500 Courses Submitted for ACE Certification

Nearly 200 courses have been certified under the university's new Achievement-Centered Education program since June 2008.

Interim-ACE director Nancy Mitchell said about 40 percent of the 500 courses submitted prior to the Oct. 15 deadline have been certified, and the I-ACE committee is meeting weekly to evaluate the submissions.

Initial reviews are done on-line through a system developed by Information Services. All I-ACE committee members must be in agreement before a course is certified. "Some proposals have sailed through with little to no argument; others have required some discussion; and some have been returned to faculty with recommendations for improvement," Mitchell said.

"We do send a lot back," she said. "But they come back with modifications that help them meet certification."

On the whole, the acceptance rate is nearly 100 percent.

The February deadline for courses to be included in the 2009-10 bulletin is driving the workload right now. That and the desire to have a full complement of courses available for students who will enroll for Fall 2009. They will be the first students to matriculate under the new ACE rubric. Currently enrolled students will continue under the IS/ES general education model.

Some 430 of the 500 submitted courses are discrete courses designed to meet a single ACE outcome. The others are designed to meet two outcomes. Students, however, can fulfill just one outcome per course, so they will choose which outcome a course will fulfill.

In addition to the course-certification process, Mitchell along with Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Rita Kean, and Academic Transfer Coordinator JoAnn Moseman have met with officials from all of Nebraska's community colleges, from UNK and UNO, and other state institutions to ensure that transfer students' courses will certify with ACE. "Courses with a direct equivalent that is certified for an ACE outcome will transfer as an ACE course," she said. Alternatives are being set up to address courses lacking direct equivalents, but likely to meet ACE outcomes.

"Even as the certification process winds down (the I-ACE committee will dissolve and its duties will transfer to the University Curriculum Committee in August 2009), there is much work to be done," Mitchell said.

The web site, http://ace.unl.edu/ is updated weekly with new course certifications. Mitchell also is planning web content for advisers and students. Eventually, she hopes that course proposals can be viewed by anyone who's interested so the process will become more transparent.

ACE has earned national notoriety and Mitchell, Kean, Jessica Jonson and others have presented at several conferences and are contributing a chapter to a forthcoming book.

Mitchell said the time will have been worth it if the goal of transforming general education at UNL is fully realized.

"We hope that students will understand the why of particular courses, why they are taking it, what we want them to learn, and how they will learn it," she said. "And if this also prompts faculty to talk more about how general education relates to majors, that's a plus as well."

Requests for ACE certification may be submitted at courseapproval.unl.edu.

20 Percent Tuition Discount for Summer Study Abroad

Study-abroad experiences can enrich a student's academic experience in countless ways. But they come with a price tag that's often higher than many can afford. University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials so believe in the value of study-abroad classes that they are offering a 20 percent tuition discount on more than a dozen trips scheduled for 2009.

"Providing a quality undergraduate education is the university's highest priority, and the study-abroad opportunity is one way to enhance that experience," said Harvey Perlman, UNL chancellor. "We know the cost may be a barrier and we hope that the tuition discount makes overseas travel and study a little more affordable. The discount emphasizes our commitment to expanding our students' access to study abroad."

Of his own foreign travels, the chancellor said, "You learn things in ways that cannot be acquired second-hand. For example, you don't fully sense the economic competition we face from China until you have seen their economy in action."

The modest tuition discount could save a resident undergraduate student about $110 for a three-credit course. Non-resident undergraduates and graduate students also would receive 20 percent tuition discounts.

Paul Savory, director of Summer Sessions for UNL, acknowledged the 20 percent discount is small in comparison to the room, board and airfare associated with trips, which typically cost between $2,000 and $3,500 depending on destination and trip length.

"But we do have control over tuition and not other parts of the trip," he said. "This is one way for us to help more students realize study-abroad."

Savory said the deposits for most trips are due the end of January, so the tuition discount may help students who are contemplating a trip.

"Last year, we had record numbers of students participate in summer study-abroad," Savory said. "But we know that with the state of the economy, there may be a bit of a decline. We have capacity to handle more students and we would really like more students to have this opportunity."

Like Perlman, Savory noted that study-abroad offers students unique opportunities to live and learn. Destinations scheduled for summer 2009 include Brazil, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Mexico, Namibia, Rwanda, Sweden, Thailand and the United Kingdom. Disciplines supporting trips include engineering; business administration; political science; textiles, clothing and design; agriculture; teaching; journalism; sociology; modern languages; art history; natural resources; and sociology.

"UNL has offered selective tuition discounts on summer programs before," Savory said. A graduate-level math and science program for teachers offered a 20 percent discount in Summer 2008 and will continue through Summer 2010. In 2007, selected 100 and 200 level courses offered $30 per credit hour discounts to encourage students to take the courses in the summer and help alleviate over-crowding in the fall. "That incentive was successful," Savory said.

For more information, see: http://www.unl.edu/iaffairs/study_flyers/summer/summerindex.shtml

Savory Assumes Leadership at EEO

Paul Savory, director of Summer Sessions, has accepted the additional role of Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for UNL's Extended Education and Outreach programs. Savory, an associate professor of industrial and management systems engineering, has served as Summer Sessions director for about a year, and he will continue to direct summer sessions.

The appointment lasts through the summer, with potential for renewal. He replaces Arnold Bateman, who has accepted a position with the University of Nebraska Central Administration to coordinate extended education activities.

Barbara Couture, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, said that Savory's qualifications and experience for the position were directly on point. Additionally, this interim appointment allows some exploration of how EEO could integrate its operations with those of summer sessions and it results in some budget savings.

ADVANCE to Recruit, Retain Women in Science, Engineering

ADVANCE-Nebraska hosted its first event on Dec. 2 when Anne Vidaver, professor of plant pathology, spoke of her pioneering role as a woman scientist at UNL. More than 60 people, including administrators, students, faculty and staff attended the luncheon and lecture.

ADVANCE-Nebraska is a new project, funded by a $3.8 million National Science Foundation grant announced in September 2008 to help the UNL recruit, promote and retain female faculty in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

The five-year grant will enable UNL to create new programs to recruit and support women faculty through each stage of their career. The grant is from NSF's ADVANCE program, which aims to increase participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

The goal is to ensure that the pools of applicants for jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics departments match or exceed the percentage of women who receive doctoral degrees in those fields, said Mary Anne Holmes, professor of geosciences and program director for the ADVANCE-Nebraska office being set up through the grant.

We want the best faculty we can get and the way we're doing business now is not attracting the widest applicant pool, Holmes said.

Upcoming ADVANCE-Nebraska opportunities include:

• Showcase Visitors
  ADVANCE-Nebraska invites target STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) departments to apply for funds to bring female scholars to campus as speakers whom they feel have the potential to be future candidates for openings in STEM fields and whom they would like to introduce to our campus. Funds are intended to support a visitor who gives a talk within the sponsoring department, preferably in a seminar or colloquium series. The ADVANCE-Nebraska team encourages a department or team within a department to nominate possible visitors and provide us information about each nominee. Application forms for this visitor program will be available soon on the web site: http://advance.unl.edu/, or email advance2@unl.edu or call Mary Anne Holmes at 472-5211. ADVANCE-Nebraska will pay travel expenses for the visit up to $2,000.
  
  
• ADVANCE-NE Luncheon Series: Models of Success
  

  ADVANCE-Nebraska invites the faculty of target STEM departments to propose names of high profile women in those disciplines to visit UNL to give two talks: one in the discipline (e.g., as part of your colloquium or seminar series) and the other at an ADVANCE-funded informal luncheon, at which the speaker will share her path to a successful career in academia. Graduate students and faculty are welcome to attend the luncheons (first come, first served a free lunch!).
  
  The luncheons will serve two purposes: 1) to provide early career women with concrete models who have successfully navigated an academic career (and perhaps balanced children, a partner, family care), and 2) provide STEM faculty an opportunity to network with one another, and perhaps for faculty early in their careers to find a mentor among more advanced faculty.
  
  The ADVANCE-Nebraska team will accept nominations for speakers who are on the faculty at UNL as well as from another institution. ADVANCE-Nebraska will pay travel expenses for external speakers. Preference will be given to women faculty at a more advanced stage of their careers (Associate and Full Professors).

  
  
• First ADVANCE-Nebraska Professional Development Workshop
  March 13, 2009 by COACh: Includes "Negotiations"
  COACh (http://coach.uoregon.edu/index.html) was formed in 1998 by a group of senior women faculty in the chemical sciences with a common concern about the gender-based obstacles women scientists face in trying to attain their career goals.
  
  The workshops will be: The Art of Strategic Performance (a.m.) and Strategies for Leading Change (p.m.) by Lee Warren, associate director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University (http://bokcenter.harvard.edu), and Nancy Houfek, head of Voice & Speech for the American Repertory Theatre (http://www.amrep.org/iatt/houfek.html) at Harvard University.
  

For more information on this and other ADVANCE-Nebraska activities, go to http://advance.unl.edu.

Confucius Institute Offering New Slate of Classes

For information, or to register, go to confuciusinstitute.unl.edu and select classes. Registration fees include all course materials, unless noted.

Language Classes taught at UNL:

Music Classes taught at UNL

Classes taught in Omaha (courses will meet on the UNO campus, with location TBA)

Contact the Confucius Institute for more information about these classes.

Lou Leads Lincoln Group During China Trip

The Confucius Institute's director, David Lou, led a group of Nebraska educational leaders on a trip to China earlier this fall. Fifteen people visited China from Oct. 26 to Nov. 8, 2008. This tour was sponsored by a Chinese Bridge Fund from Hanban (the Office of Chinese Language Council International), a branch of Chinese Ministry of Education; Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), the partner university of the UNL Confucius Institute; and UNL.

The group included Susan Gourley, Lincoln Public Schools superintendent; Jaimi Holbein-Swanson, LPS curricular specialist; Mary Reiman, LPS director of Media Services; Bill Bucher, principal of LPS Lux Middle School; Susan Cassata, principal of Lincoln East High School; Gary Reynolds, superintendent of Scottsbluff Public Schools; Matthew Huck, Karen Johnson, principals in Scottsbluff Public Schools; Vicki Scow, Nebraska Department of Education, director of World Language Education; Marjorie Kostelnik, dean, UNL College of Education and Human Sciences; and Larry Dluglosh, chairman of CEHS Department of Educational Administration. Confucius Institute Associate Directors Susan Song (XJTU) and Rachel Zeng also accompanied the group.

Participants visited several schools and cultural sites in Xi'an and Beijing (two ancient cities in China); engaged in discussions with officials, principals and school teachers in Chinese public school systems; and attended seminars on Chinese language, history and culture.

New System Prioritizes General-Purpose Classroom Upgrades

Latest Draft of Strategic Compass Posted

An updated draft of the UNL Strategic Compass was posted to the web on Dec. 3. You may see this version at http://www.unl.edu/ucomm/chancllr/compass/.