From the Dean's Dialogue... Holiday Drives

As the holiday season draws nearer, I have been hearing of several holiday drives and/or fundraisers in support of a variety of initiatives. These challenging economic times are certainly having an impact on families within our community, and I appreciate all that you are doing to make the holidays brighter!

The School of Education is currently involved with the following holiday drives:
o The School of Education’s Dean’s Office is holding a “Cans for Koozies” food drive to benefit the Bunkum Road Food Pantry. By bringing in any non-perishable food items by the office, you will receive a School of Education can koozie (while supplies last!) as a way of saying thanks.
o Kappa Delta Pi is holding a “Breakfast with Santa” at Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar located on Route 159 (in front of Wal-Mart) on December 5th from 8-10:00am. Advance tickets are $6.00, or tickets can be purchased at the door for $7.00. Breakfast includes all you can eat pancakes (eggs, bacon, and beverage, too!), crafts, prizes, and a visit from Santa Clause! Proceeds will benefit KDP’s many causes including the Ronald McDonald House, Children’s Hope Center, Literacy Alive, St. Patrick’s Soup Kitchen, Adopt-A-Soldier, Operation Smile, and Open Doors.
o Psi Chi is holding a toiletry drive in support of the Oasis Women’s Shelter in Alton. Donated items can be dropped off at Psychology’s main office in the basement of Alumni Hall.
o The OCECA office is collecting children’s items such as coloring books, crayons, markers, etc. for the SIUE Family Resource Center. Please being any donations by OCECA in 1110 Founders Hall.

If you know of other holiday drives within our community, please don’t hesitate to let me know and I will pass the information along!

Technology Updates

Our technology specialists have been very busy insuring that the SOE continues to be a leader on campus in its uses of instructional and communicative technologies. For example, Jo Wottowa has created a FaceBook page for the School of Education, located at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Edwardsville-IL/SIUE-School-of-Education/59354275854. One of the purposes of our FaceBook page will be to encourage social networking with those who are interested in the activities of our School. We can also use this medium to share current news and/or announcements with this broader audience. In addition, Binod Bokhrel recently attended Cestron Training, which covered the installation, testing, troubleshooting, and programming of Cestron Control systems (i.e., the podium controls). With this training, Binod

will save the SOE approximately $3,000 each time that our podiums need to be reprogrammed! Binod has also shared his expertise in the use of response clickers at a workshop conducted with Vicki Scott.

P-12 Graduate Working Group Update

The P-12 Graduate Working Group has been very busy planning for future off-campus programs and evaluating the feasibility of spreading out to additional sites. A very successful informational meeting was held in Litchfield earlier in the month, during which educators expressed interest in both the C&I and Administration programs. Given that there was “standing room only” at this meeting, the interest in the SOE’s graduate programs, and the quality that you offer to our regional educators, is certainly being noticed!! We are also in the process of finalizing a survey for educators in the Centralia region, to determine the level of interest in continuing programs there. We have been receiving a lot of support from the University’s Outreach Office, which has promised to help us with funding for courses as our programs grow. Mary and I will also be meeting with Roger Maclean and Bob Daiber, the Madison County ROE Superintendent, to brainstorm the ROE’s needs in providing professional development (specifically, through CDPU’s) for the county’s educators. It is evident that the SOE continues to have a very positive impact on professionals in the region!