Category: news

College global seminar projects go local— Students tackle town/gown health

A women’s support group, bicycle co-op and senior auditing program were a few of the ideas Antioch College students came up with to tackle campus and community health problems during last semester’s global seminar, which focused on health. And the students are going beyond the classroom to implement their ideas.

At a Dec. 20 public presentation of group projects, second-year student Nargees Jumahan talked about the need for female students, who make up 70 percent of the student body, to gather in a stress-free environment. In order to support women’s mental health, her group created an independent campus organization — the Antioch College Red Tent — which meets monthly and where students can voice personal issues or just relax together through dancing or henna painting.

“We wanted to provide a space for students on campus who are struggling,” Jumahan said. The campus group was modeled after the national Red Tent movement, with inspiration and input from the long-established Yellow Springs Red Tent. Along with the Antioch Red Tent, the group created a video featuring Antioch students entitled “Women Who Yell,” since releasing pent-up emotion can have a cathartic effect, according to group member Lillian Burke. They wanted to break the taboo by showing women getting angry, which is rarely portrayed in the media, Burke said.

Another student group decided to create a bicycle co-op after studying health benefits of cycling and learning about a bike-sharing program that once existed at the college.

“We are resurrecting the infrastructure with the hope the program will grow and build,” said group member Lucas Gottke of the co-op. Using some seed money from the college, donated bikes from the Yellow Springs Police and the skilled support of some local bicycle enthusiasts, group members learned how to fix and refurbish bicycles. Today eight shiny, newly painted red-and-black bicycles are ready for any student to rent, free of charge, from the co-op. Cycling, which is already popular at Antioch, is expected to become even more so.

“When a lot of kids came for orientation, they saw a huge bike rack filled with bikes,” Gottke said.” Many students already have bikes, and they’re popular here. But for those who don’t, they now have the co-op.”

Also going off-campus in search of information and support was the group that grappled with the issue of ageism. By talking with older adults at the Yellow Springs Senior Center, that group became aware of a kind of discrimination they never knew existed.

“We try to respect our elders but from talking to people [at the senior center], they don’t want to be looked at for their wisdom, they want to be active politically, in organizations,” group member Forrest Humphrey explained. “Ageism is not being respected for who you are and the value you bring.”

Group members found that local seniors felt marginalized and were offended by common phrases in a youth-oriented culture, such as “over the hill,” “you’re only as young as you feel,” and “60 is the new 40.” Though Antioch has invited seniors to dine with students, Humphrey said that gesture falls short. After hearing that local seniors were interested in continuing academics, the group designed a program where seniors can audit classes at the college. Group member Brittany Parlan thinks that step could help bridge the generation gap and heal rampant ageism, which she described as destructive to society.

“It’s destructive because they have a lot to say about political issues, healthcare reform, but their voices aren’t heard,” Parlan said. “We won’t talk to them except to get a cooking recipe.”

Other students delved into the Yellow Springs water fluoridation controversy of 2010 (conclusion: fluoride has problems but is more beneficial than harmful), evaluated Antioch’s ability to serve the deaf and other disabled students (conclusion: the college is not quite there yet) and explored the use of aromatherapy, music and human touch in end-of-life care, including by volunteering at Friends Care Center (conclusion: it can be helpful).

Members of another group took on what they said the school psychologist called a huge issue on the Antioch campus — negative body image among students. The administration has pledged support for a “body week” to raise awareness of the issue, while in the meantime, students are advised to “Thank your body for being perfect,” group members said.

In earlier global seminars -— interdisciplinary courses that are part of Antioch’s new curriculum — students also examined food, energy and water issues. Upcoming courses will cover governance and education.

The year in review 2012: Antioch College moves forward

College moves forward

Two years after gaining its independence and one year after welcoming its first class, the revived Antioch College seemed to be moving forward according to plan, as college leaders appeared to successfully meet the huge challenges inherent in launching a new liberal arts college.

Antioch goes viral

Antioch College faced a “happy crisis” in winter 2011 when news of its tuition-free Horace Mann fellowships went viral, several weeks after the college trustees agreed to extend the fellowships to its first four classes. Within hours the news spread on the Internet, and on Friday, January 27, the college Website had 53,000 visitors in a day, compared to its usual 500. Soon the college received more than 3,100 applications for the 75 spots available. College leaders and staff rose to the challenge of vetting the applications and in its second year, the revived college became the country’s most selective school in the nation, accepting just 5.2 percent of students who applied.

New faculty hired

The college also enjoyed a robust response to its second round of faculty hiring, receiving many applicants for its six tenure-track jobs. In the spring Antioch announced it had hired faculty in environmental science, biomedical sciences, psychology, history and co-op education, bringing its tenure-track faculty to 12.

In June Admissions Director Cesar Mesquita announced that he would be leaving his job for personal reasons. He had been in that position for a year.

At the end of the school year for the college’s first group of students, most gave the college high marks for their education. While many agreed that the combined workload of classes, co-op jobs and community meetings was huge, 31 of the first-year second semester group of 33 returned in the fall.

North Hall both old/new

During the summer, renovation continued for the $6 million refurbishing of North Hall, one of the college’s oldest buildings. The renovation, which aimed at making the building the oldest in the country to win a coveted LEED environmental certification, added a geothermal heating system and solar panels on the building’s roof facing south. The project was completed by the time new students arrived in the fall.

Second class arrives

The college met its goal of attracting 75 high-achieving students from diverse backgrounds for its second class. When the students arrived in October, they ranged in age from 17 to 25, and came from 31 states, with an average GPA of 3.69. With its 12 full-time faculty and additional adjunct faculty, the college was offering 44 courses.

College buys WYSO back

In December college leaders announced they had reached agreement with Antioch University to pay $8 million to regain WYSO Public Radio and to nullify the university’s remaining claims to the campus. The university had gained control over WYSO, begun by Antioch College students in the 1950s, in the 2009 agreement between the college and university that led to the college becoming independent.

In a public meeting, President Roosevelt explained the need for freeing the college from the “reversal clauses” in the 2009 agreement, which stated that if the college had not achieved accreditation by 2016, the campus would revert back to the university. While Roosevelt emphasized that the college is on track to achieve accreditation by that date, he said college leaders agreed that the reversal clauses had been inhibiting the college’s progress.

Felice Nudelman of the New York Times Company has been named the new chancellor of Antioch University, replacing Toni Murdock.

In March Antioch University named Felice Nudelman as its new chancellor, following Toni Murdock, who retired in July. (News archive photo by Lauren Heaton)

New university leadership

 

In March Antioch University announced that it would hire Felice Nudelman as its new chancellor. Nudelman would follow Toni Murdock, who retired in July.

Nudelman was most recently the executive director of education for the New York Times company, with responsibility for that company’s Knowledge Network. She had previously been the associate dean of academic affairs at Bloomfield College, and had received a master of fine arts degree from the Pratt Institute.

Nudelman said she accepted the job because she was attracted to the university’s mission and values.

In the fall the university announced that it would begin offering MOOCs, or massive open online courses, to broaden its educational offerings. The classes, taught by well-known professors at leading universities, are typically offered for free, but students at Antioch University will pay a fee and receive credit for them. University faculty will work with students taking the classes, acting as mentors and evaluating the students’ performance.

Ellen Wood Hall was named interim vice president of Antioch University Midwest on July 1. (Photo by Lauren Heaton)

Ellen Hall, formerly provost at Antioch University Midwest, was named that school’s interim president in summer 2012. (Submitted photo)

Upheaval at AUM

Antioch University Midwest had a year of upheaval in 2012, beginning in February when President Michael Fishbein was. according to several AUM sources, told not to return to campus although he remains under contract until summer 2013. Former AUM provost Ellen Hall became the acting leader on campus.

At that time Antioch University announced to AUM staff that it had implemented “Project Turnaround” for the campus, aimed at fixing budget problems

In July Hall was named the interim president of AUM. In an interview she stated that enrollment at the campus had declined since the beginning of the recession, and before that had been flat for several years. Due to the enrollment decline, and growing debt linked to the new $15 million campus, the school was going through a difficult time.

In November, 12 AUM union employees brought in a mediator since they had gone without a contract for a year due to the school’s financial difficulties. At that time the school announced that it would cut about $208,000 in personnel costs.

In the fall AUM announced that it had hired a new enrollment director, and was planning to offer new courses.

 

State funds Antioch co-ops

Following through on its commitment to agricultural and environmental sustainability in both campus life and curriculum, Antioch College last week cemented a partnership with the state to establish several dozen cooperative job positions for students with sustainable agriculture and food processing businesses in Ohio. The college received a matching grant through Governor John Kasich’s office to support the business and academic partnership. Job placements will begin on Jan. 1.

As a private institution, the college partnered with Miami University to be eligible for the public grant, and the two schools will share a total of 52 cooperative positions for undergraduate students. Antioch, the lead recipient of the grant, and Miami received $140,600, and the matching amount will come from the co-op employers.

According to Richard Kraince, associate professor of cooperative education at Antioch, the support of Miami’s Thomas Crist, director of the Institute for the Environment & Sustainability at Miami University, was crucial to the opportunity, and the universities have worked together to forge relationships with area businesses.

“Miami University has [shown] real commitment to sustainability issues, and Tom’s institute has been developing all sorts of creative connections locally,” Kraince wrote in an email last week. “Working with them is a natural fit for us and we are excited about getting together and deepening relationships with Ohio employers.”

While the college received only half of the requested amount, according to Kraince, the bulk of the funds will be used to pay students for full-time work during their co-op terms. The OBR funds will cover a student’s salary for a 12-week term if the employer commits to paying another student out of their own budget concurrently or during a subsequent term.

“We see this as an opportunity to prove the value of co-op students, and so we are committed to figuring out how to prepare students adequately so that their contribution to an employer’s bottom line will be clear,” Kraince said.

The college will invest in the partnership as well, by hiring a part-time co-op faculty member to lead the project. The position will support the current co-op department of Kraince and cooperative education professor Susan Eklund-Leen.

Among the businesses considering the co-op partnership are Calala’s Water Haven, a fish and prawn nursery in New London; Bergefurd’s Farm Market in Wilmington; Madisono’s, a gelato producer in Cincinnati, The Ohio Grocers Association and EnviroFlight, a local feed production company. EnviroFlight owner Glen Courtright likes hiring students, especially those interested in the biological sciences or business, he said this week. He enjoys mentoring students and introducing them to the real world of work, where they can get a better idea of how the skills they learn at school might be applied. And because EnviroFlight is focused on developing sustainable feed for fish and animals, Antioch’s sustainability curriculum “could be a natural fit,” he said.

For the college, one of the goals of the partnership is to allow students to frame their education in the context of the needs of local, sustainable businesses, according to a college press release.

“We are a liberal arts college, so we’re all about the larger [perspective] and we do want students to have a lot of different educational experiences beyond the vocational track,” Kraince said. “But we do hope they will find jobs when they graduate. And just as the state would like to see a stronger economy and see colleges contribute to the effort to grow the economy, there is no reason a liberal arts college wouldn’t want to involve itself in that same effort— especially around the production of foods, which we’re already doing.”

To align part of its curriculum in that same context, the college plans to expand its global seminars, courses designed to allow students to analyze contemporary world problems through interdisciplinary study. The college has taught seminars on food, water and health, and is developing new seminars on energy, governance and education. Antioch also plans to deepen its relationship to its co-op employers by inviting them to campus for presentations and discussions directly related to those industries.

The partnership will familiarize students with the skills necessary for employment in the state’s food industry, and it could very well prepare some of them for careers in dairy product manufacturing, beverage production, confectionaries, fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food manufacturing, seafood product preparation and other “value aggregation processes,” the release said.

To further its own role in educating about food system sustainability, the college is currently planning to expand the campus farm, adding some livestock to the vegetable and chicken-raising operation. A small part of the grant will also fund a feasibility study for the establishment of a community kitchen that could be used by both students and community members to develop food products and to process the food that’s raised locally. The college envisions the facility could become a business incubator for the region, according to Kraince.

As a pioneer of the cooperative education work-study program, the college has a long tradition of tying the liberal arts curriculum to the business needs of the time. As undergraduates, Antioch College students are required to spend four to six quarters on co-op before they graduate. The college also requires students to write and reflect on their cooperative experiences in the context of its effect on the wider world. In that way, the co-op program prepares students for concrete work in the service of ideals and values.

“The Ohio Agrarian Trade Partnership will help ensure that debates over food and agriculture policy will be informed by citizens with real-world experience and close associations with the producers of agrarian products throughout the state,” according to an Antioch College press release.

The co-op grants are part of the governor’s “workforce development strategies” established to align higher education with the skills that Ohio’s businesses need. According to a release from the University System of Ohio, the total $11 million in funds come from casino license fees and will benefit up to 3,500 Ohio colleges and universities, whose students are slated to be paired with companies such as Honda, Proctor & Gamble, Owens Corning and First Energy.