CONTENTS for January 29, 2002

1. Live Webcasts on "Sustainability and the Built Environment"
2. Information Fluency Symposium
3. Southeastern Theatre Conference
4. Global Partners Opportunities
5. ACS Women's Studies Conference to Be Held at Hendrix College: Student
   Travel funding available!
6. The Tenth Annual Latin American Studies Symposium, Birmingham-Southern
   College--April 5-6, 2002
7. Environmental Programs Opportunities
8. Faculty Reflections on Teaching and Learning

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1. LIVE WEBCASTS ON "SUSTAINABILITY AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT"

We are pleased to announce three upcoming LIVE WEBCASTS on "Sustainability and the Built Environment." On February 6 & 22, and April 3 at 7pm EST, ACS students, staff, and faculty may participate in real-time "conversations" about environmentally friendly development. Join us as internationally known architects, designers, builders, educators, and attorneys engage in dialogue with your students and colleagues throughout the consortium while all ACS campuses participate via email. For more information, see
http://www.richmond.edu/academics/a&s/urban/sustainability/index.html.
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2. INFORMATION FLUENCY SYMPOSIUM

The ACS Information Fluency Project Symposium will be held on February 15-16, 2002 in Atlanta at the Emory Conference Center Hotel. Deadline for registration is February 1. Information about the symposium and registration forms can be found at http://www.colleges.org/~if/.
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3. SOUTHEASTERN THEATRE CONFERENCE

REMINDER: RSVP, by February 1, to Beth Bowser, bowser@colleges.org, if you plan to attend the SETC Conference in Mobile, and would like to join your fellow ACS drama/theatre faculty for a lunch session on March 7, to discuss ACS drama faculty exchanges. Reservations are needed for lunch. See http://www.setc.org for full details of the conference.
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4. GLOBAL PARTNERS OPPORTUNITIES

Global Partners, a tri-consortial project involving ACS, along with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Great Lakes Colleges Association, offers the following opportunities for faculty and students:

FOR FACULTY: Summer 2002 Seminar in Turkey. Application deadline: February 1, 2002. This seminar is offered through the Council on International Educational Exchange and is entitled "Economics, Polity, and Religion in Turkey." The seminar takes place June 9-20, 2002, and focuses on Turkey's unique role as a modern secular Muslim nation, a NATO member and a vital U.S. ally. More information: http://www.global-partners.org/turkey/seminar02.html. Contact Teresa Wise, twise@colleges.org, 404/636-9533, ext. 19.

FOR FACULTY: Travel grants to Central Europe and Russia. Application deadline: February 15, 2002. These grants are designed for both area specialists and non-specialists to assist planned research or curriculum development or to support faculty members who are prospective program directors for off-campus study in the area. Collaborative projects are especially encouraged. More information on the grants-including reports from previous grant recipients-can be found at http://www.global-partners.org/cerus/travel.html. Contact Daniel Sack, Program Officer at ACM (dsack@acm.edu or 312/263-5000).

FOR STUDENTS: Fall 2002 Semester in Turkey. This year, Global Partners again offers students the chance to study in Turkey for a semester. The program gives students the chance to experience both Istanbul and Ankara and to participate in a field study trip through important modern and ancient sites in western Turkey. Classes are selected at two of Turkey's finest universities (Bilkent University and Middle East Technical University/METU). In addition, students take a core course on Turkey under the leadership of the program directors (Professors Pedar Foss and Rebecca Schindler of DePauw University). At both Bilkent and METU all instruction is in English. Cost is a very reasonable $10,000 which includes housing, tuition, some meals and the field trip. For more information visit: http://www.global-partners.org/turkey/studyabroad/.

Please encourage your students to apply for this program; first consideration is given to applications received by February 15, 2002. Contact Teresa Wise (twise@colleges.org or 404.636.9533, ext. 19).

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5. ACS WOMEN'S STUDIES CONFERENCE TO BE HELD AT HENDRIX COLLEGE: STUDENT TRAVEL FUNDING AVAILABLE!

ACS is pleased to announce that the 5th Biennial Women's Studies Conference will be held at Hendrix College (Conway, Arkansas) on April 12-13, 2002. The theme of the conference is "Gender Studies/Women's Studies; Separate But Equal?" The keynote speaker is Dr. Oyeronke Oyewumi, author of "The Invention of Women." We invite academic papers and panels, creative performances and pieces, and panels related to student life issues and gender. We would like to emphasize the importance of involving students from across ACS at this conference and therefore encourage faculty to mentor their students in preparation for participation at the conference. Student travel funding is available. Proposals are due by February 1, 2002 and may be submitted through the website: http://www.colleges.org/~wms/2002/conf02.html. For more information or to get involved, please contact Allison Shutt, shutt@mercury.hendrix.edu or Leslie Templeton, templeton@mercury.hendrix.edu.
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6. THE TENTH ANNUAL LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES SYMPOSIUM, BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE--APRIL 5-6, 2002

The Latin American Studies Program at Birmingham-Southern College invites proposals for panels and individual papers from outstanding undergraduate students. Papers on any topic pertaining to Latin America will be considered. Faculty members accompanying their students are invited to serve as panel chairs and discussants. To propose a paper, please send a single-page abstract, along with a short and clearly stated title, to the symposium director. Attach an information sheet with your name, institution, current mailing address, e-mail and telephone number. Deadline: Abstracts must be received no later than January 31, 2002.

Please send abstracts to Barbara Domcekova, Director, Latin American Studies Symposium, Birmingham-Southern College, 900 Arkadelphia Road, Birmingham, AL 35254, phone (205) 226-4975, fax (205) 226-3078, e-mail: bdomceko@bsc.edu. For additional information visit the website: http://www.bsc.edu/lass/.
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7. ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS OPPORTUNITIES

1) "Sustainability in the Humanities Curriculum" Workshop, March 1-3, Southwestern University. For more information, contact Laura Hobgood-Oster (hoboster@southwestern.edu; 512-863-1669) or go to http://www.furman.edu/%7Eworthen/fcd/fcdfr.htm.

2) March 1: 1st application deadline, Curriculum and Faculty Development Grant. For more information, go to http://www.colleges.org/~enviro/proposals/cfd_rfp.pdf.

3) March 30: 2nd application deadline, Campus as a Lab for Sustainability Grants. For more information, go to http://www.colleges.org/~enviro/proposals/cls_rfp.pdf.
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8. FACULTY REFLECTIONS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

"To educate is to guide students on an inner journey toward more truthful ways of seeing and being in the world." (Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach). Palmer's words remind me that good teaching entails careful listening. Years ago I taught a course, outside of my field, for a colleague on sabbatical. I used the books she had ordered for the American Catholic History course and retained the established syllabus and class assignments. At one point, the students wrote about their own family's history in the United States. One of the African American students, when asked to share what she had prepared, explained that she had not written about her family because "the story of my family does not fit with the material we have covered."

Thinking about her remark, I realized that the treatment of the African American Catholic experience in the course materials upheld the operative assumptions that this manifestation of Catholicism was a minority one accessible only through the lens of the dominant European American Catholic experience and paradigm. Her family's experience would have been stifled by such a paradigm. Student comments usually do not get at the
heart of the working assumptions of our courses in such a dramatic way.
Their comments can, however, provide ways for us to consider and evaluate the structure and content of our courses. They may even encourage us, as this student's remark did for me, to create courses that facilitate our students' search for meaning by challenging standard scholarly paradigms. (Bernadette McNary-Zak, Rhodes College)

We invite you to share a "reflection" or a favorite teaching/learning website. Please send your submission (250 words or less) to Bernadette McNary Zak at mcnary_zak@rhodes.edu.

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