A warm welcome to all faculty, staff, and students as we begin the new 2018-2019 academic year.

I hope you found time to relax and refresh over the summer. Some may think that summer is a slow time in higher education, but they would be wrong—slower perhaps, but definitely not slow!

Brooks College Spring/Summer enrollment reached a record high with a 16.8% increase in student credit hours over SS 2017. Thanks to all faculty and staff who rallied to the call to increase GVSU’s Spring/Summer course offerings. The Meijer Center for Writing & Michigan Authors supported all these students with their writing needs. The Padnos International Center stayed in constant communication with the 24 GVSU faculty-led study abroad trips to distant parts of the globe, including our own Honors Ghana Service Learning Program, Honors Haiti Service Learning Program led by Peter Wampler and Kelly McDonell, Namibia Program led by Steeve Buckridge, and France Program led by Anne Caillaud.

The Spring/Summer months found the Allendale campus buzzing with new first-year students meeting with faculty and staff advisors and hoping for that perfect schedule during the 40 orientation sessions held for incoming first-year students. Thanks to Roger Gilles, Coeli Fitzpatrick, Karen Gipson, Jen Jameslyn, Danielle Lake, Meg Marshall, Kelly McDonell, Marilyn Preston, and Ayana Weekley for helping our students get off to a good start by helping at orientation.

For students who are further along in their programs and already “oriented," the Spring/Summer semester provided opportunities to immerse themselves in a meaningful research experience through a number of summer scholarship programs. Kudus to faculty who served as mentors for student summer research projects. David Stark, Coordinator of the Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program, mentored Kendra Garcia on her project “Who is Mexican? Afro-Mexicans Reclaim Their Place in 'The Cosmic Race.'" Ayana Weekley, Coordinator of African/African American Studies and Associate Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, mentored Amarri Smallwood on her project, 
“A Black Feminist Content Analysis of Gender and Sexuality" in Living Single.

Space does not permit me to recognize all the other individuals who contributed to the Brooks College mission over the summer. The list would include the East Asian Studies faculty who authored course revisions, Honors faculty who served on the Honors College Curriculum Revision Task Force, advisors for Spring/Summer Internships, faculty and staff who supported the SAP interns during the peak growing season, teacher-scholars and staff who attended conferences, and all those engaged with scholarship and course and program development.

Summer is also a time to wrap up the old academic year and reflect on goals achieved and goals yet to be realized. It is a time to dream about the future, set new goals, and develop new strategies for old goals. My goals as Dean in leading the College for 2018-19 are not new but involve new strategies that require your support to realize. Top among these are goals that are also University-wide, namely, supporting our students so they realize their dreams of graduation and beyond, providing high-quality and relevant academic and co-curricular programming, and empowering faculty and staff to realize their own potential as educators.

Best wishes for the new academic year,

Anne

On May 17, 2018, students and staff from Brooks College and the Sustainable Agriculture Project (SAP) participated in a groundbreaking ceremony of a new Demonstration Garden in the heart of the Allendale Campus. Designed to resemble a typical home garden, SAP members planted the Demonstration Garden to inspire interest in small-scale gardening and raise awareness for the SAP. The garden's six raised beds have flourished into a lush, verdant garden of vegetables and flowers which you can visit near the Transformation Link and the north entrance to Au Sable Hall. Please join us for a Dedication Ceremony of the Demonstration Garden on Tuesday, October 2nd at 3:00 pm. Details are included in the "Upcoming Events" section below.

Santos Ramos, Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies, received his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Writing from Michigan State University, where he was affiliated with the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program and completed his dissertation research looking at the cultural significance of Mexican food practices in Michigan. He has taught courses in film, writing, and literature, as well as interdisciplinary courses that examine food systems, social movements, and technology. He has also developed a number of community partnerships that use cultural education programming to build relationships between universities and local communities.

Chris Crews, Visiting Professor in Area and Global Studies, explores within his research the intersections of social and environmental justice movements and Indigenous rights in the Anthropocene. He brings an interest in global social movements and land struggles, with a focus on Nepal and the Himalaya. Prior to joining GVSU, Chris worked for the India China Institute at The New School, where he led a three-year research project on sacred landscapes and sustainable futures which explored the intersections of religion, nature, and culture in India, Nepal, and Tibet. He is also a board member on the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture.