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December 2007 Articles

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COD Humors the CCHA by Julia diLiberti

COD was well represented at the recent Community College Humanities Association annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas with ten of our colleagues offering presentations ranging from Bob Dixon-Kolar's "Communicating the Incommunicable of the Tao," to Jeffrey Fox's panel discussion with Dan Thorpe on narrative flow, to Scott Boyd's paper on the Spellings Commission's misunderstanding of the issues of higher education. If you have not had a chance to attend the CCHA, my advice is that you should. It is one of the few venues solely for community college faculty with topics broad enough to include multiple disciplines. The conference is friendly and insists on interactive and dynamic presentations, so you leave with information readily usable in classes.

My own talk focused on the use of cartoons and/or graphic novels in Humanities classrooms, and from this talk I would like to share with you a favorite cartoon by Belgian Philippe Geluck¹. My own discovery of Geluck's cartoon came when I was teaching English in Belgium for a year. (I have since compared Gary Larson's cartoons to Geluck's for a fun romp in cross-cultural humor). When I returned to Belgium for summer study in 2003, I noted the postcard from a free rack of advertising at a local shop and immediately snapped it up as a teaching tool and as a way of introducing some of Rene Magritte's ideas on art and the arbitrary nature of language.² Should you find these images amusing, feel free to send me your version(s)!

If the cartoon makes little or no sense to you, rest assured, you are not alone. If, however, you began making delicious associations with Magritte's painting Le trahison d'images [The Betrayal of Images] and variations on a theme, you are well one your way to appreciating some Belgian humor and to having a good discussion of the arts. Feel free to drink a Belgian beer as you savor the images.

¹Le chat. Philippe Geluck's cartoon says in French, Ceci est un pleonasme. [This is a needless repetition]. The joke comes from the fact that the musicial note that we would call "D" is called "Re" by French speaking folk. Thus we have a rebus of a rebus. Amusant, non?

²Here you have Rene Magritte's painting which states Ceci n'est pas une pipe [This is not a pipe] from which Geluck derives his inspiration for the above cartoon. To the right you have an ad against the privatization of water rights in Belgium; underneath the upturned faucet you have the protesters' lament, Ceci n'est pas un robinet [This is not a faucet].

COD Faculty who presented at the CCHA national conference:

Scott Boyd: Panel on "The Humanities and the Spellings Report"
Julia diLiberti: "Humanities Cartoons"
Bob Dixon-Kolar: Panel on "Rethinking Artistic Pursuits"
Helen Feng: "Three Rivers to Bede"
Jeffrey Fox: Panelist on "Reckoning the Narrative Flow in Conrad, Celine, and Dillard" and "Rethinking French Class in Global Speaking Times"
Ida Hagman: "Shakespeare and the Sopranos"
Keith Krasemann: Moderator for panel on "Rethinking Artistic Pursuits"
Linda Osanka: Panel on "Rethinking Artistic Pursuits"
Josh Price: Panel on "Rethinking Artistic Pursuits"
Dan Thorpe: Panelist on "Reckoning the Narrative Flow in Conrad, Celine, and Dillard"

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Stanko, CODFA's first Vice President, Leaves Legacy of Leadership by Tom Tipton

While he was Vice President, Teddy Roosevelt popularized an African proverb: "Speak softly, but carry a big stick." As president he turned it into American foreign policy. Nancy Stanko epitomizes that proverb: she is soft-spoken and gentle, but when it comes to voicing and defending faculty interests, she carries a big stick. Not the battleships that Roosevelt was referring to—but facts, reason, persistence, and commitment to her colleagues.

When Nancy leaves office this January, she will leave behind her an important legacy in the Faculty Association. She was the first-ever vice president. This office was created under our most recent Bylaws revisions, necessitated by semester conversion. Prior to Nancy there was a president-elect who served for one year in that role before going on to serve as president for one year. Nancy's two-year term as Vice President was a test for the newly created officer structure. Her challenge was to create a role that was somewhere between "a warm bucket of spit"—the famous criticism of the office of vice president by FDR's vice president, "Cactus Jack" Garner—and the current jokes about President Bush as Vice President Cheney's puppet. Together Nancy and Glenn responded to that challenge by creating a model of teamwork that enhances each other's unique roles. It is a model that will surely be followed by future officers of the Association.

Part of that model was the "rule of two." Glenn and Nancy made sure that they only met with administrative representatives when both of them were present. That meant hundreds of meetings for Nancy over the last two years—Board meetings, Senate meetings, Leadership Council meetings, Welfare meetings, meetings with Vice President of Academic Affairs Chris Picard, Datatel meetings. And these were only the regularly scheduled meetings. Glenn and Nancy have had countless other meetings, including occasional meetings with President Chand. "I have never attended and participated in so many meetings in my life!" says Nancy.

Not only was Nancy responsible for attending numerous committee meetings, as Vice President she was also chair of the Committee on Committees, responsible for staffing faculty on over 100 college-wide and Association committees this year alone. "I think we have improved the handling of volunteers; however, I realize many more improvements must be made. I have confidence that Lisa [Higgins, the newly elected Vice President] will work to continue to make it better," says Nancy. And she can't resist one last lame duck plea, "Please join committees."

This has not been an easy time to be Vice President, particularly regarding relationships with the Board. Nancy acknowledges that it "has been difficult to break down walls and barriers, but I believe Glenn has made important steps toward progress with communicating with the Board." Still, Nancy sees some improvement in communicating with the Administration, particularly at Leadership Council: "Sometimes we are able to talk more and have an exchange of viewpoints at the Leadership Council meetings. This is an improvement from two years ago."

Despite all the hard work, or perhaps because of it, Nancy will leave her office with a sense of personal gratitude. "It amazes me that after teaching 20 years at the college, there continues to be so much more to learn about us. I have experienced tremendous growth, and this has been exciting for me," says Nancy. "What have I learned these past two years? This is not the time to lose faith in the college. We are still in transition of semesters. We are learning to get along with many new people. The people are good people. It is important for us to remain ethical and maintain our own individual high standards. Be the example."

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Discussion Ensued: Denise Coté Ends Reign as Senate Secretary by Tom Tipton

When Denise Coté leaves her office as Secretary of the Senate in January, she will leave behind a string of achievements, including her vital role in the creation and maintenance of the CODFA Web Site and Discussion Boards. The Faculty Advocate interviewed our Association's "Communications Czarina" recently to learn from her experiences. Now we can hear Denise, who was so often silently recording the voices of others in her thorough minutes, speak her mind in her own voice.

Faculty Advocate: How many terms did you serve as Secretary?
Denise: I have served 5 terms. I replaced Lauren Morgan under John Sullivan's Presidency. John was followed by Chris Russell, Tom Tipton, Chris Russell again, then Chris Goergen, and now Glenn Hansen.

Faculty Advocate: What are you proudest of achieving during your terms?
Denise: I am most proud of all that Senate achieved as a group. The Senate has worked on behalf of the faculty and our students through so much during the last five years: reorganization, conversion, AQIP, a new President, the BOT in general, the FMP, budget cuts, the ever-changing calendar, in-service days and strategic planning. What I have found most remarkable is that despite all of the work that these huge issues entailed, the Senate and all of its subcommittees continuously retains its pointed interest on the experience of the student at the College. I have always been proud to serve the students via serving our faculty. Personally, I am proud of the website development and providing a useful (and used) resource for our faculty.

Faculty Advocate: What was your biggest hurdle?
Denise: I've developed my listening skills over the last five years, to be sure! When Lauren passed the gauntlet to me, she gave the most sage and useful advice: "Remember this phrase: 'discussion ensued'. It's a gem!"

Faculty Advocate: What is the funniest moment you remember from your terms?
Denise: Well, most of the hilarious moments in Senate involved Phyllis saying things that would not be appropriate for this publication. :)

Faculty Advocate: What did you enjoy most about your terms?
Denise: I enjoyed being part of the process at the College (yes, there is one!) and seeing serious issues resolved and/or compromise reached. Observing people is something of a hobby for me so I really enjoyed watching new leaders blossom and our Senators become more and more active in the issues as they became comfortable in their roles.

Faculty Advocate: What do you plan to do (in the Association) after your terms?
Denise: I am continuing to chair the Alternative Credit committee and plan to give more time to participating in committee work. Believe it or not, I will miss Senate very much and plan to return in some capacity.

Faculty Advocate: What do you see as issues future Secretaries will need to address?
Denise: Future secretaries of Senate will likely be more involved in creating accessible archives of Senate information for access by our membership via the codfaculty.org site. We are approaching the point where this is possible given that 90% of our faculty are registered for the secure discussion area. I would love to be involved in such a project but never had the time to lead the effort.

Image is of Denise's avatar in Second Life.

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In Russia, Again! by Ben Whisenhunt

As many of you know, I spent Fall 2006 in Russia on a J. William Fulbright Senior Scholar Award. It was a rewarding time, and I made many good contacts for a future partnership. Earlier this semester I was invited to present a paper at the Bicentennial Conference of Russia-U.S. Relations in Moscow. It was quite an honor. This conference was a mixture of academic and political figures. Many Russian scholars study the relationship between our two countries, but in the past decade or so not many American scholars have focused on this area. I was invited because I have a book coming out on this subject next summer (Marina Swoboda and William Benton Whisenhunt, A Russian Paints America: Pavel P. Svin'in's Impressions of Early Nineteenth-Century Russia. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008).

While in Moscow, I attended many interesting sessions about partnership ideas, joint projects, and the history of Russian-American relations. A highlight of the conference was the keynote address by former Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger at the U.S. Ambassador's residence, Spaso House. While Dr. Kissinger's presence received a mixed review from both the Russians and Americans in attendance, Spaso House was worth the visit. It is a glorious nineteenth-century mansion often referred to as the largest private residence in Russia right in the heart of Moscow.

During one day of my visit, I took a delightful train ride (about three hours) to Ryazan'. This is the city where I lived last year for four months with my family. After three days in hectic and expensive Moscow, I was happy to return to someplace more familiar. Ryazan', an old city dating back to 1095, was a closed Soviet city because of its sensitive industry. Even though it has more than 600,000 people and is only 125 miles from Moscow, it is a slice of real Russia. I was able to meet with my hosts from last year to further our discussions of a partnership between our two institutions. Since I returned from Russia last year, I have been emailing with them about this, but I believe that more was accomplished during my seven hours in person with them than had been accomplished over the past ten months of correspondence! This partnership is not limited to Russian or American studies, so if you are interested in participating, please let me know.

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Kathy Kamal to Exhibit at Loyola University by Marina Kuchinski

Kathy Kamal, Associate Professor of Art, will have her work on view in a two-person exhibition at the Crown Center Gallery at Loyola University. Kamal will be exhibiting with her sister, Kelly Malec-Kosak, who teaches metals at Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio. The exhibition, titled "Side by Side: Sisters in Silversmithing," presents juxtapositions in the creation and interpretation of objects, with silver as the unifying medium.

Kamal's objects stem from her experiences living in both American and Indian cultures. "Sorting out who I am has been a focus in my work. Am I a 'Bahu'—the head daughter-in-law of a Hindu family, or a suburban mom waiting in the 'flow zone' of a school to pick up my child? Being an object maker that uses silver presents a similar dichotomy. The body of work in this exhibition reflects points in my life and thoughts on preciousness. As an artist that works in an inherently valuable material, I am intrigued by our culture's propensity for the 'throw-away'. Ephemera becomes collectible simply by changing materials. The orange juice pull tab is now a valuable silver ring reminiscent of African cast rings and junk art. Table objects, such as spoon, teapot and bowl are explored in the context of disposables that become souvenirs of historical silver pieces," she says.

Malec-Kosak is fascinated with the power of pacifiers. "These objects are almost jewel-like in scale and form, and become colorful mouth ornaments that are oddly comic," she says. "By using traditional fabrication and carving techniques, I create pacifiers that speak of sensuousness and playfulness. Stone and silver are combined often in traditional bezels, referencing jewelry, but their relationship is exaggerated and at time conflicting. Rubber and resin are used for their color and texture, and suggest the materials used in commercial pacifiers. I treat these pacifiers with reverence in my attention to detail and craft, and use them to symbolize the experience of mothering. The simultaneous feelings of intimacy and invasion, joy and resentment, attachment and isolation are represented in these pieces," she concludes.

Kamal has been preparing for this exhibition for the past year. She is now completing the final pieces and exploring a number of possibilities for placement of the small objects in the shared 1600 square feet gallery space. "I like to think of the gallery environment as a whole where space and objects are equally important," she says.

The exhibition will be open from January 18 through February 23, 2008. Opening reception is on January 18th, 5 - 8 p.m. Gallery hours are from Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., Saturday, 12 - 4 p.m. and by appointment. The Crown Gallery is located on 1001 West Loyola, second floor, Chicago, IL 60626.

Image of "Elitest Vision" by Kathy Kamal.

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What Price Peacekeeping, in Haiti by Keith Yearman

On July 6, 2005, United Nations peacekeepers raided the Port au Prince shantytown Cite Soleil. The raid was designed to kill or capture Dread Wilme, who was the political force in Cite Soleil, often an ally to deposed Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide, and a strong opponent to the U.N. occupation. The U.N. peacekeepers, part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission for Haiti (MINUSTAH), went in with a vengeance. Brazilian soldiers formed the bulk of the assault force, engaging in door-to-door fighting. Jordanians maintained the perimeter. The raid left an untold number of civilians dead, but apparently pleased officials of the United States government.

I had obtained a series of cables from the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince concerning the raid, which formed the basis for an article I published on NarcoNews. The day of the raid, embassy personnel wrote, "MINUSTAH needs to keep up the pressure with continuous small and medium sized operations."

High U.N. officials told U.S. diplomats in New York that "MINUSTAH's soldiers went into the area on July 6 for only 5 to 6 minutes to complete the operation." et the story later emerged that the operation took nearly seven hours, with 22,000 rounds fired. The Brazilians fired 95% of the rounds, yet the Brazilian commander of MINUSTAH told a foreign medical delegation that the "Jordanian battalion had led the operation." The U.N. placed the death toll at six, but as a surprisingly honest assessment from the Embassy stated, "It remains unclear how aggressive MINUSTAH was, though 22,000 rounds is a large amount of ammunition to have killed only six people."

On December 22, 2005, the U.N. once again raided Cite Soleil. The death toll was reported to be eleven, but most everyone I heard from (NGO workers, activists, and reports from journalist Kevin Pina) suggested the toll was much higher. I wanted to see for myself, and I managed to secure an invitation to visit Cite Soleil this October 22.

For most of my stay in Port au Prince I traveled alone, hopping in tap-taps [taxis] or walking. But I was strongly advised to take a group into Cite Soleil-an interpreter, a driver, and a freelance videographer for Associated Press who served as my guide. As we drove towards Cite Soleil, which is a short ride from the sea, I felt as though we were entering a prison camp. Activists I met compared the experience to visiting Gaza, and referred to Cite Soleil as a "concentration camp."

Our first stop was a school which MINUSTAH shot up during the December 22 raid. The U.N. overtook the school and occupied it for more than a year. Upon entering the school, I encountered a room about the size of my wife's walk-in closet. There were at least 15 students crammed into this room (more likely 20), sitting at makeshift tables made of wooden planks no more than 6-8 inches wide. The school's director told me MINUSTAH had stripped all of the furniture from the school. He invited me to the next room which had been his office. It was stripped bare, except for an elderly woman selling food in the corner. [For the record, I later toured a school in the city of Petionville where the United Nations also removed all of the furniture. MINUSTAH's furniture fetish has not been explained.]

I walked to the school's rear lot. Bullet holes pierced the walls. A rear classroom had been destroyed by MINUSTAH. And then I looked up-the entire second floor of the school had been destroyed by the soldiers. The property owner was still, more than a year and a half after the raid, trying to clear rubble. We spoke for several minutes and watched as a U.N. delivery truck loaded civilians next door.

At the school we were seemingly in the middle of the U.N.'s facilities. To our north the U.N. had a small supply base. A half-mile south the U.N. had overtaken an indoor market, by far the nicest building in Cite Soleil, and converted it to barracks. A short way from the former market was a massive U.N. facility, a multi-million dollar building constructed especially for the occupation of Haiti. Two blocks east was a former hospital, the top floors commandeered by MINUSTAH for a watchtower.

As we traveled through Cite Soleil, MINUSTAH was literally around every corner, the destruction from the two major raids all around. We passed houses where entire families had been killed. We passed other buildings leveled or heavily damaged by MINUSTAH's operations, and then came to the open-air market.

Dread Wilme had a series of concrete counters and canopies constructed in the center of Cite Soleil. MINUSTAH came to this market and unleashed a barrage. As I walked the site, people must have noticed the horrified look on my face because they immediately walked over and started describing their experiences. As the soldiers opened fire, the vendors dove behind the counters. The soldiers aimed low, blowing a number of bullets through the concrete counters, targeting the hiding vendors. Head shots were a common tactic of MINUSTAH in Cite Soleil and elsewhere in Haiti.

After the July 6 massacre and a similar raid in the Bel Aire community the previous week, the U.S. Embassy wrote, "Brazil shows backbone." This "backbone" is still visible on the streets of Cite Soleil. The U.N. today raves about the pacification of Cite Soleil, but at what cost? MINUSTAH still refuses to provide an accurate body count or damage assessment from operations in Cite Soleil. The U.N. has built numerous compounds throughout Port au Prince and is settling in for a lengthy stay. One can only wonder what MINUSTAH has planned for Cite Soleil.

More images available here.

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Brenda Alberico: COD's Ambassador of Mathematics by Karin Evans

Producing newsletters, organizing conference programs, fostering articulation and curriculum development at the state level, developing connections with high schools and four-year colleges. . . Brenda Alberico, past president of the Illinois Mathematics Association of Community Colleges (IMACC), and a board member for more than five years, has learned her lessons well in math advocacy. However, as she stepped down from the IMACC presidency this past spring, Brenda didn't step back. Instead, she vowed to become more active-at the national level.

Brenda is helping IMACC's new president develop a 2008 conference program that will link the organization to national issues. What are national issues for mathematics faculty? Class size is one—particularly in developmental math. Brenda says, "I'm trying to get a feel for class size in developmental math at other schools. We are at 35, and that's huge!" Then there's the curriculum content: for example, what is college algebra, exactly, and what topics should be covered in order to prepare students for calculus courses, either here at COD or at other schools? According to Brenda, "there are no clear boundary lines for college algebra!"

Articulation agreements can't always resolve the questions, since a whole range of organizations have their fingers in the math curriculum. Brenda comments, "AP Calculus classes don't all cover the same material. Some tests allow students to use computers or calculators, and others don't. Some schools expect students to memorize formulas, but others don't. Students get frustrated as they move from one setting to another, because they find that the expectations are inconsistent." IMACC leaders continue the struggle to create agreement among Illinois community colleges, at least, but there is a limit to how much control the organization can exert.

Brenda tells the story of how COD's Calculus III class had to be modified based on one of these special situations. Our engineering students, headed for transfer to UIUC under statewide articulation agreements, had to take an additional one-hour module of calculus because U of I demanded certain topics that are not included in our course. When asked how UIUC got to trump the IAI, Brenda responded philosophically, "Because they are U of I!"

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COD Faculty Get a Second Life by Denise Coté

Second Life, a 3-D online virtual environment, is being used by colleges and universities all over the world¹ as a platform to create immersive learning experiences and "real-life" simulations. In Second Life, students can experience representations of real locations such as the Louvre and the Sistine Chapel, be plunged into the tragedy at Darfur and the Holocaust, physically experience texts such as Dante's Inferno and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," converse with native speakers in virtual Japan, Mexico, Italy and France. Students and faculty can role-play in historically accurate time periods with other avatars and learn collaboratively with people from around the world. In addition to these types of immersive experiences, students and faculty can partake in emergency room nursing simulations, experience life as a person suffering with schizophrenia, and practice techniques typically reserved for labs in electronics, chemistry and nanotechnology. And this is only a sampling of what is possible in Second Life!

COD faculty Denise Coté and Jason Snart are experimenting with this technology at the COD virtual classroom in Second Life. This environment, created by Coté and Library staff member and artist Jenny Pompe, is a prairie-style space that features interactive information about the College, seating areas for group meetings, and a classroom in the clouds that students are transported to in a British telephone box a la "Dr. Who." Up next? Snart, Pompe, and Coté are planning to create an interactive representation of Wordworth's poem "Tintern Abbey" for students in Snart's courses.

Want to know more about Second Life and how you can use it with your students? An in-service day session will be offered in February, TLC workshops are upcoming, or you can email Denise Coté for more information!

¹30% of colleges have a presence in Second Life according to Campus & Technology.

Image is of Jason's avatar in Second Life.

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Statistical Musings on Health and Higher Education: Part 1 by Scott Boyd

The following index is partly derived from the same publications and sources cited in the U.S. Department of Education's A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education (2006), otherwise known as "The Spellings Report."

The U.S. ranking out of 39 countries on the PISA Mathematical Literacy Test (10th grade): 28th ¹

The U.S. ranking out of 40 countries of students at mid-level reading proficiency (10th grade): 19th ¹

The U.S. ranking out of 40 countries based on mean score for scientific literacy (10th grade): 22nd ¹

The percent increase in graduation rates from 4-year degree programs between 1995 and 2005 in Austria, Finland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, and Switzerland: 100% ²

The U.S. ranking of graduation rates from 4-year degree programs in 1995: 1st ²

The U.S. ranking of graduation rates from 4-year degree programs in 2005: 16th ²

Average hours of television Americans watch per week: 28 ³

U.S. global ranking based on hours watched per week: 1st ³

Number of televisions in U.S.: 740 per 1000 people ³

U.S. global ranking, number of televisions per capita: 3rd ³

Percent of U.S. population classified as obese or overweight: 60% ⁴

U.S. global ranking based on percentage of population obese or overweight: 2nd ⁴

In the U.S., the cost of health spending attributable to obesity in 1987: $3.6 billion ⁵

In the U.S., the cost of health spending attributable to obesity in 2002: $36.5 billion ⁵

Percent of GDP spent on healthcare in U.S.: 15.3% ⁴

U.S. global rank on healthcare spending as measured by GDP: 1st ⁴

Number of people in U.S. without any health coverage: 45 million ⁶

Sources:

¹Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Learning for Tomorrow's World-First Results from PISA 2003, (Paris: OECD, 2004).
²Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Education at a Glance 2007 (Paris: OECD, 2007).
³"Television Viewing Most Recent by Country," data compiled by NationMaster.com.
⁴Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Health Data 2007.
⁵Thorpe, Kenneth E., "The Rise in Health Care Spending and What to Do About It," Health Affairs, 24, no. 6 (2005): 1436-1445.
⁶Center on Budget and Policies Priorities, Economic Recovery Failed to Benefit Much of the Population in 2004 (Washington D.C.: CBPP, 2004).

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COD Faculty Oddly Informed by Julia diLiberti

On Thursday November 8, several COD faculty attended the third event sponsored by the Social Committee this semester. Faculty members hopped in their cars or on to the metra and traipsed to a live taping of "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me", "the oddly informative news quiz." Odd things learned: in England, they are trying to put Santa on a diet since he is now perceived as a bad role model to children. In Germany, on the other hand, a new advent calendar will feature serial killer Fritz Haarmann hiding behind a tree with a carving knife because the town where Haarman is from does not wish to deny its history.

As you can see from the photo, a good time was had by all despite (or perhaps even because) the surprise guest of the week being none other than Lynn Cheney. Panelist Paul Provenza likened the interview with Cheney to having "a kooky conversation with Eva Braun."

For further future socialization, don't miss the COD holiday party, Thursday, December 13 at the Carlisle where you can enjoy a sit down dinner, a DJ, and some dancing.

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