Posts Tagged ‘Faculty’

Cross Cultural Campus Assessment Findings in a Nutshell

Teresa Farnum & Associates recently completed their Cross Cultural Campus Assesment, which the results of were released to students, faculty, and staff today in an e-mail from President Jean Scott.  The goal of the study was to find the strengths and weaknesses of the college’s current diversity climate and propose ways that it could be improved.

The process started with a survey to students, staff, faculty, administrators, and the community.  It was followed up with meetings with focus groups and meetings with various administrators.  The consulting group then studied the results and issued the PDF file you see below.  But to save you from reading through 20 pages of statistics and findings, we’re providing you with the highlights.

Read more…

City To Crack Down On Off-Campus Parking

Your days of convenient parking off campus are numbered, as The City of Marietta is planning new legislation to help residents park near their homes.

According to the Marietta Times, residents around the College have been complaining about students, faculty, and staff members taking up parking spots near their home.  After looking for a solution, they are planning to implement a residential parking pass system for areas around campus.  According to that plan, residents would be guaranteed a spot during specific periods of time with that pass, while others could park outside of that time.

Tom Perry, the College’s public relations director, mentions in the article that campus has plenty of parking for all of its pass holders.

But while parking is plentiful, it is typically in places where people do not want to hike.  Examples would be Mills Hall professors that might have to park in the lot near the Physician’s Assistant training facility.

Marietta students can get parking much cheaper than many other schools.  When I was at The University Akron (briefly) it cost around $180 for a parking pass, and there was typically only one parking spot for every three passes (that may be an exaggeration, but it’s what it felt like).  These numbers are different now, mostly because transportation costs and parking passes are covered in student fees for every student.   Here at Marietta, though, you can buy a parking pass, and be guaranteed a spot on campus somewhere, for $45.

Now, your immediate parking concerns should not be worried, as the proposal is nowhere near completion.  Residents are working with the council to modify legislation used in Oxford, OH for  parking spots near Miami of Ohio University, and they are not expected to present the finalized ordinance to all residents in the block until December.

We’ll follow-up this afternoon with more coverage and student reaction, hopefully.

DU Field Down For Count This Fall

Students, Faculty, and Staff received an e-mail this morning reminding them that DU Field will be out of commission until Spring Semester.  Crews are working to renovate the field, including work to level the area and remove ruts that have developed over time.

The closure of DU Field means that Flag Football games will have to be moved.  Our guess is that almost all games will be played near Don Drumm Stadium this year, but there is a chance that Parsons Field could also be used.  Parsons Field is being listed as the alternate for those looking to enjoy wide-open flat spaces on campus.  Another alternative would be to use the Kremer Green in front of the Legacy Library.  While smaller, the area is well suited to just laying out or playing cornhole (oops, I mean Corn Toss, lol).

Student Speak-Out Coverage TONIGHT!

Writing on the Mall will have full coverage of tonight’s Student Speak-Out.  The event begins at 7 PM in McDonough Auditorium,

Just like last time, we plan to have an updating stream of questions asked at the Speak-Out, plus photos and videos.  Our goal is to have some interviews with College administrators and Student Senate members to supplement our coverage.

If you can’t be at the event, but have a question you want answers, leave a comment to this article, or leave a comment on our Facebook Fan Page, or send a Tweet our way on Twitter.  Student Senate members will also be at Gilman tonight to take questions from those that will be unable to attend.

Looking at the event’s official Facebook page, there should be a large number of people present at the event.

At this point, the list of faculty and administrators that will be attending has not been released, but as soon as it is known we will publish it.

Looking Back: 2004 and 2005 Floods Changed College Preparedness

It was Friday Sept. 17, 2004. Remnants of Hurricane Ivan had just come through dropping almost five inches of rain over the Mid-Ohio Valley during the day. The Ohio River and its tributaries were already swollen due to three and a half inches of rain from the week before, when remnants of Hurricane Frances came through.

Early that Friday morning the National Weather Service in Charleston predicted that the Ohio River at Marietta would crest just above flood stage. Then later that afternoon, the National Weather Service called off the flood warning and said that the Ohio River at Marietta would crest more than a foot below flood stage.

Read more…

Do You Have Your Fashion I.D.?

Charles Sumner Harrison Organization’s annual fashion show, titled Fashion I.D. this year, is November 20th at 7 pm in Fenton Court.  And I’m writing this to let you know that tickets are on sale now!

Student tickets are $2, while Community Members, Staff, and Faculty tickets are $5.  You can purchase tickets at the Multicultural Lounge in the first floor of Andrews Hall, or find one of the many fashion show volunteers who will be able to sell you a ticket all around campus.

This year, funds raised will go towards the Boys and Girls Club of Marietta, located within the Salvation Army on Front Street.

The Fashion Show is always a huge event on campus, so get a ticket and go see what everybody will be talking about for the next 4 weeks (before and after the show).  It’s gonna be big!

Hear That Whistling? Harlem Globetrotters Coming to Marietta

Taylor Swift has come to Marietta College.  And now so will the Harlem Globetrotters.

Mark your calendars for the Tuesday, January 26th (2010) game.  Doors open at 6 PM, game starts at 7 PM.

Tickets for MC students, staff, and faculty will be $19, and can be picked up at the Cashier’s Office in Irvine.  General Admission tickets will go for $22, and VIP seats are available for $52.  Tickets are on sale now.

More info will come as I get it.

Campus Parking Becomes A Problem

Maybe I shouldn’t say that it has become a problem, because some people will say that its always been a problem.  But I digress.

Over the summer, the college decided to turn the entire Gathering Place parking lot into a a red lot, which is freshmen only.  Prior to the change, the lot had been both blue and red, with blue being for upperclassmen.  At the same time, the former Moose Lodge parking lot is now yellow (faculty) and blue.  The change has made many upperclassmen as red as the freshmen lots.

This Facebook Group was started to raise the issue with fellow students and organize an Electronic Executive Carpet Bomb of sorts, by asking students to e-mail Rita Smith Kipp (the provost of Marietta College).  The group wants to see the parking policies changed back to allow upperclassmen to park in the Gathering Place parking lot once again, and shift commuters and freshmen to the Moose Lodge lot.  Here is a comment from the group.

This is ridiculous. Don’t most schools not even allow freshmen to bring their cars? And yet we are giving them more privileges? If anything, it should go the other way.

~ Katie Wolfe, MC Student

Student Senate has been notified of the problem, and I’m sure that it will be discussed at the first meeting of the year, which is this coming Wednesday.  Writing on the Mall will be there to cover the meeting.

If anything, the one thing that shocks me the most from the group is the claim that a CPS officer told the group’s creator to “take a cab”.  If true, something needs to be done about this mentality at CPS.  Campus Police offers free escort services from any part of campus to wherever you need to go.  It’s their job to provide that opportunity to students.

Is there a good way of fixing things this semester?  Possibly.  But the difficulty is that the parking passes are out and the spaces have been designated.  Any changes may take as long as next year to see come to fruition.  But better to work through Student Senate and e-mails with Rita Kipp about the issue so that the College knows that it is a problem than to let it sit idle and not have anything done about.

Website Re-Designs

As you may have noticed when you visited Writing on the Mall today, we decided to jump over to a new look.  I think this theme is much better than the last one, as it has a wider area for articles and makes integration of other items easier.  This theme is the same used on Writing on the Mall’s up and coming sister site, MariettaSports.net.

Also, if you have a hankering to see the new Marietta College website, here’s a link to what it looks like.  It is much improved (in my opinion) from the old version of the site.  I am awaiting its official launch patiently.  The new website is the third and final part of the college’s web re-development.  MyMC (Student and Faculty portal site) was replaced with MyMarietta (I was a big fan of PioNet, but that’s just me), and WebCT was updated and integrated better with MyMarietta.

In all, the changes will benefit students (well, maybe all except using Zimbra, which is receiving a lot of complaints now that it is live), but time will tell the true benefit of all services.

Top 10: MC Stories of 2008

Looks like it’s time for the college’s PR department to decide what the top 10 stories of 2008 were.  They just issued their annual release, which makes for a good read.  To see my commentary on the list, keep reading after the jump. Read more…