Dear Fiends, I believe that some time ago the SUCO Provost had a fund that allowed faculty to have a pizza party for their students. I don't think this was very well publicized, and I'm not sure how well it worked, but I think it was another variation on the them of the posts below. It might be helpful if there were someone who was better informed than I am, who could describe the good and bad features of this effort as a starting point for developing a similar plan today. Cordially, Harry Harry E. Pence SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus SUNY Oneonta ________________________________ From: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Anderson, Sven Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2014 1:14 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: NYT Article: Americans Think We Have the World's Best Colleges. We Don't. This is related to an idea I have been trying to push for the last few years. Three years ago, when my daughter and I went all over the country visiting different college campuses, we heard the same speech from everyone. The first thing they would tell us in their presentation was "The faculty here are very approachable and involved with the students". We never saw any evidence of it on the campuses. It became our standing joke, as soon as we would sit down in the auditorium for yet another presentation by the local admissions team, one of us would turn to the other and say, "Do you think the faculty are accessible and engaged with the students here"? As we settled into our seats at Pomona College, we were expecting the same and shared our usual joke to ourselves. The Dean of Admissions was the one to deliver the speech and we found him remarkably refreshing to start with and then he got to the usual topic. He didn't disappoint us, and came out with some words to the effect that faculty were engaged with students, but then he actually said something to support it. I will try to summarize it accurately here. "If you are on your way to one of the cafeterias and see a creepy guy standing outside the door by a tree, that's not a creepy guy, he's a chemistry professor. He's waiting for a student to go to lunch. At Pomona, all faculty and staff can be taken to any meal on campus, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, or to any snack bar or coffee shop at any time of day for free. There is no quota on how many times a student does this. The only criteria is that there must be a ratio of at least one student to a faculty or staff member, so in other words, a single student cannot take out the entire english department at once. They can however have a group of students take them out. They can do this everyday of the year, including breaks, as long as the facility is open. Faculty and staff also have free admission to every campus event, including not just sporting events, but cultural ones as well. You will see them at a field hockey game in the afternoon and a violin concert at night. We do everything to encourage student and faculty interaction". When we toured the campus and went into the dining halls and snack bars, cafes etc. they were full, just like the other colleges we had visited, but it was obvious that a very large number of the tables had faculty or staff at the table with the students. I have been teaching now for around 24 years, still a long way short of many, but I have learned that the more engaged a student is with the faculty, the more they grow. For me, the greatest way to get that interaction going is to go to lunch. By getting students out of the classroom situation, where you get to interact with them more as peers, the barriers fall down. They understand that you are not just a teacher but a human being and can talk on all sorts of subjects. This creates a whole new situation in the classroom, they become more engaged. The main difference between the University of Phoenix and us, is that student interaction. The first piece of advice I gave my daughter, going off to college was get to know your professors. Make excuses to go see them if you have to. They are what you are paying for. The difficulty I have right now is I can't afford to go to lunch with students, it costs me over $8 to go to Mills or Wilsbach, Jasmines or Starbucks require a cosigner. The gift card to take students to starbucks is a start, but I would love to see them do something more like Pomona. The majority of my students have meal plans and eat on campus, it would be nice to be able to join them, with a gift card to starbucks, I would surpass my eating out budget for the week on Monday. Another possibility would be a discount if the faculty or staff were accompanied by a student? On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 12:23 PM, Nowak, Rhea <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Great Idea! Rhea Nowak Associate Professor of Art SUNY Oneonta Ravine Parkway Oneonta, NY 13820 607-436-2827<tel:607-436-2827> From: <Greenberg>, Jim <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: Thursday, July 3, 2014 at 10:15 AM To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: Re: NYT Article: Americans Think We Have the World's Best Colleges. We Don't. Rhea, In hopes of "priming the pump" to your question. One thing we can do is find more ways to interact with our students, formally and informally, around the questions of our disciplines. How about giving every teaching faculty member a $50 coffee card that they can ONLY use to buy students a cup of coffee (or similar). Yes this idea might be a bit too radical but it makes the point. Imagine faculty and students walking with each other to the coffee shop and having conversations. You know what, make the card $100 (-; Jim G. From: Teaching Breakfast List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nowak, Rhea Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2014 9:20 AM To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: NYT Article: Americans Think We Have the World's Best Colleges. We Don't. HI Jim- A well written article to be sure, but from my point of view not news. My question, as always: What can I do to make a difference to our students?? Happy 4th to all too. Best, Rhea Rhea Nowak Associate Professor of Art SUNY Oneonta Ravine Parkway Oneonta, NY 13820 607-436-2827<tel:607-436-2827> From: <Greenberg>, Jim <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: Thursday, July 3, 2014 at 9:09 AM To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: NYT Article: Americans Think We Have the World's Best Colleges. We Don't. TBers, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/upshot/americans-think-we-have-the-worlds-best-colleges-we-dont.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1 More on the author of this piece, Kevin Carey, can be found here: http://newamerica.net/people/kevin_carey Hope your summer is going well. Enjoy the July 4th weekend. Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> phone: 607-436-2701<tel:607-436-2701> fax: 607-436-3677<tel:607-436-3677> Twitter: greenbjb "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever"