CCOOLLLLEEGGEE OOFF AARRTTSS AANNDD SSCCIIEENNCCEESS AANNNNUUAALL RREEPPOORRTT 22001111--22001122 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 African and African American Studies 8 Anthropology 17 Art 23 Biology 38 Chemistry 56 College of Arts and Sciences Education Program (CASEP) 72 Communication, Media and Theatre 79 Computer Science 109 Earth Science 111 Economics 122 English 129 English Language Program 145 Geography and Environmental Studies 151 History 160 Justice Studies 170 Latino and Latin-American Studies 187 Linguistics 197 Mathematics 208 Mathematics Development 219 Music and Dance Program 226 Office of Cultural Events 243 Philosophy 244 Physics 252 Political Science 258 Psychology and Gerontology MA Program 267 Social Work 303 Sociology 318 Student Center for Science Engagement (SCSE) 345 Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language 357 Women‘s Studies 370 World Languages and Cultures 383 COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ANNUAL REPORT Executive Summary The College of Arts and Sciences (College) conferred a record number of degrees – 1116 (964 undergraduate and 152 graduate) – in 2011-2012. This number represents a 22% increase over the College total five years ago and 97% (201/208) of the total university increase in the number of degrees conferred compared to five years ago. The total number of undergraduate majors and graduate students in College departments and programs declined by 1% from fall 2011 to fall 2012 but this number still represented 20% growth over five years ago (and was significantly smaller than the overall university decline of 3.7% in 2011-2012). Several College of Arts and Sciences departments including Communication, Media, and Theatre; Computer Science; Economics; Psychology; and Social Work bucked the university trend by increasing their number of majors from fall 2011 to fall 2012. With student demand for its courses remaining strong, College departments and programs worked hard to create even more efficient scheduling and to strengthen curricular offerings. See the impressive list of curricular revisions and innovations at the end of this executive summary. The College was also very happy to see one new major, Global Studies, and two new minors, Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) and LGBTQ Studies, approved in 2011-2012. The College is especially proud of its encouragement of innovation in workforce-related curricula and programs in 2011-2012. Through a deliberative process, the College Dean‘s Council solicited thirteen creative proposals from departments and programs for new or revised workforce-related programs. From this pool, the College selected three – Child Advocacy Studies, Applied Math, and Math Teaching – for new faculty hires in 2012-2013 and identified two others – Graphic Design and Creative Writing – for future hires. The College also encouraged the new Environmental Science major proposal to enter the governance process for final approval. In 2011-2012, the College was also happy to fund faculty-student summer research projects that involved six College faculty and eleven students. As documented in this annual report, departments and programs have continued to advance the university strategic goals of academic excellence and student success by supporting undergraduate and graduate student research, writing, presentations and publications; organizing student travel and study both in the U.S. and abroad; conducting student-centered assessment; devising new strategies to improve student retention; supporting interdisciplinary programs; expanding programs at NEIU‘s satellite locations including the University Center of Lake County; collaborating with student organizations; and honoring outstanding students at special award ceremonies and through College-based social media. College students in turn have presented and published their research, performed concerts, organized major events, won awards, and been accepted to numerous graduate and professional programs. While the College of Arts and Sciences was sad to see sixteen faculty members retire in 2012, it was also pleased to hire fifteen new tenure-track faculty members including Rachel Adler (Computer Science), Siobhan Cooke (Anthropology), Aron Cullota (Computer Science), Alicia Erian (English), Alfred Frankowski (Philosophy), Scott Hegerty (Economics), Julie Iromuanya (English), Nate Matthews (Art), Adam Messinger (Justice Studies), Christopher Owen (Music), Milka Ramirez (Social Work), Joshua Salzmann (History), Jing Su (Chemistry), Angela Sweigart-Gallagher (Communication, Media, and Theatre), and Cindy Voisine (Biology). College of Arts and Sciences faculty members continued to excel in multiple ways. In 2012, seven College faculty members were awarded tenure, six were promoted to the rank of associate professor, and seven to full professor. Fifteen College faculty members authored books in 2012 and dozens published articles and presented concerts. Twelve College faculty members earned 2012 Faculty Excellence Awards for their achievements and contributions in the areas of teaching, research, and service during the 2010-2011 academic year and nine College instructors earned Instructor Excellence Awards for accomplishments during the same period. Notably, College faculty once again swept the two major university awards: Theodora Bofman (TESL/TEFL) was the recipient of the 2012 Audrey Reynolds Distinguished Teaching Award and Zachary Schiffman (History) earned the 2012 Bernard J. Brommel Distinguished Research Award. Erick Howenstine (Geography and Environmental Studies) was named the 2012-2013 NEIU presidential fellow, the fifth College faculty member to serve in this capacity. Finally, two College faculty members – Christopher Schroeder (English) and Tony Adams (Communication, Media, and Theatre) – won national book awards in 2012. The College appreciated its deepened relations with the Development and Alumni Relations offices in 2011-2012. This included the identification of three Faculty Ambassadors from the College to support alumni relations and development efforts. Two retiring faculty members, Sarah Hoagland (Philosophy) and Jane Peller (Social Work), and one administrator with an academic home in the College of Arts and Sciences, Provost Lawrence Frank (Political Science), made generous donations to finance lecture series and scholarships for future generations. The College also enhanced its visibility through an active social media site and an upgraded website. As a community, we continue to foster faculty excellence and to work hard to serve our students and alumni, embracing our wonderful diversity, in the spirit of our values of integrity, excellence, access to opportunity, and empowerment through learning. Wamucii Njogu Faculty Council on Academic Affairs Approved Curricular Changes 2011-2012 10/20/2011 AFAM African and African American Studies Program cr hrs, prereq AFAM 200 Intro to African and African American Studies improving hum.rel.attrib. 12/15/2011 AFAM 303 Global Collaborations: Cross-Cultural Research in Ghana official 3/22/2012 ANTH 212 Introduction to Anthropology desrptn 8/3/2011 ANTH 349E Environmental Archaelogy new 11/23/2011 ANTH 371 Forensic Anthropology prereq NS 10/17/2011 ANTH 373 Urban Anthropology official 12/15/2011 ART 202 WIP Methods of Research in Art History existing 4/5/2012 ART 284 Typography title, description 5/17/2012 3/5/2012 BIO UG prerequisites 12/1/2011 BIO UG major required courses BIO 100 Introduction to Biology descriptn 3/18/2012 BIO 357 Community Ecology official 2/14/2012 BIO 368 Genomics and Proteomics (300 level for grad credit official 11/2/2011 BIO 461 Biolchemistry and Molecular Biology Methods new 12/01/111 BIO 481 1,2,3 Independent Investigations new 12/1/2011 BIO 497x Library Thesis, 1 to 3 cr No., title, hr, prereq 12/15/2011 BIO 499 Research Thesis, 1-4 cr No., dscr, cr, prereq 12/15/2011 CHEM 213 WIP Quantitative Analysis prereqs, WIP status 3/8/2012 CHEM 350 Principles of Toxicology official 11/2/2011 CHEM 353 Principles of Pharmacology new 2/9/2012 CHEM 353 Principles of Pharmacology new 2/28/2012 elctvs,cr hrs,core & rqd 5/17/2012 CMT CMT Minor revision crses 5/17/2012 CMT Communication Minor new 5/17/2012 CMT Journalism Minor new CMT-C 300 Meiated Communication new 5/17/2012 CMT-C 400 Studies in Communication new 5/17/2012 CMT-C 416 Seminar in Interpersonal Commnication title 5/17/2012 CMT-E 490 Instructional Communication Tite 5/17/2012 CMTM 250 Introduction to Audio Production official 11/9/2011 Integrating Arts across the Disciplines: Art as a tool for 3/8/2012 392 CMTT Tchng & Trnng official CMTT 438 Seminar- Research Problems in Theatre NS delete 3/22/2012 CMTT 458 Seminar- Research Problems in Performance Studies NS delete 3/22/2012 CS 200 ProgrammingI descriptn, prereq 5/17/2012 CS 201 Discrete Structures NS prereq 4/10/2012 CS 207 Programming II Description 5/17/2012 CS 301 Computer Org.with Assembly Language Programming title, descrptn, prereq 2/28/2012 CS 304 Data Structures description, prerequisite 5/17/2012 CS 321 Server Side Web Development NS prereq 4/10/2012 CS 335 Artificial Intelligence description 5/17/2012 CS 341 Parallel Computing and Distributed Systems new 5/17/2012 CS 361 Secure Programming and Testing new 5/17/2012 ECON 310 WIP Business and Economics Statistics II existing,new WIP,dscrptn 2/10/2012 ECON 323 WIP Economic Development of Southeast Asia title,dscrip,prereq,WIPstatus 3/8/2012 ECON 377 Real Estate Economics new 12/1/2011 ENGL 310 Composition Studies new 12/1/2011 ENGL 491 The Sonnet: Not Just a Love Song new 11/3/2011