• Parrow reviews advanced placement exams and publishes history paper
• Career Services Director Judy Larson takes early retirement
• Swarm Day candidates chosen
• Swarm week begins Tuesday
• Obtain approval before using any humans or animals in research projects
• Printing center offers training
• Disc golfers compete
• Faculty research funds available
• Minutes of the university assessment committee meeting Sept. 14 
• Minutes of the North Central Accreditation self study committee
• Instructional improvement funds available
• Grants opportunities announced
• This week at BHSU

Submit items to Campus Currents - Top

The Campus Currents is distributed every Friday. If you would like to include an item in the newsletter send it to Campus Currents, Unit 9512 or by e-mail to Campus Currents. Deadline is Thursday at 8 a.m.

Parrow reviews advanced placement exams and publishes history paper - Top

Approximately 60,000 students participated in the European history AP exam and each wrote three essays. Reading and scoring of the exams was done over a period of one week in June by selected high school teachers who teach AP European history and college professors who teach the college-level survey courses for which students hope to obtain advanced placement credit.

ETS Executive Director Walt MacDonald thanked the teachers saying, "The AP Program relies on outstanding faculty who help develop the courses and exams and evaluate student performance." Dr. Lee Jones, AP executive director at the College Board, said in a press release, "The reading draws upon the talents of some of the finest teachers and professors that America has to offer. It fosters professionalism, allows for the exchange of ideas and strengthens the commitment to students and to teaching."

Parrow was also recently informed that a paper she authored was accepted for presentation at the American Historical Association annual meeting in January 2001 and will be published in the Proceedings of the American Historical Association, 2001.

The paper is titled "Provincial Estates and the Revisions of Customary Law in Medieval and Early Modern France: Evidence from the Procès-Verbal Narratives. " It examines the records of the discussions (called procès-verbaux) between the provincial leaders and the royal judicial representatives as they revised the provincial law codes in sixteenth-century France. The evidence suggests that changes in the laws on inheritance that affected noble or clerical income aroused a great amount of discussion and that there was a strong effort by the royal officials to respect these local privileges. The records also show efforts to improve the laws by clarifying ambiguous laws and by adding new laws. Although this period has often been seen as the beginning of French absolutism, these documents support the position that the French monarchy was still using a model of consultation with the provincial leaders.

Career Services Director Judy Larson takes early retirement - Top

Larson plans to do some career service consulting work at the state level and then leave her options open for other opportunities.

"I’m calling this my employment sabbatical," she said. "I’ve thought about this for some time and decided to follow the advice I’ve given others to look beyond their current responsibilities to seek new avenues."

Her association with the university began in 1979 when she went to work for the academic vice president as an administrative assistant. She coordinated campus and satellite class enrollments, prepared reports for the regents’ office, developed and carried out faculty evaluations and generated presentation and information materials for the president and vice president.

In 1986 President Clifford Trump appointed her as the first full-time director of career services.

"Seeing students progress from the academic world to successful employment is gratifying," she said. "It is also rewarding to be able to promote the university through career services to outside entities."

The most significant changes in the office since she arrived in the mid 80s are more students, more alumni, more employers and more outside groups using the services of the office. The use of technology has also increased office productivity and the availability of services.

Larson feels her strengths as director centered around creating an effective career services office focused on team building, seeking a diversity of ideas, getting the university’s name out to employers, and providing for the nontraditional and location-bound students.

"It was rewarding to be able to help students and alumni build their self esteem," said Larson. "It’s still important they stay competitive by preparing professional resumes and by presenting a positive self image."

Her work experience at BHSU includes presenting numerous career workshops, organizing job and information fairs, and serving on various state and local committees. She often partnered with university faculty and students on special assignments, devised graduate follow-up procedures, and collaborated with university faculty to strengthen internships and employment opportunities.

The BH career director was active in the South Dakota Teacher Placement Advisory Board, a cofounder of South Dakota BIG (Business-Industry-Government) Job Fair, and a charter member of the South Dakota Career Planning and Placement Association where she served as president. She completed the National Association of Colleges and Employers Leadership training for Career Professionals at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.

On the local level, the BHSU career services director was very active in community affairs serving on many committees and by holding office as president of the city council and as president of the South Dakota Municipal League. She was also the Spearfish representative to the Black Hills Council of Local Governments and served on the board of directors for Northern Hills Community Development. It was through these positions she was able to meet employers from all over the state and enhance the image of Black Hills State University.

Larson began her professional career as a teacher at a private high school and later served as a business instructor at Mitchell Technical Institute.

"Looking back," said Larson, "One job builds on another and this is a stepping stone to the next."

Swarm Day candidate chosen - Top

Swarm Day king and queen candidates have been named at Black Hills State University. Homecoming week at BHSU is Oct. 10-14.

The Swarm Day royalty will be crowned during a coronation ceremony Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. in the David B. Miller Yellow Jacket Student Union Jacket Legacy room. The Swarm Day mom and dad will also be named from a group of BHSU faculty and staff who have been nominated by students.

Nominated as king candidates are Ryan Remington, a senior elementary education major from Groton; Allen Godsell, a senior social sciences major from Sturgis; Alan Demaret, a senior elementary/special education major from Faith; and Allan Johnson, a junior history/American Indian Studies major from Spearfish.

Queen candidates are Joce Schwengler, a senior professional accounting major from Rapid City; Crystal Muglia, a senior elementary/special education/theatre education major from Belle Fourche; Rachel Travis, a junior math education major from Platte; and Christine Davis, a senior psychology and wellness management major from Casper, Wyo.

Faculty and staff who have been nominated as Swarm Day mom and dad are: Chris Schultes, Jan Golliher, Amy Fuqua, Margaret Kleinsasser, Darlene Swartz, Priscilla Romkema, Patty Maki, Becky Haak, Holly Downing, Micheline Hickenbotham, Sheila Aaker, Al Sandau, Tom Wheaton, Thomas Flickema, Nicholas Wallerstein, Bob Majeski, David Salomon, Charles Lamb, Len Austin, David Calhoon, Steve Babbitt, Greg Cooch, Jade Harney, Mike Turner and Tom Hills.

Swarm week begins Tuesday - Top

Activities begin Tuesday, Oct. 10 and continue through the week culminating in a full day of activities on Swarm Day Saturday, Oct. 14. Events include the parade, tailgate socials and the football game vs. Mayville. So find your tie die t-shirts, peace signs and smiley faces and help celebrate Swarm Day 2000.

Schedule

Obtain approval before using any humans or animals in research projects - Top

This includes survey research, analysis of data previously collected from human subjects, and student research projects involving animal or human subjects. Although many of the projects 

For information and application forms, please contact the committee chair, Doug Wessel, at unit 9032, phone 6514, by e-mail, or in SW 210.

Printing center offers training - Top

 There will be training sessions on the following days:

• Tuesday, Oct. 10th at 3 p.m. in the library room 009
• Wednesday, Oct. 11th at 2 p.m. in the library room 009
• Thursday, Oct. 12th at 10 a.m. in the library room 009

For additional information or to sign up contact Stacie Roddis at 6285.

Disc golfers compete - Top

The top four players in each of the two divisions are listed below. Par for the 47-hole tournament was 141.

Name Score Hometown

1. Don Altmyer 127 Spearfish
2. Scott Caesar 139 Rapid City
3. Richard Massman 142 Spearfish (won sudden death playoff for 3rd place.)
4. Brad Benton 142 Rapid City

1. Mike Abrams 153 Chadron, Neb.
2. Matt Minnick 159 Rapid City
3. Mike Birch 160 Chadron, Neb.
4. Rob Sandoval 165 Rapid City

Tournament net proceeds of $210 were donated to the Relay for Life charity. Prizes for the tournament were donated by the BHSU bookstore and Discraft Flying Discs.

Faculty research funds available - Top

It is anticipated that successful applicants will request support for faculty release time, research equipment, travel to research sites or research support for the production of creative work. Preference is given to new applicants particularly in the areas of education, business, social sciences and humanities. A three-hour release time is available for fall of 2001. You can apply now.

The research committee will not provide salary. The committee may approve payment to student or non-student research assistants. Deliver the original plus ten copies of your proposal to the grants office in Woodburn 218 or Dr. Farrokhi’s office in Woodburn 314 by Oct. 20.

Minutes of the university assessment committee meeting Sept. 14 - Top

There was a discussion and approval of the operational guidelines for the university assessment committee.

The director reported several things-

a) the deadline for submission of the annual report on 1999-2000 had been moved from Jan 1, 2001, to Oct 15, 2000.

b) the deans had been asked to make sure that the individual majors submitted reports on student learning in each major. In specific, Dean Myers had agreed that the college of education would submit separate reports for each major and Dean Meek and Dean Downing had agreed that the outcomes should be tailored to fit the major.

c) the director was meeting with the deans to talk about the process of delivering the reports and their role.

The committee wanted the director to emphasize to the deans that the reports should be an interpretation of the data and also approved by the faculty involved in that major. The first point refers to several reports last year stated that since the data was useless, nothing could be said. If the faculty are not satisfied with the data, then they should find a better system of measuring student learning. The committee believes that denial does not have any value in assessing student learning. The second point is that several members of the committee reported that faculty in their major had neither seen nor discussed the report on their major. The faculty should meet, discuss, and approve the document. The committee indicated that there are several reports which could be used as models and the various members of the committee are willing to work with the departments on the reports.

The committee agreed to meet in October and begin reviewing reports.

Minutes of the North Central Accreditation self study committee - Top

There was a discussion of the North Central self-study framework and timelines. The chair welcomed the chairs of the five committees and outlined the process of self-study for the next two years. The chairs are Criterion 1- Holly Downing, Criterion 2- Doug Wessel, Criterion 3- Lyle Cook, Criterion 4- Fred Heidrich, Criterion 5- Judith Haislett. During the conversation, the chairs asked for ace cards to be able to duplicate material for completing their component of the self-study. The chair agreed to the request.

Arnie Hemmingson suggested that the self-study could be setup to be online and recommended an electronic document room. The chair agreed to meet with him and work on the idea.

The chair recommended that each of the 

The chair suggested that since the NCA self-study will be in the fall of 2002 and the NCATE in the spring of 2003 every effort should be made to coordinate and perhaps overlap the two to make less work for everyone. The chair pointed out that he and Sandee Schamber had been working on a project to have one vita book for all personnel in place of a vitabook for NCA and a different one for NCATE.

The committee recommended that the chair ask President Flickema to send a letter to everyone on campus informing them about the NCA self-study. The chair agreed.

The chair said the tentative date for the next meeting was Oct. 31 at 3:30 p.m. in Woodburn conference room one. By that time, he should have more information on the self-study and also the chairs of the criteria committees could report on their progress and needs.

Instructional improvement funds available - Top

Grants opportunities announced - Top

• Department of Education. Undergraduate international studies and foreign language program provides grants to strengthen and improve undergraduate instruction in international studies and foreign languages in the United States. Deadline is Nov. 3, 2000. http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/

• Department of Education. Four programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Act: Special education – research and innovation to improve services and results for children with disabilities; Special education – technology and media services for individuals with disabilities; Special education – training and information for parents of children with disabilities; and Special education – studies and evaluations program. Awards and deadlines vary. http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/

• NCIIA Grants to Support Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education. Lemelson Foundation. Deadlines: Dec. 15, 2000; May 15, 2001; Dec. 15, 2001; May 15, 2002. National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance Introduction. Through June of 2002, the NCIIA will award approximately $2 million in grants to faculty and students of member institutions. The NCIIA will provide financial support for the creation and establishment of programs and courses that promote invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship and support the work of student/faculty E-Teams see "What Are E-Teams?" This RFP and additional important background information are available on our website, http://www.nciia.org/

Picnic, Campus Green, 11 a.m. -1 p.m.

Jim Wand hypnotist, Young Center gym, 8 p.m. 

BHSU Fall Film Festival "Manhattan," Jonas 305, 7 p.m.