Wednesday, 20 September2000
READING MATTERS Vol VI, No 5
Congratulations to
Anne Di Pardo, who has just been awarded the NCTE Richard Meade Award. The Meade Award goes each year to the best published research in English Education, and Anne is being honored for her 1999 book Teaching in Common: Challenges to Joint Work in Classrooms and Schools. The book is based on research Anne completed with the support of a grant from the Spencer Foundation. The award will be presented at this year's NCTE convention, where Anne will also give a talk about the book.
and to
Doris Witt, who has just discovered, to her amazement and bemusement, that she was featured in last week's program for the Iowa State football game as one of Iowa's"First String Faculty." Considering the nature of that game and the fortunes of this year's team, it's likely that some 72,000 fans found themselves reading the full page devoted to Doris and her scholarship. She notes, for the record, that she has never attended a UI sporting event. Reading Matters would love a copy of that program!
The Fall English Department Party will be this Sunday, 24 September at Garrett Stewart's from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. At 5:00 there will be a brief ceremony honoring Dee for being named our first John C. Gerber Professor of English and honoring John for lending his legend and his name to this professorship.
Computer Policy Preview
Probably by next week our computer committee will have completed and submitted to Executive Committee our departmental policy on computer repair and maintenance. Unfortunately, this is going to be another of those policies that will seem like it's more concerned with what the department won't and can't do than with what we can do. The problem--no problem at all, really--is that the University now upgrades computers on such a regular basis and makes possible the purchase of additional computer hardware with programs such as nTtitle and other funding support so that most English faculty now have not only a current computer, but also have kept the older computer the new one replaced and are using it as a dedicated machine. Some faculty actually still have three generations of computers, using the oldest as an emergency backup or doorstop. And quite a few of us have also used nTitle or Faculty Scholar or other research support to purchase necessary laptops and peripherals such as scanners. That's all good news. The not-so-good news is that the English Department does not have a budget for maintaining more than one computer per faculty member. Nor do we have a budget for maintaining hardware purchased with nTitle or other research funds.This becomes particularly relevant as those older computers do what older computers tend to do, which is to break down and/or die. So I'm writing to remind us--before the specific policy appears--that neither the English Department nor the College can maintain more than one computer-of-record per faculty member. Nor can either the Department or College support modems or other expenses involved in maintaining connectivity from homes. I realize that more and more of us do a significant amount of our work from home, but it remains the case that funding only exists for one computer per faculty member.
Two related matters:
Please remember that those old computers you have remain on the English Department inventory and must be officially retired from that inventory, so you need to turn all computer hardware--no matter how old--back to us so we can get them taken off of our inventory.
Please also remember that neither the
Department nor the College will release any funds for computer
repair if the problem has not first been reported to Dianne Jones
. Dianne is the first step in responding to any computer problem.
Please also remember that the College (and therefore the English
Department) will not release funds for a hardware problem caused
by obvious user negligence. This mainly means that if you spill
coffee or a coke on your keyboard it's up to you to get the
problem fixed.
Fred Antczak writes about
The Learning Links Project
I am writing to ask for your help in taking an exciting initiative of the College toward full implementation. Many of you are already aware of the Learning Links project. Learning Links seeks to create a system of thematic "links or cross-listings" that enable students to discover and locate courses with similar content. Ideally, students will use the "links" to organize their educational experience by making informed choices about their General Education and elective courses. During the 1999-2000 academic year, committee members (Diana Horton, Biology; Takis Poulakos, Rhetoric; Shel Stromquist, History; and I) discussed ways the College could encourage its undergraduates to explore the range of interdisciplinary learning opportunities available to them.
New transfer students used a prototype, paper version during the August 2000 summer orientation programs. The selected course groupings were based on the course descriptions available to students in the Liberal Arts Guide to Courses. Advisers report that students used the Learning Links information to round out their schedules with better-chosen options for their 4th or 5th course.
During this fall semester's early registration period (November-December), an electronic version of Learning Links will be available to students via ISIS on the Web, the on-line registration system (http://isis.uiowa.edu:81/isis). When students access individual spring 2001 semester course descriptions, they will have the option of linking electronically to related courses and their descriptions. We're very excited about the potential of this project to help students identify and explore interesting curricular options. But as Learning Links makes the transition to the Web, it needs faculty input as to the best kinds of linkages between and among courses. Therefore, we invite faculty to let us know which 3-5 courses connect with theirs. If there are thematic or other groupings that faculty would like to designate by title, please let us know as well. For example, different disciplines may offer complementary approaches to a common theme (the implications of gender as examined by Communication Studies and by Geography). Others may provide hands-on experience with computer and web technologies as part of the teaching and learning environment (see this semester's Electronic Rhetorics, Intro to 3D Computer Modeling, and Intro to Instructional Design). Here are some possible "linkages" from the fall 2000 course offerings:
A student interested in studying "indigenous peoples" might have considered the following options:African Studies 141:014 Literature of the African Peoples (also 08G:014, 129:008)
American Indian and Native American Studies 149:005 Literature of Native Peoples (same as 08G:005)
Anthropology 113:117 The Maya
History 16A:115 Native North America I: Pre-contact-1789 (same as 149:115)
Someone enrolled in 002:134 Ecology (same as 159:134) might have chosen as an elective:
Economics 06E:133 Environment and Natural Resources
English 008:084:SC1 Topics in Culture and Identity &endash; Toxic Lives: Environment and Contamination in Contemporary American Literature
Women's Studies 131:124 Gender and the Environment (same as 044:124)
We will maintain a database of Learning Links courses and each semester invite faculty to update their course "links."
How can DEOs and Undergraduate Coordinators help?
1. Send us titles and course descriptions, so we can use them as the basis to make additional links.
2. Because linking is not always obvious, please help us by collecting suggestions your faculty may have about how they see their courses linked.
I also ask that you devote part of a faculty meeting to discussing ways faculty can consult with colleagues in other departments and disciplines to determine where and how their courses connect. As continuing members of the Learning Links committee, Takis Poulakos and I are willing to attend your faculty meeting to answer questions about Learning Links and the faculty's role in promoting it. Of course I will be happy to answer any questions you may wish to communicate by phone, e-mail or pony express.
Along with faculty, DEOs and Undergraduate directors should forward the course numbers and titles of their spring 2001 semester "linked courses" (including Saturday & Evening division offerings) to me (frederick-antczak@uiowa.edu) by November 1st. Since students will be consulting course descriptions both in the Liberal Arts Guide to Courses and on ISIS on the Web, faculty should make sure that they have forwarded course descriptions to the Registrar's Office.
I hope that you will encourage your faculty to take advantage of this exciting opportunity to forge "links" to their colleagues and to our undergraduates.
The Central Investment Fund for Research Enhancement (CIFRE) has announced the seventh annual competition for scholarly project support, with a deadline of October 16, 2000. Eligibility includes all tenured and tenure-track faculty (but not applicants who received a CIFRE award in December of 1998 or December 1999.) Preference given to applicants in the early stages of their careers. Each of us was sent a CIFRE MEMORANDUM--a packet containing eligibility guidelines, deadlines, forms, procedures, etc. For more information, check the web at
http://www.uiowa.edu/~vpr/eforms/proposal/websitematl.doc
For a very useful summary of all support currently offered by the UI central administration see http://www.uiowa.edu/~vpr/cgi/fundsrc/funds.cgi?action=dir&depart=centraladm
Sep 21-22 Deidre Lynch Freedman Lecture and Seminar
Oct 5 John Kasson's lecture, "Strongmen and Escape Artists: The Male Body and the Crisis of Modernity in American Culture, 1893-1917" is set for for Thurs. Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. in the Gerber Lounge
Oct 6 Kasson will deliver another talk, "Houdini's Body, Magic, Masculinity, and Modernity" at noon in American Studies, 204 JB. Brown bag lunches will be served.
Oct 6 Joy Kasson will speak at 4:00 pm in American Studies 204 JB on Buffalo Bill -- no title yet.
Oct 7 Lauren Rabinovitz will present "Yesteryear's Wonderlands: How Amusement Parks Introduced Modernism to America" in the Saturday Scholars: Tailgating for the Mind series in 40 Schaeffer at 10:00 am
Oct 12-13 Herbert Tucker Freedman Lecture and Seminar
Oct 14 Horace Porter will present "all that Jazz: Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington" in the Saturday Scholars: Tailgating for the Mind series in 40 Schaeffer at 10:00 am
Sep 22 Proposals for Faculty and Global Scholars due in chair's office
Oct 1 Application Deadline for NEH 2001 Summer Stipends. NEH Summer Stipends support two months of full-time work on projects that will make a significant contribution to the humanities. For more information about this and other NEH programs please see http://www.neh.gov/pdf/guidelines/fellowships.pdf
Oct 10 Supplemental travel allocation requests due to the dean
Oct 16 Central Investment Fund for Research Enhancement (CIFRE) applications due by 5:00 in the Office of the Vice President, 201 Gilmore Hall
Oct 20 Nominations due for Collegiate Teaching Awards
Oct 20 Dean's Scholars applications due
Oct 27 Applications for Instructional Improvement Awards due in the Provost's Office. Information available at www.uiowa.edu/~cot
Nov 1 Educational Computing Proposals due to: Student Computing Fee Committee, College of Liberal Arts, 240 S H
Nov 3 CLA Alumni Fellows nominations due to the dean