Making new knowledge
10/21/2005
In the last couple of weeks, a bunch of new faculty publications have crossed my desk. Articles or book chapters include: "The Behavioral Interview" by Daniel Beach in psychology, "Chronic Renal Disease in Children" by Judith Beto in nutrition/natural sciences, "Making a Dantean Poetic: Seamus Heaney's ‘Ugolino'" by Joseph Heininger in English, "William J. Wilson's ‘ Ghetto-Related Behaviors,' Values and Poverty: A Test" by Martha Jacob in gerontology/sociology, "Auto-création et re-naissance dans les romans d'André Malraux" by Florence Coussin Zamsky in French, and a book by Bill Kerr in art: The Modern Quilt Workshop: Patterns, Techniques, and Designs from the FunQuilts Studio. In fact, the vast majority of our faculty have published in their fields in the last year or two. My reading list keeps getting longer!
It reminds me again that my faculty colleagues are not only great teachers but also active scholars and artists. I would even say that for most of them, the scholarly work enhances and animates their teaching in ways the students find amazing. I remember so well how, in my own graduate school experience, the students in one particular seminar I took spent much of the term discussing and debating typed pages the professor kept distributing. A few years later those pages became a book pretty much everybody in my field of theology would read. We all felt like we were part of something—part of helping to create new knowledge in our field.
It's the same here at Dominican. Our students get to hear about and contribute to faculty research and creative projects and, no doubt, make a significant impact on what gets published. Teaching and learning here is never, never just a one-way street. It's more like a conversation.
Sometimes students and faculty present papers, posters, exhibits, etc., together at conferences, and sometimes our students present on their own. We're looking to develop even more ways to partner students with faculty members as research assistants, so the student can work closely with a professor in an incredible mentoring relationship that will benefit both. It's a learning experience often reserved for graduate school settings, but why wait? Why should doctoral students have all the fun?
My day today started with a fascinating talk by a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union on the Patriot Act and how it is affecting civil liberties in the U.S. today. This evening I'll participate in the second annual Hispanic Heritage Reception with guest speaker Mercedes Luque-Rosales, Assistant State's Attorney of Cook County. There will be food and music and it will be a great way to end the week. So much to do in the university. As one of my colleagues said in the hallway this afternoon, "It's all good!"
In the last couple of weeks, a bunch of new faculty publications have crossed my desk. Articles or book chapters include: "The Behavioral Interview" by Daniel Beach in psychology, "Chronic Renal Disease in Children" by Judith Beto in nutrition/natural sciences, "Making a Dantean Poetic: Seamus Heaney's ‘Ugolino'" by Joseph Heininger in English, "William J. Wilson's ‘ Ghetto-Related Behaviors,' Values and Poverty: A Test" by Martha Jacob in gerontology/sociology, "Auto-création et re-naissance dans les romans d'André Malraux" by Florence Coussin Zamsky in French, and a book by Bill Kerr in art: The Modern Quilt Workshop: Patterns, Techniques, and Designs from the FunQuilts Studio. In fact, the vast majority of our faculty have published in their fields in the last year or two. My reading list keeps getting longer!
It reminds me again that my faculty colleagues are not only great teachers but also active scholars and artists. I would even say that for most of them, the scholarly work enhances and animates their teaching in ways the students find amazing. I remember so well how, in my own graduate school experience, the students in one particular seminar I took spent much of the term discussing and debating typed pages the professor kept distributing. A few years later those pages became a book pretty much everybody in my field of theology would read. We all felt like we were part of something—part of helping to create new knowledge in our field.
It's the same here at Dominican. Our students get to hear about and contribute to faculty research and creative projects and, no doubt, make a significant impact on what gets published. Teaching and learning here is never, never just a one-way street. It's more like a conversation.
Sometimes students and faculty present papers, posters, exhibits, etc., together at conferences, and sometimes our students present on their own. We're looking to develop even more ways to partner students with faculty members as research assistants, so the student can work closely with a professor in an incredible mentoring relationship that will benefit both. It's a learning experience often reserved for graduate school settings, but why wait? Why should doctoral students have all the fun?
My day today started with a fascinating talk by a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union on the Patriot Act and how it is affecting civil liberties in the U.S. today. This evening I'll participate in the second annual Hispanic Heritage Reception with guest speaker Mercedes Luque-Rosales, Assistant State's Attorney of Cook County. There will be food and music and it will be a great way to end the week. So much to do in the university. As one of my colleagues said in the hallway this afternoon, "It's all good!"
