Daily Brief

Meet the Candidate: Director, New Student Orientation

Our second candidate for the director of New Student Orientation will be on campus and have an open session for campus partners 2:30-3:30 p.m. today, Monday, April 15, 116 Stratton. A printed resume will be available for those attending the session. Attend the open forum for campus partners to get to know the candidate and ask questions.

Leah M. Cassellia, Search Committee

AFSCME Local 2234 Member Meeting

Please plan on attending AFSCME Local 2234 monthly member meeting 5 p.m. Monday, April 15, 103 Academic Forum. Refreshments will be served.

Tish Manwiller, AFSCME Local 2234

Dissertation Defense of Marissa Wallace

Join us 2:30-4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, 243 Beekey, to listen to Marissa Wallace's dissertation defense titled "Connecting Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education Competencies in Teacher Preparation Programs to the Experiences of Mixed-Race Learners in K-12 Settings: A Mixed Methods Study." The chairperson is Dr. Amy Pfeiler-Wunder with committee members Dr. Helen Hamlet and Julian Saavedra.

Catherine McGeehan, EDD

Starfish Workshops

Faculty and staff can sign up for 30-minute sessions to review Starfish functionality, learn about new features and ask questions. Users can choose from a list of available session times and topics. Sign up using this link or visit the Starfish website; the link to sign up is under "Starfish Faculty and Staff Resources."

Starfish

Nancy Brynildsen, Student Success and Academic Excellence

Ana Bogota's Dissertation Defense

Ana Bogota will defend her dissertation 8 a.m. Wednesday, April 17, 245 Beekey. The title of her dissertation is, "A Teacher and Her Language Minoritized Students in a Translanguaging Mathematics Classroom: Activating and Suppressing Our Full Linguistic Repertoires for Increased Mathematical Reasoning and Sense-Making." The committee members are Dr. Mark Wolfmeyer, Dr. Helen S. Hamlet and Dr. Kate Seltzer.

Catherine Vigilante, EDD

Undergraduate Research and Creativity Mentorship Award Ceremony

The campus community, family and guests are invited to the Undergraduate Research and Creativity (UGRC) Mentorship Award ceremony 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, 183 MSU, following the KU Inspires Conference. The 2024 recipients are Dr. Darren Achey, Professor Michael Covello, Dr. Kyleigh Ivory and Dr. Dylan Schwesinger. Please congratulate our award recipients and plan to show your support in person at the event. For more information about the award and a list of past recipients, click here.

Lynn M. Kutch, Undergraduate Research and Creativity

Ride the Cyclone, A Musical Presented By ACT

Actors Creating Theater (ACT) is a student-run theater group comprised of majors from across the university. Come see them perform in this weird and comedic show set in Uranium City Saskatchewan 7 p.m. Thursday, April 18, Schaeffer Little Theatre. Tickets are discounted for faculty and staff.

Tickets

Derek Mace, ACT Advisor

At-Risk for Mental Health Training Opportunity

Identifying and responding to college students in distress can be challenging. The campus community has asked for more guidance in working with troubled students. KU is now offering two 30-minute Kognito training modules on D2L to help faculty, staff and students identify signs of distress and what they can do to help.
 - “At-Risk Mental Health for Faculty and Staff” is an interactive roleplay that will help users learn about psychological distress, how it impacts college students and what they can do when they're concerned about a student.
 - “At-Risk for Mental Health for Students” is an interactive roleplay that builds awareness, knowledge and skills about mental health and suicide prevention for themselves or others and prepares users to talk with fellow students in distress and direct them to support.
Trainings are available through D2L as “Kognito (Faculty/Staff)” or “Kognito (Students)” and are accessible through the end of the semester. 24/7 crisis and non-crises resources specific to KU and the community are included in the course content. Please encourage your staff and students to take this short, but valuable, training opportunity. Questions can be directed to Susan Mangold at mangold@kutztown.edu.

Susan Mangold, Student Assistance

Composition/Writing Consultations

Make an appointment with Composition Coordinator Amy Lynch-Biniek to discuss any sticky wicket in your composition course, writing assignments or plans for Fall 2024 classes. Drop in 1-3 p.m. any Monday or Wednesday, either in-person at 132B Lytle Hall or via Zoom. You can also make an appointment by email at lynchbin@kutztown.edu.

Zoom Link

Amy Lynch-Biniek, English

Computer Science and Information Technology Thesis Presentation

Pei Hua Lin, graduate student in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, will give a presentation on her thesis research 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 23, via Zoom. The university community is invited to this thesis presentation titled “Exploring Optimizer Performance on Hard Knapsack Problems: A Comparative Study of Five Approaches.” For more information, please contact Dr. Yun Lu, professor, mathematics.

Yun Lu, Mathematics

Faculty Student Course Assistant Requests Due May 3

Faculty can request a "Student Course Assistant" (SCA). SCAs can both support classroom content as well as provide study sessions. To learn more about the SCA position, review the full job description at the Tutoring Services website. Please complete the Student Course Assistant Request Form by Friday, May 3. When we receive your request, Tutoring Services will reach out to the student identified to confirm interest in the position. If you have questions, email tutor@kutztown.edu.

Tutoring Services

Adam Troxel, Tutoring Services