Academic Affairs in Review Is August 3, 2010
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Spring 2010 Academic FEATURE ARTICLE Reflections from the Af fairs Associate Provost/AAVP – Enrollment and Executive Director of Admissions 2 in Rev iew A SEMI-ANNUAL PUBLICATION OF PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS, EVENTS AND NEWS SUPPORT www.duq.edu Admissions 2 Center for 3 Teaching Excellence Message from Duquesne University Press 3 the Provost Enrollment Research 4 BY DR. RALPH PEARSON and Systems Provost/Vice President Academic Affairs ne of the most important responsibilities we have as university Financial Aid Office 4 faculty is reviewing candidates for tenure and promotion. A recommendation for tenure means that we evaluate the English as a Oachievements and future potential professional trajectory of Second Language Program 4 the applicant as sufficient to warrant life-time membership on the Duquesne faculty. We concluded the 2009-2010 tenure and promotion cycle several weeks The Gumberg Library 5 ago, and I want to express my gratitude to the faculty and deans who participated in the process for the seriousness of purpose they brought to it. Honors College 5 At each step in the review, the faculty and deans demonstrated commitment to the policies, procedures and criteria included in the faculty handbook Learning Skills Center 6 for tenure and promotion. This assures equity of evaluation for the faculty they considered. When faculty colleagues and deans recommend an applicant for tenure, Office of 6 they are shaping the future of Duquesne. Within the context of the International Programs teacher/scholar model that sets the broad framework for the faculty, a positive tenure decision means that successful applicants will shape the Office of the Registrar 6 educational experiences of Duquesne students for decades and contribute to the discovery of new knowledge that comes from the research in which Office of Service-Learning 7 they will engage during those years. So, again, my gratitude on behalf of current and future students, as well as colleagues in the discipline, to all The Spiritan Division 6 continued on page 2 The deadline for submission to the fall issue of Academic Affairs in Review is August 3, 2010. All items should be submitted via email to Renee Stockey at [email protected] . ACADEMIC AFFAIRS IN REVIEW SPRING 2010 continued from page 1 academic preparation, personalities and access to resources. who perform the awesome responsibility of tenure and In regard to approaches, I have seen the effective integration promotion evaluation with an understanding of, and and use of data in strategy formulation and decision-making commitment to, its meaning for the future of our university with the arrival of President Dougherty and his administration and for the learning community. in the summer 2001. This evidence-based approach has In the next edition of Academic Affairs in Review , I will resulted in achievements such as: our first public credit share with you my impressions of recent tenure and worthiness ratings from both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, promotion candidates. recognition of the important role that women and minorities I wish you a restful, relaxing, and safe summer. Get some have played in our history and must continue to play in our quality time with your loved ones and return in the fall with future, more competitive faculty and staff salaries, the renewed vigor and enthusiasm for the students and disciplines acquisition of key real estate parcels for campus expansion, the that give meaning to our professional lives. enrollment of the largest, most diverse and best academically- prepared freshman classes in our history, a clearer understanding of both our competitor set and how our major constituencies perceive us and, most recently, the completion of one strategic plan and the formulation of another. Reflections from Strategic plans are important because they provide direction and guidance to all of us. Because the achievement of goals is the Associate dependent on the correct alignment of people and resources, plans also provide reasons for collaboration across the various Provost/AAVP – units within the University. After all, it is through collaboration and common goals that we have achieved much of our Enrollment undergraduate enrollment successes over the past decade. I am a historian of the admission directorship. I never forget and Executive what a privilege and responsibility it is to be the director. Men with last names of Clark, Kobosky, Smith, Merante, Lorensen, Director of Admission and Schaefer managed the effort for decades prior to my arrival. While students, market forces, technology, and internal BY PAUL-JAMES CUKANNA leadership have changed over the years, I am certain that at Associate Provost/AAVP – Enrollment and Executive Director of Admission least one thing has not: the passion that each admission director had for the University and those he was called to serve. hen I came to Duquesne in the spring of 1997 it was on a ‘whim.’ I was working at another private institution up the street, had just finished Wa graduate degree and was ready to try something new, professionally, for a year or so. I received a call from Fr. Admissions Sean Hogan inviting me to visit the Bluff. While the call and the resulting job may have been unexpected, the professional As the end of this freshman recruitment cycle approaches, the experiences and mentoring opportunities that I have had over Admissions staff is working to enroll another diverse group of the past thirteen years have been anything but whimsical. academically talented students for fall 2010. As a part of this Since my arrival, I have worked in three major divisions of effort, the staff is working one-on-one with students and the University: Student Life, Management and Business and, families on a daily basis to ensure that Duquesne is the best ‘fit’ for the past nine years, with Provost Pearson in Academic for them. Also, staff members are assisting individual schools Affairs. I’ve learned that independent of some internal with open house events for accepted students. ‘jostling’ that may occur between different units within the Additionally, current high school juniors and their families are University; everyone wants to do what is best for our students visiting regularly to seek the advice of our admissions counseling and the long-term welfare of our institution. We simply staff. In these cases, the staff is helping students to choose high approach tasks differently based on professional experiences, school courses and extracurricular activities that further develop 2 ACADEMIC AFFAIRS IN REVIEW SPRING 2010 their interests and talents. Several counselors are also attending I Timothy Evans, Chemistry & Biochemistry regional and out-of-state college fairs to begin to reach out to I Corina Wack, Biological Sciences this particular group of students. This year, 14 alumni are I Mary Kotlarczyk, Pharmacy assisting us with this effort throughout the country. We have two first-time awardees: Erik Garrett and Deborah Scigliano won an award for a project that brought students Center for Teaching Excellence together from two different schools to learn about advocacy in education, and the role of educating in advocacy. Kathy Teaching & Learning Tips: Steve Hansen edits biweekly Weber won a graduate assistant award on the basis of teaching and learning tips, which are simultaneously teaching philosophy courses online. posted on the CTE and DORI faculty Web pages. The tips are aligned with issues that faculty and teaching Duquesne University Press assistants are likely to face as the semester unfolds, such as the course syllabus, instructional clarity, The Duquesne University Press has published nine new overcoming winter doldrums, discovering your learning titles since last spring’s edition of Academic Affairs in Review : style, the art of reflection, and preparing for finals: I Shakespearean Resurrection: The Art of Almost Raising the http://www.duq.edu/cte/teaching/teaching-tips-archive.cfm . Dead by Sean Benson (Malone University) We invite faculty and teaching assistants to submit teaching I Levinas and Medieval Literature: The “Difficult Reading” and learning tips of English and Rabbinic Texts, edited by Ann W. Astell A group of 10 faculty have committed to exploring ways to (University of Notre Dame) and J. A. Jackson enhance multicultural teaching and learning in one of their (Hillsdale College) courses by participating in a year-long faculty learning group I The Descriptive Phenomenological Method in Psychology: led by Laurel Willingham-McLain. Participants have set the A Modified Husserlian Approach by Amedeo Giorgi goal of gathering student learning evidence relevant to (Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center) multiculturalism and submitting their findings to a peer I Levinas Studies: An Annual Review (volume 4), edited reviewed conference or journal. by Jeffrey Bloechl (Boston College) Amy Criniti Phillips has expanded the CTE series that I The Philosophical Sense of Transcendence: Levinas and prepares graduate students to enter faculty careers by adding a Plato on Loving Beyond Being by Sarah B. Allen spring question and answer session for people currently on (Concordia University) the job market. Participants in the five events have expressed I Longing for the Other: Levinas and Metaphysical Desire their gratitude for these practical sessions that address the by Drew M. Dalton (Saint Anselm College) many facets of the academic job search. The program’s I Magic and Masculinity in Early Modern English Drama success is due to the willingness of academic affairs leaders by Ian McAdam (University of Lethbridge) from across campus to serve on session panels: Alexandra I The Plague in Print: Essential Elizabeth Sources, 1558–1603 Gregory, David Seybert, Christopher Duncan, Patricia (Rebecca Totaro, Florida Gulf Coast University) Dunham, and Jeffrey Miller. Also serving on a panel is an The Press recently completed negotiations to take over the alumna from chemistry currently serving as a faculty member publication of Milton Studies , the prestigious annual volume at University of Pittsburgh at McKeesport, Kristina that highlights scholarship on the work of John Milton.