged learning If you have any questions about our upcoming events practices. or you would like to RSVP, please contact us at If you are interested in learning more about, or [email protected] or 412.396.5893. participating in, either of these initiatives, please do not 3 ACADEMIC AFFAIRS IN REVIEW FALL 2018 Learning Skills Center Texas, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri and North Carolina, and were the second largest with an enrollment of 27. Learning Skills Center's Summer Institute: Expansion in states also grew the Summer Institute Community and Campus Connection partnerships beyond the close relationships developed and We Learning Skills Center’s Summer Institute (SI) nurtured with our neighboring Pittsburgh Public Schools. entered its 18th year of operation this summer. Consistent It is also notable that 70 percent of participants carried with the experiences of students of past years, the quality point averages in the 4.00 and 3.00 ranges.