Communiqué Is Published Annually by the College of Humanities, John Fritch, Dean Tanner Sandrock, Writer/Copy Editor/Designer Communiqué | 2016EDITION 1 Or Education
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uni commCollege of Humanities, Arts & Sciences Alumni Magazinequé University of Northern Iowa in the Alpine plus: Candid: Pressing Forward: & Spring 2016 5, Winter Volume Fortepan Iowa North American Review COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS & SCIENCES COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS TABLE of CONTENTS DEAN’SMESSAGE Over the past several months, the value of a college education has been questioned. Politicians, parents, and potential students all are asking if the investment in a college education is worth it. As tuition at universities, including UNI, has increased, it is reasonable to ask if the cost of attendance is worth it to students. departments Last spring, the Lumina Foundation reported a study concerning this question of the value of a college education. The Lumina Foundation looked to determine if college graduates features 1 Dean’s Message are successful and, if so, what factors led to their success. The Lumina Foundation began by recognizing that financial success is not the only component of a successful life. Their 8 News In Short researchers recognized that having a comfortable income in a position that you find fulfilling Candid: and having a satisfying personal life are the essential attributes of success. We want our 2 Fortepan Iowa 16 CHAS Applause graduates to be successful in their professions, in their communities, and in the personal lives. The Lumina Foundation study found that the key to a successful life was not what school the person attended nor the major the person studied. Instead, the value of a college education was Printing Press 26 found to be in six types of experiences. Those experiences include having a faculty member 10 12 who makes the student excited about learning, having an internship, being extremely Frontline Philosophy: Pressing Forward: 30 Donor Feature: involved in extracurricular activities or organizations, participating in an academic Herrera North American Review Gary Scholten experience that spans more than one semester, and having professors who cared about the student as a person. 35 Transitions Students who have such experiences are nearly 250% likely to be successful. 38 Students in the News Away in the Alpine 22 At UNI and especially within CHAS, we have focused on these five types 42 Dean’s Fund of experiences for years. We have believed that they are critical to the success 28 Donor Listing of our students while in college and to the life-long successes of our alums. Expanding We have emphasized the role of a close relationship between students and Horizons Alumni News 48 our faculty and staff, the importance of student activities and organizations 26 ranging from the Top 10 ranked speech team to our student chapter of Nepal Sigma Pi Sigma. And, we intend to be even more intentional about other news these experiences in the future. In CHAS, our goal is to help our students become alums who are Art + Science = 9 successful professionally, publically, and personally. I look forward to “Big Bang” helping students achieve and celebrate these successes. Please enjoy 19 Book Nook this issue of Communique. Sincerely, 34 Metal Casting 32 Center Moves National Science 40 John Fritch, Ph.D. Foundation Funding Coding Against Cancer Dean, College of Humanities, Arts 36 Yager Awards and Sciences The University of Northern Iowa does not discriminate in employment CommUNIqué is published annually by the College of Humanities, John Fritch, Dean Tanner Sandrock, Writer/Copy Editor/Designer communiqué | 2016EDITION 1 or education. Visit uni.edu/policies/1303 for additional information. Arts and Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa. Sarah Pauls, Designer/Editor Rhiannon Rasmussen, Designer COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS & SCIENCES COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS HUMANITIES and CANDID ARTS Fortepan Iowa lipping through the images stored on the Fortepan Iowa digital archive—some portraits, some F candid—is similar to browsing a family photo album stretching back generations. The photos chronicle the subtle and drastic changes of life in Iowa, from fashion to technology; however, the faces feel familiar and as much as places change, they sometimes stay the same. Smiling Iowans peer from the tops of drifting snow banks, or gather around a table to enjoy the company of family and friends. The archive reminds viewers of the humanity in our history, and the past we sometime forget. “This digital archiving project is made for the public and for the public good,” said Bettina Fabos, associate professor of Communication Studies. “It involved a lot of different contributors across Iowa, and allows our students to have a richer understanding of Iowa, and allows for so many people beyond UNI to have a deeper appreciation of our state and what it means to be Iowan. It can be quite thrilling to scroll though particular years and see Iowa unfold through pictures, to see landscapes and fashion We hope that people get lost in these photos, styles changing, but to also see core family values “ represented over and over again. We hope that people get lost in these photos, download them liberally and feel like download them liberally and feel like this project this project is part of their own cultural heritage.” is part of their own cultural heritage. Launched this past year, Fortepan Iowa is a digital ” archive of photos chronicling over a hundred years of Iowa’s history. Based on the Fortepan Project in Hungary, 2 communiqué | 2015EDITION communiqué | 2016EDITION 3 COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS & SCIENCES COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS digital studies and computer science (Sergey Golitsynskiy, assistant professor, Communication Studies) and interactive digital studies and visual communication (Fabos). Fabos hopes to train more volunteers and set up scanning centers across the state. “We aim to work with senior centers around Iowa to collect and scan people’s personal collections before these photographs are lost to the public forever,” said Fabos. “We are particularly interested in glass slides and photo negatives because these generate the highest quality scans, and are the most likely to be thrown away.” They also plan to geospatially locate each image on a map of both Iowa and the archive accepts donated photos from Iowans across the state and then digitizes them the world, as they also seek photos before storing them on an interactive timeline at www.fortepan.us. The site is designed for of places Iowans have visited, either visitors to come and browse the growing collection, with the ability to search photos by through war, vacation or other means. year. Currently, the collection is home to just shy of 2,000 photos, reaching as far back as “We will be building social media the 1860s and all the way up the 2000s. features into the interface so people Fabos got the idea for the archive after spending time in Hungary on a Fulbright can log in and share comments on any research grant in 2013. There she worked with Miklós Tamási, the co-founder of the photograph,” she said. This increase of original Fortepan project. The Hungarian digital archive currently hosts over 60,000 functionality will likely be available by donated photos at www.fortepan.hu. The project’s name is derived from a once staple the end of next summer. film company in Hungary, Forte, which until 2001 The directors of the Fortepan Iowa made the well-known film negative Fortepan. Through the project our students end project plan to promote it as a tool The digital archive is the first of its kind in the U.S., up having some of the most valuable for further education. Eventually, they and similar to its sister project in Hungry, relies on “ “ see the digital archive being utilized the donation of photographs for content. Housed and insightful conversations they‘ve by middle and high school teachers at UNI, the project is research-based and student- ever had with their grandparents, across the state as a learning aid when centered. It is a collaboration between three different exploring our state’s history. Looking departments—art, history and communication aunts and other family members. farther down the road, Fabos hopes studies. In doing so, the project stretches across the project will inspire similar archives two different colleges on campus and four different disciplines. “I think UNI is the perfect across the nation. “We have already place to build Fortepan Iowa, because most of our students come from Iowa—from towns presented the project at a number of all across Iowa,” said Fabos. “Through the project, our students end up having some of major conferences, and will continue the most valuable and insightful conversations they’ve ever had with their grandparents, to do so,” she said. “There is a lot to aunts and other family members. They see how valuable Fortepan Iowa is as a public do, and we’re excited to work on all of resource.” The team of faculty specializes in public history (Leisl Carr Childers, assistant these initiatives.” professor, History), digital photography (Noah Doely, assistant professor, Art), interactive 4 communiqué | 2016EDITION communiqué | 2016EDITION 5 COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS & SCIENCES COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS UNI'S SCIENCE UNI'S SCIENCE ARTS + SCIENCES = EDUCATION EDUCATION BIG BANG program has expanded its three-year (John Wood Community College) will Mayiam Bialik visited UNI campus in grant from the Iowa Department of allow students en route to a two-year April 2016, where she gave a lecture at NEWS Education Title ITB Mathematics associate of applied science (AAS) the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts in and Science Partnerships program. degree to easily transition into a Center (GBPAC), titled “Arts + Sciences SHORT This extended grant will provide four-year applied bachelor’s degree = Big Bang.” Bialik, a neuroscientist a continuation of the Integrated program. The new transfer agreements and actor, discussed her life and Crosscutting Concepts in Iowa Science take effect spring 2016 and include career in science and the arts, and the PUPPETS FOR HIRE Classrooms (ICCISC) program.