Not so long ago, we had a discussion of the movement towards a ‘Graduate Student Senate.’
Graduate students have been endeavoring to part ways with Student Government and form their own representative body. I support this move (for reasons mentioned on the earlier post), and I have just discovered that graduate students now have a petition to help them on their way to full autonomy:
Posted in Board of Regents, Student Life, Uncategorized
The press release for this is on the EMU web site: “EMU general education program receives national recognition.” To quote from the first couple paragraphs:
Eastern Michigan University’s General Education Program has been selected as a recipient of the 2007 Association for General and Liberal Studies Awards (AGSL) for improving general education.
“We are proud to be recognized by an organization with such a commitment to quality general education,” said Chris Foreman, director of the General Education Program at EMU.
I know from personal experience that bringing abut this new Gen Ed program has involved a lot of long and hard work from some extraordinarily dedicated folks. So congrats to all of them!
Posted in Academics, In the media...
As an academic-type for more or less my entire life, I’ve associated the start of the fall semester as the beginning of the “new year;” I think of that calendar thing that happens in January is mostly a technicality that tends to be an excuse for a party. It’s a bit different of a new year for me since I’m on sabbatical (sort of), but it’s still a new beginning nonetheless. Faculty and administrators are being called to various retreats and meetings; faculty, lecturers, and adjuncts are getting ready to teach; students, returning and new, are getting to attend classes; and staff folks are preparing for the return of the busy school year after the comparative quiet of the summer.
Strike? Murder cover-up? Fired presidents? Budget crises? Failed email systems? Let’s put all that aside for a moment and bask in the glow of starting over yet again.
Posted in Academics
I am going to take the silence on my invitation for input on “The Rules (Beta)” as meaning, more or less, acceptance and agreement that such rules are necessary, good, reasonable, etc., and/or no one else has a better idea. If there is more comment/suggestions, please post them asap. But one way or the other, I will be implementing the new rules on Saturday morning/Friday evening, which means among many other things that comments will be held until I can verify the legitimacy of a commentator’s email address. Or at least it should mean this; I’m not sure how the WordPress software will respond to previously approved comments.
Anyway, like I said, going once, going twice….
Posted in EMUtalk.org News
I am really super excited about the Faculty Convocation upcoming on Tuesday, September 4 (3-4:45) in the Pray Harrold Auditorium (Rm 213, by the coffee shop). We have a website online with information about this event (http://www.emufaculty.org/), as well as a flyer that you can print out and post around campus, along with a welcome letter from the organizing committee.
Posted in Academics, Board of Regents, EMU Events
As the new year kicks off, I thought I’d mention a couple of good things that have happened around EMU lately, and make an admittedly snarky reference to some bad news that EMU didn’t make.
First, the “honest to goodness” good news: EMU has been recognized by the publication Diverse Issues in Higher Education for having a growing number of African American students who earn degrees. I would link to the article or report in the actual journal, but it looks like it isn’t available online. So here’s a link to an EMU press release on all this.
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Posted in College Fun, EMU Branding, In the media...
As I mentioned the other day, I have been contemplating for a while now the need to write up in more detailed set of guidelines for EMUTalk.org. The flurry of email messages and posts and various bad vibes from last week’s email crash hastened my project. Thus I present “The Rules: EMUTalk.org’s Disclaimers, Code of Conduct, and Ways to Participate (Version 1.0 Beta)”
A few thoughts about what’s here:
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Posted in EMUtalk.org News
I heard tonight that the library (possibly/probably all of the labs on campus?) is implementing a new printing policy this semester. Students will get the first 50 pages a semester free and after that they will be charged.
I only heard this from another student, so maybe this is just a rumor or it’s an idea that’s currently being considered. However I figured that the collective knowledge of EMUTalk probably had an answer as to whether or not this printing policy is actually happening.
Posted in EMU Technology
EMU is currently governed by a Junta consisting of Don Loppnow, Freeman Hendrix, Joseph Pollack and Janice Stroh.
Where was that leadership during the recent email crisis? While blame for the recent email crisis might be placed on John Fallon, Sam Kirkpatrick’s decision to acquire Banner, or the ghost of Mary Starkweather, responsibility for management of that crisis is firmly placed on the current Junta. How much communication emanated from that group? Were they even aware of the impact of the email outage on students, faculty, and (perhaps most importantly) prospective students? The silence emanating from the Junta is deafening.
Let’s hope for better performance in the event of a more serious crisis.
Posted in EMU President, EMU Technology
I realize that many folks out there are not going back to school at all– that is, they’re as “in school” now as they ever are. But I always associate the beginning of the school year that is rapidly upon us as the true start of the year; January 1 is for civilians.
What I wanted to include here was a scene from one of my favorite bad movies on the topic of college, Rodney Dangerfield’s classic Back to School because, at the end of the day, I am a child of the 80s. But I couldn’t find a good clip on YouTube I liked, so I thought I’d share this scene from Billy Madison that I think sums up the return to school glow:
In other EMUTalk.org news:
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Posted in EMUtalk.org News
