First year Experience Conference 2005 - Final Report

Final Report

Phi Kappa Phi Promotion of Excellence Grant

Austin Peay State University Chapter 191

March 2005

Submitted by Linda Thompson, PKP Chapter 191 President 2003-2005

Susan Calovini, PKP Chapter 191 President-elect 2003-2005

Background

            In April 2002, Austin Peay State University (APSU) Chapter 191 of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi was awarded a Promotion of Excellence Grant in the amount of $4,500 to host a conference on the liberal arts and establish a refereed journal on liberal education.  Accordingly, “The Phi Kappa Phi Conference on Excellence in the Liberal Arts” was held on the campus of Austin Peay State University on February 28 and March 1, 2003, and an electronic journal called Studies in Liberal Education was established and, with the assistance of APSU librarians, is now available from the home page of the APSU Woodward Library web site at http://library.apsu.edu.

            A leader in writing the grant, organizing the conference, and establishing the journal was Dr. Richard Gildrie, chapter member and Professor of History at APSU.  In September 2004, Dr. Gildrie submitted a report on the success of the Spring 2003 conference and the creation of the new e-journal.  A copy of his report is included with this final report.  In his write-up, Dr. Gildrie noted that the development of an e-journal instead of a paper journal had not required the anticipated funding.  Thus, $1,917.50 of the grant money remained.  He reported that those funds would be used to help support a future conference that would be planned to extend the discussion of liberal education to an audience of secondary educators and their students. 

            The remainder of this report focuses on the Spring 2005 conference that resulted from those plans. 

Introduction: Planning the Spring 2005 Conference           

            Following the success of the first “Excellence in the Liberal Arts” conference funded by the Promotion of Excellence grant, the Executive Committee of Chapter 191 began discussing options for a second conference.  The idea of a new focus on the importance of the liberal arts in the transition of high school students to college stemmed in part from the University’s development of a new freshman experience course at Austin Peay State University.  That course, entitled “LART 1000: The Liberal Arts and University Life,” was piloted in Fall 2003 as a retention and student-success initiative, and one of the pilot teachers was Dr. Albert Bekus, grant co-writer and past president of Chapter 191.  Based on his experiences teaching the class, Dr. Bekus recommended a focus on the liberal arts and transition to college for the second grant-sponsored conference, and by Spring 2004, the Executive Committee had approved this plan for the following academic year. The Committee asked Dr. Susan Calovini, chapter president-elect and chair of the curriculum committee for the freshman experience course, to work with Dr. Bekus in planning the second conference.

            Drs. Bekus and Calovini sought the help of Dr. Harriett McQueen, Director of Student Academic Support at the university, in organizing the new conference.  She was chosen because she administers the freshman experience course and other student retention and success services at APSU and has strong ties with the local public schools, having formerly worked as teacher education coordinator for the university.  Enthusiastic about the concept, she committed her help, her contacts, and some of her office resources to organizing the conference.  She felt that the conference should take place in Spring 2005 to take advantage of the interest and expertise that would be generated by the Fall 2004 sections of the freshman experience course, which had been renumbered as APSU 1000, the rubric by which it will be hereafter designated.  A tentative date in March was selected.

            Upon the retirement of Dr. Bekus in May 2004, Dr. Calovini served as chair of the conference planning committee during the 2004-2005 year.  Other committee members were Dr. McQueen and chapter president Dr. Linda Thompson.  Their efforts were supported by chapter secretary Bonnie Hodge and chapter treasurer Kay Haralson.  Publicity was handled by chapter members Dr. Ted Jones and Dennie Burke.  Information on the conference was placed on the chapter web page by member Dr. James Thompson.

The Spring 2005 Conference

            Entitled “The Liberal Arts and the First-Year Experience,” the second grant-funded conference was held on March 15, 2005, in the Morgan University Center on the campus of Austin Peay State University.  This one-day conference featured a welcoming address, one morning presentation, a luncheon with keynote address, and two afternoon sessions, one a presentation and the other a roundtable discussion.  Presenters included APSU administrators, faculty, librarians, and students as well as one local high school educator.  Each of these events is described in more detail below, and a program is attached.

            Attending the conference were more than 50 local high school seniors from Honors and Advanced Placement classes.  These students represented three area high schools: Northeast, Kenwood, and Montgomery Central.  Additionally, teachers representing several other local schools, including the private Clarksville Academy, were in attendance. They were joined by Phi Kappa Phi Regional Vice President Sandra Holt of Tennessee State University; other APSU administrators including the president, vice president for student affairs, assistant vice president for student affairs, associate vice president for academic affairs, and several college deans and program directors; chapter members; and various APSU faculty, professional staff, and students.  More than 100 people were registered for the lunch, and attendance in the information sessions ranged from 30 to 60 or more during the day.

            The conference opened with a welcoming address by Dr. Bruce Speck, chapter member and APSU Vice President for Academic Affairs, who used the Phi Kappa Phi motto as a springboard for his remarks about the value of letting the “love of learning” rule our lives.  He connected the motto to the liberal arts focus of the conference and spoke effectively to the student audience about the importance of the first-year college experience and life-long learning.   Dr. Calovini then followed his address with a welcome and an overview of the conference activities.

            The first 75-minute session featured presentations by Dr. Linda Davis, an Advanced Placement (AP) English teacher at Northeast High School in Clarksville and a part-time instructor at the university, as well as two APSU freshman students.  The title of their session was “Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’ as a Freshman Transition Text.”  In a multimedia presentation, they interpreted Plato’s allegory as analogous to the situation of college freshmen who must be led from the cave of ignorance into the sunlight of enlightenment by their professors, who serve as their guides.  They discussed their use of Plato’s text for a group project in their Fall 2004 APSU 1000 class, and then they asked the audience to work in groups discussing applications of the allegory to their own lives.  The interactive segment was lively, and the break-out groups then reported back to the entire room on the results of their discussions.  Parallels to Plato’s text that were identified ranged from popular films to work roles to personal life struggles.

            For the luncheon that followed in the university’s ballroom, 105 participants had reserved a lunch, including the secondary teachers and students, conference presenters, and many chapter members and APSU personnel.  The majority of the grant monies were used to pay for the lunch, which was provided free of charge to all high school educators, their students, conference presenters, and chapter members as an incentive for attendance.  Additionally, we subsidized the lunch cost for non-chapter members by charging them only $7 for the $12.40 lunch (i.e., the chapter assumed the cost of $5.40 per lunch for non-members).   The lunch session featured a welcoming address for the university by Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Houston Davis, whose topic of “greater expectations for academic success” was fitting for this conference; welcoming remarks on behalf of Phi Kappa Phi by chapter President Thompson and Regional Vice President Holt; and the conference keynote address.

            Our keynote speaker was Dr. Jeanine Varner, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Oklahoma Christian University and known authority on first-year experience programs.  Dr. Varner holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Tennessee and is strongly committed to the value of a liberal arts education.  A copy of Dr. McQueen’s introduction, which contains Dr. Varner’s vita, is attached to this report.  Dr. Varner’s keynote address was “A Rite of Spring: Walden’s Challenges for the Life of the Mind.”  This inspiring talk was organized around provocative quotations emphasizing the value of life-long learning taken from Henry David Thoreau’s classic memoir Walden.  Accompanied by PowerPoint slides showing the texts of the quotations enhanced by colorful scenes from Walden Pond, Dr. Varner’s talk complemented the Phi Kappa Phi motto, “Let the love of learning rule humanity,” and was highly appropriate to the topic and audience at this conference.  At the conclusion of her talk, Dr. Varner was presented with memento gifts representing the university and Phi Kappa Phi.

            The first 75-minute afternoon session was a presentation entitled “Information Literacy in the First Year of College: Research, Writing and Assessment in APSU 1000.”  Presenters were Dr. Calovini, who is a Professor of English, and, from the APSU Woodward Library, Lori Buchanan, Instructional Services Librarian, and Gina Garber, Digital Services Librarian.  Connecting information literacy to college expectations and a liberal education, the presenters described and demonstrated the web-based information literacy project developed especially for freshman students in APSU 1000, provided opportunities for hands-on activities related to the project, and gave an overview of the research and writing assignment used in APSU 1000.  Assessment techniques and results from the Fall 2004 information literacy project were also shared.

            The final 75-minute session was a roundtable on “The Liberal Arts as a Foundation for College and Life.”   Moderated by Dr. Linda Barnes, Coordinator of APSU’s Honors Program and a Professor of English, this session began with opening comments by each of four panelists representing different disciplines and positions: Dr. Aleeta Christian, Professor of Developmental Writing, whose background is in the liberal arts; Charles Frazier, an Accounting student who has served as a student peer-mentor for APSU 1000 and learned to value the liberal arts foundation of his university education; Dr. Richard Gildrie, Professor of History and noted campus spokesman on the value of a liberal education; and Dr. Jaime Taylor, Professor of Physics, who represented the liberal arts perspective of the sciences.  Following their individual remarks on the session topic, the floor was opened to comments.  A thoughtful discussion ensued, with participants including high school students, their teachers, and faculty representing such disparate disciplines as Music and Business.  At the conclusion of the session, Dr. Barnes summarized the discussion and offered eloquent closing remarks that drew upon the words of novelist Walker Percy and famed mythologist Joseph Campbell. 

 Evaluation of Success

           One mark of success was the healthy attendance that was generated by the conference topic, which clearly interested many people, and the good publicity we received on campus and in the community.  A descriptive article was published in the university’s e-newsletter InnerAction, shorter e-announcements were published on campus, personal e-mail invitations were sent to all university administrators, an announcement appeared in the student newspaper, and the community newspaper printed a feature article in advance of the conference.  This publicity was in addition to letters of invitation sent to all chapter members and to local high school teachers.

            Along with good attendance, we feel that the March 2005 conference was successful in several ways that are integral to the mission of Phi Kappa Phi.  First, the conference was interdisciplinary.  Organizers represented various constituencies of the university and community, including academic affairs, student affairs, faculty, and staff.  Presenters represented a number of different disciplines in the humanities, arts, sciences, professional fields, the library, and secondary education.  This varied perspective broadened and enriched the discussion of the liberal arts that was the focus of this day-long conference.  Second, the conference placed a positive spotlight on Phi Kappa Phi, its values, and its philosophy.  Throughout the day, many speakers echoed the Phi Kappa Phi motto as they stressed the importance and love of life-long learning.  All attendees were also given folders containing information on Phi Kappa Phi and its various programs and initiatives.

 Financial Summary for the March 2005 Conference:

           A financial summary for the first (2003) PEG-funded conference is included in the September 2004 interim report prepared by Dr. Gildrie.  Therefore, the report below pertains only to the March 2005 conference.

            The chapter was able to avoid postage costs for sending conference invitations to chapter members because we were able to include the invitations in a mailing related to the planned Spring Initiation.  Other costs were assumed by our conference co-sponsors.  For example, the College of Arts and Letters purchased $300 worth of books to give as gifts to the high school students who attended, and the Office of Academic Support paid for duplicating and sending letters of invitation to the local high school teachers.  The Vice President for Academic Affairs committed to covering any outstanding costs incurred, and the Academic Affairs contribution is noted below.

Income:

            PEG remaining funds                             $1,917.50

            Lunch payments (5@ $7.00 ea)                  35 .00

            Academic Affairs contribution                      85.00

            Total                                                    $2,037.50                   

Expenses:

            Aramark Catering                                 $1,482.00                   

                   (morning coffee etc., lunch)

            Jeanine Varner                                           350.00

                   (honorarium & travel)

            Facility use and set-up                                  65.00

            Duplicating                                                   66.50

            Materials & Gifts                                         73.80

            Total                                                    $2,037.30

Lessons Learned

            One lesson we learned from this conference is the value of collaborating with other campus groups or agencies in planning a conference.  The support of Dr. McQueen and her Office of Academic Support was a key element in the success of our conference.  Not only did Dr. McQueen use her personal contacts to obtain our excellent keynote speaker, but also she and her office manager Joanne Shepard oversaw many of the logistical arrangements, the invitations to the local high schools, and details too numerous to recall.  Additionally, by collaborating with presenters from different areas of the campus, we also increased our base of support.

Future Activity

            Chapter 191 of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi has now led the way in organizing and sponsoring two successful conferences on the liberal arts at Austin Peay State University, one in Spring 2003 and one in Spring 2005.  We therefore have set the stage for a regular biennial conference on our campus.  Because collaboration is essential to the success of such a venture, and because the chapter does not have the resources to continue sponsoring such events, one option for continuation of this project is to recommend that the Vice President for Academic Affairs use his office to oversee future conferences.  Another option would be for the chapter to contact other local or regional chapters to solicit their interest in collaborating on future conferences.  The executive committee of chapter 191 will continue discussing these ideas for the future.    Another future activity will be promoting the e-journal Studies in Liberal Education, which has not published new submissions since its first appearance in July 2003.  According to the journal, it is “intended to promote a deeper and broader understanding of the nature and role of liberal education.”  It welcomes articles on the theory, history, practice or application of liberal education; book reviews; and commentaries on classical works.   The current publications include four articles on theory or history, three on practice and application, and two reviews.  The chapter is indebted to Digital Services Librarian Gina Garber for the web design and maintenance of the e-journal on the APSU Library’s web site.  The executive committee will continue to seek ways of promoting the journal and soliciting submissions for it. 

Attachment 1:             Program for Spring 2005 Conference

The Liberal Arts and the First-Year Experience

Hosted by

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Chapter 191

Morgan University Center

Austin Peay State University

Conference Agenda

9:00-9:30 Conference Check-In & Continental Breakfast                                                                           UC 303/305

9:30-9:55 Welcome and Conference Overview                                                                                                UC 303/305

 Susan Calovini, President-elect, PKP Chapter 191

 Bruce Speck, APSU Vice President for Academic Affairs

10:00-11:15             Presentation:  Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” as a Freshman Transition Text      UC 303/305

Linda Davis, Northeast High School

Fall 2004 APSU 1000 Students

11:30-12:45             Lunch & Keynote Address                                                                                               

UC Ballroom

Welcomes:  Linda Thompson, President, PKP Chapter 191

     Sandra Holt, Regional Vice President, Phi Kappa Phi

    Houston Davis, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

Introduction of Speaker:  Harriett McQueen, Director of Academic Support

Keynote Address:  Jeanine Varner, Vice President for Academic Affairs

                                                         Oklahoma Christian University

1:00-2:15 Presentation:   Information Literacy in the First Year of College:                                           UC 303/305                      Research, Writing, & Assessment in APSU 1000

Lori Buchanan, Instructional Services Librarian

Susan Calovini, Professor of English

Gina Garber, Digital Services Librarian

2:30-3:45 Roundtable Discussion:

UC 303/305            The Liberal Arts as a Foundation for College and Life              

Linda Barnes, Coordinator of Honors Program—Moderator

Aleeta Christian, Professor of Developmental Studies

Richard Gildrie, Professor of History

Charles Frazier, Student Accounting Major

Jaime Taylor, Professor of Physics

Co-organized with The Office of Academic Support.  Co-sponsored by Division of Academic Affairs, Office of Academic Support,  and College of Arts & Letters

Attachment 2:             Dr. Jeanine Varner Biography

Introduction to Keynote Speaker by Dr. Harriett Varner

Dr. Jeanine Varner serves as the academic vice president at Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City where she is truly an advocate for students and faculty and for the liberal arts.  With her leadership, a First-Year Seminar and a capstone seminar for seniors has been successfully implemented and embraced at OC.

In addition to her work at Oklahoma Christian, she serves as a consultant evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.  She is a member of the Board of Institutional Actions Council; as such, she trains those who go to the member colleges and universities to evaluate programs.  She was recently named to the Chief Academic Officers Commission for the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. 

After graduating from Oklahoma Christian, Jeanine did graduate work as an alumni fellow at UTK and earned a PHD in English while teaching at UTK. Following the completion of her PHD, she received a Mellon Fellowship to attend Rice University.  She has taught at Rochester College in Michigan, at Texas Lutheran and University of Texas at Austin.   Jeanine then returned in 1987 to her alma mater to teach English and subsequently became department chair, Dean of Liberal Arts, and has served as academic vice president for 8 years.

Dr. Varner has been honored for teaching excellence. At OC she was awarded the Gaylord chair of distinguished teaching and recognized with the award given annually for service to the university.  She is truly an academic leader and values quality experiences for students.  She is responsible for placing emphasis on undergraduate student research as well as faculty research at Oklahoma Christian.  It was under her leadership that the Freshman Seminar was implemented as well as a senior capstone seminar

Jeanine is married to Paul Varner who also holds a PHD in English from UTK and is a highly respected faculty member at OC.  Paul and Jeanine are generous people, student oriented, genuinely concerned about the welfare of others, and fun-loving as well.  They are the parents of two children, Bart and Tess, talented young people who excelled as students at Oklahoma Christian.    I, personally, am honored that they would carve this time from their spring break to be with us for this event and we welcome them to Austin Peay.

Dr. Varner’s presentation today is entitled“A Rite of Spring:  Walden’s Challenges for the Life of the Mind.”  I present to you Dr. Jeanine Varner.