New faculty and administrators in key roles
were in place to start the academic year at Southwestern College, and
administrators are delighted with the energy and credentials the new
personnel add. Administrators:
Gina Kimble is the new director of campus life at Southwestern
College. She began duties at the main Winfield campus July 8 and supervised
the renovation of the new Office of Campus Life in the lower level of
the Roy L. Smith Student Center. Kimble previously served as program
advisor for the Union Program Council at Kansas State University where
she completed a master's degree in college student personnel services.
Todd Moore
has been named director of admission at Southwestern College and will
oversee the college's recruitment efforts for traditional and graduate
students. Moore has comes to SC from St. Mary's College in Leavenworth
and also has led admission efforts at Avila College and Phillips University.
Charles Kater has been named the
Southwestern College associate dean of professional studies and SC Online.
Kater began duties in mid-August out of the college's east Wichita professional
studies site. Kater holds a Ph.D. in industrial education with an emphasis
in management and adult education from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
He has extensive experience with Web-based teaching and learning and
with the effective use of interactive video. In his position at Southwestern,
Kater will oversee the academic integrity of the college's professional
studies majors and SC Online.
Margaret Robinson has accepted the
position of director of college services. She had served as the college's
director of financial aid since 1988. " The vacancy created by Robinson's
move has been filled by
Brenda Hicks, who had been the college's
director of admission for six years.
Darrell Johnson has joined the Southwestern
College staff as general manager for Sodexho dining services. He replaces
former manager Craig Ernsting, who was transferred to Branson, Mo. Jones
had been the food service manager for Great Western Dining Services
for seven years before coming to SC.
New Faculty:
Richard
Cowlishaw, visiting assistant professor of biology, will teach plant
botany, microbiology, as well as language arts and sciences courses.
He has been a graduate teaching fellow in marine biology at the University
of Oregon, a graduate research fellow at South Slough National Estuarine
Research Reserve, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala, where he
was a conservation extension agent. Cowlishaw holds a Ph. D. in marine
biology.
Tom Jacobs, professor of computer
science and communications, brings 26 years of teaching experience in
communication, multimedia, and computer science from Marycrest International
University, Davenport, Iowa. Jacobs chairs the new academic division
of computer science and communications at SC and will oversee the college's
Center for Academic Technology, which helps integrate technology in
student curriculum.
Michael Wood, visiting assistant
professor of business and finance, holds a bachelor's degree in theological
studies and an MBA in operations management and organizational behavior
from the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. He will teach
management finance classes at both graduate and undergraduate levels.
Trinidy Williams, assistant professor
of theatre design, will instruct SC's technical theatre students. She
graduated from Indiana University with a master of fine arts degree
in theatre, and holds a bachelor of arts degree in theatre. Williams
taught courses on lighting design, theatre appreciation, scenic design,
and stagecraft at Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, Ind.
Tod Megredy, instructor in journalism
and mass communications, was formerly the managing editor and reporter
for the Winfield Daily Courier before becoming a computer information
specialist and adjunct faculty member at SC. He will oversee the journalism
department as well as the Collegian newspaper and Moundbuilder yearbook.
Megredy will be working closely with the mass communications department
to update technology.
Lynne Snyder, visiting instructor
in education, has a one-year appointment to teach elementary education.
She holds a master of education degree in educational psychology and
a school psychologist certification from Wichita State University. Snyder
has extensive experience in child psychology and is currently a Cowley
County Special Services Cooperative school psychologist.
Unplug
That Laptop: SC Opens Academic Year Wireless
Southwestern's state-of-the-art technology
took another step forward during the summer with the addition of wireless
networking capabilities to all academic and common spaces on campus.
The wireless capability complements the
college's commitment to laptop learning on the main campus: As of this
fall, all but a few of the main campus's undergraduate students will
be issued laptop computers. Only a few fifth-year seniors will not have
the laptops.
The first in a multi-state region to make
the laptops universally available on campus, the college also is the
first wireless main campus in a multi-state region.
Bob Jewell '77 was instrumental in making
the wireless campus a reality. Head of the board of trustees technology
and facilities committee, Jewell was part of a team from his company
(Network Services Inc.) that installed the wireless transmitters.
The crew installed 40 wireless connections
throughout campus, making every academic and common area accessible
to the laptops with wireless cards. The system works much like a cellular
phone system: As a laptop moves out of one transmitter's coverage area,
it moves into the coverage area for another transmitter.
Still, Jewell cautioned faculty attending
a first-of-year meeting not to put excessive emphasis on the wireless
tool.
"It's only a little bit of competitive
advantage," he told the gathered professors. "The real value is in how
you instructors use the technology to get students to learn.
"It's just another tool."
"Distinctive
Excellence" Goal of New Computer Program
Tom Jacobs is clear in what he wants to
do as he begins his new role as head of the computer science and communications
division.
"We are going to create a program of distinctive
excellence," he says, "one that will enhance what is already in place."
The new division was created this year
with a redesign of the computer science major, and brought the computer
science, mass communications, speech, English, and language faculty
into a single division. As it evolves, computer science is expected
to bring an art-based major back into the catalog in the form of a digital
arts major.
Jacobs, who had been a faculty member
at Marycrest International University for 26 years, was chosen to head
the redesign and realignment of the existing and new majors. It's a
role he's played before as technology and mass communications fields
have changed over the years, designing a communications major for the
college, then redesigning the program to create a multi-media major,
and later, a graphic communications major. Southwestern, while offering
a similar challenge in program building, has the advantage of already
having program basics in place.
The result, Jacobs hopes, will be an enhanced
computer science program that is both academically sound and attractive
to the market. The secret will be integrating the communications element
into the technology, he says. "We're not necessarily going for pointless
gee-whiz effects," Jacobs says. "When it comes to digital arts we need
to have solid graphic design principals, but we're focusing on content
and communications." This is why Jacobs finds the future of computer
science and communications at Southwestern so appealing. "I've built
programs from scratch, and I know the pitfalls and pratfalls of doing
that. Here the computer side of the program will be built almost from
scratch, but the scratch that is here is communications-based," he says.
"We can create a program that will be unique."
