Truman College Monthly Newsletter

August 2010 Newsletter

The Monthly Newsletter is an internal online newsletter for, by and about the faculty, staff, and students of Truman College. If you have an event or news item, please email it to Clifton Daniel, cdaniel@ccc.edu.

Faculty Development Week is at Malcolm X this year

For the first time in City Colleges history, all seven institutions will gather for a single Faculty Development Week, Tuesday, August 10 through Friday, August 13 at Malcolm X College. The week will begin with an address by City Colleges Chancellor Cheryl Hyman and Board of Trustees Chairman Gery Chico. For a full schedule, visit the event website, http://oliveharvey.ccc.edu/fdw2010/. Truman's Faculty Development Day will be held Monday, August 9, beginning at 8:30 a.m. with a meet and greet and continental breakfast. The president and administrators will give a welcome back and general update from 9 to 9:45, followed by an "Ask an Administrator" session from 9:45 to 10:30. You'll hear an update on Student Services and the Strategic Plan from 10:30 to 11:15, followed by an introduction to "i Truman," the new desktop software answer machine. Lunch will be served from 11: 30 a.m. to noon, followed by meetings with individual departments. The day concludes at 3 p.m.

President's State of the College Address

President Lynn Walker will give her annual State of the College Address at 2 p.m. Thursday, September 2 in Novar Hall. Everyone who is not teaching a class at that time is expected to attend. Coffee and cookies will be served.

We have a new Director of Nursing

Please welcome Tyra L. Ousley, RN, MSN as Truman College's new Director of Nursing. Tyra comes to us from Kennedy-King College, where she had served as Director of Nursing Programs since 2007. Prior to that, she was chairperson of the Nursing Program at Wright College from 2003 to 2006. Tyra has also worked as an adjunct professor at Olivet Nazarene University, as a practical nurse instructor for the Chicago Public Schools, a public health nurse for the Cook County Department of Public Health in Markham, a home health nurse for Advocate Home Health in Downer's Grove, and a staff nurse for Rush Presbyterian Medical center in Chicago. She is a graduate of Kennedy-King and holds a bachelor's and master's degree in nursing from Olivet Nazarene.

We also have a new Biology instructor

Please also welcome Marwan M. Amarin, who is joining us as a professor of Biology. Dr. Amarin comes to us from Daley College, where he served as Dean of Instruction. He has also managed federal grants for Daley, been chairman of the college's Student Learning and Effective Teaching Committee, and chairman of Daley's Biology Department. Dr. Amarin has also taught Microbiology as an adjunct for the University of Chicago, been a professor of Biology at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA, and been an adjunct in Biology at Morehouse College, also in Atlanta. He holds a bachelor's degree in Microbiology from the University of Baghdad, a master's degree in Biology and Biomedical Science from Chicago State University, and a doctorate in Biology and Microbiology from Atlanta University.

Foundations of Excellence

It is a fact that the quality of a student's first year in college determines not only the chances of success that year, but the chances of success throughout a college career. Research shows that about half the students who come to Truman for the first time during the fall semester do not register for classes the following spring. To understand why and take steps to address the problem, Truman and all six other City Colleges of Chicago are taking part in Foundations of Excellence (FOE), a First College Year initiative of the John N. Gardner Institute in Undergraduate Education, a nonprofit supported by the Lumina Foundation for Education. FOE is designed to help colleges learn how they might better serve first-year students and help them succeed. The FOE evaluation consists of nine self-studies, each lasting four to six weeks. All members of the college community are required to participate. At the finish, the evaluation will be used to create an action plan to address needs.

GEAR UP summer program

GEAR UP Summer at the City Colleges of Chicago concluded recently with a "Gallery Walk" so parents and guests could see art projects created by students during the five-week program. GEAR UP, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, is funded by the US Department of Education. This summer, GEAR UP teamed with Truman, Daley, and Wright colleges to offer students the chance to earn half a high school credit, spend the summer on a college campus, and learn valuable skills to help them prepare for college. Under the guidance of CPS art teacher LeAnn Thornton, students at Truman painted portraits of musicians and actors, created an origami mobile, and produced a "found-art" sculpture. The final project was painting a metal storage cabinet, donated by Truman, using the themes they studied while on campus. The cabinet will be presented to Uplift Community High School this fall.

Youth Ready Chicago-Summer Learn & Earn

President Lynn Walker and CCC Vice Chancellor Jasmika R. Cook presided over closing ceremonies for the Youth Ready Chicago-Summer Learn & Earn, a Chicago Housing Authority program for CHA residents aged 13 to 15. About 25 children came to Truman daily from June 21 to July 30 for a program featuring mornings of math, reading, and writing and afternoons dedicated to themed programs, including Information Technology, Health Care, Hospitality, and Manufacturing.

Student photo exhibit runs through August 30

Please take a look at the new photography exhibit featuring work by students in Continuing Education instructor Ignacio Alvarez’s Studio Lighting Class. The exhibit will run through August 30 in the front lobby. Students featured are Alberta Y. Dean, Monica Alexandra Kaehn, Aneta Genova, Carla Langston, Dee Osborne, Edward Di Lorenzo, Elizabeth Miszczyszyn, Ellie Toneva, Katazyna Matwaguk, Ross M. Cavanagh, Kelly Parker, and Louis J. Sobolewski.

Faculty and staff

Over the summer, Dr. Tim Matos of Communications published the first three stanzas (150 lines) of a long narrative poem called Sweat of Tears in an upcoming anthology of prose poems called Narrative (Dis)continuities: Prose Experiments by Younger American Writers, forthcoming from Vox Books some time in 2011. He was the dramaturge for Buran Theatre Company's new show, The House of Fitzcarraldo, which opens at the Kansas City Fringe Festival in late August. In December, he will have a new short play premiere with the Courier 12 Collective at Lincoln Square Theatre. His poetry book, A School for Fishermen, is now available online at Amazon, Borders, and Barnes and Noble.

Communications professor Franklin Reynolds, as his Capstone Project for the yearlong CCC Leadership Academy, created "Truman's Adjunct Faculty: An Evaluation of Orientation and Faculty Development." He conducted a survey of adjuncts that evaluated Truman's new adjunct faculty orientation, as well as professional development opportunities for part-time faculty. Forty-four percent of all part-time faculty responded to the survey (86 of the 195 current adjuncts representing all the academic and technical departments), a high response rate that will allow the administration to gauge the thoughts of current adjuncts on a variety of topics (orientation, professional development, and organizational climate). Data collected will not only be used to help make orientation more effective, but will also help create professional development workshops, handouts, and college strategies for training adjuncts in a variety of topics (from classroom instruction to campus topics/resources).

French instructor Maryam Damghani is taking a semester off for personal reasons.

Bill Settles of Humanities is taking a semester-long sabbatical.

Carolyn Davis, the administrative assistant in the Technical Center, has retired. If you know Carolyn, you know that she is one of the sunniest, most positive people at Truman College. She makes you feel better just for having seen her.

Employee recognition

Raquel Flores of Adult Education is the Employee of the Month for June. Raquel was nominated for treating everyone with the utmost respect and courtesy, working hard to learn as much as she can about other offices, and serving as an advocate for students. Charles Schmidt and Felicita Urias were also nominated for the award. Darlene Pulliam and Allan Robertson earned Immediacy Awards from Financial Aid Director Cynthia Grunden for developing and implementing a creative solution to an ongoing office supply problem in Financial Aid, their ingenuity saving both time and money. Teresa Jones also earned an Immediacy Award from Ms. Grunden for diligently researching a problem regarding missing funds sent by the Veterans Administration to pay the tuition of disabled veteran student, handling the situation with patience and professionalism in spite of numerous obstacles.

Paulette Whitfield of Housekeeping is the Employee of the Month for July. She was nominated for going out of her way to keep Truman clean, enjoying her job, and taking pride in her work. Frank Harrell, Lawrence Bartoli, and Jorge Covarrubias were also nominated.

Tango for TBLC is a hit

More than 70 people attended the first ever TBLC Scholarship Fund benefit event, planned and carried out by Truman students, faculty and staff, featuring live Latin music by Sandra Ivelisse and a tango demonstration by Eduardo Villalba July 10 at the North Lakeside Cultural Center. The money raised, more than $3,000, will benefit the TBLC Scholarship Fund, part of the City Colleges Foundation, established to support students of the award-winning TBLC (Transitional Bilingual Learning Community) program. The TBLC is designed for Spanish-speaking students who are academically ready for college but lack the requisite English skills. The program won an innovation award from the Illinois Board of Higher Education in 2004.

College wins Greencorps grant

Truman College has won a grant from Greencorps Chicago to re-landscape the raised courtyard on the north end of the Truman Technical Center. Greencorps offers workshops, plant materials, technical assistance and educational programs to organizations working in a public space, including schools, faith institutions, libraries, public housing communities, and block clubs. Truman will receive both plant materials -- seeds, vegetables, annuals, perennials, and bulbs free of charge - as well as technical assistance in the form of horticultural expertise from staff, installation and maintenance help from their job trainees, and garden materials including plants, soil, and tools. Truman staff will be required to attend four consecutive 3½-hour workshops to learn about plant identification and landscape design.

Construction update as of August 6

Crews continue to work on the enclosed first level, on ventilation, piping, plumbing, and electrical systems. Electricians are installing conduits in the columns in the Student Gathering Area and piping and wiring for the smoke dampers. The heating contractor is connecting the gas lines to the heater in the mechanical room and the fire prevention contractor is testing sprinkler pipes throughout parking deck. Completed work included the glass on stairwell C, the architectural louvers, and the transformers.

Mission Statement

Our mission dedicates us to deliver high-quality, innovative, affordable, and accessible educational opportunities and services that prepare students for a rapidly changing and diverse global economy.

Vision Statement

We have tried to capture the essence of Truman College by crystallizing our Vision Statement: "Exceeding learner expectations through creativity and innovation."

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