culture

For the past 20 years the Tuesday after Labor Day has been the start of the fall semester for me. Today, though, is different, as classes don’t start until tomorrow at UW-Parkside. Students were on campus, so it was busier than any time during my preceding two summer months, but the numbers were limited, as new students were losing steam at the end of three days of voluntary orientation activities. Each college was asked to organize an orientation session were new students met with the dean for an hour, and then went to speak with department representatives for a second hour about majors and classes. I can’t speechify for more than 15 minutes, so I organized a twist where each department head co-presented with me about general aspects of the college and the departments, and then students went to breakout sessions with the department heads for more specific department information. That was fun, but I’m really looking forward to the real energy and excitement generated by a full complement of students on campus for day one!

P.S. At the end of the college/department hybrid session we also watched the first five minutes of the TV show Undeclared, and then the department heads started their breakout sessions with a discussion of the clip. I waited outside of the main lecture room to direct late students to the breakout rooms, but wished that I could have heard the discussions…

Today I attended the 2013 UW-Parkside convocation. While it was nice to see folks from many different sectors of the university gather to celebrate successes and learn about new initiatives, I’m a bit disappointed that we don’t have the type of convocation I’m used to attending, a gathering for new students where they hear a few short speeches, learn some of the traditions of the university, and are motivated to start the year strongly. Last week I spoke with the Dean of Students to suggest that we should co-chair a committee to explore possibilities for establishing a campus signature event; I’ll have to see if she also wants to add a new student convocation to the planning agenda. If so, we’ll definitely need to look into including a dynamic sophomore speaker like the one this year at Georgia Tech!

During my first year year at UW-P I am living in the on-campus student apartment complex. This complex never fills, so a few apartments are reserved for faculty and staff for transitional housing. The apartments have cable TV as part of the very inexpensive rent, but we don’t receive premium channels like Showtime. I’ve been a fan of the Showtime show Dexter for years, and figured that although I would not be able to watch it live, I could buy a subscription on iTunes to download to my iPad. Alas, it seems that the only legal way to watch Showtime shows during the first-run season is via a Showtime subscription; iTunes and Amazon streaming isn’t enabled until after shows go into re-runs. I think I can wait to watch the latest Dexter season, but it’s going to be hard to do that with my other Showtime show, Homeland. I think I might have to add Showtime to the package at the house in Charlotte, and catch up on episodes during visits to see my wife, who is living there for at least one more year to get more experience in a relatively new job. I think that our current promotional package is about to end, so hopefully I can sign up for another package that includes Showtime. Wish me luck!

Last Friday I was invited to attend a Rotary Club meeting in Racine, WI. It was fun meeting the members, and learning about their history and charitable projects. If asked to join I’ll probably accept for a start date in 2014. The weird thing about membership, though, will be attending weekly meetings in the Racine Country Club. A stereotype of country clubs is that members are a bunch of old White guys sitting around trying to keep women and racial minorities out. I was the only person of color present (in a group of about 40), and there were just two female members in attendance. There were a lot of younger men at the meeting, however, and I enjoyed the general vibe of the group.

I was also the only person of color in the room when the chancellor and provost took me to the Kenosha Country Club at the end of my first week on the job last month. As we rolled up I joked, “are you sure they are going to let me in this place? I grew up in the South, you know, so I need to check!” They responded that the university would not have a membership if there were any exclusionary practices. After a nice lunch they informed me that I could be added to the membership list.

So what do you think, readers: should I join one or both country clubs, knowing that I’ll be one of the few faces — and maybe the ONLY face — of diversity?

A couple of weeks ago The Society Pages published “Colorblindness vs. Race-Consciousness — An American Ambivalence,” in which Meghan A. Burke begins with anti-stereotypical observations in her research: “Consider a setting: a racially diverse urban neighborhood where organizers and most residents take a tremendous amount of pride in their community’s racial diversity. But many still think the black kids in their community don’t learn the ‘right values’ and avoid the parts of the community they code as ‘ghetto.’ Or how about a rural community in Illinois, where some Tea Party organizers feel that Obama’s election was a step forward for race relations, support the Dream Act, and grew up taking pride in attending a black congregation.” I have to admit that I was a little worried about how I would be received on a recent trip to the Post Office in the small town of Somers, WI, next to my campus. Everyone was friendly, and the clerk was an African American man (!). I’ll have to keep Professor Burke’s article in mind as I venture out to additional rural areas of the state.

Yesterday I posted a note about scheduling time for reading. I need to also remember to make time for another favorite activity: going to the movies. Before joining the ranks of administration I would go see a movie at least twice a month, and usually weekly during the summer. Now I’m lucky If I can go more than two or three times a semester! Earlier this month I saw Pacific Rim; it was entertaining, but not as fun as the Sweded trailer. I’ll try to go see The Conjuring this weekend. Yesterday I asked folks to wish me luck in creating a schedule to do daily reading; please also send me good vibes about being able to occasionally get out to the movies!

The TV show Falling Skies depicts a United States of America struggling to fight off an alien invasion. Last night’s episode depicted an alternate reality where several of the main characters were on the faculty at Boston University. The character who actually was a BU professor before the invasion was shown as a department chair who was being considered as the next dean of his college. In several scenes he and the other characters were placed in what appeared to be a faculty lounge, and they engaged in both intellectual discussions as well as gossip. They appeared to be quite the collegial bunch! Maybe I should think about creating a social sciences and professional studies faculty lounge here at the U of Wisconsin-Parkside?

While I was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota I rarely dressed up beyond dress pants and button-down shirts (worn untucked). In fact, I wore a business suit only on five or six occasions in 14 years on the faculty. As a dean, however, the biggest role transition might be to wearing suits much more often. I wore one this morning to a meeting with small business owners; it’s officially day 8 on the job. (It really is day 11, however, as a dean works every day, including on holidays like the 4th of July). I’ll have to break it out again in two weeks when I accompany the chancellor to a reception for a new school superintendent. As more meetings with folks external to the university get added to the schedule I’ll probably have to ditch the shirts and slacks for full-on suits. Men’s Wearhouse, here I come…

In the Inside Higher Education article “College is Scary” Kevin Kiley reviews the new film Monsters University. He notes, “but more than a comment on college, Monsters University is a film about diversity, the innate differences between individuals, and the institutions and situations that help foster connections and understanding between those individuals.” He adds, “it is in the dynamic between Sulley and Mike [two very different students] that the film comes closest to exploring what college administrators say people actually get out of a residential campus experience. The two challenge each other in ways that an assignment or professor likely couldn’t.” I’m going to check out the film today to see just how the dynamic plays out, which may come in handy as I start working with UW-Parkside students in the Exploration Living-Learning Community.

For the past five months I have been studying Spanish, in anticipation of one day being able to converse with Spanish-speaking people during interactions as a Dean. I had not studied a foreign language since high school French, and hoped that I would be able to pick up Spanish quickly. Alas, language learning does not appear to be one of my strengths, so it’s going to be years until I’m fluent. Oh well.

When I get to UW-Parkside I’ll look into Spanish language offerings in the College of Arts and Humanities. I’ll also speak with my fellow Dean about an interesting idea I came across a year or so ago. I can’t remember where I saw it (hence, no link; sorry), but the essence was that we have entered an age where global citizens can speak to each other fairly well with the assistance of translation devices, so one does not need to be fluent in a foreign language for visits to other countries. The article went on to suggest that a curriculum could be developed that taught students to be world travellers who could quickly acquire linguistic and cultural basics once they hit the ground overseas. I’ve got to do a search to try to find this article!

There will probably always be a place for full scale college-level language instruction for students who need to be fluent in a foreign language in order to live and work for an extended period in a specific international location, but I wonder if a “How to be a World Traveller” curriculum would be useful for the millions of students who will forget most of their language instruction after receiving caps and gowns? The curriculum could include engaging online language learning videos, such as the BBC’s “Mi Vida Loca,” which “takes you on an intrigue mystery adventure to Madrid and beyond in 22 episodes, [in about] 10 min each, covering basic learning points for Spanish absolute beginners.” I watched each episode as part of supplemental language lessons suggested by mi maestra de español fabulosa [my fabulous Spanish teacher], Lucy Cantellano Gallina.

Perhaps the “How to be a World Traveller” curriculum could also include one-semester courses in targeted languages, with a goal of preparing students to be expert users of translation devices, such as smart phone apps. Not only would students be exposed to a variety of gadgets, they would be instructed in recognizing when queries produce flawed responses. For example, at the end of the first paragraph of this post I wanted to use a Spanish expression for “oh well.” BabelXL gave me “bueno,” and Google translate suggested “oh bien.” I know enough Spanish to recognize that “bueno” is “good,” and while “bien” is most often used for “well,” “oh” is not Spanish!  Yo escribí a mi maestra de español para recibir una mejor traducción. (Put that in an online translator and see what you get!) She replied, “Hmm, it’s hard, because we don’t use an expression at the end of something (conversation or situation) that did not work out the way we expected it to.” That’s the type of cultural context the “How to be a World Traveller” curriculum should impart. Another example: the curriculum could inform students that “Sapo verde! Que te la pases bien!” posted to my Facebook page is slang for “Happy Birthday! Have a good one,” instead of the “green toad, may it pass you well” translation delivered by BabelXL.

Being the fan of science fiction that I am, I’ll end by noting that all of the above will one day be irrelevant when we develop injectable translator microbes. In the meantime and in-between times [as a student used to say to me], we should experiment with established teaching and learning practices.