Category Archives: Undergrad

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Nominate students for CAS College Ambassadors

From Ted Peters, Assistant Dean in CAS Advising:

We are writing to ask for your help. The College of Arts and Science is once again looking for CAS students who might be willing to serve as College Ambassadors and represent the division at various events on campus. We think our ambassadors are true assets, especially during our Admission recruitment and yield events- without them much of what we do during the Make It Miami events would be lackluster. Your assistance is essential, though. Without your nominations it is near impossible for us to create a thorough, cognate-balanced, list. If you would please share our request for nominations with your departmental colleagues we would greatly appreciate it.

Please submit nominations before Friday, October 5th using this Ambassador Nomination Form. Also, it is important for you to know that students who accept their nomination to serve as a College Ambassadors will also be given the opportunity to join the Deans Student Advisory Council (DSAC). When thinking of nominees, here are some of the characteristics we are looking for:

  • Articulate/comfortable with public speaking
  • Intellectually engaged
  • Average to strong academic record (we do not want only honors students)
  • Interacts well with peers

After we receive your nominations we will contact each student via email, letting them know they have been nominated for the program and give them more information about what our ambassadors do. In this email we tell the student who nominated them, so if you are sending in one list for your entire department please list the nominating faculty member. Many of the ambassadors from past years expressed how excited they were to be nominated and felt it really was an honor to be singled out.

Thank you for your help. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ginny Engwall or Mike Loeffelman, as they coordinate the Ambassador Program.

Invite students to meet 18 of the last 9

From Joy Usner, MU Alumni Association:

In October, the Miami University Alumni Association will welcome an outstanding group of recent graduates to campus to be honored as the 2018 cohort of 18 of the Last 9. The 18 of the Last 9 award recognizes 18 alumni who have graduated in the last 9 years and are succeeding in their professional careers and serving their communities. The honorees will be on campus October 25 and 26 to interact with students in classes, student organization meetings, and small group discussions.

We also have the opportunity to invite 10 students to the awards dinner on Friday, October 26. These student will receive complimentary tickets to the dinner and have the chance to interact with the honorees in a more personal setting. If you would like nominate a student to attend the dinner, please send email directly to Joy (usnerjm) with the student’s name, year, major, and a sentence or two on why they should attend or who you would like them to meet.

New departmental honors coordinator

Amy Summerville will be taking over as the new departmental honors coordinator starting with the class of 2020. Interested but non-declared students should contact Amy, although currently-declared honors students are still being supervised by Heather Claypool. Please join me in thanking Amy for taking this on and to Heather for her years of excellent service in this role!

Contribute to Miami research on class discussion

Ann Frymier (MJF) is conducting a research project on discussion as a teaching tool and is hoping that some of you who use discussion in your classes might be willing to participate. She asks:

Do you use discussion as a teaching tool? If yes, please consider participating in a research study seeking to understand the characteristics of effective classroom discussion. Participants who complete the study will receive a personalized assessment of their discussion facilitation skills by Dr. Maryellen Weimer, the editor ofThe Teaching Professor newsletter and the Teaching Professor Blog on Faculty Focus.

To be eligible to participate in this study, you must: be a full time instructor/professor at Miami University; teach a class of 15-45 students where you use discussion as a teaching tool; be willing to be video recorded facilitating a discussion; and work with the researchers to obtain informed consent from your students (only students’ voices will be recorded).

If you are interested in participating in this research, please contact Ann directly.

Call for Study Abroad/Away proposals

From Global Initiatives, faculty interested in developing Study Abroad/Away proposals for the 2019-20 AY should visit the website or see me for additional information. Note that proposals are due November 1.

Global Initiatives is pleased to invite proposals for study abroad/away programs for the 2019-20 Academic Year. Nearly 2,000 Miami University students study abroad or away on faculty-led programs each year on over 100 programs. These provide valuable high-impact global and intercultural experiences for students allowing them to meaningfully engage with the world and serve to enhance their on-campus coursework and activities. These initiatives support Miami University goals to promote a diverse culture of inclusion, integrity, and collaboration, and we appreciate your willingness to support these goals. Please share this email with your respective units.

Proposal Process Overview
Global Initiatives designed the study abroad/away program proposal process with the intent to develop and evaluate offerings across the university, as well as to increase student enrollment in Miami faculty led programs. As you know, there has been a proliferation of Miami University study abroad/away programs over the most recent three years. We are working with you to more critically review the proposals at the divisional and institutional levels to ensure that we are offering a wide array of globally focused academic endeavors in a variety of locations, not setting up competition for student enrollments between and among offerings, and being effective stewards of the university’s resources.

The proposal process also allows the creation of a study abroad/away portfolio that serves the university at large, while remaining responsive to the strategic goals of divisions and departments. We continue to refine the proposal process, and in order to do a thorough review, and have programs approved in a timeframe that allows students the opportunity to consider Miami faculty-led program options at the same time as transfer credit programs (non-Miami), which are typically available for student applications one year in advance.

Proposals for the 2019-20 Academic Year are due by November 1, 2018. In the recent past this has been a flexible deadline, but we have found that nearly 100% of late submissions are not able to generate enrollment for a go decision. Much effort goes into developing, reviewing, proposing, and recommending a program – faculty, Study Abroad and Global Initiatives staff, Deans, and Chairs, are all devoting a great deal of time to these late submissions, and then they do not meet their enrollment goals. This year, we will not review programs submitted after the deadline, and will ask faculty to consider proposing them for the next academic year, with the understanding that flexibility will be required for unique, high priority, significant offerings that may be considered with rationale.

Seeking Psi Chi advisor

Our local chapter of Psi Chi is in need of a new faculty advisor to replace Carrie Hall. The workload is minimal and involves primarily coordination with the student executives to approve their plans (and sign the forms). If you are interested please let me know asap. I have also served in this capacity in the past so if you have any questions you can direct them to me as well.

P&G Higher Education Grant

Proctor & Gamble supports a fund to support projects across a number of institutions, including Miami. There is currently an open call for those interested in developing submissions:

The P&G Fund for Higher Education is now accepting grant proposals for the 2018-19 year. Here is a link to a form that you may use for proposals. Grants range from $5,000-10,000 and Miami is permitted to request a total of $50,000 for all projects (with a limitation of 2 projects per division).

Programs must meet the following criteria:
– Improve curriculum to be at the cutting edge in relevance and effectiveness
– Foster and enable leadership opportunities and learning
– Create a learning environment that encourages and enhances innovation and creativity
– Strengthen diversity in thought, participation and ongoing interaction
– Utilize the funding on an expendable basis (i.e no endowments)

If you are interested, feel free to see me for consultation in preparing an effective proposal.

Pride Panels

As you finalize your syllabi for the fall, I wanted to make you aware of an offering from Spectrum, the student organization for LGBTQ+ students and allies dedicated to education, awareness, activism, and community. You might consider including a Pride Panel if you think it might make sense in your fall course. From Viengsamai Fetters, the Spectrum Education Chair:

The goal of Pride Panels is to provide insights into the lives of real LGBTQ+ people who go to Miami in a way that allows people to ask questions honestly and without fear of judgment. This isn’t a textbook or a dry restatement of data; Pride Panels are about facilitating conversation and practicing Love and Honor. At a Pride Panel, members of Spectrum come and answer questions about our lived experiences as LGBTQ+ people, both relating to topics covered in the class and about life in general. After brief introductions and setting some ground rules, the floor will be opened to questions; students and professors often submit questions anonymously ahead of time as well as having an open Q&A.

Pride Panels have been very successful across the board, and Spectrum has received positive feedback from students and professors alike. Students walk away feeling as though they have a new perspective on LGBTQ+ issues and how they can relate to their fields of study, as well as a better understanding of the ways other students experience life on campus and off.

If you would like to schedule a Pride Panel or would like more information, please contact Viengsamai.

CAS Curriculum committee call

Renee Baernstein is looking for one more social science member on CAS curriculum committee, and there are currently no members from PSY; she writes:

I would like your help with nominations from your department/program for one person to serve on the CAS Curriculum Committee to complete the remaining 2 years of a 3-year term. The appointment will begin this fall. We already have two reps for social science (from SPA and GEO, respectively) and are seeking a third from another Social Science department. All continuing faculty (tenure-line and lecturers/clinical) are eligible.

The person would need to be able to make the following 1-hour meeting times:

Tuesday – August 28, 1:30

Monday – September 10 3:00

Tuesday – September 25 1:30

Monday – October 8 3:00

Tuesday – October 23 1:30

Monday – November 5 3:00

Tuesday – November 27 1:30

Please contact her directly and also let me know if you would be willing to fulfill this important service.