This past year, I have sought to FaceTime with my 83-year old mother to the fullest extent possible and visit her in Vermont as often as I can. Diagnosed with early-stage dementia, she’s now in assisted living and struggling to navigate what she, and modern medicine, are powerless to reverse. Likely some of you reading this can relate. As I seek to avoid short-term memory required conversation (e.g., inquiring on what she did today), but rather focus on those things that have long given her joy (e.g., a smile, praising her energy “gene,” indulging our shared love for hiking, and always leaving her with something to look forward to), I find it makes us both feel better, and frankly, a closeness we hadn’t quite had in that way before. |
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Recently, I had another type of “moment.” The College of Education hosted 30 pre-school teachers for an ephemeral arts field trip, and I tagged along. These extraordinary educators spent time in nature (a walk around the pond behind 1600 Valley Road), creating “art” in what they found, crafting poetry from it, and engaging how nature’s canvas can be superbly valuable to children’s language development, vocabulary building, and authentic engagement. Whereas my role was simply passive observer, I found a whole world I did not know existed – the outlines of what was once clearly a farming community given stone walls and fences (here an example with a strand of barbed wire in the center of what is a more than 100-year-old tree). 1600 Valley Road had been to that point a story of a corporate headquarters sold to the University in 2000, and a building constructed in 1969. It is also a place adjacent to the ancestral homes of the Lenape people that had long inhabited the mountains behind.
As we prepare for the big push to the close of the semester, take a moment to reflect on how you’ve gained through discovery, perhaps from the natural environment, but for sure through others, and given the nature of our collective work, from students in particular. Regardless of our jobs, all of us are teachers, mentors, counselors, role models, and guides on the side. We become better at them all when we notice and discover.
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Commencement Attendance. For our students, and the family and friends who supported them, Commencement represents the achievement of what is likely one of the most consequential endeavors in life. It is right and proper that we join them in celebration. I invite you to attend and also to be honored for your important contribution to the University and our students. Here is a link to details and to RSVP. Information on free transportation and lunch at the Prudential Center is included when you RSVP.
Faculty Research and Grant Incentive Program. $50,000 in funding for faculty project expenses and stipends are available through this new program, supported from indirect funds received from previous external grants. All full-time faculty may apply. Early-career faculty (10 or fewer years at WP), as well as faculty with grant experience mentoring others on the project with little or no grant experience, are prioritized. Applications are due April 18. For more information, see this website.
Teaching and Learning Conference in May. As has become a tradition, the Center for Teaching Excellence will be sponsoring a set of virtual teaching and learning workshops in the week immediately following the end of the semester. Be watching for announcements, including information regarding the keynote presenter.
Important: Provide Your Input to the Various Strategic Planning and Branding Committees. April will be an important input-gathering month for the many committees and teams at work to help WP develop its Strategic Plan and to inform opportunities for building institutional distinction. Faculty and staff input is crucial. Please take the time to offer yours, either through an open session or a survey.
AASCU Excellent & Innovation Awards – Call for Proposals. The American Association of State Colleges & Universities (AASCU) Excellence & Innovation Awards recognize and honor AASCU institutions in their approach to addressing civic learning and community engagement, diversity, equity, and inclusion, international education, leadership development and diversity, and regional and economic development. Applications are due May 13. Please contact Associate Provost Sandy Hill if you have a project or initiative that you think would make for a strong application. Information on previous winners can be found here.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published a searchable database to see who different colleges and universities picked as “peers” through the IPEDS system as well as who picked them. Ostensibly, these are institutions that one pays particular attention to and/or that they believe are optimally comparable. The visual below shows all of the colleges and universities that identified William Paterson as a “peer.”
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The New Jersey public and privates who picked William Paterson are these:
- Montclair State University
- New Jersey City University
- Stockton University
- Kean University
- Fairleigh Dickinson University
- Felician University
- Berkeley College
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In honor of teachers everywhere, and at all levels, who stimulate curiosity in their students (from The Looking Book by P.K. Hallinan):
It wasn’t till later when dinner was cooking that Kenny and Mikey finally stopped looking. With lookers in hand and eyes big and round, they went in the house to tell what they’d found. “There were tree-things, and bee-things, and roses and weeds…small things and tall things and flowers with seeds…there were all kinds of new things, green, purple, and blue things.”
“There was so much to look at,” they said with a shout, “that first thing tomorrow, we’re going back out!”
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The Provost’s Office is Meg, Lissette, Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Kara, Sandy, and Josh. You can reach us at 973.720.2122 • provost@wpunj.edu
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