Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,
As my term as interim dean draws to a close, I want to thank you for all the ways you’ve helped Oxford continue to thrive. Together, we’ve taken time to reflect after the peak of the pandemic, reassess our priorities, and reinvigorate our community.
On August 1, Dr. Badia Ahad will officially become the next dean of Oxford College. Many of you were able to join us in person or via Zoom to meet her earlier this summer, so you know that she is an accomplished leader who is dedicated not only to student flourishing, but also to the growth and well-being of faculty and staff.
During my time as interim dean, we have focused on Oxford’s six core principles of belonging, care, accountability, learning, identity, and presence. We’ve also celebrated gratitude, which is what I feel for this community and the support you’ve given me over the last year.
Wishing you the very best,
Ken
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Submitting to Campus Update
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To submit items for Campus Update, please email Julia Kim. The newsletter is distributed weekly on Wednesday. Please submit items by Monday afternoon.
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Oxford Communications is featuring a staff member each week to help us get to know our colleagues. To nominate a staff colleague to answer our five-question profile for publication in future issues, please contact [email protected]. You can also nominate yourself!
NAME: Rob Bobowski
TITLE/DEPT: Assistant Director Goizueta at Oxford — Academic Affairs
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How long have you been at Oxford?
I have been at Oxford and Goizueta for almost 5 months. My primary role is to serve as the connection point and liaison between the Goizueta Business School BBA Program and Oxford College. I also provide academic advising support for Oxford general education requirements as well as Goizueta Business School BBA major and Emory College business minor requirements.
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What do you like best about your job and about Oxford?
The students are why I am here. I thoroughly enjoy the conversations I have with them and the questions that they ask. Oxford's environment and campus layout is perfect for providing opportunities to have those conversations.
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What is your favorite song/tv show/movie/restaurant/podcast?
Song: Anything by The Avett Brothers. TV Show: The Last Kingdom. Movie: Fight Club. Restaurant: Mellow Mushroom. Podcast: Revisionist History.
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What makes you happy or brings you joy?
Any time I can just spend time with my family brings me happiness. I also love to play Ultimate. I have a disc in my office if you want to throw!
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Please complete this sentence: It might surprise people to know that I...
...never traveled internationally, yet.
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Bamba Ndiaye, Assistant Professor of African Studies, is organizing the First Edition of the Dakar Publishing and Grant Writing Academy from July 27-29 at the West African Research Center (WARC) in Dakar, Senegal, with the generous support of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers and West African Research Association. The academic endeavor will target graduate students and junior faculty from public universities in Senegal and The Gambia. The Publishing and Grant Writing Seminar will be an annual event organized in collaboration with universities on the African continent.
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Tien Chih, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, coauthored a paper titled, “A Search for Champion Boxers". This paper will be awarded the Carl B. Allendoerfer Award at Math Fest next week. This is an award for excellence in expository writing, specifically for the journal Mathematics Magazine. You can read the paper here, and a mention of the article here.
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Colleagues,
I am delighted to announce the hiring of two exceptional individuals from within the CHL who have consistently demonstrated their dedication and passion for our campus community. Please join me in congratulating Jose Cueva and Zachary Breathwaite on their well-deserved appointments to their new roles!
Firstly, I am thrilled to share that Jose has been named the Assistant Director of Campus Recreation, effective as of last Wednesday. As Assistant Director, Jose will be responsible for overseeing the recreation team, which includes intramurals, club sports, group fitness, aquatics, and larger-scale campus events. His previous role as Sports Information Coordinator and his background as a former student and basketball team member have prepared him exceptionally well to lead and support our diverse range of recreational activities.
Secondly, I am pleased to announce Zach's appointment as the Intramural Coordinator, effective July 31. Zach's journey within the CHL also has been years in the making, from being a dedicated student and basketball team member to a former facilities assistant and, most recently, a graduate assistant for the CHL. As Intramural Coordinator, he will oversee the intramural program, Bike Oxford, and related work study needs.
Both Jose and Zach have proven their dedication, expertise, and ability to make a positive impact on our campus community, and we are excited to see them step into their new responsibilities.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about how you can support our new Assistant Director and Intramural Coordinator in their endeavors, please feel free to reach out to me directly.
Once again, congratulations to Jose and Zach!
Amanda Yu-Nguyen, Director of Center of Healthful Living
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Dear Staff and Faculty,
I'm writing with the sad news that Christopher (Chris) Widmer, died on Sunday, July 23rd after dealing with illnesses over the course of the last few years. Chris left Oxford a couple of years ago after working as the Parking Coordinator in our Auxiliary Operations department here for just under a decade.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 29 at 2:00 p.m. at Faith Baptist Church, 1789 Highway 11NW, Monroe, Georgia. You can learn more by accessing his obituary at this link.
Please keep the Widmer family in your thoughts and/or prayers.
Lyn Pace, College Chaplain
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Office Name Change — Student Involvement, Leadership, & Transition (SILT)
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Startiing in 2014, the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership (SIL) has expanded from a team of two to a team of seven, representing seven different functional areas under Campus Life. Effective August 1, the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership (SIL) will be known as the Office of Student, Involvement, Leadership, and Transition (SILT). This is an exciting change for us because the new name will better reflect our expanded functional areas and offerings. Please see the graphic below for our functions and contact Veronica Roman with any questions.
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University Research Committee Grants & Fulbright Scholar
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With financial help from the Tarbutton Leadership Fellows program, EXP Summer Impact Grants from the Office of Academic Affairs, and the Faculty Development Committee, Jack Hardy, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, presented at the 12th International Corpus Linguistics Conference 2023 in Lancaster, England with three students: Savannah Brown, Rose Delony, and Lydia King (who participated virtually). Lydia and Rose compared the writing of 150 Milestone projects to a large general corpus of Oxford College student writing, examining how undergraduate writing balances between information and reflection. Savannah presented a study on community building discourses on Twitter around Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). She collected a corpus of tweets that used the hashtags #Autism and #ActuallyAutistic to better understand the experiences of people with ASD. Please enjoy these photos from the trip.
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Oxford Organic Farm News Story
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The Emory News Center recently did a story that featured the Oxford Organic Farm. To read it, click here.
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Convocation
William's Gym | 7:00 p.m.
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To submit a news item for the next Campus Update, please email Julia Kim.
The newsletter is distributed weekly on Wednesday. Please submit items by Monday afternoon.
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