Honors Convocation
You won’t want to miss the Honors Convocation Thursday, April 21, in Douwstra Auditorium at 11 a.m. Senior Honors presenters this year are: Trent Cooper, Dan Flaherty, Jamie Hosek, Jessica Klyn, Tracy Needham, Carver Onstank, Seth Quam, Chip Racheter, Mark Sanger, Mandy Skudler, Sarah Stockton, Erin Tower, Cale Van Genderen and Justin Van Soelen. They, along with the students who received departmental and all-college academic awards, and members of Alpha Zeta Mu, will be honored at the convocation. The featured speaker will be Kim L. Poam, founder and president-executive director of the Iowa Asian Alliance. Everyone is invited. Come and enjoy the festivities!

Relay For Life
Central’s annual Relay For Life event to benefit the American Cancer Society’s fight against cancer is scheduled Friday and Saturday, April 22-23. Go to http://www.acsevents.org/relay/ia/centralcollege for more information about the event plus an online registration form for teams and individuals.

Eldon Schulte picnic
A picnic for Eldon Schulte, former baseball coach, assistant football coach and equipment manager who recently worked on our fields and grounds to keep them in great shape, will follow the Saturday, May 7, doubleheader against Clarke College at 1 p.m. RSVP to the alumni office by Monday, May 2. E-mail alumni@central.edu or call x5154.

St. Louis events
Two special Central College events are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, May 13-14, in the St. Louis area. See http://www.central.edu/alumni/events.html for more information.

Update from Roe
David Roe (president) will give a college update Monday, April 25, in Graham Banquet Room at 11 a.m.

Summer graduate courses
Central College summer graduate courses for K-12 teachers and coaches are now available throughout Iowa. Educators needing recertification credits or coaching endorsementcan now complete up to six Central College graduate credits near their hometowns. Three Central College graduate credits can be earned in one week through each of these courses: EDUC 520 Achieving Peak Performance and EDUC 530 Developing Excellence in Others. Discover strategies to maximize support from parents and students, learn how to create a motivating environment for students and athletes, and gain practical ideas to improve communication and motivational skills. Course locations are Pella, Atlantic, Cedar Rapids, Cherokee, Dubuque, Mason City, Urbandale and Vinton. For more information, see www.central.edu/academics/programs/extendeded.html or contact Diane Van Wyngarden (extended education) at x7487 or vanwyngardend@central.edu.

Newman available to speak
Sarah Newman ’00 will be in Pella as the featured speaker at the Senior Athletic Training Student banquet Sunday, April 24. She is currently an athletic trainer within the sports medicine division of the United Stated Olympic Committee (USOC). She will be available to speak to any class Friday, April 22. If you would like to hear her story about working for the USOC and traveling around the world as an ATC, please let John Roslien know (x5132). She believes her undergraduate preparation at Central College provided her the skills necessary to do what she does now. As she will explain, the value of her experience at Central College occurred well beyond the confines of the classroom and clinic.

Westphal co-chairs workshop
Pat Westphal (French) attended the Central States Conference in Columbus, Ohio, March 10-12.  In addition to attending sessions on program articulation, teacher preparation, French, etc., she co-chaired the extension workshop, an outreach program of the conference.

Diehl presents at conference
Matt Diehl (student support services) presented at the Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel Conference April 7 in Dubuque with former Central student Marquita Jones ’04. Their session was called “Building Community with Students and Staff.” People from all TRIO programs (Upward Bound, Student Support Services, Educational Talent Search) were represented at the conference.

Freed appointed by governor
Jann Freed (economics/accounting/management) has been appointed by Gov. Tom Vilsack to serve as a member of the Commission of Libraries for the State of Iowa.

Freed gave a presentation co-authored by George Ann Huck (modern languages) titled “Daring to Be: Portraits of Mexican Women Leaders” at Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines April 17.  The photography exhibit will be displayed there until May 7. The project has been financially supported by grants from Central, Iowa Arts Council, Humanities Iowa and the Iowa Sister States.

Howard attends food services conference
Mark Howard (dining services) attended the National Association of College and University Food Services Regional Conference at the University of Kansas, in Lawrence, Kan., March 20-22.

Smith attends national library conference
Lois Smith (library) attended the biennial national conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, “Currents and Convergence: Navigating the Rivers of Change,” in Minneapolis, Minn., April 7-10.

Prothero attends conference
Joy Prothero (education) attended the Governing Boards Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, April 14-15. She is a member of the board of directors for Southern Prairie Area Education Agency and is on the executive board for the governing boards.

McNee in doctorate program
In August, Nancy McNee (Spanish) begins studies toward a doctorate in international and multicultural education with an emphasis in second language acquisition at the University of San Francisco. McNee will move to California in the end of July.

Shriver take students to present at engineering open house
Seniors Trent Cooper, Scott Westphal, Seth Quam and Mitch Alford doing research with Jim Shriver (chemistry) and Jeremy Lewis who did research with Cathy Haustein (chemistry) presented their research at The University of Iowa College of Engineering’s Research Open House April 7. Shriver accompanied the students.

Butt and Sandberg present at American Geographers meeting
Scott Sandberg ’07 and Anya Butt (natural science) traveled to Denver, Colo., to the 101st annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Sandberg presented their work on “Investigating Diversity: Using GIS to help shape recruiting strategies,” an extension of the work the two presented at the Applied Geography Conference in St. Louis in October. This time, Sandberg geocoded inquiries, applications and enrollments for a seven-year period to Central College from 11 Midwestern states and compared this to extant census data on ethnic diversity populations within those states.

Hibbard update
Al Hibbard (mathematics/computer science) was responsible for hosting the Iowa section of the Mathematical Association of America at Central College April 1-2. He also worked on organizing the meeting’s program and gave a presentation. He is currently chair of the section.

Hibbard was responsible for organizing the annual Science Day Central College hosted April 13. High school students from the surrounding area attended sessions presented by students and faculty in the natural science division and psychology and exercise science departments.

Hibbard was elected to a two-year term as a councilor on the Mathematics and Computer Science Council of the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Woodward update
Tilly Woodward (art) commissioned portraits of Rebecca Johnson for Arthur Johnson, Steve and Sarah Sarli for Susan Sarli and Davis Folkerts for Eunice Kuyper Folkerts. Also this year, she donated art work to benefit the Central College scholarship fund and all Iowa AIDS benefit.

In February, she attended Cultural Advocacy Day at the Iowa State Capitol to speak with legislators about funding for the arts in February. Woodward attended an Iowa Arts Council workshop for developing strategies for building arts audiences using models created by research sponsored by the Wallace Foundation. She developed and instituted a pilot program to provide senior citizens in Pella visual arts programming for residents at area residential centers and conducted a community-wide art project in partnership with area schools and social programs, Central College and local businesses. The Paper Crane project engaged hundreds of people of all ages to learn the story of Sadako, practice the ancient form of origami and think of peace. The project resulted in more than 3,000 paper cranes which can be seen throughout Central and Pella. In March, Woodward curated an exhibition of children’s artwork for the Joan Kuyper Farver Art Gallery.

Woodward was featured in the Des Moines Register in December in “Fairfield Art Galleries Span the Map,” and “From Grant Wood to Alex Brown, 2004 Proved Easy on the Eyes,” by Amanda Pierre. Woodward was also in Pointblank Des Moines in December in “The Cream of the Can: Students Get Wasted for Central College Art Exhibit,” by Carolyn Szczepanski.

We extend our sympathy to Tom De Young (facilities management) and his family in the passing of his mother-in-law Dena Couch on April 3.

Dick ’76 and Ronda Dobson Redman ’76 (Geisler Library) and Greg ’72 and Verla Hoekstra are grandparents of Hayden Cole Hoekstra born April 4. Hayden weighed 8 lbs., 9 oz. and was 20 inches long. Hayden’s parents are Shannon ’00 and Jeanna Redman Hoekstra ’01.

Joshua Dolezal has accepted a one-year appointment as visiting assistant professor of English beginning August. Dolezal received a B.A. from King College, an M.A. from the University of Nebraska and expects to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May.

Isaacson and Rippentrop to Higher Learning Commission’s
annual meeting
Lyn Isaacson (center for academic excellence) and Vivian Rippentrop (academic affairs) shared Central’s current AQIP action project initiatives in a poster session when they attended the Higher Learning Commission’s (HLC) annual meeting April 10-12 in Chicago, Ill. The North Central Association of the HLC is the accrediting body for Central College. We are included in the 13th percent of higher education institutions seeking re-accreditation through the AQIP process rather than the traditional method. The meeting, “Becoming a Learning-Focused Organization,” provided opportunities to network with those from other institutions who were at different stages in the AQIP process, and also to learn about the most recent changes to accreditation criteria and guidelines along with strategies to improve in each category.

Scholte Hall gives donations to Turning Point
The Scholte Hall Council sponsored a collection drive for Turning Point throughout the month of March. Many items were donated, including food, cereal, cleaning supplies, towels and cash. Collected items filled the trunk and half the backseat of a vehicle. Scholte residents also collected $40 for the Habitat for Humanity fund raiser. Thanks to all who participated!

NAMI assessments
On April 7, the Central student chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) participated in National Alcohol Screening Day.  Forty-three students completed an instrument that assessed drinking behaviors as well as family drinking patterns and other mental illness history. The results for two students (5 percent of the total) suggested a high likelihood of addiction and serious related concerns. The results for another 13 students (30 percent of the total) suggested that they were at risk for negative health and lifestyle consequences as a result of their drinking and/or family drinking patterns and mental health history. All participants were given feedback as well as suggestions for reduced drinking or abstinence, as well as an invitation to pursue more detailed assessment.

This was not a research project and the 43 participants were in no way a random sample that would allow us as an institution to conclude that 5 percent of our students may be alcohol addicted and another 30% are also at risk for significant negative alcohol related consequences. In reality those numbers may be higher or lower.  The results do reinforce what we have known for decades — that alcohol misuse and abuse is prevalent on our campus just as it is on most college campuses, and it does negatively impact a significant percentage of our population directly and many more through the effects of second hand drinking.

Student applications for summer employment
Applications for summer work on campus are now available to pick up in the human resource office, lower level of Central Hall.

Tulip Time
Pella’s annual festival is Thursday through Saturday, May 5-7, this year. This festival is designed to give employees the opportunity to contribute to Tulip Time activities. The college is supportive of this community event granting full-time staff one-half day off with pay. Majority-time employees will be paid holiday hours on a pro-rated basis. There will be exceptions based on the need to cover ongoing offices. In these cases, personnel may be required to work, which will be arranged by your immediate supervisor. Hourly employees who are required to work will be paid straight time plus holiday pay.

Looking for assistant professor in American government
and politics
Central College welcomes applications for an assistant professor in American government and politics. This is a tenure track position beginning August. Qualifications include a Ph.D., a demonstrated commitment to excellence in undergraduate teaching and willingness to participate in Intersections, Central’s first-year experience program. Candidates with an interest in playing a key role in the interdisciplinary pre-law concentration are encouraged to apply. Please view the college Web site at www.central.edu for a full position description and application procedures.

To apply for the above administrative positions, please send a completed application, cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information for three professional references to: Human Resources Office, Central College, Campus Box 6000, 812 University, Pella, IA 50219 or by e-mail to employment@central.edu. Visit the college Web site for an application and additional information regarding the position at: www.central.edu/humanresources.

If interested in any of the above support staff positions, please complete an application at the human resources office or call Kristen Parks, staffing coordinator, at (641) 628-7681 with questions. For more information or to print off an application, go to our Web site at www.central.edu/humanresources.

Central College is strongly committed to creating a diverse community. In furtherance of that commitment, the college encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds, under represented groups, and/or have had experience working with and/or interacting with individuals from diverse populations to apply. Central College is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and actively seeks a diverse pool of candidates.