 Weekly News for Faculty, Staff and Friends of the Worcester State College Community |
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College Again Named to Presidential
WSC Students Take Second Place and
WSC Chorale Says Send Your Loved One a
Computer Science Professors Awarded Three Year CAITE Grant Discounted Tickets and a Chance to Win Dinner at Romas Singing Birthday Grams by WSC Chorale Members
George I. Alden Excellence in
Teaching Award - Consortium to Host Conference on Alcohol Use and Abuse Assessment Teleconference - Feb. 12 Scholarship and Job Opportunities for Students TRANSITIONS
A play by Steven Barkhimer (Visual and Performing Arts) was selected for consideration at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. A Hard Rain, Barkhimers one-act play, was entered in the Region One (New England) Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, held the last week of January in Fitchburg. A Hard Rain was the only one-act to move to next level, the National Festival held at the Kennedy Center in April. Only eight plays are selected, one from each of the Regional Festivals. The winner at the National Festival receives a professional workshop production and the John Cauble Award for Best One-Act Play in the KCACTF. Paul Joseph '70 (retired, adjunct faculty FYS program) was recently awarded the GPPA (Graduate Personal Property Appraiser) designation by the Appraisal Foundation and the National Auctioneers Association (NAA). GPPA is a national certification recognized by the federal government and required by the IRS. The certification is awarded following courses in Personal Property Appraisal and The Appraiser as Expert Witness in Las Vegas, Nev., and USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices) in Rockland, ME. Paul is a licensed auctioneer and the owner of Grey Ghost Auctions & Appraisals, specializing in rare coin & currency auctions and black tie benefit auctions. He has donated his time as the auctioneer for every WSC SGA Auction for the Homeless since it began sixteen years ago.
Mary Jo Marion (Latino Education Institute) has been appointed to Governor Patricks Education Policy Group. On July 9, 2008, Governor Patrick signed Executive Order 503, Integrating Immigrants and Refugees into the Commonwealth, and launched the New Americans Agenda for Massachusetts. The Executive Order calls for the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants (MORI) and the Governors Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants (GACRI) to develop and deliver policy recommendations by July 2009 that emphasize the positive integration of these communities into the economic and civic life of the Commonwealth.
AROUND CAMPUS
WSC Students Take Second Place and Honorable Mentions at Consortium Art Show
At the opening night reception, this past Friday, Michael Fontaine
(right) won second prize for a charcoal drawing of his grandfather (left) in the
Fifth Annual Colleges of Worcester Consortium Art Exhibition. Michael also had a
second piece in the show,
a painting titled Francois. Both of his works demonstrated technical
strength as well as a novel conceptual approach to his subjects
Three WSC students also took home honorable mentions: Alicia Arsenault,
Tea Pot I College participation is coordinated by Catherine Wilcox-Titus, PhD, assistant professor of art history at Worcester State College. The exhibition is sponsored in part by the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, Inc. and is free and open to the public. The ARTSWorcester Aurora Gallery (660 Main Street) is open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Extended hours are available by appointment. The gallery is closed Sunday and Monday.
Over 200 Letters Signed by Students to
WSC Chorale Says Send Your Loved One a
The Worcester State College Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Christie
Nigro, is now taking reservations to perform singing telegrams
throughout the greater
For a donation of $30 (on campus) or $45 (off campus), Chorale members will come
to your location at a pre-arranged time, present your loved one with a Valentine
card and a carnation, and perform two a capella love songs from their current
repertoire.
The group will deliver your message of love to any location within roughly a 15
mile radius of the college, says Dr. Nigro. Over the years, our singers have
performed in local homes, businesses and college dorm rooms and we've provided
the soundtrack for many romantic Valentine dinners.
Reservations for this very popular offering will be made on a first-come,
first-served basis. Professor Nigro says the annual fundraiser helps support the
Chorales international concert tours, including their upcoming trip to
The
A highly-polished, semi-professional a cappella choir, the Chorale has gained an
international reputation. The group has traveled world wide to destinations such
as the
In addition to their tours and campus performances, the Chorale also performs at
banquets, weddings, concerts, and various events throughout
Computer Science Professors
If
you've heard a rumor that computer science is dead, that all the jobs have been
outsourced to Mumbai, you need to update your own data.
Retrofitting the Prius to run on electricity is one such need. David Cash,
assistant secretary for policy in the executive office of energy and
environmental affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, told students
during his Global Warming Solutions campus talk Feb. 5 that his office is
enthusiastic about such retrofitting.
Who
figures out how to do this retrofitting? The software engineer.
Monitoring and control of energy systems is another area that needs capable
software engineers, Wurst said. As the state and national economies turn green,
software engineers will be in even greater demand.
To
help meet this demand, Wurst and Aparna Mahadev, a professor in
the Computer Science department, have received a three-year grant to work with
Worcester Public Schools high school teachers and guidance counselors to broaden
their understanding of the computer science field and increase their computer
science teaching skills.
Guidance counselors seem to have gotten the message that the field is dead,
Wurst said. Its very much alive. We need to get out the word that this is a
worthwhile and interesting field to go into.
It
isn't only worthwhile and interesting. Undergraduate students enrolled in public
universities and colleges in the Commonwealth may apply for the Commonwealth
Covenant Fund, a program that provides accessible tuition loan repayments for
those majoring in computer science, among other fields of science and
mathematics.
Wurst
and Mahadev will organize summer workshops for teachers and guidance counselors
to illustrate computer science teaching techniques and explore employment
opportunities in the computing field.
There
currently isn't a good K-12 to college pipeline for those interested in computer
science, Wurst said. No one really knows what computer science does, so they
don't actually teach it. That's what this grant aims to improve.
Another facet of the grant incorporates work with Quinsigamond Community College
to ensure that students there can complete two years of computer science courses
then transfer to WSC as juniors and be on track to graduate.
Currently, QCC does not offer an associates degree in computer science.
The
Worcester State team is working with QCC faculty to match up the courses that
each institution offers. They'll then figure out what courses QCC might add so
its students can keep up with WSC computer science students.
The
Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education, CAITE for short,
invited Worcester State to join its efforts last spring. The alliance had a
previous National Science Foundation grant to bring more women and
under-represented students into computing education and careers.
Worcester States participation in this NSF renewal grant to CAITE will extend
the alliances work into central Massachusetts. The region has a growing
percentage of families living below the poverty level, minorities and
immigrants, and it has low percentages of students graduating from high school,
going to four-year colleges and participating in the knowledge economy.
This
new funding allows us to expand the project at a time when many people are
choosing to pursue education at our public institutions, said Rick Adrion,
CAITE director and professor of computer science at UMass Amherst. Information
technology remains a vital industry in Massachusetts, and employers are seeking
workers who represent the diversity of the population.
Resident students who attend public institutions are the primary focus of the
grant, and this is indeed good news for the Commonwealth. These students tend to
stay in state in larger numbers after graduation.
And if
the Workforce Development offices projections are correct, Massachusetts will
need as many software engineers as Worcester State can produce. That's got to be
good news for computer science students in this economy.
WSC FACULTY AND STAFF -
DON'T MISS OUT ON DISCOUNTED TICKETS AND A CHANCE TO WIN A DINNER AT ROMAS Faculty and staff can buy tickets at the special prices of $52, $42, and $32. (Prices include the restoration and handling fees and a $10 discount.) For show tickets, contact Deb Quinn in the Presidents Office at ext. 8020 or debquinn@worcester.edu. Tickets to the pre-show cocktail reception (cash bar) are sold separately at the Alumni Office. For details, call x8141 or send an email to alumni@worcester.edu. The deadline to buy these discounted tickets is Friday, February 27, 2009. The raffle winner will be announced Friday, March 6.
SINGING BIRTHDAY
GRAMS BY WSC CHORALE
MEMBERS GEORGE
I. ALDEN EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD -
CONSORTIUM TO HOST CONFERENCE
ON ALCOHOL USE & ABUSE ASSESSMENT TELECONFERENCE
- Thurs., Feb. 12 @ 2 p.m.
FACULTY, PLEASE PASS ALONG THE
Welcome to:
Michael Mayko
Wai-Chung H. Lo
Susan Schmoyer
Issac Tesfay
Good Luck to: Joyce Adubofour on her retirement from the Registrars Office.
WSC IN THE NEWS
Averil Capers named T&G marketing head
State holds line
on college tuition, but fees likely to rise
Friendly House leader saluted
Worcester proposes dorm tax to close budget gap
Worcester addresses rising cost of college
Patrick targets agency lobbyists
Claflin Hills orchestrates a revival |
Monday, February 9,
2009
THIS WEEK Mon., Feb. 9
BBC History of WWII Film Series: "The Nazis:
Study Abroad Fair
Michael T. Klare
Faculty Forum with
W.Basketball vs.
M.Basketball vs
Wed., Feb. 11
300 Years of Triumphs & Thurs., Feb. 12
Faculty Lunch Forum:
W.Basketball vs.
M.Basketball vs. ONGOING
Consortium Art Show
COMING UP
Mon., Feb. 16
Presidents Day Holiday
Wed, Feb. 18
BBC History of WWII Film Series: "The Nazis: A Warning from History"
continued
Mon., Feb. 23
"Looking at Service
BBC History of WWII Film
Tues., Feb. 24
Community Based Thurs., Feb. 26
"The Power of One Voice -
The Marijuana High
Mon., Mar. 2
BBC History of WWII Film
Mon., Mar. 9
BBC History of WWII Film |
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Over
555 students heard presentations from more than 24 WSC faculty and energy and
environmental experts at the second annual National Teach-In on Global Warming
Solutions last Wednesday and Thursday. Over 229 students signed letters to U.S.
Senator John Kerry urging the following:
The
Massachusetts Department of Workforce Developments March 2008 annual profile
lists software engineering-related positions in the top three jobs for
2004-2014, said Karl Wurst, chair of the Computer Science
Department. These jobs are not being outsourced because they require close
contact between software engineers and those who need large software programs.