Archive for June, 2011
June 30, 2011
Subscriptions for the 2011-12 Bryan Series are sold out, with more than 1,900 purchased for five events beginning in October. This is the third time in four years that subscriptions have been sold out.
A designated number of free tickets for current Guilford students, faculty and staff will be distributed three weeks prior to each event. Times and locations for the pick-up opportunities will be announced in the fall semester.
The series begins with an Oct. 4 talk by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Greensboro Coliseum. Programs featuring Broadway choreographer Twyla Tharp (Oct. 27), CNN senior medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta (Nov. 29), filmmaker Ken Burns (March 27) and journalist Fareed Zakaria (April 10) will take place in War Memorial Auditorium.
June 30, 2011
Guilford has been named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. Guilford has been named to the Honor Roll each year since it was established in 2006.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized more than 600 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from literacy and neighborhood revitalization to supporting at-risk youth. Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors including scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.
Overall, the Corporation honored six schools with Presidential Awards, and 11 were named award finalists. In addition, 114 were named to the Distinction List and 511 schools as Honor Roll members. A full list is available
CNCS oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact, and the American Council on Education.
June 29, 2011
Guilford College faculty and staff attended the Friends Association for Higher Education (FAHE) Conference June 16-19 at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
Those attending were GERTRUDE BEAL, President KENT CHABOTAR, GWEN GOSNEY ERICKSON, CAROLYN HARMON ’64, JIM HOOD ’79, KATE HOOD ’76, DEBORAH SHAW ’84 and DON SMITH. In addition, there were several alumni at the conference representing other educational institutions. ABBIE ROGERS ’09 assisted with two Guilford workshops.
Workshops presented at FAHE by Guilford faculty and staff were:
- President’s Panel — Kent Chabotar
- “Girls Are of Infinite Importance”: Educating and Engaging Through Quaker Networks — Gwen Gosney Erickson and Abbie Rogers
- Mary Hobbs Hall: A Suitable House — Gertrude Beal, Carolyn Harmon, Kate Hood and Abbie Rogers
- Reading the Self: Quaker Practices and Student Reflection — Deborah Shaw
Don Smith is currently serving on the Executive Committee of FAHE and also as assistant editor of the QHE (Quaker Higher Education) Journal. Also on this committee are JESSICA PIEKIELEK ’98 and KEIRA WILSON ’08, and GARY FARLOW ’77 was named clerk at the annual meeting.
Several other Guilford personnel made the trip to Philadelphia to host an alumni event at the Women’s Club of Bala Cynwyd June 15. Those responsible for and attending this event were KIMBERLY BARNES, MARGE DAWSON ’63 (on the Alumni Board and our local contact) LIZ HANSEN, KARRIE MANSON ’82 and MIKE POSTON. Marge Dawson, TOM EVAUL ’51, Keira Wilson and President Chabotar spoke at the party.
FAHE provides a supportive relationship and opportunities for fellowship among all who share Quaker ideals of higher education, whether on Quaker or non-Quaker campuses. It does this by enhancing member’s appreciation of Friends’ religious heritage and nurturing the individual and corporate search for Truth.
All Guilford faculty and staff are cordially invited to join this organization and be part of next year’s conference at Wilmington College in Ohio June 21-24.
(submitted by Gertrude Beal)
June 29, 2011
Guilford’s new website was launched in April, and since that time a number of improvements have been made to enhance the experience of all users.
Improvements include:
- The search function has been improvedThe speed of page loading has been improvedContent updates and corrections have been made throughout the site
- Additions and updates have been made to Admission and CCE pagesThe events page, connected to the College’s master calendar, have been improved
Improvements in progress:
- Campus directory functions are being improvedGoogle Map of the College is being improved
- Content management training will be offered to department contacts early in the new academic year. More information about the training will be forthcoming.
Reminders:
- GuilfordNet (http://intranet.guilford.edu) was introduced at the time of the launch of the new website. It contains information for daily College business. A calendar of events and the Buzz are posted on the GuilfordNet home page. Improvements are being made to GuilfordNet as well.
- Guilford email may be accessed at http://mail.guilford.edu (consider bookmarking this URL) or by the link at the bottom of each page on GuilfordNet.
June 29, 2011
Professor TIMOTHY KIRCHER of the History Department was an invited speaker at a symposium on Renaissance Humanism and the Ambiguities of Modernity under the auspices of the Minerva Center for the Humanities at Tel-Aviv University from June 19-21. Tim’s paper, “Renaissance Humanism and Its Discontents,” was one of ten featured at the symposium. Afterward in Jerusalem Tim met MAX CARTER and Jane Deichler-Carter and four Guilford students for an archaeological tour of the Temple Mount.
June 27, 2011
SHERRY GILES and BARBARA LAWRENCE, faculty members in the Justice and Policy Studies Department, offered a session on “Considering Community Partners” at the Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education Second Annual Research Institute on June 26.
The Institute, held at Boston University, brought together faculty and administrators with academic programs in community engagement from the United States and Canada to engage critical questions around what it means to have an academic home for community engagement in higher education. DANIEL RHODES, Justice and Policy Studies faculty member, also attended the Institute.
June 22, 2011
The Board of Trustees met June 3-4 on campus.
Highlights of the meeting included a plenary session discussion on “Becoming a More Strategic Board,” a presentation on career development services and new initiatives and the granting of tenure to seven faculty members.
In addition, trustees approved changes in the “Advancing Excellence” campaign, revisions to the endowment funds policy and conversion of housing bonds to general obligation bonds.
View the meeting digest.
June 22, 2011
The Early College at Guilford has once again been named one of the best public high schools in the country, according to Newsweek magazine. The early college high school, located on Guilford’s campus, placed 19th in the nation on the list of America’s Best High Schools, released this week.
The ranking was the highest of the 21 North Carolina schools to appear on the list.
“The Newsweek list reinforces what we’ve known for years–that we provide an outstanding educational environment that gives the top minds in our district the chance to grow even stronger,” said Early College principal BOBBY HAYES.
This year’s list reflects a change in Newsweek’s methodology. Rather than focusing purely on the number of Advanced Placement tests per graduate, the magazine considered six elements: graduation rate, college matriculation, AP tests per graduate, average SAT/ACT scores, average AP/International Baccalaureate scores and AP courses offered. More than 1,100 public high schools provided data to be considered for the list.
The Early College at Guilford was established in the fall of 2002 through a public-private partnership between Guilford County Schools and the College to provide advanced learners with a quality education in a supportive learning environment. It was the first Early College founded in North Carolina.
June 13, 2011
A $4,000 anonymous donation in honor of DAVE MACINNES, professor emeritus of Chemistry, is being used to upgrade the Chemistry Department’s capabilities in several techniques in synthetic inorganic and organic chemistry.
In consultation with MacInnes, the Chemistry Department will obtain vacuum equipment and glassware that allow chemical reactions to be run under reduced pressure and inert atmosphere conditions. These experimental methods will be used in courses such as Inorganic and Materials Chemistry and the department’s innovative Integrated Laboratory sequence, developed by MacInnes in the late 1980s to provide chemistry students with research experience in the context of their laboratory courses. The new equipment will also support undergraduate research in the department such as the work on chemical reaction rates in ionic liquids overseen by ANNE GLENN, professor of chemistry.
MacInnes joined the Guilford faculty in 1973, retiring from teaching in 2010 followed by an additional year of service as director of faculty development. In his 38 years at Guilford, MacInnes undertook research study leaves at the University of British Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, NASA Langley, and the University of Oregon, using many of the same techniques that the new equipment will support.
June 13, 2011
Director of Community Learning JAMES SHIELDS, Associate Professor of Justice and Policy Studies SHERRY GILES and Africana Community Coordinator JADA DREW conducted workshops May 31-June 3 at Siena College in Albany, N.Y. as part of the Bonner Summer Leadership Institute and associated Engaged Scholarship and Teaching Symposium.
A workshop presented by James and Sherry was entitled “Venturing into the Fray: Digging through Community-based Research of Local Political Issues.” In an interactive presentation, they told the story of the years-long collaboration between Guilford and the Beloved Community Center, a local nonprofit organization whose social justice mission leads them to develop initiatives addressing issues that immerse them in their city’s politics.
A workshop presented by James and Jada was entitled “Understanding the Intricacies of Race & Racism in Service.” They helped participants understand the intricacies of race & racism in the US and explore how racism plays a role in community service and civic engagement. They offered strategic tools for eradicating institutional racism on micro and macro levels.
