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Arts and Sciences Council meets interim dean, discusses upcoming assessment |
| By
Jon Strunk |
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Sep 2, 2008
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| Dr. Nina McClelland, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, laughed during a meeting where she met members of the Arts and Sciences Council. |
Dr. Nina McClelland’s history at The University of Toledo goes back further than her UT bachelor’s and master’s degrees, her faculty appointment in the Department of Chemistry, and the honorary doctorate she received in 2003. The first experience with UT for the incoming interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences goes back to when she was 4 years old.
“My aunt was a math professor at UT, and I had my own desk with my name on it and spent many hours here with crayons and coloring books,” she told members of the Arts and Sciences Council at their meeting Aug. 26. “UT is in my roots.”
Announcing that her job was to work with the faculty, she asked those in attendance to work with her, saying, “I know I can’t do it alone.”
A prominent chemist nationally, McClelland told faculty she never understood how anyone in either the sciences or the arts couldn’t be fascinated by both areas of study.
“I took vocal lessons and earned my spending in college singing,” she said, adding that her mother taught six languages and she sponsored a high school scholarship in foreign languages in her mother’s name.
Following the introduction of McClelland, Arts and Sciences Council Chair Dr. Lawrence Anderson-Huang, professor of astronomy, gave a brief recap of events from the summer, and much of the meeting was spent discussing the format of the upcoming assessment from the Learning Alliance of the University of Pennsylvania.
A central question raised was how names would be selected for the 35-person roundtable participants who will be interviewed for the strategic assessment. Dr. Mike Dowd, associate professor and chair of economics, advocated for representative membership from each department. Dr. Ben Pryor, associate professor and chair of philosophy and co-director of the Law and Social Thought Program, didn’t disagree with Dowd, but suggested that the panel’s “presentation may be more important than its representation,” saying it was important to get members who are able to look beyond their individual departments and advocate for the college as a whole.
Also during the meeting:
• Dr. Harvey Wolff, professor of mathematics, gave a report on the tentative agreement reached between the UT chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the administration, saying that details were to be on the Web for review as of last Friday.
• Faculty discussed a memo from Provosts Dr. Rosemary Haggett and Dr. Jeffrey Gold inviting faculty to participate in a voluntary mid-term grading initiative to inform first-year students if they are struggling in class.
• Dr. John Gaboury, dean of University Libraries and interim vice provost for faculty and organizational development, gave an update on the Memorial Field House, announcing the Sept. 18 celebration of the building and that the current plan was for faculty from the departments of English and Foreign Languages to begin moving into their offices in the renovated building in October.
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