President’s Sabbatical: APPLY SOON (Dec. 1 Deadline; only for Full-Time Faculty Members)

Skull

Feeling a little stressed?

Need a break?

Been here five years or more?

APPLY FOR THE PRESIDENT’S SABBATICAL!

(in two easy steps)

The deadline is December 1, 2013.

Only Full-Time Faculty Members can apply

To apply, complete the following:

  • Form 105-100
    • with the provost’s signature
  • A 1,000-word statement
    • describing how you would use your sabbatical for your professional development or to serve the college and/or our students

That’s all!

The members of the Personnel Services Committee will review all proposals and offer recommendations to Dr. Templin.

Dr. Templin will choose the winners in the spring.

Upon your return from sabbatical, you will present your work, findings, whatever to the faculty at the College Convocation.

Send your application to Assoc. Dean Jami Yazdani (jyazdani@nvcc.edu), head of the Personnel Services Committee, by December 1st!

Have questions? Need help putting your idea on paper? – Contact Steph Sareeram, AL’s faculty representative on Personnel Services, at (703) 845-6015 or ssareeram@nvcc.edu.

A CETL Event: A Presentation by Dr. Elise Labbé

 CETL

The Mindfulness in Teaching Faculty Learning Community (FLC) of

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Invites you to a special open meeting of the FLC

 

A Presentation by Dr. Elise Labbé

Author of Psychology, Moment by Moment

 

Wednesday, November 6th  

12 pm to 1:30 PM

Annandale Campus CS 238

Please Register for this event here

 

Dr. Elise Labbé, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL and clinic director of the USA Psychological Clinic.  She has published numerous research papers in clinical and health psychology and presents at national and international conferences.  Labbé,  has earned several awards including the Phi Kapppa Phi Scholar of the Year Award, the Orurobors Award, Who’s Who in Biobehavioral Sciences, and university excellence in teaching and service awards.  She is the editor in chief of Journal of Sport Behavior and is on the editorial of Journal of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, and has been invited to review a number of clinical and health psychology journals.

 

Labbé teaches and researches mindfulness and has practiced meditation for over thirty years.

 

She is currently co-authoring a book chapter on mindfulness, You Tube, and the brain with Dr. Andrée E. C. Betancourt,  Adjunct Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Theater and Film at Northern Virginia Community College.

2014 Power Up your Pedagogy Conference Registration Continues

Colleagues – – Registration Continues!

Power Up Your Pedagogy
(PUP)

The Ninth Annual Power UP your Pedagogy (PUP) Conference is OPEN FOR REGISTRATION!  All Faculty and Professional Staff are cordially invited.

It is an online registration—Just click on this link.
http://www.nvcc.edu/faculty-and-staff/teaching-support/cetl/conference.html
And then on the Registration Tab.

(Faculty relaxing in the 2013 conference lounge)

Faculty

PUP is an exciting, award-winning, professional development conference that brings all NOVA faculty together.  PUP is YOUR conference presented by YOUR colleagues. You will leave with amazing new insights about the best teaching practices, the best teaching tips and tricks and the very best ideas about teaching and especially about teaching at NOVA! Cluster Meetings are also part of the conference.

The 2014 PUP 21st Century Teaching & Learning

January 8th and 9th on the Annandale Campus

Register Now!

We have reviewed some wonderful proposals and have exciting speakers for the conference. You will see the following:

  • Interactive peer presentations are at the heart of the conference.  You may choose to attend a variety of sessions such as:
    • Many interactive 45-minute breakout sessions
    • Dynamic two-hour workshops
    • Topical Interest Groups
    • Three important conference addresses highlight the conference. Learn from our leaders:
      • Dr. Robert Templin will give a welcoming address to open the conference
      • Robert Bausch, the 2013 NOVA SCHEV Award winner will give us his insights on teaching.
      • And,  continuing last year’s amazing success with a Second Day Plenary Speaker: Dr. Bryan Alexander, an educational futurist.
  • Also featured  this year:
    •  an Active Backchannel to make it your own conference:  A backchannel conversation is one that occurs concurrently with the main conference and gives voice to attendees.  Each can add content to the conference, comment on it as it progresses, and share inspirations from it.  Here are the PUP backchannels:
  • PUP twitter feed #PUP14.
  • A PUP blog page on which to enter comments as replies.
  • Whiteboards for your written and drawn comments
  • Face to face conversations in the PUP lounge area.
  • A Project Poster Presentation hosted by adjunct and fulltime faculty in the Gym
  • An exhibition of Learning Spaces of the Future
  • A Vendor Fair that lets you visit with representatives of companies dedicated to supporting education in the CE Forum
  • PUP has an important commitment to sustainability.   When you register you’ll be able to choose how you want to receive your program – in a printed format, or electronically.  You’ll also be able to print your individual conference schedule through the Conference Event Planner, just as soon as the program is finalized.  We’ll let you know.  (Printed programs will only be available to those who indicated they want one during the registration process.  They won’t be available at the conference.)

Every attempt is being made to be sure that everyone, even those who only attend Cluster Meetings, receives a lunch.   The lunches are the single largest expense for PUP.  In these tight economic times, it is imperative that we have an accurate count of those who wish lunch.   The only way to count YOU is by your registration.  You must register even if you only plan to attend the Cluster meetings.

 NOVA Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Student Spotlight: Eugene Malts

Eugene Malts

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE STUDENT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT

photo 1Where do I start? I remember how I was debating with myself concerning my future. It was summer in Russia. Meanwhile, I was sitting on the corner of the street in my hometown in Siberia. The debate was concerning my future life, to be exact, should I move to the USA or to stay where I belong, in Siberia? In this particular case, I believe my major experience is the immigration to the USA.

It is August of 2012, and I’m taking a placement test to measure my English language skills. The test placed me in an ESL class, where I belong.

During my ESL experience for almost 1.5 year, I’ve struggled and didn’t get any useful advice from surrounding me people due to limited English.

In my last level of the ESL, I realized something that will change my views, and an attitude towards the education.

My friends and I decided to open an interest group to gather those shy, inexperienced, and, you know, brilliant students all over the campus to help them adjust to American college system and, of course, improve their English. Obviously, our advisors made a crucial impact on our club. The most important thing is to believe that we can make it. Imagine the amateur group of students with noble spirits evolved into the established club. As the president, I’m learning how to lead and how to be a good role model for those, like me in the past, who is struggling.

I would never imagine that the idea was so successful and we built up a team, which is working hard to make sure our moral to help brilliant students’ works.

After a year and a half of hard work, I’m sitting in a college composition class debating on George Orwell’s works in my head. Did I mention that I finished struggling? No, I’m still struggling, learning more and believe that impossible could be possible. And there is a tip to a Good Samaritan: hard work always pays off.

 

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Izanne Zorin

DR. IZANNE ZORIN

BIOLOGY PROFESSOR

SCIENCE, BUSINESS, AND TECHNOLOGY DIVISION

ALEXANDRIA CAMPUS

GulfWarA long time ago I was a combat medic in the Army National Guard out of South Carolina. People find this interesting because I am a small person and a nerd – so it just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover. I appreciate my 7 years with the National Guard – I met wonderful people, had access to great equipment and had amazing experiences.  I enlisted to get the funding to complete my undergraduate degree, and the military did provide me with the GI Bill and other programs so that I graduated college with almost zero debt. While training as a non-commissioned officer, I met my husband of 20 years – so I can thank the Army for that too.

While deployed during the first Gulf war, my unit was tasked with running a hospital on a military base in Saudi Arabia. The photograph is of me in the ER with an Egyptian nurse, Adnan, who made friends with all of us (he also proposed marriage to almost all of us women medics). After seeing American and Iraqi soldiers and Saudi civilians with serious injuries and burns, I realized that we are all the same: when we are in pain or scared, we all need support and understanding regardless of our country of origin, race or religion. Although I haven’t been in the military for years now, I will always be grateful for that experience. Go Army!

Volunteer for PUP! You are needed!

PUP

  Power Up Your Pedagogy (PUP) 

needs your help!

Now in its 9th successful year, PUP continues to lead the way in sharing innovations in our teaching practices here at NOVA.

 This couldn’t happen without PUP Volunteers!

Three kinds of volunteers are needed.

  • Support Volunteers are needed for everything from set up to manning the registration desk to monitoring the breakout sessions to helping with lunch and lots more.
  • IT volunteers are really needed to support the presenters and other IT needs of the conference.
  • Photography volunteers.  Snap pictures with your phones or your cameras and upload those pictures to a photo site.

There is a place and a job and a time just for you.  Bring a friend and you’ll have twice the fun!

Click here to find the spot that is just right for you:   http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0449A9AB28A20-20141
The site is organized by day and time so you’ll easily understand your time commitment.

T-shirt 1T-shirt 2

If you have volunteered before, you’ll already have the nifty CETL fleece vest, or a really cool  long-sleeved “I’M IT at NOVA” shirt  given to all those who volunteer.  Support folks get the vest, IT folks get the Shirt.  If you haven’t volunteered before, we’ll get one for you this year.  Photography volunteers will get also get a special shirt!  (please email cetl@nvcc.edu and tell us you are a new volunteer and indicate what size vest or shirt is right for you.  All are MEN’s sizes,  from XS to XXL by November 11th).

NOVA Alexandria Graduation Preparation Program

Advising

As one of the programs for Academic Advising Week (November 4-8), the Alexandria Counseling Department is sponsoring a program for continuing students who are planning for their last semester at NOVA.   We will provide future graduates with important information so that they will understand how to:

  • Enroll in the correct classes for their final semester
  • Apply for NOVA graduation before the deadline
  • Purchase their caps/gowns
  • Apply for transfer before deadline(s)
  • Apply for financial aid for their intended transfer college(s)
  • Prepare for employment (resume, interview, etc.)

Balancing the completion of their last semester along with planning for life after NOVA can be a major challenge for some students.  Therefore, we are providing a panel presentation and Q&A for students who are planning to graduate in Spring 2014.   Students who are planning to graduate later but want to learn the information are also welcomed to attend.  Please consider encouraging the attendance of your students (particularly those classes with high enrollment of continuing students nearing degree completion).  

Program:           So You Think You Are Ready to Graduate?

                          Academic Advising Week

When:                Tuesday, November 5th, 2013

Time:                 12:30PM-1:30PM Panel

                          1:30PM-2:00PM Q&A

Where:               NOVA Alexandria Campus

                           Bisdorf AA-196

Student RSVP is not required but appreciated.  An email with a registration link was sent to all NOVA Alexandria Students.  It will be resent periodically throughout the week with other advertisements.

If you are also a faculty advisor who believes this information would be helpful for you, then please feel free to join us!  Participants include our Campus Registrar, Counselors-(Career, Transfer and Division), Campus Bookstore Manager, Satisfactory Academic Progress Advisor, and Financial Aid.

Flu Shot Clinic October 28th

CVS Pharmacy | Flu Shot Clinic


cvs31

CVS Pharmacy will hold a Flu Shot Clinic for employees and students at the Alexandria campus on October 28, 2013! The clinic is open to all employees who are COVA Care and COVA Health Aware participants.  Please bring your ID and insurance card.

 

Students and employees who do not have the COVA plans may still receive a flu shot for $31.99 out of pocket (check only please). Timeslots are available from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm in Bisdorf 158.

 

Walk ins are welcome but space is limited so please reserve your spot by signing up at: http://www.jooners.com/guest?l=b2d6eb23-4282-4de3-bd76-455231cc0eaf

Lyceum Event, “Religion, Politics, & Polarization”

Lyceum Event: “Religion, Politics, & Polarization”

Monday, 10-28-2013

12:30pm-1:45pm

Room AA-196 (Bisdorf Buidling) NOVA-Alexandria

(Maps and Directions: http://www.nvcc.edu/about-nova/maps-directions/alexandria/index.html)

 

Free and Open to ALL!

 

Title: “Religion, Politics, and Polarization: How Religiopolitical Conflict is Changing Congress and American Democracy.

 

By Professor and Author, Dr. Josiah Baker

  • Nimocks Professor of Business & Associate Professor of Finance and Economics at Methodist University, Fayetteville, NC
  • Adjunct Professor at Northern Virginia Community College

 

Dr. Baker is a co-author of Religion, Politics,and Polarization: How Religiopolitical Conflict Is Changing Congress and American Democracy, and will be discussing the book and answering questions on Monday.

 

More information on the book: Religion, Politics, and Polarization: How Religiopolitical Conflict Is Changing Congress and American Democracy Paperback

byWilliam V. D’Antonio (Author) ,Steven A. Tuch (Author) ,Josiah R. Baker (Author)

 

“Do the religious affiliations of elected officials shape the way they vote on such key issues as abortion, homosexuality, defense spending, taxes, and welfare spending? In Religion, Politics, and Polarization: How Religiopolitical Conflict is Changing Congress and American Democracy, William D’Antonio, Steven A. Tuch and Josiah R. Baker trace the influence of religion and party in the U.S. Congress over time. For almost four decades these key issues have competed for public attention with health care, war, terrorism, and the growing inequity between the incomes of the middle classes and those of corporate America. The authors examine several contemporary issues and trace the increasing polarization in Congress. They examine whether abortion, defense and welfare spending, and taxes are uniquely polarizing or, rather, models of a more general pattern of increasing ideological division in the U.S. Congress. By examining the impact of religion on these key issues the authors effectively address the question of how the various religious denominations have shaped the House and Senate. Throughout the book they draw on key roll call votes, survey data, and extensive background research to argue that the political ideologies of both parties have become grounded in distinctive religious visions of the good society, in turn influencing the voting patterns of elected officials.

http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Politics-Polarization-Religiopolitical-Democracy/dp/1442223979

 

Jack Lechelt, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
Northern Virginia Community College

JLechelt@nvcc.edu

Website: http://sites.google.com/site/jlechelt/

NOVA-AL Political Science Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalScienceNOVAAlexandria

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK 2013

Monday, 11/18      $$     

1:30-2:30PM   IEW Kick-Off – Invited will be local diplomats and the NOVA community

POC: Stacey Bustillos and Puryea Suphaphiphat

 

Student Presentations   $$

Partnerships between Community College Initiative Students and NOVA students on the Alexandria Campus (CCI) (maybe have student exhibits during the IEW Kick-Off)

POC: Amira, Christina

**Hallway outside of 193, 194, 195, and 196 has been requested.

 

3 PM   Maiti Nepal Discussion/Lecture with Dr. Reva Savkar and Dr. Robert Loser

POC: Twyla Jones

*Girl Rising (18 minute video) will be shown prior to presentation, if approved by Professors Savkar and Loser.

Presentation by Reva Sankar and Robert Loser on Maiti Nepal is an organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and stopping sex trafficking of Nepalese girls and women.

http://www.maitinepal.org/

Location: Corridor and AA 196 requested.

 

CONTACT:

For more information please contact Dr. Twyla Jones | twjones@nvcc.edu