I realized over the weekend that I had not updated the CNAS blog since April so I will try to catch you up on the events of CNAS and prepare you for the end of summer and beginning of the Fall 2009 semester.

Our associate dean, Inno Onwueme, is retiring from Missouri State State University at the end of the summer and has taken a position at Indiana University in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  Inno will be one of the associate provosts at Indiana University.  In addition this places Inno closer to his children and his first grandchild.  I am so honored that I have had the opportunity to work with and get to know Inno.  I will miss him.  There will be an event on July 27th beginning at 3:00 PM in PSU400 for all of us to send him off in style.  I hope that you will join me at this event.

We have two new department heads in the college since I last wrote.  Dr. Alan Schick has arrived in Springfield from Richmond, Kentucky and began his duties as head of the Department of Chemistry on July 1.  Dr. Paula Kemp began her duties as acting head of the Department of Fashion and Interior Design on July1. 

I want to thank Dr. Eric Bosch and Dr. Jeannie Ireland for their service as acting department heads.  They both served with honor and integrity and I appreciate their willingness.

This summer I have worked on the behind the scenes details to ensure the success of the cooperative engineering program.  I have also been busy trying to keep the program review process moving along and attempting to make sure it is a meaningful process.  The computer science action plan was reviewed at the BOG meeting in May and I will be reviewing progress on action plans annually between self-studies.  The FID action plan is being monitored and Dr. Kemp will be working with the faculty to make progress on their plan.  The GGP, MTH, and PAMS self-studies are in the provost’s office and I will be meeting with the provost later this month to make the final choice on external reviewers and to set up the site visit.  I will post those just as soon as they are set up.  I am also meeting with BIO and CHM as they will be starting their self-studies this fall.  AG is going to do a mini-study and bring in consultants this fall in preparation for a full self-study and action plan in the near future.  I believe that this self-study process give us the opportunity to articulate our strengths and build on them; recognize the threats and address them, if possible; act on the opportunities; and address our weaknesses.

The university is reviewing the long-range plan and the progress that has been made so far.  We will probably begin to plan for the next long-range plan starting this fall.  The college is reviewing the strategic plan that we worked on this past year.  We will post the progress that we have made on various projects and then seek input for those items that we should be working on for the coming year. 

Important Dates for end of summer

July 27 Inno’s retirement party at 3:00 PM in PSU400

July 31 – Summer Commencement at 1:00 PM

August 18 – New Faculty Orientation

August 19 – Showcase on Teaching and Learning  (hope to see you there)

August 20 – All College Meeting at 10:30 AM in Meyer Library room 101

August 24 – Fall Classes Begin (I’ll be teaching CHM200/201 this fall.)

August 28 – Legacy Day

September 15 – All Faculty Reception from 3-5 PM at Juanita K. Hammons Hall  (recognitions for years of service, foundation awards, and retirement)

September 29 – State of the University Address by Dr. Nietzel at NOON in the PSU Theatre

I am going to get back to a regular schedule of posting.  Please email me with questions and comments.   I would be happy to address your concerns and I would very much like to include your successes in a future blog.