January 2016

Delta College’s
Fantastic Faculty
Volume 40, Issue 1
Dr. Michael Faleski
(Professor, Physics)
presented
at the
recent fall
meeting of
the
Michigan
section of the American
Association of Physics
Teachers in Interlochen,
MI. A paper, “Rolling
with and without
slipping” presented a
general analysis of
rolling problems in
physics under various
kinds of conditions. In
addition, an interactive
simulation written to
gain some context of
this tricky physics was
shown. This paper
served as an
introduction to a poster
of the same name
presented at the
meeting which further
discussed aspects of the
situations, including
energy.
Dr. David Baker
(Associate
Professor,
Chemistry)
is serving on
a
Presidential
January 2016
Task Force for the
American Chemical
Society. The Task Force
is working to articulate
strategies needed to
create partnerships that
will better meet the
workforce needs of the
chemical industry by
matching those needs
with the capabilities of
two-year colleges. As
the Coordinator of the
Chemical Technology
Program for Delta
College, he has
experience with
identifying the essential
skills required from twoyear institutions to
produce graduates with
the skills required of
local industry.
Jonathan Gittins
(Assistant Professor,
Chemistry) and Cynthia
Peck (Professor,
Chemistry) recently
completed
and
submitted
the “ACS
(American
Chemical
Society) SelfAssessment
Tool for Chemistry in
Two-Year College
Programs”. This is used
to evaluate chemistry
programs at colleges
across the United States.
Participation in this
comprehensive
evaluation of college
faculty, programs, and
resources is voluntary
and results in feedback
about improving
programs from the ACS.
Charissa Urbano
(Professor,
Biology),
Myung
Pinner
(Assistant
Professor,
Math), and Barb
Handley-Miller
(Professor,
Communication) sang
Vivaldi's
Gloria and
holiday
sections with
the Bay
Chorale
December
13th. The
Bay Chorale
is a
community
choir based
in Bay City.
Chey Davis (Associate
Professor, English) is
current chair
of the
Schools and
Colleges'
professional
group within
the Association for
Experiential Education
and visited Portland,
Oregon to support and
represent K-16 (and
beyond) educators with
curricula including
experiential education.
She also presented a
Ted-type talk entitled
"Diversity is an Inside
Job." “The theme of the
conference was Social
Justice: Creating Change.
This theme is vitally
important to Delta
College and its students
in the current climate of
both economic
stringency and cultural
upheaval.”
What a Great Year - MORE FANTASTIC FACULTY!
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Kevin Dehne (Associate Professor, Physics), Adam Vandyke (Adjunct Instructor, Physics), and Aurelian
Balan (Associate Professor, Physics) took several
astronomy students to the Kresge Environmental
Education center to observe galaxies, star
clusters and other objects of astronomical
interest on Oct. 16-18, 2015. This
weekend trip, in conjunction with
EMU, let our students get away
from city lights and let them study
the sky in greater detail with their
own eyes.
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Sharon Bernthal (Associate Professor, English), Kristin Cornelius
(Assistant Professor, English) and Staci McNier (Instructor,
English), attended the College Reading & Learning Association
Conference in Portland, Oregon November 5-8. Along with the
original RAD team from Hawai’i, they co-presented a session titled
“A Tale of Two RADS.” This will be the first national conference
presentation for both Kristin and Staci!
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Trish Harris (Instructor, English) attended the Community Colleges and Deliberative
Democracy Workshop at the Kettering Foundation offices in Dayton, Ohio, November 17-18.
“This workshop will launch a partnership with The Democracy Commitment to broaden and
deepen the use of deliberative civic engagement among community colleges . . . ask how
community colleges understand 'democracy' and why deliberation is important to their
democratic mission; introduce participants to Kettering’s research on deliberative practice;
and develop a collaborative research strategy for the initiative.” (From the Kettering Foundation
invitation letter.)
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Lauren Smith, Assistant Professor of English, “Six-Word Memoir” titled “Don’t poof your
hair. Just don’t.” appeared in The Best Advice in Six Words, a book from St. Martin’s Griffin.
Since the project debuted from SMITH Magazine in November 2006, nearly one million short
stories have been shared on the Six-Word Memoirs website. In classrooms, boardrooms,
churches, synagogues, veterans’ groups and across the dinner table, Six-Word Memoirs
have become a powerful tool to catalyze conversation, spark imagination or break the ice.
Lauren composed this memoir during a writing class at Delta and submitted it to the website live with
her students (http://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/).
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Alex Goudas, Assistant Professor of English, was the keynote speaker for the Ohio
Association for Developmental Education Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio. The
conference was held November 6, 2015, and the theme was “Empowering Learners.”
Prepared by: Cynthia Drake
EVEN MORE FANTASTIC FACULTY!!!
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Colleen Wilson-Rood (Instructor, Sociology) has been working with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe's
Youth Lead Program and Youth Tribal Council to promote interest in higher education among
Tribal youth. On 11/13 a group of the Youth Lead students came to campus for a tour and were
able to witness the simulated C-section, work with the cameras in the Broadcasting studio and
use the welding simulators. After their tour of campus they participated in our Smudging
Ceremony and film that were events associated with Delta's Native American Heritage Month.
The visit is the first of what will be regularly scheduled tours/visits of Tribal Youth to Delta each
Fall and Winter semester.
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Crystal McMorris (Assistant Professor, English) earned certification as a Student Media Advisor by the
College Media Association during a joint convention of
the CMA and the Associated Collegiate Press in Austin,
Texas in October. McMorris, Adviser of the Delta
Collegiate, attended with six student editors and
obtained certification by completing courses covering
topics including ethics of media advising, legal aspects
of college media, and strategies for increasing advertising revenue through print and digital
innovations. Students attended training and workshops during the four-day conference,
which drew student journalists and their advisers from
across North America. The Delta Collegiate was one of
just eight community college newspapers admitted into
the newly established Collegiate Press Hall of Fame, which
also inducted more than two dozen universities. This
honor was based on critique scores earned by the
newspaper over the past three decades. McMorris notes
that previous newspaper advisers Joan Ramm (Emeritus
Professor, English), Karen Randolph (Professor, English);
and Kathie Marchlewski (Assistant Professor, English),
each share in the credit for helping the student newspaper earn this distinction.
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Eric “Q” Beckman (Associate Professor, Economics) was one of four speakers selected for the
TEDx Bay City presentation on October 22 at the Bay City Players facility. His presentation, titled
"Embrace Your Shell", was concerned with working with introverts, encouraging and garnering
their best contributions and performance in the workplace. It also gave some insight to the
struggles faced by introverts in a world that promotes and prefers extroverts.
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WRIT Center Directors Jennifer Niester-Mika (Associate Professor, English) and Angela Trabalka (Assistant
Professor, English) traveled to Pittsburgh with seven WRIT Center student
consultants to present at the International Writing Centers Association
Conference. Student consultants Aubrie Smith, Danielle Lambert, Dan Woodruff,
Jesse Brown, Emma Johnson, Josie Dudek, and Sarah Jennings presented with Jen
and Angela in a session titled "From Writing Center to WRIT Center,” providing a
great professional development opportunity for the student consultants, while also
enhancing their resumes.
EVEN MORE FANTASTIC FACULTY!!!
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Dr. Michael Evans' (Instructor, History) book, Inventing Eleanor, will be available in
paperback in March. Evans explores myths that followed Eleanor of Aquitaine from the
12th century to present and asks why we felt the need to continually reinvent Eleanor.
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Lisa Lawrason’s (Associate Professor, Political Science) POL104 students have been working
with 5th graders at Jessie Loomis Academy in Saginaw for five weeks to address public issues
relating to personal wellness. This followed the kids' participation in the Race to College event
that took place here at Delta Oct. 9, an initiative of The Democracy Commitment.
Kim Klein's (Associate Professor, Political Science) POL104 students have been
doing a similar program with 5th graders at Washington Elementary, who also
participated in Race to College. With the guidance of Delta College students, the 5th graders at
Jessie Loomis have launched letter writing and awareness campaigns to address issues such as
genetically modified foods, cafeteria regulations, funding for physical education programs and
food stamps. Additionally, the students made a presentation to state representative Vanessa Guerra on
Friday, Dec. 4.
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Dr. Amy French (Assistant Professor, History) has been invited to speak at the American
Historical Association's annual meeting in Atlanta in January. She will represent the community
college perspective as one of a four-person panel titled, The Many Careers of the History PhD.
On the panel she will be joined by a four-year professor and two scholars from non-academic
institutions.
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Dr. Laura Dull’s (Social Science Division Chair) digital timeline assignment was selected for the
American Historical Association’s first Assignment Charrette. Historians from across the country
will gather at the AHA’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta this January and share innovative assignments
to foster continual quality improvement and innovation in the pedagogy of history.