WCSU in the Age of Reason

The president of the university, Jim Schmotter, had a great idea: He would host a 15-minute show on the student-run station, WXCI. He would interview professors and other people on campus who make Western Connecticut State University a vibrant, interesting — no, fascinating — model of higher education.

Actually, I was a skeptical that it would work. Do students really want to hear about what their professors are doing? The new WXCI program director, Tim Kaiser, a bundle of raw energy who is committed to making the station a broadcasting giant in the region, assured me they would.

Besides, he pointed out, with 3,000 watts of power, WXCI can reach farther than any other local stations. Residents outside of the university will tune in to hear the president’s show, too, Kaiser said.

So the president conducted interviews, with the first show set to air on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.

And I forgot to listen.

Luckily, Kaiser had scheduled the show to re-air on Thursday at 9 a.m. and I marked my calendar, set the alarm and asked several people to remind me. This time I remembered, though when I tuned in the disc jockeys were consumed with a conversation about “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and Iron Maiden, so the interview started a few minutes late.

Then Schmotter did his introduction and brought in Sharon Guck, who runs the campus office that educates students about alcohol and drug abuse. Guck is completely committed to students and knowledgeable about all aspects of substance abuse and its prevention. So I thought she might not be the best choice for the first guest on the show.

But she was great. In addition to pointing out that year-to-year surveys show alcohol and drug abuse has decreased on Western’s campus, she said many students want information about not getting involved in drinking and drugs.

First-year students, especially, ask her about what to do when they are offered that initial drink. She reminds them that 73 percent of the students at Western consume zero to five drinks a week and she gives them the list of clubs and other activities on campus. In other words, students who don’t drink shouldn’t feel they are outcasts.

“A lot of them are relieved to find that out,” Guck said.

Schmotter and Guck talked about other aspects of the issue, like a proposal to lower the drinking age to 18 (bad idea) and when they wrapped up I was jazzed. They provided interesting information without being patronizing. I made sure I told the president I had tuned in.

He was excited, too.

“Wait till you hear the show about snakes!” he said.

“My WCSU, with President Jim Schmotter,” airs each week on WXCI, 91.7 on the FM dial, at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and again at 9 a.m. on Thursdays. You can also listen online.

Learn more about Western Connecticut State University at www.wcsu.edu

This cartoon by Randall Munroe has apparently been posted in college offices across the country amid great mirth, which is remarkable because higher education administrators generally are as funny as a bacterial infection.

At Western Connecticut State University, the cartoon’s message is also contributing to change. Among my duties here is oversight of the WCSU website, which means when someone wants to use the site to announce something with a button on the home page, I get to tell them whether it’s going to happen or not.

Many of the requests are for the equivalent of mental gruel – sustaining to a certain group but completely uninteresting to most. In other words, they don’t need to be on the most important page of the website.

When the request comes from a colleague, the director of alumni relations, for example, and she wants to see an announcement for a reunion of the 1970 class of nurses, my calculation is simple: No.

When one of my bosses wants to plant something on the home page, however, the decision is more difficult. If I think it should go on a lesser page, I consult with the others on the web committee who wrote our guidelines for the website. I spend considerable time devising just the right way to deliver the negative answer. And then I crumble like a saltine. Take a look at the homepage and you will see what I’m talking about.

Today I work with renewed courage, however, because James W. Schmotter, the president of the university (and the boss of all my other bosses), has asked for a redesign of the homepage. He correctly points out that research shows almost every high school student who is in the hunt for a college first views home pages of the institutions that interest them. We want to attract as many applicants as possible, so it makes sense to give them the information they want, and to make it clear and easy to understand.

The WCSU web committee has met to gather the latest research, look at other university websites and steal what we like, and develop a list of what should be on our homepage. In a couple of weeks our lead designer will present a prototype for the new page.

Our plan is to reserve a corner for viewers who are not potential future students – those who are visiting to look up the time of an event on campus, or who are in must-know mode regarding the university’s strategic plan – but the bulk of the page will give information about the degrees the university offers, costs of tuition and living on campus, financial aid, scholarships, how to plan a tour, and similar information that will allow them to compare Western to other universities.

We also will make sure the full name of the university is prominent.

If you have ideas about how the new home page should look, contact me at steinmetzp@wcsu.edu. Otherwise, keep checking out Western Connecticut State University at www.wcsu.edu.

When I attended a state university, many of my fellow students had to take remedial classes before they could enroll in the grown-up courses. I assumed they were stupid.

But I was wrong; it turns out that it was their teachers, and the system in which the teachers worked, that weren’t getting the job done. I know this now because of an experiment between Western Connecticut State University and two high schools — Danbury and Bethel — that shows students excel when they get the right opportunities.

A key to the program, called “Building a Bridge to Improve Student Success,” is the willingness of high school teachers and university professors to work together. Members of these two groups generally are disdainful of each other: The high school teachers think the professors are snobs. The professors think the teachers are uneducated.

When the first initiators met six years ago, it took awhile for them to break out of their stereotypical thinking and in fact they almost gave up and walked away. At a final, last-ditch meeting, someone suggested they start thinking of the students they were trying to help not as either high school students or college students, but as simply students that teachers and professors together are responsible for educating.

That idea clicked and they started working on a common goal: guiding students toward learning what they need to know to succeed at college while they are still in high school.

This is not an issue just with WCSU students. Around the country educators have identified the problem — though most admit they have no idea how to address it.

Now there is also pressure from President Obama, who wants colleges to increase enrollment, make sure students graduate in four years, and prove they actually learned something.

To quote Inside Higher Ed, an online trade journal, “That means that colleges, individually and collectively, are going to have to figure out ways to educate more students without significantly increasing their costs —- and without significantly harming quality.”

Bridges, as we refer to it, does just that. The professors and teachers surveyed high school juniors to determine how prepared they were for college-level studies. Then they revised the high school curriculum for both juniors and seniors, and tested again.

Here are the results:

In 2005, 41 percent of Danbury and Bethel students were not college-ready in math and 37 percent needed to take a remedial class in writing when they entered WCSU. Last year, 29 percent took the remedial math classes, and 6 percent enrolled in the remedial writing. And we found that success begets success: 79 percent of the Bridges students stayed in school for their sophomore year at the university versus 69 percent of students not from Bethel or Danbury.

The improvements are good for freshman bank accounts, too. Even though they pay for them, students do not get college credit for remedial classes. And that increases the amount of time it takes to get their degrees.

Today the other three universities in the Connecticut State University System — Central, Eastern and Southern — are working to put versions of Bridges into place.

It is fitting that small state universities are working on this problem. The high-end private universities, which cater to the most-privileged students, aren’t quite as interested in figuring out how to open doors for the rest of society. And teamwork is difficult. No wonder they don’t like doing it.

Fortunately, as Bridges proves, those are things we do well.

To learn more about Bridges and WCSU, go to www.wcsu.edu.

The first-year students who live on campus have hauled in their suitcases and stuffed animals to set up house in preparation for the fall semester and they have been officially tucked in and welcomed to Western Connecticut State University.

As I understand it, there was a time not too long ago when parents would pull the car to the sidewalk, kick out the kids and the luggage and speed off, leaving the new students to fend for themselves with little direction from us at the university.

No longer.

Today we grab hold of the whole family and treat them to seminars and lectures, galas and ceremonies to make them feel good about the start of the college experience. The activities last an entire week.

The ceremonies on the first day start with an event called “Entering the Gates.” Everyone gathers on White Street at the brick and wrought-iron gates that mark the entrance to the university and President James W. Schmotter leads a procession of faculty, alumni and students onto campus. The faculty, administrators and alumni wear academic regalia, a band plays and parents watch proudly from the sideline as their children start their college careers.

This year, the entire class of 2014 was welcomed by Francesca Testa, a May WCSU graduate who just started a job in the Admissions Office. Francesca was one of our star students and she gave a great speech, reprinted here:

It wasn’t that long ago that I was a freshman, walking through the Gates of this university just like you are doing today.

My plans as a high school senior were to head south to continue my career as a Division I swimmer. But after contracting meningitis, my plans came to an abrupt halt. I needed to find a school that was close to my home and my doctors. After looking at several schools in the state, I chose Western where I planned to stay for one year, until I was well enough to relocate.

But what I discovered in my first year at Western was that the university was above and beyond my expectations. That first year was what really made me want to stay at Western. It was the rigorous academics, the unity throughout the university and the support of the faculty that made my decision to stay very easy.

Like in high school, I learned at Western that things don’t always go as planned. I came to the university wanting to be a history teacher for middle school and high school students. But during my four years as a student, the faculty and administrators here inspired me to give back to other students what Western had given to me.

I also learned at Western that all of my accomplishments as a swimmer and a student were because of the support I received while I was here. The faculty and staff are very student-oriented, which is something you should take advantage of. It is here that you will learn about sacrifice, determination and courage. You will also learn about failure and success. And, like me, at Western you will grow from a teenager to an accomplished adult. And also like me, I don’t think you’ll be happier anywhere else. The opportunity I have now to work in the Admissions Office at this university is incredible and Western has definitely helped me achieve my goals.

So, my advice to the Class of 2014 is to commit to making yourself a better person both in and out of the classroom. Western will prepare you for whatever you want to do in life if you let it happen. Aside from being a dedicated student, get involved in various clubs, organizations, or sports teams. It will enrich your experience more than you can imagine. By being involved, you will learn time management, discipline and invaluable networking skills.

Some of the best things that Western can offer you are dedicated and knowledgeable professors who make classes enjoyable and without whom our academic success would not be possible. Here at Western, there are numerous resources such as our career resource center which strengthen communication and networking skills for life after college. Western does offer a variety of challenges and the only way to get the most out of your education here is to meet them head on. And both you and the university are up to the challenge.

So now, without further ado, on behalf of Western Connecticut State University and the Alumni Association, it is my pleasure to pass the mantle of leadership to you by presenting the Class of 2014 flag to Timothy Chamberlin, a merit student and member of the class of 2014.

We welcome you, the class of 2014, to the Western family.

Follow Western Connecticut State University at www.wcsu.edu

Every year WCSU, Danbury Library and the Danbury Public Schools try to get as many people as possible to read the same book at once. The program, called One Book, One Community, is intended to create a common reading experience and make us all feel good — a book club writ large. At the university, our first-year students are required to read the book, and we always bring in the author to meet face-to-face with some students and to give a public lecture.

This year, Tim O’Brien will be the featured author with his book “The Things They Carried.”

The novel, published in 1990, is a look at the lives of a handful of soldiers as they fight in Vietnam. Each of them carries mementos from home, along with the burdens of war and of American society.

I like this year’s choice for a couple of reasons. First, I really admire an author who can hump a book for 20 years. It’s every writer’s dream! Most books sell 100 copies and the authors never even get the chance to spot their work for sale in the low-cost bin at Costco. O’Brien has sold 2 million copies of “The Things They Carried.” It’s not “To Kill a Mockingbird,” but I’d take it.

I did not serve in the military but if I were a couple of years older, I would have been in the same situation as the protagonist, who was drafted when the government stopped giving college deferments. He didn’t want to go to war but couldn’t quite convince himself to run to Canada, so he ended up in Vietnam on the front line. O’Brien’s stories of fear, revenge, sadness and courage sound true, even though he swears he made up many of the details.

It’s a book of emotions and actions that seem like they could happen in any war, including Iraq and Afghanistan. A friend of mine recently told me that she was at a writing conference in the 1980s where O’Brien spoke. He had not yet published “The Things They Carried” but he was engaging, supportive and smart yet humble. Another reason I relate to the guy.

In addition to O’Brien’s lecture, other One Book activities include a luncheon of Vietnamese food to which everyone is invited here on the university’s midtown campus, book discussions at many venues, showings of three war films, and an essay contest.

I’ve always thought I would like to join a book club, but didn’t want to commit to monthly meetings and having to discuss it out loud in a group, for fear of sounding stupid. With One Book, One Community, you get the benefits of a book club — a good read, intellectual stimulation, a figurative group hug — and you will never have to give your opinion if you choose not to. It’s a perfect way to spend the fall. And if you don’t have “The Things They Carried” on a shelf in your basement, Danbury Library has 100 copies to loan.

For more information about One Book, One Community and all the events, go to www.onebookdanbury.org.

Follow Western Connecticut State University at www.wcsu.edu

College professors are expected to be scholars for all of their working lives. They do research in their area of expertise and publish articles and books. Some of the research is important but boring. Some is interesting but narrow — it doesn’t have much to do with the rest of us. But the work of Dr. Mary Ellen Doherty, an associate professor of nursing at WCSU, can inform us all.

She and her research partner, Dr. Elizabeth Scannell-Desch, a nursing professor at Mount Saint Mary College who happens to be Doherty’s twin, interviewed nurses who served in Iraq and Afghanistan in the years since Sept. 11, 2001. What they learned allowed them to conclude that military nurses often return from war with the same post-traumatic stress disorders that the front-line combatants do, and that they should receive the same access to treatment.

The recollections of the women and men also remind us of the everyday people living lives completely unlike ours, where horror interrupts the mundane. Or, as Doherty and Scannell-Desch wrote, “War is a significant factor influencing society in many ways, including the practice of nursing.”

Their interviews touched on several aspects of working while at war, including the omnipresence of death.

One Navy nurse related:

“Four of us were jogging on an Afghan Army base. An insurgent dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire on us with an AK-47 from a security tower. First, I was shot in the arm. Then, my best friend and another jogger were killed. Our other running buddy was not hit and took off to get help. It all happened so fast. I was only shot once, probably because I stayed down and lifeless. My best friend was hit in the thigh first, and she was moaning, so he shot her again in the back. The other jogger was shot in the head and probably died instantly because his brains were all over the grass.”

Others were tasked with serving the dead as part of their routine.

“There is one image I will always remember,” an Army nurse said. “There was a Marine I became friends with. I would eat lunch with him when he wasn’t on patrol. He was a second lieutenant like me. One day he told me he wouldn’t be around for awhile since he was going on patrol. Three days later it was my turn to go out on an ‘Angel Flight’ to pick up bodies. Well, it was him. We found his dog tag attached to his boot. Evidently, three Marines were together and one stepped on an IED (improvised explosive device). There were no bodies, just pieces. There was nothing for me to recognize except his dog tag.”

Serving in a foreign land caused some to struggle with cultural misperceptions — both those of the residents and their own.

“Many of the nationals put kerosene in drinking water bottles, and kids would accidentally drink them,” said a major. “So, you have a brain-dead baby in ICU, and you try to explain to the parents that it’s a bad idea to put kerosene in drinking water bottles. They can’t understand why you can’t save their baby because you are an American, and you can fix anything.”

War, of course, causes injuries that nurses don’t see in normal situations. Some said the experience helped them grow professionally.

“Working on a forward surgical team, I got a lot of experience. I had never seen trauma like that before, fresh from the field. I didn’t know how I’d handle it. Now, I know no matter what is thrown at me, I can handle it. I definitely came back a more confident nurse.”

Another said she had to shield herself from the trauma:

“Some folks got really involved and it may have led to compassion fatigue. Well, I did the opposite. I didn’t get involved. I couldn’t look at patients and talk to them. My way of coping was doing nursing tasks, and waiting for the midnight meal because then I’d know the shift was half over.”

Many nurses talked about being stressed, edgy, unable to sleep and suffering from other signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. Some sought help and others tried to deal with it alone. One operating room nurse talked about rejoining civilian life:

“Since I came home, I don’t have much tolerance for little things that people complain about.”

“We did the study because we felt people needed to hear the voices of nurses,” Doherty said. “And all those we interviewed thought there would be some benefit to those going after them as well as educating the public.”

Doherty and Scannell-Desch published their article in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship and plan to present their findings at a nursing history conference in London this September.

Follow Western Connecticut State University at www.wcsu.edu

Lynne Paris-Purtle is not only alliterative but also gives direct answers and moves busily among the crowd as she seeks to corral 50 middle- and high school students, which is what she was doing when I met her last week during the Young Writers Conference that she organized at the university. It was the end of the week-long program so she was tired but remained attentive — kind of like a bird that perches on a railing and observes you in an open-eyed gaze. Paris-Purtle, an instructor in the department of Writing, Linguistics and Creative Process, looks straight at you and pays attention when you speak.

I was there to talk to a group of students about “The Future of Journalism.” Two girls approached and asked where the journaling class would be. “With this gentleman,” Paris-Purtle said decisively as she pointed at me. “Now go sit until we’re ready.”

I tried to remember whether I knew anything about journaling. I didn’t, but figured I’d work something out. The five students, all girls, at least liked to write and they seemed cheerful.

I found out that one seventh-grader had written about her 56-year-old grandmother who bought a Harley recently and rode it around the country. I asked the girl why she thought that was interesting. She got it right – most grannies don’t ride motorcycles and people like to read about unusual things. As we went through the five Ws that every good story should have – who, what, when, where and why – the girl couldn’t say why her grandma bought the chopper in the first place. I didn’t mention my theory that it might have something to do with becoming a grandmother when she was 44.

Three of the girls were utterly bored with everything I said but one, Rose, will be a senior at Danbury High School and works on the student newspaper. We talked about how to develop story ideas, the importance of meeting deadline and the fun things about journalism, including being forced to meet a lot of interesting characters and asking them questions that normal and polite people can’t.

I asked Rose whether she planned to be a journalist when she graduated from college. She said she wasn’t sure – she wants a large family and she needs to make a good living. I am sure Rose learned a lot of good things at the Young Writers Conference, but some things you can’t teach.

Paris-Purtle is already planning next year’s conference. If you are a smart kid who loves writing and wants to immerse yourself in it for a week with lots of other smart kids, look for the notice at www.wcsu.edu around May 2011.

I wish to congratulate my readers. It has been a full year since the first posting of this blog and you have been fulsome in your praise and resolute in your support.

I wasn’t sure how it would work out, to be honest. The pressure to produce (nearly) every week is annoying and it might have been a mistake to write about my workplace; it’s much more difficult to make snide comments about your coworkers than about people you don’t know, although I managed. In addition, the home of this blog is on a newspaper website, and we all know that’s an excellent way to attract readers.

Even acknowledging those difficulties, a well-known online celebrity publication, in honor of my anniversary achievement, compiled a Top 10 list of the Best of the Blogs, and happily my meager attempts won quite a bit of recognition in the university category. Here are the results:

Best professor joke:
“I am not an academic, but I have lived among them for several years and they are now accustomed to my presence so that I can observe them without disturbing their natural behavior.”

Best opening sentence:
“Chris Kukk is without a doubt an excellent teacher, but what I notice is that when he walks into a room the women go all doe-eyed and gather around him and laugh at his stories, ignoring anyone else who might be in the vicinity. When he leaves, they are cranky. This is despite his haircut, which would make a Polish coal miner curse his barber.”

Best suck-up:
“Basically, Gov. Rell implied that every other institution of higher learning is nothing but a scraggly weed in the shadow of Western, a mighty oak. We like you, Gov. Rell.”

Best use of student work:
“Driving to work this morning I heard a clanging sound that I didn’t pay much attention to. On my way home I heard this loud rumbling sound, as if something was scraping the pavement. People are stopping in their tracks looking at me. Just my luck, I get out of the car and the muffler is actually touching the ground. So here I am in this dirty, light green 1977 Chevy Impala, driving 2 mph; you can hear me coming from a mile away.”

Best plug for the university:
“Here’s where a place like Western is different than many of the elite, private universities you find in New England. At those schools, all the students are pretty much the same, and have had pretty much the same experiences. You can learn a lot about history, science and English at Private U, but you are less likely to learn life lessons from your classmates.”

Best gratuitous reference to online porn in attempt to boost readership:
“With both porn and football, you don’t need a story — just a score. And maybe an injury report.”

Best story on race involved author’s relative:
“On my son’s first day of work as a waiter, he got a lesson in racial politics. The restaurant was in a section of Washington, D.C., where most of the patrons happened to be African American and Latino. When he presented one customer her bill she protested and said he had told her that Corona beer was part of the happy hour and she was being charged too much. My son said no, he had not said that and he called over the manager to deal with it. Soon the owner of the restaurant was involved. He was black and the customer was Latina. They argued until the owner pointed to my son and said: ‘ “He may be white, but he’s not stupid!’ ”

Best knock on newspapers:
“Changing the name from ‘Steal This Blog’ would please the corporate braniacs who have done such a swell job reviving the newspaper industry in print and online but would compromise my soul and be a repudiation of everything I hold dear. All to acquire a few readers.
“So as of today my blog will be called ‘WCSU in the Age of Reason.’ ”

Thank you, dear readers, and welcome to Year Two.

Follow WCSU at www.wcsu.edu