[InFocus] In Focus 12/14/07

[su-infocus at southwestern.edu]

 IN FOCUS: December 14, 2007
 
* TOP NEWS *
	  	*CALENDAR*
CLASS USES CHOCOLATE TO HELP STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT TOPICS FROM 
ADVERTISING TO EVOLUTION
	  	*CAMPUS CALENDAR *

To view upcoming events at Southwestern by day, week or month, click 
here <http://www.southwestern.edu/sucalendar/main.php>.

College credit for tasting chocolate? It almost seems too good to be true.

But listen to Romi Burks talk about the course she has created, and you 
realize that she is quite serious.

Burks, an assistant professor of biology at Southwestern, has developed 
a course that uses chocolate as a model to help students learn about 
everything from different cultures to marketing and fair trade.

The course, titled "Multi-Chocolated: An Aesthetic, Historical and 
Scientific Journey into the Wonders of Chocolate," is one of 28 
"First-Year Seminars" offered to incoming students at Southwestern. The 
seminars are designed to be fun, yet at the same time expose students to 
important skills such as reading, writing, critical thinking, discussion 
and creativity.

Read the rest of the story here 
<http://www.southwestern.edu/cgi-bin/newsroom/article.cgi?id=55>.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOUTHWESTERN STUDENTS CONTINUE TO RANK ABOVE THEIR PEERS IN NATIONAL 
SURVEY OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

For the sixth year in a row, students at Southwestern have ranked above 
students at peer institutions -- and significantly above the national 
average -- when it comes to being engaged in their academic endeavors.

The findings come from the 2007 National Survey of Student Engagement 
(NSSE), which was sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the 
Advancement of Teaching and administered by the Indiana University 
Center for Survey Research.

The NSSE is given annually to first-year students and seniors. This is 
the sixth year that Southwestern has participated in the study. 
Forty-five percent of eligible Southwestern students responded to the 
2007 survey. Nationwide, about 298,000 students from 587 four-year 
colleges and universities participated in the survey.

The survey measures five areas that are associated with high levels of 
learning and development: level of academic challenge, active and 
collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching 
educational experiences, and supportive campus environment.

Read the rest of the story here 
<http://www.southwestern.edu/cgi-bin/newsroom/article.cgi?id=56>.

EVENTS
RECOGNITION CEREMONY FOR SUMMER AND DECEMBER GRADUATES DEC. 16

The recognition ceremony for summer 2007 and December 2007 graduates 
will be held Dec. 16 in the Lois Perkins Chapel. The ceremony will begin 
at 2 p.m.

MEDIA COVERAGE

The /Austin American-Statesman/ ran an item about Kiyoshi Tamagawa 
playing at Carnegie Hall.

The /Williamson County Sun/ ran a feature story on students from SEAK 
who went to the Power Shift 2007 conference in Washington, D.C.

NOTABLES

*Edward L. Kain*, professor of sociology and University Scholar, 
presented a lecture and co-led a workshop at Rutgers University Dec. 10. 
His presentation was titled "Fruitful Partnerships between Faculty and 
Librarians - the Integration of Information Literacy into the Sociology 
Curriculum." It was part of a half-day workshop for the Rutgers 
University Libraries titled "Information Literacy in the Disciplines: 
The Sociology Experience." Participants included subject librarians from 
the libraries at Rutgers, selected faculty in sociology, and several 
administrators involved with undergraduate education and teaching 
excellence. The workshop was co-presented with Triveni Kuchi, Social 
Sciences/Instructional Services and South Asia Librarian. This workshop 
is one result of a two-year collaboration with the American Library 
Association/ ACRL / Anthropology and Sociology Section Instruction and 
Information Literacy Committee. Near the beginning of the collaboration, 
Kain worked with *Joan Parks*, head of Reference Services in the Smith 
Library Center, to develop a set of materials about collaboration 
between faculty and librarians on issues of information literacy.

*Max Taub*, associate professor of biology, is the co-author of a paper 
that will be published in a forthcoming issue of /Global Change 
Biology/. In the paper, he and co-authors Brian Miller and Holly Allen 
analyze data on the effects of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on the 
protein content of food crops. They conclude that the protein content of 
many crops (paticularly wheat, rice, barley and potatoes) is likely to 
decline given the increase in CO2 over the 21st century. The paper can 
be found online at
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01511.x

LAST ISSUE OF IN FOCUS FOR THIS YEAR
This will be the last issue of In Focus published in 2007. Publication 
will resume after the holiday break. Happy Holidays from the In Focus 
staff -- Ellen Davis, Katy Boose and Kalie Trueper! 	  	 

-- 
Katy Boose
Editorial Coordinator
Southwestern University
1001 E. University Ave.
Georgetown, TX 78626
512-863-1487
boosek at southwestern.edu
www.southwestern.edu

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.southwestern.edu/pipermail/su-infocus/attachments/20071213/db6fd66b/attachment.htm