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December 1, 2006

Faculty present paper at AACU conference

Two ULM faculty recently presented a paper to the Association of American Colleges and Universities while at the national conference at the McCormick Place in Chicago Nov. 9 – 12.

The AACU is a national organization with liberal arts college roots that has extended into the comprehensive and the research institutions of higher learning. It hosts several conferences a year.

Jeff Galle, head of ULM’s English department, and Jo Galle, director of assessment, appeared at this conference for deans, provosts and other administrators from across the nation who discuss current issues in higher education. The keynote addresses included that of the president of the Carnegie Institute.

The conference theme was "Faculty Work and the New Academy: Evolving Roles and Emerging Challenges." Administrators were there to discuss and debate how the academy has changed for the better and the worse and how this generation of faculty find challenges and successes in their workload as they seek to find and/or create a positive identity at the university.

The paper that was authored by two ULM faculty, refereed by the selection committee, and accepted for presentation proposed to summarize and discuss four ways that initiatives at ULM in English and Assessment have helped to accomplish this.

The topics in this presentation, entitled "Who are the New Faculty in the New Academy: English Department and Assessment Office Invite Change" included: professionalizing the instructor ranks; connecting faculty and students in new ways to the community through service learning projects; generating departmental income for faculty and departmental projects through royalty publications; and incorporating writing assessment into the development of the new learning model.

“The response to the presentation was very good with several universities seeking further information,” Jeff Galle said. “One university plans to send a team to ULM in the semester to study how we professionalize the instructor ranks and generate departmental income.”

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