Category Archives: News

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Opportunities for your female students

There are two opportunities that might be of interest to your female undergraduates. From Monica Schneider, POL:

I am part of a group of people bringing Elect Her to Miami’s campus on November 11. Elect Her is a training program that trains college women to run for student government on their college or university campuses. Research has shown that women who run for student body elections in college are more likely to run for office as adults. The training addresses the disparity between the high percentage of women in colleges and universities and their low percentage in student governments (and in government more generally).

The daylong Elect Her training teaches college women why more women are needed in student government and provides them with the skills to run successful student body campaigns. Students learn how to create campaign messages and communicate them effectively as well as how to reach out and mobilize voters on campus. They will also meet with student government and an elected official. The organization is geared towards student government elections, but the skills will still be relevant for seniors or those thinking of a political career after Miami.

If you know a student that you believe would benefit from the program, please provide their information in this form. They will receive a personalized invitation to attend the workshop, which is free for students. Research shows that women need to be asked – and asked several times! – before they think they will be good enough to run for any type of office. If you know of an excellent student, please don’t hesitate to contact them directly (in person/by email) in addition to submitting their name.

Thanks for helping me get a great turnout for this exciting event! I’m hoping that everyone I know can invite 4-5 women – especially since I know you know a lot of great students on this campus!

And in case you missed her email, from April:

We are very excited to be starting the second year of the Miami Body Project. The Body Project is a cognitive dissonance-based body-acceptance program designed to help college-age women resist cultural pressures to conform to the thin ideal and reduce their pursuit of unrealistic bodies. The Body Project is well supported by research as an effective prevention program for disordered eating (more details here).

We will be offering multiple Body Project workshops this semester and I could really use your help to get the word out. I created a PowerPoint slide that provides information about upcoming Body Project workshops, and I would be very grateful if you would consider showing this slide in your classes, lab meetings, etc. [See April’s email or contact her for the slide].

Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, please consider “liking” our Facebook page and/or following us on Instagram #MiamiBodyProject.

April is also looking for peer leaders for the Miami Body Project. Peer Leaders will be expected to attend a training (that will take 1.5 days) and run 1-3 Body Project workshops over the course of this semester. The 1.5 day training will take place on Friday, September 29 (9am-5pm) and Saturday, September 30 (9am-1pm). Please have students contact April by Monday, September 25.

 

FSB Entrepreneurship speaker series announced

The Institute for Entrepreneurship at FSB announces the two speakers in their 2017-2018 Miami University Distinguished Entrepreneurship Scholar Lecture Series:

Dr. Tom Lumpkin, C.S. Trosper Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of the Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development in the Michael J. Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma. His talk, Social Entrepreneurship Impact: Are We Digging in the Wrong Place?, will be held on Monday, November 6, 1:30-3:00 pm is FSB 2079 and emphasizes his current research on the great challenge of sustainability and the impact of sustainable, ethical, entrepreneurial (SEE) enterprises.

Dr. Saras D. Sarasvathy, Paul M. Hammaker Professor in Business Administration in the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Holds cross-appointments at the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore, India), as the Jamuna Raghavan Chair Professor in Entrepreneurship, at Nankai University (Tianjin, China), as the Chair Professor of Entrepreneurship, and at Chalmers University (Göteborg, Sweden), as the Jubilee Professor.  Her talk will be held on Friday, March 2, 1:30-3:00 pm is FSB 2079. Widely considered a leading scholar on the cognitive basis for high-performance entrepreneurship, Dr. Sarasvathy… is best known for her research examining effectuation, which is a model of entrepreneurial thinking that serves founders in the processes of opportunity identification and new venture creation.

Citizenship and Democracy Week

From John Forren, Department of Justice and Community Studies on the Hamilton campus, about events the week of Sept 11-15, across all Miami campuses and other venues. Contact John for a calendar of events which includes discussions and panels, films, engagement and volunteer opportunities, a naturalization ceremony and an open session of the Ohio Court of Appeals. He also writes:

And of course, anything that you could do to encourage your students (and friends, neighbors, relatives, colleagues, etc.) to take part in the various events would be greatly appreciated as well! (As a side note, we will be keeping track of student attendance at most of the events; thus, if you would like to embed one or more of the programs into your courses as extra credit, etc., we can, in most cases, provide you with a post-event list of student attendees.)

Thanks for your support of this event — and best wishes for a great semester!

Cross-cultural mentoring of graduate students

From Valerie Robinson in the Graduate School on a relatively new program:

In Fall 2015, the Graduate School introduced a program in Cross Cultural Mentoring. We partnered interested faculty with diverse doctoral students with all but dissertation status. It was a successful initiative by a number of measures and we want to extend it this year to include more graduate students. We hope you consider participating.

We seek doctoral level faculty/staff who will engage the student not as an advisor, but as a role model, counselor, and experienced future colleague, providing support for the research process and preparing for life after the dissertation.

We seek diverse doctoral students in at least their second year who are interested in a mutually beneficial mentoring relationship with a faculty or staff member.

We are planning a kick-off meeting in mid-September. If you are interested in participating or have questions, please contact Valerie.

CTE seminar calendar posted

The Center for Teaching Excellence has not only retained its name for two years in a row now, but they have updated their calendar to reflect offerings for the CTE as well as some other partners. The calendar can be found here, and includes sessions on funding opportunities, service learning, study abroad, diversity, the new Title IX reporting requirements, and more; specialized topics such as Chinese names, Peer review of writing, or Teaching large classes; and systems and software such as Qualtrics.

I would encourage you all to check it out and think each of you might find something to contribute to your professional development.

Copyright, fair use, and copies for your classes

Please be mindful when considering material to copy and distribute in your courses. The office will not honor requests that seem to be in violation of copyright law. I hope you agree this sets the wrong example for the student workers who are often tasked with such work. Furthermore, I hope you are not knowingly in violation yourself. From Carla Myers, University Libraries:

In higher education, the fair use exemption found in 17 U.S.C Section 107 is one we can often look to when wishing to make and distribute copies of works to students. When making a fair use determination we must consider:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Working through these four factors…
(1) If the course readings are used as part of course instruction and learning then the purpose of the use can be considered educational, which is good.
(2) If the resource being copied is a textbook then it’s scholarly in nature, which is also favored under the law.
(3) For the third factor, the course instructor needs to carefully consider how much of a work needs to be copied/reused to accomplish their purpose and only use that amount.
(4) For the fourth factor, the instructor needs to consider if the amount of the work they are copying is so much that students should instead be buying the work.

There are no specific rules for the amount that may be copied, although you may have heard rules-of-thumb such as 10% or one chapter. The main determination is whether the amount copied could reasonably substitute for the student purchasing the book/source.

CTE resources for difficult classroom dialogue

 

The CTE is extending support for all instructors who may encounter “hot-button issues,” especially in their discussion-based courses. They write:

Given recent events in Charlottesville and elsewhere in the US and around the world, those of you teaching courses focused on domestic and global political or cultural issues may experience some difficult and controversial classroom conversations or even encounter classroom incidents of incivility. Of course, the most important stance as a faculty member is to maintain a neutral tone that encourages a trusting learning environment and the respectful exchange of differing perspectives. However, in some cases, setting an unbiased and welcoming tone might not be enough. So, we wanted to provide you with a few resources that may help you and your students make the most of these challenging situations.

Lee Warren’s “Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom” as well as the University of Michigan’s Center for Teaching & Learning “Responding to Difficult Moments” webpage offer some thoughtful ways for converting hot button issues into productive teaching moments.

In addition, there are numerous programs and workshops focused on a wide array of teaching-related topics provided by the Center for Teaching Excellence as well as other centers and offices. The University will be hosting an Accessible Technology Symposium on October 12-13 and an Inclusion Symposium on October 13, both of which are designed to assist faculty in advancing an inclusive learning environment.

Please know that we and the CTE staff appreciate all that you do to promote student learning and stand ready to support you in the classroom.

Signs, posters, and banners

A memo from Robin Parker; this is a reminder, not a direct response to any new events of which I’m aware:

As you may recall, last year, unknown persons entered academic buildings on multiple occasions to post racist, neo-Nazi, white supremacist signs in violation of University policy. Although no signs have been posted recently, we do want to remind you that unaffiliated third parties have no right to post signs in University academic buildings or elsewhere on our campuses. Signs, posters and banners may only be posted in accordance with University policy and divisional rules.

Physical Facilities staff will work diligently to promptly remove any signs posted in violation of University policy as part of regular building maintenance. If you find a sign posted in violation of University policy, please remove it and send it to me along with the date and a notation of the location where it was posted. My office will be working with the Miami University Police Department to continue to try to identify the person or persons responsible for posting these signs and to coordinate any University response. If you have ANY concerns about removing the fliers/signs, please contact my office.

As far as I am aware no buildings permit the open unregulated positing of fliers and signs. However, if your division does have a designated “open forum” space for faculty, staff, students/or student organizations to post signs (e.g., notices, fliers), you may not remove them based on the content or message conveyed. Divisions may, have polices that limit the amount of time that signs, posters and banners may be displayed (e.g., 2 days, one week). If your division does permit open posting, we encourage the division to review and uniformly enforce the divisional rules governing the length of time a sign, poster or banner may be displayed.

Divisions are, of course, not required to designate any area for the open posting of signs, posters and banners. As far as I am aware most divisions limit use of space to matters directly related to the educational mission of the University (e.g., departmental events, tutoring, sponsored lectures and student activities) and require permission from the dean’s or chair’s office to post a sign, poster or banners on divisionally and departmentally controlled spaces (e.g., bulletin boards).

If you have questions or need assistance in following University policy, please contact the Office of General Counsel at 529-6734. Thanks!