Author Archives: johnsojg

Please help to Make It Miami 2019

The schedule for this year’s Make It Miami events is available and Ted Peters (CAS) is asking that those faculty interested please enter your names directly in this spreadsheet. These are usually held Fridays (two Mondays), 11:15 – 12:15, in Armstrong.

In addition, those interested in serving on other faculty panels through the Office of Admission  are asked to contact Ted Peters. These other panels are Junior Preview Days held on Saturdays (3/9, 4/6, 4/27) from 9:15 – 10:15.

Finally, if you are willing to allow prospective students to visit your classes to get a sense of how excellent we are as instructors, please enter your information in this spreadsheet (be sure it opens to the first tab, CAS).

Diversity & inclusion events next week

Lauren is back with weekly diversity and inclusion events on campus, below.

Also please remember that this is Black History Month with many great events on campus and the community. A list of influential Black  psychologists can be found through Active Minds, the APA, and other sources for those interested in classroom use (or otherwise!).

The Personal is Political: Examining Black Sportswomen’s Contemporary Activist’s Efforts
When: Monday 2/11 6-7:50pm
Where: 001 Upham Hall
Description: Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique will present a talk examining how black female college athletes experience marginalization and promote social justice strategies to redress social inequalities.

Memories from Heart Mountain
When: Tuesday 2/12 7-8pm
Where: Dave Finkelman Auditorium, Middletown campus
Description: Sam Mihara will share his childhood experiences of internment as a Japanese American during World War II.

Faculty Unhinged: Dr. Leland Spencer
When: Wednesday 2/13 11:30am-12:30pm
Where: 114 Rentschler Hall, Hamilton campus
Description: Dr. Leland Spencer will discuss gender, sex, and gender identity.

Stories of Worldwide Interconnected Lives
When: Wednesday 2/13 5-6:30pm
Where: 212 MacMillan Hall
Description: “Students, faculty, and staff with worldwide experiences will share their own stories reflecting on how their cross-cultural journeys and intercultural connections influence the development of their sense of belonging to a larger community(its), and influence the intersectionality of their cultural identity(ies).”

Activism Then and Now: Reflections on the Black Student Action Association and Vietnam War Protests in 1970
When: Thursday 2/14 12-1pm
Where: 320 King Library
Description: “Explore the history of Larry Clark, a Miami alum considered to be one of the leaders of the Black Protest Movement at Miami University. Now an award-winning filmmaker, Clark’s leadership at Miami is examined through lecture and film clips by Dr. Andy Rice, assistant processor of comparative media studies.”

Shinnenkai
When:: Friday 2/15 7-11pm
Where: Armstrong Fritz Pavillion
Description: The Japanese Culture and Language Club is hosting a festival celebrating the New Year in Japan. There will be booths with activities, information about Japanese culture and holidays, performances, and food.

Chinese New Year Gala
When: Saturday 2/16 7-10pm
Where: Hall Auditorium Green Room
Description: Come celebrate the Chinese New Year by watching performances and eating a Chinese meal.

Graduate Teaching Award nominations sought

The Graduate School is now accepting nominations for the Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Instruction and Mentoring. Our very own Jay Smart received the award this year, and I know we have many excellent faculty who contribute greatly to graduate education. Nominations are due by March 1; more information can be found in this doc on the Team Drive.

OARS Innovation and networking event Thursday

From Heather Johnston, OARS:

Sponsored by Miami University’s Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship in collaboration with the Office of the President, this event for the Miami community, area business and industry leaders, and the public will be held on Thursday, January 24. Sessions include the following:

10:00am-11:30am (322 McGuffey Hall) — Plenary Session involving TED Talk-like presentations from innovators representing regional business and industry, local government, business incubators, and Miami University alumni.

11:30am-12:00pm (322 McGuffey Hall) — “Leveraging Academics and Business: A New Approach for Innovation at Miami University,” presented by Jim Oris, Associate Provost for Research.

1:30pm-2:30pm (320 King Library) — Burr Zimmerman of Urban Venture Group will lead a session on forming partnerships and applying for Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants.

2:30pm-3:00pm (320 King Library) — Xiao-Wen Cheng, of the Microbiology Department, will talk about his experience in the I-Corps@Ohio program.

2:45pm-5:00pm — Burr Zimmerman will be available for individual grant application coaching for Miami faculty in 15-minute sessions.

Coffee and lunch are included. To attend, please register by Wednesday. More information can be found here.

M.I.A.M.I. WOMEN grant due Feb 1

From Heidi Bortel in Women’s Initiatives:

Students, staff and faculty members of any Miami University campus are encouraged to apply for a M.I.A.M.I. WOMEN Giving Circle grant ranging from $2,500 to $20,000.
The deadline to apply is Feb. 1. Applications are available online.

Grant proposals may include programs, research, events, student organization projects and more.

M.I.A.M.I. WOMEN awarded nearly $104,000 in Giving Circle grants to students and faculty during the annual Leadership Symposium on April 12, 2018. Finalists pitched their projects the previous evening at the inaugural Hawk Tank event.

Project recipients from 2017-2018 included Miami Women’s Hockey ($20,000), Girls Who Code ($3,000), Leadership on Campus and Beyond ($9,126 ), Opening Minds through Art (OMA) ($7,500) and more.

All grant applications are reviewed by the M.I.A.M.I. WOMEN grants committee, a selection of individuals including faculty, Giving Circle Members and alumnae.

Grant finalists will present during the Hawk Tank fast-pitch event on April 10, 2019.

Input on Miami’s upcoming strategic plan

From Vaishali, who is a member of the newly-formed university strategic planning committee (thank you!):

President Crawford has formed a steering committee to create a comprehensive, mission-driven, and sustainability-centered strategic plan for the next five years for Miami. The strategic priorities are: academic excellence, excellence in research and scholarship, transformative student experience, diversity and inclusion, financial sustainability, and a national university. See here for more information.
If you have any input about any of these priorities, and specifically about research and scholarship (a subcommittee that I am co-chairing), please let me know.

CIQS female recruiting event

Please see below an event organized by Lynette Hudiburgh, STA/CTE, to recruit female high school students. She would be grateful to have participation from faculty, graduate students, and/or undergraduates in Psychology, in particular:

Please mark your calendars so that you can join us for CIQS (Careers Involving Quantitative Skills) Day 2019, tentatively set for Tuesday, January 8, from 9:00 – 2:00, to recruit talented young high school females to study quantitative and science subjects in college. An alternate date of Thursday, January 10, has been set in case of inclement weather. This will be our Fifth Annual CIQS Day.

The Department of Statistics, in partnership with the College of Education, Health, & Society, and StatHawks sponsors CIQS Day: an annual event exclusively for female high school students. For this event we will invite such students from high schools in Southwestern Ohio (including downtown Cincinnati) to come to campus, participate in activities with faculty and current students, listen to faculty and student presentations, and converse with women who are working in STEM fields and in fields where good quantitative skills are needed. It is our hope that by introducing the students to these fields early, and by exposing them to exciting aspects of our fields of study, they will become intrigued and motivated to study a STEM discipline or to continue to study quantitative methods regardless of future majors.

We would love to have you join us and contribute to the success of this day. Opportunities for faculty to contribute include:

  • Create and facilitate an activity or exploration (30-40 minutes) that would be interesting and accessible to high school students. Presentations from last year included: Teamwork in Engineering; Big Data Analytics and its Applications; and Introduction to Earthquakes, just to name a few.
  • Identify current undergraduate and graduate majors in your department who might be available to participate in this day.

Psychology major’s original music production

Andrew Higgins, a senior Psychology and Music double major, has his senior recital opening this weekend, which contains themes of mental health. From Andrew:

“Hopeless Romantic” serves as my music composition senior recital – a testament of everything I’ve learned as a composer at Miami. The show times are: Thursday, 11/29 @ 6:00pm; Saturday, 12/1 @ 2:00pm and 7:30pm; and Sunday, 12/2 @ 2:00pm. The show encompasses two subjects I’ve fallen in love with through Miami: music and mental health. It is a two-act musical, which will run about 2.5 hours. It will take place in Wilks Theater – in the Armstrong Student Center. Admission is free!

More information about the musical can be found through a recently-published Miami Student article (here).

Although I am unable to attend due to a performance weekend of my own, I would encourage those interested to attend this free entertainment and am sure Andrew would love to see the support!