September 2009 Articles
Story ideas? Opinions? Questions, Compliments, or Complaints? Send us an email at facultyadvocate@gmail.com.
Welcome to Fall 2009! by Nancy Stanko
Message to an Outstanding Faculty by Jim Allen
Publish or Perish? by Joel Quam
Connecting with Student Veterans in Class by Bob Hazard
Got News? The Faculty Advocate Wants To Hear From You by Karin Evans
Welcome to Fall 2009! by Nancy Stanko
We are very excited to have our faculty and students begin our new academic year in our new
buildings that hold great capacity for student learning. We've had a bustle of activity as faculty set
up their classrooms preparing for the new school year. We are trying to build a better world through
people working together. We dream of that better world for our students.
My father once said to me while we were observing my oldest daughter sleep (when she was just a few months old) that he thought that babies could grow as much as an inch overnight. He wondered if they could "feel" themselves growing. This past summer, I noticed how rapidly my zucchini in my garden grew—over two inches in a night. The college, too, has grown/changed overnight. With these rapid changes again coming to us during the start of the fall term, many of us are experiencing new challenges. Our Faculty Association has been working diligently to respond. As we experience our enrollment growth at COD this year, I am confident that you will remain focused to sustain our high quality education for our students.
Please join me in welcoming our newest faculty members, Rosa Colella-Melki, James Filipek, Jennifer Gimmell, Matthew Green, Natalie Grigoletti, Dick Kalus, Thomas Kulanjiyil, Sheryl Mylan, David Smith, Carol Sturz, and Meryl Sussman. Let us help them as well as our entire faculty to contribute, excel, and succeed.
Have a great academic year!
Image of the Health Sciences Commons by Richard Jarman.
Message to an Outstanding Faculty by Jim Allen, Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year
Ever since the news of my award broke, I have received more congratulations than I can count; many
of those well-wishers commented on how well-deserved it was that I was selected. I recognize
that I wasn't always as gracious as I could have been in receiving such applause, so if I offended
anyone, forgive me. See, I've had a bit of a problem with the "well-deserved" part because I see my
contributions to the college as no more special than what so many of you have done and continue to do
every year. I look at the colleagues who I shared the stage with and think, "Any one of them is as
deserving—and probably even more so." I then think of so many of you out there who for years
give your time, talent, and treasures to your students, to this institution, to the community, and to
your profession in ways that far surpass any of my accomplishments. Through good times and bad, you've
been the heart and soul of COD. You've educated me, challenged me, enlightened me, supported me, and
inspired me, and no doubt others around you.
I came to COD in 1992, fresh out of graduate school, with a newly minted Ph. D., an amazingly supportive wife, and a five-month-old baby girl. I still remember one of my graduate professor's comments when I told him I'd landed this job: he said it would be a good place for me to start. The implication, of course, was that I should soon move up to a position at a "real" college. Once I got here, though, the welcome I received from the faculty in the Communications Division, and even its dean, Sally Hadley, made me feel that I wasn't just starting a job, I was joining a family of sorts. Okay, perhaps a somewhat quirky and occasionally dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless, one that challenged each other, supported each other, and had fun in each others' company.
Seventeen years later, I find myself still with an amazingly supportive wife, a daughter who's a senior in high school, and a son who's in eighth grade. I'm on my fourth college president, third divisional dean, and fifth associate dean. Along with many of you, I've survived at least three reorganizations, IAI, adopting AQIP, converting to semesters, the ever-changing FMP, and a host of other changes big and small to COD. Through all of these changes, one element always seemed to remain constant: we always remained true to each other and to the college. Even during some of our darkest storms, we held each other up, pulled together, and rode out the waves until we reached the other side.
I'd like to thank Walker Richards, one of my Honors Scholar students, for his three-sentence, hand-scrawled nominating note that started this whole process. Actually, Walker's a remarkably gifted young man who cares deeply for the college and especially the Honors program. I'd also like to thank the committee who selected me; I suspect the competition must have been fierce. If I had more time, there are so many other people I'd need to thank, but I have to at least thank my wife and kids who've put up with and supported me all these years. Most of all, though, I'd like to thank all of you, my colleagues; what you do each day in your classrooms, labs, offices, and beyond sets a bar of excellence that's both challenging and inspiring to try to reach. For me, my receiving this award suggests that perhaps I've come closer to clearing that bar. In short, I don't see myself as THE Outstanding Faculty Member of the year; I see myself as merely AN Outstanding Faculty Member out of hundreds of Outstanding Faculty Members who've helped establish the reputation for excellence that College of DuPage has enjoyed in the past. I hope in the year to come that I can faithfully represent all of you to the community and beyond.
Publish or Perish? by Joel Quam
For as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed reading murder mysteries. As a teenager I started
collecting Perry Mason novels, a hobby that by now has produced a large collection of the works of
Erle Stanley Gardner—the creator of Perry Mason. Throughout the years, every now and then I would
think that I ought to be able to write a murder mystery novel myself. I'm delighted to say that I have
succeeded and that my book will be published in September.
My novel is in the amateur sleuth sub-genre. The alumni director of a fictional college in Minnesota tells the story from his first-person perspective. Throughout thirty years of being either a student or a professor, I've been in many different academic settings, so I think I know something about academic life! This background allowed me to create a fictional college that seems realistic and supports a number of intriguing characters.
One of my motivations for writing the novel was to present the discipline of geography to the general public. I am aware that the average person has a better understanding of what is history or biology or computer science than what is geography. In my novel the geography professor is the main suspect in the murder case. The alumni director's father is a geography enthusiast, and the alumni director's first name is Mercator, named for the creator of the Mercator map projection, for years the format of world maps in many classrooms. Through these characters I present a few geographic concepts and facts, hopefully mixed smoothly enough with the suspense that the reader learns something about geography while also being entertained by the mystery.
Here is the cover blurb about the book:
Alumni director Mercator Eliasson didn't anticipate that his work at Masterton College, a liberal arts college in small-town Minnesota, would place him in the middle of a murder investigation. His beautiful but estranged wife, Carole, requests that he help her friend Jill Moreland escape a murder charge. Mercator agrees out of a desperate need to regain Carole's favor. When Moreland, a geography professor, turns out to have both motive and opportunity for the murder, Mercator's likelihood of success becomes tenuous. On top of that, his inquiries uncover a complex academic controversy where choosing sides may lead to murder.
The book is called …or Perish, published by North Star Press of St. Cloud, Minnesota in trade paperback; it is now available on Amazon for pre-order at $14.95. When my copies of the novel arrive, I will be able to offer the book for $10 to colleagues on campus.
Connecting with Student Veterans in Class by Bob Hazard
As the new school year starts, and we're getting to know our students, I'm very aware of a growing
student population here at COD: veterans. The new Post 9-11 GI Bill has expanded education
benefits, and COD is a natural first step for many of our local veterans. Last year there were over 600
veterans at COD, and their enrollment is way up this year (the numbers aren't in yet, in part because
Cherise, our GI Bill Administrator in registration is swamped). So chances are you've probably had a
veteran in your classrooms in the few past years, and if you haven't, you will soon.
Veteran students can be a joy to work with. They are generally older, many in their mid-twenties, but they've got life experiences beyond their years that give their perspectives weight. They usually have goals already for their academic work here at COD and beyond, and they know the meaning, and value, of work. Once they transition to college life, they can prosper in our classrooms.
However, veteran students are not fresh out of high school. They have been living in a very different environment, and they may be unsure about being back in school after a long layoff. Some of them even joined the military because they weren't enjoying or doing well in school. Now, four or five years removed from the classroom, they may be more unsure than ever.
Beyond academic ambivalence, these students may have a difficult time fitting in with younger classmates. The difference between 18 and 25 may not seem that huge to many of us, but to our students it can be a big gap. Veteran students may have a difficult time relating to the problems of traditional students because they seem frustratingly insignificant to someone who spent two years living in a war zone. This increases veterans' sense of isolation.
This sense of isolation and desire for unobtrusiveness can make it difficult to identify veterans. They often want to sit in the back or to the sides of classrooms, especially combat veterans, because they are uncomfortable when someone is behind them. They may be quiet and intense. Their answers to questions can be short and curt. At this point you're probably thinking, this describes a lot of my students! If you're wondering if one is a veteran, ask—privately, of course.
A veteran student recently told me that the first semester was the hardest for him. The lack of structure at college is very different from military life. Soldiers are used to focusing on points of agreement, holding back differences, to maintain unit cohesion. So in classrooms where discussing opposing points of view is expected, they don't know what to do. Some of us may engage our students in discussions of current events, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For men and women who served in these wars, they are not abstract issues; they are intensely personal. Veterans who have served in war zones, have lost friends in these wars, have killed people in these wars will react very differently to discussions about wars and the military than students who are fresh out of high school.
So, what can we do? First, we can make our classrooms as welcoming as possible, without drawing unwanted attention to our veteran students. When a veteran wants to talk about her experiences, listen—and don't try to wrap up the conversation with a pretty bow. Tim O'Brien said that a true war story doesn't have a conclusion or moral. Let veterans know you honor and appreciate their sacrifices and willingness to serve, but do it in a way that comes from your own heart. Veteran students have often told me that when they hear "Thank you for your service," it comes across to them as an empty phrase. Be an ally, not a counselor. It's enough to let them know that you care about them as students and will help them in any way you can, as you would for any other student.
We have a growing list of services that are available for veterans. I'm an advisor for the COD Veterans Association; the email address for the club is codveterans@yahoo.com. You can contact Franz Burnier (x3958) or me (x2402) if you know a veteran who is interested in joining the club, or who wants to connect with other student veterans, or just needs someone to talk to. Cherise Olmo in registration is the GI Bill specialist and is an excellent person to point someone to if they're having problems. Finally, new this year is a VA counselor who will be on campus every Wednesday: Marcus Woodward in HSS 2202, x2990.
Got News? The Faculty Advocate Wants To Hear From You by Karin Evans
COD faculty are busy… sometimes it seems like you are all too busy to tell us what you're up to.
Say it ain't so!! Drop us a line—short announcements are welcome, and so are full articles. There is no
better time than right now to tout the accomplishments of your colleagues, your programs, your students.
Please email Karin Evans or write to us with ideas for articles. For brief announcements, including personal news, contact Mary Konkel or Ida Hagman, the Accolades column editors.
The deadline for the October Faculty Advocate will be September 24. There's plenty of time to get your story out! Thanks!
