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My Retirement Celebration
I would be honored if you would join me to celebrate my retirement from Nevada State. Serving as your Provost and Executive Vice President for six years has been my privilege.
Provost Lecture Series Highlights
On March 28th, Dr. Aaron Wong, Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Data, Media, and Design, gave an engaging presentation on his sabbatical activities titled "Vignettes of Data: Takeaways from a Semester of Data Science." It was a robust discussion, with Mick Haney surpassing his quota of questions to the presenter.
Dr. Wong has been a Mathematics professor at Nevada State since 2007. He has been involved in a number of projects during his time here, including helping to launch both the Math and Data Science degree programs, developing cross-disciplinary curriculum (such as an art course in 3D modeling for 3D printing and a physics course aimed at creative disciplines), and restructuring the mathematics curriculum to increase student success. In 2022, he was awarded the title of Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), an international, non-profit organization that promotes teaching excellence. Three weeks ago, he became the first Full Professor of Mathematics at Nevada State.
Social Justice and Media Symposium
On March 31st, Nevada State hosted the 4th Social Justice and Media Symposium. The theme was Spectacle. Dr. Chris Harris, Professor of Communication in the Department of Data, Media, and Design, helped organize the symposium, which was well attended by scholars from all over the country and NS students. A major highlight was an interactive and full sensory keynote by Roger Perry, designer, entrepreneur, and creator of Immersive Art Space in Las Vegas. Roger believes in the transformative ability of community engagement and works tirelessly to integrate collaboration into all the projects he executes.
Upcoming Events in April
SOE Dean Dennis Potthoff’s Retirement Party
20th Anniversary Roaring 20s Party
- Save the date: April 27th at 6pm
- Location: Vu Studios – 901 Grier Drive
- Tickets are $100 and can be purchased at https://nsc.edu/20thanniversary/
- This will be a “traveling” event. The cocktail reception will be held in one space, then guests will move to dinner. There will be some assigned seating for dinner, but the concept will be “stations” of food around the location where people can choose what they want to eat. At a certain time (probably 7:45ish), there will be a “reveal” of the final space of the facility, where guests will sit for a program
- The program consists of some old and new awards
- At the end of the event, we will have music and dancing
Upcoming Events in May
Commencement
Faculty and Staff Awards
- Save the date: May 10, 6-8 p.m.
- Location: TBD
- Nominations will be sent to the campus shortly
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Here’s the irony of a long break between newsletter updates – I’m struggling to come up with what I want to say despite having more stuff to talk about. It might be some kind of decision obfuscation wrought by a combination of information overload and memory impairment. Or maybe my brain is frazzled by the rollercoaster of emotions we’ve all experienced since Taylor Swift broke up with Joe Alwyn. Either way, I’m not sure if this is my best list of updates, but I hope you like it anyway:
Legislative visit to Carson City
This feels like ancient history despite being only three weeks ago, but I was part of a robust contingent of NS faculty, staff, and students who descended upon Carson City for the legislative session. Compared to prior years, I was struck by the extent to which legislators really knew who we were and genuinely seemed to support our cause. Arguably everyone at the college has contributed to that in one way or another, but I have to give a special shout out to Anthony Ruiz, who orchestrated the visit and set the table with a host of key legislators. Also, speaking of shout outs, here’s another one for our faculty, who pointedly asked the chair of the ways and means committee why NSHE employees were the only ones excluded from the governor’s “retention bonus” (AB268). Within days, that decision had been rectified. That’s clout.
NSSE Dashboard
You may be familiar with the National Survey of Student Engagement, or NSSE (pronounced “Nessie,” like it’s farm animal). It’s a survey that we administer nearly every year to gauge student perceptions of the college on a host of variables. For our AASCU project on equity gaps, we’re interested in examining how the response to the survey might differ as a function of key student variables (e.g., race/ethnicity, first-generation status). So, true to his wish fulfillment form, Sandip built a dedicated dashboard that allows us to do precisely that. You can find it here. (Note: I think it’s easier to examine group differences if you select the “Table” radio button in the upper left instead of the “Chart” button; also, if you want to examine individual questions, you need to only select “Direct Questions” in the drop down window for “Engagement Indicator Level”).
I also did a preliminary analysis of group differences, which you can find in this Google doc. There were some critical deviations among groups, but overall the student responses were much more similar than they were different.
ASC & Writing Center Presentations
This has nothing to do with what I did – in fact, my only contribution was to sit and listen – but I absolutely have to mention these two presentations on the Academic Success Center and the Writing Center by Cristina Caputo and Rachel Herzl-Betz, respectively. Based on prior conversations and available data, I knew they were doing excellent work. However, it is one thing to know it abstractly and another thing to see it firsthand, and I honestly did not fully appreciate the tremendous amount of thought, passion, and smarts that they’re putting into the development and operation of these centers. It made my day (and then some).
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Thank you!
I want to thank the anonymous faculty, staff, and student who served as usability testers for the IRB Canvas page! I will use the results to redesign the IRB page to hopefully be more user-friendly. I appreciate you taking the time to do the test, and a special thank you to Lauren Johnson (Library) for conducting the usability testing and creating the final report.
Publications, Honors, & Grants
- Christy Fleck (SLP) applied for a Parkinson Voice Project grant. It would provide $50,000 over 5 years to support research on SLP therapies.
- El Hachemi Bouali (Geosciences) received an INBRE Pilot Grant of $20,000 to fund his research.
- Heather Lang-Cassera (College Success) has been selected to perform her poetry at the 2023 Utah Arts Festival.
- Amber Howerton (Chemistry) got word that we received an additional $163,000 in INBRE funding to support student research. Amber has taken over as PI on the grant.
- Emily Hoover (English) has her poem "From the Middle Summit" published in the Nevada Arts Council's Nevadan to Nevada: What I need to Tell You poetry project.
- Shantal Marshall (Psychology) submitted a proposal for a Spencer Foundation grant. It would provide $60,000 to study the effects of a "college lingo" intervention on student success.
- Sam Jewell (Biology) received word that the MARCOS grant has been approved for a no-cost extension of an additional year to continue supporting students.
- Kebret Kebede (Biology) was approved to be a Fulbright Scholar/Specialist.
Policy Updates
Undergraduate Research & Creative Works Conference
The 8th annual URCW Conference is scheduled for April 28th. Come out and see our keynote speaker, Dr. Faith Kearns! Her keynote is titled "Getting to the Heart of Science Communication." The conference is free and open to all.
Apply to the SoTL Fellows Program
The SoTL Fellows program is a year-long form of support for full-time academic faculty conducting research in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Administrative and adjunct faculty are eligible to apply as part of a team with a full-time academic faculty member. Apply by April 14th by emailing the application form to advance@nsc.edu.
Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity
As the field of AI continues to evolve rapidly, with multiple new AI systems released recently, there is concern about how students may use it for coursework. I have reached out to the Faculty Senate Academic Affairs committee for feedback and will lead discussion of it in the next Deans Council as well.
To ensure we are well positioned to provide guidance in this area, Sierra Adare-Tasiwoopa Api, the CTLE Instructional Technologist, is completing an AI Bootcamp course. She has also read a lot of research on the topic, attended webinars, and participated in panel discussions from a variety of organizations.
This fall, the CTLE will offer a Faculty Learning Community focused on AI tools and the benefits and drawbacks of using them. I will work with faculty, administrators, and CTLE staff to develop an appropriate statement on AI use in courses that takes into account the need for flexibility (for instance, some faculty may allow AI use if it is relevant to the course or degree content).
Promotion & Tenure Workshop
Erin Rider and I are planning a 3rd-year review, promotion, and tenure workshop for May 11th. It will help familiarize faculty with these processes and the expectations for them, and there will be a Q&A session with faculty at various ranks/levels.
All academic faculty are invited to attend this optional training. Please RSVP by April 21 so we can plan for lunch. See this flyer for details.
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Bass (How Low Can You ELO)
Way back in 2018, a small group of faculty participated in an AAC&U conference focused on revising general education. We returned with a drawing a of triangle and a dream to transform our Core Curriculum. As we near the halfway point of 2023, we’re still moving toward that goal. We spent nearly two years developing a list of the twelve Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) we want all students to achieve by the time they finish the Core. We’ve devoted two more years to adding those ELOs to Core Classes. You can review our collective progress here.
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There is good news and bad news here. The good news is that we did a TON of work and added ELOs to many of the most popular Core classes (like ENG 101 and MATH 120). The Core Curriculum Committee and the LASB Curriculum Committee performed heroically on a task without institutional precedent. The not-so-good news is that there are still quite a few classes left, and most of those classes are in a small group of disciplines: English, History, and Art.
Fortunately, we’ve got a plan to move forward. This summer, I’ll be working with faculty in several areas to complete the process of adding ELOs to courses in their areas. I’ve also proposed a plan to streamline the approval process, which will make it easier for faculty to complete their proposals. My overarching goal is to have ELOs added to all existing Core Curriculum classes by fall 2024.
Teaching Fellows Institute
The deadline for proposing a project for this year’s TFI has passed, but if you have a good idea, you shouldn’t let something as trifling as a deadline get in your way. Send me your ideas! TFI will take place on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, beginning May 16th and ending June 29th. We provide a stipend for all faculty who participate. I have been involved in at least seven TFIs in my time at Nevada State and they have always been a rewarding experience. Here are a few of the projects other faculty have completed:
- The creation of new linked courses (e.g., EDU 250 and SOC 471; ENV 101 and ENG 131; HIST 228 and ENG 205);
- The creation of a Psychology 101 repository of active-learning activities available to any PSY 101 instructor;
- The creation of our Course Assistant Program;
- The creation of the Canvas shell and overall design for our Writing Intensive Courses program;
- An overhaul of MATH 120 that integrates interactive online assignments, real-world activities, and new technologies (such as Desmos, an online graphing calculator);
- The creation of a tutorial library for complex visual media equipment (complete with videos and Canvas modules) that can be easily integrated into several visual media classes.
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4.14.23 - Seed Grant applications due
4.21.23 - Long Night Against Procrastination
4.28.23 - URCW Conference; keynote by Dr. Faith Kearns
5.11.23 - P&T Workshop, 9:30-1:30, CEB 211/212
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Here's a terrific photo Sandip found documenting some of NSC's earliest employees. Notice the red and blue logos - our original colors. There's a few semi-famous people here:
- Spencer Stewart, bottom left, who became President of WGU.
- Erika Beck, top right, who is now President of CSU Northridge.
- Lois Becker, middle, was the first NSC Provost. She performed this role while also teaching history classes. She went on to be Provost of the University of Jacksonville and the University of North Texas.
- Christine Chairsell, bottom right, was the Interim President when we opened. She is now the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at Portland Community College.
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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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