Senior Lecturer Kathy Rowley co-published the article Flip This Class: Maximizing Student Learning in Information Literacy Skills in the Composition Classroom Through Instructor and Librarian Collaboration with Justin Otto and Qing Stellwagen in the Journal of Library Administration in August 2022.

The following is an abstract of the article:

“Library research instruction is most effective in First-Year Writing (FYW) when the instructor and participating librarians collaborate. In this case study from 51������, an instructor-librarian collaborative partnership was taken to a deep, sophisticated level. The instructor and librarians utilized a flipped classroom model to introduce students to the academic research process within a writing context. The results of an assessment of student learning from this class (pre-survey versus post-survey) indicated that a collaborative flipped classroom maximized student learning in information literacy skills.”

What is your area of expertise?

Professor Rowley: I have two master’s degrees in English: teaching writing and technical communication. I was hired at 51������, however, to teach writing in ENGL 101 and 201. During my time at 51������, I have also taught courses in technical communication and due to my undergraduate degree in graphic design, upper division design courses in journalism.

What led you to writing this publication?

Professor Rowley: Lecturers are not required to publish, but I wanted to publish at least one article during my academic career. (And now I have a potential book waiting in the wings!) But during the past several years, two of my librarian colleagues and I developed a scaffolded process to help students in English 201 move systematically from topic identification to research question to scholarly, peer-reviewed research sources. I thought it would be beneficial to other composition instructors and librarians to share our collaborative findings through a publication.

What was your favorite part of the process?

Professor Rowley: Since our research gathering began before COVID but ended spring of 2020, my favorite part of the process was meeting on Zoom weekly with the two librarians to review each of our contributions in Google Docs for the article draft. We would meet, greet, work, and then chat. With the academic isolation that we were experiencing, it was a boon to our spirits to talk with each other not only about school but about current events and our families.

Where can someone go to read this publication? 

Professor Rowley: The article is .

Congratulation to the team and to Professor Rowley on this publication and we will keep an eye out for future publications! (Fingers crossed for that book)

Student Symposium: “Pencils Down: Confronting Hate with, and in, the Humanities”

Event Date and Time: June 18, 2020, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Event Address:

Even in times of enormous social need, the Humanities too frequently take their responsibilities to confront hatred and iniquity in society, along with their potential to address social justice, for granted. Please join this student-organized symposium for a full-day series of remote roundtables on social justice in and out of the classroom. This symposium highlights student voices confronting hate with, and in, the humanities. In addition to two open-ended student roundtables, the program will include smaller sessions on the following topics:

• Protest movements
• Criminal Justice
• Social justice in the classroom
• Creative responses to social justice

Schedule June 18, 2020

• 9-10 a.m. – Opening Roundtable
• 10-10:25 a.m. –�������𲹰�
• 10:25-11:05 a.m. – Resistance On & Off-Campus
• 11:05-11:10 a.m. –�������𲹰�
• 11:10 a.m. – Prison censorship presentation
• 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. – Criminal Justice Roundtable
• 12:15-12:20 p.m. –�������𲹰�
• 12:20-12:30 p.m. – Public-facing Theory Class presentation
• 12:30-1:15 p.m. – Equity Pedagogy and Classroom Social Justice
• 1:15-1:20 p.m. –�������𲹰�
• 1:20-1:30 p.m. – Poetry presentation
• 1:30-2:15 p.m. – Creative Works Roundtable
• 2:15-2:30 p.m. –�������𲹰�
• 2:30-3:30 p.m. – Closing Roundtable and Calls to Action

We encourage you to invite students, other faculty, and friends and family to join us.

Contact us at SAPHSymposium@gmail.com

51������ Rhetoric & Technical Communication alumna Raquel DeLeon (formerly Dean) recently published her article “User Experiences of Spanish-Speaking Latinos with the Frontier Behavioral Health Website,” in Xchanges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Technical Communication, Rhetoric, and Writing Across the Curriculum. DeLeon shows in her article that technical communication and advocacy are not mutually exclusive endeavors.

DeLeon’s article presents a usability study of a regional behavioral health website that focuses on the experiences of Latino/a people while using the website. Many of her participants in this study found that the design made performing tasks difficult. According to DeLeon, her project was inspired by witnessing her mother’s struggle to get mental health help. Both of her biological parents were immigrants to the United States and did not make it past the first grade in Mexico. DeLeon explains that seeking mental health treatment was a struggle for her mother because:

“One, she didn’t have the financial means to find high-quality mental health services. Two, she had no idea how to even begin searching for resources and was unable to comprehend the complex wording on specific websites that offered mental health services.”

DeLeon observed that people in the Latino/a community who were non-English-speaking struggled because they were not educated about mental health issues and struggled to find resources for their children with mental health concerns. Non-English-speaking Latino/a people struggled with the websites of many mental health organizations and DeLeon wanted to bring awareness to the issue.

DeLeon has taken and will continue to take the education she has received at 51������ and has used it to affect important change in the world. DeLeon demonstrates that technical communication and psychology both can affect change as disciplines on their own and are even more powerful in concert with each other.

51������ alumna Maura Lammers finds a career after getting her MFA in Nonfiction and achieving publication in The New York Times and The Masters Review

51������ alumni Maura Lammers has had her fair share of successes and learning moments in her life. She comes from a diverse professional background and has held many types of jobs before attaining her MFA in Nonfiction in June 2019. She notes, “The MFA Program at Eastern made me a better reader and critical thinker.”

She especially appreciated that the flexible program of study allowed her to take both nonfiction and fiction courses, since she writes in both genres. In her own words, she has also had “a glimmer of success at the beginning” when it comes to her writing. In September 2018, while she was still working on her MFA, her essay  was published in the Modern Love column in the New York Times. In July 2019, a month after she graduated, her story was published in The Masters Review. She notes that the publications motivated her to keep working hard and write new material.

Lammers is currently working as a supported employment specialist where she helps adults re-enter the workforce. She credits her graduate student assistantship at the 51������ Writers’ Center, where she worked as a Responder and mentored work-study students, in preparing her for the new role. However, true to her values and work ethic, she is still writing as well, and has been writing fiction and is currently brainstorming future nonfiction works.

Frances B. Huston Award Winners

Every year seven students are chosen by each of CALE’s seven departments as the recipients of the Frances B. Huston Medallion. The Frances B. Huston Award is awarded to graduating seniors who have achieved academic excellence (3.75 or higher GPA) and have demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities at Eastern and/or in the community.

These are the Huston Award recipients from CALE for 2017-18:

Art

Joel Gaytan with Faculty Escort Mr. Roger Ralston

Education

Kelsey McCune with Faculty Escort Assistant Professor Gus Nollmeyer

English

Tania Nunez-Guzman with Faculty Escort Professor Rachel Toor

Modern Languages and Literatures

Jeremiah Serrell with Faculty Escort Professor Chris Kirby

Music

Wyatt Wireman with Faculty Escort Professor John Marshall

Physical Education, Health and Recreation

Erin Locke with Faculty Escort Assistant Professor Carri Kreider

Theatre and Film

Mica Pointer with Faculty Escort Senior Lecture Jeff Sanders

Dean’s Excellence Award Winners and Faculty Mentors

Celebrating excellence in student contributions, achievements, faculty inspiration, and student mentorship, the Dean’s Student Excellence Award is awarded to outstanding graduating seniors who have demonstrated distinguished excellence and achievements within their department, the college, university and the community.

These are the 2017-2018 Dean’s Excellence Award Winners and their mentors:

Art

Student Olivia Evans with Faculty Mentor Associate Professor Jenny Hyde

Education

Student Sunshine Hunt with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Allison Wilson

Student Taylor McDevitt with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Allison Wilson

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Student Katelyn Domitrovich with Faculty Mentor Professor Johnathan Johnson

Student Aubrey Hamilton with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Sean Agriss

Modern Languages and Literatures

Student Annsley Buller with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Miguel Novella

Student Rachel Musser and Faculty Mentor Associate Professor Gina Petrie

Music

Student Brenden Bachaud with Faculty Mentor Julia Salerno

Physical Education, Health and Recreation

Student Emily Dunston with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Katie Taylor

Student Naomi Eastland with Faculty Mentor Associate Professor Garth Babcock

Theatre and Film

Student Austin Hobbs with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Elisha Miranda

CALE Excellence Award Winners

These individuals embody the college’s mission and values. The purpose of the six college awards is to recognize and commend outstanding faculty and staff who have put forth the extraordinary commitment to represent their department, the college, and the university.

Classified and Exempt Excellence Award

Ms. Kate Peterson from Get Lit!

Faculty Teaching Excellence Award

Professor Gus Nollmeyer from the Education Department

Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activities Excellence Award

Professor Kathryn Baldwin from the Education Department

Faculty Service Excellence Award

Professor Natalia Ruiz-Rubio from the Modern Languages and Literatures Department

Team Excellence Award

Education Department

Campus Partner Excellence Award

Office of Grants and Research Development

Professor Emeritus

Professor Emeritus is awarded to a professor upon retirement in recognition of their excellence in teaching, intellectual contributions, and service to the University, College, and Department throughout the professor’s career at the university.

Professor Sally Winkle

Modern Languages and Literatures Department & Women’s and Gender Studies

Professor Jane Liu

Education Department

Professor Philip Weller

English Department

Get Lit! Programs celebrated an impressive milestone this April: this year’s festival marked the program’s 20th anniversary, and it was a week to remember! The festival kicked off with a ’90s-themed reading and the release of a 20th-anniversary anthology. The anthology featured work from many of the fantastic writers who have taken part in the festival during the past two decades, including such legends as Tess Gallagher and Robert Bly. Readers at the kickoff event included Hanif Abdurraqib, Chelsea Martin, Jess Walter and many others.

The festival featured 5o events this year, the most in Get Lit!’s rich history, including a sold-out evening with New York Times bestselling author Anne Lamott. The festival also featured craft classes with highly sought after writers like Maggie Smith and Brit Bennett, outdoor readings, children’s activities, poetry slams, Pie & Whiskey, and even literary-themed happy hours.

Get Lit! is housed within 51������, but it is a nonprofit program that relies on community and university sponsorships, grants, ticket and merchandise sales, donations and other fundraising efforts. for more information on becoming a sponsor for next year’s festival, or to find out how to be part of next year’s lineup.