Provost Bruce has expanded the OER (Open Educational Resources) program to save students money on textbooks. This cycle will involve prepping your course during the Spring and Summer and teaching the course with the new materials in the Fall and the TTU OER team will be supporting you through the entire process. Through the TTU OER program efforts, we have saved students over $250,000. This OER program offers stipends to selected faculty to transition their courses from traditional textbooks to zero-cost course materials. This program will help increase equity in access to quality, zero-cost educational materials. Faculty interested in receiving OER training and a stipend must submit an application proposal by March 15, 2023. A link to additional information and the application form can be found at https://www.tntech.edu/library/textbooks/oer-program.php. Then click on Fall 2023.
Category: Academics
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Dr. Ray Jordan – Receives Robert Hatcher Conservation Achievement Award
Retired faculty member Dr. Ray Jordan was awarded the 2022 Robert Hatcher Conservation Achievement Award. Dr. Jordan taught for 44 years in the Department of Biology including courses in Herpetology, Ornithology, and Comparative Anatomy, among others. He was well known as an understanding and passionate instructor, and was very popular with students and faculty at TN Tech.
Dr. Ray Jordan was selected for the Bob Hatcher Award because his career exemplified in teaching, research, and service, a lifetime commitment to the study and conservation of Tennessee’s reptiles and amphibians. His greatest contribution to the conservation of Tennessee’s herpetofauna is probably his tremendous effort to educate students and the public about reptiles and amphibians with his coursework, specimen collection, and outreach efforts. He established a legacy of excellence in herpetological education at Tennessee Tech that continues to this day and will certainly do so for decades to come.
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Spring 2023 Career Readiness Programs have begun!
The Center for Career Development announces that Career Readiness Certification (workshops) are underway! We encourage faculty interested in inserting Career Readiness into their curricula to take advantage of these programs. The GOLD program is designed for Freshman and Sophomore students and introduces them to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) career ready competencies and the importance of building skills through campus activities, organizations and experiential education.
The PURPLE program is designed for Junior and Senior level students, assisting them with a deeper dive into how to translate their skills and experiences to employers. Greater focus is placed on where skills come from and what employers will want to discuss and see on resumes. In addition, PURPLE stresses areas such as making great impressions, succeeding when making presentations, attending job fairs and what to expect during personal interviews.
Faculty can encourage full certification or pick and choose select workshops for their classes. Interested faculty may contact Russ Coughenour rcoughenour@tntech.edu for details on how these programs can benefit their curricula. Details can be found here: https://www.tntech.edu/career/students/career-ready.php
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Amanda Carroll New Chair of American Chemical Society’s Student Advisory Board
Congratulations Dr. Amanda Carroll! Dr. Michael Adams, the chair of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Education (SOCED) has invited Dr. Carroll (Chemistry) to serve as the chair of the Undergraduate Student Advisory Board (USAB) beginning in 2023. According to Amanda, “I have gladly accepted this role! I am excited for the opportunity to provide leadership to the advisory board and to continue to shape the knowledge and experiences for students in chemistry programs around the world. As part of the USAB chair responsibilities, I am also now an Associate member of SOCED.”
The USAB is charged with providing guidance to ACS Student Communities, making recommendations about the future direction of undergraduate program activities to SOCED, creating programs at ACS meetings, constituting working groups to address specific activities or issues related to undergraduate programs, and supporting the professional growth of undergraduate students in the chemical sciences.
According to Dr. Adams, “Dr. Carroll’s experience on USAB and extensive knowledge of issues facing undergraduate education position her well to lead the Advisory Board.” Dr. Carroll served two terms on USAB (2018-present) and, during that time, served as program chair and program co-chair for two ACS spring national meeting undergraduate programs. She has also worked on various other programs and events that positively impact students in the chemical sciences.
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Course Evaluation Results with IARE – January 13
Get the most out of your course evaluation reports. The Office of Institutional Assessment, Research, & Effectiveness (IARE) will be hosting a session on interpreting your IDEA course evaluation reports. This session will review the components for the IDEA report and the types of scores and comparisons provided in the report. Instructors will gain a greater understanding of how the SLOs selected for their courses impact the summary evaluation score and the five key questions that IDEA course evaluations seek to answer. Join us for this online training session on Friday, January 13th at 12PM.
For questions, contact kharris@tntech.edu
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Grades Processing Notice
All Fall 2022 grades are due from faculty by 10am on December 12, 2022. As such, Fall 2022 grades processing will be underway from December 12 – December 16. Student grades will be finalized on their record by December 16, 2022.
The Registrar’s Office will be unable to answer questions during the grading period about a grade that an instructor has submitted, repeat courses, GPA, or total earned credits while processing is occurring, even if a grade is showing on the degree audit.
While grades may appear during the grading period as they are periodically processed, your grades, GPA, and any repeated courses will not be finalized until the end of grades processing which will be completed by December 16th.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as the Registrar’s Office diligently works to finalize and complete all student records during this time!
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Fall 2022 Grade Entry
All Fall 2022 grades are due Monday, December 12, 2022 at 10:00 AM. Please review Fall 2022 grade entry information or view the Registrar’s Faculty & Staff webpage for more information on how to enter grades, grading definitions, last dates of attendance, etc. For any questions or assistance, please reach out to us at registrar@tntech.edu or at 931-372-3504.
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SciFinder Access Ends December 31, 2022 – Reminder to Transition Your Account
If you are a SciFinder user with a current account, you must transition to the new SciFinder-n interface by the end of December 2022!
SciFinder/SciFinder Scholar/SciFinder Classic will be retired on December 31, 2022. Going forward, you must use the new interface called SciFinder-n. The good news is that your existing login for SciFinder will continue to work in SciFinder-n. However, if you have any saved answer sets or search alerts set up in your SciFinder/SciFinder Scholar/SciFinder Classic account, you must migrate them to SciFinder-n by the end of this month. Please visit the following link for more information on the transition: https://www.tntech.edu/library/scifinder-n.php.
For questions about the retirement of SciFinder or the transition to SciFinder-n, please contact sjadams@tntech.edu or help@cas.org.
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A Unique Thanksgiving Experience
Dr. Rajabali and two of his students experienced a non-traditional Thanksgiving in the TRIUMF Laboratory in Canada. Under Rajabali’s lead, Dakota Moya (sophomore electrical engineer) and Ethan White (freshman physics major), participated in a nuclear physics experiment.
The experiment is based on a very difficult to produce and rare isotope, 35Mg. It was produced using a combination of a very large cyclotron particle-accelerator and a state-of-the-art laser ion source. The 35Mg produced would have existed for a fraction of a second when the solar system was formed. The team measured the particles’ decay and products in the lab using the equipment pictured above – a part of which Dr. Rajabali built through funding from a Department of Energy Grant – to produce data that has never been seen before.
To round out their important work, they managed to squeeze in a unique Thanksgiving dinner of sushi before returning to their experiment. What an exceptional and unique Thanksgiving provided courtesy of Dr. Mustafa Rajabali.
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WEST Open During Finals Week!
Working on final papers? Come to WEST, which has now added availability during Finals Week! The Writing Excellence Studio at Tech provides one-on-one writing consultation for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, regardless of what field or writing you’re working on. We can work with you on things like clarity, cohesion, logical progression, or just making sure you’re doing what the assignment asks you to do in the most effective way possible. And we’re happy to work with you at any stage of the writing process. Regardless of your skill level, we’re here to help you feel more confident in your writing abilities. We have in-person hours in Henderson Hall 308B, or online appointments available. For information about our hours (including our updated Finals Week Schedule) and how to schedule an appointment, check out our website at www.tntech.edu/english/west.