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For my section of this newsletter, I would like to try out an approach that I used at my prior institution. I would like to provide a few brief bullets in each newsletter to let you know what I am working on, what I am excited about for the institution, relevant items I am reading, etc. At UC Merced, when I met faculty for the first time, they would often recognize my name from newsletter emails and would exclaim… “Oh, you are the Three-Sentence Newsletter lady!” I hope I can similarly provide some digestible nuggets of information here that will help us find shared opportunities to collaborate on the advancement of the awesome academic mission of the university.
- My main focus for the last two weeks has been trying to meet as many folks as possible and learn as much as I can about the structures, practices, and culture of Nevada State - Thank you to everyone who has been so gracious in sharing your time and helping me learn the institution!
- One of the campus projects that I am super excited about is the potential opportunity to create a North Las Vegas satellite site, as this will allow us to design an innovative, 21st century educational site to expand educational access for new majority learners.
- A recent article that I found particularly inspiring was a piece in Inside Higher Ed highlighting a colleague who has had some great successes in expanding accommodation support at UC Berkeley and his call to action for academia to better advocate for accessibility.
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Sunless in Seattle
I once went six consecutive years without seeing the sun on my annual visits to Seattle for the NWCCU accreditation meeting. The forecast typically looked something like this: drizzle, rain, heavy rain, heavy drizzle, miserable rain, my bone marrow is soggy, and expected periodic rain that never, ever actually stops.
As you might have guessed, I just got back from the annual accreditation meeting, but fortunately a lot has changed – now I get to not see the sun in November. On the genuinely positive side, the meetings have become more informative and helpful over time, with topics ranging from stackable certificates in 4-year degrees to the use of peer institutions to inform strategic decision making. One particularly intriguing session focused on “futurism,” which aims to forecast trends in higher education as much as 10 years out, and then adapts strategic planning efforts with those (often evidence-based) predictions in mind.
The visit also gave me an opportunity to reflect on our chief recommendation from the NWCCU in our last mission fulfillment evaluation, which emphasized the development of a more comprehensive system of assessment that informs planning and resource allocation. Accordingly, I’ll begin the work with Gwen Sharp and Nicole Espinoza (our Director of Assessment) to catalog the progress we’ve already made in this area and chart a clear course toward further improvement.
Quick Hitters
Here’s a small smorgasbord of updates on recent endeavors:
- Data Science – I recently began assisting with our effort to secure funding for our Data Science from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (it’s the only one of our programs that they will support in the current cycle, but even that offer has run into some snags).
- Education Edition – I met with our dual enrollment and Teacher Academy leadership to discuss future plans for these areas and strengthen our internal alignment in pursuing key goals; I also met with SoE leadership for a preliminary discussion of potential changes to the operations of the Early Childhood Education Center (beginning in fall 2024).
- Policy Matters – I crashed a meeting of the LASB department chairs to do an intake on issues/questions related to our policy on non-attendance. The next step is to consult with other stakeholders as we explore ways to potentially ameliorate some of the issues that have emerged.
- Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) – After a small break from this activity as interim provost, I recently reviewed a consultant’s white paper on a possible new program for granting CPL for coursework completed by veterans and active military. The paper will be presented to both the executive team and faculty senate in the coming weeks, and though it is a departure from our traditional approach, I think there are ways to implement a program like this with integrity while increasing access for an under-represented student population.
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Publications, Grants, & Awards
- Rachel Herzl-Betz (Writing Center Director) had her chapter, "Why Do White Tutors 'Love' Writing? Recruitment and What Brings Us to the Center" published in the edited book Writing Centers and Racial Justice: A Guidebook for Critical Praxis.
- Neil Longley (Director of Business) published the book A Whole New Game: Economics, Politics, and the Transformation of the Business of Hockey in Canada.
- Heather Lang-Cassera (College Success & English) has ceramics pieces on display in three juried group art exhibits: "Home, Sweet Home" in the Rotunda Gallery at the Government Center, "Modern Romanticism" at the Charleston Heights Art Center, and "Rooted" in the Wetlands Park Nature Preserve. She will also read from her forthcoming collection of poems, Firefall, at the Writer's Block on December 8th at 7pm, supported by the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Five Nevada State students will read their own poetry to open the event.
- Emily Hoover (English) has a chapbook of poems, My Mother as a Serrano Pepper, published by Zeitgeist Press.
- Katrina Nicholas (Speech Language Pathology) co-authored the article "Varying Syntax to Enhance Verb-focused Intervention for 30-month-olds with Language Delay: A Concurrent Multiple Baseline Design," which has been accepted by the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
- Nevada State's Deaf Studies program was featured in an article in the Las Vegas Sun.
- Elizabeth Gunn (Dean of LASB) and Diane Carrasco-Jaquez (Associate Dean of LASB) completed the Academy for Holistic Reimagining of the Recruitment, Retention, and Mentoring of Racially Minoritized Faculty, offered by Pennsylvania State University's Center for the Study of Higher Education.
If you have a publication or award, send it to me for inclusion!
Spring Professional Development Day
I'm working on the agenda for our spring Professional Development Day, which will be held on Friday, February 2nd. If you have an idea for a break-out session topic, let me know!
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LNAP This Friday
Celebrate one of our long-standing traditions at Nevada State this Friday evening. The students will love to see you. In July, Inside Higher Ed wrote about LNAP events across different universities and featured Nevada State as well as Writing Center Director Dr. Herzl-Betz.
Hanover Survey
We conducted a survey this fall about the student experience and received over 800 responses. We suspect that the number of complete responses will be lower, but overall, the survey promises to give us some helpful feedback about how our students use various services on campus. We should have a full report by the beginning of December. I plan to do a similar survey every year as part of our efforts to elevate student voices.
Chatbot
Every day, prospective students and other visitors to our website ask the NS Chatbot questions. This year, we analyzed the questions asked over the last few years and grouped them by theme. We'll have a full report soon, but if you are curious about what website visitors asked about in October, here are the top themes:
- Course catalog and Spring enrollment
- General questions about courses, degrees, and admission
- Nursing program
- Clubs and extracurricular activities
- Accessing transcripts
- Admissions questions (how to apply, scholarships, next steps, requirements)
- Staff directory
- Email, login problems, system issues
Poems While You Wait
Did you know our students are doing a Poems While You Wait table at the upcoming Complete College America Conference? It is one more reason to attend from December 10th-12th. You will be able to visit the NS table, give our students a prompt, and then walk away a few minutes later with a personalized poem written on a typewriter. Special thanks to our outstanding students for participating, Dr. Laura Decker for putting it all together, and Angela Brommel for getting us some very cool typewriters.
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- 11/17: Long Night Against Procrastination, 5pm-midnight, campus wide.
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NSC Office of the Provost | 702-992-2663 | http://nsc.edu/provost
Be Bold | Be Great | Be State
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