GC Journeys Newsletter
AUGUST 2021
20 Faculty Complete 2nd Annual Summer HIPs Course
Gates Grant Funds HIPs Champions
The High-Impact Practices (HIPs) Champions are:
1) Dr. Stephanie McClure, Capstones
2) Dr. Stefanie Sevcik, Community based Engaged Learning
3) Angela Criscoe, Internships
This grant will allow experienced faculty to help expand faculty support for the GC Journeys program.
GC Faculty Redesign Freshman Seminar
In January 2021, As part of the Georgia College Retention Committee, Dr. Dorman tasked a sub-committee of GC faculty and staff to work on re-designing the First Year Academic Seminar. The sub-committee is made of co-chairs Dr. Lisa Griffin and Jordan Cofer as well as members: Drs. Nicole Declouette, Brent Evans, Ken McGill, Lee Gillis, Michelle Johnson and Erin Weston. As part of their work, the subcommittee met with faculty, such as Dr. Cynthia Alby, and First Year Experience expert, Dr. Nirmal Trivedi (Kennesaw State University). The result is TREK, a course built around four course outcomes:
In March 2021, the committee asked academic departments for volunteers to participate in a pilot program. As a result, this Fall, 30 faculty-led sections, representing 16 departments, will participate in this pilot. Dr. Lisa Griffin noted, "when we offered a pilot section, we thought we would have 5-10 volunteers, but we ended up with 30." As for the future of the TREK pilot, the committee hopes to gather as much data before presenting any type of long-term recommendations. According to Dr. Jordan Cofer, “we are going to offer multiple assessments for this pilot and after this semester, we are hoping to have a clearer picture of how to proceed.”
GC Journeys Sponsors Deans & Department Chairs Workshop
On June 12th, Deans and Department Chairs met convened to discuss ways to support current and increase the number of future high-impact practice offerings through GC Journeys. They were joined virtually by featured speakers, Dr. Tristan Denley, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the USG, Dr. Ashley Finley, Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President for AAC&U (American Association of Colleges and Universities), and Dr. Jillian Kinzie, Professor of Education at Indiana University and Associate Director of the National Survey of Student Engagement. Dr. Jordan Cofer and Kay Anderson also presented a training on identifying high-impact practices and coding them in Banner. Colleges worked together to identify current high-impact practice courses.
Upcoming GC Journeys Programming
September 1st, 3:30 - 5 pm
Transformative Experiences - Cynthia Alby & Simeco Vinson [Click to Register]
Directly applicable to teaching in a liberal arts college, this highly interactive two-part series is designed to help everyone be on the same page for the university's GC Journeys program. We will provide you with information to help you make the classes you teach and the programs you teach in more transformative for students and more meaningful for you.
September 8th, 3:30 - 5 pm
Essential Learning Outcomes - Cynthia Alby & Simeco Vinson [Click to Register]
Directly applicable to teaching in a liberal arts college, this highly interactive two-part series is designed to help everyone be on the same page for the university's GC Journeys program. We will provide you with information to help you make the classes you teach and the programs you teach in more transformative for students and more meaningful for you.
CONTACT US
Email: journeys@gcsu.edu
Website: https://www.gcsu.edu/gcjourneys
Location: Carl Vinson House