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University of La Verne – Faculty Retreat 2011 – Notes
Retreat Agenda
Friday, January 14, 2011
9:00 a.m.: Depart by bus, Founder’s Hall 11:30 a.m.: Arrival & early registration 12:00-1:00 p.m.: Lunch (Main lodge) 1:15-1:45: Special Tribute to Steve Morgan (Pine View) 1:45-2:45 p.m.: Keynote: Provost Greg Dewey (Pine View) 3:00-4:00 p.m.: Breakouts (three simultaneous) (Pine View, Cedar, and Redwood)
(1) Developing a common culture of research and scholarship (Pine View) Abe Helou and Christine Broussard
(2) A common vision through community engagement (Cedar) Jonathan Reed, Jack Meek, Marc Roark (3) Facilitating a common culture of student-centered pedagogy AND Lifelong learning and rejuvenation
(Redwood) Mark Goor, Allen Easley, Anita Flemington 4:15 p.m.: Group picture (front lawn) 4:30 p.m.: Personal networking free time 6:30 p.m.: Dinner (Main lodge) 8:00-9:30 p.m.: Very special film screening: “Voices Unbound” (Cedar) 9:30 p.m.: Follow-up and discussion with very special guest star Erin Gruwell (Freedom Writers) (Cedar)
Saturday, January 15, 2011 8:00 a.m.: Breakfast, room checkout (Main lodge) 9:00-9:45 a.m.: Breakout session sharing (Cedar) 10:00-11:00 a.m.: Recap by Provost and Deans (Cedar) 11:00 a.m.: “Leopard Tales” story contest (Cedar) 11:30 a.m.: Faculty recap (Cedar) 12:00-1:00 p.m.: Lunch (Main lodge) 1:30 p.m.: Bus departs 3:00 p.m.: Bus arrives at La Verne
Provost Greg Dewey
Creating a Common Vision – More than a WASC Mandate
(Notes by Paul Alvarez)
Following the last WASC visit, the University was charged with creating a common vision. Provost
Dewey visited various units both on and off campus and heard many, often similar descriptions of
what we do well. But that is a mission, not a vision. Having a common mission is not a common
vision. Therefore, the University does need to find a common vision, not just because WASC
mandated it, but also because it makes sense for the continued growth of the University.
Benefits of a shared vision include:
More cohesive planning and resource distribution
More cohesive marketing and fundraising
More distinctive image
A common purpose builds team and community relationships
La Verne appears to be a puzzle – different colleges, different students, the presence of RCA – that to
many appears jumbled. A common vision will help put the pieces together into one cohesive picture.
A common theme when Provost Dewey talked to the different units was the perception that “the tail
wags the dog”. In other words, the sense that units with less impact on the mission of the University
are promoted and supported over those unites that are perceived to be more mission-centered. But
who is truly the tail and who is the dog? In a complex organization, all are equally important.
Creating a shared vision:
Agree and prioritize the development of common building blocks – foundational language and components that are essential to all
Seek university-wide solutions to the problems in American higher education
Create distinctive shared programmatic approaches
So what are the common building blocks? What are the ingredients for success?
Quality of faculty. Quality faculty will support quality programs of distinction.
Quality of students. Programs of distinction will attract quality students, who will promote and expand the academic mission.
Quality of services. Both academic and administrative support services must be of the highest quality to support the efforts of students, faculty, and staff.
Quality of physical plant. Attractive, durable, and state of the art facilities further attract and support quality students, faculty, and staff.
These building blocks are the start point, the foundation of a quality institution. However, every
institution has these elements in their foundation. So where do we go from here to create a common
vision for La Verne?
Beyond the basics, there are two elements that distinguish one institution from another:
Distinctiveness – How are you different from peer institutions?
Distinction – What do you do better than anyone else? One way we can determine these is by looking at issues confronting American higher education.
Institutions are confronted with problems they must solve, both local and global. Local problems are
determined by institutional setting, history, configuration, etc. Global problems are common to all
institutions. Long-term problems are best solved through a shared strategic plan that addresses long-
term objectives. A working hypothesis – global problems are harder than local problems to solve.
However, if you work to solve global problems, you will also solve many local problems.
Global problems confronting American higher education include:
Accountability – standards, evaluations, etc.
Access – who gets in, who is kept out?
Relevance – are individuals educated to issues for the 21st century?
To become more accountable, we need:
Tighter program reviews and reporting
Stronger culture of service
Strong stewardship of intellection property
To address issues of access, we must:
Sustain our current population – we are already doing well
Promote strong fundraising for scholarships – our students need the resources
Address issues of quality and ethnicity in student admissions
To address issues of relevancy, we should:
Focus on theory and practice
Focus on an applied research mission
Emphasize student-centered learning
Promote social entrepreneurship
In creating program distinction, we need to distinguish ourselves from other institutions. In academic
settings, the emphasis is on Teaching and Learning, and Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work.
We can add Community Engagement to the traditional two cornerstones of academe’, and
distinguish ourselves.
Deconstructing who we are, or, an attempt to define our vision (note: I did not get the full
statement):
The University of La Verne is a private, comprehensive, liberal arts university
This reflects small class size, providing a comprehensive education
Faith-based
We have been given a moral compass derived from our Church of the Brethren roots
Educates a diverse community
Students come from a wide variety of backgrounds and beliefs
Focusing on our core values of
Values Orientation
Community and Diversity
Lifelong Learning
Community Service
Why Community Engagement?
All units can participate
Appropriate for our students
Appropriate for our faculty
We are already doing it
Integrative role for RCA
We can be distinctive and with distinction
What does it mean?
There are educational, research, and community components
Form true partnerships with the community, not charity
Exchange resources with community
Share development and recruitment efforts
Breakout Session:
Actions to Achieve a Common Culture for Research and Scholarship
Facilitated by Abe Helou and Christine Broussard (Notes by Omid Furutan)
Kinds of Research
• Discipline Based Research--Discovery of New Knowledge
• Pedagogical Research—Discovery to Enhance Teaching and Learning Knowledge
• Technical Assistance Research—Application of Knowledge to Enhance Practice
• Community Based Research--Assistance & Discovery to Enhance Knowledge and Quality of
Life in Local Settings
Goals and Objectives
• University/College Goals
• Encourage and promote excellence in all kinds of research
• Provide the infrastructure and administrative support to promote quality in research
• Disseminate the impact of research to the community through diverse academic and
non-traditional means of communication
• Faculty Goals
• Identify issues and venues for collaboration and partnerships between La Verne and
stakeholders
Proposed Actions
• Attract, nurture and retain outstanding scholars in all areas of research
• Develop a Provost and Deans funds to provide monetary award for outstanding research,
scholarly and creative contributions
• Create Research Centers and Institutes to address Inter/multi-disciplinary research agendas
and questions
• Ensure competitive faculty compensation
• Attract, nurture, retain, and promote outstanding scholars in all areas of research
• Reduce administrative burdens on faculty
• Support graduate and especially doctoral programs
• Support efforts to attract outside funding
• Encourage productive and mutually beneficial research collaboration between faculty and
undergraduate students
Breakout Session:
A Community Vision through Community Engagement
Facilitated by Jack Meek, Jonathan Reed, and Marc Roark
(Notes by Loren Dyck)
1. How can La Verne live its mission through community engagement?
2. What do faculty view as potential avenues for community engagement?
3. What kinds of research – experiential, action, applied, or other – should be considered for
community engagement?
4. What kind of funding can be attracted to ensure quality and consistency of community
engagement research and actions?
Marc Rourke COL – How does interdisciplinary aspect work? What about the budget? If Law school
gets lion share of results should they pay more. Need to agree on these matters up front.
Wants to create a business incubator with CBPM and has had conversations with Abe. Who shares
burden of costs, academic resources? What do we do about academic resources?
Jonathon Reed – CAS – ULV values. Community engagement is based on mission statement. Poor job
of “curricularizing” the mission statement. Community engagement is a tool to curricularize the
mission statement. Start at beginning of all degree programs and throughout. Thinking about
values, community and service.
Believe it is part of mission statement.
How does com. Engagement relate to academic quality, academic research, ….?
How does community engagement relate to issue of diversity?
It can be complementary. It should not be seen at expense of academic quality/research/promotion
and tenure.
Jack – Attendees – what have we been doing and what can we do?
Homa – data collected on what the four colleges have done based on survey.
Aghop – N = 45
Ford – should develop registry
Kent – how are we defining community? He has put on numerous symposia/colloquia but is that a
part of the definition? Or is it working on project?
Paul – within training students need to spend clinical hours. Two-fold process in health care and
contact from community. Promote nature of major. Explains what students are learning and do?
Zandra – Helps make community arrangements. Community partners want to be in relationship with
us but our students come out with a degree but some semesters courses are not available. Not
continuing/ongoing structure. It is better to pick community partnerships that can continue over
the long term.
Marc – 1st year students did community service for four hours and that’s it. Need to restructure.
Another faculty stated in contrast that one of her students told her – “this is the most valuable part
of my learning”
Zandra – if students could see that they have made a difference – learn through it – ULV should make
a bigger contribution
David – theatre and community has done workshops in communities and highlighted stars in our
community. How you define community engagement is important. Is it disciplinary, promotion
and tenure, is promotion of ULV?
Another faculty member stated – some things done in our dept. are disrupted. There is no
infrastructure. Community engagement is done on a class-by-class basis. Now trying to develop
ongoing relationships. E.g. LA Opera. Give students tickets. Students see that. Culture arts society
of La Verne producing a season of productions with ULV students. If institutionalize community
engagement then it needs to be curricular, institutionalized, and ongoing.
George – communications – community service moves you to the real world.
Another faculty – we take care of maintenance of Fairplex learning center and we are doing research
with students.
Another faculty - don’t forget the staff!
Another faculty – PE example – ask client what they want. – offering classes versus recreational
mentors
Worry about stumbles can’t recover from.
Loretta – student life and campus life doing lots of outreach. Davenport example - 130 students and
their families.
Darj? Important to take steps to reduce student costs, lobby government for funding, show ULV can
doing something unique. Create a better image of university.
Sean – community garden – teaches a food related class. Class eats food and other food goes to
inland valley partners. Food drive raised a lot of money and food. Students heavily involved.
Daniel – met with reps from 7 colleges and universities that recognized by Carnegie as institute of
community engagement.
Themes:
1. Definitions are needed
a. What is community?
i. Which community?
1. Local, regional, national, international?
2. Student, business, or academic populations?
b. What is community engagement?
i. At what level do we engage?
1. Annual, occasional, ongoing?
2. Determine how community engagement fits into academic priorities
a. Ensure adds to academic quality
b. Ensure does not detract from academic research
c. Is it part of promotion and tenure?
d. How and to what level is it resourced?
3. Need to institutionalize or “curricularize” it once we figure out what it is!
a. Make it part of the ongoing curriculum
b. Ensure continuity between semesters
c. Work with companies for internships and course experiences to ensure continuity
4. Need to capture good examples that already exist
a. Especially within La Verne
i. Great examples were shared from each of the colleges
ii. Survey data collected from 45 ULV respondents
b. Colleges and universities already recognized as stellar examples of community
engagement (e.g. Carnegie certification/recognition)
Breakout Session:
Student-Centered Pedagogy & Lifelong learning
Facilitated by Mark Goor, Allen Easley, and Anita Flemington
(Notes by Kathy Garcia)
Mark Goor, Allen Easley, & Anita Flemington facilitated group discussion of prepared questions
Student-Centered Pedagogy
What does student centered learning mean to you?
o Active learning
o Participatory learning
o Welcoming learning environment
o Emotionally safe learning environment – student guided to some extent
o Organic learning (everything changes – v. this is what I always do – working from the
ground up
Student needs
Building blocks
Relevance
Student-knowledge & -experience based
NOT Traditional model (here’s what I want you to memorize & regurgitate) –
from student perspective: this is what I want out of this & teachers facilitate
that learning
Facilitated learning
Not bulimic
o Taking advantage of the teachable moment – deviating from the plan when needed to
seize upon the teachable moment
“Steve did this on 9/11 – sent a memo to hold class & seize the teachable
moment”
Involvement with and communication with teachers / students – more
involved with our students - compassionate
How do you get to know your students?
o Model what you want them to do – if you want them to risk asking questions, do that
with them
o Respecting them
o Sharing with them our own life experiences – letting them know we’re human & have
some weaknesses
o Seeing how they react, respond, & extrapolating
o Social activities – something different from the classroom & small groups—have them
over to your home - & small groups
o Ways to build into the content means of tapping into their personal experience
o Be available – can’t be someone who they can’t ever find
o Business program – sharing my business experience with them – what I do in my FT
job & life experiences
o Explaining real-life setting differences from classroom setting
o Allow for grappling & uncertainty & it’s ok to be uncertain (it’s not so clean & tidy)
o Transitioning to teaching fully online – learn technologies that are rich in media, so we
can see each other & share media with each other
How can I stay student oriented online?
o Approachable
But knowing boundaries (& sensitive to them)
o Sharing with each other – building that safe environment, model it & put the
expectations out there, the classroom is a sacred space where no one will ridicule
anyone - & have students agree (by raising hands) – in some classes we have “at least
half the class crying & it’s a good thing”
Do you remember the moment when you shifted from thinking about your teaching & to
thinking about their learning?
o I used to think about students having relationship just with me & now, they have
relationships with each other (in groups)
o Had a lot of luck reading teacher evaluations – evolved based on comments from
students – generally a there was a recurring theme for each class, and I learned from
them
So it was a gentle evolution?
Yes, in the beginning, there was so much criticism I couldn’t do it all at once
o Sometimes one has an epiphany, but most of the time it’s a process – an evolutionary
process
o Early on, felt I had to control every moment & would panic at dead air. Sometime I
learned I cannot control every moment, I can only create an environment – set the
parameters for learning to happen
o Not in a vacuum (in the university), talking about buzz words, in liberal studies with
future teachers, if they don’t get the modeling, if we can’t create and experience it
here, how can we expect it of them? Pay it forward. This is where future teachers are
coming from & must go beyond the rhetoric.
o I was once teaching standard deviation, & a student said,” I can see what you’re doing,
but I just don’t get it.” That shifted for me. I thought I was teaching wonderfully, but
they weren’t learning wonderfully. So I shifted – what are they learning & what do I
want them to learn.
o I once observed a teacher having so much fun at the board but students were
completely unengaged
o I became an adjunct 18 years after receiving my master’s degree, I didn’t think I
wanted to teach because I didn’t want to lecture. So I don’t lecture, & at first I had a
student who said she just wanted lecture but later loved the facilitated learning
o Believable instructor & that they believe in what they’re teaching
o Student comment: Feedback should be not just “good job” but “what did you mean
by this?” – honest believable feedback – I jump on board with your mission when I get
honest believable feedback
What do you do with the student who just wants to be lectured to?
o I tell them to choose another cohort
o Sometimes you just have to deal with it when they won’t engage (e.g., all Chinese)
o In my teaching program, I once had a teacher who looked at everyone’s eyes for a few
seconds when no one volunteered until one student finally volunteered, and then kept
referring back to the 1st student’s comment.
After the session, the teacher explained how he handled the lack of
volunteering—“I went around & found the weak point & 1 student said
something – it wasn’t great, but pretty good - & I kept rewarding it”
It’s rewarding the person who takes that leap
The next person thinks maybe they’ll get a reward if they speak up
o I’m teaching a class right now, 1st time teaching it, I knew it would be hard because it’s
about death. They have to create a lesson plan and teach a section, but they can’t
lecture. & they have to hand out readings & hope students read it, & have objectives. I
get 95% participation.
Lifelong Learning
What do you see as the connection – how is student centered learning connected to lifelong
learning?
o Life-embedded learning – not just “I’m in school until I’m dead,” but “this is what I do”
o How do you define lifelong learning? Students who’re more mature, already in the
workforce in a professional situation, coming back to complete their degree or get
their master’s. Maybe to advance in their profession or change careers.
Different from traditional undergrad, who are smarter but not as street smart
Trick is to not bore the mature students to death
o Instill in the student the desire to continue learning more about their profession
To keep current
To keep learning
Have continued access to library resources
Should be a joy – learn until you die
o Instill in the student a desire to continue to learn – one of my professors had a way of
teaching – engage the student & teach in the context of current events & a different
way of engaging (& asking students (individually, by name) “what do you think about
that”)
Instilled interest in continuing to relate money and banking to what is
happening today
Reads financial page to 2-year-old grandson
o The other piece is the adult learner – come with a different place in life & different
base of experience than traditional undergrad.
The class dynamic is different if it’s all one or the other (traditional v. adult
learner)
Or if the class is mixed
o Continuing education – but I do it because I want to & want to instill that in them
o Int’l students – use this time to practice speaking English – if you’re going to make
mistakes, make them here in the classroom instead of in the workplace later on
o Life experiences happen & we lose that sense of wonder & awe that kids have – as
teachers, it’s good to tap back into that, even if you’re flipping burgers, maybe there’s
a new oven. Tap back into awe. We were once awe-filled.
o Taking something that I learned & giving back. 1st-generation student, not just ending
with me but passing on to siblings & creating pathways. One generation to the next.
o Encourages professionalism. Encourage students to make professional associations
and go to conferences. They need to know where to go to find out about changes in
the profession.
o It’s up to us to make it fun. Even tests – look for the fun in everything.
Do you think student centered learning makes them more likely to be lifelong learners?
o Get to know them well enough to know what they’re about & make learning fun - &
hopefully spur them on to continue learning
o Applied research assignments that connect it to the students. Create assignments
with applied research to their school sites (teacher candidates) focused on the student
centeredness of it but also emphasizing that these are skills they can use for the rest
of their lives.
o Learned how much each other knew – learning from each other. Really wanted to
come to our class every week even when they didn’t feel like it. Learning is good
o I went through a period where I wasn’t learning anything new, & now learning
softchalk, & it’s a high. I want to instill that in students. The high in learning a new
skill.
o As a student, undergrad at ULV, then didn’t feel that anything I had to give back to the
world was relevant, but because of student centered learning when I graduated I did
& wanted to become a lifelong learner. Felt empowered & valued. It’s a personal
thing, but when it’s relevant, I’m more apt to seek it out.
o Empowered & valued. I empower & value my students.
o Relevance part of it is more relevant the more you’re talking about lifelong learning.
The lifelong learner, & the more mature student, has an idea of what’s relevant &
that’s what they want to see.
o Intellectual curiosity & sense of awe – open to learning all things v. making it relevant
to …
o What if you have a class of both (traditional & adult)?
Try to meet the needs of both
o I want to take the time to thank Allen, because he took the time to help me, creating
that environment where the two can link…
o In one class, students have name tags, colored by discipline, purposely in groups that
are mixed. At first they’re resistant but later they love it.
In schools, they have to be together
& it’s a way to work on the strengths of each other
Must be willing to let go of control
o Lifelong learning has to be student centered – because instructors disappear.
Other thoughts about equipping people to be life-long learners?
o Instructor would talk about things we couldn’t learn yet – throw teasers out there –
when you graduate you can….(learn more in depth)
o I’m hoping to know ways I can help to facilitate these things & be a part of infusing
this into the university culture?
o Letting go…& as a facilitator I let it go so long I wasn’t sure learning was going on. May
not have been effective.
o Parker Palmer cited two examples of “best teachers”: one was a lecturer, the other
almost didn’t know what would happen each class period. Both knew how to create a
community. We can’t criticize other teachers because we each do what we know how
to do.
o One teacher communicated that she’s always learning from students. One day
students were unprepared & she said “I’ve learned nothing from you today!”
o Building knowledge off of the students. & telling them so.
o Modeling lifelong learning.
o At ULV we are very student centered & can be proud of this. As we think about our
vision, lifelong learning & student centered learning must be a part of the building of
our vision.
o Being empowered – in my undergrad program, we had only 2 courses in the entire
time when students introduced themselves. How can you be empowered when
you’re anonymous? We have a lot going for us that we don’t always appreciate.
They’re not anonymous here.
How do you move an institution from one where there are a lot of things going on, to one
where it’s embedded in the culture? So it’s not just something we do now but instead it
will last?
o Applied learning concept – mainly in the major courses, not necessarily in the GE
courses – so they can take that learning back to the community
o More than just the students. Forums like this are rare opportunities to share our
techniques & experiences & talk about it, and the more chances we have, the more
we can develop this into the vision
o In my class: discussion was disposing of bodies in the Ganges. Discussion was about
how to change a culture.
My students decided it was knowledge & information - & how to disseminate it
You have to have buy-in.
o We run into a risk with the focus on assessment – it becomes about the …instead of
about the material itself.
Constitutional law – teaching them to be supreme court justices even though
they won’t all make it
Teach them as though they’re going to be the innovator
The way the student engages the material instead of the material itself.
o That’s about the art of teaching – it’s not just about the knowledge.
o Peer visitation is an awesome thing
o College of education is developing peer observation.
Retreat General Recap
(Notes by Kathy Garcia)
Recap:
Student-Centered Pedagogy & Lifelong learning
Define Student-centered learning
o Organic
o Experience based
o Relevant
o Emotionally safe
o Must get to know students
How to get to know students
o Share about yourself & have them share
When did the shift take place?
o Evolution
o Epiphany
Evaluations
o Learning to let go
o Begin to realize that students valued honest feedback & believable feedback (from
student)
How is student-centered learning connected to lifelong learning?
o Building the foundation at undergrad level
o At graduate level, transforming their profession
o Teaching in a way that learning becomes a joy
o Make teaching relevant
o Teaching & learning have a sense of wonder – communicate that well
o Disposition toward the content & that helps you have the curiosity to become a
lifelong learner
o Taking what you’ve learned & passing it to the younger siblings & generations –
especially as a first-generation student
o Encourage students to learn from each other
o Degree empowered individual to go back into the community & share
o Lifelong learning is student centered learning
Questions
How does student-centered learning relate to class size?
o Especially when class sizes are large
o Smaller class probably provides more opportunity for student-centered learning, at
least intuitively. Some may get lost in the process in larger classes.
Can you expand idea of faculty learning to let go?
o It’s let go of control
o Example: Research immersion called “design your own experiment” – requires
students to design within parameters. Prof’s have to try to pull together everything
the students might need for the experiments they come up with. Students grow much
more than if the experiments were designed for them.
How do you make that student-centered approach to learning part of the curriculum?
o The experiment design concept is a curricular plan that allows for that.
How does class duration affect student-centered learning – especially when class duration is
different for different sections of the same class?
Class size – with bigger class size, assign groups to projects so that there may be 10 projects
and 10 reports (instead of more)
School size is important too, especially K-12 (smaller schools are a community, in larger
schools students can get lost)
Teachers that can facilitate teamwork
Strong correlation between what Erin Gruwell has done and student-centered learning - 150
students & she had a relationship with each of them that allowed them to grow
This group was really eclectic
Developing a common culture of research & scholarship
Started where Provost’s discussion ended – 3 pillars (teaching & learning, scholarship,
community engagement)
Need for us to develop a research mission
o What do we want to accomplish by engaging in research and scholarly activities?
Relevance of research – our research should be relevant
Doesn’t matter what type of research, pure, applied, pedagogy, etc., or
community based research & we’re not clear about what we mean by
community-based research (locally based, globally, what kind of problems we
should tackle)
It doesn’t matter, as an institution we can’t legislate what the faculty should
focus research on – this is faculty individual creativity
Encourage and nurture & build a research culture & infrastructure to help
faculty achieve whatever their research agenda
Action items to make sure we have the infrastructure & manpower
o Time
o Time release
o Faculty salaries
o How can we help the faculty who have an active research agenda do that?
Reward faculty ($, recognition, course release)
Regardless of the type of research
Ensure competitive salary
o Two ways to build research agenda
Buy faculty from other schools (and pay high salaries)
Recruiting becomes critical – what kind of people we recruit, retain, nurture, &
support
Have been constrained by salary in the past – much better these days – to
attract people who have the potential to become a star
o A lot of good things are happening at La Verne right now, but nobody knows about it,
except on the website
The need to disseminate the activities & their impact to the community
We’re the best kept secret
Should hire one of our marketing faculty to bring to the surface the good
things that are happening at La Verne
Comments & Questions
Billboards create impression that La Verne is an online school (from student rep)
“check the website for a campus near you” is giving a very different image of what La Verne
really is (this has already been taken care of – the new billboards say “one of America’s best
colleges”)
Through scholarship and conferences, people will see that La Verne isn’t just an online
program
Looked at research strategic plans at other schools
o One had $30,000 for conferences and research
Push for nonacademic research – will have an impact
o Poster viewing that Al has put together – great venues for viewing what everyone is
doing
o Some discussion of moving the time of that program so community can view
o A lot of institutions are having administrative folks research, which is playing a
significant role in promoting the university (ex: Kansas State re academic advisors)
o It should be part of our mission & vision for research agenda
Creating a common vision through community engagement (4 themes)
A need for definitions – what do we mean by community?
o What is community engagement – at what level do we engage?
o What activities constitute community engagement
Assignment of resources
o Community engagement shouldn’t come at expense of academics
o Priorities
Institutionalizing community engagement
o “Curricularizing” – put it into the curriculum and have it continue on an ongoing basis
A need to capture the good examples that are already occurring
o A lot of good is already occurring
o Each college had examples
Comments & Questions
o Survey produced – but needs to be publicized
o Carnegie institution already accredits this? Classification is on a public website
It’s a good set of guidelines & would give us some goals
Wagner College has this classification and we may use as example
Other schools have shared with us their examples in a conference
o Set of 5 focus groups by the Provost – to find out what community engagement means
to each of the different stakeholder groups
Community leaders (e.g., religious leaders) to get their perspective
Higher Ed folks
Business session is coming up
Economic development
Elected officials
The community itself – a very open broad meeting (coming in March) &
representatives from each of these groups
o Should tap into our 50,000 alumni – engage them again with the University
o Listserves /discussion groups may be a community engagement example
o A little bit of fear that faculty will be saddled with as part of their performance
(particularly new faculty)
These three themes overlap & complement each other – synthesis, need coordinated approach to
synthesize these ideas
Provost and Deans’ Recap
Provost: Creating a Shared Vision
(Notes by Kathy Garcia, COL)
Greg Dewey
This is about building community & we’ve made great strides; it’s been a delightful, wonderful
retreat
Building toward Excellence
o Faculty, students, services, physical plant
Solving problems
o Accountability, accessibility, relevance
Common Programmatic approaches
o Values orientation, community & diversity, lifelong learning, community service
Entire talk was meant to be a roadmap
Building blocks to excellence – must invest in quality in a “planful” way
o Need to have a common vision of how to take care of, develop, & ? these
How do we collectively solve problems
Creating common programmatic approaches that will be distinctive – look to our core values
to create them
o Our 3-legged stool is the embodiment of this
Deans
Abe Helou
What is our role as administrators in order to promote the research agenda and help the
faculty succeed in pursuit of scholarly excellence?
o Not our job to set the agenda – that is faculty role
o & Daniel made a good point about service scholarship
Teaching overloads – one of the things all of our faculty suffer from (overload = $3,000 per
course)
o To work on a paper takes about 6 times it takes to do an overload, but don’t get much
except advancement of career
o College of business started last year – using funds raised from outside sources
Grading system based on ranking of journal the article is published in
Every faculty will get a % of $20,000
Recognize research with at least a small amount of $ - to recognize excellence
in research
This program should be expanded
2nd thing administrators can do:
o Faculty burdened with a lot of administrative activities (e.g., schedules, student
advising)
Faculty shouldn’t be involved in scheduling for students
Advising should be focused on the educational aspects
Reduce the administrative tasks for faculty if they can be easily done by
administrators
o Hiring – key should be what is their potential
Critical factor in hiring should be this
o Funding – it’s not faculty role to look for grants
Or spend countless hours writing a grant
& if you don’t get it, you get discouraged
Faculty should help, but administrators should write
o All of this ties to the mission by building toward excellence
Teaching
Research – more relevant & more impactful
Faculty & students and the people of this institution are what makes this
institution, so anything we can do to make faculty, students, and the people of
this institution better makes the institution build toward excellence
Jonathan Reed
Huge fan of community engagement
I see it as based on and arising from the mission of ULV
But we’ve done a poor job of “curricularizing” and operationalizing the mission
We have a surface level – we need a transformative engagement with the mission
o Community engagement is a way to do that
o Community engagement is secondary to the mission – it implements the mission
Example: Swimmers – it’s what happens underwater that advances you as a swimmer, not
really above water
o We need to have structure and follow through (like what good swimmers need)
o We can kind of start now (instead of waiting until we have perfect form), but if we
stick with it we’ll refine it
Mark Goor
Continuous improvement (building toward excellence) (improvising)
o Which means, looking at yourself, gathering evidence, looking at the evidence and
asking, “How can we get better?”
o Kept hearing, how do I make the student experience better, how do I improve my
practice so that the student experience is more powerful
o Would like to expand student learning beyond the classroom – it’s student experience,
& what we want them to experience is a deep growth
o This broader sense of student growth
o Community engagement is another way for students to have this personal growth
experience
Solving problems
o Accreditation process is all about accountability
o All about “Here is the evidence that shows we make a difference” (or”here is what we
thought we were doing – is that what students experienced?”)
o Creating a culture of evidence
o Relevance – are students changed by what happened in the classroom & in the
community?
Questions & comments
How will you assure accountability? (to provost)
o The weakness in our current program review process is, it ultimately gathers dust – we
need a loop-closing process in program review
How do we ensure quality in program review?
I’ve seen many here that just say, we’re ok, but we need more resources (I
don’t believe that)
We need thoughtful program review that we accept as stringent & we need
loop closure (actions in result)
Is it continually improving? Continuous improvement is very small changes toward…
o We need a broader more strategic view for continuous improvement
Sometimes when we’ve had contentiousness – difference in vision- that puts us at odds with
each other. And may even cause some to feel threatened. How do we do this in a way that
avoids this?
o Source is in “building toward excellence” because that’s about prioritizing resources.
We need to all get on board with common programmatic approaches, and then we
can go back to building toward excellence
Student centered learning & class size – silence I hear (from Phil) about budget-centered
teaching
o Phil: it’s never been budge-driven teaching. Budget supports what we’re trying to
accomplish
o It takes resources, & the discussion of class size; it’s the basic building block of our
health
Are we allocating resources because we’re doing it or are we planning and then allocating
resources?
Creating a culture of evidence & relevance & focusing on how we’re exceeding expectations.
Satisfied students (as consumers) tell people
o How are we finding out what they want & communicating that?
o We have climate surveys & use them as a gauge; maybe we can be more sophisticated
than our current approaches. Accountability goes to metrics, & tracking metrics, and
we haven’t always done that.
o We might want to think about what are our strategic metrics that we want to strive
for. That would give us a goal.
We’re looking at accountability, but we also want to keep in mind transparency. We have to
communicate & have to involve everyone & have a common goal. I hear a lot of the word
faculty, but we have to involve everyone. (from a faculty member)
Jeff Rouse: in and of itself the retreat has meaning, but there’s an implication of next steps &
I’m not clear what the next set of processes are?
o Building excellence:
I disagree that students are consumers, but creating a shared vision should include students
in the conversation.
Next Steps: (1 & 3 (from PowerPoint slide)) (2 w/b used as metrics)
Only one of those 4 areas in 1 has a master plan
We’re in a position to shape the student population (for the 1st time in our history)
o What do we want this population to look like?
We haven’t looked at faculty or students
o Do we need a faculty development plan? What are the ingredients?
FT faculty coverage
Early & often (support for conference, professional development, research
support, and differentiate newer faculty – mentoring)
Professional engagement
Engagement
Workload
FT coverage
Development plan for the part-timers (we have some long time faculty and
want to keep them) – part-time support
Collaboration (FT/PT)
Erin had a relationship with students that transcended the classroom – don’t
know if that’s part of the faculty engagement responsibility (there’s a mentor
role for faculty – faculty mentoring students)
Faculty outreaching with students – clubs, organization, going to cultural
celebrations, being there, fellowship, faculty as community members,
participating, co-curricular engagement
Instructional strategies
Technology-enhanced learning
Culture of understanding among the faculty that we have different gifts and
strengths – none of us can do it all but together we can – complementation;
interconnectedness – capitalize on the strengths of the individuals, team
building, trans-disciplinary & mutual respect, interdisciplinary
Faculty could help staff by offering professional development to staff. Work
better with staff. Reach out to staff & vice versa
Pedagogy & research
Internal consulting – offer the services that we teach our students about &
maybe perform outside, internally
o Create a faculty development plan with built-in metrics
Services have organically grown
Common programmatic approaches – traits such an approach should have
o research informed
o student centered
o transforming
o integrated
o sustainable
o relevant
o measurable – outcome driven
o documented
o safe learning environment (comfortable)
o emergent (responsive, adaptive, open to discarding the plan and new possibilities;
unafraid to fail)
o risk-taking
o progressive
o entrepreneurial
o visionary
o collaborative
o client centered (client – community, student community, outside community)
o reflective, self-examining
o mission driven
o holistic
o transparent
& can think of structures outside the curriculum too
o Centers of synergy
Devorah Lieberman:
This has been the most valuable use of my time – to educate me on the La Verne culture &
the La Verne caring community
As an outsider, this is a phenomenal community & insiders may not fully realize it
You’re in “violent agreement” with one another – all of these phenomenal ideas are new to
us as an institution but have been discussed in some form in institutions across the country –
we can use other models – not to adopt, but to thoughtfully use pieces of other models to
make us unique. But let’s not wait; let’s get on the road & do it. Our job to create that
holistic, engaged, co-curricular, model, so that students will be proud. Instead of teaching –
maybe change to teaching and learning or learning & teaching (focused on outcomes).
What did you get out of the retreat?
When I heard the title, I was trying to figure out what it means, & I did – we delivered on that
title, planning, vision, building of this community together
Student rep: thank you for being enthusiastic & helping us grow as individuals and become
future leaders. Thank you. I’m grateful to be here to see what you put into our education
I see this as a conducive connection. We often connect, but it’s not always conducive, this has
been. Thank you for inviting administrators
Inspiration
I haven’t been to retreat for several years & I’m glad I came. In violent agreement – terribilità
– there’s an energy to what you said, Devorah, it’s a fearlessness. Great how robust the
administrative & faculty dialogue has been & having a student here
Ann Morgan: thank you for inviting me & for all the kind words (emotional)
We all have great stories about the people who – let’s be conscious of who we are, and we’re
the resource. Certain faculty members have been violently opposed to having administrators
here & retreat was born out of contentiousness, but without the administrators here, all this
talk is nothing but talk. Having administrators here to be engaged & feel the passion…
Director of Financial Aid – thank you for inviting me, it was engaging
Thinking back to the movie last night: how could people hear the screams & not do anything;
what would we do if the screams were in La Verne? & now, we don’t have to be there to hear
the screams.
How much do students learn in & out of the classroom? These sessions have been
productive, but the opportunity to talk with faculty that I don’t get to see...
This is a common activity & we’ll all draw on this
I had a great experience. It was great to meet everyone & get to know faces with names. It’s
nice to have the collegiality & camaraderie. It’s nice to have that time because we spend so
much time in the classroom.
Finding my academic home
Got to party with colleagues in other colleges & spend time with people I didn’t know & didn’t
know me.
Thank the organizers, very “informatizing”
Pres. Morgan: my final “retreatization”, & how thrilled I am at the trajectory I see, & pleased
to see Devorah’s role coming into focus, and the collaboration I see & it’s only with that
collaboration….I am thrilled.
All pictures by Darryl Swarm
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2011 Faculty Retreat Evaluation Summary
(Compiled by Paul Alvarez)
DNA Poor So-So Good Great Wow
Retreat Theme 3 25 17
Keynote Speaker 8 25 10
Breakout Session: Research 7 6 2
Breakout Session: Community Engage 5 9 1
Breakout Session: Student-Centered 2 9 4
Food/Dining 12 22 12
Accommodations/Lodging 2 9 18 13
Film and Book 2 1 9 31
Erin Gruwell 2 1 10 31
Recap/Discussion 1 4 23 17
Other 2
What was the highlight of the retreat for you?
21 positive comments about interaction: Just being here; Interaction with faculty and staff from
throughout the University; Collaborative spirit; Meeting new people; Group energy and
engagement; Bonding, reflective, affirming; To get to know other faculty and staff members. To
get to know the culture of La Verne, and to the session of discussion of research, scholarship,
Poor
Good
Wow05
101520
25
30
35
Poor
So-So
Good
Great
Wow
teaching, and the community service; Networking; Being with all faculty, admin, staff, and student
represent; Happy hour and informal “networking”. Seeing other faculty from different colleges; I
also enjoyed meeting and getting to know the faculty; Interaction. Relationships inspired by
shared ambition for university; Spending time will colleagues; High level of great discussion;
Spending time will colleagues; Getting acquainted with colleagues; Being with all faculty groups all
colleges; Talking to people; Vitality and Idea sharing of ideas; Camaraderie – opportunity to meet
admins and faculty from other colleges; Finding my academic home!
14 positive comments about Erin Gruwell: Erin Gruwell; The video; The movie; Erin Gruwell’s
graciousness, magnetic personality, passion. She was a wonderful speaker and resource; Erin
Gruwell; The film; The film and discussion; The film and guest speaking was awesome! Great story
and inspiring!; It was great for the honor to meet Erin Gruwell because she has been an inspiration
to me; Erin and her documentary; Erin Gruwell; Film and special guest; Film “Voices Unbound” and
meeting Erin Gruwell; Erin Gruwell.
6 additional comments: ALL; Saturday was great – so (unreadable); The breakout session on student
pedagogy and life-long learning. The contributions of all attendees was positive and meaningful;
Retreat exceeded my expectations. As an administrator, I appreciated being invited to the retreat.
I believe it helped build bridges between faculty and administrators; The Theme; One University!
4 specific comments about the Presidents: Steve, Ann, Devorah here to share, to learn; Meeting new
pres and getting to know outgoing pres and wife better; The video celebrating Steve and Ann’s
accomplishments; Steve and Ann Morgan. Wow! What a rich history and legacy. Best wishes to
you both.
How could next year’s retreat be improved?
8 general compliments: No idea; Tough to top; None; I can’t wait to see (smiley face); Nothing; See
results from this year’s retreat; Felt it improved a lot from last year, no comments, just keep it up;
This year was great.
6 suggestions for activities: I think people could benefit more to attend all the breakout sessions. I
also think that a fun group activity would be fun; This year’s retreat had a large chunk of time
devoted to re-capping Steve Morgan’s time at La Verne – which is appropriate. I’m looking
forward to more breakout time next year; Include time to formulate concrete action steps; Follow-
up and re-evaluation of goals set at this year’s retreat; A bit more free time; Make it longer – we
just started to relax with one another.
4 comments about facilities: Possibly bigger room and air conditioning and heat; Need better
ventilation in meeting rooms; Breakouts in Pine Room; Meeting Room – not up such a hill – rooms
closer to dining hall.
3 suggestions for dates: Have it on Thursday/Friday; Thursday Friday schedule; Was perfect at this
time.
3 comments about participation: Invite PT faculty; More attendees; Invite even more participation;
More Faculty . . . I can pick out some faculty who were not here . . . and I wish they were.
3 suggestions for preparation: More information leading into retreat; Short introduction of all
participants; Room arrangements – recommend seating in breakout sessions be arranged so that
people face each other, instead of talking to back of heads. (smiley face)
3 complaints about (this year’s unforeseeable) room tripling: Please do not put 3 in a room; No
tripling of rooms; Room arrangements – tripling was awkward especially without individualized
advanced notice.
1 complaint about exclusivity: Make it a FACULTY retreat! If administrators must be invited, keep it
to a half-dozen deans and above. Having so many administrators, and staff even, completely
changed the atmosphere. It’s much better with only faculty. It was totally appropriate to have
Steve and Ann there, given the context, of course.
1 compliment about inclusivity: If appropriate, keep inviting/engaging AP and other non-faculty.
What did you gain from the retreat that you will apply in your personal life/work?
13 comments about working together: Contacts; Sharing and getting to know new faculty;
Community; Personal networking on projects that I want to do in research; Sitting with colleagues
from all four colleges; The wonderful work of the various schools; Meeting faculty; Collaborations
with other faculty/staff/admin; An appreciation for the views of other faculty from colleges
outside my own; I got to know new faculty better, which will help me in my interactions with them
in university governance; The opportunity to meet faculty that I did not know. Enhanced my
critical thinking skills; Team worker, improve relationship with other faculties and staff; I am
excited to possibly work with Erin in the future. I also thoroughly enjoyed “conferencing” with
many colleagues throughout the University!
9 comments about vision and/or the future: How to integrate teaching and research, how to
embrace the college culture to teaching, how to motivate and encourage students; Moving ahead
on community engagement; I will go my part as a student, to take back what I learn to the
students and gain feedback to return to the faculty so that they can excel in moving forward to
reach the University’s “vision”; Engage the community be involved in making the world better;
Continued personal and professional reflection with relevant application of student centered
instruction! (smiley face); Common vision; A better sense of where ULV as an institution is headed
– vision and mission; Feel more inspired to help change the world and give a voice to the voiceless
like Erin Gruwell stated; More service to make a difference.
6 comments about passion and commitment: Even more commitment to La Verne; Moving forward
toward one vision; One mission, one University; How inspired I am to work at the University; The
passion that we all have for the school and our students; Energized me!
27 additional comments: Everything; A reminder to listen; Communicating and understanding of
vision and purpose; Holistic view of community engagement; Ideas born out of the open
discussions will definitely be applied; Many ways; Excellent process!; Feeling the passion!; Thank
you, Thank you!; Well done!; It’s been inspirational – again!; Well done! Exciting! Thank you to the
Committee! Issam is a wonderful leader; Thank you to the committee as always – Issam and John
B.; Great experience; Thanks to the hard work of the committee!; The book as a gift – I can’t wait
to read it!; Thanks John and Linda!; Bravo on a conference well done! (smiley face); Great Retreat;
Thank you for planning the retreat (smiley face); Why were we so short of seating at the opening
session and the movie? (also the recap session). A few extra chairs would have been appropriate.
Lastly, the lodging turned out better than I thought it would. No complaints; Great job!; THANK
YOU SO MUCH for including A/P staff – this experience has been eternally profound; I would like
to see the theme of the retreat carried over to the entire University community, i.e. staff. This
should be an ongoing conversation; Great Job and thanks to all members of retreat committee;
Thank you. This was my third faculty retreat and the best by far. Thank you one and all!; Thank
you!! Especially to the committee – awesome energy; Question – how do we engage those not
here? Such Richness.
2011 Faculty Retreat Committee: Issam Ghazzawi (Chair), Paul Alvarez, Kent Badger, John Bartelt, Loren Dyck, Omid
Furutan, Kathy Garcia, Jozef Goetz, Linda Gordon, Jeanny Liu, Peggy Redman, Darryl Swarm, Shelley Urbizagastegui.
…Until next year…
(This is really teensy print, isn’t it?)