Fall Town Hall a Successful Dialogue

HESA extends its deepest appreciation to all of its community members for a successful Town Hall on Higher Education Curriculum. The discussion was thought provoking in its exploration of relevant issues and identified many avenues for both short and long term improvement. This would have been unattainable void of the contributions of our caring community members.

The outcomes of Town Hall are not static, and so additional comments are welcomed. Now or after the official meeting minutes are disseminated to the community, please feel free to submit your thoughts on this topic or the community’s action plan to Claude (cem291@psu.edu).

Thanks again to everyone for your continued support of this initiative, and we look forward to your participation again in the spring.

Flag Football Team Scores a Tie!

- Reporting by Alex Yin

The Higher Ed Halfbacks will forever remember October 21, 2009, not for its first non-loss of the season, but because the team witnessed the birth of a flag football legend. Team Captain David Knight, who suffered his first rock-paper-scissors loss, decided that it would be the last disappointment of the night. After spending two games fighting for moral victories, the captain returned two interceptions for touchdowns to help the Halfbacks tie the Nathletes13-13.Like any true leader, he paid tribute to his future flag football hall-of-fame teammate, Phil Blackman, by celebrating his 80 yard touchdown interception like a 40-year old man who needed an oxygen tank after the INT-scamper.

The team, however, missed Blackman’s veteran presence on the offensive side of the ball as they were unable to gain first downs. With no other offensive threat that could command a double team, Wil Del Pilar was not able to get open and salsa his way to the end zone like he did the previous week. No moral victory goes unnoticed with the Halfbacks, though, as this was the first week that the offense did not throw a completion to the other team.

The team’s young defense started to come together. After suffering more roster casualties to illness and homework, the team decided it was time to spend some money on free agents and brought in Jen Grossman Leopard and Becky Ferguson.   Returning to the roster, after his one game suspension for his lack of enthusiasm, was Rodney “the Thing” Hughes. Learning from his mistakes from the first game, he played with a passion that could only be described as “Epic.”  With the New England duo (Zeke Kimball and Dr. Alexander Yin) racking up numerous sacks and quarterback pressures, Jordan Humphrey, Lindsay Northup-Moore, Jen, and Becky providing a barnacle-like coverage, and “the Thing” scaring all that was left uncovered with his voice, the defense provided the supporting cast that all superstars need to excel.  And the captain did not disappoint.

After the game, the good Doctor Yin, when asked to comment about the defense, pointed to his John Deere Hat and said with a grin, “Nothing runs like a Deere,” and then he left the field on his big green tractor. No doubt, it was a memorable “Knight” for those who went to the game.

The team will be successful again this week as it enjoys its bye.  Everyone is welcome to come out to play or support the Higher Ed Halfbacks on the last game on Wednesday evening, November 4 at 7:30 behind the IM Building. To honor and celebrate our devoted fan base, the Higher Ed Halfbacks will be available after the game for autographs. Also one lucky fan could win a Halfbacks jersey autographed by the entire team.

Brown Bag Monday: Dr. Kate Shaw

Join Dr. Kate Shaw at noon Monday in Rackley 403 for HESA’s second brown bag of the semester.

Dr. Shaw, Deputy Secretary of Postsecondary and Higher Education in the Pennsylvania Department of Education, will become the new Executive Director of Research for Action (RFA), a Philadelphia education research nonprofit known for its high quality research on urban school reform, especially reform efforts in Philadelphia. Dr. Shaw was appointed to her current position of Deputy Secretary of Postsecondary and Higher Education in January 2007 after having served briefly as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Education. As Deputy, Dr. Shaw is primarily responsible for developing and implementing policy designed to increase the quality and accessibility of postsecondary education throughout the state, and to strengthen the K‐16 educational pipeline. Prior to her current position, Dr. Shaw was a faculty member at Temple University for ten years in the Urban Education Program of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and also served as chair of that department. Her scholarship has focused on issues of access and equity in higher education, especially for disadvantaged populations.

HESA Coordinating Meeting: Tuesday

Chairs of HESA committees, representatives, and liaisons will meet on Tuesday morning from 9:00-11:00 in Rackley 409 in HESA’s first “coordinating committee” meeting. This will be an opportunity for HESA leaders to coordinate schedules and share ideas about how different parts of HESA can work together. If you are on a committee and have suggestions, pass them along to your committee chairs on Monday.

HESA All-Member Meeting: Wednesday

The second HESA all-member meeting of the semester is Wednesday October 21 from 11:30 – 12:30 in 113 Keller Building.

Below is the tentative agenda:

AGENDA (DRAFT)

Welcome and Opening Remarks

A busy semester is underway! – India and Jim

Reports

Committee, Liaison and Rep Reports
Treasurer Report – Claude
EPS Meeting – Annie & India

Old Business

Ad hoc committee to review constitution – India
UPAC travel funding – Wil
Last meeting’s brainstorming & Coordinating Committee – Jim
T-shirts -Melanie

New Business

Recognizing recent student achievements – India
HEPAC funding – India
Other funding – India
Budget requests – Annie & Claude
Conversation on Teaching Assistantships, if time allows – India

Good of the Order

Announcements

Adjourn

Town Hall on Higher Education Curriculum: Friday

The Higher Education Program in conjunction with the Higher Education Student Association invite you to the

TOWN HALL on HIGHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM

Friday, October 23, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
403 Rackley

This moderated discussion is designed to serve as a forum to explore and raise concerns about any aspect of the current program curriculum. Special attention will be paid to course offerings, degree distinctions and the sufficiency of student preparation for dissertations and careers. Additional recommendations for discussion focus areas may be submitted to Claude Mayo (Claude@psu.edu) up until Tuesday, October 20, 2009 for inclusion into the Town Hall.

We hope to see you there!

Featured Member of the Week: Wil del Pilar

This week’s featured higher ed member is Wil del Pilar.

Born and raised in California just outside of Los Angeles, Wil completed a BA in Communications at Chapman University and a Masters in counseling at Cal State Dominguez Hills. When Wil was looking at schools for his PhD, he didn’t want to limit his search to California, so he looked at ranked programs that had faculty who aligned with his research interests and who could serve as mentors. The surrounding community and schools were also important since Wil’s whole family would move with him. When Wil and family made their visit to Penn State, the faculty (Don and Roger) and students (David and Alex) made it seem like a very warm and welcoming community. After the visit to Happy Valley, they knew this would be their next home.

Wil’s research interests are primarily related to access, equity and retention. Particularly, he is interested in how immigrant status may affect college choice and how social networks, family, and state level policy influence this process.  Wil currently serves as the Managing editor of HER. He also continues his commitment to HESA serving on the professional development committee and working with HESA leadership to attempt to coordinate members’ conference funding through UPAC.

Before starting his PhD, Wil enjoyed reading Now, an afternoon at the movies with his family is a good day. He also enjoys working out, playing in a soccer league, and IM Co-ed Flag Football.

Featured higher ed member Wil del Pilar with his family at the Nittany Lion shrine

HESA Flag Football Falters Early But Beats Point Spread

The Higher Ed Halfbacks suffered its second consecutive defeat Wednesday to open up the season at 0 – 2.  Not all hope is lost though as the team showed signs of improvement from week one.  The game began with a second rock-paper-scissors victory for the higher ed team to determine who started on offense.  But the game theory win did not translate to a flag football victory.  Captain David Knight said, “Next week we’ll take a different approach with the rock-paper-scissors battle.  If we win it, we’ll play defense first.  That way the other team can score on the first series instead of having us punt or turn the ball over so they can then score early in the game.  We’ll try to manage our disappointments a bit better.”

Remarkably, the squad from Rackley again lost a crucial female player on the first play of the game.  Lindsay Northup-Moore suffered the same quad injury as Beth Randolph from the previous week.  The apparently-dangerous sweep play has been removed from the playbook.  The injury play was a bad omen for the first ten minutes of the game, during which the Higher Ed team fell behind 20-0.

Then with one play left in the first half, the Higher Ed Halfbacks found the end zone for the first time this season.  David Knight ran a screen play to Wil del Pilar who danced his way 60 yards down the field for a score.  The team converted the extra point on a quick pass to del Pilar to hit the 7 point mark going into halftime.  Half number 2 was a defensive struggle for both teams, and the final score was 26-7 in favor of the younger athletes.  The margin of defeat was only 19 though – 2 points less than the point spread set by Nate Sorber.  So if you look at it that way, it was really a victory!

There were many other bright spots for the Higher Ed team which hopefully can continue next week.  Alex Yin led a ferocious onslaught of pass rushers scoring a few sacks, Jordan Humphrey converted a clutch 4th down by barreling through the line, Claire Gilbert caught a key 3rd-down pass, Zeke Kimball kicked a 60-yard punt, and Phil Blackman put 4 undergrads on their backs before it was all said and done.  As Blackman said, “After the first few minutes when we weren’t at full strength, we actually won the game 7-6.”  Knight responded, “Yea, and if you ignore the past few days, it never snowed.”

Looking ahead to the game next week, David Knight said, “Well, we scored last week.  Now if we can score a few more points than the other team this week, we have a shot at getting the W.”  Everyone is welcome to come out to play or support the Higher Ed Halfbacks Wednesday evening at 7:30 behind the IM Building.

Eric Lovik Successfully Defends Dissertation!

Congratulations are in store for Eric Lovik, a recent dissertation defense success story from the Higher Education Program! Eric currently works as the Director of Institutional Research at Clearwater Christian College near Tampa, FL.

The title of Eric’s dissertation is “The effects of institutional characteristics and student engagement on college student spiritual development.” This study is the first to use a multi-level model to analyze institutional characteristics and student engagement on students’ reported gains in spirituality attributed to their institution. The sample included 16,000 freshmen and seniors from 445 postsecondary institutions that participated in the spring 2004 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). There are some institutional characteristics that affect self-reported gains in spirituality attributed to the students’ experience at the institution. Any institutions, religious or secular, that include at least one course in religion or theology in the general education curriculum exert positive effects on students’ spirituality. Religious institutions that require students to attend observances such as chapel, that require faculty to agree to the institution’s doctrinal beliefs, or that use religious language in the institutional mission statement see higher gains in their students’ spiritual development than religious institutions that do not. Student characteristics that positively associated with spiritual gains are African American students, international students, and freshmen. The greatest student engagement variable that makes a difference is the frequency of participating in prayer/meditation/worship. Students who report that their institution helped them develop a personal code of ethics, gain a better understanding of self, or contribute to the welfare of their community report higher spirituality gains than their peers.

Eric has been very interested in religious higher education and student spirituality for years, and these are a couple areas that have not been explored that much compared to other topics in higher education. He is excited to contribute to the literature through his dissertation project. Eric enjoys studying the history of religiously affiliated colleges and universities in America and the potential institutional effects on students’ experiences, but he is especially interested in studying evangelical Christian higher education.

Eric earned a bachelor of arts in Humanities from Bob Jones University and a master of divinity in Theology/Christian Education from Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary. Then he focused his studies on higher ed and earned an MEd in Educational Administration from Temple University before coming to Penn State. Earlier this year Eric completed the graduate certificate in Institutional Research. His experience in the PhD program in Higher Ed has been rewarding. Currently working as the Director of Institutional Research at Clearwater Christian College near Tampa, FL, classes in the program, especially in IR, have directly helped with his job. Eric appreciates Dr. Volkwein’s vision to develop a graduate level curriculum in IR. Along the way he has had the opportunity to attend the AIR/NCES/NSF Summer Data Policy Institute and received an AIR Fellowship for Graduate Study.

Higher Ed Flag Football Suffers Crushing Defeat

The season opener for the Higher Ed Halfbacks did not follow the team’s game plan in the slightest.  Playing against an undergraduate fraternity/sorority squad, the team from Rackley was severely overmatched by their younger Greek foes, losing 32-0.   Wearing green jerseys, the team’s plan to blend in with the field turf did not work well.  Star player Beth Randolph was knocked out on the second play of the game after running for a 12-yard gain.  With a game plan designed around Beth, the injury for the Higher Ed Halfbacks was like the Patriots losing Tom Brady for the season.  Three different quarterbacks each threw interceptions for the higher ed team as the team scrambled to find an offense.  The showing was not all bleak though: the Higher Ed team certainly improved more than PBL throughout the game.  In the second half, the team moved the ball from their own 20 to the other team’s 1-yard line before stalling out. Wil del Pilar, Phil Blackman, and Lindsay Northup-Moore all knocked players from the other team to the ground – next week the team will focus on grabbing the flags.   Blackman indicated that the Higher Ed team may add a shuffle pass to the playbook for this week’s Wednesday night game to spice things up.  And Captain David Knight said, “Our primary goal next week will be putting points on the board.  Until we do that, I just don’t see us winning very much.”  The Yogi Berra-like quipster added, “It’s all about having fun, right?”

The next game is Wednesday night at 7:30.  All are welcome to come out to the fields behind the IM building for some fun and exercise!

Higher Ed Halfbacks debut green uniforms, try to blend in with field