What in the World is Trent Eating? [A Baptism by Fire Segment]

After a hard day of shooting, we all sat down and had a hearty late, late meal. Trent's heartier than most. He opted for the 40-ounce cheeseburger that Trent ordered. As much of a foodie as I am, I have to say I was taken aback by the size of the bun. Trent's meal was like a circus sideshow all by itself. Other diners came up to take photographs. Mark wanted to charge $25 a photo. That's the young entrepreneurial spirit!

Dinner and an Opera

One of Tracy's former students (named Joe) suggested that we head to Victor's Cafe on 1303 Dickinson St. in Philly. This cafe is staffed by young opera singers, who will break into an aria every 20 minutes. Our waiter T.J. was terrific. (Yes, I secured his permission to videotape his performance.)

Every time one the wait staff starts singing, Tracy braces herself. The tough political scientist is a music soft touch.

Doug proclaimed to our taxi driver that we all had given the restaurant 4 stars for a total of 16 stars!

AAC&U-Educators Talk High-Impact Practices

To demonstrate the relative ease of posting videos online, I snagged a few of the conference attendees and asked them two questions. (The 8 a.m. (!!!) presentation is titled Igniting Selflessness: Fostering Community in the Classroom and Beyond. My fellow panelists Susan Nuernberg, Doug Heil and Tracy Slagter thought I was joking when I wanted to title the panel discussion Igniting Students.)

1. Since this is the Association of American Colleges and Universities conference on Faculty Roles in High-Impact Practices, I wanted to know what high-impact practices they are practicing.
2. Which teacher has had the greatest impact in their lives.

Tim McGee, Associate Director for Faculty Development, Rider University, Lawrenceville, N.J.


Alma R.Clayton-Pedersen, Vice President, Office of Education and Institutional Renewal and Director of CAN- AAC&U



Fred Schweitzer, Assistant Provost, Dean of Faculty Development, University of Hartford



Sylvia Hurtado, Professor of Higher Education and Organizational Change and Director, Higher Education Research Institute, University of California-Los Angeles



Jeffrey Milem, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Education, University of Arizona

Fun with the TSA Guys

For the first time in a long time, I didn't trigger some alarm at the airport. But my orange duffel bag did get scanned several times by several people, who spent an inordinate amount of time discussing the X-rayed contents of my orange duffel bag. For the record, it is full of my electronic gear for the conference. For some reason, my yelling, "It's a mic!! It's a mic!!" wasn't helping the cause.

Grace in the City of Brotherly Love

Therefore it makes perfect sense that she stands in front of a torpedo, which is in front of a submarine, which is in front of a really big boat. Yes, she is fully aware how impressive she sounds using such technical terms.

People Power (A Baptism by Fire segment)

wwBaptism by Fire] Three things about Shawn McAfee and Brian Ledwell of UW Oshkosh's Media Services: 1. They look nothing like this photo. 2. They are magicians, just like Penn and Teller, if Penn and Teller were a graphic artist and a multimedia developer. 3. They make everything visual more beautiful. Hence, the pretty photo of themselves.

I'll be referring to Brian and Shawn a lot so you might as well get to know them. If you look at their University bios, you'll find this:

Brian Ledwell Multi Media Developer
Brian graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of Idaho.

Shawn McAfee
Coordinator of the Instructional Resources Center
Shawn graduated with a Masters Degree in Graphic Design from UW Milwaukee.

Compare their bios to my heavily edited one. So what gives? The simple answer: They don't like to toot their own horns. These folks and the others in the University Media Services do amazing work because, frankly, that's what they do. And they do it with little fanfare.
Brian designed the COLS Special Reports Web site and the pretty title cards that come with each highlight. I've watched him do "paint" a picture on a computer. Stunning handiwork. He is also solely responsible for my faculty Web site. I asked for something that embodies the peace and harmony that I exude so subtly.

Shawn, who is also an adjunct instructor in the art department, was my art director for the War: Through Their Eyes project. It's too soon to talk about what we went through on that project. Just know by the end of the project I gained 14 pounds, relentlessly e-mailed students at 3 a.m. with a cheery "See you in 7 hours!" and lost the ability to speak intelligibly. Shawn often had to call upon the Grace Under Pressure Translator.

Now I've dragged her into the latest Super-Secret all-consuming multimedia faculty-student collaboration. Great, another 14 pounds...