Friday @ the Center
May 7, 2010
Last Calls
Best Teaching Idea
Submit your best teaching idea TODAY to Michelle Beauclair, chair of the Faculty Development Committee, for consideration for third annual SPU Best Teaching Idea of the Year Award. Eligible teaching faculty (who have taught at least two courses a year for the past two years) should turn in a brief, one-page description of an effective teaching idea, pedagogical practice, or instructional tool to be considered for the award. In an additional page, describe how your idea might apply to other disciplines and provide some evidence of its effectiveness, such as test scores, student comments, student engagement, changes in quality of student work, etc. The FDC will select one award winner to receive a $500 honorarium and four runners up, who will each get a $50 Amazon gift card. Instructional Technology Services will work with the award winner to construct a brief video highlighting the idea to screen at the June faculty in-service.
CBTE Grant
May 15, 2010, is the final day to submit an application for a biblical and theological education grant from The Center for Biblical and Theological Education. Individual faculty members can request up to $5,000 for compensation, travel, books, and other materials, project development and/or research expenses. Academic units or institutional departments can request up to $10,000 to support consultations, curriculum development, scholarly or discipline-specific projects, or programs supporting biblical and theological education. Complete information and an application form are available on the CSFD website.
TOY Award: CAS Humanities
*The sixth in a series featuring this year’s eight nominees for the SPU Faculty Teacher of the Year award.*
Dr. Michelle M. Beauclair began teaching at SPU in 1995 as an adjunct and became a full-time professor in 2004, receiving tenure in 2009. She teaches a wide range of courses, from Elementary French to the Francophone Capstone, leads the student French club, and has developed a popular summer study program in Paris. One of her Elementary French students writes, “Madame Beauclair is so incredibly patient with her students. She really wants to help us learn French, and she is willing to pace the course according to our comfort with the material, while staying on track with the syllabus. She is honestly one of the best professors I have had at SPU.” During Michelle’s first four years in the department, the number of French majors and minors doubled. From listening online to news in French, to discussing French celebrations of Easter, to following events in Haiti—Michelle engages her students in the learning process. (Full disclosure: After her TOY nomination by the CAS Humanities chairs, Michelle recused herself from all TOY-related deliberations of the FDC.) |
 Dr. Michelle Beauclair |
Culture and Diversity Conference CFP
Presentation proposals for sessions at the 2010 Conference on “Christianity, Culture and Diversity in America: Educating for Shalom” are currently being accepted. The conference, which is dedicated to exploring how Christ-centered higher education speaks to the challenges of human diversity, will be held at Calvin College on Nov. 5-7, 2010. Plenary speakers include Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Professor of Reconciliation Studies at Bethel University, and Pete Menjares, Associate Provost for Diversity Leadership at Biola University. Proposals are due by Friday, July 30, 2010. See the conference website for more information.
Happy Teaching,
Susan Susan VanZanten |
