News, Notes and Kudos

National Recognition

Jeanne Higbee was officially inducted as a fellow of the American Council of Developmental Education Associations (ACDEA) at the 30th Annual Conference of the National Association for Developmental Education, Philadelphia, PA.

Publications

Jill Barnum. “Melville, Lorenz Oken, and Biology: Engaging in the ‘Long Now,’” in Leviathan, the premiere journal of Melville studies (Vol. 7, No. 2, October 2005).

Pat James, Pat Bruch, and Rashné Jehangir. “Ideas in Practice: Building Bridges in a Multicultural Learning Community,” Journal of Developmental Education, Spring 2006.

Donald L. Opitz. Review of Sandra Herbert, Charles Darwin, Geologist (Ithaca: Cornell, 2005). Journal of British Studies 45 (3) (2006).

——. “’This House is a Temple of Research‚’ Country-House Centres for Late-Victorian Science,” in Repositioning Victorian Sciences: Shifting Centres in Nineteenth-Century Thinking, ed. D. Clifford et al., Cambridge: Anthem Press, 2006.

Laura Weber. “Landmarks: Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul, Ramsey County,” Minnesota History, Spring 2006, p. 3.

Grants

Murray Jensen, Jerry Shannon, Jill Trites, Joni Gray, Laurie McGinley, and Vicki Neau are the recipients of a $9,990 Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) grant from the Digital Media Center for a project that will introduce podcast and wiki technology in the classroom.

Bob delMas and CEHD’s Joan Garfield received a National Science Foundation grant of $102,090 for the project “Adapting and Implementing Innovative Materials in Statistics Courses.”

Transitions

Promotions

Leon Hsu, to associate professor with tenure

Z. Blong Xiong, to associate professor with tenure

To senior teaching specialist:

Mark Anderson

Kris Cory

Renata Fitzpatrick

LeRoy Gardner, Jr.

Suzanne Loch

Janet Stottlemyer

Welcome back to returning staff

Len Mrachek, math instructor

Upcoming transitions

Rose Blixt has been named finance director of the new College of Design.

Crissy Howell, writing instructor, will join the English Department faculty at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley in Kansas City, MO.

Don Opitz, math center coordinator, has been appointed assistant professor in the School for New Learning, DePaul University (Chicago, IL), effective July 1, 2006.

Associate professor Mark Pedelty will join the faculty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, effective fall 2006.

Professor Geoff Sirc will join the faculty of the Department of English, effective fall 2006.

Laura Weber has been named communications director of the new College of Design.

Best Wishes to Departed Staff

Miguel Vargas, to Department of Chicano and American Indian Studies

Marlene Parkhurst, to Disability Services

Awards

Biology professor RANDY MOORE has been awarded the Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education.

Moore’s general biology students hear real-life examples of how biology affects their lives. In his seminar on the creationism-evolution debate, he prods young minds to think and rethink their beliefs. Moore, who speaks frequently to the media on the issue, documents relevant court cases in his book Evolution in the Courtroom. And his Biology Laboratory Manual is the most popular freshman lab manual.

After 18 years of shaping biology education as editor of The American Biology Teacher, in 2005 Moore received the highest award from the National Association of Biology Teachers. He is the 33rd GC professor to receive the Horace T. Morse Award since it was begun in 1965. Morse was the first dean of General College.

KITTY JONES, assistant director of student services, has been awarded the John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising.

Jones has distinguished herself as a person who embodies the General College philosophy of viewing students holistically and developmentally, taking time to know the entire student. Robert Poch, assistant dean and director of student services, and Jones’ supervisor, said, “In my 18 years of work in the field, I never witnessed a colleague who had greater depth of care and concern for students and the intellectual and emotional skill to assist them than Kitty Jones.”

She has won awards from the National Academic Advising Association for electronic and print advising publications and has been an innovator in the use of Web technologies in student advising.

Jones is the sixth GC academic adviser to receive the Tate Award since it was established in 1986.