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President's Letter |
Pilgrim Appointed Chief Diversity Officer
David Pilgrim has begun his tenure as the University’s chief diversity officer excited about the future. “Diversity is not just the color of your skin, your gender or your sexual orientation,” said Pilgrim. “Diversity is the range of human differences and potential that manifests itself in members of a campus community.” A Sociology faculty member with the University since 1990, Pilgrim takes the reins of the position recently created by President David Eisler with an eye toward fostering a campus that will promote and celebrate diversity. “It is a pleasure to have Dr. Pilgrim serve as chief diversity officer,” Eisler said. “His experience as founder and curator of the Jim Crow Museum on our campus makes him an ideal choice. David can provide strong leadership and focus to these efforts.” Pilgrim is quick to point out that efforts to promote diversity won’t be a one-man show. “This is going to have to be a campus-wide effort,” he said. “The total campus climate should be welcoming - one that respects, fosters and celebrates diversity and inclusiveness.” As creator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia an educational resource for the scholarly examination of historical and contemporary expressions of racism Pilgrim is a frequent author and speaker on racism and diversity issues throughout the country. He has been sought out for his insight into race, diversity and culture by such international media outlets as the British Broadcasting Corporation, Chicago Sun-Times and New York Times among many others. Languages and Literature Launches Colloquium Series
In a classroom in the Starr Building, a couple dozen people sit down to enjoy a glass of lemonade or punch and perhaps munch a cookie while listening to English professor Robert von der Osten give a presentation from his paper, “Having Your Throat Sung: Alien Intimacies in Rebecca Ore’s Becoming Alien Series.” This is not your father’s science fiction. Not because it’s more salacious, only more scholarly. The talk is something of a warm-up for a more formal presentation von der Osten will give to the International Conference on the Fantastic in Fort Lauderdale concerning “how issues of gender, sexuality, sexual orientation and intimacy have been constructed in the popular imagination.” This is just one of a dozen such discussions that took place during the inaugural Department of Languages and Literature Faculty Colloquium Series during 2006-07. The subjects ranging from alien intimacy to “Confucianism and Technical Writing” to “God’s Good Creature, Cold Water Armies, and Demon Rum: American Drinking from Plymouth to Appomattox.” Series organizer, Languages and Literature professor Douglas Haneline, says such dissemination of faculty areas of research go to the heart of what a university is all about. “We’re in the knowledge business, but more specifically we’re in the sharing of knowledge business. That’s why it’s not just for faculty,” says Haneline. In addition to faculty, the series attracted students and community members outside the University. Haneline points out that it’s a way to share information and interests that otherwise only get circulated among specialists at various conferences. “In the course of a year, probably half of the regular faculty travel this is a way for us back home to hear what each other are doing,” he says. “Because we’re a large department English and the foreign languages there’s enough of a center of gravity to support a series like this.” Find out about the 2007-08 series (and lots of other University events) by going to www.ferris.edu and clicking on “Campus Calendar.” Virginia Tech Victims Mourned
On April 19, Ferris State University held a memorial service for the victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech, which had taken place three days earlier. Minister, Ferris alumnae and current graduate student La Mira King opened the ceremony with welcoming comments, prayer and introduction of Ferris President David Eisler. “We gather here with the understanding that we need each other,” said Eisler. “In doing so, we project our love, our compassion and our support for colleagues, students and families in Virginia.” Other speakers at the event included Department of Public Safety Director Martin Bledsoe; Birkam Health and Counseling Center Director Paul Sullivan; and Student Government Association President Libby Schmidt. Also speaking for SGA was Carnel Richardson who said, “I told my father on the phone this morning that it makes me proud that the university I’m a student at has come together to look into the face of darkness and see bright light.” The names of the Virginia Tech victims were recited as students placed flowers in front of memorial markers planted on the campus Quad. The tolling of the carillon bells followed a moment of silence by the many students, faculty, staff and community members who attended the event. To express their condolences, dozens of people signed a banner which was later sent to Virginia Tech as a sign of support. Honors Program Expands
As classes begin this fall, students in Ferris’ growing Honors Program will have a choice of living in one of four different residence halls devoted to providing an environment most conducive to their academic goals. “We recognized that we had an inordinate number of applicants last fall, so we proposed to grow into Puterbaugh Hall,” says William Potter, dean of University College. “We’re benefiting from having been around 11 years now. We have a track record with high school counselors and teachers, and with families. We’ve reached a level of maturity and recognition for the kind of support the students get.” Previously, some Honors students had lived in Puterbaugh, but now the hall will be one exclusively housing students in the program. A record number of first-year Honors students this fall will also have the benefit of a peer mentoring program that will be more intensive than in previous semesters. The upperclassman mentors, approximately 25 strong, will now live in the same hall as their mentoring group. For the first six weeks of the semester, mentors will help their charges with everything from registration to meeting their peers and learning their way around campus. Since 1997, the Honors Program has grown from an initial enrollment of 132 to nearly 600 by providing resources and support for some of the University’s most highly motivated students. The program challenges those students with cultural, academic, volunteer and leadership opportunities. “There were people who didn’t think Honors would make it past the first two or three years. It’s hard to remember that now,” says Potter. For more information about the Honors Program visit www.ferris.edu/honors. |
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