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Faculty and Staff Newsletter

April 17, 2009University of Houston-Downtown

Group identifies ideas to boost UHDstudent success

UHD’s Achieving the Dream Commit-tee and Center for Public Deliberation presented the results of the center’s Dialogue-to-Action Circles at a community meeting of more than 60 people April 8 and chose four ideas to implement through action committees.

“The turn-out for this event was fantas-tic. The turn-out demonstrates that there is a strong will on the part of the UHD community to work together to help more students succeed at UHD,” said Windy Lawrence, associate professor of Commu-nication Studies and director of the Center for Public Deliberation. “We want to form collaborative relationships that build on the strengths of all of UHD and talk about what we can all be giving or doing better.”

The Dialogue-to-Action Circles met as four teams over several weeks discussing the issues impacting student success and assembling a list of 16 ideas for the com-munity to consider. The process involved students, faculty, staff, and community members who used an electronic voting system to identify these action items:

• Establish more relationships with pro-fessional career organizations.

• Expand resources and services to accommodate the diverse population of students admitted through open enroll-ment.

• Expand the scope of University Ad-vancement.

• Create a student lounge.

“As a result of this forum, we have built four strong Implementation Teams. The Implementation Teams will be meeting very specific goals, including meeting three times before December of 2009,” Lawrence said.

“Over the next six months they will re-

UHD honored outstanding faculty members at the 2009 Faculty Awards Ceremony April 7 for their dedication to excellence and for their accomplish-ments in teaching, service and scholar-ship/creative activity.

Excellence in Teaching

Poonam Gulati, associate professor of biology in the College of Sciences and Technology, and Chuck Jackson, assis-tant professor of English in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, were selected co-winners of the Excellence in Teaching Award.

Gulati is the microbiology program coordinator. Her research interests are in microorganisms growing on biofilms and their antibiotic resistance, sea-

sonal variation of microorganisms in a wetland, and the effects of stress on the immune system. She includes her stu-dents directly in research to give them hands-on experience in the field. Gulati also received the award in 2003.

“We should listen to what they (students) want and try to find ways to make their dreams come true,” Gulati said. “We should seize every opportu-nity to teach them inside and outside the classroom. We should cheer them on and give them the knowledge and confidence to succeed.”

Jackson teaches U.S. literature after 1865, African-American literature, criti-cal theory, film and cultural studies and prison studies.

UHD awards ceremony recognizes outstanding faculty achievements

Faculty Award recipients are from left, Chuck Jackson, assistant professor of English in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Anjoo Sikka, associate professor of education in the College of Public Service; Poonam Gulati, associate professor of biology in the College of Sciences and Technology, and Andre de Korvin, professor of mathematical science in the College of Sciences and Technology. Jackson and Poonam are co-recipients of the Excellence in Teaching Award, Sikka received the Service Award and de Korvin received the Scholarship and Creative Activity Award.

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Windy Lawrence, associate professor of Communication Studies and director of the Center for Public Deliberation, moderates the Achieving the Dream/Center for Public Deliberation discussion of ideas to improve UHD student success.

Resources, career relationships, lounge top listcruit more people to their teams to reflect the necessary diversity to make the best decisions, they will determine the appro-priate decision-makers that they will need to work with to accomplish the action item, they will write a proposal directed at the appropriate decision makers, and they will set up a meeting to determine what is possible moving forward.”

The team coordinators are: Steve Markert, professional career organiza-tions; Jemma Sylvester-Caesar, resources

and services; Mick Johnson, University Advancement, and Lourdes Ledesma, student lounge.

The teams are seeking additional participants. Interested individuals may contact the team coordinator for informa-tion.

“I think we are moving into a really exciting phase because we will see what thoughtful deliberation, determination and heart can make possible at UHD,” Lawrence said.

Holocaust survivor Cengage Publishing sponsored the visit of Dr. John Stoessinger, Distinguished Professor of Global Diplomacy at the University of San Diego, who discussed the plight of his family as they fled the Holocaust. He conducted a lecture to some 150 students, faculty and staff March 26. On hand for a Brown Bag Lunch were from left seated, Janlyn Reed, Cengage Publishing; Aaron Gillette, His-tory; Stoessinger; Leena Thacker-Kumar, Political Science, and David Branham, Political Science, as well as from left standing, Dawn McCarty, Social Work; Yvonne Kendall, Music; Greg Getz, Sociol-ogy; Anita Chadha, Political Science; Adolfo Santos, Political Science and Chair of the Department of Social Sciences; Joseph Schlichting, Political Science; and Brian Hickman, Cengage Publishing.

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UHD’s Community Involvement Center (CIC) will finish up the spring with a range of activities for staff and student volun-teers:

Earth Day Festival will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 22 in conjunction with the Campus Sustainability Council. CIC will have local farmers markets on campus, exhibits, demonstrations, live music and giveaways to celebrate Earth Day.

March for Babies will be April 26 and include a UHD walk team benefiting the March of Dimes. More information is available at www.marchforbabies.org. The walk will begin at 9 a.m. at the University of Houston’s Robertson Stadium. The UHD team is still accepting walkers for the event. Team supporters who can’t walk can make an online donation at http://www.marchforbabies.org/teams/574421. The March of Dimes mission is to im-prove the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

CIC will conduct a Books-for-Africa Book Drive April 20- May 15. Volunteers and staff will sort the donated books and ship them to children in Africa through the Books for Africa organization. The goal is to address the shortage of books and the need for education in African coun-tries. A book drop box will be available in Room 204-South.

CIC and the College of Business are gearing up in support of Lemonade Day on Sunday, May 3. Lemonade Day is designed to teach kids the skills they need to be successful in the future. Youth set up lemonade stands and through that process learn basic business principles as well as give back to the community.

Call the CIC at 713-221-8682 for infor-mation on these activities.

International Business Association student volunteers will volunteer at the Houston I-Fest with the Houston Sister Cities Association April 18-19 and April 25 -26. The volunteers will be at the Sister Cities Tent.

UHD makesa difference in the community