notesetc.umr.edu

We're experiencing our third winter storm of the year — with sleet mostly, but also a little snow. The sleet verges on freezing rain. What happens at Missouri University of Science & Technology when we have icy, slushy streets and sidewalks, with more sleet falling as I type?

Many faculty and some students live where it's dangerous or impossible to drive to campus. Walking, too, is hazardous when everything is coated with ice. It's fairly quiet in the department this morning, although I've seen four faculty members, and talked with three or four students. The department's administrative assistant, Linda Sands, lives several miles out in the country amid hills that, when the roady is iced over, make driving very hazardous. She's not here today.

The quiet and relatively few people are somewhat disconcerting. It's almost lonely.

I drove to campus, as I usually do, although I live within a 15 minute walk. I have walked to campus in worse weather than this, but . . . perhaps I have more (or less) sense.

Continue reading "Education in Winter" »

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What do English majors do when they graduate? All kinds of things, as I hope to discuss here. One of our graduates, Angelia Sparrow (BA, 1991), has established herself as a writer of erotic fiction. Ms. Sparrow maintains a professional Web site, The Den of Debauchery.

Visitors to the Den will find links to information about Angelia and Naomi Brooks, with whom she shares the site, links to samples of her fiction, to publishers, reviews, and other goodies. The site is well-designed, a relief when so many sites seem to emphasize flash animations and other glitzy effects.

Ms. Sparrow's fiction — like all fiction — will not be to everyone's taste. Her fiction covers a range of erotic tastes and experiences. She also presents dark fantasy themes and settings. The sample story I read on her Web site is a crisply written ghost story with a homoerotic theme. The style is simple and straightforward, which presents the ghost-theme quite effectively.

Here's an excerpt from an email she sent me:

I left the CBU library in 2005, went to truck driving school and now have an auto parts delivery run that gets me home every night.

I sold 14 short stories and a novel last year. My second novel, Nikolai, came out January 18. I have 5 more stories and another novel in the editing process for publication this year. My goal is 20 published pieces this year.

Ms. Sparrow also includes information about her husband, Richard, a physics graduate of Missouri S&T (back when it was UMR) and a high school teacher. Their children are in junior high and high school.

Continue reading "Librarian, Trucker, Novelist . . . and Mother" »

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The spring 2008 semester for Missouri University of Science & Technology starts on Monday, January 14. Here it is, Saturday, January 12, and I'm putting together course materials. (I suspect I'm not alone in that!)

This is the university's first semester as Missouri S&T, rather than the University of Missouri - Rolla. We're all making the transition in how we refer to the campus, with some uncertainty whether it is "MST," "MS&T," or "Missouri S&T." Officially, "mst" is reserved for our email and Internet domain, not for print or speech. However, it's only three syllables versus four or seven in the other possibilities.

"S&T" is a good designation but a little too obscure right now. The Rolla Daily News uses it, so maybe it will spread.

I did quite a bit of class preparation back in December but still have plenty to do. I'm teaching Creative Writing for the first time in several years and using Blackboard for the first time for that class.

For a department chair, preparing for a new semester means much more than writing up (or revising) the course syllabus. It also means making sure all the courses taught by the department have teachers assigned to them, that everyone has appropriate office space, that the courses have sufficient enrollment.

In fact, I've been constructing the class schedule for the fall 2008 semester.

My colleagues in the department are doing their preparations (or have already completed them); some of my students have already visited Blackboard. Unfortunately, there won't be much there until sometime late today or tomorrow.

Enrollment for this spring semester is slightly higher than for last spring. This weekend, the population of Rolla will expand by several thousand. The campus has felt very empty recently; that changes soon.

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At Zeno's Steak House at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, December 6 , three English BA students were inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, a national honor society.

Two of the students, Kathryn Knocke and Laura Ward, are pictured here with Elizabeth Cummins, professor emeritus of English and Technical Communication. Dr. Cummins is the president of the local chapter of Phi Kappa Phi. The third student inducted is Andrew Moss, who has been studying in London this fall (after studying in Italy this past summer). These three students are among approximately 30,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year.

Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897 at the University of Maine. It is the nation’s oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society. The Society has chapters on nearly 300 campuses in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors, having at least seventy-two semester hours, are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

The English and Technical Communication Department congratulates these three students on receiving this honor. You make us proud!

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This afternoon, Missouri University of Science & Technology's chancellor, John F. Carney III, delivered his fifth semi-annual State of the University speech. A high point was Tom Shipley's brief documentary on Missouri S&T's entry in last summer's human-powered vehicle contest. The vehicle was designed and built by UMR — pardon me — Missouri S&T's Human-Powered Vehicle Team, a part of the campus's Student Design and Experiential Learning Center. Shipley's film is tight and clean and the source of the title of this entry: it takes a team and a lot of effort for someone to pedal a little over 59 mph.

Yes, I jumped the gun on the name-change from University of Missouri - Rolla to Missouri University of Science & Technology. But that particular gun is being jumped more and more often. Why not me?

• First, I admire the student design teams, having known students in them in my own classes.
• Second, our department is a vital part of the campus and its endeavors, as Chancellor Carney noted early in his state of the university talk. The chancellor reminded the audience forcefully that, while he would talk mostly about scientific and technological matters, he did not want to overlook the humanities, the social sciences, or the business program.
• Third, there are numerous ways, many yet to be discovered, in which the scholars, teachers and students of our department can relate to the campus's major thrust. One important way is to pursue our own research and teaching interests with energy and imagination. Our efforts do contribute to the overall accomplishments of the campus. Another way is participation of our students and faculty in projects of other departments and organizations.

Enough with metaphor and analogy! The university is not a bicycle in an aerodynamic cocoon, with its power-source, a student, concealed inside: the university is a complex enterprise, dependent on everyone, everything, every place that make it up. Ending his talk, the chancellor called on the university to focus on our world's needs for energy and environmental renewal. Those of us who work with words and images can contribute our knowledge, skills, wit, and wisdom to that project.

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Yesterday was Unity Day on the UMR (MST) campus. The event celebrated diversity through the arts — including the art of cooking, one of my favorite arts.

I was vaguely aware of Unity Day, something that happens around twice a semester. The event was in the atrium of the Havener Center; I had a 12:00-1:00 meeting in a room on the second floor, close to the atrium. When I walked into the Havener for the meeting and saw the tables of food, I knew I had come too late. The meeting went well, but we could hear music, cheers, and singing from the open space just outside the closed doors to our meeting room.

When the meeting was over, I walked out and looked over the railing, into the atrium. Two young women were dancing. I couldn't see well, being above them at a sharp angle. They were dressed in soft gray and white clothing. The dance involved their mirroring each others' gestures as far as I could see. From my impression, the dance expressed a kind of focused grace, a strong quiet.

After that dance, I walked down the stairs, still hoping for some food. The next act was a step show by the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha. Stepping is an African American art form, the steppers moving in unison, often in a close line. The moves are strong, with stamping and powerful arm gestures. The steppers express strength and unity. If you've never seen a step show, I recommend you do if you have the chance. There's a stepping contest in Spike Lee's movie, School Daze. (I googled Spike Lee and
School Daze and decided to let you find your own links if you're interested.)

And, yes, I did score some food: two wonderful egg rolls.

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Recently, two English and Technical Communication faculty members accompanied students to events in St Louis. Dr. Kathryn Northcut took students to a regional meeting of the Society for Technical Communication; Dr. Kristine Swenson took a group of students to attend a play. These events enrich the students on-campus education.

Six MS students and Dr. Kathy Northcut attended the St. Louis regional chapter meeting of the Society for Technical Communication. The topic was "Cool tools for Technical Communicators <$100." The speaker, Nicky Bleiel, demonstrated dozens of tools which are either free or available for a nominal fee. Examples include voice-to-text applications, the GIMP, and icon-building design software.

A brief side trip to Global Foods International Market rounded out the evening.

The GIMP is the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, a tool that I use myself, on both Windows and Linux. It is a freeware parallel to PhotoShop.

Dr. Kris Swenson took a group of students to see Alan Bennett's award-winning play, The History Boys (2004) at the St Louis Repertory Theatre on September 29. The play is set in a boys' school in England in the 1980s. A group of history students preparing for Oxbridge entrance exams is being pulled in contrary directions by the teaching styles and goals of different faculty members. It's really a play about the ends of education and something of an indictment of the current emphasis on testing versus life-learning. I set up the trip especially for students in my Contemporary British Literature class, though all were welcome. The trip was partially supported by Sigma Tau Delta, the English honorary society.

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Question: When was the first Master's degree in literature awarded at the University of Missouri Rolla (UMR)?

Question: What was the topic of the thesis?

Answer(s): First, revise the first question to " When was the first Master's degree in literature awarded at the Missouri School of Mines (MSM)?" As you may know, this campus was known as the Missouri School of Mines from its founding in 1870 until it became the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1964. As part of the University of Missouri system, this campus has a long, proud history of educating engineers, scientists, and, in the last 40+ years, humanists and social scientists.

Second, notice that I didn't specify whether the degree was a Master of Science or a Master of Arts. (One would expect the latter with a literary topic.)

Third, the answers to both questions from Elizabeth Cummins:

In 1927, the Master of Science degree was awarded to Nadine Matlock Sease. Her thesis (which is in the UMR library) was "The Origin and Development of the Arthurian Story in English Literature in the Nineteenth Century." I believe it was the first M.S. degree awarded to a woman (maybe even to anybody!) in the humanities/social sciences. I think she was from St. James and may have taught English at MSM.

The thesis is in the Curtis Laws Wilson Library at UMR.

My thanks to Elizabeth Cummins, professor emeritus of English and Technical Communication, for bringing this piece of history to our attention. I don't know anything more about Ms. Sease; however, I do hope to learn more. If you know more about this bit of UMR history, please share it with me. I will post it here and give credit to the source.

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A primary question of prospective students is, "What can I do with a degree in English?" Here is one example of sort of thing graduates of our programs do when they graduate.

Rebecca Frisbee joined the University of Missouri - Rolla's Publications Relations Office in 1992 after graduating with a BA in English in 1990. Rebecca has been with Publications Relations for 15 years. In 1995, Rebecca became manager of the department, and art and production editor for the MSM-UMR Magazine. In 2005, she led the redesign efforts of the alumni magazine when we changed its name to UMR Magazine.

Rebecca will begin her new duties as manager of marketing for the School of Extended Learning on Oct. 1. It covers Distance and Continuing Education, International Affairs, and the Engineering Education Center in St. Louis. On behalf of the Department of English and Technical Communication — Congratulations, Rebecca!

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The English Department began developing ideas for a writing center in the 1990s. Dr. Elizabeth Cummins and Dr. Larry Vonalt were important forces behind the department's request for a Center for Writing Technologies. Their project was finally realized in the establishment of the Writing Across the Curriculum Program, which includes the Dr. Beverley Moeller Writing Studio and the Center for Writing Technologies.

A pod of new computers in the Writing Center
Photo taken with the webcam on one of the new computers

While administratively separate from the Department of English and Technical Communication, the Writing Center and the department are close allies, especially concerning the Center for Writing Technologies (usually called "The Writing Center").

This summer, the department arrived at a plan to share licensing fees for new and upgraded hardware and software. I'm sure you are aware of the rate of change of software and hardware. To best serve our students, especially majors in Technical Communication, we need the best equipment and software available. The Writing Center was updated this August.

The updates this summer make the Writing Center UMR's premier authoring lab. It was designed by a committee of faculty and staff from various departments: Todd Kreuger (Information Technology [IT]), Connie Melone (IT), Jim Turner (IT), John Sequin (Library), Kate Drowne (English and Technical Communication), Richard Hall (Information Science & Technology), and Ed Malone (English and Technical Communication). The new equipment and software were paid for by IT, Center for Technology Enhanced Learning, and English and Technical Communication

In the future, this lab will accommodate such courses as Web-Based Communication and Multimedia Development and Design. In TCH COM classes this semester, students are authoring help systems with RoboHelp and creating books with FrameMaker; next semester, they will be conducting usability tests and creating tutorials with Camtasia.

The lab has extended hours this semester (6-9 M-Th and 12-9 on Sundays) and hired a lab monitor to help patrons.

The new and updated software is available in two other locations on campus. In Computer Science 207, all of the Adobe programs — except RoboHelp — are available 24/7. One of the machines in the library also has all of the Adobe programs — including RoboHelp — so that a student can complete assignments on Friday evenings or
Saturdays. The library also purchased a collection of Adobe classroom-in-a-book tutorials for the specific versions of Adobe programs we have and other tutorials for RoboHelp, Camtasia, and so on.

Continue reading "New and Better Computing" »

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The fall semester has well and truly begun. The first wave of student questions and dilemmas is over. (That first wave ranges from trying to find a classroom to trying to get into a class to finding an instructor.) For all that the university has over 1200 new freshman, there were fewer problems of this kind this fall.

Now that enrollment and class schedules have pretty well settled down, faculty, students, and staff can take stock and focus fully on the tasks of teaching, learning, and facilitating. The Department of English and Technical Communication sponsored a "Welcome Back" reception on Tuesday, August 28. Students and faculty from several departments mingled and ate goodies. In this photo, Erin Cotita, English major and department student assistant, prepares to cut the cake for serving.

The reception ran from 1:00 to 2:30; those attending did more than eat, as shown in this photo of students (Irangi, Li and Tommy) talking with Professor Emeritus, Nick Knight, and parent, Glenn Cotita.

Together with the break in the heat we're experiencing (highs of 85 F are much more pleasant than highs of 105 F) and the relatively smooth start of a new semester, this reception put, so to speak, the icing on the cake. (Or the dip on the crudités. if you will.)

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Elizabeth Richardson ("Libby") is teaching English in The Republic of Korea this year. She has just begun her duties at Avalon Education in Suwon City, where she is Head Foreign Teacher. The title basically means that Libby is the go between for the foreign teachers (there are 8 right now including her) and the Korean administrators. Any information for or complaints from the foreign teachers get filtered through her first.

Photograph by Elizabeth Richardson: the building where she works.

In addition, Libby teaches one elementary class. This class is mainly a mixture of speaking, reading, and writing.

Libby says, "So I'm pretty busy so far and classes just started today! I've been here just over two weeks and I've really enjoyed myself so far. All of the Korean teachers here are super nice and very helpful. All of the foreign teachers get along and have pretty diverse backgrounds. The amount of importance the culture places on education is just amazing, especially considering that we're in session from 4 p.m. - 10:40 p.m. after regular school has let out."

Continue reading "Reading, Writing, and Kimchi" »

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We at UMR — faculty and students alike — enjoy several research opportunities.
Dr. Ed Malone (Assistant Professor of English and technical communication and Director of technical communication) and Tara Gosnell (graduate student in technical communication) have recently received a grant for a project titled "The Role of Historical Studies in Technical Communication Curricula." The grant comes from the Council of Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, of which both Prof. Malone and Ms. Gosnell are members.

A research project such as this allows the student to hone research skills and participate as an investigator in the faculty member's professional research. (The history of technical communication is a main emphasis of Dr. Malone's research.)

Prof. Malone and Ms. Gosnell have been meeting once a week this summer to write, design, and
test an online survey of technical communication program administrators and faculty. They plan to administer the survey in early September. They plan to present the results of the survey in an article.

In an article that will soon appear in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Prof. Malone notes that at least 200 historical studies have been published in the top five technical communication journals since 1990. These publications indicate an interest in and recognition of the value of historical research in technical communication. The research project will explore how academic programs in technical communication make use of the historical research.

Here are some examples of questions from the survey:

• In your opinion, should a technical communication program offer, on a
  regular basis, a course devoted entirely to the history of technical
  communication?
• Are students in your program expected to apply their knowledge of the
  history of technical communication?
• If so, how are they expected to apply their knowledge?
• What is the value of historical studies to students of technical communication?
• In your opinion, what benefits (if any) does a technical communication
  student derive from studying the history of technical communication?

The results of the survey will enable program administrators and faculty to make better-informed decisions about the role that historical studies should play in their curricula. The findings may also benefit technical communication scholars who are researching the history of technical communication by giving them feedback about the value of their research.

Continue reading "Student & Faculty Research" »

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This week temperatures are to be well over one hundred. Despite the heat, a number of new freshmen and family members were on the UMR campus this morning. Today (Saturday, August 11) is the last PRO day for the 2007/2008 academic year. PRO is an acronym for "Preview, Registration, and Orientation." Students who attend a PRO session experience a variety of activities, including placement testing and registration for fall courses.

I went to PRO this morning to help a new student in English Education register for her fall courses. The opening activity occurred in St Pat's Ballroom A in the Havener Center. At a couple of tables in the hall, PRO staff and student leaders answered questions and directed students and their parents into the opening activity. There were outbursts of laughter from the ballroom, so the activity must've been amusing as well as informative.

PRO events are cheerful — the student PRO leaders wear green shirts with gold trim; gold and green balloons float from the tables and, out on the campus, from the directional signs placed to guide students and their families on their treks across campus. ("Treks" because even at 10:00 AM today, it was very hot, with an intense sun and no breeze.) The student and I put together a good schedule for her to start her college career.

Each department has an advisor designated to advise PRO students. I did this for a number of years and enjoyed it. The PRO advisor gets to be the student's initial contact with the specifics of the department's academic program. The advisor usually can chat with the student, getting to know him or her a little better. Sometimes, the PRO advisor meets the student's parents. Even briefly meeting the parents gives the advisor a sense of the student's origins. While a young person almost always leaves home to go to college, taking the first steps in becoming an independent adult, faculty members too often see students in isolation from their origins. Having met one or both parents gives the faculty member a sense of who supports and encourages the student's entering college.

The campus still isn't fully populated yet. Saturday's freshmen (65-70) are the first trickle of the flood to come.

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I'm still committed to posting two entries a week, at about noon on Wednesday and Sunday. (I may go to one a week when the fall semester starts.) Eating lunch, I realized I didn't have an entry ready for today, and no topic sprang to mind easily; so, here's a brief comment on a topic that lots of us think about.

How does the hardy web-surfer know which site is reliable and which is pure hokum? There's problem a spectrum from completely reliable to utter hokum, but how does one know where a particular web page lies on the spectrum?

I'm not sure I can answer my own question, so if you have ideas about reliable web sites or techniques that can help rate them, please share them in a comment. I promise to post comments that address the issue without flaming or obnoxious language.

I used "Wikipedia" in the title for this post because that's the site many first think of. I was visiting a freshman composition class that was discussing research. When the teacher asked where students would look for information, the first thing several said was "Wikipedia." I use Wikipedia myself; I've found it a useful source of information I want students to have. But when I use it that way, I know something about the topic and (hope) I would recognize hokum.

What if you don't know anything about a topic you need to research? Consult several sources — even printed books and journals. Talk to someone who is knowledgeable. It takes some effort to learn something.

But suppose I hear a story on the news that piques my interest; I don't want to do a lot of research to discover whether the assertion I heard is reliable or hokum. As the presidential campaign season begins, there are a number of questionable statements. How can I sort them out? Does anyone have an idea?

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Do you feel overwhelmed when you have to do research and presents the results in a written or oral report?

Writing is an essential skill for professionals in almost any field. Speaking to people, in groups large or small, is also an important skill for professionals. Most of our department's writing courses include a presentation, usually toward the end of the semester, on a topic that the student writes about and makes the topic of a presentation. In this year's summer school session, Dr. Kris Swenson's English 60 class explored representations of World War II. In the photograph, Andrew Jones begins his presentation on the importance of the US Air Force in winning that war.

English 60 — Writing and Research — builds on skills the student developed in Freshman Composition to develop substantial reports both written and oral. With networked computers and projectors in each classroom, students have ready access to technology such as PowerPoint to support their presentations. We've come a long way from overhead transparencies and flip charts.

This may be the last summer school entry for this year. Students in writing classes benefit from the concentration of summer school; working each day instead of every other day make for better continuity and focus.

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Last May, the UMR Writing Center presented awards to the winners of its annual student writing contest. Prizes were awarded in Short Story (General Topic), Short Story (Science Fiction/Fantasy), Analytical Essay, Research, Autobiographical/Personal Essay, Technical Writing, and Freshman Composition, with first, second, and third prizes in each category. This year was the sixth writing contest conducted by the Writing Center.

The majors of students who won awards in the contest range from English to Biochemical Engineering to Geology to Information Science and Technology. This list doesn't include all the majors, but it should dispel the common notion that only English majors can (or will) write. While our English majors do write well, so do students in other majors. And students in majors other than English can excel in writing outside technical or scientific topics. For example, the first place in fiction, general topic, went to Anna Clausen, a junior in Geology and Geophysics.

The Writing Center is part of UMR's Writing Across the Curriculum program. Why am I writing about it here? It's pertinent in this blog because many—not all—of the winning entries were written for classes taught by the English and Technical Communication faculty and because the Writing Center Director, Dr. Kate Drowne, is a member of the English and Technical Communication faculty.

We are proud of all the students, English majors and others, who write so well, of Dr. Drowne, and of the Writing Center and its associated services and programs.

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Given the University of Missouri - Rolla's strong reputation as an engineering school, you might be surprised to discover how many students write fiction, poetry, and personal essays. (They also write reports for technical classes, papers for history, literature, philosophy and other disciplines, and other academic and professional writing.) UMR students have many talents worth exploring.

I was surprised early in my career here to find that students in scientific and technological fields had interests and abilities in the arts and humanities. UMR has long had courses and events in music, art, and theater, in addition to writing and literature courses offered in English and Technical Communication. The student newspaper, The Miner, has been around for a long time. So has UMR's student literary and arts magazine, Southwinds, which is over 35 years old. If one were to tabulate the majors of all the students who've contributed writing and graphic art to Southwinds over the years, one would find a surprising number of engineering and other technical majors represented.

The current issue of Southwinds was published in the spring of 2007. It is one of the best-looking issues, with a full-color cover and a number of b&w photographs. The contributors include current undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff, and alumni. Mzx Tohline (English 2007) was editor in chief, and Anne Cotterill (Assoc. Prof. in Englsh) the faculty advisor.

Southwinds 2007 costs $3.00 and is available in the English and Technical Communication office and in the UMR Bookstore. It's well worth the price. Get one and discover a whole different side of UMR.

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