CNAS News –

                We had a great turnout for the first CNAS public lecture on Friday evening, February 4 with Ron Greeley.  He showed us great views of Mars and I learned the difference between sand and dust!

                I hope that you will join us for the next three public lectures.  A flyer is attached.  The first is February 15 in Temple  002. 

                In addition I will be presenting a seminar on Valentine’s Day, February 14^th beginning at 4:30 PM in Cheek 102 entitled “STEM: National Data and Goals; Missouri State Data and Goals.”  Our nation (and even our state) have set goals for STEM education.  Do you know what they are or who’s setting the goals?  I hope that you will attend this seminar to learn more.  CNAS has many goals that directly align with these national goals.  Are their some changes that should be made?

Science/Math Competitions

                Science Olympiad – Nearly 1000 young people will be on campus on Saturday, February 12 to compete in the regional science Olympiad competition.  The awards ceremony begins at 3:30 PM in McDonald Arena.  This is an amazing event.  I want to thank all of the faculty and students who run the sessions for their hard work!!

                JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society) Competition – On February 22 nearly 10 high school teams will be on campus to compete for the awards in this competition.  This year students will face tasks and scenarios related to energy and the global need for diversification, efficiency, security and ecological sustainability. 

                Ozarks Regional Science and Engineering Fair – April 5-7.   The judging will occur on April 5 with the fair open to the public on April 6-7.  The awards will be presented the evening of April 7.

                More information about the next two annual events in a future newsletter.      

Pummill Relays – April 20. 

                Missouri Elementary and Middle School Math Competitions – April 30

Opportunities for Research Presentations

                CNAS Undergraduate Research Day – March 25.  Abstracts are due March 15.  See the CNAS home page or contact Kimberly Clark for more information.  KimberlyClark@missouristate.edu

                I-CHRIE Undergraduate Hospitality Research Symposium and Central Federation              Conference at University Plaza – April 1-2.  Contact Melissa Dallas for more information.  MelissaDallas@missouristate.edu

                Missouri State Graduate College Interdisciplinary Forum – April 2.  Contact the graduate college for more information.

Announcement

• The Public Affairs Conference is April 12-15 and the entire schedule and information about plenary speakers and panelists are online.  Please plan to take advantage of the event and encourage your students to do the same.  If you are interested in inviting one of the conference participants to visit a class, give a presentation, etc., please contact Mary Ann Wood.

Budget News

• The college budget committee continues to meet regularly.  Its charge is now to consult with me and assist in making recommendations for reallocations to foster distinctiveness, which will go to the Academic Affairs Budget Committee in mid-April for further review.  Please talk to your budget committee members about ideas and plans.  The meeting notes are posted weekly.  We have some near-term budget decisions to make regarding hiring and search plans for FY12.  We also need to consider what the sources of the 1% to 2% reallocations will be. 
• In all of our budget work (and all work) we are seeking excellence and distinction.
• Seeking  Excellence – It is important that we always seek excellence in all we do – in our teaching, our research, our service, our mentoring.  Annual reviews, program evaluations, dashboards of data can all give us evidence of quality.  They also give us opportunities for self-reflection – to list strengths, concerns, opportunities and threats.  Let us each individually and as units seek excellence!
• Seeking Distinction – The executive budget committee states: “Such initiatives would need to be focused, distinctive, and would need to focus on student learning, faculty excellence, and, ideally, employ interdisciplinary approaches. Such initiatives should also be generated with an eye toward the 2011-16 strategic plan.”  There are different ways that a university can be distinctive.  We might be distinctive due to the particular programs we have and the strength of those programs.  How might we use allocated resources to make selective programs distinctive?  We will first seek excellence in allocations and funding but then how do we selectively reallocate resources to make centers of distinction within CNAS?

Course Transformation in CNAS – A special thanks to all of the faculty involved in course transformation in CNAS.  It is taking on many forms and I truly appreciate the work that you are putting into it.  The students at Missouri State want to be challenged and we have the responsibility to clearly state the learning outcomes for each course and then to assess them appropriately.  I will be requesting regular updates from each of the course transformation teams and I will begin posting our progress on the CNAS website.  We will be trying new technologies and new ideas that have proven successful at other institutions.  We will be assessing student learning outcomes and student success.  I will send a summary of each of the projects later in the month.

  MTH101, 102, 103, 135 – funded by FCTL – Pre-Algebra and College Algebra

  BIO102 – funded by FCTL – Principles of Biological Sciences

  CHM160/161 (new lab) – General Chemistry I

  CHM105 (online instead of I-course) – Introduction to Chemistry

  CHM107 (take-home labs) – Chemistry for the Citizen

  CSC130, 131, 232 – Computer Science

  PHY124 and then PHY 123 – Introduction to Physics

  GRY108 – Principles of Sustainability