Happy Monday Bonner Team!!
New Blogging Assignment due Thursday!!
For those competing in the Faculty Challenge, please report out. Your response must address the following questions:
1. Can you tell me about a significant ongoing, or academically relevant service experience in your life?
2. Why/How did you decide to become a faculty member?
3. How did you decide to pursue your field of study or discipline?
New Bonners:
Please blog about how the Siena Bonner Service Leaders Program fits into the mission of the college, specifically relating to the following:
"As a Franciscan community, Siena strives to embody the vision and values of St. Francis of Assisi: faith in a personal and provident God, reverence for all creation, affirmation of the unique worth of each person, delight in diversity, appreciation for beauty, service with the poor and marginalized, a community where members work together in friendship and respect, and commitment to building a world that is more just, peaceable, and humane.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Have a stellar week!
Gretchen
15 comments:
I had my first meeting today with Professor Sudarat Musikawong. She is a new professor here at Siena this semester in the Sociology Department.
Professor Musikawong told me today, over lunch, that she tried to pair up with The Center for Law and Justice this semester for her Sociology 101 class. Unfortunately, it didn't work out too well because of timing. However, she hopes to pair up with community partners in the future for her classes.
She came to Siena all the way from the West Coast. She was able to find Siena when she searched for job openings all across the country and really liked it and the people here when she came for her interview.
I found it very interesting that she actually was not always a sociologist. Professor Musikawong received her Bachelors in Economics and wasn't "trained to think like a sociologist" until her graduate work.
I had a very nice lunch with Dr. Musikawong at the wrap shop. It was nice to have a conversation with a professor that wasn't all about my school work in her class. She seemed very interested in Bonner overall and had a lot of good questions. My position as the Community Partner Liaison also helped my ability to describe some of the community partners and what they do.
The Siena Bonner Service Leaders Program fits perfectly into the mission of the college. By serving our Siena and surrounding communities and helping others we are showing "reverence for all creation" and "affirm the unique worth of each person." We strive in the presence of diversity and appreciate the beauty in everyone and everything we encounter, which is why we love devoting our time to others, especially the "poor and marginalized", and learning from all of our experiences. The Bonner community as a whole is one "where the members work together in friendship and respect" to "commit to building a world that is more just, peaceable, and humane." These values and attributes make us a truly unique group of people that is strong and special. Our actions, leadership, and motivation are what make the world a more enjoyable place to live. What we learn and give lasts forever.
So I Had a meeting with Prof. Boswell from the psychology department today. She already knew somethings about Bonner but learned a lot more. I was really nervous at first, but she made me feel completely comfortable. I am in a Learning class with her. And when I told her about my placement, North Albany Academy, she said the two fit hand and hand together. She helped to relate some of the class topics to what I do with the kids.
1. Can you tell me about a significant ongoing, or academically relevant service experience in your life?
Dr. Boswell served on the School Board for 10 years. Also she was highly involved in a local food pantry for 5-6. The man who ran the food pantry also grew his own fruits and vegetables and sold them at a very low price. She found it so interesting to see that even in the rural areas there is a such a hunger problem.
2. Why/How did you decide to become a faculty member?
She explained that was she chose psychology as a major, it was her plan all along. There was no particular reason, it just seemed like the most fitting choice and like something that she would enjoy.
3. How did you decide to pursue your field of study or discipline?
Freshman year as an undergrad she wanted to be a marine biologist. So she entered college as a biology major. After her first year of classes, she was over biology. The classes were interesting but hard and she had a hard time doing well in them. So she began to look for something that seemed to fit her better. And psych just seemed to fall right into place.
We talked about service learning a little bit and she expressed her interest but also her concerns. With most of her classes she has about 30 kids and teaches two sections, so how do you involve all 60 kids? She said she would be really interested to try and implement it into some of her classes if she had some ideas of how it would work.
I met with Professor Kevin Kittredge of the Chemistry department to discuss Bonner. After explaining to him the program and then my goals at North Albany Academy (incorporating science into service/health days) he was able to tell me about materials that his wife had made for the Department of Health and Human Services and books she wrote.
1. Can you tell me about a significant ongoing, or academically relevant service experience in your life?
I work with individual research students and every year students from Siena College collaborate with students from the University of Richmond's Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
2. Why/How did you decide to become a faculty member?
I love working with students and do not have the personality to be in an office environment. Also my Uncle Bob was a professor and was a great influence. Uncle Bob has always been a very energetic individual and he has committed his life to service. He recently received the Excellence in Community Service Award from the University of Albany.
3. How did you decide to pursue your field of study or discipline?
Talent, I always had great chemistry professors and seemed to have a knack for it.
Also I was originally going to be a Chemical Engineer but took a class that I thought would fulfill my final requirement but come Undergrad Graduation I was 3 credits short of a Chemical Engineering degree and 3 credits over a Chemistry degree so Chemistry it was.
1. Can you tell me about a significant ongoing, or academically relevant service experience in your life?
I met with Prof. Dehiel, who teaches computer science, and we had a great conversation about Siena Bonner Leaders.
One of Prof. Dehiel's experiences of service had to do with creating a program for idle computers. Computers waste so much energy when it's on, but is not being used. So, he and a few others were/and continue to work on having a system that would transfer that energy to things that are more productive with that same energy: cure for cancer, and a cure for AIDS. They are continuing with this idea, and hopefully in the near future this new technology will be on the market for the public to purchase!
2. Why/How did you decide to become a faculty member?
Prof. Dehiel LOVES computers, and he enjoys talking to others about what he loves. He wants to be able to teach others who have share the same passion as him.
3. How did you decide to pursue your field of study or discipline?
Since he was six years of age he has had a love for computers, and a deep interest in how they work, so "it just made scene to purse the field of Computer Science."
I met with Fr. Linh who is a religious studies professor on campus.
Fr. Linh decided to become a friar because he has a passion for theology and wanted to pursue it to a higher level. He started in vocational school and this called to him and he continued to study religious traditions of the world.
He decided to become a faculty member because he had stayed at Siena for a period of time and enjoyed the campus and saw it as an opportunity to teach. This opportunity gave him a chance to experiment and then after a couple of years he decided to become a full time faculity member on campus.
Fr. Linh is currently part of a professional organization on campus, he helps out at the franciscian soup kitchen at Holy Names parish and goes to the jail once a month and provides them will a mass/service.
I had my faculty meeting yesterday with Professor Robert Colesante from the Education Department. Dr. Colesante had some knowledge of Bonner from Dr. Johnson but was really interested to hear what we actually do.
1. One of Dr. Colesante's significant, ongoing, and academically relevant service experience is that he was always involved in his community at home. He has had much experience in his church with helping out the community and was on the board of community activities in his hometown. He focuses on finding ways to improve access to higher education within the community of albany through the program he directs here at Siena College on Saturdays. The program is called Urban Scholars that links professional service with scholars to the inner city youth. He constructs this program because it is the right thing to do and it incorporates teaching in a classroom with working with diversity.
2. Dr. Colesante decided to become a faculty member of Siena College when he graduated from the University at Albany in 1997. When he graduated he applied for several jobs and Siena was the first to contact him. He has been a faculty member at the college for thirteen years and truly enjoys teaching the future teachers of the world so they can make a difference.
3. Dr. Colesante focus in college was in latin, where he student taught in latin. Once he moved on to graduate school he decided he wanted to focus on academic work in the inner city. He furthered his career in practicing research and wanted to influence teachers in the multicultural field of education.
My meeting with Dr. Colesante went very well, although he is my education professor I got to learn a lot more about his career and what he is interested in doing. He was happy to know that the Bonner Program reaches out to the community and makes a difference and thinks that we need more people who want to serve in the world. Later that day, I had night class with Dr. Colesante and used the Bonner Program as an example of motivation in our lesson.
So I met with Dr. Elias Shukralla. He is my macro-economics teacher.
He told me today that over the summer he worked with Junior Achievement America. He described it as a civic service opportunity. He worked with eigth graders entering high school, and gave them introductions into different business classes.
He came to this area last year, after obtaining his Ph.D from University of Michigan in applied economics. I was shocked to learn that he did his undergrad schooling in Ethiopia at a school called Addia Ababa University. There he got is bachelor's in economics and his master's in policy analysis. He told me that he loves being at Siena cause it is a perfect fit for him.
He mentioned that he also wanted to be a teacher. But orginally he studied in the field of chemistry. He switched to economics after taking his first economics class.
Dr. Shukralla seemed to be informed about Bonner. He knew that it was a lot of work and gave us a lot of credit. He also mentioned that Dr. Booker, the head of the economics department, has mentioned to his staff about Service Learning in their courses. It is good to know that programs like that are in the works.
I had my meeting with Professor Kapur and she teaches my Political Science class. She is a grad student and is fairly new to Siena. She was a perfect person to meet with because she didn't know anything about the Bonner Program. When I finished my sutmp speech she was very impressed with the program.
1. When I asked her if she had a significantly, ongoing or academically relveant service experience she said that she is currently serving on the Job Search Committee and she reads the applications of Tenure track faulty. She volutneers her time to read their applications and invite them to interviews.
2. She decided to become a faculty member at Siena because Dr. Halpert emailed her Grad school advisor asking if he knew anyone interested in taking a teaching position here. He reconomended Prof. Kapur and she got the job.
3. She decided to pursue her field of study through taking differnt classes. Her field opf study is Public Law in American Politics. She is currently wokring on her dissertation, which examines the regularity of marriage over time and how it has changed. She has been looking at the cultural and institutional changes in marriage.
I met with Professor Harden who is my Foundations Professor and we had a good talk about Bonner and service learning.
Professor Harden loves community service and service learning and getting his students involved. Thats one of the reason why i chose him. I felt that he would be very interested in the Siena College Bonner Leaders. He was. he had tons of questions like what community partners, how many bonners, where the money comes from, the application process and the etcetera.
Most of the volunteer opportunities he does with his students deal with Saint John's Saint Anne's Church ten minutes away in the south end of Albany. I have actually volunteered one Saturday evening and I really liked it. After Thanksgiving he is actually going to have us create blankets for needy families. What he tries to have his students understand is that it doesn't take much to help others. Some of the time we will spend in class will help some people feel warm over the winter. He also has plans for overseas using the idea of micro-lending.
He says that one of his goals when it comes to the community is to have his students understand an overall sense of responsibility. Yes, a responsibility to oneself in academics and other commitments. But also a responsibility to others as well.
P.S. Professor Harden is now a grandfather!! : )
I met with Dr. Jean Stern who is runs the Globalization Studies department at Siena. She already knew quite a bit about Bonner, so I focused my presentation on what I do at USCRI. Interviewing Dr. Stern was valuable because I hope to follow a similar track someday!
1. Dr. Stern serves for the "New Sanctuary Movement" which takes a multifaceted approach to helping imprisoned undocumented immigrants. The NSM is regional and is centered in Albany. Dr. Stern's responsibilities include hard service such as advocating for the rights of her clients to soft service such as keeping an imprisoned woman company. (Yes, I just made up "hard" and "soft" service.) Dr. Stern said there would definitely be room for students in the NSM if Bonner was interested.
2. Dr. Stern wanted to work in foreign aid but loved to teach and study, and found her niche out of those interests as a college professor.
3. Dr. Stern chose international relations because she loves to travel and learn languages. She has always been fascinated with how people live and communicate, and has lived in Guam (as a child), France and has studied Swahili and Chinese.
Dr. Stern's first international experience was a French penpal at age 12 who she still keeps in touch with.
Dr. Jenny McErlean and I had an interesting conversation starting with Bonner, which she was already somewhat familiar with, leading to my future aspirations and her career choices. I learned a lot about her long-term involvement with service and commitment to social justice.
1. She served as a board member on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Albany for 12 years and found the experience very frustrating for the lack of structure and self-interest of many of the members. She saw the need the NAACP has for good organizers to simultaneously know the community they serve well. She suggested many a time, ways to support this in happening, but unfortunately was met with resistance. She grew up in Washington D.C. among a very diverse population and knows first hand the value of diversity, which I think explains her commitment to the NAACP.
She has also taught philosophy to incarcerated people, however we did not discuss this experience today.
2. After receiving her PhD in Philosophy, she applied to EVERY school in the Albany area looking for work as an adjunct to get her foot in the door at an institution. Settling in Albany was the result of her husband working here and describes herself lightheartedly as a, “captive spouse.” At the time of her acceptance, Siena College lacked female philosophy professors, which she believed immensely helped her land the position. Currently, she is chair of the department and again the only woman, though this was not always the case. She is attracted to the inspiring Franciscan mission of dedicating one’s life to fight poverty.
3. Jenny told me her love for philosophy was a result of, “an advising mistake,” and that rather than choosing the field, philosophy choose her. As a poor economics major, she found her philosophy course to be very engaging and did very well without trying too hard. She had the support of her parents during her undergraduate years who were not extremely career-centered, but rather believed those four years to be about enjoying life and exploring academics. However, they were a bit taken a back when she decided to attend graduate school for philosophy; her reasoning that she received many fellowships and her cost of attendance was very low. Her interest in philosophy is a reflection of her nearly life long dedication to justice.
As a trail-blazer, Jenny will be a great asset to our Bonner Program, and has attempted in the past to integrate a service learning program into our curriculum. I think with the infrastructural help Bonner can provide, we can give her a reason to fight again for service learning. She described the demographics of a particular middle school in Albany being roughly 80% black and 20% white, while the orchestra was pretty much the opposite. School productions draw parents into the school, encouraging parental involvement. We spoke about many of the ways in which not having access to higher education perpetuates the cycle of poverty and how that specifically plays out in the public city school systems. She saw the musical talent overflowing among the black children and wanted to provide an organized outlet for them to shine. Why not have members of BLSU lead a group of students in an a cappella performance and have the Siena students receive credit for it?
Please blog about how the Siena Bonner Service Leaders Program fits into the mission of the college, specifically relating to the following:
"As a Franciscan community, Siena strives to embody the vision and values of St. Francis of Assisi: faith in a personal and provident God, reverence for all creation, affirmation of the unique worth of each person, delight in diversity, appreciation for beauty, service with the poor and marginalized, a community where members work together in friendship and respect, and commitment to building a world that is more just, peaceable, and humane.
The Bonner Service Leaders Program embodies the mission of the college very closely. Everyone is helped by the Bonner Program. No one who needs help and service is ignored. There “is a reverence for all creation” in that sense. Each person is unique and deserves our help, and the Bonner Program does make an effort to help as much as possible. Diversity is prided for what makes people unique and special in the program and the people who are helped. The most important thing for the Bonner Program is helping the “poor and marginalized.” Along with the service, the working as a community aspect is an incredibly important part of the Bonner Program. The community aspect is what makes the program one big family. We are not about the individual self, it’s about branching out to the others and, as a result, the “world“.
Siena Bonner Service Leaders Program fits into the mission of the college because it is in the franciscan tradition to help others and that is what Bonner is all about. Also the Bonner program allows us to work with many people of all kinds of diversity. As Bonners we work to help to creat peace and justice between humans and also between humans and the enviorment.
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