| The Gallery
Spotlight |
by Lee Imonen
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 One of the purposes of the
faculty newsletter is to share information, opportunities, and build
connections with faculty across campus. To that end, the LCC Art
gallery openings are a great opportunity to socialize with your
colleagues and to soak in some of that “culture” which you crave.
This month new faculty member J.S. Bird will be exhibiting new works
including some which he painted while a resident artist at the U-Cross
Foundation in Wyoming this summer. His work is rich in symbolism,
which when combined with an intense use of color and layered text
creates a visual narrative open to the viewer’s interpretation.
The paintings describe spaces which exist outside the realm of our
daily perspective, instead seeming to belong to the subconscious or
dream world. The work is quite large and engaging on a physical
level as well, with some of the paintings as large as 10 feet wide.
I recently spoke with J.S. about his work and we talked about the
development of his symbolic language and the use of archetypes within
his work. J.S. has been using his painting to explore a number of
themes including, mythology, nature, cross-cultural relationships and
the hero-journey. Recently his paintings delve into the ideas
brought into focus by his involvement in the Mankind Project.
This worldwide group is involved in trying to recover the sacred
masculinity through the exploration of the roles of four archetypes:
the King, warrior, magician and lover.
His work often serves as a reflection of his life, “Before I was
constantly trying to create grand, heroic paintings, now the work is
more concerned with the sensuality of making art. When once the
work was about loss, now it deals more with love. It may sound
hokey, but that’s what it is about.”
If you would like to see more of J.S. Bird’s work, visit the
gallery. The show is running from October 19th thru November 10th.
Located in Building 11, the gallery is open daily, with exhibitions
rotating monthly. You can find a schedule of exhibiting artists
at the Lane Website calendar.
more pictures
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| Assessment: 2 Diagrams |
| by
Dennis Gilbert |
Since
ìa picture is worth a
thousand wordsî, diagrams are commonly used to provide
succinctness and clarity. The following are two of the pictures
that came from the fall inservice concerning assessment:
Each diagram provides clarity and invites
questions. I suggest that together they raise questions, based on
their differences. The first diagram represents assessment as a
separate process within a broader cycle of improvement and the setting
of outcomes. The second diagram called the Assessment Cycle
represents assessment as a cycle that includes improvement and the
setting of outcomes.
Which is it?
The second diagram is from the
article "Developing
an Assessment Plan" by Peggy Maki.
She is taking care to approach assessment as a productive process
inherent to the operation of a college in contrast to a process carried
out to be in compliance with externally imposed standards. Thus
the author is careful to see the thinking associated with assessment as
essentially connected with the actions of improvement expected to
follow from the
thinking. In contrast, viewing assessment separately from
improvement allows the college to claim it is genuinely engaged in
assessment even though relatively little comes of it. This is a
compliance driven model of assessment.
The contrast in these two diagrams raises important questions?
Which diagram best describes assessment at Lane Community College?
Is the college committed to an assessment cycle in which improvement is
an integral part?
If so, what is the evidence? Comments
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| This
Time It's Personal |
| by Gary Mort |
 When I have written
about and worked on medical insurance issues in the past, it was, for
the most part, an intellectual exercise. I was able and willing, but my
family and I enjoyed exceptional health. With one exception we still do.
On
28 March 2004 my older son was diagnosed as type 1 diabetic. (Type 1 is
an autoimmune disorder,
with both
genetic and environmental (but not
lifestyle) components as risk factors. The body's immune system decides
the beta cells in the pancreas are foreign and destroys them. No beta
cells, no insulin. No insulin, sugar builds up in the blood and starves
your muscles.) Currently the disease has no cure. Multiple daily
injections of insulin, or 24/7 connectivity to an insulin pump are his
only options.
Diabetes care is expensive, his insulin, test
strips and the infusion sets run about $30 every three days. His pump
was $7000. Treating the complications of diabetes is even more
expensive. (Complications are far more common in either type 1, or type
2, if blood sugars are poorly controlled. Our family hopes not to go
there, and so make a tremendous intellectual and emotional investment
in his day to do day care.)
In any given month
about 42 million Americans have no health coverage. About 25% less than
that have no coverage during a year, while about 40% more than that
have no
health coverage at some point during any given year. (A type 1 diabetic
like my son is unlikely to live a week without insulin.) By and large
these are citizens working full time (or children living in the home of
a fulltime worker) and still mostly poor.
.continued |
Fall Facilites Problems
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| by
Bill Griffiths |
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Many
faculty returned to LCC for Fall Inservice to find their offices in
disarray, classrooms unfinished and labs unavailable. The disruptions
occurred across campus. Some faculty with offices on the 4th floor of
the Center building found "... our stuff was boxed up and pushed back,
computers were unplugged and obviously unavailable, and dust and
buidling scraps covered every surface." "Office windows were being
replaced during in-service. Faculty were preparing course materials in
the hallways, or in offices with construction in process." Work on
"smart classrooms" that were to be online had not begun. The computer
lab in Health 201 was not ready for classes. Faculty in Business had to
be moved to temporary spaces while their offices were completed. The
Chemistry stockroom and labs were unavailable. The work on the geology
and environmental science labs was postponed due to other
"priorities." In Art The Gallery floor was removed down to
concrete, and the new tile floor was not installed. Two
continued
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