Teaching CSUN's Freshmen: What's New, What's Ongoing
Latest news
Barbara Ehrenreich will be the keynote speaker at Freshman Convocation this fall: Thursday, September 4, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. on the Oviatt Lawn at CSUN. Save the date!
Other news:
New "Technology for Faculty" Website at CSUN
Online Instruction is now part of Information Technology (IT) at CSUN. The IT Faculty website offers information about a variety of "Teaching Resources" (such as WebCT), "Quick Links" to key technology topics (like passwords, wireless connections, and SOLAR rosters), and "Training/Support" links to faculty technology workshops and materials for accessible web design. URL: http://www.csun.edu/it/faculty.html
Choosing the 2009-2010 Freshman Common Reading
If you would like to serve on the Freshman Common Reading Selection Committee and help choose the book CSUN's freshman class will read in 2009-2010, email cheryl.spector@csun.edu (preferably by June 16, 2008).
Teaching University 100
Our Fall 2008 faculty search closed on April 18, 2008. We expect to re-open the application pool again in arly spring 2009 with deadlines established by CSUN's office of Faculty Affairs. For more information, contact cheryl.spector@csun.edu or see: http://www.csun.edu/afye/Teaching_University_100.html
We have a winner: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is CSUN's Freshman Common Reading for 2008-2009.
In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich reports what happened when she attempted to "match income to expenses" as a minimum wage employee in various jobs across the country. At the beginning of her project, she half-expected that "some supervisor or co-worker" might suspect that she was actually a nationally known journalist with a PhD in biology. However, she explains, "this never happened, I suspect because the only thing that really made me 'special' was my inexperience. To state the proposition in reverse, low-wage workers are no more homogeneous in personality or ability than people who write for a living, and no less likely to be funny or bright. Anyone in the educated classes who thinks otherwise ought to broaden their circle of friends." See Ehrenreich's website for additional information.
Book Groups for Nickel and Dimed
Faculty & Staff who would like to read Nickel and Dimed this spring are invited to join one of two Book Groups. For more information or to sign up, check the Book Group page.
Teaching and Discussing The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
For additional information, check CSUN's Common Reading website
Academic Self-Esteem: Ex.C.E.L.
Mark Stevens, University Counseling. (PowerPoint Presentation)
Freshman Convocation Archive
Speech by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: "Our Environmental Destiny"