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English Department Meeting: August 16, 2021

English Department Meeting Information

IUP’s 146th Year

  • IUP’s Department of English has been producing students with first rate reading and writing skills for all those years

IUP NextGen

  • Back in person
  • In the new College of Arts and Humanities
  • In the perfectly renamed Jane E. Leonard Hall
  • It’s going to be good!

“Go forth! Be brave! Be proud! Be true!”

  • IUP English Professor Jane E. Leonard (1840-1925)
  • We are now BACK in Jane E. Leonard Hall!!!

Image result for jane leonard iup

Fond Farewells

To our wonderful colleagues who recently retired/departed:

  • Dawnette Shellhammer (who is now working Cogswell assisting all the Arts departments)
  • Peggy Kane (who is now working in the IUP Library)
  • Cristina Sanchez Martin (who is off to teach in Washington state)
  • Lynn Shelly (who is off to a well deserved retirement)
  • Rosalee Stilwell (who is off to a well deserved retirement)

Welcome Back

From their 2021 Spring Sabbatical:

  • Ken Sherwood
  • Mike Williamson

2021-2022 Sabbaticals

  • As always we will have some people on sabbatical this year. I’m listing the faculty members’ names here so you will know why you might not be seeing them on campus. We hope all of these faculty all have very productive sabbaticals and return to us energized and ready to dive back into our department’s work.

2021 Fall Sabbatical

  • Chris Kuipers

2022 Spring Sabbaticals

  • Emily Wender

English Leadership Changes

New IUP Director of Undergraduate Writing

  • Bryna Siegel Finer (with thanks to Lynn Shelly whom Bryna is replacing in handling Liberal Studies English director duties)

Congratulations

  • To Gloria Park on winning the IUP 2021 Distinguished Researcher Award
  • To Melanie Holm on winning the 2021 Award for Instructional Technology from IUP’s Center for Teaching Excellent
  • Thanks to everyone for contacting me about the scam cell phone thing
    • Report scams to IT using abuse@iup.edu

Agenda Items

1. IUP Fall 2021

  • Back face-to-face
  • Be excited
  • The students are already moving in, and they are excited!
  • Do great teaching
  • Stay in communication with your students
  • Distribute syllabi online since there are no student workers available yet for photo copying
  • So far mask wearing is optional but this will probably change
  • Stay prepared to go fully online if necessary

2. English Office Entrance

  • The Myth Collaborative entrance is finished and looks fabulous!
  • Eventually we should have some student workers in the Myth Collaborative to greet people
  • The key code pad on the front door is not yet in use
  • After about 2 p.m. there are no maintenance people in the building so keep your office door locked
  • If you are leaving after that time, please lock the front entrance door

3. Wendy Carse Memorial Room

  • We will be moving the Wendy Carse Memorial Room to 306 Leonard Hall to give Wendy’s legacy more prominence
  • Thanks to John Marsden, Chauna Craig, and Gian for helping to make this happen

3. Secretarial Support: Melissa (Missy) Bair

  •  Missy Bair, formerly of Geography, will now be providing us with limited secretarial support
  • She is also supporting History, Foreign Languages, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Political Science
  • Please limit requests to her since her workload has been dramatically increased

4. Room Change Options Are VERY Limited

  • The Registrar is now handling room changes
  • Very few room changes will be accepted
  • We can try to request some room changes after the first week of classes, however it is not likely that these will be approved
  • Please Do NOT move your class without approval because this creates a liability problem
  • If you wish to move to a new classroom, you must check the COVID capacities yourself:

5. Clearances and Title IX Training

  • We will again need to complete the online Title IX training
  • Please make this a priority because IUP administration is growing increasingly strict about compliance
  • If you are notified that you need to complete a Clearances check, please also do this as promptly as possible
  • If you don’t have the proper clearances to teach, you can be pulled out of teaching any 100 level classes (this has happened to people, so please no it can be a real problem and avoid getting stuck in this situation)
  • And yes, all of this may seem like a pain, but you’ll be glad you had some training when a student needs your help with a Title IX situation

6. N Grades/Mandatory Verification of Student Course Attendance

  • Federal law requires verification if students are attending courses
  • This verification helps students get tuition refunds
  • Verifications need to be done at the end of Drop/Add week, at midterms, and at the end of the semester
  • Verification will be done in URSA’s grading system; it will be an extra column
  • An “unearned F” grade is to be given to students who did not complete the course due to non-attendance

7. Advising Undergraduate Majors

  • Dan Weinstein, Emily Wender, and Gian met to redistribute advisees more evenly
  • In most cases you will continue to work with your current advisees
  • In some cases you have been given new advisees
  • We want everyone invested in our department’s undergraduate and graduate students
  • Everyone has been assigned at least 1 major
  • The new maximum number of advisees is up to 7 (a few people are above that but should move to 7 by the end of the year)
  • Missy Bair will be making changes to the advisee list, and then Gian will email everyone to let you know to check your advising list
  • Since the English B.A. and English Education programs will be merging this year, people need to be ready to advise either type of major
  • Advising checklists are in M.S. Teams
  • Dan and Emily will assist with questions
  • Registration begins October 11
  • We will hold a review session on DegreeWorks in October
  • Please meet with your advisees before giving them their registration PIN numbers

8. English Grab and Gab Events

  • We will have a department community building event the first Tuesday of each month (from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the department office suite)
  • These events are listed on the department M.S. Outlook calendar
    • First Event: Aug. 31 Tue. 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
    • Oct. 5 Tue. 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
    • Nov. 2 Tue. 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
    • Dec. 7 Tue. 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Finals Week)
  • There will be free cookies at the first event
  • Please tell your students to attend
  • All English majors, minors, graduate students, and faculty and their friends are welcome to attend
  • Please attend yourself

9. IUP Opening Events

  • Friday Aug. 20
    • 9 a.m. President’s Address in Fischer Auditorium
    • 11 a.m. APSCUF meeting
    • 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Free picnic in the Oak Grove (if you let Gian know you plan to attend)
    • 1:30-2:30 p.m. College of Arts and Humanities Meeting (please attend because the dean plans to have chairs introduce department faculty)
    • NO DEPARTMENT MEETING: We will meet at Levity instead!
    • 3:00-5:00 p.m. English Department start of the year gathering at Levity
  • Sunday Aug. 22
    • 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Ice cream with the dean for new students (in the area by Leonard outside the old subway)
    • 2:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Short college introduction (in the Leonard atrium)
    • 2:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. New English major orientation in Leonard 307 (faculty volunteers needed to attend!): Come chat with our new majors about their favorite books
  • Monday Aug. 23: IUP fall classes beging
  • Tuesday Aug. 31: First English Grab and Gab!

10. Budget Cuts

  • Our operating budget was cut another 20% this year
  • No money was allocated for travel
  • We mostly have funds to pay for office supplies, the copier, the phones, and computer replacements
  • We will have some limited funds to use for department events

11. Guest Speakers

  • We can probably afford 1 speaker per semester
  • Anyone wanting to bringing in a speaker must book the room, order the food, and arrange for an honorarium check if there is one (Missy Bair will not be assisting with speakers)
  • The Writing Center has some funds to assist with speakers
    • Please contact Dana Driscoll if you are planning an event

12. Service Work Streamlining

  • We are down to 31 tenured faculty
    • We have no dedicated secretaries left
    • At the end of this academic year, Sharon Deckert will retire
    • At the end of the next academic year, Jean Nienkamp will retire
  • No maintaining office hour lists: Faculty should follow the contract
  • Vote on whether to permanently end a department graduation ceremony (there will be no secretarial support to assist with this anymore
  • Vote to eliminate Liberal Studies English Committee
    • Bryna Siegle Finer will address training and other issues with ad hoc groups when needed
    • We don’t have enough faculty for this committee
  • Vote to streamline English Leadership Council (ELC)
    • Reduce size from 11 to 6
    • Chair (Gian)
    • Assistant Chair (John Marsden)
    • Director of Undergraduate Writing (Bryna)
    • Undergraduate Programs Director (Dan OR Emily)
    • Graduate Programs Director (Gloria Park, Curt Porter, Veronica Watson, OR Mike Williamson)
    • 1 Elected position (Tanya Heflin OR Ken Shewood)
  • Other committees
    • Committee chairs please review your roster and see if some cuts could be made in size

13. English Course Offerings

  • Classes for fall are over full but students are still begging to get seats
  • Spring schedules have fewer online courses and more MWF classes; not everyone was able to get the schedule they want
  • Room changes are unlikely
  • More classes will be available in Winter and next summer
  • If you want to teach ENGL 101 as a pilot in the fall, please contact Bryna
  • BIG THANKS to these volunteers to teach at Punxsutawney/Northpointe
    • Bryna Siegel Finer (who will be teaching at the branch campuses this spring)
    • Melanie Holm
    • Chris Kuipers
    • Todd Thompson
    • Branch campus teaching will be once per year, normally in the fall with an ENGL 101 and possibly an ENGL 100
    • We are trying a 7 week ENGL 101 course
    • Anyone teaching at the branch campuses will receive their choice of schedule and professional development support
  • ENGL 101 seats for Spring 22

14. It’s going to be a great year!

  • This will be a great new academic year
  • Come join the events Friday, so you can feel energized for starting class on Monday Aug. 23!

Announcements

  • If anyone has an important announcement, we’ll use the last few minutes of the meeting to cover this

  • CTA Meet and Greet Picnic