Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Alumni News University Archives 2004 Exemplar, Spring/Summer 2004 Eastern Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/alumni_news Recommended Citation Eastern Michigan University, "Exemplar, Spring/Summer 2004" (2004). Alumni News. 196. http://commons.emich.edu/alumni_news/196 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Archives at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Alumni News by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. E.\\'mplar Editor's Note ike thou­ Bue as deep and vex­ sands of ing as che issues con­ o c h e r fronting schools appear co I 11C01111 ng be, che challenges are noc freshmen, discouraging students I chose co from entering the profes­ enroll ac EMU because I sion. And if you needed wanted co be a teacher. proof. Exhibit A was che And not just any teacher annual Teacher Job Fair ac of high school English, EMU's Convocation buc one of che besc. Bue Cencer in April. To look like thousands of juniors down upon the conven­ before me, my life plans tion floor and wacch as changed somewhere along hundreds of students che way. HALLWAY MONITOR: Supt. Kathy Malnar holds court with me at Hudson HighSchool. moved from one staging For me, che first area co che next co meet course correction occurred prospective employers, in a classroom at Whitmore Lake High School. Assigned there was co get a sense of just how much enthusiasm - and youthful as part of a 1984 winter semester course citied "Teaching energy - is headed toward tomorrow's classrooms. Reading in the Secondary School," I discovered chat being a suc­ If l had stayed on my original career pach, I would be enter­ cessful teacher required a lot more energy, preparation, courage ing my I 9th year as an educator. Who knows? Maybe I would be and patience than I had to give to che cask. a "superduper" superintendenc by now. Perhaps. Bue only if I Recently, the memories from my brief fling with teaching had found a way co overcome my fear of classrooms. came flooding back as I toured schools and spoke with superin­ tendents in preparation for writing chis month's cover story. Managing a district, large or small, seems more challenging than Kevin Merrill ever before. Money, MEAP and mandates seem to be the only forces shaping public education in Michigan. Contributors Linda F"rbgerald: Linda Cassina Sanders: Cassina Kristen Wimsatt Kristen M.B. Dillon: Freelance writer F"rbgerald, a freelance writer Sanders worksfor the EMU WimsattJoins the Exemplar M.B. Dillon lives in Livonia based in AnnArbor, reports University Marketing office. staff this issue as our graph­ with her husband Patrick this month on Professor She helps University-wide ic designer.Wimsatt has a Butler, daughter Maureen, 7, Edward Garrettand his clients with the development bachelor of fine artsdegree and sonSean, 4. For 17 effortsto develop a Web­ of marketing materials with from Michigan State years, she was an award-win­ basedquery language to comprehensive editorialserv­ University and most recenUy ning reporter,editor and enhance the research of the­ ices (writing,editing, proof­ wori<ed at The Ann Arbor columnist with the Observer oretical and applied linguists. reading and marileting con­ News. Wimsattis currently & Eccentric Newspapers. The new search engine could sultation).She is pursuing enrolledfull-time in EMU's Dillon is a journalism gradu­ also have applicationsfor her master's and in her spare occupational therapy gradu­ ate from the University of speech-recognition technolo­ time, likes to spend time with ate program. A competitive Michigan, but we won't hold gyand automated translation friends and practice her figure skater earlier in her that against her. A marathon­ tools.Leaming about the sci­ Spanish. In this issue, life, she can now out­ er, Dillon is almost as pas­ ence of language was so Sanders writes about EMU's Photoshop Michelle Kwan sionate about running as she interesting that,for once, role in helping the Ypsilanti any day. is about writing.She's done Linda was happy to let some­ Senior Centerrec program many a worilouton EMU's one else have the last word. stay open. indoor track, which she lauds as top-notch. People, Progress & Eastern Michigan University Up a creek Digging down under University faculty Anthropology and students are Professor Bradley canying out data Ensor, recipient of a collection to help University Research measure the health Award for New of the Stony Creek Faculty, is leading watershed, a water EMU students on system that snakes 'I do' at EMU an archeological through three Alumni share their project exploring las de los Cerros southeast Michigan stories of love and a lost coastal counties how they met their excavation .1ite) society in Mexico Helping hands Quick action by significant other, staff from EMU and whether in a the city of Ypsilanti hallway, crowded is keeping an room or across a important senior 24 classroom aisle ·2 citizen recreation program alive • with a few new twists "Water is an extremely 29 valuable commodity,"says Dan Sysko, an EMU senior working on the Stony Creek Watershed Project. "This project gives me 4 the opportunity to do my part in helping to protect it." ·> Notebook :H\ University Advancement :{CJ A Conversation Wrth Paul T. Schollaert, provost and vice president for academic affairs, talks about curriculum reform, the honors program and online learning -tO My Tum Jim Streeter, a 30-year employee, explains why he's proud of EMU and of living in Ypsilanti -t I Calendar -t � Looking Back E.,1'111plar Notebook and Criminology in the fall of 2003. He has Diggingaround been in the field for more than 16 years and Project in Mexico explores rootsof a civilization worked on more than 130 projects. "The images portrayed in National Geographic are By Summer Wilhelm things most people explore only through the "Islands of the Mounds" may not mean much media. This is something completely different to the average person, but to Bradley Ensor and once that perspective kicks in, it has the and three Eastern Michigan University stu­ potential to be a life-changing experience." dents, those four words may represent a Ensor, his students, two local laborers, a whole new outlook on life. cook and a Mexican assistant will set up camp Ensor, an assistant professor of anthro­ from May 31 to June 26 at El Bellote, a small pology, is conducting a research project that fishing town in Islas de los Cerros, or Islands will allow anthropology students to spend four of the Mounds. Islas de los Cerros is an weeks participating in archaeological fieldwork ancient Chontal Maya community occupying and laboratory artifact analyses - in the state five islands and a peninsula at the mouth of a of Tabasco, Mexico. lagoon along the Gulf of Mexico coastline. Ensor's dedication and extensive experi­ Ensor, who has a federal project permit ence in archaeological fieldwork helped him from the Mexican National Institute of earn a 2004 Research Award for New Faculty Anthropology and History, decided to explore this spring, a grant for $5,000 that pays for a Islas de Los Cerros after realizing its research great portion of the excursion. potential while volunteering at La Venta, a site "As EMU's first archaeologist, Dr. Ensor in Tabasco. brings a wealth of training, research and Once in Mexico, the group will take a boat opportunities for EMU students to become to Isla Chable and Isla Santa Rosita and exca­ involved in this, and future, research endeav­ vate two residential mounds, areas where pre­ ors," said Patrick Melia, associate dean of Hispanics built houses 1,200 to 800 years Graduate Studies and Research. "His applica­ ago. The mounds formed when one house tion research design was clearly stated with was leveled and another was built on top. Over well-conceived research goals and objectives time, enough homes were built and rebuilt to that will bring many opportunities for future Ensor: "EMU played a big role in helping me get this started and I'm amazed and grateful for all the sup­ form layer upon layer. international cooperative endeavors. His appli­ portthey've given to help make this a success." During the excavation of the mounds, cation was highly rated by all reviewers and Ensor hopes to discover evidence of food, ani­ strongly supported through the Of­ Through the University's Study Abroad mal remains and artifacts such as pottery. fice of the Provost." Program within the World College, the three The changing designs of those artifacts will undergraduates selected to accompany him allow him to judge when and how long each will pay $955 in fees plus tuition and airfare mound was occupied. for the credit hours they will earn on the trip. Another focus is a long platform along The students will be selected in May. the coastline of Isla Chable. Depending on the "It will be a great cultural artifacts found there, Ensor may be able to and archaeological experi­ hypothesize if the platform was used as a fish­ ence for the students," ing port or something of a larger nature, such said Ensor, who joined as a landing dock for commerce or trade. EMU's Department of The group also will excavate deposits of Sociology, Anthropology crushed shell on Isla Chable to determine pos­ sible uses. Ensor said the deposits could be evidence of a shell processing industry or Islas de los Cerros could have been used for temper in bricks or (excavation Jite) a kiln that produces lime from the shells.