October 2009
Contents
Announcements and Events
PEARL
PEARL calibration sessions
The PEARL Peer Reviewers will attend one of two calibration sessions scheduled in early October: Thursday, October 1, from 2:30 to 3:30 in the East Campus Union, or Wednesday, October 7, from 9:30 to 10:30 in 206 Seaton Hall (City Campus). The purpose of these sessions is to reexamine the PEARL Rubric and make preparations for reviewing PEARL plans.
PEARL due dates for PEARL programs reminder
PEARL plans for 2009 – 2010 are due on October 2. Please note that the 2009 – 2010 timeline will not be available until the 2008 – 2009 “Programs Report Results” step has been completed and finalized (this was due September 18). It is important to meet these deadlines for a timely peer review process and to allow for identification of your PEARL plans as a “PEARL best practice.”
If you would like assistance with your assessment plans, or with using the PEARL software, please contact Kelly Dick, Program Assessment Coordinator, at 472-1905 or kdick3@unl.edu.
OASIS
The Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services (OASIS) held its annual multicultural student welcome back on August 28 th on the Nebraska Union Plaza. Highlights from the event included a “Stroll Off” competition. Strolling, which can best be described as a synchronized line dance, is a way to express pride in a specific organization. The competition, which included eight teams from the Multicultural Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council, was won by the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. The event also offered a sneak peak at the inside of the future home of OASIS, the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center.
The event was highly successful, as more than 600 people attended. In fact, the event was awarded the August Spotlight Award from the National Resident Halls Honorary. Aundria Duncan-Wagner, OASIS Program Coordinator at the Cultural Center noted: “It was a great opportunity for a diverse group of people to experience something new.”
Fellowships
Critical Language Scholarship Workshop
Wednesday, Oct. 7 from 5:30-6:30
Neihardt classroom 2109 (In Heppner, down the hall from the blue tv lounge)
Come hear more about the Critical Language Scholarship program for summer study of Arabic, Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Russian, Azerbaijani, and Japanese. (https://clscholarship.org/home.php) This program is open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
The workshop will cover the application process and how to write competitive essays.
Two scholarship winners from last year will be on hand to offer advice and information on their summer experiences.
Deadlines:
November 15 is the campus deadline for the Truman, Udall, and Goldwater scholarships. Students should have spoken with Dr. Damuth before that date, and submit drafts of their applications on Nov. 15.
E.N. Thompson Forum
Harris Lecture to Examine Internet's Influence on Chinese-American Interaction
Tibet, the Olympic Torch Run, the Olympics . . . the year 2008 offered unprecedented opportunities for Chinese and Anglophone Internet users to communicate. They were standing nose to virtual nose, but they were not, by any means, seeing eye-to-eye. Using the Internet as a starting point, Kaiser Kuo delves into a number of issues at the heart of disagreements on the people-to-people level.
On October 6, Kuo will deliver "Shouting Across the Chasm: Chinese and American Netizens Clash in Cyberspace" as the Lewis E. Harris Lecture in Public Policy. The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. CST at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
Born in the U. S. to Chinese parents, Kuo lives in China and identifies equally as American and Chinese. Formerly director of digital strategy for the Beijing office of a global advertising agency, Kuo has worked as a technology and business writer for publications such as Time, Time Asia, China Economic Review, Asia Inc., and the South China Morning Post, and currently serves as an advisor for Youku.com, a leading video sharing company in China. Kuo co-founded China's most famous rock band, Tang Dynasty, and continues to be active in the Chinese music scene. Hear more about why the Forum selected Kuo here.
Tickets are still available for this lecture. Contact the Lied Center at 402-472-4747 or 800-432-3231 for tickets. Tickets are free and guarantee you a reserved seat.
Bereuter Lecture Draws Nearly 1,000
On September 14, Doug Bereuter, former Nebraska congressman and current president and CEO of The Asia Foundation, opened the 2009-10 series. Nearly 1,000 people attended the lecture at the Lied Center in Lincoln and many more watched online, on Time Warner Cable Channel 21 in Lincoln or via satellite downlink. The Confucius Institute at UNL was a contributing sponsor for Mr. Bereuter's lecture.
In his lecture, Mr. Bereuter addressed the concepts of China's trade with the world and its increasing efforts to build soft power. Soft power is a term first used in 1990 by Harvard professor Joseph Nye and refers to a group's ability to get what they want without using force. Bereuter said China has used a variety of different techniques to increase its soft power. Examples are an increase in foreign aid, the Confucius Institutes in more than 260 countries that promote China's language and culture and an increase of academic exchange programs with universities including UNL.
Initially posing the question, "reason to worry?", Bereuter concluded that "There is nothing unnatural or insidious about the Chinese desire to increase its soft power" and encouraged the United States to restore order in its own federal fiscal house and be more cognizant of its own declining soft power.
Download a video podcast of the lecture here or watch it online here.
Fiesta On The Green
The Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln held the seventh annual Fiesta on the Green on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Nebraska Union Plaza as part of the National Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration. This year Grupo Folklorico Sangre Azteca, Lincoln’s premier Mexican Folkloric Dance group, Kusi Taki performing Andean Music and Sabor, a Latin Rhythms Band provided entertainment and education. The event began with the reading of the National Hispanic Heritage Month proclamation by Angel Freytez, Commissioner for the Mexican American Commission. We had the pleasure of having three food vendors: Taqueria El Rey, El Rancho and Jerusalem Bakery and the store vendor, Bodhi Imports. The event was FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC. There were approximately 900 people who attended the event. The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) provided funding for this program. The NHC receives support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Nebraska State Legislature, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and private donations.
W.E.B. DuBois Honors Society Induction
The W.E.B. Du Bois Honor Society will have their second induction ceremony on Sunday, October 25, 2009 in the Culture Center 3:00-4:30. This event is open to the public.
Office of Undergraduate Studies |
(402) 472-1185 |
Dr. Rita Kean, Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Professor of Textiles, Clothing and Design
Dr. Patrice Berger, Director of NU Honors Program and Professor of History
Dr. Laura Damuth, Director of Undergraduate Research and Fellowship Adviser
Kelly Dick, Program Assessment Coordinator
Andre Fortune, Director of OASIS
Gail Hackwith, Administrative Assistant
Dr. Jessica Jonson, Director of Institutional Assessment
Sara Mattson, Administrative Technician
Dr. Nancy Mitchell, Director for General Education
JoAnn Moseman, Academic Transfer Coordinator
Jennifer Nelson, Interim Director of General Studies
AnnMarie Williams, Academic Learning Communities Coordinator
