October 27, 2011

Town Hall meetings with Dr. Harrison scheduled

President Harrison invites you to attend one or both upcoming Town Hall Meetings, as announced at In-Service Day. The meetings will be an open format question and answer session with the President, so gather up your questions, concerns, and comments and come to the Conference Center Ballroom (WD 435) on either:

Tuesday, November 1, from
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. or
Wednesday, November 2,
from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

President Harrison on radio Sunday morning

Dr. David Harrison spent part of this morning at the Ohio Farm Bureau offices downtown where he took part in a radio roundtable discussion for the bureau’s weekly “Town Hall Ohio” public affairs program.

The one-hour show is broadcast on 11 radio stations around the state. Ohio’s employment market was the topic this week. Joining Dr. Harrison was Bruce Madson, Director of Employment Services, Department of Job and Family Services, and Dan Navin of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. Joe Cornely is the host. Locally, the program will air this Sunday morning, Oct. 30, at 7:00 a.m. on 610 WTVN-AM.

Walk for suicide prevention

More than 100 Columbus State students, faculty and staff walked in the October 23 Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk.  International Student Association members joined them. Shown carrying the Columbus State banner are, from left, Cinthia Rodriguez, Erika Santolalla, ISA president, Michael Schumacher, ISA advisor, Tristan Phommarath, Samantha Swope, ISA vice-president, Eric Neubauer, ISA advisor, and Lilia Bermudez, ISA advisor.

English Department hosts regional conference

Three presenters at the annual Two Year College English conference were, from left: Rebecca Fleming Safa, English Department, Holly Finnegan and Tracy Koski, Developmental Education.

The English Department recently hosted the annual conference of the Midwest affiliate of the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), an organization dedicated to promoting the teaching and study of English in the first two years of college.

More than 200 people from 14 states attended the conference, held at the Columbus State Conference Center October 13-15. The conference featured more than 50 concurrent sessions on topics such as digital literacy, assessment of student writing, developmental and ESL composition, service learning, and ethnographic writing.

Featured speakers included Ohio State’s Cynthia Selfe, who encouraged two-year teacher-scholars to conduct and share research on students’ literacy practices, and Harvard’s Nancy Sommers, who presented research on community-college students’ responses to teachers’ written commentary.

Associate Professor of English Ingrid Emch served as Program Chair for the conference.  Deborah Bertsch, also Associate Professor of English, served as Local Arrangements Chair.  More than 20 full- and part-time faculty members from the English Department volunteered to assist with the conference planning. 

In addition, the following faculty and staff from across campus shared their expertise by presenting at the conference:  Steve Abbott, Tyler Abrams, Judith Anderson, Sarah Armstrong, Don Bruce, Virginia Duym, Holly Finnegan, Alec Fleschner, Tracy Koski, Nick Lakostik, Pam Lasure, Robyn Lyons-Robinson, Rebecca Fleming Safa, Emily Pucker, Christopher Smith, Barb Thompson, MJ Willow, and Mike Wright. 

Leeman’s works on exhibit

Stacy Leeman, adjunct faculty in the Humanities, will exhibit her paintings in two art shows this fall.  Two will be on display at the National Juried Small Works Show at Windsor Whip Works Art Center in Windsor, New York from December 3-January 14, and another will be on display at the 12" x 12" exhibition at the Art Center in Highland Park, Illinois from November 4-December 17.

California blackout doesn’t stop conference presentation

Bowers continues with his presentation in the dark during a statewide blackout last month in California.

In spite of a statewide blackout in California last month, Michael Bowers, district director of  Columbus State’s Ohio Small Business Development Center, continued with his presentation at the annual conference in San Diego—minus the PowerPoint!

Bowers presented “Build Your SBDC With Social Media” at the Association of Small Business Development Centers 31st Annual Conference at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. Recognized as an early adopter of social media, Bowers was invited to share his success in using these online platforms to engage the local small business community, increase client consulting, quality of client activity, and the promotion and attendance of training events.

While the original workshop was intended to utilize the internet and demonstrate how the SBDC is using social media for its growth and daily interactions with clients, the power outage took the presentation back to basics allowing for a more interactive, intimate discussion minus the visual aids.  

There are 1,300 SBDCs across the U.S. and 41 in the State of Ohio encompassing four areas of specialization; Core SBDC, Manufacturing and Technology, International Trade, and Latino. The SBDC at Columbus State includes all four specialties. This allows for small businesses in Central Ohio to receive seamless counseling and advisory assistance regardless of their business type or need. Columbus State is the only location in the U.S. that hosts all four SBDC Assistance Centers under one roof.