May 2009 Articles
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Looking for a New Day and a New Direction by Nancy Stanko
More than a Campaign: A Movement and Mandate for Change by Tipton & Allen
Cover Your Webinar! by Mary Newberg
Accolades by Konkel & Hagman
Looking for a New Day and a New Direction by Nancy Stanko
I am looking to the day when…
- proper balance is restored among duties and responsibilities of board, administration and faculty.
- continued support is given to our community through strong academic programs
- core values are strengthened, including integrity, respect, excellence, ethics, and real collaboration
- focus is on academic quality for our students when decisions are made
- decisions are more open and collaborative and not made simply by filling in a "template." Collaboration includes all stakeholders that have the ability to voice their opinions. Points of disagreement are resolved in face-to-face meetings
- ideas are shared
- truly open searches and forums are conducted for candidates for positions
COD is an educational institution, not a corporation. I look to the day when we share our vision, when all perspectives are respected and welcome. We have an invaluable history of discussion and debate before moving forward.
I look to the day when those around us do not just follow orders and look for the "cash cow" as the determining factor in decision making.
Join me on Monday, May 4, at our Board meeting where our new Board members will take their oaths of office and help us begin a NEW DAY:
Sandy Kim—Truly one of our own, she's a COD graduate, former student body president, committed and gracious under pressure. Sandy is an Army veteran and a student at Illinois Benedictine.
Allison O'Donnell—Earned her A.A. from COD and currently enrolled in our paralegal program. Clearly a lifelong learner, Allison also has an MBA! She wants to help rebuild COD's good reputation.
Kim Savage—Extending a long career in higher education administration and student services by joining COD in the role of trustee, Kim is committed to improving COD's climate and restoring its health.
Nancy Svoboda—Wise and measured, a time-tested leader. Associated with COD for the past 36 years, Nancy is a retired faculty member and has experience working with all COD constituency groups.
Congratulations!
More than a Campaign: A Movement and Mandate for Change by Tom Tipton & Jim Allen
We all know that local elections don't get the attention that national ones do, and that it's
sometimes hard to get voters to pay attention to important issues right
in their own backyards. But thanks to your efforts, 162,851 votes were cast for candidates
recommended by Friends For Education 502. These were strong candidates, three of whom were
endorsed by the Daily Herald.
When outgoing Vice Chair Mark Nowak spat sour grapes at the candidates and us in an April 9 article in the Naperville Sun, stating that he felt "it's pretty hard not to be influenced by someone who has contributed financially to your campaign," he showed that he lost sight of a central fact that voters in our district did not: teachers are citizens, too. We have just as much right to engage in political action as McKinnon and Nowak. The difference is that they wanted to continue to play politics the old way, by banking on political and business connections, instead of reaching out to the community. In the end, the community trusted us and the candidates we recommended—more than they trusted the incumbents.
The numbers make it clear that we and our candidates have earned the trust of our district residents. We didn't accomplish this just by dumping cash into the campaign. The press consistently, but incorrectly, reported our total fund balance as our level of spending. However, we spent less per candidate on this campaign than we have in past campaigns. In truth, we won this campaign through volunteer hours—grass-roots political action. Through phone banking alone, we called over 8,000 residents. Through our email database, Facebook, and our website, we informed several thousand more. Through the efforts of many, we distributed over 150,000 pieces of campaign literature and posted 1,000 yard signs throughout the district.
Nothing shows the effect we had more remarkably than the success of Nancy Svoboda, who defied all conventional political wisdom in our district. As a retired faculty member and past Association president, we worried that Nancy was going to be a tough sell to district voters. Further, she found herself near the bottom of the ballot. But Nancy won 42,134 votes in a 10-way race, the largest vote count of any candidate over the last four elections—perhaps the largest vote count ever for a COD trustee! By comparison, McKinnon, who should have enjoyed the advantage of incumbency, only got 19,539 votes.
We had great fortune in our dedicated candidates, who worked extremely hard to get their message out. Kim, Sandy, Tom, and Nancy worked tirelessly, both individually and as a team, to attend coffees and forums, pass out literature at train stations, and march in parades. Their passion to improve our college spoke volumes and unquestionably contributed to their success.
No doubt about it, we did more than move the margin, as we set out to do; we gave our recommended candidates a mandate for change. Through our collective action, we empowered our individual members to participate in the democratic process. By doing this, we have begun a movement within our community that must continue. We owe it to the tens of thousands of voters whose trust we've earned. To that end, we in PAC invite all of you to get involved and stay involved not only as we move toward future elections but face other political issues that affect us all… Heard about the Governor's proposal to balance the state budget on your pension?
Image is of Sandy Kim from her Facebook campaign photo
Cover Your Webinar! by Mary Newberg
I participated recently in Russ Watson's "Cover Your Assessment" TLC class in an on-line
format. This was a great opportunity for me to learn about assessment
and to experience an on-line class. The content of the course is too vast to include in this short
article, so I will just say that my new laboratory report rubric has made my weekly grading both
more objective and much less time-consuming. I encourage every teacher to check out at least that
one session (access the recorded programs).
This was the first time I have taken an on-line class, and I was quite pleased with the effectiveness of this delivery. Russ was the content instructor and Christine Kickels managed the technical details. There were five 29-minute sessions delivered weekly. I enjoyed being able to participate in the live discussion, but the sessions are archived for those who want to view the content. Each session began and ended on time. A number of "regulars" attended most of the sessions, with other participants dropping in for the one or two sessions which caught their interest. (I believe the session on Rubrics was the most popular session—really—check it out!) Russ projected PowerPoint slides in the main panel and spoke into a microphone; speakers were required on the recipient end. Participants were able to comment via the chat box or using a microphone if available. Russ was also able to allow participants to write on the "whiteboard" in the main panel. With Christine's technical expertise, this all added up to a lively, participatory class session.
Russ did not assign homework for the course, but there was an "Out of Class Educational Opportunity" each week. I submitted my assignments via the Blackboard discussion board, and Russ and Christine critiqued and graded my assignments through various avenues on Blackboard. Part of each assignment included commenting on the assignments of other class members. Unfortunately, it appeared that only two of us were taking the course for the grade, so the discussion board had minimal activity. However, I was able to experience an on-line community for myself. If any faculty members have ideas for short courses they would like to offer through the TLC, I would highly recommend this fun and efficient delivery mode!
Accolades by Mary Konkel & Ida Hagman
ac·co·lade [ak-uh-leyd]
- any award, honor, or laudatory notice (dictionary.com)
- a light touch on the shoulder with the flat side of the sword or formerly by an embrace, done in the ceremony of conferring knighthood (dictionary.com)
- a mark of acknowledgment (Merriam-Webster online)
- an expression of praise (Merriam-Webster online)
Word History: People usually have to stick their necks out to earn accolades, and this is as it should be. In tracing accolade back to its Latin origins, we find that it was formed from the prefix ad-, "to, on," and the noun collum, "neck," which may bring the word collar to mind. From these elements came the Vulgar Latin word accolare, which was the source of French accolade, "an embrace." An embrace was originally given to a knight when dubbing him, a fact that accounts for accolade having the technical sense "ceremonial bestowal of knighthood," the sense in which the word is first recorded in English in 1623. (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000; updated 2003.)
Sandra Anderson (Spanish), Shaheen
Chowdhury (Sociology), Ida Hagman (English), Nicole Matos
(English), Joel Quam (Geography), and Susan Spiegel (Anthropology)
Threw caution to the wind and participated in the Illinois International Negotiation Project. Their
classes negotiated agreements on child labor, global pandemics, and the sharing of nuclear energy
technology. This project is supported by Zinta Konrad and the Office of
International Education.
Marty Attiyeh (ESL) and John Stasinopoulos
(Adult Education & ESL)
Presented at the 43rd annual Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International
Convention in Denver, Colorado on March 26, 2009. Their presentation was titled, "Unreal Expectations
in Language Teaching and Learning."
Mary Jean Cravens (Sociology)
Successfully defended her dissertation, "Doing and Undoing Gender: Men in the Animal Rights
Movement," on April 15 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Way to go, Mary Jean! One of Mary
Jean's friends has promised to eat animal-free for one day in Mary Jean's honor.
Julia diLiberti (Humanities)
Presented a paper, "The Interdependent Text: Strategies in African Literature for Defying
Colonization" for the ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) held at Harvard University
during Spring break. Joining Julia on the panel were three Africanists—a playwright and scholar
from Cameroon (at Case-Western), a scholar on Cameroonian feminist literature (at Case Western), and
a scholar from the Ivory Coast (at SUNY Albany). Her connection to these full-fledged Africanists is
that she spent a year in Benin, West Africa and dabbles in African literature as part of her larger
interests.
Karin Evans (English)
Inspired by a student who has been in her classes three semesters in a row despite his ongoing battle
with MS, joined a cycling team to help raise money and awareness for the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society. For more information, visit her
"rider" page.
Diana Fitzwater (Library)
Received the 2009 Community and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS) EBSCO Community College
Learning Resources Program Achievement Award, to be presented at the American Library Association
Annual Conference in Chicago on Friday, July 10. "Her involvement with embedding information literacy
as a general education competency within the College of DuPage curriculum demonstrates her significant
programmatic contribution to the college, on behalf of the library," said award committee chair
José Aguiñaga, librarian at the Glendale Community College.
Bob Georgalas (English), Keith Krasemann
Philosophy), Chikako Kumamoto (English), Chris Petersen (Biology),
Lois Stanciak (Education), and Ben Whisenhunt (History)
Published volume 6 of ESSAI, the college's academic journal. ESSAI can be found in
the new DigitalCommons@C.O.D.
David Goldberg (Political Science)
Attended and participated in the Summit of the American, as part of his activities during his leave
as a Fulbright Scholar. He taught courses on international relations and Latin America at the
University of the West Indies-St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago and did research on democracy
promotion in the hemisphere at the Institute of International Relations. He hopes to develop a new
course on the politics of Latin America and the Caribbean, based in part on these experiences.
Lee Kesselman (Music)
Competed April 16 on La Triviata, the new WFMT (98.7 FM) music game show, playing for the "Stars
from Chicago Universities" team, alongside Steven Alltop from Northwestern University and Philip
Gossett from University of Chicago. La Triviata broadcast live from Marbles The Brain Store in
downtown Chicago. Three teams of musicians and music lovers competed for prizes and bragging rights
in games of trivia, recognition, and fun on this live radio show.
Mary Konkel (Library)
Presented "Ebooks in the OPAC at C.O.D." at the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in
Illinois (CARLI) Ebook Symposium, March 3 in Champaign, IL. The symposium was sponsored by the
CARLI Collections Working Group and E-Resources Working Group. Her presentation highlighted best
practices in technical services for ordering, cataloging, accessing, and promoting ebooks in
libraries. Her presentation can be found in the new
DigitalCommons@C.O.D.
Chikako Kumamoto (English)
Had her 2008 Shakespeare conference presentation paper, titled "Some Wonder in This Handkerchief:
Magic, Early Modern Good Medicine, and Othello's Strange Difference," published in the Journal
of the Wooden O Symposium, volume 8 (2009). The Journal of the Wooden O Symposium is
an annual publication containing selected papers from the summer symposium. Articles are indexed
in the MLA International Bibliography.
Jackie McGrath (English)
Ran the Lisle Chamber of Commerce "Run For Education" 5K on March 21, with a time of 23:06. She
also ran the Naperville NCO Youth and Family Services 10K on April 19, with a time of 48:42. Both
events benefited good causes and garnered two more "free" t-shirts for her growing collection.
Debra Smith (Library)
Presented a 90-minute, nation-wide teleconference on April 16, 2009, entitled "An Ounce of
Prevention: Health Reference Basics" as a part of the C.O.D. 2009 Soaring to Excellence
series. Her program emphasized quality print and electronic health resources as well as the roles
and responsibilities of patients, library information professionals, and health care professionals
in the information seeking process. You can view her
Consumer Health Reference Toolkit
online.
John Stasinopoulos (Adult Education & ESL)
Has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach in Irkutsk, Russia for the Spring 2010 semester.
He will be conducting teacher training at the Irkutsk Linguistic Institute, one of only four
higher education institutions dedicated to linguistics in all of Russia.
Accolades submissions can be sent to Ida Hagman or Mary Konkel. We want to hear about your personal accomplishments as well as your professional ones. Tell us about educational achievements, classroom and program successes/development, publications and presentations, awards, athletic achievements, musical/theatrical accomplishments, and more. Acknowledge a colleague—we're always looking for a few good informants. We want to celebrate and rally around your creativity, innovation, spirit, and hard work. The Faculty Advocate is a publication that is open to our community, and our community has a right to know!
