Podcasts about faculty association

Janet Morrison is Memorial University's latest President, taking over from interim president Neil Bose, who replaced Vianne Timmons. Lisa Moores, Vice-President of Memorial University's Faculty Association, joined us in studio this morning to discuss.

MUN's Faculty Association says the province's Education Accord leadership team has disregarded their concerns around funding and infrastructure... but the accord's advisory team says that is not the case. We reached the co-chair of that team for reaction to MUNFA's scathing departure. (Krissy Holmes with Dr. Karen Goodnough)

Memorial University's Faculty Association has walked away from the province's Education Accord. We reach an associate professor with MUN's Dept of Geography who - until this week - held a position on the Education Accord Advisory Board. (Krissy Holmes with Josh Lepawsky)

Students, faculty, and staff came together yesterday to launch the MUN Campus Coalition, with an objective to stop budget cuts and restore funding. Lisa Moores is a registered psychologist, an associate professor at MUN, and the Vice President of External Affairs with the university's Faculty Association. She joined us to talk about the coalition.

It's been almost three months since the cybersecurity breach at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University in Corner Brook. The initial investigation found out that ransomware was used in the attack. and no data was compromised. But things haven't been put back to normal, and the workflow for students and professors has been changed a lot. The CBC's Colleen Connors spoke with professor and Memorial University Faculty Association member Gerard Curtis for an update.

The union said over 76% of voting California Faculty Association members were in favor. Once approved by CSU trustees, the updated contract will apply across all campuses, including CSU Monterey Bay.

Class is back in session at most campuses of Memorial University, but students and faculty at Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook are still waiting to head back to the classroom. On Monday, the university announced that there had been a cybersecurity incident over the weekend. That has led to a delayed start to the winter semester at Grenfell Campus. MUN administration held a meeting with faculty representatives Wednesday morning. Josh Lepawsky is the president of the Faculty Association, and he spoke with the CBC's Elizabeth Whitten.

Creating and supporting working and learning conditions that are equitable and just are the core of social justice union organizing. Listen in as Sac State Social Sciences Librarian Melissa Cardenas-Dow discusses social justice union organizing with key members of the Sacramento chapter of CFA: Anne Luna, CFA Sacramento chapter President, Margarita Berta-Avila, Immediate Past President of CFA Sacramento chapter, and Andrea Terry, Sacramento chapter Political Action & Legislation Committee Chair. 

Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the issue of child labor in America. Maki explained the increasing number of states who weakened child labor laws, an incident at the cleaning company PSSI and Congressional reaction following the incident. The spokesperson for the Lakeland Faculty Association, Lynne Gabriel, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast and talked about teaching during the pandemic and the impact previous contract negotiations will have on current talks. She also spoke about the items the LFA seeks in a new contract.

Memorial University's Faculty Association says promises made to end the strike last winter are being ignored today. We'll hear from the president of MUNFA about why a seat on the Board of Regents is such a big deal. (Martin Jones with Ash Hossain)

Meeting with the Premier. MUN's Student Union and Faculty Association took their message right to the 8th floor last week. We hear how it went from MUNSU's John Harris and MUNFA's Lucien Ashworth.

Students at Memorial University campuses across the province will encounter picket lines today. Professors at the university are on strike. The Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association, or MUNFA, was not able to reach a collective agreement with MUN. That's in spite of negotiations throughout the past week. Ash Hossain is president of MUNFA.

As the UC-wide academic worker strike continues on this week, the Faculty Association also joined to rally on November 17, 2022. KCSB's Jennifer Yoshikoshi has the story.

Dominique breaks down what we know so far about the Los Angeles City Controller's race and unpacks the demands of the NAACP, California Faculty Assoc and BLMLA following the rough treatment of CAl State LA Professor/BLM Activist Dr. Melina Abdullah by campus police at a Los Angeles Mayoral debate

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams is in discussion with Drs. Heide Estes and Mary Rambaran-Olm about race and Medieval Studies. Estes is Professor of English in the Department of English at Monmouth University where she regularly teaches medieval literature, ecocriticism, history of the English language, and linguistics. She is also Chair of the University Qualifications Committee and a member of the Faculty Association and Inclusion working group. Estes is also editor of the journal Medieval Ecocriticisms and the author of Anglo-Saxon Literary Landscapes: Ecotheory and the Environmental Imagination published by Amsterdam University Press in 2017. Rambaran-Olm is a literary historian specializing in the literature and history of early medieval England with a focus on the fifth to eleventh centuries. She has written several articles, essays and book chapters and is currently working on a book project about race in early medieval England. She is currently the Provost's Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto.  Some resources shared by Dr. Rambaran-Olm:This is an intro into race in Early English studies: https://medium.com/@mrambaranolm/race-101-for-early-medieval-studies-selected-readings-77be815f8d0fAlso if people want a primer on the term "Anglo-Saxon" I wrote that and it's open access here: https://medium.com/@mrambaranolm/history-bites-resources-on-the-problematic-term-anglo-saxon-part-1-9320b6a09eb7As for people to follow on Twitter who work on the Middle Ages and are doing good things:@erik_kaars@DrDadabhoy@archaeofiend@chantermestuet@ShammaBoyarin

The Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics is geared to shape the future of aviation at a pivotal moment for the sector and the climate, and professor Suzanne Kearns, founding director, discusses what's needed to make flying more sustainable in three big ways. Students return to campus. The Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo funds scholarships for UWaterloo students from Six Nations of the Grand River. Employees get two days off as a thank you. And Grade 10 Family Night informs families about applying to university. Links in this episode: Performance appraisal: https://uwaterloo.ca/human-resources/support-employees/compensation FAUW: https://uwaterloo.ca/faculty-association/ Grade 10: https://uwaterloo.ca/future-students/grade-10-family-night-registration WISA Research: https://uwaterloo.ca/sustainable-aeronautics/research-and-partnerships WISA Design Competition: https://uwaterloo.ca/sustainable-aeronautics/wisa-comp Podcast Listener Survey: https://uwaterloo.ca/daily-bulletin/podcast-listener-survey

UC Santa Barbara students and faculty returned to in-person learning for the first time this year on Monday, January 31. Members of the UC Santa Barbara Faculty Association (SBFA), an independent faculty advocacy organization comprised of Academic Senate members, have vocalized concerns with transparency and flexibility in regards to the return. On Jan. 25, SBFA published an open letter outlining concerns over lingering dangers and inadequate classroom equipment and technological support to do their jobs safely and effectively. The letter calls for “caution and clarifications on policy, and nuanced flexibility on pandemic protocols.” KCSB's Ashley Rusch speaks with SBFA Co-Chairs Ben Olguin and Eileen Boris and Treasurer Harold Marcuse to learn more faculty concerns and experiences. More information about SBFA can be found at ucsbfa.org/sbfa-covid-protcols-open-letter/

Curious to learn more about Professional Growth Increment (PGI) & Professional Growth Hours (PGH)? Tania Anders sits down with Faculty Association member Tamra Horton to talk about how you can earn your hours, how and when to submit them, as well as a brand new system the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) team together with other campus groups has worked on to make the submission and approval process more streamlined.  Visit Faculty Contract Professional Growth & Information email Tamra Horton: thorton@mtsac.edu Run Time: 23min, 30 sec To find the full transcript for this episode, click HERE

On this week’s episode of “Getting to the Bottom of It,” podcast host Alec Rich speaks with Erin Chapman, the president of the Faculty Association, and Andrew Zimmerman, the group’s Faculty Senate and staff liaison, in the wake of President LeBlanc’s resignation.

For this week's Inspirational Leadership Podcast I spoke with Dr. Melanie Peacock, who has over 30 years of experience as a Human Resource Management professional, is an Associate Professor at Mount Royal University, past president of the Faculty Association and runs her own boutique firm, Double M Training & Consulting. Melanie is a published author of various best-selling HR books including The HR Professional’s Guide to Change Management and Understanding Human Resources Management, 1st Canadian Edition.  As well, Melanie is an active and sought-after local and national media commentator, having done over 150 interviews in the past few years.  Melanie was presented with HRD’s 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award in the HR Industry at the Canadian HR Awards.  As well, in 2021 and 2020 she was named to HRD magazine’s list of the top 100 HR global professionals and was acknowledged in HRD magazine’s 2017 Hotlist as one of the top 30, most influential HR practitioners in Canada. Melanie obtained her Bachelor of Commerce degree (with distinction) at the University of Alberta, her MBA from Western University and her PhD from the University of Calgary. ⇢ Get full show notes and more information here: http://bit.ly/DrMelaniePeacock

This episode features an interview with Vivian Malauulu, the first Latina elected to the Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees to represent Area 2 which covers all of West Long Beach and the south-central parts of the city. She is also the first board member with direct ties to a Polynesian family. A career educator, Vivian has more than 20 years of substantial experience teaching a variety of high school subjects for the Los Angeles Unified School District, as well as classes at Los Angeles Harbor College and California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from California State University, Northridge (CSUN), a master’s degree in Educational Administration from CSUDH, and four K-14 bilingual teaching credentials. When she was elected to the College Board in April of 2016, Vivian taught Journalism part-time at Long Beach City College (LBCC) and was an active member of the Executive Boards of both the part-time Faculty Association and the Trades Advisory Council at LBCC. Vivian is a full-time registered longshore worker with Local 13 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) at the Long Beach/Los Angeles twin-ports complex. She is one of only six titled officers in Local 13, overseeing the welfare and pension benefits of more than 10,000 members, retirees, and their dependents. In 2018, she became the first woman in the ILWU’s 81-year history to be elected to that office as the local’s Health Benefits Representative

This week we welcome Maricopa County Colleges Faculty Association President Dr. Elizabeth Csikar. Hosted by Dr. Eddie Webb.

This week we welcome Maricopa County Colleges Faculty Association President Dr. Elizabeth Csikar. Hosted by Dr. Eddie Webb.

Josh Lepawsky MUN Faculty Association VP External - Upcoming Winter Semester by VOCM

Josh Lepawsky Faculty Association At Memorial University - Statement Of Solidarity With Oil Workers by VOCM

John from Indiana can't think of what to forgive for. Ethan from Lawrence, KS is having trouble getting along with one of his best friends over their disagreement about BLM. Christian College Student Kicked Out of School for Posting Videos Critical of BLM The City of Seattle held an employee training session aimed at white staffers with the aim of "undoing their own whiteness". Young Americans were asked if they would be willing to give up First Amendment rights to avoid offending others. Yusef from Atlanta, GA says July is the perfect month for white history month. --- Back to Yusef… he debunks some myths about slavery. The Faculty Association at California State university has demanded that all "Black Native, and Indigenous students" should be given free tuition as a "redress for systemic anti-Black racism in the CSU." Ron from Rhode Island, NE is thankful for Jesse's Cameo. Daron from Atlanta forgave his mother and gave his testimony. David from Switzerland needs some relationship advice.

Host William Rogers is here to bring you the 9th and final episode of the spring semester of On the GOnian. Stories this week:

Host William Rogers is here to bring you the 8th episode of the spring semester of On the GOnian. Stories this week: Faculty Association

Dr. Amilcar Challu (Associate Professor and Chair of History at BGSU) and Dr. Nathan Hensley (Assistant Professor of Sustainability Education in the School of the Earth, Environment, and Society at BGSU) discuss their research as the first recipients of the ICS Team Teaching Program grant, which supports innovative interdisciplinary curriculum revision. In their course, Dr. Challu and Dr. Hensley plan to bring together the humanities and environmental studies, and aim to develop a new place-based curriculum at BGSU, with the goal of shaping students into stewards and sustainers of nature who can effectively narrate powerful human experiences of the environment.    Transcript: Introduction: From Bowling Green State University and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas. Intro Song Lyrics: I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment. Jolie S.: Welcome to the Big Ideas Podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer, Associate Professor of English and American Culture Studies and the Director of ICS. Jolie S.: Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Amilcar Challu and Dr. Nathan Hensley. Dr. Challu is Associate Professor and Chair of History at BGSU. His research focuses on the history of poverty, nutrition, and economic inequality in Latin America. He teaches courses ranging from Latin American history surveys, to the History of Capitalism, to the History of Environmentalism in the U.S. Jolie S.: Dr. Hensley is an Assistant Professor of Sustainability Education in the School of the Earth, Environment, and Society here at BGSU. His research interests include understanding the intersection between curriculum theory, place-based education, and sustainability studies. In his most recent scholarship, he explores how to prepare young people to face challenges such as climate change, harmful algal blooms, and promoting an ethic of stewardship. Jolie S.: These two, together, are the first recipients of the ICS Team Teaching Program grant, which supports innovative interdisciplinary curriculum revision. In their course, Dr. Challu and Dr. Hensley plan to bring together the humanities and environmental studies. The team teaching project grew out of their National Endowment for the Humanities Grant called the Black Swamp Project. The Black Swamp Project aims to develop a new place-based curriculum here at BGSU with the goal of shaping students into stewards and sustainers of nature who can effectively narrate powerful human experiences of the environment. Jolie S.: Thanks for joining me today. Amilcar C.: Thank you. Nathan H.: Thank you for having us. Jolie S.: Let's start by talking about how each of you came to focus on sustainability. Nathan, can you tell us a little bit about your background and how it relates to your interest in the local landscape? Nathan H.: Absolutely. I want to say again, thanks for having us here. We're really excited to talk with you. Nathan H.: So my background in terms of sustainability I would say started way back in my junior year in high school. I participated in an outdoor education program that was called the Student Conservation Association, SCA for short, and it was a five-week wilderness-based program where we did conservation projects such as trail-building, trail maintenance, and outdoor recreation, you can't forget about that. That's important stuff there. And what we did is we were able to grow together as a group. There were six high school students that were there and one crew leader. And that really inspired me to pursue the field of sustainability, although it wasn't really called that at that time, and also to explore outdoor education. It catalyzed my passion for being able to take care of the earth and moved me in the direction of studying the field of sustainability. Nathan H.: And so after that I studied outdoor education for my undergraduate program way up in northern Wisconsin and absolutely loved it. It was up by Lake Superior, so another Great Lake connection there. And shortly after my four years over there I went to do some work with wilderness-based programs, such as Outward Bound, where we spent 21 days out in the wilderness. And by doing these experiences with students that had, usually emotional and behavioral challenges, they were able to be transformed. And I always would joke with them [inaudible 00:03:59] I noticed that it was very intense in more ways than one. Sometimes it would be in tarps, but that's kind of a different thing. And while we were out there on the trails, I was able to actually see these transformative experiences and how it would help shape these students into going a new direction in their life. Nathan H.: And so for me, I decided to go on and I wanted to be able to also incorporate that into sort of an academic direction. So after a few months of doing, probably about half a year or almost a year, of Outward Bound-type work I went on to get my Master's Degree in Experiential Education, so using direct experience as a way to instruct and also to learn. I fell in love with that and I was like, "Okay, I want to be able to do this some more." But I also, at that time, I met my wife in that graduate program. So we moved together at that point, after we graduated, to Vermont and I was able to do work with Killington, which is a ski mountain over there. It was amazing. Nathan H.: But what I wanted to do, though, is to build upon this background in experiential ed and also try to think about ways that I could potentially do some publication and be able to teach in a university setting. So after that I went to get my doctorate degree in curriculum studies. You could say that I almost had enough degrees to contribute to climate change, perhaps. And in curriculum studies my focus was on sense of place and sustainability and that's sort of what led me down the path of getting into higher education and this position here, actually, where I'm a tenure-track faculty member in sustainability education. A big focus of mine, though, is bringing students into the outdoors and finding ways to cultivate that connection to the land and encourage stewardship through direct interaction with one another and with the landscape. Amilcar C.: I ask that myself every day, I think. I think it's more serendipity that's a different approach, or a different way, in which I got into this. So part of my research, or my research, deals with famine and that famine is connected to drought, and that drought is connected to climatic crisis. I always analyze [inaudible 00:07:01] more from an economic point of view, but I was getting more and more interested in other sides of [inaudible 00:07:08] that had to do with how people use the land, what were the practices, how they coped with drought, and how those mechanisms to coping with drought change dramatically based on institutions, on institutional change. Amilcar C.: So that was a little bit my entry point. With that in mind, I started teaching a class, or I taught once, a class on Latin American environmental history. And I talked a lot with a colleague of mine, Dr. Ed Danziger, who passed last year, and he taught American Environmental History. And he sold that class for me. I said, "I want to do what he's doing." So he retired two years later and I took over that class, and that's been the happiest takeover ever because it's a great class. A) it's out of my comfort zone, I'm not an American historian. Amilcar C.: But more and more I've been drawn to comparative topics, so I've been attaching on American history a little bit more. And the fact that it's not my core specialty also freed me from lots of inner censorship, in a way. When you are planning a class that know a lot about, you overthink it, and this class was more simple to be to teach. It had a more clear narrative. So it's by teaching the class that I got more and more immersed in this. Amilcar C.: If I were to go back to my formative years in childhood, et cetera, yeah, I enjoyed a lot being outside. But I was a city person in a city of 50 million people and our yard was as big as this table, maybe. And that was too much, actually. We were lucky to have that. But yeah, I never thought that I was going to find a passion in this. Amilcar C.: Now, more locally, the way that my colleague approached the class was by dealing with the national narrative, but also with local examples. So he had something, I don't recall exactly the title of the assignment, but something like a place paper, and that's something that actually other scholars in environmental history do. And so you pick one location and you study the history of that location through [inaudible 00:09:44] interviewing people, looking at other [inaudible 00:09:47] newspapers, whatever you can find about it. And you choose the place, you own that location. And that gives, I think, a sense of ownership of the project you are doing. You have to go to the archive and you don't know what you're going to find. Amilcar C.: Typically, probably most cases, I don't know if one of you have done [inaudible 00:10:07] it could be a little bit boring, that you'll get one deed after another. And then suddenly, boom, you have like an oil lease and you figure out that this little place you are working with had an oil well and was part of the big oil boom. Amilcar C.: Anyway, so the interesting thing is, and I shouldn't confess this, I didn't do that research myself. So I was learning from each paper exponentially and I was getting more and more interested in it. I would be walking around the city and I would say, "Oh, there were like 10 oil wells in this super fancy Gulf neighborhood." And it's, I mean, the land where you're sitting is basically land that wouldn't be in such a pristine state 50 years ago and the same with many of the parks. I started learning a lot about [inaudible 00:11:01] anyway, that got me very interested [inaudible 00:11:03] place itself. Amilcar C.: Now, another way of working through this class was that we take a look at native views about the land. And gradually, I was getting more and more into it, and more interested in Native American perspectives, and particularly this idea of reciprocity and giving thanks, or Thanksgiving. So we are in the right season, as this is being taped the week before Thanksgiving. But that idea of reciprocity, giving to the land, receiving from the land, but also thinking about our activities in the land that's contributing to nature. That, to me, changed a lot of the ways that I approached my surroundings, but also how I approach the class because I figure out, "Okay, I'm giving something to this class, but I'm getting so much." Amilcar C.: And so the last iteration of that is more recently what I have been doing in the class is that the students are explaining [inaudible 00:12:02] the history of the land that they are studying so that we give back, in a way, what we are getting. Jolie S.: Both of you work together on the Black Swamp Humanities Project that was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. What was the genesis of the project, and how did interdisciplinarity fit into that? Nathan H.: So there's a lot of different pieces that came together. I guess [inaudible 00:12:28] very similar sort of theme to the serendipity that Amilcar mentioned earlier on in his remarks, a lot of really cool pieces came together. And part of it was I asked Amilcar if he'd be willing to be a mentor for me. That was my first year back here at BGSU on the tenure track and it was part of the College of Arts and Sciences program for mentorship with new faculty to try to help with retention and help increase the research productivity of new faculty members and also just help with the collegiality factor. Nathan H.: And so when I talked with Amilcar, and actually I was part of one of his learning communities the first and second semester of my tenure-track position here, so I think that was 2015 through 2016, something like that. And on that journey it was Amilcar and Holly Myers, who is a colleague of mine, that was running this learning community and I just thought that this was fantastic, it's great. We're talking about sustainability, we have different people that are part of this group that represent the humanities, the sciences, and political and social sciences, and also even the arts were represented. Nathan H.: And so through these different interactions I knew that Amilcar would be a good mentor. After that, I talked with him and said, "Hey, would you be willing to be my mentor?" And he said, "Heck no," actually. No, just kidding! He did not. He said, "Okay." And so that next year is when we kind of started the mentorship connection. And throughout our interactions we were talking about different programs that would be available to fund curriculum initiatives built around sustainability. And I remember at one point there was one through the National Endowment for the Humanities, I believe, that you told me about it, right? Do you remember? Amilcar C.: [inaudible 00:14:40]. Nathan H.: Or [inaudible 00:14:40] maybe something related to that. Amilcar C.: [inaudible 00:14:42]. Nathan H.: And so I kind of put an earmark on that and was going to explore it later, and I did some research that following semester after I started the mentor program and was being the mentee. I had mentee breath, I guess you could say. Had to throw that in there. And so then we would meet probably once or maybe even twice a month and I started this research looking at programs that could actually fund curriculum initiatives related to sustainability that would be interdisciplinary and bring in the humanities. And we found this National Endowment for the Humanities grant called the Connections Grant, and it was planning-level grant that we put in for. It's very highly competitive so we knew that there was a chance that we wouldn't get it, but we still did it even with that possibility. Nathan H.: But I guess in terms of the other pieces that came together is my passion to bring faculty and students into the outdoor environment and kind of connecting that with the curriculum needs that exist in terms of the multidisciplinary component, the MDC element that the College of Arts and Sciences is really getting behind, and then also the idea of trying to be more interdisciplinary. Nathan H.: And so all these different pieces came together and we were able to get another person, Ian Young, from the Philosophy Department. I was talking with him at one of the Faculty Association gatherings and I said, "Hey, what do you think? Would you be interested in exploring this grant?" And he said yes. So we got the three of us together and we all became co-directors on this initiative. And then we started to write the grant based on what our passions were and then we started thinking about the team that would assemble. And I think we'll talk a little bit about that. Jolie S.: Yeah. So Amilcar, for you, how did this grant project and working with colleagues across disciplines, how did it change your thinking about the subject of sustainability and about contemporary curricula on our campus? Amilcar C.: Yeah. Well, one interesting thing, when you are collaborating with a biologist, for instance, is that they see everything from the perspective of a fox, you know, or a bison or a fish, and that helps de-center your view in a way and start thinking in a different way. Historians, we are very naturally human-centered, and environmental history pushes you to think beyond that. So that, to me, was something that was helpful. Amilcar C.: The other issue, from the point of view of curriculum, is how many good ideas people have and they are willing to do. When you own the idea you want to carry it forward, and so we did not think initially... part of our planning design was that it was open-ended. So we wanted to do this grant not so much to conclude a project, but to open up possibilities, and we outlined the different possibilities. Amilcar C.: And eventually [inaudible 00:18:22] the two areas that we focused on were A) developing a sustainability minor, but B) developing classes. One of them is the one we are going to teach next semester, but then one is one that has been taught this semester by Margaret Weinberger in Sociology. It's a BGSU 1910 class about the Black Swamp. It's the third time that she's teaching it, but this time she incorporated a lot of the stuff that we were working with in our NEH grant. Amilcar C.: So it's amazing to see all these ideas coming forward. And then just in these meetings we had people having these ideas of a Black Swamp Festival, and cheering things up in a way. Jolie S.: So Nathan, could you start telling us a little bit about the class you'll be teaching next semester, Sustainability (Hi)stories, with both history and stories. Why did you want to teach this class as a team and what are some of your goals for the course? Nathan H.: Well, so it started when I saw the posting through the ICS website about the opportunity to put a proposal together to team-teach an interdisciplinary course. And as soon as I saw that, I knew that it would be great to contact Amilcar and then start this process of putting together an application. When I saw that, it almost looked like it had our names on it because it's just the kind of work that we were doing. And again, that idea of being open-ended that Amilcar mentioned, I think there's always going to be some more room for development and growth on this type of course. Nathan H.: But yeah, the course's name I think does tell a lot about it, just the idea of Sustainability (Hi)stories, with the H-I in parentheses, because there's a focus on stories and narrative and also that historical perspective. And we also were limited with the characters we could have in the name, so that was part of it. We had a much longer name that we were going to initially use. Nathan H.: And in terms of the genesis of the idea, we definitely wanted to incorporate what we had been talking about throughout the planning grant process last academic year, and this sort of served as a great sort of capstone for that particular aspect of the grant, the planning process, to implement a course that involves the stories of the landscape and incorporates students from several different disciplines and then also involves students in a way with the land that pushes them to go outside of what they're familiar with, from a disciplinary perspective. So the scientists will be working within the humanities' realms of thinking and the students that are coming in [inaudible 00:21:30] from the humanities will have the chance to also work with the scientific realms of inquiry. That's going to be a big part of the discussion that will happen throughout the semester. Nathan H.: And so it just fits it really well with the research that I've been doing in terms of the scholarship and the publications that I've been generating all fall along with these lines about sustainability, sense of place, stories, ecology, and the human experience. So that's a big part of it, too, is what does it mean to be in the natural environment and to go through that natural immersion even when it's winter. So we'll have field trips even in February when there's a few feet of snow on the ground. If there's two feet on the ground it might walk away, but that's kind of a different story. And we'll get to see the changes throughout the season from winter into spring. So that spring transition, now that classes go into May, will allow more of the story to be told from the landscape perspective. Nathan H.: And we both have a lot of ideas in terms of how we'd like to keep the course to be very active learning-based, project learning and focusing on the realms of the humanities' forms of inquiry that really focus on deep reading. So, reading material very deeply and then finding ways to kind of build on the conversation that's there, and then also recognize that there's these complexities that we may not know the answers to. And that will be a part of it, too [inaudible 00:23:18] being comfortable with not knowing. And I think that's a lot of what happens when you're doing interdisciplinary work, that even though these different fields intersect with one another, a lot of it is the recognition that we don't know certain answers. And it's possible we never will know, but it's an excellent adventure to work towards getting closer to having more understanding. Amilcar C.: It is an open-ended design in that it will depend a lot on what the students in the class are going to be doing and what they want to do. Jolie S.: And Amilcar, what are you most excited to kind of explore? Amilcar C.: Well, "explore" is an interesting word, right? So I imagine myself suddenly as Alexander von Humboldt, exploring the world and telling about it and talking about it. I'm very interested in this storytelling idea throughout the class. The other issue that I'm personally very interested in is, and from the point of view of curriculum design, it's like we shouldn't have done it and we did it on purpose because one learning outcome and one big requirement of the university says "contemplate" and how you measure that I don't know, but we plan on that. Because contemplation, I think it's essential to that deep reading that Nathan was talking about. So I'm very interested in seeing how that contemplation works and what kind of framework we can create in the class for that contemplation to happen based on the readings, but also based on that immersion in place. Amilcar C.: The field trips, and we're still working on that more, but basically the students are going to be going to the same place over and over to see the differences, although they may not be organized field trips. We may leave that. We're still debating about that, and that's the interesting thing about team teaching, too. But there's going to be a lot of observation and reading and putting these together. And at the same time that they are reading, observing. They are putting together a story that they want to tell. And I think that that's a fascinating thing. We don't know what you guys are going to be doing and that opens up lots of opportunities, I think. Jolie S.: We're going to take a quick break. Thanks for listening to the Big Ideas Podcast. Speaker 1: If you are passionate about Big Ideas, consider sponsoring this program. To have your name or organization mentioned here, please contact us as ics@bgsu.edu. Jolie S.: Welcome back to the Big Ideas Podcast. Today I'm talking to Dr. Amilcar Challu and Dr. Nathan Hensley about sustainability education and the environmental humanities. Jolie S.: Amilcar, could you tell us about the project that you developed this semester about integrating place-based storytelling into local nature education? Amilcar C.: Yeah. It's an environmental history class taught as a graduate seminar, although I also have an undergraduate that's a visiting student in the class. Not visiting, a regular student that is an undergrad. And again, as I was planning it I sent an email over December saying, "These are big themes, ideas, but tell me what you want to do," and... yeah, actually, we shouldn't do that because it's a terrible idea. You get nine different, completely different ideas of what to do. But one question I asked is, "Would you be interested in a service learning project?" And the majority of the replies I got were "not really." One said, "I'm kind of intrigued." One said, "No, because I don't think it adds much to what I want to accomplish in the class." Amilcar C.: So, over the summer I was thinking, "Okay, service learning idea, thumbs down." Then I was walking in the woods in the Nature Preserve close to my house, Wintergarden/St. Johns, and they put like these yard signs with blown-up picture books or photos taken from picture books, and so you could read these picture books by walking in the woods and following the sign one-by-on. And it was very simple and I liked it. I didn't read the whole thing, and it was more planned for kids than for adults, even the height, but I loved the idea. And I suddenly started thinking because of all the work that [inaudible 00:28:25] done on that property in particular, I knew a lot about the history of that place. And I said, "Wow, that would be a great way of telling a story, the history of the place, through signs," and again, getting into those other modes of narrative and storytelling. Amilcar C.: So I went the first day of class and I said, "Okay, you told me not to do service learning project, but we're going to do this," right, and "Guess what? We are still going to be reading our one, fat heavy book as well. And we're going to be putting the two things in dialogue, how we operate at the local level with this creation of a trail, plus all this other global knowledge [inaudible 00:29:15] and global knowledge about environmental history and we are going to put the two dimensions in dialogue." Amilcar C.: And it has been working really well. The students designed nine signs. I designed one. Mine is about the Boy Scouts. But we uncovered a fascinating story about this place, things that we never knew about. Someone who got lost in the woods, it's 60 acres, but someone got lost for hours and hours and finally could find his way back because he overheard the train in the background and then could get back his bearings. So you kind of get an idea that this was really thick, at least underbrush, that you couldn't really move that easily if you were lost in 60 acres. Amilcar C.: Other stories about the wild man lost from a circus and lost in these woods or appeared in these woods, many different stories like that, like the Nature Center used to be a youth hostel. So you would have activities related to outdoor recreation, and then suddenly you would have a camper who crashed into this place coming on a bike from another youth hostel in another place in Ohio. Amilcar C.: So stories like that, that each one made one sign. Of course, in a sign you cannot tell much. And historians, we love being long-winded, we cannot count our words. And you have to put this in 50 words and a photo, very visual. But the idea is to just spark the interest, and then if you're more interested in that there's [inaudible 00:31:09] and you can check that out. Amilcar C.: We have been working with City Parks and the Park Naturalist, Cinda Stutzman, and the Natural Resource Coordinator, Chris Gajewicz, from Bowling Green City. They have been fantastic, very supportive. We met with them three times. We did a marketing spiel, "This is what we want to do, but how does it work for you and what do you want to accomplish in this?" For City Parks, it's important to broaden the base. They want to make sure that the parks reach all the community. And so this was a way to enhance the experience of the parks. Amilcar C.: And right now, yeah, it's a trail that we designed. We went through a design thinking process in The Collab Lab here in the university, talked to a graphic designer who told us, "Just be careful with how many words," font size, and things like that. Consistent appeal. So we had put that all together and last we looked at it all together we said, "Okay, we have here something that we can actually implement. It's not just an idea." And so City Parks is absolutely on board, or at least Cinda and Chris in the Wintergarden park, they are on board to implement this in April. Amilcar C.: But we need funding for that. So we put a grant proposal to Ohio Humanities. It's actually going into [inaudible 00:32:45] in a couple of weeks, so we don't know if we are going to get it or not. But it's been an exciting experience overall. And I think for the students, it's another way to think about history. Yes, it's a lot of deep reading, discussion, writing. But also it's a lot of collaboration, thinking a lot about your audience, about those who are going to implement this project as well. So it's been a lot of fun. Jolie S.: Great. Let's now turn to our studio audience and hear some questions from BGSU students. Please introduce yourself and ask your question. Rob F.: Hello, my name is Rob Fountain and I'm a senior here at Bowling Green State University studying environmental science. And this question is for both Dr. Challu and Dr. Hensley. So, going behind the curtain a little bit, as professors do you guys ever get nervous when you're planning and proposing a new class? And then on top of that with the class that you guys are going to be teaching together, how do you see yourselves working together to bring the best of both of your background to make the class interdisciplinary experience? Amilcar C.: No, you're never nervous preparing [inaudible 00:33:59]. Jolie S.: Liar. Amilcar C.: Yeah, I mean, you never know what you're getting into. And even when you teach the same class over and over, it's very different each time. And it's fascinating, I think, to think about your last experience and what you're going to change. But you never know how it's going to work. When I was interviewing here a professor, my interviewer, asked, "What errors do you make?" And I said, "Wow, I never thought about that. I was here supposedly to talk about my strengths." Amilcar C.: And then I don't know what I answered but then the follow-up question is how do you learn from those mistakes, right? And that's what I feel in every class, every time I'm getting into a classroom, is how am I going to screw this up and how I'm going to fix it and how I'm not going to repeat the same mistake next year. So yeah, that's [inaudible 00:35:07]. Nathan H.: Yeah. Well, it's funny because it makes me think about that quote from the Wizard of Oz, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," because you were talking about kind of going behind the curtains there in terms of the planning of a new course, even proposing a new course and applying for grants, and things like that. Yeah, I'd say I would agree. That uncertainty is always there, even when something is being implemented, but I feel like there's much more growth from something that is so new for both of us. Nathan H.: So I'm hoping that that's one thing that, with this particular class that we're going to be team-teaching in the spring semester, is that not only will we grow as professors but also students that are in the class, the learning community, perhaps will find ways to be more patient and also feel like they have more ownership in the direction that the class is going. Nathan H.: And I would say also, if you think about what is sort of behind the curtain there, we have so many different perspectives that we're also going to bring to the table. And sometimes what can be difficult is to try not to talk. Amilcar C.: Yeah. Nathan H.: Sometimes that's the hardest thing. For example, even in the class that I'm teaching right now, when I'm able to, we have student-led discussions. There's a time period, about 20 minutes, where I'm committed to not talk at all when the students are having their discussion. And I feel that that's where, from my perspective, I feel like there's more learning that happens there even compared to when I do a lecture, which, actually, I don't feel like there's a lot of learning that happens in a lecture format but I do think it's important. Nathan H.: But I think that also brings in there's also discomfort for me. And it's a good thing. But as the professor, we realize that we don't really have control over everything. And so especially in those student-led discussions, they could go any direction. But I see the role of professor, in a situation like we're going to be teaching in spring, is to be a guide on the side instead of the sage on the stage. And I would say being a guide on the side can be uncomfortable and, I guess going back to that Wizard of Oz metaphor, "there's no place like home." I think that in terms of the teaching that I intend to do, one of the goals is to help students feel that they're finding elements in this location that make them feel more at home and more home-like because I feel like students are more likely to be invested in their local community, which has so many cool things connected to that. Nathan H.: Thanks for the question. Jason G.: Hello, my name is Jason George. I'm a junior here at Bowling Green. I'm studying environmental policy. So this is a question for both of you. Were there any sort of conflicting ideologies or directions that came up while you were talking to so many different faculty members and planning the grant and the course? Amilcar C.: Yeah. Nathan H.: Yes. Amilcar C.: Yeah, I mean I think the interesting aspect of all this is you never know exactly what you're getting into. There are many different perspectives. But you gain a deep respect for each different way of approaching an issue. And I think, yeah, sometimes defining... what was it? Defining what was sustainability. That was a few years ago. It was very controversial. Nathan H.: Hot topic, yeah. Very hot topic. Amilcar C.: Yeah. Very, very. Nathan H.: Hotter than climate change. Amilcar C.: Yeah. But I gained new perspectives from that discussion that I never thought. I always thought my ideas were the best and then I [inaudible 00:39:11] with a new realization. Nathan H.: Then you realized that mine are the best, right? No, I'm just kidding. Amilcar C.: Yeah, so then that's why... But yeah, there are different ways of approaching. But I don't feel that that makes it harder. In a way, it makes it more fun. Nathan H.: Yeah, I agree. I think conflict can be a vehicle to growth. And through these points of disagreement that we as faculty, in our learning community, that we had when I first moved here I think is the example Amilcar was giving, when there was some contention around trying to define sustainability. And a lot of that was because we had so many disciplinary viewpoints and there were some individuals that were so married to the way that they saw sustainability that there was resistance to being able to see it from a different way. And that resistance came out in different ways. Nathan H.: In terms of the different disciplinary perspectives that we bring in, we always have different viewpoints on how different... well, even just the way that an assignment could be created, the way that it could be graded, and then also what the content of that assignment is going to be. Those are always fun things. But I feel like we've worked together in several different capacities already that I think we've figured out how to use our boxing gloves in more productive ways than ways that could be destructive, I guess. Amilcar C.: It's more like sumo [inaudible 00:41:00]. Nathan H.: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, Tai Chi, right? Jolie S.: [inaudible 00:41:03]. Nathan H.: Yeah. It's more of a dance than a fight. Great questions. Jolie S.: Thank you both so much. It was great talking with you. Jolie S.: Our producers for this podcast are Chris Cavera and Marco Mendoza. Research assistance was provided by ICS intern Renee Hopper, with editing by Stevie Scheurich. This conversation was recorded by Erin Dufala in the Stanton Audio Recording Studio in the Michael and Sara Kuhlin Center at Bowling Green State University.  

As with the summer podcast schedule, the TigerTalk podcast delivers news, events, and interviews every two weeks instead of weekly during the summer months of June and July. In the first part of the three-part podcast, Survivor Season 29 finalist Missy Payne joins the podcast to talk about her recent trip to the Northeast campus as part of the Career Development Academy's Health and Fitness camp and to give some insight into being on the hit television reality show. Payne talks about how she incorporates physical fitness into her daily life and how that translated over to the CDA's Health and Fitness camp with nearly 50 participants. Throughout the two days that Payne was on campus with the camp, teen-agers were exposed to a variety of fitness and health activities including being separated into different teams and tasked with physical, mental and emotional challenges just like on the hit reality television show. Payne also gives insight into her time on the show with her daughter and what the show has meant for her since she was a contestant on the show. In the middle portion of the podcast, Shane Scott stops in for a chat about not just what is happening in his criminal justice classroom but about his goals for the Northeast Faculty Association as he takes over the reins of the organization for the 2019-2020 academic year. Scott talks about what it takes to be a law enforcement officer and how his class and Northeast prepare students for their future occupation by not just training but discussion and the use of technology in the classroom. Scott steps into the realm of the Faculty Association president and discusses his goals for the organization - which includes inviting more staff members to join - and how the association can be a guiding force on campus. In the final portion of the three-part podcast, Charlie Smart chats about the SmartStart program and how it prepares students not just for education but for an occupation as well. Smart discusses some of the keys to success in the program and talks about the Adult Basic Education program and how it is changing lives. Toward the end, Smart relays a story about an old man fishing and how it translates to the mission that Northeast has to its students. Between the interviews, Will Kollmeyer gives a rundown on the camps that will be happening at the college throughout the summer, traffic updates and everything that will be happening on the Northeast campus in the next two weeks. Along with changing the format of the podcast, for the ones that have a YouTube accounts, we have also started a YouTube account, http://bit.ly/NEMCCTigerTalkYouTube , and we will be putting all our podcasts on our YouTube channel as time allows. Future guests on the podcast, do not fret; this is an audio-only YouTube account with the video produced by the Headliner App. As always, if you have any podcast ideas or want to be a guest on the podcast, drop me or Will a line and we can get you set up….but with the new system of only three guests per show, every two weeks…slots are limited…so get your requests in early.

The Sunday Edition Chapter 1 The uproar over taking ‘man' out of ‘manhole' Guest: Shannon Dea, Professor, Department of Philosophy.Vice-President, Faculty Association of University of Waterloo Chapter 2 Most Canadians Believe “Conversion Therapy” Should Be Banned  Guest: Mario Canseco, President, ResearchCo Chapter 3 Titanic Lack of Focus May Sink Vancouver's Chance to Make Housing Affordable Guest: Patrick Condon, James Taylor chair in Landscape and Livable Environments at UBC's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, founding chair of the UBC urban design program. Chapter 4 Former owner of popular Vancouver West End French Bistro pens cautionary tale about the trials and tribulations of owning a restaurant in Vancouver Guest: Bruno Huber, Author, Folly Bistro

Tanya Snyder, marketing specialist with the Federation of Students, goes into detail on what's behind the rebrand and name change to WUSA. There's a new website for open scholarship. And the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo hosts a reading circle to help us all learn more about reconciliation in the university context. Links in this episode: Open Scholarship at Waterloo - https://uwaterloo.ca/open-scholarship/ Social Impact Showcase - https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/social-impact-showcase-tickets-62856093267 FAUW Indigenization Reading Circle - https://uwaterloo.ca/events/events/fauw-indigenization-reading-circle

Alex is joined by J.J. McCullough, BC Based writer/columnist seen on National Post, Washington Post to discuss all the tuition changes annouced lask week. 

  For more info visit the webpage: http://msac-fa.org/  To find the full transcript click HERE.  Run time: 06min 09sec

Host Will Kollmeyer welcomes listeners to the twenty-fourth edition of the TigerTalk podcast with Northeast political science/history instructor and president of the NEMCC Faculty Association Will Bowlin, who talks about the upcoming presentation by U.S. Representative Trent Kelly on Monday, April 23, the role of the Faculty Association and how Northeast’s iPad experience has transformed the classroom for faculty. Northeast transition specialist and SMART start coordinator Charlie Smart stops by with one of his success stories — Darren Sparks of Iuka — as Smart talks about the upcoming High School Equivalency (HSE) graduation on Monday, May 14, the two FREE short-term career pathways programs (a business pathway and a medical pathway program) and Sparks addresses what made him take the alternate route via the HSE after suffering a sports injury in high school. Sparks has become a success story after completing his HSE, he has enrolled full-time at Northeast and wants to be an art teacher. In one of our largest interviews in TigerTalk history, eight members from the Division of Health Sciences join us in the form of Division Head of Health Sciences Patti Cooper, program director for the Associate Degree Nursing Camille Beals, registered dental hygienist and faculty member for dental hygiene technology program Julie Davidson, Medical Assisting program director Vickie Hopkins, clinical coordinator of the Medical Laboratory Technology program Rosalyn Singleton, program director of the Practical Nursing Education program Dr. Paula Stennett, program director for the Radiologic Technology program Jennifer Davis and director of the Respiratory Care Technology program Beverly Prince all join us to talk about their programs. As always, Kenny Paul Geno gives us his weekly spotlight of what is coming up at Northeast in this twenty-third edition of the TigerTalk podcast.

Mums the word this week on Teaching Change as the hosts' interview Professor of English, disability rights advocate, and secret-keeper extraordinaire Crystal Smith.  For Crystal, Valencia College was supposed to be a temporary detour along her journey through life. However, Valencia quickly became a destination when Crystal connected with her students, her peers, and the campus culture.Crystal plays a unique role in the college’s social entrepreneurship program. She, along with Teaching Change host Jerrid Kalakay, are participants in Valencia’s First 30 course offerings where faculty team-teach a group of students using a common theme. Last year’s theme was social entrepreneurship. Crystal felt this was the perfect marriage of the social justice ideas explored in her composition class with the economics and sustainability inherent to social entrepreneurship.Crystal is also an active member of Valencia’s Peace and Justice Institute. She has taught workshops for Peace and Justice week. One of these workshops focused on the power of love letters to transform and heal. Participants wrote letters of encouragement to strangers and penned the missives on a designated tree. This past year’s theme was letters to the world where students expressed thoughts on news events such as the Syrian refugees and the Pulse tragedy.   For Crystal, teaching is a deeply personal experience for both her and her students. “The curriculum comes in the room when the students do,” says Crystal. The first essay prompt she gives her students is “tell a story only you can tell.” The intimate nature of the responding narratives often moves Crystal to tears as she reads stories of abuse, hunger, and trauma. These papers are deeply private and Crystal holds them in confidence as the ultimate secret keeper. This assignment builds a relationship with her students and paves the way for community building in the classroom.Crystal identifies herself as both learning disabled and physically impaired, both of which she readily shares with her students. For Crystal, the disclosure is empowering and models self-acceptance to those who may face challenges in their own lives. The first time Crystal articulated living with a disability was through a college essay when she applied to Stetson University. This proved to be a major stepping stone to the advocacy she practices today. Crystal encourages everyone to embrace their personal power and to claim their personal identity as she did all those years ago. Crystal Smith’s BiographyCrystal Smith is a professor of English with a bachelors and a masters degrees in English as well as an additional bachelors degree in American Studies focused on American sub-cultures.  In 2005, her work in American Studies and disability awareness campus activism at Stetson University led to her winning multiple awards, including the Dian Christensen Award for Community Activism. Her dissertation in language and literature and continued scholastic interest was on the role of disability, embodiment, and femininity in the literature of Flannery O’Connor. As a professor, Crystal’s interests include social entrepreneurship, and she was on Valencia College’s first team of faculty that developed social entrepreneurship into a meta-major pathway. With regard to disability activism at Valencia College, in 2016, Crystal served on Valencia College’s Accessibility Advisory Group, which is a sub-committee of Valencia College’s Faculty Association. Teaching Change Shout-outsFor more information on topics discussed during the show, see the list below.First 30The World Needs More Love LettersPeace and Justice Programs