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Freeing the Power of the Individual

November 2007 Archives

Nov
20

A Question and Call to Action From Dr. Bob Press

November 20, 2007 1:04 PM |

Does anyone have ideas on how to identify students with a particular regional or topical interest?

Within seven days, two of my students in the Fall 2007 term happened to mention their strong interest in learning more about and going to Africa. And I wasn't even teaching about Africa at the time. So it occurred to me that students (and faculty) could benefit by knowing the teaching/research interests of other faculty members in the College.

Try this: how many faculty in other departments do you know well enough to say what they teach and research? Maybe a lot; but some of us would score low.

Sure, we can hunt through web pages, but who does? Certainly not students. (I'm not even sure if anyone reads this blog.) Perhaps a one-page listing which can be handed out to students at the start of each term, something faculty can tape to a shelf in faculty offices, would be enough of a start.

I have in mind for Spring 2008 an invitation to all students interested in Africa, if we can identify them, to help them consider internships, study abroad, and courses. The same could be done for other regional or topical interests. The question remains, how do we identify students by interests?

Nov
14

An invitation to join the blog

November 14, 2007 10:22 AM |
For the next few months, I am trying out a new idea for this blogspot:  I'm inviting interested department chairs, faculty, staff, and others to write their own entries to highlight some of the intriguing and stimulating things that are going on in the College. I may continue to include a few of my own contributions, but I also want to hear other voices and give them a chance to share their thoughts with a wider audience.  I've always found we have so much to learn from one another. The program we use for blogging currently is not set up to allow "trackbacks" which means that folks reading my entries have not been able to share their reactions with other readers. In lieu of that, I would invite anyone who has some thoughts to share to email them to me at denise.vonherrmann@usm.edu and I'll simply cut and paste them into a new blog entry. So, please join me in blogging!
Nov
13

This morning's breakfast meeting

November 13, 2007 11:42 AM |
In our "breakfast with the deans" meeting this morning, we had a lively and wide-ranging discussion with faculty in the applied and performing arts areas. Many themes emerged, including how to recapture the "distinction" our arts programs have historically enjoyed, how to develop the audiences, financial support and the time needed to train and mentor our students for their own arts careers, and the ways in which all of these issues touch the ever-present reality of scarcity in the modern university.  I've offered a few tenative ideas, and tried to open the door for broader discussions among the faculty at large.  One thing is crystal clear from this morning's discussions, however: we must move with a laser focus toward building institutional, community, and regional support for the arts at Southern Miss and the arts in general. It is critical to the success of our university as well as our society.
Nov
09

Recruiting new students

November 9, 2007 2:38 PM |
I just concluded a meeting with two potential students from a public high school near Jackson. It is so energizing to me to see how bright, inquisitive, and optimistic these graduating high school students often are.  They have big dreams and have a pretty solid road-map for achieving them. I love to brag on the quality of our programs and to see how impressed these students are with all of the things we have to offer. I've often felt our programs and faculty do not get enough credit for the amazing quality we produce given how few resources we have. I'm sure I'll get plenty of opportunities to continue recruiting this weekend, as the Black and Gold game brings hundreds of high school seniors to campus on Saturday.
Nov
05

Theater students nominated

November 5, 2007 8:32 AM |
Students in our theater program performed Doubt this weekend on the coast at the Mississippi Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.  The performance obviously made a big impression: all four of the cast members received nominations for the prestigious Irene Ryan scholarship awards (very unusual). As well, all of the student designers received Barbizon nominations. If nominated to move forward, the students would have an opportunity to compete in the regional competition in Clemson, SC in early February. Way to go!
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