Monthly Archives: January 2010

“EMU fires sex offenders”

From the Eastern Echo: “EMU fires sex offenders.” The headline makes that sound pretty straight-forward, but the story suggests something a little more complicated.  The first couple paragraphs:

Two Eastern Michigan University employees were fired two weeks ago because of past convictions of criminal sexual conduct, according to documents obtained by The Eastern Echo under the Freedom of Information Act.

EMU employed both at the time of their crimes, and the employees were on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry.

In 1998, one of the employees was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with the intent to commit sexual penetration. Because the convicted do not need to alert their employers, EMU officials did not become aware of the offense until 2006. The employee served his jail time on weekends, from September 1998 to April 1999, while continuing his duties at work during the week.

According to Craig Reidsma, director of employment at EMU, the university currently has no written policy on how to deal with employees who are convicted of a crime. He said the university is considering implementing periodic background checks.

I dunno about this.  It seems to me that it’s kinda bogus that EMU is firing someone over a crime that was committed over 10 years ago and after the convicted served his time.  Needless to say, the union involved, “American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3866,” is getting involved, I presume filing some sort of grievance.

Nice, but if that raffle included one of these new Apple Tablets, that’d be awesome!

From Geoffrey “Geoff” Larcolm:

EMU basketball tonight is launching a new promotion: the Mac Attack. Students, faculty and staff have the opportunity to win a 13.3-inch glossy widescreen, 2.26GHz MacBook during a random drawing at each of the 11 remaining 2010 EMU men’s and women’s home basketball games. The value of each laptop is $1,000. Anyone attending a home game may pick up a free raffle ticket before tip-off at the marketing kiosk inside the main ticket entrance. Just show your game ticket or student ID. For a list of scheduled home games, visit emueagles.com.

“Plagiarism Prevention Without Fear”

This is kind of “old news” for my field– that is, it’s probably better to teach students what plagiarism is and how to avoid it– but since this has been a topic before on EMUTalk.org and it is still “news” for other fields, I suggest taking a look at Inside Higher Ed’s “Plagiarism Prevention Without Fear.” Here are the opening paragraphs:

Could student plagiarism actually be reduced? And could it be reduced not through fear of being caught, but through … education?

The evidence in a study released Monday suggests that the answer to both questions is Yes — which could be welcome news to faculty members who constantly complain about students who either don’t know what plagiarism is or don’t bother to follow the rules about the integrity of assignments they prepare.

While many instructors have reported anecdotal evidence of the success of various techniques they have used in a few courses, this study is based on a much larger cohort, including a control group. The study found that a relatively short Web tutorial about academic integrity and plagiarism can have a significant impact on whether students plagiarize, with the greatest gains (for integrity) coming among student groups that are statistically more likely to plagiarize — which are those with lesser academic credentials.

Further, surveys of the participants suggest that it was the education involved — not fear of detection — that led to the differences.

This is a weird crime notice…

Just a couple hours from EMU DPS:

EMU Police Department is reporting a suspicious situation that occurred in the Warner Building on January 26, 2010 at approximately 9:45 a.m.  A staff member and students attending a class observed a subject in the hallway loitering.  When the staff member went to approach the subject, it was noticed that the subject’s pants and underwear were down below his knees.  While fleeing the area on foot the subject stated he had a weapon. No weapon was seen and there was no attempt to display a weapon.  There were no injuries during the incident.

The subject was last seen running toward the Parking Structure.  Witnesses described the subject as a light skinned African American male, 5’5” – 5’7”, thin build, approximately 140 lbs.., wearing a brown carhardt style jacket, white shirt, blue jeans, wide black belt and black knit hat.

Anyone with information concerning this incident should contact the EMU Police Department @ 487-1222 or Tipline @ 487-4847.

5 Teaching Tips for Professors– From Video Games

I might be more interested in this than others reading EMUTalk.org because of my own scholarship and teaching, but I thought I’d go ahead and share it here anyway:  from the current CHE, “5 Teaching Tips for Professors– From Video Games.” From the opening paragraphs:

[Constance] Steinkuehler, an assistant professor of educational communication and technology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, studies video gamers. In one recent case study, she noted how players in a chat room had used complex mathematics to argue for a certain plan of attack against some unruly beast.

“People were actually—no kidding—gathering data on things like the game monster’s behavior, putting it in an Excel spreadsheet, and building little mathematical models to try to beat the monster,” she told me recently. The game teaches complex problem solving and collaborative learning, Ms. Steinkuehler argues.

There’s also a nice little video with Will Wright, who invented “The Sims” and “Sim City.”

A reported renovation I am almost certain will not be included in the Pray-Harrold renovation

“P-H to get makeover” is an Eastern Echo article that sums up some of the upcoming renovation plans to Pray-Harrold.  I’m not entirely sure where the reporter got her information on these changes, but there is at least one that I am quite certain is not in the works:

Plans for the renovation include reworking the second and third floors, turning them into space for student interaction, study and computer facilities. The upper floors will be reconfigured classrooms; consultation areas for students and instructors; and offices. There are also plans for an addition that will include large class spaces, common areas and a covered walkway that connects the main campus building to the more remotely located College of Business.

Given that the College of Business is located on Michigan Avenue in downtown Ypsilanti– about a mile from Pray-Harrold– I have a feeling this is not gonna happen.  Though I will admit that a pedestrian bridge suspended over much of downtown Ypsilanti might be kind of cool.

Dorm fire at U of M displaces 8 students

From Annarbor.com last night, “Fire in residence hall room displaces 8 University of Michigan students.” Basically, a microwave incident went bad:

Eight University of Michigan students were displaced for at least the night after a fire that started in a microwave in the Baits housing complex spread to a resident’s room, university officials said.

No one was injured in the 3 p.m. fire in the Cross House of Baits on North Campus.

Diane Brown, a spokeswoman for the University of Michigan Department of Public Safety, said a resident was reheating food in a microwave, and it appears aluminum foil caught fire.

“Cell phone vigil” tonight to support victims of Haiti earthquake

This in this morning from Geoffrey “Geoff” Larcom:

Eastern Michigan University students, Student Government, the Office of Diversity and Community Involvement and the Office of International Students are hosting a “cell phone light vigil” (no flames, just light) as a call for aid to the people of Haiti.

The vigil is today, Jan. 25, 6:30 p.m., beginning at the Student Center patio. A brief ceremony will take place at the Walton/Putnam lounge at ~6:45 p.m.

Complete information about the vigil and Haiti relief efforts:
http://www.emich.edu/haiti_relief/vigil.html

Facebook event page – sign up and spread the word:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=263122754774&index=1

Besides lighting things up with cell phones, there will be collections of money and food.

“College Place street repairs begin in summer”

This from the Ypsilanti Citizen: “College Place street repairs begin in summer.” I love the lead here:

The unevenness in the road is enough to make even the most seasoned seafarer vomit.

That’s why the City of Ypsilanti is planning repairs on College Place near the Eastern Michigan University campus in June.

The street’s surface will be totally replaced along with the fire hydrants in the area.

Pray-Harrold Renovation Meetings

I’ve been meaning to post this here for a while now.  From a memo I received recently:

In an effort to create a smooth transition to new locations during the renovation of the Pray?Harrold Building we have arranged to have four open forum meetings to share information about all matters related to the Pray?Harrold renovation and move.
All residents of Pray­Harrold are invited.
The following dates are reserved for the meetings:

Friday, January 22, 10:00?11:30, 216 PH

Friday, February 19, 10:00?11:30, 216 PH

Friday, March 19, 10:00?11:30, 216 PH

Friday, April 16, 10:00?11:30, 216 PH

As someone who is “a resident” (?) of Pray-Harrold and also on the committee, I have a couple of thoughts about this:

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