Lakers Ready

Division of Academic Affairs

January 22, 2024

Lakers Ready is sent by the Office of the Provost
to faculty and staff within the Division of Academic Affairs

In this issue of Lakers Ready

Laker to Laker: Message from the Provost

Dear Colleagues,

I frequently share the very consistent feedback that I hear from every external evaluation team who came to help us review, assess, and improve our programs. Indeed, in the last three semesters, we have hosted more than thirty external teams for graduate and undergraduate programs. These teams are composed by senior faculty and administrators who run similar programs, and who have been doing site visits of programs around the country. They get access to the very detailed self-study reports prepared by our faculty and typically spend two days on campus visiting our facilities and meeting with faculty, staff, and students.

Invariably, the one thing I hear from every team, the one thing they comment on first and single out as most striking, is the level of care and attention faculty give to their students.  One of the teams visiting a College of Health Professions program said, “we have been doing site visits for 30 years, we have not seen anywhere else this quality of care and attention from faculty to their students or this level of individualized time commitment.” The last visit we had was last week for the graduate educational leadership program in the College of Education and Community Innovation. Again, the first thing the visitors said was how impressed they were by how much “students feel seen and heard.” Count on education specialists to put it so beautifully and so pithily: “Students here feel seen and heard.”  No student at GVSU is viewed as a stranger. This is the essence of an empowered education. It starts with an empowering faculty and staff. Faculty and staff who see every student, who listen to every student, hear them, and care passionately about their growth and development. Thank you, colleagues, for making GVSU the very special place that it is.  We strive every day to make sure that you feel seen, heard, appreciated, and cared for.

Have a great week everyone and I hope to see you at the town halls.

Fatma

Townhalls

Provost Fatma Mili and Vice Presidents Jenny Hall-Jones and B. Donta Truss will host a series of Townhall meetings around the topics of student access and student success.

These Townhalls will be an opportunity for listening to faculty and staff views and experiences and for sharing the many initiatives planned and underway to adapt to the changing student populations and assets. Please see messages about student success that were shared in previous Laker to Laker columns. In addition, the Winter 2024 Census Reports were issued last week including the Fall-to-Winter Retention report.

We hope to see many of you. Sessions are scheduled:

Join us in honoring the outstanding contributions of our faculty at the Faculty Awards Convocation scheduled February 15, 4:00 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

University awards recognize outstanding achievements in teaching excellence, scholarly contributions that advance the professions and benefit society, mentorship that guides students successfully on their academic journey, and dedication to service to our University and the broader community.

Over the next three weeks, we will feature our award recipients. Below are those that will be honored with a University Award for Excellence. 

Glenn A. Niemeyer Award

University Outstanding Teacher Award

Distinguished Contribution in a Discipline Award

Outstanding University Service Award

Outstanding Community Service Award

Outstanding Academic Advising and Student Services Award

Internationalization Award

For the complete list of Faculty Award recipients, please visit the Faculty Awards Convocation website.

Updates

Nominate a hardworking Administrative Professional (AP) colleague for this year's AP Awards. Nominations in these six categories are now open until 5:00 p.m. on February 16.

To learn more and to nominate an AP colleague, visit the AP Awards website.

The April Commencement ceremonies have been announced. For complete information about the ceremonies, visit the Commencement website. 

Friday, April 26 at 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 27 at 10:00 a.m.

Saturday, April 27 at 3:00 p.m.

Engaged Scholarship

Grace Coolidge, Professor of History, looks at illegitimacy across the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and analyzes the implications for gender and family structure in the Spanish nobility, arguing that the nobility's creative approach to illegitimate children and extra-marital sexuality strengthened their dynastic power. Click here to learn more about this book.

Events

As the 2023-2024 Distinguished Padnos Artist in Residence at Grand Valley State University, Kate Levy is producing work for her ongoing project, The Fate of the Machinery. The project engages with West Michigan manufacturers liquidated by her family's multigenerational industrial auction company. Levy will present an artistic lecture that delves into this foundational yet forgotten history on January 23, 7:00 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, Pew Grand Rapids Campus. The lecture includes special guest Kurt Reppart.

No policy debate is as deeply entwined with the concept of citizenship as that of immigration policy. The Common Ground Initiative will convene a bipartisan panel moderated by Hauenstein Center Director Megan Rydecki and featuring Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council, Theresa Cardinal Brown of the Bipartisan Policy Center, and David Bier of the Cato Institute, to assess the problems facing our immigration system and identify potential solutions. This event will take place on January 25, 6:00 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

Dean Jennifer Drake will offer reflections on leadership drawn from a journey through the transformative experiences that often go unnoticed on a traditional CV. Dean Drake will give her Laker Club Talk on February 1, 4:00 p.m., Laker Club, Allendale Campus. Join your colleagues for complimentary appetizers, beer, wine, and other beverages as we explore a variety of topics, perspectives, and ideas that empower us to form meaningful relationships and find common ground through impactful conversations in a relaxed and informal setting. RSVP your attendance plans.

Important Dates and Links

Previously Shared Events 
1/22 - Winter 2024 GVSU Curriculum Drop-In Session - 1:00 p.m., Zoom
1/23 - Student Success Series: Creating Cultures of Inclusion - 8:30 a.m., Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus
1/23 - Conversation with Dr. Mary Murphy & Faculty Teaching First-Year Students - 11:00 a.m., 2266 Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus
1/23 - Conversation with Dr. Mary Murphy & STEM+Health Faculty/Staff - 1:30 p.m., 2266 Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus
1/24 - Study Abroad Fair (New Date)- 10:00 a.m., Henry Hall Atrium, Padnos Hall of Science, Allendale Campus
1/24 - Townhall - 1:00 p.m., 2215/2216 Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus
1/25 - Bipartisan Policy Panel: Immigration - 6:00 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus
1/26 - Townhall - 2:00 p.m., Via Zoom
1/30 - Townhall - 3:00 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus
2/1 - Laker Club Talk: Dean Jennifer Drake - 4:00 p.m., Laker Club, Allendale Campus
2/2 - President's Ball - 6:00 p.m., DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2/15 - Faculty Awards Convocation - 4:00 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus
4/12 - Reach Higher Showcase - 4:00 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

Dates
2/16 - AP Award Call for Nominations Due
3/3-3/10 - Spring Break
4/20-4/27 - Exam Week
4/26-4/27 - Commencement Ceremonies 

Links
Lakers Ready - repository of this weekly newsletter and a link to submit content
Laker Family Network - repository of the monthly newsletter sent by the Division of Student Affairs to GVSU parents/supporters