MWCC's weekly e-newsletter
Friday, December 8, 2006
MWCC FACULTY SHARE FULBRIGHT EXPERIENCES WITH STUDENTS
By Kimberly B. Caisse
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Dr. Madhu Sharma |
MWCC foreign language students are becoming more familiar with the South American countries of Argentina and Uruguay while broadcasting and telecommunications students are gaining a better understanding of Chinese culture thanks to trips to these countries made by two professors as part of the prestigious Fulbright-Hayes Seminars Abroad program.
The program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, provides study and travel seminars abroad for U.S. educators in the social sciences and humanities for the purpose of improving their understanding and knowledge of the people and cultures of other countries. There are approximately seven to 10 seminars with 14 to 16 participants in each seminar annually.
Each participant must create a classroom project based on their experiences. The projects are submitted to the Department of Education for use by other educators.
Dr. Madhu Sharma, professor of English as a Second Language who also teaches Spanish at the college, spent a month last summer in Argentina and Uruguay. Marilyn Pennell, who teaches in the broadcasting and communications program, spent a month in China.
Sharma said she will integrate lessons about Argentine and Uruguayan culture, geographic location and language variations into her beginner I and II and intermediate I and II Spanish courses.
“Students will be exposed to a variety of handicrafts, currency, artifacts, videos on music and dance, colored picture books, picture postcards and a photo album of the places visited during my seminar,” she explained. “They will listen to and learn the songs by Argentine singer
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Marilyn Pennell |
Mercedes Sosa and Uruguayan singers Jaime Roos and Ruben Rada. In addition, Argentine and Uruguayan ESL students will be invited as guests in my Spanish classes. Students will sample empanadas and dulce de leche from these countries.”
Pennell has done a video exchange between her speech students and Tibetan students who live in the western province of Qinghai on the Tibetan plateau. “Each group of students did a video, talking about their lives and education, etc.,” she explained. “The goal is to promote language and speech presentation and also to foster greater cross cultural awareness.”
The Tibetan students who MWCC students are communicating with “are the best and brightest in the province,” the third poorest in China, Pennell said. Just as MWCC students do service-learning projects in their communities, the Tibetan students do nongovernmental organization projects to help their communities, she added.
Pennell has created a password-protected website to explain the project and showcase the video exchanges and participants.
Sharma and Pennell said they were delighted to represent MWCC as cultural ambassadors of the United States and continue a trend started by Psychology Professor Ray Coleman, who was selected to attend three seminars during the 1990s, in Japan, Eastern Europe and Poland.
DEMOCRACY CAFÉ PANELISTS AGREE THE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION HAS CHANGED THE POWER STRUCTURE OF BEACON HILL
By Kimberly B. Caisse
At MWCC’s inaugural Democracy Café Thursday, Dec. 7, eight panelists agreed the election of Deval Patrick as governor in November has changed the power structure on Beacon Hill.
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Panelists listen as Gardner Mayor Gerald St. Hilaire speaks. |
For many of the last 16 years, there have been no checks and balances in the state’s government, noted Gardner Mayor Gerald St. Hilaire. Massachusetts has had Republican governors and a Democratic Legislature that could override the governor’s veto. The speaker of the house and the senate president ran the state.
With the landslide election of Patrick and lieutenant governor Tim Murray, they have lost power, St. Hilaire continued.
State Rep. Jennifer Flannagan, D-Leominster, predicted the days of legislative “pet projects” will be gone because Beacon Hill’s dynamics have changed.
“All elected officials in Massachusetts recognize that spending has to be controlled, prudent and responsible,” said state Rep. Robert Rice, D-Gardner. He said he doesn’t expect Governor-elect Patrick to propose an unbalanced budget that must be balanced with additional taxes.
“I wish Governor-elect Patrick all the best, but it’s going to be tough after January 4, because he promised a lot of things,” said state Rep. Lewis Evangelidis, R-Holden. “It will be fascinating to watch.”
Dr. Sergio Paez, language acquisitions director at Leominster Public Schools and MWCC trustee, said he expects a reexamination of teaching English to non-English-speaking students, Patrick to push for charging eligible undocumented high-school graduates in-state tuition at public colleges, and a new look at the meaning of MCAS scores.
MCAS “shows who reads and writes well,” Paez said, but not who will do well in other areas. “We need to maximize all the talents of our students.”
MWCC student Jack Wilson cautioned against raising tuition and fees at public colleges and universities. “Many of the students here [at MWCC] pay for college out of our own pockets,” he said. “As you increase tuition and fees, we have to work more to pay for that.”
That leaves less time to participate in student activities, service-learning projects and civic engagement opportunities at the college, Wilson noted.
He also advocated for the creation of incentives that entice more students to stay in college and complete their degree.
During the panel’s discussion about the need for renewed investment in public higher education, Mark Hawke, assistant director of Gardner’s Department of Community Development and Planning, pointed out that talk of investment in education delivery and building infrastructure “all ties back to economic development.”
“Theatre at the Mount: That’s economic development. People go to the shows and eat at a restaurant in downtown Gardner,” he said. Investing in public colleges and universities is “what’s going to make strong economic development and strong cities and towns.”
The panelists also discussed illegal immigration, affordable housing, same-sex marriage and unfunded state and federal mandates. Audience members asked about the income tax roll-back to 5 percent, getting equitable funding for urban areas and increased funding of early childhood education.
The panel’s moderator, former state Rep. Raymond M. LaFontaine, joked: “I like being the moderator; it’s safe territory.”
MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino announced that the panelists will be asked to return in late 2008 to talk about their predictions as well as political events of the coming year.
Sponsored by the college’s Center for Democracy and Humanity, the new Democracy Project is hosting events like this leading up to Election Day 2008. The objective is to make politics more accessible to MWCC students and the community.
LIFE’S INTERGENERATIONAL PROJECTS ENRICH LIVES OF PARTICIPANTS
About 60 people gathered in the north cafeteria to mark the finale to the Lifelong Learning Institute for Enrichment’s fall Intergenerational Arts and Writing projects Tuesday, Dec. 5.
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Elm Street School students and their parents look at the display of the LIFE program's Intergenerational Arts projects. |
The Intergenerational Arts Project, held at Elm Street School, involved weekly two-hour meetings for six weeks in which two middle school students and a LIFE artist collaborated on art projects. Twenty students participated.
The Intergenerational Writing Project paired a senior writer with a young writer and gave them a list of suggested topics to write about. Eleven pairs participated.
The idea for these initiatives “was born out of a need for senior citizens and kids to get together,” said LIFE Program Coordinator Lorraine Wickman.
Janet Ouellette read her poem and that of fifth-grader Alyssa Garcia, both entitled “What If?” Then she told the audience what she learned during the two-month project.
Ouellette said she learned everyone has a voice, she “needed to become a good observer to see the detail and overall picture” of Alyssa’s work, and to give direction to her young partner.
“Something like this couldn’t have happened without each of you doing your part,” Wickman said. She also acknowledged the support of The Gardner News Publisher Alberta Bell, who funded the supplies for the students’ projects, and MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino, who provided the refreshments at the event.
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MWCC’s Leo & Theresa LaChance Library will host the "Elizabeth I: Ruler and Legend" traveling exhibit beginning Wednesday, Dec. 13 through March 30. The library is one of only 40 public and academic libraries in the nation to host this exhibit. This new exhibit commemorates the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England and encourages audiences not only to reacquaint themselves with the Queen, but also to become more familiar with the historical and cultural forces that shaped her personality and her time, and to examine the mixture of history and legend that continues to surround her today. The American Library Association Public Programs Office, in partnership with The Newberry Library of Chicago and the National Endowment for the Humanities, is sponsoring the traveling exhibit. All showings of the exhibition and related programs will be free and open to the public. For more information, contact Reference and Instruction Librarian Ellen Pratt at (978) 630-9125.
Theatre at the Mount's "A Broadway Christmas" continues Friday, Dec. 8 and Saturday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m.
- MWCC has launched the new Clinical Laboratory Science program. Students enrolled in this program will learn how to use sophisticated biomedical instrumentation and computers to analyze blood and other body specimens. Information sessions will take place Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. in the OBS Conference Room on the second floor of Heywood Hospital. Prospective students interested in attending the information session are asked to call the Admissions Office at (978) 630-9110 (TTY (978) 632-4916), or send an email to admissions@mwcc.mass.edu. Information about the new CLS program also is posted on the college Blackboard website called CLS Information Center. To access more information, go to https://bb.mwcc.edu and then enter “cls” as both the username and password.
- MWCC’s new Biotechnology manufacturing program will host information sessions Tuesdays Dec. 19, Jan. 9 and Jan. 16 from 6 to 7 p.m. and Thursday, Jan. 4; and Tuesday, Jan. 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the main campus, 444 Green St., Gardner. With the decision by the drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb to locate a large biotechnology company at Devens, the college anticipates a 64-credit degree program will begin in fall 2007 and a 28-credit certificate program in fall 2008 at the Devens campus. The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council predicts more than 100,000 biotechnology jobs will be added statewide by the end of the decade. Registration is required. To register and for more information, contact MWCC’s Dean of Science Charles Weitze at cweitze@mwcc.mass.edu or (978) 630-9207.
- Theatre at the Mount is accepting nominations for the inaugural High School Musical Theatre Awards, the TAMYs. These awards recognize the exceptional accomplishments in the production and performance of musical theatre in area high schools. Area high schools are invited to participate in the competition by entering their annual musical production for consideration in a variety of categories, including: best overall production, best actor, best actress, best choreography, etc. Members of the Theatre at the Mount staff will attend and evaluate each production, making nominations in each category. Winners will be honored at a “red-carpet” awards ceremony and dinner modeled after Broadway’s Tony Awards. Local schools interested in participating in the TAMY Award program should contact Professor Gail Steele at (978) 630-9162 or gsteele@mwcc.mass.edu.