February 2010 Articles
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New Year's Welcome to CODFA's New VP and Senators! by Nancy Stanko
Ken Gray's Thought-full Profession by Bob Dixon-Kolar
Taking Leave: Finishing My Dissertation Without Losing My Mind by Michael Duggan
COD at IEA/NEA by Nancy Stanko
New Year's Welcome to CODFA's new VP and Senators! by Nancy Stanko
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you during this second year of my term as president. I
encourage you to direct your time, talent, and treasures to organizations that help serve your
individual goals. It is my hope that our CODFA continues to help you to work collectively to shape a
positive direction for the College and to perform your duties to the best of your abilities so that our
students can learn to the best of their abilities. I would like to give a special Thank You to those that
have reached out to our global community by supporting the Haitian earthquake disaster recovery efforts.
Please join me in welcoming our 2010 CODFA Senate. Our new Vice President, Ken Gray, began his two-year position on January 1. Wendy Felder is also continuing a second term (she began her third year this month) as Secretary. Our newly-elected Senators include:
Rosa Lea Danielson, Professor in Economics; Bob Hazard, Assistant Professor in English; Mary Hill, Professor in Mathematics; Richard Jarman, Associate Professor in Chemistry; John Kovach, Professor in Accounting; John Staeck, Professor in Anthropology; Stephen Thompson, Instructor in Speech; and Larry Ward, Professor in Music/Humanities.
I would also encourage you to thank and welcome our other Senators in their second year:
Deborah Adelman, Professor in English; Clyde Cox, Professor in Computer and Internetworking Technology; Theodore Darden, Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice; Jim Huggins, Associate Professor in Business/Marketing/Management; Mary Konkel, Associate Professor and Head of Technical Services in the Library; Denise Kruckenberg, Associate Professor in Respiratory Therapy; Christopher Miller, Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of Forensics and Speech; Paul Sirvatka, Professor in Meteorology; and Sandy Werner, Professor in Counseling and Advising Services.
With the continued support of our second-year Senators, you can be assured you will be represented well this year!
This year's agenda for our Association begins with a Senate Retreat in February which will include discussion of how we can encourage involvement and better serve our faculty in their roles at COD. Senate will also begin the process of reviewing and updating our Association's mission, vision, and values. Our new Senate will be canvassing all faculty members for their input during spring term.
I look forward to working with you in the year ahead.
Ken Gray's Thought-full Profession by Bob Dixon-Kolar
For our colleague Ken Gray, professor of psychology and Vice President of the COD Faculty Association,
teaching is a gratifying profession, well-suited to his strengths and temperament.
However, in the years before he became a teacher, Ken had a variety of jobs, ranging from custodian at a
nursing home to marketing specialist at a major advertising firm. And of those jobs, Ken speaks candidly:
"I hated every job I ever had. About 15 years ago, I had a bit of an identity crisis, along with a fear
that I was going to be miserable for my professional life. I sat down and thought about the fact that I
'hated' all of my jobs. In reality, I had not hated every moment of every day." Those brighter moments in
his work life were the times he could teach others. He had found his calling: "I just love to teach."
Ken's area is cognitive psychology, the study of the building blocks of thought. Appropriately, "thinking" is at the center of his approach to teaching and learning. Early on in a course, he introduces students to Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. He shows students that intellectual skills can be categorized from simple to complex. Students learn that being able to recall and comprehend facts, concepts and theories is important. But they also learn that this level of knowledge is just the groundwork for more advanced thinking. Over the course of a semester, Ken guides students to think higher about psychology—to apply concepts and methods, to analyze and evaluate them, even to be creative with them. He tries to model these higher—level thought processes whenever he can. In one classroom activity, for example, he has students create two surveys: one tallies a student's study time per week, another tallies a student's work hours per week. Then, Ken and his students create a statistical correlation between work hours and study time—what in Bloom's terms is a kind of analysis.
To assess his students' learning of psychology—and their growth as thinkers, Ken uses several methods. Quizzes confirm that students are doing their reading and mastering basic terms and concepts. As Ken puts it, quizzes let him "check to see if they did their part." He explains that multiple choice exams are useful tools for testing knowledge at least up to the level of analysis. To test for more complex learning, involving synthesis and evaluation, Ken relies on essay questions.
Professionally, Ken is becoming increasingly interested in applying what he knows about "the fundamentals of thought to everyday reasoning." This sort of study examines how thinking works—and often does not work—in our ordinary dealings. He notes that most everyone's thinking is subject to flaws or shortcomings "of which we are unaware" and this can lead to errors of judgment. With a smile, Ken adds that "I have to remind myself of this."
Perhaps the most dynamic application of thought to everyday life is in our encounters with others. In the classroom, Ken often places students into groups, where they sometimes discuss provocative topics. This can lead to a clash of perspectives and values. Ken teaches his students techniques for handling conflict and disagreement. His insights into how people can reconcile their differences should be invaluable in his role as Faculty Association Vice President. He is committed to helping faculty and administration move from what he calls "destructive confrontation" toward "conflict resolution."
With all this talk of higher level thinking, one should not get the impression that Ken is entirely cerebral. Far from it. For one thing, he is a triathlete! For another, he holds a black belt in karate and serves as faculty advisor to COD's Shotokan Karate club. (By the way: Ken would be delighted if more faculty and staff got involved with the club.) That Ken also teaches karate through the club and at his local park district should come as no surprise. As he says, "I just love teaching."
Taking Leave: Finishing My Dissertation Without Losing My Mind by Michael Duggan
I have been working on completing my dissertation for National Louis University on effective teaching
strategies for students with disabilities for several years now. I am writing about effective teaching
strategies for students with disabilities in community colleges. I conducted a qualitative case study
interviewing faculty and administrators from a broad set of disciplines to determine themes and creative
methodologies incorporated to improve student learning. Through my research, a variety of innovative and
exciting new ideas emerged.
But writing the dissertation itself proved quite a challenge. I said to myself, "In two years, if I just work a little every week, it'll be done, no problem!" Ha! Every week a new excuse emerged…the tire went flat…mother was sick…home chores…etc. I realized, finally, that I had to have a formal chunk of time blocked off to focus, and a dear colleague of mine, Lynnette Arendt, recommended that I apply for a semester leave. So I did, my leave was granted, and my strategy worked.
In an effort to discipline myself, I treated my writing like a regular job. I got up at 8:00 every day, hit the Starbucks around the corner from my place at 8:30, then wrote from 9 to 5 (or later). It was amazing how fast the time could go—there were days when I would be surprised to notice it was getting dark! A word of warning: although I was getting a lot done, I also got lonely. So at times I would go to the local library or even to campus to write. A little socialization can go a long way for an extrovert like me.
I also saved my money for over a year so I could do my writing in inspirational places. I finalized my introductory chapter watching the sunrise in Phoenix…my literature review at a nice bed and breakfast in Michigan…and my conclusion chapter in Reno (don't ask how I wound up there!). In the end, I submitted my whole dissertation to my committee on December 31st around 11pm. I am now waiting to defend on March 1st, and hopefully will soon be able to add those magic extra three letters to my name.
If you are in a doctoral program, there is no better way to accomplish completing a dissertation than this. For those of you who have done otherwise, my hat's off to you. If you are ever interested in applying for a leave, for this or any other educational endeavor, please let me know. It'd be my honor to help you with your proposal!
Editor's Note: Michael will be offering a class based on his dissertation research through the TLC, starting in March. Visit the TLC Workshops page and scroll down to Effective Teaching Strategies for Students with Disabilities.
COD at IEA/NEA by Nancy Stanko
IEA Representatives Karin Evans, Chris Goergen, and Jackie McGrath
will represent us at the IEA Representative Assembly in Rosemont on March 18-20. Thank
you for stepping forward to attend
and participate in this assembly.
NEA's 28th Annual Higher Education Conference is planned for Friday-Sunday, March 26-28, 2010, in San Francisco, California, at the historic Palace Hotel. It will take place as part of the Joint NEA-AFT Higher Education Conference. The conference theme is "Advancing Higher Education in Unpredictable Times." Leadership Day is Thursday, March 25. Members are invited to participate in the joint pre-conference sessions on Leadership Day. Early bird conference registration will run through February 15, 2010 and online registration will end on Friday, March 5. For more information, please view the conference web site. If you are interested in attending, please let me know. Our Association will provide reimbursement for attendance at this conference.
We will have an election on March 3 to nominate two faculty members to represent us at the NEA/RA in New Orleans, Louisiana during the summer week of June 30-July 5, 2010. Please consider putting your name on the ballot so you may attend this national conference! Last year Jackie McGrath and I attended and really advocate the importance of our continued attendance this year. In 2008, Marty Attiyeh and John Stasinopoulos attended.
Finally—please vote in the primary elections on Tuesday, February 2! The IEA has endorsed Dan Hynes (Democrat) and Kirk Dillard (Republican) for governor. For more information on these endorsements, visit the IEA web site and click on the Legislative link.
