Swell Things Some Folks Did This Summer

Tom Pankiewicz helped facilitate the 2010 retreat for leaders from thirteen National Writing Project sites. This year’s retreat was held July 31-August 5 in Austin, Texas.

Kay Siebler, Director of Composition, attended and presented at the National Writing Program Administrators conference in Philadelphia, PA. Kay also conducted a week-long training workshop for graduate student teaching assistants, adjuncts, and faculty. The workshops, conducted the week of Aug 23, focused on teaching strategies specific to composition, syllabi construction, attention to department goals and objectives for ENG104 and ENG108, and assignment ideas. In addition to English department graduate students, chemistry graduate students attended two days of the work shops to learn more about general classroom dynamics and course/class management.

Prairie Lands Writing Project held its four-week Invitational Institute here at Missouri Western, June 27-July 21. Sixteen area teachers, grades 3 - 16, completed the institute and will receive their National Writing Project Teacher Consultant certification, following the group's last session at Western in September. MWSU English faculty members Tom Pankiewicz (director), Jane Frick (do-director), and St. Joseph School District instructional coach Christie Leigan (co-director), facilitated the institute, which was funded by a federal grant from the National Writing Project.

Jane Frick, Director of Prairie Lands Writing Project, conducted a workshop "Continuity: State-wide Technology Projects and the Missouri Scholastic Writing Awards 2011" at the Missouri Writing Projects Network Leadership retreat, held at the University of Missouri-Columbia in August.

Prairie Lands Writing Project Teacher Consultants Kathy Miller (adjunct English instructor at MWSU) and Heidi Mick (PLWP Professional Development Director) conducted a "Writing Academy: Year III" institute for the communication arts teachers at Excelsior Springs Middle School in August. The workshop series was part of the in-service offerings Prairie Lands is providing for the instructional staff at Excelsior, which are funded by the National Writing Project for its four-year National Evaluation study of the effectiveness of NWP inservice offerings.

Bob Bergland, professor of journalism, presented "Pedagogical Approaches to Investigative Reporting" at the Association of Educators of Mass Communication and Journalism meeting, Denver Aug. 9, 2010. Bob also led a Study Away trip during Intersession with eight students to Greece, Croatia, Italy and England. Five students presented three papers at the International Mass Media Conference in Athens, Greece, while three students presented papers at the Information Technology and Journalism Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Meg Thompson, an Instructor of English, published her poem "Steam in the Dish Room" in Hayden's Ferry Review, Spring/Summer 2010, issue 46. She also claims to have been married this summer.

Jeanie Crain, professor of English, has been asked by Stephen Spangehl, Director of AQIP, to serve on the Reaffirmation Panel for 2010-2011. Dr. Crain will continue on the Advisory Panel, Admissions Council, as a Systems Appraiser, Quality Checkup Visitor, and Action Project Reviewer.

Ann Thorne was elected Chair of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication History Division at the annual national conference of the in August in Denver, CO. The History Division is comprised of approximately 400 journalism history professors, both national and international. The national conference hosts more than 2,000 journalism faculty from various journalism disciplines each year. As chair, Dr. Thorne will be responsible for facilitating the History Division’s goals for the coming year, will head the executive board, and will plan the Division’s extensive programming for the annual convention next year in St. Louis, MO.

Many of us meant to do something, though some of us just sat around while these hard-working folks made the department look good. We feel both guilt and regret and promise to use our time in a more productive way. Honest.