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Welcome back!
I want to note that you know we are at the beginning now
you know, of a
year of celebration of John Welty's
decades of leadership and
one of the
areas of course,
of great achievement has been so the support of and growth of
distinguished in distinctive academic programs
here at
Fresno State.
This last year, has been a year
of the kinds of achievements that exemplified that leadership that focused
and that,
that mission
for the university.
Our academic achievements over the past year, have been, I would say tremendous.
The faculty, some examples, the faculty in the College of Science Mathematics
produced
nearly 400 scholarly and creative works.
The faculty and center directors in the College of Health and Human Services
received over $10 million dollars in grants and contract awards
contributing to the record $41 million
in external research funding that the
President noted.
The Division of Continuing Global Education
provided more than $2.2 million dollars to schools, colleges
an academic departments.
Funding from faculty research
and from continuing education,
are significant contributors to the sustainability
and growth of our academic programs which increasingly depend
on non-state
sources.
One of those sources, one of those additional sources, is private support
and in that connection I am pleased to note that as we conclude our Capital
Campaign,
we'll begin to see how the 29.4 million dollar Jordan gift
is transforming
Fresno State.
As we make progress on building the Jordan Research Center,
a state of the art facility,
equipped for faculty research and agriculture of science and engineering
that spans disciplines
across the university. It's really can be quite marvelous to see that
building go up.
The campaign for Fresno State has brought us a number of
transformative
gifts and while it has
also challenge us to create an engaging vision of academic achievement
and distinction,
to continue to pursue that vision
Vice-President Peter Smits and I will be meeting with the school and college
dean's soon,
to begin to develop addition for the next
five to ten years.
Over the fall semester the deans
will involve you, in what I hope will be an exciting discussion
focused on two
central questions;
What do we want fresno state's academic profile to become
over the next decade?
and How can private support
help us
to get there?
I'm eager to hear your ideas and plans as they
evolve.
At present,
we continue to build distinction and demand
in many areas,
as the President noted were launching two new doctoral programs in nursing and
in physical therapy.
Our current doctoral program in educational leadership
hosted 47
doctoral granting universities from around the United States,
early this summer, to participate in the Carnegie Project for the education
doctorate.
The Craig School of Business has received approval for an online MBA program,
and is actively recruiting an initial cohort.
The department of Philosophy received a major
NEH grant as part of the Bridging Culture Initiative
for a project title Athics Religion and Civil Discourse,
and in October of last year we hosted an academic conference that brought
together
scholars
from across the nation.
The Henry Madden Library
reported 1.2 million visits last year,
continuing to draw students faculty
and community patrons
in increasing numbers.
As president Welty noted
our retention and graduation rates are exceptionally high.
The ten departments
with the highest graduation rates currently
Finance and Business Law, Accountancy
Marketing and Logistics,
Management,
Geography
Communicative Disorders
Mass Communication in Journalism
English
information systems and decision Sciences
and Social Work education.
My congratulations to everyone in every department whose contributing
to this effort it is really just a of great great achievement, some of those
departments have
graduation rates
above 80% so there is
grate and dedicated work going on
on behalf of the success, in contributing to the success of our students.
Our national reputation as a premier engaged university is strong
in the Kremen School for instance community engagement remains high,
for instance,
Fresno Family Counseling provided over six thousand hours of low-cost
or free services to the community,
and the Mediator Mentor Program trains students in peer mediation in
66 local schools.
With the support of,
and leadership of, Mike Dosier and the Fresno State Office of Community and
Economic Development,
Fresno State
was a key participant in a Regional Economic Summit that had an impact
on state budget priorities
and
with significant increases in service-learning courses,
an exciting new programs like the
Revitalize the Fresno State Neighborhood Campaign,
the Fresno State community provided, as the President has noted,
1,129,000 hours of service
in 2011-12.
Our interdisciplinary faculty cohorts
in the areas of health disparities, urban and regional transformation and world
cultures and globalisation have begun working on some very
promising projects.
The health group is looking at ways to develop more equitable access to health
in some of the poorest areas in our region.
The transformation group is developing research papers and grant proposals that
approach the issue
of sustainability
from multiple perspectives
and the globalization group is planning a national conference
on the international issues and opportunities facing
the twenty first century
university.
This wonderful achievements
constitute only a small portion
of what you were doing
for our students where your disciplines
and for the region.
In the face of many challenges that others
would and do
at other places find
paralyzing,
your dedication keeps us
moving forward,
and I'm delighted to
make every effort to keep step with the momentum and the distinction that you
all
have established.
Along with
support for faculty development in teaching,
which i'll discuss in a moment,
I have for this year allocated $500,000 dollars to assign time
for faculty research.
Thank you. I'm glad to be able to do that in to continue to do that,
I've allocated a $100,000 dollars to undergraduate student research to
support undergraduates collaborative work
with faculty,
and $100,000 to graduate student research and as I said
I will make every effort to continue and expand this funding because it is
crucial to the success and distinction
of our faculty and students.
As the President noted, we'll be searching for over 50 new faculty this year.
This is possible in part
because the reduction in our employees since 2008
has freed up some dollars
in the benefits pool.
And I've devoted these dollars to funding faculty positions
in areas identified by the departments and the deans.
And today,
where a welcoming 22
new colleagues
who will be beginning their careers
as tenure-track faculty
at Fresno State. Who's here today who's new?
Let me pause and remind you we have a reception the faculty appreciation
reception as is our tradition this afternoon at 4:00 and you will
have the opportunity
not only to applaud
those who have been recently promoted and tenure
and hear about some further achievements in the schools and colleges but also
meet in a fuller way our brand new faculty.
To those new faculty, and to all of you here, let me say unequivocally you
have joined a greate
University.
Unfortunately, we're entering another year fiscal uncertainty,
but in the face of this challenge we are positioned to make well considered
rather than urgent
decisions.
We will
maintain scholarly distinction
and teaching excellence
as high values.
And I trust that as we work together in the spirit and process of shared
governance
we will maintain a dialogue in form by mutual respect
courtesy,
transparency
and goodwill
and remind ourselves often
that we are here for our students,
and that their best interests should frame and guide
everything we do.
Speaking of students,
those of you, how have a like me,
in in the academy four decades must have notice
that our students keep getting
younger. We can sometimes forget
in that process, the fact that our views
of how learning takes place
are rooted in our own generational experience as students.
many of us
Are boomers.
As youngsters and young adults we got our information from paper, books,
magazines, newspapers.
When we were in college,
most of us self-identified
as students.
We used
pencils.
We did one thing at a time.
Today's students are post-Boomer
post
Gen X and post
Milenium.
They complete multiple tasks
while listening to music with headphones
and texting
with iPones.
They come to Fresno State from a rich diversity of backgrounds, many of the
first in their family to attend college
and most have significant responsibilities beyond what
they encounter in the classroom.
While we boomers saw higher education as as a path,
these students often see it as a network,
a constellation
or as a maze.
So what constitutes learning
for the students?
Is their facility
with multi-tasking
a deficiency?
a sign of mines with more energy but less depth?
or
is that a new literacy that makes them more adept at critical thinking, at wit
irony at the appreciation of complexity of at simultaneous
multiple perspectives?
These are unsettled transient questions some of which can be addressed through
good analytical
tools that tell us how different types of students learn best and I hope will
be able to begin to use some of those tools help our students direct
themselves and to help us.
Other questions invite
the patient reflective deliberation
that we have been trained to value
and exemplify.
However,
while we deliberated
a number of universities including; Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Michigan,
MIT, Berkeley, Pen, Georgia Tech, Duke, Washington
CalTech, Rice
Illinois and Virginia
are speeding along,
mounting self-paced
massive
open
online
courses.
With the potential for enrolling millions of students.
So how should we respond to the challenges of this new context?
Well that's an easy one for me.
We responded by continuing to respect and support the diversity of affective
approaches to teaching and learning
that our faculty colleagues
represent
and
we point at the successes of our students
as proof of our dedication
and their commitment.
At the same time we wanna lick knowledge that our students are different from many
of us,
and that staying at the cutting edge of pedagogical practice
will help us continue to both engage
and challenge them.
In this connection take a look with me add a brief video showing
some of the support
that we offer for teaching and learning
with technology.
VIDEO: Higher education is seen many changes over the past 100 ,years but in
today's fast-moving world of technology and information
that changes at a pace that is unprecedented.
At Fresno State we embrace this change to find new an effective ways to reach
our students and they're learning needs in a way that is relevant in our world
today.
Technology Innovations for Learning and Teaching also known as TILT is at the
forefront of this effort.
TILT staff are here to support faculty by providing knowledge, training, and tools
to assist in improving teaching and learning.
TILT manages the campuses learning management system, Blackboard.
The Blackboard resource center located in Studio 2 on the second floor of the
library, is a place where faculty and students can receive assistance and
support for Blackboard.
There are many resources available including consultation on course
materials, gradebook, electronic quizzes, blackboard groups and uploading video
content to the campus streaming video servers for use in coursework.
I really am and excited about the Resource Center here at Fresno State. It hasbeen so
valuable.
I have have been walking in probably almost on a weekly basis with questions
in regards to my course and with request for my course documents,
show me how those work, and the assistant was very, very helpful.
I went to the Resource Center to see how I can establish groups of students to do
group projects,
and I was not really good in setting it up.
Discussion boards, I had some ideas, I went there and they were very friendly
and very efficient.
New for fall 2012: Blackboard mobile, allowing students
mobile access to blackboard materials
and Blackboard collaborate, allowing real-time web conferencing and student
collaborations.
TILT also supports the campuses learning community in the area of course redesign.
TILT offers both workshops and one-on-one consultation with faculty
seeking to improve and incorporate new tools and techniques in their teaching
both online and face-to-face. There are a vast number of tools available to
faculty including Web 2.0 Tools, Assessment Tools as well as Lecture,
Capture Software.
The summer academy workshop is a two-week course providing specific
hands-on training and opportunities for collaboration in developing specific
targeted changes to offer courses.
In the academy
we were assigned specific tasks and so we
one was too
work with Blackboard
working with the blog and on discussion board and journalism. Additional to that
we worked with movies, we created an iMovie and
presented that to the academy. Some new Powe Points with the
and some other availalbe new apps that
I was no familiar and so it was a lof o fun.
I was actually really surprised with the amount of help that they were able to
get me. They are very knowledgeable about how to use Blackboard and they were able
to provide me
some tips and also lots of different resources for using technology in my
classroom, so they will be definitely a resource that I will use in the future.
Another important function of TILT is to assist in the area of universal design,
workshops, and one-on-one training are available to help faculty in the
creation of accesible materials allowing all students to fully
participate in learning.
In addition to training, templates are available for download, including
inaccessible syllabus template that faculty can use as a base for
redesigning their syllabus. To download visit the TILT website and choose the
resources link.
Technology Innovations for Learning and Teaching is committed to assisting the
campus community addressing the changes we see in education all around us. We
have experienced instructional designers to help guide you through the process as
well as technical staff to assist you along the way. Together we can work to
offer students an engaging educational experience
that is academically rigorous, addresses students needs and is founded in
evidence-based educational practices. For more information about TILT please visit
our website
www.fresnostate.edu/TILT
or call 559.278.6892
There's some there's some great an energetic work going on in this area and
with the help of a very dedicated TILT staff, you can see
there's been a great deal of interest in our course redesign academy,
which we held for the first time, this summer. As you know course redesign is nothing new,
we all redesigned all the time. I had a colleague at the University of Illinois
years back to added that page or two to her syllabus every semester,
to account for the ways in which the students had either misunderstood or
strategically interpreted her course requirements
By that time she retired the syllabus was the size of a monograph.
In quite different fashion are redesigned academy offers technological
tools and pedagogical strategies for courses that are both rigorous and
engaging.
Because of the demand for the redesign academy was twice as high as what we
could accommodate,
we're providing planned for excellence funding this year for an expansion of
this service which I hope will interest many of you. If you are
interested there's Ruby Sanchez, raise your hand Rudy,so then he can give you
further information.
On a closing note I want to let you know that i did this year will continue to be
out and about
holding open forums, meeting with the Council Chairs, lunching with new new and_
newly promoted faculty
and visiting the classes of those who invite me.
And I'll be happy to meet with any departments, schools,
or colleges they asked me to come by.
Also feel free to stop me when I'm in transit to or from Starbucks
and that's, that's
several times a day. Let me know how you're doing,
share with me your best ideas worrisome questions, good news.
I promise not to appoint any task forces this year.
But I guarantee that I will ask for your help and advice
as we press ahead.
Were always at our best
in a climate of well-informed exchange,
where we expect from our students and from ourselves no less than honesty,
civility,
compassion for our common struggles and flaws,
and love
for the best that is known and foughts.
Please hold me to these ideals as we move forward,
and help me continue to learn
from your example.
Once again welcome back thank you, thank you very much for helping to make
Fresno State
a great University.