Updates from the Dean's Office

TWTWTW--October 26-31, 2009

10/31/2009

On the way home from a university event I was reflecting on some of the College activities this past week.  These are the items that quickly came to mind:

Becoming Untouchable

10/24/2009

One of our College colleagues sent me a link to Thomas Freidman's Wednesday column in the New York Times.  Entitled "The New Untouchables," Freidman talks about how education was one of the causes of the financial collapse last year and why it will contribute to the recovery and the characteristic of the recovery to come. 

Distracting but Necessary or Just Necessarily Distracting?

10/13/2009

The past year has been filled with talk of budget models, budget cuts, strategic plans, paths to prominence, rankings, ratings, rantings, and excellence.  But what is it that we are about as a College?  What is the work that holds us together?  A couple of thoughts:

The Quality of Our Work

10/05/2009

At the College-wide meeting with the Provost on Friday, September 25th, Provost Apple was asked what he saw as the ideal college.  He said that we, as a college, would define that, but he did go on to talk about high-quality faculty and programs.  He mentioned a number of characteristics of high-quality faculty, including:

• publishing in top-tier, peer-reviewed journals;
• securing funding from peer-reviewed competitions (such as federal funding sources and foundation funding sources that are peer-reviewed); and
• visiting professorships and invitations to present at national and international conferences and colloquia.

Lions and Zombies and Bears, Oh, Team Building!?

09/28/2009

There were tigers and zombies, intelligence tests and physical challenges, and at least two Bears at Handloff Park on Barksdale Road in Newark on Saturday, September 19, 2009.  That's when the inaugural School Psychology Olympics were held with over 40 attendees, broken eggs, shaving cream, dancing and some great collegiality. 

A Provost's Promenade on the Path to Prominence and a College Meeting

09/27/2009

Many thanks to those of you who were able to attend the College-wide meeting on Friday, September 25th.  The meeting included a review of accomplishments from the past year, an extended discussion with UD's provost and a quick update on the College.  We started with a four-minute video, compiled by Beth Chajes, of events and highlights from the past year and leading up to the opening of the new academic year.  The video represents many aspects of the work we do in the College.  I have to admit that I was a bit overwhelmed by the vast amount of work that we did last year.  Beth and Joe Kempista will work to make the video available on the College web site as soon as possible.

A Bevy of University Task Forces Needing Input

09/26/2009

Many faculty and staff provide an important level of service to the College and represent our activities at the University level. Four new University task forces have been created in the past few weeks and I want to make sure you know about them.

Ranking the Rankings

09/19/2009

Whether we think it is a silly process or serious business (and it could be both), rankings of universities and undergraduate and graduate programs pepper the discussion of many families, faculty, employers, and deans, chairs, and other administrators when the topic of higher education is on the table.

So, I want to know what you think about them.

Letting our light shine

09/11/2009

When I took over the role of interim dean in July 2008, one of the things that struck me was the diversity of programs, services, scholarship, and teaching that takes place in our college. We have 2,600 undergraduate and graduate students who are in our academic programs, but we also have tens of thousands of short-term students in our certificate programs, training sessions, and community classes. Our faculty and staff provide training for well over 30,000 individuals each year, in places as close to us as Newark High School and as far away as Bangkok and Bogotá.

An international perspective

09/08/2009

The central campus of UD has experienced a significant change as the new Fall semester has begun.  Over 250 international students in the English Language Institute's (ELI) intensive English programs are using one of the college's main buildings--Alison Hall.  With the infusion of 15 ELI faculty and 10 tutors, almost 300 additional students and faculty from around the world are in the heart of campus.  The space was made available when the Laboratory Preschool and The College School moved to their new facility on Wyoming Road in mid-August (more about that in a soon-to-come posting). 

A public service perspective

09/05/2009

This past Thursday, many of our first year students saw Greg Mortenson talk about building schools in Pakistan.  Mortenson, the co-author of Three Cups of Tea, spoke about the need, in this day and age, to know the world.  He said that if you want to really know about poverty in the world, you must "touch poverty."  I'd argue that is true for most experiences--we can't really know anyone's world unless we share it in some way--usually through their words, their experiences, their feelings.

Turning our budget around

08/30/2009

This is a heavy topic for an informal communication process, but one that I think is important and that I want to address to the whole college. Many thanks to all of the college salaried and professional staff and the faculty for working through the budget process we have been experiencing since July 1st.

The end of a summer, the beginning of a blog

08/29/2009

Welcome to the College of Education and Public Policy Dean’s Office blog. This will be a place to share news, events, and accomplishments that are occurring in the college as well as a way to communicate some of my thinking about events in the college and throughout the University. Expect, too, occasional postings from our deputy dean, Nancy Brickhouse, and other members of the CEPP Dean’s Office. If you want to be informed about new postings on this blog, see the information provided about how to subscribe.