If you have thoughts or ideas related to initiating future projects related to literacy development and outreach, feel free to offer your insight here in this thread. Such thoughts are open to everyone. And no idea is too silly or strange. Feel free to be innovative, creative, silly or otherwise!
Thanks!
We were recently awarded UNCP’s Engaged Learning mini-grant, with full funding of $10,000. This is great news, and we look to produce three literacy projects funded throughout the months of January to May 2013. In addition, we have secured funds to offer two small stipends for students to facilitate and assist in these future projects. To learn more about these projects, visit our current literacy projects.
Recently, we were granted space on UNCP’s campus. Starting in January, we will occupy Suits F and G of Wellons Hall; these suits occupy four rooms / offices per suit, resulting in a total of eight rooms / suits. If there are any questions or thoughts, please feel free to express them here!
Last week, Scott Hicks, Teagan Decker, Tank Steiner, Brittany Glenn-Steiner, and myself (David Marquard) presented our program at the National Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico (Tank and Brittany did so via a video feed documenting student involvement with the LC, which the video will be posted shortly). The presentation was a success, and we received a great deal of support, applause, and insight from many, many leading writing program administrators from across the country. Lots of connections were made, and it is my hope to continue to build strong national connections with many of the folks who attended this fabulous conference.
Where it is that we presented our program, I want to note that all who are involved in this program were given credit for the hard work they’ve done. All of the roles that all of you have contributed to building this program were defined, attributed, and applauded. Thank you!
Ultimately, the conference was an absolute success.
As posted earlier, UNCP denied the proposal of the Literacy Commons. Where this lack of initial support from UNCP can be disheartening, I do not want such a rejection to stop us from moving on with our vision and our mission. It is my hope that we can still serve the community without such start-up support. For example, this fall, we can still do literacy workshops, support literacy in our public schools and community, begin to discuss possible literacy work with troubled youths as well as possibly doing literacy work in prisons and whatnot. In other words, through volunteerism, I want to put into action the Literacy Commons this fall—regardless of UNCP’s initial lack of support.
In this thread, let’s begin discussing possible projects / events / literacy work that can be put into play this fall.
I also want to (possibly) set up a meeting during the week of the 13th of August? Are folks around this week? If not, we can realign a time to meet and to further discuss future plans for the Literacy Commons.
Please feel free to offer your input.
Recently, as many of you all know, a proposal for initial support for the Literacy Commons was submitted to UNCP’s Provost Dr. Ken Kitts. In the proposal, we asked for the following:
1) Space (essentially a room on UNCP’s campus)
2) One Course Release for the director
3) Seed money ($ 2,500)
4) And Hawk Assistantships for students
Sadly, and at this point, UNCP is unable to offer any initial support for the Literacy Commons. Below is a written response from the provost (and do feel free to offer your thoughts here in this blog post):
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Dear David:
I have completed my review of the Literacy Commons proposal. As promised, I considered all material presented to me, both in our meeting and in the very thoughtful written proposal you submitted some weeks ago. I also sought additional input from Lisa Schaeffer, Mark Canada, and Kay McClanahan. Permit me to address some of the key issues at the center of this decision.
Space: The old nursing building will soon be occupied by the Honors College and College of Arts and Sciences. This decision was well under way before we met to discuss the Literacy Commons. The Space Allocation Committee continues to look at office/suite assignments in Jacobs Hall, West Hall, and Old Main. At least part of the space that will become available in Old Main will be reserved for the School for Southeastern American Indian Studies. The dust has yet to settle from recent moves of Enrollment Management offices into D.F. Lowry, and the relocation of Honors and the CAS to the old nursing building has not yet occurred. All of which is to say that it is difficult for us to anticipate future space availability until these moves are finalized.
Course Release: The requested course releases would pose a uniquely heavy burden on the Department of English and Theatre. Due to recent turnover, that unit might be the one least able to absorb near-term reductions in instructional personnel. Moreover, the chair of ET has agreed to work with the administration and Faculty Senate on a pilot program this year that could have additional implications for faculty course load – details to be forthcoming soon. The combination of these factors would make it difficult for the department to absorb additional course reductions in the short term.
Budget: I acknowledge that the proposed budget for the LC is modest. Even so, we now know that the university is facing another budget reduction for the fiscal year that began on July 1 (that information was not available when we met last month). While the decrease is smaller than the one we absorbed last year, it is a reduction nonetheless. The Chancellor has directed all cabinet members to identify surplus funds in order to create a pool of institutional dollars to address salary equity issues on our campus. I support that as an institutional priority.
I apologize if the above represents more information than you bargained for, but I think it important to contextualize the decision on the LC. The bottom line is that I do not feel comfortable with making a commitment to support the launch of this initiative in Fall 2012.
Looking ahead, the Chancellor and I intend to announce a second round of institutional mini-grants in AY 2012-13. When the RFP goes out, I strongly advise you and your colleagues to repackage and submit the LC proposal for grant consideration. I know of no reason why some release time for spring term could not be included in the proposed budget, provided that it had prior endorsement of the chair and dean. You should also include promotional costs and some furniture allowance as part of the budget. Receiving a grant award would move this project up the list of priorities for space allocation. More importantly, it would provide an institutional endorsement of the initiative that I would personally welcome. I have no desire to become a committee of one when it comes to resources in Academic Affairs and thus try to find ways to use existing processes to get broader input on decisions such as this one.
Please keep these suggestions in mind as you and your colleagues consider next steps. I applaud the collective energy, passion, and commitment behind this proposal. It is my hope that we can continue the dialogue in hopes of finding the best path to creation of the Literacy Commons.
Cordially,
Ken Kitts
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Here, we can begin discussions on ways to further promote, advertise, and recruit potential volunteers. Thoughts?
