Liberal Arts Department

Academic Goals Report 2003-2004

Goal: Engage in professional development activities for self-improvement and to improve teaching skills and ability to utilize new technology in the classroom.

Assessment: During the 2003-2004 academic year, faculty in the Liberal Arts Department attended the following workshops and conferences:

· Academic Honesty at PSTCC: New Resources and a Renewed Commitment

· American Choral Directors Association meeting in New York, New York

· American Education Council Conference on Southern Literature in Chattanooga

· “Cara a Cara: Using Eyeball Chat and PureVoice technologies for face-to-face communication in the FL classroom”

· “The George Washington Carver Project”

· “The Christian’s Responsibility to Peace: Examining the Value of the Just War Doctrine”

· Classroom Assessment Techniques Seminar

· Conference on Southern Literature

· “Crossing Classroom Borders: Excursions to Bring Language into Context”

· “Experience the Joy of Teaching Music!”

· “Dead on Departure: How to Avoid Killing the Love of Learning and How to Revive It”

· “50 Years of Armistice: Lessons for Today from Communist Archives”

· “Focus! Where Are They?”

· “From Hypatia to Hopper—Women in Mathematics”

· “Full Speed Ahead: Women and the Sciences”

· The Geier Forum

· “Gender: Still a Useful Category of Analysis?”

· “Integrating Black History Month into the Spanish Classroom”

· “Men Speak Out: Women in the Liberal Arts.”

· “A Mob of Scribbling Women”

· “On the Threshold of Proficiency: A Humorous Look at Language Competence”

· “Paul Robeson” One man Show about the singer and activist, Paul Robeson

· “PowerPoint to Stimulate Classroom Activities”

· “PowerPoint: A focus on Media and Custom Animators”

· Presentation of “ Realidades”

· “Profiles in Courage: Remarkable Women of Pellissippi”

· “Teaching Culture in the Digital Millennium”

• Tennessee Arts Commission Grant Writing Workshop
• Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association Annual Meeting
• “Using PowerPoint in the Foreign Language Classroom”
• “ Using Literature to Compare and Connect Cultures in an International Society”
• “Virtual Learning and On-Line Services for Postsecondary Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing”
• “WebCT-Using to Enhance Courses and to Create an Instructor Café for Lead and Adjunct Instructors”
• “Writing Across the Curriculum,”
• Women in Higher Education in Tennessee Conference

Goal: Create collaborative activities to enhance students’ academic experience and interaction with the college and the community.

Assessment: In hopes of enhancing the academic experience of our students through collaborative activities, faculty in the Liberal Arts Department:

• Arranged opportunities for art students to meet with practicing professionals in the region – Sammie Nicely, ceramic artist, and Judie Gaston, a fiber-fabric artist. Students began initial plans to coordinate on-going exhibitions in Goins Lounge, although this plan has not yet been implemented. In addition, the group toured the permanent collection at the Knoxville Museum of Art, and visited the Hansen Gallery, where the gallery owners discussed and displayed the art of representative artists in their stable.
• Created a proposal for a FIPSE grant to fund a Women’s Resource Center to provide mentoring, community access and programs to the non-traditional female student population at Pellissippi.
• Developed and piloted “American Mosaic: A Learning Community” for students of United States history I and American Literature I.
• Directed a very successful production of The Kentucky Cycle and involved a large number of students. Going to competition and having an extended rehearsal and performance schedule were two terrific benefits for theatre students. The success of the play in the American College Theatre Festival allowed the Student Drama Club and community actors to work closely with faculty and students.
• Established the student newspaper as a solid Web presence and using the Web page for keeping school news current.
• Organized the French Film Festival.
• Organized the annual PSTCC Invitational Choral Festival, which presents an interactive learning lab for choral groups from area two-year colleges.
• Played a leadership role in organizing Women’s History Month events.

Goal: Assess the effectiveness of the Liberal Arts programs through Program Review and improve instructional assessment through implementation of assessment instruments and techniques.

Assessment: In hopes of assessing the effectiveness of instruction, faculty in the Liberal Arts department:

• Monitored Institutional Effectiveness date for ART 1011
• Participated in the Classroom Assessment Techniques Seminar
• Researched and prepared Program Review documents

Goal: Continue to improve the art history courses through enhancement of course materials and delivery.

Assessment: In hopes of improving art history courses, faculty in the Liberal Arts department:

• Developed ancillary materials to support classroom instruction
• Evaluated and purchased supplemental films
• Piloted Humanities 2500 – Exploring Art and Music

Goal: Continue to develop and improve alternative delivery of courses to enhance student accessibility.

Assessment: In hopes of enhance student accessibility, faculty in the Liberal Arts department:

• Continued to offer a variety of Video, Web, and TWAV (Two-Way-Audio-Visual) courses
• Developed and piloted SOC 1020
• Taught Spanish 2010 and 2020 for RODP

Goal: Strive for excellence in the history program by continuing the commitment to teach Western Civilization as a writing-intensive course and insuring that students obtain a solid knowledge of the major themes of Western Civilization.

Assessment: In hopes of achieving excellence in the history program, faculty in the Liberal Arts department:

• Continued to provide students with a basic framework of the major historical developments in the West and to promote critical thinking skills through reading and writing intensive courses
• Evaluated and purchased supplemental films and materials
• Participated in and promoted Black History Month, Women’s History Month, The Writer’s Series and other cultural programs at the college