Nominations Sought For 2015 Teaching Excellence Award

Blue Bell/Pottstown/Lansdale, Pa.—To recognize and honor exceptional teaching, Montgomery County Community College’s (MCCC) Office of Academic Affairs invites students, faculty, alumni and interested community members to submit nominations for its 2015 Teaching Excellence Award.

The Teaching Excellence Award annually recognizes an MCCC faculty member whose teaching is intellectually stimulating and accessible for all students and who demonstrates a commitment to the well-being of students both inside and outside of the classroom. Nominees must be current, full-time faculty members in good standing to be eligible.

Nominations may be submitted online at surveymonkey.com/s/MCCCTeachingAward. Nominations are vetted by a faculty committee comprised primarily of past award recipients. The committee then forwards its recommendation to the vice president of academic affairs and provost, and then to the president. The winner will be announced during MCCC’s 2015 Commencement ceremony on May 21.

This year’s award is sponsored by the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, which annually recognizes outstanding faculty from 52 Pennsylvania and New Jersey colleges and universities with its Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

At MCCC, the Lindback Award is given on alternating years with the Pearlstine Award for Teaching Excellence, named in honor of founding MCCC Trustee Gladys Pearlstine. Seventeen total awards have been presented to outstanding faculty since 1998. To view a full list of past recipients, visit mc3.edu/academics/faculty/teach-award.

Clarion University To Dissolve College Of Education

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Clarion County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Clarion University plans to let go up to 40 employees campuswide — including 22 faculty — and dissolve its college of education under a broad restructuring intended to offset sharply lower state aid, rising costs and enrollment losses.

The job cuts are part of a two-year workforce plan that university president Karen Whitney and other administrators say was drafted to help Clarion correct budget problems and position the state-owned university with 6,500 students for the future.

The plan discusses areas where Clarion intends to add resources, among them nursing, and other areas recommended for elimination, including music education. It says departments and programs within Clarion’s College of Education and Human Services would be reorganized into other schools.

The idea is to ensure that Clarion by July 1, 2015, can meet future challenges and “continue serving students, employers and community partners as a public university,” the 32-page document states.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/clarion-u-to-dissolve-college-of-education-699536/#ixzz2c9UiRE6d

Three Lancaster County School Districts Will Merge Teaching Efforts

I think this concept makes sense and should be explored around here!

Imagine a high school where students can take classes as early as 7 a.m. or as late as 9 p.m.

Some of the courses are taught face-to-face in the school, with others delivered online and still others taught through a mix of classroom and computer-based instruction.

At this school, tuition is free and students can enroll in specialty courses such as Latin and business Spanish that their home schools don’t offer.

And by taking classes at night or over the summer, they could earn a diploma faster than their peers.
Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/558484_Three-school-districts-here-will-merge-teaching-efforts.html#ixzz1hy97OMXg

Muhlenberg College Professor Wins Major National Award

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – (January 6, 2011) — Charles O. Anderson, associate professor of dance and director of the African-American Studies program at Muhlenberg College, has been named one of 12 “Emerging Scholars” for 2011.  The scholars are chosen by and profiled in Diverse magazine.

In its Jan. 6 edition, Diverse profiles 12 “under 40” scholars from around the country who are making their mark in the academy through teaching, research and service. These outstanding scholars serve as an inspiration to both students and colleagues.

Anderson, a native of Richmond, Va., holds a B.A. in performance and choreography from Cornell University, and an M.F.A. with honors from Temple University. Over the past 10 years, his choreography has been presented through such venues as Mulberry Street Theatre, Danspace at St. Mark’s Church, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Danceboom! at the Wilma Theatre, WAX Performance Space and Here Arts Center among others.

He has performed in the companies of such noted choreographers as Ronald K. Brown, Sean Curran, Mark Dendy, Talley Beatty and Miguel Guttierez among others. Charles’ choreography has been funded by Dance Advance, The Community Education Center’s New Edge Residency, the Susan Hess Choreographer’s Project and The Puffin Foundation.

Anderson continues to enjoy a successful career as choreographer, performer and artistic director of his Philadelphia based dance company, dance theatre X. He was recently awarded a Dance Advance Grant (an organization sponsored by Pew Charitible Trusts) to collaborate with South African choreographer Vincent Mantsoe.
 
Diverse, then Black Issues In Higher Education, first published its “Emerging Scholars” edition in 2002. It has remained one of the magazine’s most popular editions since its inception. Diverse  editors selects honorees from a pool of candidates recommended by various scholars, department chairs, university public information officers, and others.
 
Each scholar is selected based on research, educational background, publishing record, teaching record, competitiveness of field of study, and uniqueness of field of study.

The “Emerging Scholars” for 2011 are:

Dr. Terrell Strayhorn, associate professor of higher education, The Ohio State University
Dr. Rochelle Parks-Yancy, associate business professor, Texas Southern
Charles O. Anderson, associate professor of dance and director of the African-American studies program at Muhlenberg College.
Dr. Chekesha Liddell, associate professor of materials science and engineering, Cornell University.
Dr. Wayne Alix Ian Frederick, associate professor, Howard University Medical School, specializes in surgical oncology.
Dr. Gina Núñez-Mchiri, an assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at UT El Paso
Dr. Federico Ardila, assistant professor of mathematics at San Francisco State University,
Dr. Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University;
Dr. Carlos D. Bustamante, a population geneticist at Stanford University
Dr. Ashlesh Murthy, research assistant professor of biology, University of Texas-San Antonio
Yiyun Li, an associate professor of English, at the University of California at Davis
Sarah Deer, Assistant Professor, William Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota.