From Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition
Posted by Mary Stewart

1. Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term objectives.

2. Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors.

3. Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality.

4. Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.

5. Reinforce the team message constantly: “We are one—we live or die together.”

6. Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.

7. Master conflict—deal with anger in small doses, engage dissidents, and avoid needless power struggles.

8. Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.

9. Be willing to take the Big Risk.

10. Never give up—there’s always another move.

Mary Stewart, Director of Foundations, Florida State University

During twenty-six years of Foundations teaching, Mary Stewart of Florida State University has heard many passionate presentations on first-year curriculum and pedagogy. It seems like an endless litany of possibilities and concerns—earnest and important, yet potentially overwhelming for the “emerging educators” who often begin their college teaching careers at the freshman level.

Perhaps simplicity, clarity, and a bit of humility are needed here. To that end, this presentation will focus on three simple questions. . . Download Mary's paper CAApaper07.doc (61.0K)

In keeping with the widening circle of people that have been or will be involved with ThinkTank events, this blog is looking for four editors to post new content and downloads, coordinate with individuals to generate new content, identify links to foundation programs and tools that can help educators. The time commitment is a few hours a month & posting stories on TypePad is very straightforward – and even fun. Attached is ThinkTank_Blog.pdf (154.2K)">downloadable pdf announcing the blog. Please contact Mary Stewart at mstewart3@mailer.fsu.edu or Adam Kallish a_kallish@hotmail.com

Mary Stewart, Director of Foundations Program, FSU, is proposing to develop an Institute for Integrated Teaching, consisting of a one-year residency program or an intensive summer workshop for up to 16 Teaching Fellows and 2 Master teachers.

• To expand and strengthen higher education pedagogy nationally;
• To create a high visibility recruitment tool for the FSU MFA program;
• To provide a bridge between high school and higher education art programs;
• To train a new generation of Foundations Program Coordinators;
• To provide an opportunity for donors to make a clear-cut and concise financial contribution to the Art Department

Please Download IIT.fsu.proposal.pdf (160.5K)">download her proposal and/or contact her at mstewart3@fsu.edu

Faculty in higher education are increasingly asked to document, assess, and make public their teaching practices. Yet even faculty who value and support excellence in teaching have articulated difficulties in capturing the intellectual work of teaching:

How can I show the intellectual work of teaching that takes place inside and outside of my classroom?
How can I systematically investigate, analyze, and document my students’ learning?
How can I communicate this intellectual work to campus or disciplinary conversations?

The Peer Review of Teaching Project (PRTP) provides faculty with a structured and practical model that combines inquiry into the intellectual work of a course, careful investigation of student understanding and performance, and faculty reflection on teaching effectiveness. Begun in 1994, the PRTP has engaged hundreds of faculty members from numerous universities.

Dana Fritz from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln presented educational rubrics at FATE/Milwaukee. You can download her helpful pdfs:

Download PeerReviewfacts.pdf (63.3K)
Download VisLitFacts.pdf (79.2K)

For more information, please visit http://www.courseportfolio.org/peer/pages/index.jsp or contact them directly at peerreview@unl.edu

In preparation for the FATE Conference in Milwaukee, John Regan, head of Foundations at Northern Illinois University created the GTA Forum on Yahoo Groups. The url is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GTAForum You can also e-mail John directly at jregan@niu.edu

ThinkTank began in 2006 as an invitation-only event at the Art Institute of Chicago to discuss the current state of foundation (or core) art programs. About 30 educators and administrators attended this event and generated content around curriculum, teaching and content.

ThinkTank II will be held May 22-24, 2007 at the University of Georgia, Athens. Facilitated by Mary Stewart, Florida State University and Richard Siegesmund, University of Georgia, the invitation-only event will focus on Teaching the 3 C's: Critical Theory, Critical Thinking, and Critique Strategies.

The goal of the meeting is to develop clear curriculum modifications that affect the content of both foundations programs and graduate seminars on teaching in visual art. It will address the serious need for better training of MFA candidates in strategies for teaching critical theory, critical thinking, and critique in the visual art/design classroom.

In addition, it will also address the preparation of high school art students who wish to pursue undergraduate study in art, as well as consideration for the teaching of art appreciation to non-art majors.

For more information, please contact Mary Stewart at mstewart3@mailer.fsu.edu or Richard Siegesmund at rsieg@uga.edu.