Vol. 4, No. 1
Summer 08
Some Scholarly Advice to New Group of Visiting Scholars Published by ETS in Princeton, New Jersey, June 12, 2008
Associate Professor of English Booker T. Anthony attributes much of the professional growth he enjoyed last year to participating in the 2007 Visiting Scholars program, and he recently traveled from Fayetteville State University (FSU) in North Carolina to ETS to talk about it.
His students at Fayetteville State benefited from his experience at ETS, Anthony says, because he was more informed about assigning levels of difficulty to test items. “I always thought I was pretty good at developing tests, but item writing taught me the art of test development,” he says. The relationships scholars develop through the program can be relationships for life, Anthony told the group.
His audience was this year’s Visiting Scholars, who have SCHOLARLY INSIGHT: Booker traveled from 20 universities T. Anthony of Fayetteville State and community colleges in University addressed the 2008 Visiting Scholars. 17 states to participate in the four-week program at the Rosedale campus. The global scholars hail from Indonesia, Jordan and the Netherlands.
“Last year scholars traveled from Princeton to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York on nights and weekends. Scholars rented cars and hopped trains. The daily rides to and from ETS will be as valuable as the time you will spend in your classes. This is not the month to stay at the hotel and work on university business,” he said. “This month is for you to develop professional bonds for life.”
“As a literature teacher, I had always been curious about how test items for the Praxis™, the SAT® and the GRE® tests were developed,” Anthony says. “I came here last summer with a one-dimensional perspective, more biased than I thought ETS tests were. I was convinced that ETS tests did little for minority groups. The sessions on item writing, fairness review and differential item functioning changed my thinking immediately.”
While he was here, Anthony also talked with ETS employees about FSU’s use of the CriterionSM Online Writing Evaluation service. Last year, he arrived at ETS unsure whether to continue using the service with his students, but says his time talking with the Criterion team made him more aware of its features and benefits. A year later, he is glad he continued to use the service.
FSU HAPPENINGS FSU Office of Sponsored Research and Programs Ignites First Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant Program By: Kimberlee Hyman
Undergraduate and graduate research has received a great deal of attention in recent times. What do these activities have in common? They both speak to the primary mission of our University, which is not merely carrying out research, but training students to do research. The knowledgebased global economy, with its wealth of information and opportunities, has increased undergraduate students’ need for research skills. As the University matures and strengthens itself as a research institution, the boundaries between graduate and undergraduate education are blurring. Sustained efforts must be given to introduce students to research, to inspire in them a passion for discovery at every level of education-undergraduate, graduate, masters, doctoral and postdoctoral levels. The Office of Sponsored Research and Programs ignited its first Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant Program for 28 students from across all academic disciplines that were supported by 26 faculty and staff members with the FSU community. Students spent the summers gaining invaluable research experience as well as professional and life skills. Research projects ranged from “Influential Communicators or the 21st Century”,
“Factors Promoting and Inhibiting Academic Success”, to “Characterization of Genetic Factors that Influence HIV Pathogenesis”. Each student also received a $1,000 stipend to support their summer endeavors. Faculty and staff members integrated undergraduate students into the research enterprise in a more deliberate fashion than ever before. The program allowed for the bridging of communication between the two levels, teacher and student, to a welcomed environment of Researchers. The undergraduate research enterprise benefits the University, faculty, and the students by addressing the benefits that accrue to students academically, personally, and professionally as they become members of the community of scholars in a significant way. The experience helps them develop critical thinking skills, the ability to work with the ambiguity of open-ended questions, an ability to apply skepticism to the daily flow of information, and an appreciation of what it takes to create new knowledge. The Office of Sponsored Research and Programs would like to thank the students who expressed an interest in research to build the foundation for the program as well as the myriad of faculty and staff members who contributed their time and professional resources. The 2008 Summer Undergraduate Research Assistant Program offered students opportunities to nurture their interest in research as they move seamlessly from undergraduate to graduate programs. Please join us in the fall as the students present their research projects.
Patients of Fayetteville VA Medical Center Express Appreciation to FSU
Dr. Karen R. Carney, of the Performing and Fine Arts Department, and her son Miles DuVivier, received letters of thanks from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, 2300 Ramsey Street, Fayetteville, NC 28301, which stated: "On behalf of the patients of the Fayetteville VA Medical Center, please accept our sincere appreciation for your musical performance for the residents of our Community Living Center during the 4th of July holiday weekend. The residents thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Thank you for remembering our hospitalized veterans." Sincerely, NORMA N. FRASER Program Specialist, Voluntary Service
FSU HAPPENINGS FSU OpTIMUM STEM Educators Network Conference By: Tonjanika Boyd
Fayetteville State University’s Opportunities for Talent Expansion in Interdisciplinary Education for Minorities and Women in Undergraduate Math and Science (FSU OpTIMUM) program held a STEM Educators Network Conference on June 16-17, 2008 for Cumberland County High Schools and FTCC Science and Math instructors. The purpose of the conference was to network between high school teachers and college professors in motivating students to choose careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) disciplines.
FSU Administrator Retires from U.S. Army Reserves COL David F. Allen recently retired from the United States Army Reserves (USAR), where he served as the USAR Secretary General Staff to the United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC). At Fayetteville State University (FSU), Dr. Allen is the Executive Director for Military Education. During his military career, COL Allen was deployed to such places as Mons, Belgium; Kabul, Afghanistan; and Balad, Iraq. His award decorations include the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Joint Service Commendation Medal (with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster), Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, the Combat Action Badge, Ranger Tab, Parachutist Badge, and various campaign medals. Thanks to COL Allen for his outstanding service to our country!
The OpTIMUM program is funded by the National Science Foundation. The principle of the program is to provide challenging academic curricula and enrichment opportunities that will encourage and enable minorities and women to complete baccalaureate degrees in Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Math and to enter the STEM workforce. One of many goals is to strengthen partnerships between the University and local public school districts.
FSU Math and Computer Science Department Wins Award to Enhance Curriculum
Fayetteville State University (FSU) was one of 27 high schools and universities to win an award from the Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE) – a partnership between Georgia Tech College of Computing, Bryn Mawr College, and Microsoft Research. Winners will share $250,000 and receive paperback book-sized robots called Scribblers, enhanced with special IPRE hardware
technology, along with IPRE software and class text. The award will provide the opportunity for schools to enhance their introductory computer science curriculum using the robots as a context for teaching foundational computing skills. FSU is the only North Carolina higher education institution to win the award.
through the use of educational robots and grant money received from IPRE.” Bhattacharya said. “This award will contribute to our department’s longterm goal of using robots as a context for teaching computer science to make the discipline more relevant for our students and to equip them with valuable skills needed for rewarding careers.”
Awards are presented to schools whose goals closely matched IPRE’s mission. Additional grant criteria included the technical quality of the proposed program, chances for successful implementation, and potential to support students in groups that are not traditionally well represented in computing.
IPRE was created in 2006 to reinvigorate computer science through robotics. To date, results from IPRE’s work have proven the draw of personal robots as a way to attract students to degrees and careers in computing. In fall 2007, more than 400 students at Georgia Tech chose to enroll in the roboticsbased courses, which showed a higher pass rate than the traditional programming course. In surveys, students in the robotics-based courses reported that they were more excited about computers than before, liked working with the robots, and had spent extra time on at least one homework assignment because they “thought it was cool.”
Dr. Sambit Bhattacharya, an assistant professor of computer science at FSU, and Dr. Michael Almeida, a professor, submitted FSU’s proposal for the competition. “Dr. Michael Almeida and I are glad to be partnering in enhancing the teaching of foundational and advanced computer science
Congratulations to Mrs. Treva Bentley, formerly known as Treva Williams, in the Office of Public Relations! She was married on August 2, 2008.
Welcome Chancellor James A. Anderson to Fayetteville State University:
A Community That Believes In Itself