courses. Physics 101 and 102 were redesigned to focus explicitly on the Common Core Standards and assist preservice teachers in drawing upon the CCS in their future teaching. All courses are being piloted now or will be piloted in the Spring semester.
KSU Team Explores State of the Art in Accelerating Developmental English CITLA and Academics with Attitude (AWA) led KSU participation in the 2012 Conference on Acceleration in Developmental Education in Baltimore, MD in early June. The six-person team engaged in intensive workshops and meetings with researchers from across the country who are exploring ways to increase student success through decreasing the amount of time that students spend in Developmental Education courses. The team engaged in challenging workshops and demanding formal and informal sessions. Particularly noted were extensive dialog and discussions of potential collaboration with California's Acceleration in Context initiative. KSU has since been engaged in initial discussion with CPE about the possibility of fostering regional collaborative work between KY higher education institutions and the Acceleration in Context initiative.
On September 19 over 100 KSU faculty, staff and students traveled to Louisville, KY to participate in a daylong session at the internationally-acclaimed IdeaFestival. Thrivals 5.0, targeted to university students and faculty, is designed to immerse participants in intellectual engagement, innovation and entrepreneurship. CITLA, Regional Stewardship and Service Learning coordinated KSU's Thrivals participation and assessment. Several faculty designed classroom activities around Thrivals.
On September 20 Dr. Beverly Downing represented KSU and KSU's participation in the Wal-Mart AIHEC HACU NAFEO Student Success Collaborative at a NAFEO-coordinated congressional briefing in the Congressional Meeting Rooms. This briefing, focusing on the work of six HBCUs in the collaborative, illuminated the innovative work that KSU is doing to promote the success of underserved students. The KSU project team includes participants from AWA, ACE and CITLA, as well as KSU faculty and Academic Affairs staff.
KSU Faculty Come Together to Start the Year with a Focus on Assessment Over 200 KSU faculty and staff came together for two days in August for the Fall Faculty/Staff Institute. The focus of the Institute was Learning Outcomes Assessment. Each area (College, Department or Unit) represented developed an assessment plan around one outcome of concern to the unit. Participants engaged with speakers including Dr. James Minor, Southern Educational Foundation; Dr. Joel Thierstein, KSU Provost; KSU President Dr. Mary Evans, Sias and others. The Institute was coordinated by Academic Affairs and CITLA.