Technology in the classroom at SMC

Last August five members of the faculty participated in the Advanced Teaching With Technology Workshop offered by our Information Technology staff.  The first picture below  shows Amdework Aseffa, Support Technician who directs the College's NEW Mac lab - this VERY state of the art Mac Lab which is designed to support our Fine Arts Department, gives our students the support they need for digital learning and creative work. It is equipped with 15 iMac workstations that include the full Adobe Suite and other popular software.  While I have no clue as to most of what happens in this new Lab, I do know that Amde is a a great teacher who strives to make sure that anyone with questions, will get them answered.  He, along with Jerome Allen, Erik Lightbody, Sue Breeyear, Kellie Campbell and Jim Millard, helped the five of us from the faculty to, in some cases like me, redesign our classes.  The second picture is of a presentation I did this past Friday to explain how I utilize our Tegrity - video-capture program  - in both my Sports Psychology course (students making presentations get video-captured and then they have to view their own presentation and write up their own assessment) and in my Theories of Counseling class where students check out a "kit" containing a webcam and a microphone and then they have to - on their own - set up a mock counseling session which they submit to me.  THIS has been a huge success and the good folks in IT have been amazingly helpful resources as I try to make my classes even more "technology friendly" than they were.  One statistic I was surprised at when we first began the workshop was that the entering first year class at SMC this past August was the FIRST class to have had technology through their ENTIRE school experience.  Pretty amazing.

An amazing weekend - Gloria Steinem, Annie Liebowitz and Senator Patrick and his wife Marcel - for the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Ceremony

Astor Court in Rhinebeck, NY was the alternative site for the Eleanor Roosevelt Medal Award Ceremony since the gov't shutdown closed the site where this celebration normally takes place - Val-Kill is on government property so the shutdown meant their finding an alternative site.  Astor Court is where Chelsea Clinton was married and is a private residence.  Marc and Dana vanderHeyden hosted a reception here Saturday evening for the Vermont contingent who were there to share in the celebration of Senator and Mrs. Patrick Leahy being honored.

Marilyn Cormier is the College's Director of Governmental and Corporate Relations and she and Marcel and Patrick Leahy are good friends of hers.  Senator Leahy is our Vermont Senator and currently the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate which makes him the third in line for the Presidency.  Here they are in front of Astor Court with the Hudson River in the background.

Both Professor Reza Ramazani and I were honored to be at this event and to be asked to "pose" with the Senator.  Prof. Ramazani is one of our economics professor and he truly IS an extraordinary teacher.  His students love his classes and his energy seeps out into the hallways wherever he teaches.

Gloria Steinam is someone I have always admired.  I have used her scholarly writings in my classes seemingly forever.  She, along with the Senator and Marcel Leahy (and three other people) were honored at the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Ceremony.  I had a chance to meet and chat with her about my Men & Masculinities class and my newly published book I Wish He'd Taught Me How To Shave.  It was such a privilege to talk with her and later to hear her acceptance speech as she recounted her journey as a strong feminist scholar and author.  I am not one to be "star struck" but WOW - for me to meet such an icon WAS a privilege.

As we were gathering yesterday morning outside of Astor Court, I walked up to this group - former SMC President Marc vanderHeyden, Marcel Leahy and Senator Patrick Leahy were standing talking with Annie Liebowitz who just happens to live next to Astor Court and who took a break from pressing apples for cider at her home to stop over to greet her long time friend Gloria Steinam - Senator Leahy introduced me to her - she, for those who aren't aware, is an incredible photographer whose works are well known all over the world - she truly has an "eye" for taking pictures of world famous and not so famous people.

So, as indicated in the title of this post - an amazing weekend.  Thanks to Marilyn Cormier for the invitation.  Spending time with VP for Institutional Advancement Patrick Gallivan, his friend Dani Fisette, new VT friends Joy and Ed Limoge, Marilyn, Marc and Dana, Patrick and Marcel Leahy and, of course REZA made for not a "normal" weekend for me.  One of the many reasons I respect and admire Marcel Leahy is her openness about her successful battle with melanoma - she mentioned this in HER acceptance speech - she also is a staunch advocate for our military and their families - so it is fitting as always, for me to ask that you keep ALL of the members of our military and ALL of our veterans and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Take care

Dave

Practicum - Experiential Education

My Practicum (PS 450/460) class meets for the entire academic year.  This makes SMC unique as most other colleges/universities only have a one semester Practicum.  Students are out in the community for 8 - 10 hours each week and then back in class for 2.5 hours for the academic year.  Both Molly Millwood and I each teach a section of this senior experiential educational class.  This year my students are at the local elementary school, the middle school, an alternative high school, a senior citizen housing complex, the Department of Children and Families, the Howard Center (working with adult schizophrenics) and at Women Helping Battered Women - one of the many skills they learn in Practicum is how to make OBJECTIVE observations as opposed to subjective observations.  They HAVE to be able to observe people's appearance and behavior for any signs of "differences" - potential abuse, warning signs, etc.  We spent some time in class yesterday learning these skills and the pictures show them in discussion about why objective observations are SO important in the field of counseling.  this is only my second meeting with this group but they already are impressing me.....that is not always an easy thing to do. 

Class of 2017 - What a welcome!!!

New and returning student-athletes gathered in McCarthy yesterday afternoon for the mandatory NCAA Eligibility meetings - after a great student panel for first year SA's, everyone gathered to listen to me speak about how incredible the ACADEMIC ACHiEVEMENT is of our Student-Athletes and then listened to AD Geri Knortz and to ZAF...... before heading over to Ross for the opening barbecue.

New students arriving at Ross Sports Center for the final event of Orientation Weekend - the Orientation Leaders this year were wonderful, creating a great transition for all of our entering first years.  

After the "official" Orientation activities are completes, the O-Leaders head outside so I can take pictures - they always love this and then I post all of the pictures on Facebook - many of them then use these photos as THEIR profile pictures.  What a great group - well done!!

The success of Orientation, year after year, is the result of a LOT of people working closely together. Grace Kelly, shown here with Resident Director and assistant to Grace Eric Jaukkuri, does an amazing job every year of empowering students to organize, direct, lead and deliver our Orientation Program - Grace allows the O-Board to design the program and is always there to help but knows that leadership is often best learned by doing....  Thanks Grace and Eric for making this year's Orientation such a huge success.

As classes begin today, it is my 31st year here at Saint Michael's College - I look forward EVERY DAY to going to work here.  The students are wonderful and the colleagueship between and among the faculty, staff, administration AND students is a model for other places......

Off to MY first class this afternoon - take good care, be well, and please, as always, keep all of the members of our military and all of our veterans in your thoughts and prayers .

One last item - my book I Wish He's Taught Me How to Shave was released last week and the first printing has already sold out - you can get a copy at windridgebooksofvt.com if you are interested in reading student views on How My Father Influenced My View Of What A Man Is - from the early responses, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters are telling me that this is making them think - critically about so many things - GOOD, then it already is a success.....

Fulbright Scholars' Orientation - Gender and Sexual Harassment

I was asked to speak to a group of visitors to our campus who are Fulbright Scholars from around the globe.  They are at SMC for an orientation before heading out across the country to study for the next two years.  My topic was on Gender and Sexual Harassment.  Too often, we just assume that visitors to our country completely understand OUR customs and laws when, in reality, much of their education comes (shudder) from television and the movies.  These people are from Brazil, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Botswana, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia and Libya.  They were so attentive and asked great questions.  While I DID have to explain the term "fondling", I gratefully, did not have to explain the word "penetration."  Three of them explained that in their country, LGBTQ (they asked me to explain what I meant by those letters) must exist BUT they are not open because they could be killed......  It was an amazing two hours and I appreciate their attention, their willingness to go way out of their comfort zone and to better understand the influence that culture has on all of us.

As always, please keep all of the members of our military and our veterans in your thoughts and prayers.  We recently held a campus-wide meeting with 25 folks from all areas of the College to discuss how we can better serve the needs of our student-veterans - a good meeting.

Dave

Commencement 2013 - LATER, not goodbye

After having been asked by our seniors to speak to them at their luncheon AND after attending my 31st SMC Commencement, I continue to refuse to say goodbye but merely say "LATER" as that is the way it is here at SMC, we continue to see our graduates for so many years and stay in touch with so many that LATER is so much better than goodbye.  Here are some pictures of many of my wonderful students from the Class of 2013....

Eric Jaukkuri

Liz Hamel

Courtney Dunne

Jonna Peryer

Lauren Herlihy

Michael Fay

Liv McCall

Nicole Adach

Senior Luncheon

Yesterday morning the seniors held their annual Senior Luncheon.  As Baccalaureate has been changed this year, this was the first time that a member of the staff and a member of the faculty were invited to speak at this luncheon.  David Barrowclough - Associate Registrar and I were selected by the seniors to speak with them at the luncheon.  Here is what I said to them:

Senior Class Luncheon

May 9, 2013

Remarks

Good morning and thank you for asking me to speak with you today.  It is an HONOR.  I have just a couple of messages for you:

1.        Look around you - When you arrived on this campus just a few short years ago, unless you had been on POW or had participated in a MOVE or WILDERNESS project, you knew only about a handful of people here – NOW, as you prepare to leave us, you know literally hundreds of people – you have met perhaps a life-partner, a best friend, a soul mate – you have made friendships here which will last you your lifetime.  In just a couple of days you will walk across the dais in Ross and the President who is a VERY GOOD MAN, will hand you your diploma – because you are polite and thoughtful you will shake his hand and say thank you.  You do not give him back all that WE have taught you, both in and outside of our classrooms – you do not give him back all of your good times, your bad times, your challenging and joyful times – all of the things that WE have taught you - you walk off that stage on Sunday armed with all that we have taught you AND the knowledge that you have been successful – you have been successful HERE and you will be successful when you leave here.  We need you to be successful when you leave here – WE need you to help create a better world than the one we are handing off to you.

The Dalai Lama has said that our prime purpose in this life is to help others.  And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.  These are very wise words.

2.       You sometimes don’t realize that while it is the natural order of things that YOU leave us and move outside of the SMC bubble into what others call the “real world”, WE stay behind and many of us will miss many of you – YOU have impacted US more than you probably realize – for that I thank you. 

3.       The third and final message I have for you is this – this is something that I stress in all of my classes – once you are aware, you are responsible – the challenge for you is to ask yourselves what YOU will do to apply what WE have all taught you – again, both in and outside of our classrooms?  Once you are aware you ARE responsible – we have done OUR best to make you more aware – now it is up to you to be responsible.

 

You are responsible for:

 

1.       Not making assumptions

 

2.       Only applying labels to soup cans

 

3.       Confronting racism, sexism, homophobia and ethnocentrism wherever and whenever you encounter it.

 

 

4.       Remembering that there IS a war going on and people are dying every day.

 

5.       Educating yourself on the politics of this country and making your vote count – gun control in this country must change and YOU are the ones who may have to make those changes.

 

You are responsible for:

 

6.       Confronting your own and society’s heterosexual assumption – when heteronormality IS the standard for society we marginalize everyone who doesn’t FIT your or society’s image of what is normal and this inflicts more PAIN than you can ever know.

 

7.       Asking for help when you need it

 

8.       Crying when you need to

 

9.       Trusting yourself

 

10.   Trusting others

 

11.   Believing in yourself

 

12.   SAVING our planet

 

13.   Celebrating our differences and not merely “accepting” our differences.

 

 

You are responsible for:

 

14.   Continuing to challenge yourselves to be the absolute BEST:        best friends, best brothers/sisters, best sons/daughters, best   mothers and fathers, best citizens of this country.

 

15.   Enjoying life – safely – please PROTECT YOURSELF by making wise decisions.

 

16.   Discarding the “mask” whenever you can

 

17.   Stopping violence against women - and everyone else – including yourself.

 

18.   Taking care of both your physical and mental health

 

19.   And finally, you are responsible for continuing to teach the “older” adults” in your life at least half as much as you have taught me…..

Thank you again for asking me to speak with you all today – please take good care and as the Dalai Lama ALSO says, - whenever you have a choice – CHOOSE KINDNESS.