2, Volume Issue 20
June 17, 2005
International Student Welcome Houses Successful
The University is working to help make the transition into American higher education easier for UF's international students. The Office of International Admissions and Services has established three new "welcome houses" specifically for students who are new to the country. According to International students tour campus during orientation, June 2 Penny Gerdeman, Students can live in the houses for director of the Office of International their first 10 days at UF. Gerdeman Admissions and Services, the houses explained that during this time they serve as "home base" during the stuhave a chance to become more familiar dents first few weeks at UF. with campus and the Findlay commu"The welcome houses helps our international students get involved with nity. After 10 days, the students can decide whether they would prefer to campus right away. Before a semester live on campus, or find an off-campus begins, students arriving after business hours or on weekends may not actually apartment. The Office of International meet anyone from UF until the next Admissions and Services also has hired business day. In some cases, that may two graduate assistants who stay in the be over a three-day holiday weekend," welcome houses with the international Gerdeman said. "The houses give new students. The students, Praveen Ram students a chance to meet other new Kangandlahalli and Rashmi, are there international students from their own country and other countries right away. to help the new students with anything from making their first phone call This helps them feel more comfortable home and finding the dinning hall to on campus sooner." helping them with the check-in paperThe welcome houses are located at work and answering questions they 308 Howard St., 319 Howard St. and have about UF. 342 Howard Street. The graduate assistants also assist with routine responsibilities such as trips to the airport, the bank and shopping. "It is our hope that the graduate assistants become a valuable resource and a liaison between international students and our office," Gerdeman said. According to Gerdeman, the welcome houses have been very successful so far. "Everyone seems to be very happy to be staying in the new welcome houses. At this point, the number of students with homesickness is lower than it has been in previous years. Forty-eight international students arrived during the summer welcoming program. The students represent a wide range of continents including Europe, South America, Asia and the Middle East.
Summer Camp Schedule
Men's Basketball, Junior High Team June 20-22 Baseball Skills Camp June 20-23 Swim Camp II June 24-26 Men's Basketball, Varsity Team June 26-29 CSI: Findlay June 27-29 Baseball Pitching Camp June 27July 1 Fellowship of Christian Athletes AYB Basketball July 2-3 Tournament June 20-21
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COE Receives Freshman Experience Grant Program Strengthened
The College of Education has received a $20,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Education that will be used to help strengthen the College of Education's system for assessing the progress of its students. According the Dr. Melissa Cain, dean of the college, the funding will be used this summer to evaluate measures that can be taken to make the system, called College LiveText, more streamlined and effective, and to train education faculty and staff on how to better use the system. The College of Education implemented the LiveText in the spring of 2004 as a means of tracking students' knowledge, skills and dispositions. LiveText is designed to help ensure that students in the College of Education address all of the areas of the college's assessment system, as well as pass the Praxis Series assessments. All graduates must pass the assessments to earn teaching licenses. It also allows the college to track how well students are addressing the Ohio Academic Content Standards and the standards of their professional associations. In addition, LiveText enables students to log into the system to find out how they are doing in a class or on a particular assignment. They also are able to prepare their lesson plans and portfolios in LiveText and can share them digitally with potential employers. The college's assessment system has already shown positive results. One hundred percent of recent UF College of Education graduates passed the Praxis III test with scores above the state average in all four testing areas. Beginning in the fall, incoming freshmen can enroll in the University's new First-Year Experience (FYE) program. Dr. Diana Montague, director of the First-Year Experience program and professor of English, reorganized and enhanced the First-Year Seminar program to create FYE. "The FYE program will provide a unity between the different seminar courses taken by all incoming freshmen," Montague said. "Now every enrolled student will have the same opportunities, whether their freshmen courses are in the fine arts, humanities or the sciences." According to Montague, the new two-semester program is designed so that freshmen have the same seminar Students complete a one-day community service class and faculty instructor throughout project as a part of FYE. their entire first year of college. This program consists of a three credit-hour The FYE program includes an class in the fall and a one credit-hour annual one-day service initiative held class in the spring. Class sizes are limit- on orientation weekend. On this day, ed to 18 students. students and faculty will help the Students can choose from 21 difFindlay/Hancock County community ferent courses including "From Hula with service-learning projects designed Hoops to Nose Rings: Youth Culture in specifically for each FYE course. the United States," "But I'm Not 'Like Various organizations and agencies Mike': Pro Athletes' Impact on Health from the local community have teamed Issues" and "Communication and up with the FYE program to create Mediated Realities." projects relevant to each course topic, The program is designed to help including beautifying the local parks students develop a sense of place and and streets, working with children at a belonging to campus. In addition, each youth carnival, engaging in social activFYE course focuses on study ities with retired community members strategies/time management, career and helping organizations prepare for exploration, basic personal finance, community events. alcohol education, basic health diversity issues, activities and service learning. FYI is published by the Office of Another component of the new FYE University Relations. Contact program is that each class will be Rebecca Shell at x4345 or at assigned a trained peer mentor. Peer [e-mail] to submit informamentors are upperclassmen who have tion. been instructed how to teach leadership skills. They are trained through an View the online version at elective one-credit-hour course that has www.findlay.edu/events/fyi/index.html been designed and implemented by junior Rachel Walter.
Beckett Gives Address at Kake Ceremony
Dr. C. Richard Beckett, chair of the UF Board of Trustees, gave the welcoming address during the opening ceremony of the new Chiba Institute of Science in Okayama, Japan, recently. Beckett served as the representative for all of the international institutions at the event. The institute is the Kake Educational Institution's fifth university, and it includes a pharmacy program and the country's first crisis response educational program. Representatives from The University of Findlay assisted the Chiba Institute of Science with developing and organizing the curriculum for their
Ed Erner Retires
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new crisis response program. Dr. Dan May, vice president for academic affairs, and Dr. Fumiko Harada, professor of Japanese and special assistant to the president, also attended the opening ceremony.
More than 60 Findlay-area youth participated in the second annual Kidsart Kamp, June 6-17. The camp was a collaboration between the Arts Partnership and UF's SummerStock theatre program. During camp, the youngsters learned about music, theatre, art and dance.
After 33 years of dedication to the University, Dr. Ed Erner, vice president of academic affairs emeritus, is retiring. During his tenure, Erner served in many key positions. He first came to the University in 1973 as the director of the Ohio College Three Consortium to help develop computer centers and information management systems. Then he served as assistant to then President Glen Rasmussen for four years. Erner also directed the Community Education Office (now the Continuing Education Office), served as vice president of academic affairs and dean of the faculty, and dean of the College of Education. Most recently, he worked in the Student Office of Advocacy and Retention (SOAR) and taught parttime in the education and social science programs. According to Erner, his favorite memories from his time at UF include watching the tremendous growth in both the University's programs and facilities. Even though he is retiring, Erner still plans to be involved with UF. He is working on establishing a leadership program on campus, and he will be teaching a female leadership course in the fall. Erner and his wife, Virginia, also plan to travel including trips to Canada and Spain.
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SIFE Completes SEEM Awarded $225,000 Successful Year Grant
UF's Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team concluded another successful year by competing at the USA National Exposition in Kansas City, Mo., May 22-24. According to Dr. Greg Arburn, assistant professor economics and finance and SIFE adviser, qualifying to compete at the national competition reflects on the quality of the students on UF's SIFE Team. "Approximately 160 colleges and universities qualify to be able to compete at nationals. These kids are the best business students in the country," Arburn explained. "Our team did a great job with their presentation and representing the University. I'm extremely proud of them." As part of the competition, the students developed and presented a 24minute video presentation that illustrates all of the activities their team was a part of during the school year. UF's SIFE team has sponsored a variety of projects that make contributions to the community, including teaching rsum and computer skills to residents of the Findlay City Mission, hosting etiquette lunches for students and the community, and organizing a dinner at Japan West to teach young people about culture. Members of UF's SIFE team are: Ami Smith, Andy Kuhn, Kristen Gorden, Sara Kessler, Dan Smith, Paul Loera, Karl Forsthoefel, Matt Witte, Abbie Schook, Catie Lavigne, Rodney Dickman, Stephanie Back, David Lawrence, Heather Karney, Charlie Shim, Christina Margraf and Roy Paniagua. SIFE is a non-profit organization active at more than 1,800 colleges and universities in 40 countries. SIFE teams reach out to their communities by teaching marketing, economics and entrepreneurship concepts. UF has received a $225,000 grant from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to provide hazardous materials and railcar emergency response training to Ohio volunteer firefighters and other first responders. The grant will be used to conduct more than 50 emergency response courses that cover topics like: basic hazard and risk techniques; mock emergency response exercises; and hands-on training on how to respond to rail car incidents. These programs, which are managed by the School of Environmental and Emergency Management (SEEM), provide hazardous materials emergency response training to volunteer firefighters and other first responders across the state at their locations. "We train these first responders on how to safely contain chemical spills and other types of unexpected chemical releases," Matthew Bruskotter, SEEM project manager, explained. "These techniques range from covering up storm drains to prevent the spill from spreading to actually stopping the release using a variety of tools and techniques." Since 1996, UF has trained nearly 4,000 firefighters and first responders at 100 locations throughout Ohio in hazardous materials response. This year, 800 to 1,000 people are expected to be trained. "These programs have been well-received and effective because we work directly with the agencies to determine exactly what training needs they have and then develop the right mix of courses to meet these needs," Bruskotter said. "First responders are facing very real concerns about chemical-related terrorist threats and accidents that can occur when hazardous materials are being transported or used in industry. It's our goal at The University of Findlay to make sure they are ready to properly handle any hazardous material incident they are called upon to respond to," Bruskotter added.
Approximately 320 members of The University of Findlay's class of 2009 visited campus June 7 and 8 for New Student Registration. The last two new student registration days for the summer are Aug. 8 and 25.