Monday Minutes

Here are your Monday Minutes for June 1 – June 5, 2020.

Welcome From the Department Head

Today is my first day as Head of the Department of Education. I am so excited to serve our students, staff, and faculty in this capacity. While there is much uncertainty during this time, thanks to our collaborative and supportive approach, I am confident that we can rise to any challenge before us. My leadership philosophy is based upon communication, collaboration, and consensus and a deep commitment to the success of the department, college, and university in support of our land-grant mission. That being said, organizations are made of people. Your well-being is my number one priority. Make sure to “put on your oxygen mask first” and please reach out if you need anything at all. My job is to support your success!

Finally, over the past week, the tragic death of George Floyd sparked demonstrations across the world and here in Bozeman. This traumatic event may have impacted you, your loved ones, or your students. As education professionals, we have the responsibility to examine our own beliefs and privilege. I invite you to view the Anti-Racist Syllabus developed by Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, and check out a book or two from the MSU Renne Library or your public library. Montana Library2Go has many of these titles as e-books. I also invite you to engage in a reflective exercise by thinking about anti-racist teacher preparation and share your anti-racist confession, for “Being an antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination. If the heartbeat of racism is denial, and the heartbeat of antiracism is confession, awareness and confession must be an active, normal part of our journey to be antiracist” (Kendi and ARPC, 2020).

Take good care,

Ann Ewbank

News and Announcements

• Monday Minutes will be published bi-weekly this summer. Please check your email often as we will likely have more summer communications than usual as we transition into Fall 2020.
• Make sure to check the MSU COVID-19 webpage frequently as university and system-wide updates are available all in one place.
• Our intrepid EHHD IT support specialist Kyle Bench is out of the office until June 15. If you need IT support, please contact the UIT Help Desk.

Important Note from the Dean’s Office

As of May 7th, the dean’s office will be staffed between 8-noon and from 1-5pm each day. We will ask you to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines if you need service from our dean’s office. All of us are still very available via email and phone.

We ask that:

• If you need help please email or call first. If at all possible, we'd like to be able to help without face-to-face contact whenever possible.
• The Dean's office door will be unlocked and propped open, but you will only be allowed into the entry way, not in the Main office. There will be a sanitizing station with hand sanitizer on the counter top. You should already have a mask on so please sanitize your hands immediately upon entering. There is a caution sign asking you to stop at the the main office door.
• If physical assistance is required, we ask you to make your request form the doorway and one of the office staff will help you. Masked and at a socially responsible distance.
• As we will have one to two staff members in the office per day, please be patient. We may have to lock the door occasionally but we will return.

Per MSU guidelines, “Upon returning to work on campus, masks shall be worn in all MSU buildings in accordance with state and county guidance for public buildings. If you do not have a mask, MSU will be provide a cloth mask to each employee upon their return to campus.”

If you need plan to work in Reid in the next couple of months, and need a mask, please let us know ASAP. It is expected that if you do come in, you will be wearing a mask for yours, and other faculty/staff/student safety. Please still do not come onto campus if you are sick at all.

Thank you for all of your flexibility, compassion, and understanding as we all have been navigating a new and difficult situation. We really appreciate you!

Regards,
Julia Tietz, MS 

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

• Spring 2020 graduates’ Reflective Educator Project presentations are available for your viewing. Let’s thank Gini Mohr and the REP team for their diligence in ensuring continued quality and rigor of the REP!

• MSU researchers conduct research to better understand why young adults choose to move to rural Montana - To better understand why young adults choose to move to rural parts of Montana, MSU's Sarah Schmitt-Wilson and her colleagues researched the experiences of educated young adults living in rural communities, as well as what those residents identify as the benefits associated with relocating to a new rural community. MSU photo by Kelly Gorham.

Online Professional Development

• Treasure State Academic Information and Library Services (TRAILS) director Pamela Benjamin will lead a webinar about how to create instructional video content and will be in a sandbox format to provide people with a chance to converse, share tips, advice, and information on how to get up and running with online instruction quickly, but smartly. Please go here for the June 8 (1 – 2 p.m.) session or here for the August 5 session.