Bradley University faculty, staff, students, and alumni celebrated Homecoming this past week.  This year’s Homecoming theme was “Fiesta de Bradley.” Homecoming week activities began with the “Fiesta de la Luz,” featuring the ceremonial lighting of the “B” on Bradley Hall and culminated with “The Big Fiesta,” a tailgate party and pep rally held at Shea Stadium to kick off the soccer game that evening between the Bradley Braves and the Drake Bulldogs.  This year Professor Patty Nugent served as the Department’s representative on the College homecoming planning committee and is pictured above with the other members of the committee.

Mr. Brad Cohen, Outstanding Young Graduate 2009

Professors Pat Chrosniak and Celia Johnson with Brad Cohen

This year’s Founder’s Day celebration was a special one for the Department of Teacher Education because one of their past graduates, Brad Cohen, was recognized as the Outstanding Young Graduate for 2009.  Brad is a former second-grade teacher and current school administrator in Georgia.  Mr. Cohen has received well-deserved recognition from the publication of his book Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had and the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Front of the Class about his life growing up with Tourette syndrome and his struggle to become a classroom teacher.  Brad has also appeared on Oprah and CNN, most recently in a story on the camp he has founded for children with Tourette syndrome called “Camp Twitch and Shout.”    For more information about Brad Cohen please visit his Web site at http://www.classperformance.com/.

The Early Childhood teacher candidates practiced their skills in supporting language  and literacy development with  Dr. Cecile Arquette’s help during the September meeting of the Bradley Association for the Education of Young Children (BAEYC). The new board with Miranda Bugbee as the President discussed activities the organization is engaged in throughout the academic year, and the Faculty Advisor, Dr. Heljä Antola Crowe shared reasons for building a strong resumé as a beginning teacher.

This year’s BAEYC officers are as follows:

President – Miranda Bugbee

Vice President – Erica Ogden

Secretary – Karina Freiberger

Treasurer – Karen Campbell

Multimedia Member – Maryjane Gamez

Community Liaison – Carol Hutter

Faculty Advisor – Dr. Heljä Antola Crowe

Having a new and energetic President for Best Buddies this past academic year yielded positive and beneficial opportunities for both Bradley sponsors as well as their best buddies. Outings ranged from bowling, camp visits, fundraisers at local businesses and field trips to various organizations. In fact, the Bradley Chapter of Best Buddies was recently presented the following award:

2009 PARC Ambassador of the Year Award. This award recognizes the hard work and dedication of Best Buddies and is a thank you for the commitment to and ongoing support of PARC—People Advocating for Respect and Consideration of individuals with developmental disabilities—and its Mission. Best Buddies stands out through their dedication to the participants of PARC. This award recognizes your organization’s tireless and proactive advocacy on behalf of PARC. See press release.

If interested in joining the Bradley Chapter of Best Buddies, please contact the faculty advisor, Dr. Deitra Kuester at dkuester@bradley.edu.

This past academic year was quite productive for BSCEC. Group members collaborated with Easter Seals and learned a variety of occupational/physical therapy strategies they can use as teachers. Officers and members attended the Illinois Education Association Conference this past month, which was hugely rewarding to their profession in the form of strategies, interventions and networking. Outreach programs included Christmas stockings to the Juvenile Detention Center, Guardian Angel and the Women’s Shelter. Photos are of a Halloween Party BSCEC hosted at an area grade school this past year. The group also collaborated with Best Buddies and Bradley student sponsors in learning American Sign Language. 

If interested in joining BSCEC, please contact one of the officers listed below:

President:  Natalie Winter, nwinter@mail.bradley.edu

Vice President:   Kristin Reinhardt, kreinhardt@mail.bradley.edu

Faculty Advisor:   Dr. Deitra Kuester, dkuester@bradley.edu

Bradley University is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review which highlighted Bradley’s friendly students, athletic facilities and Greek community in its 2010 edition of “The Best 371 Colleges” published this week.

Only 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges are included in the Guide.  Schools are selected based on institutional data collected, feedback from students, and visits to schools as well as the opinions of independent college counselors, students and parents.

The profiles in “The Best 371 Colleges” rate schools in eight categories, based largely on school-reported data collected during the 2008-09 academic year.  Those categories include admissions selectivity, quality of life, financial aid and a green rating based on criteria concerning environmental policies and practices. The book’s rankings are available online at www.PrincetonReview.com.

Source: http://explore.bradley.edu/NetNews/Newsline?title=princetonreview709

For the eleventh consecutive year Bradley University is ranked among the top universities in the Midwest in U.S. News & World Report’s annual publication America’s Best Colleges.

Bradley placed sixth in the rankings again this year and once again is included in the list of Great Schools at Great Prices.  The University placed fifth in that listing of universities that offer high quality programs at a more affordable cost.

The U.S. News rankings are based on a number of factors including faculty resources, student selectivity, retention rate, class size, financial resources and alumni giving. Bradley boasts an 88 percent freshman retention rate, half of the university’s classes have fewer than 20 students, and more than 82 percent of the faculty are full time.

Source: http://explore.bradley.edu/NetNews/Newsline?title=usnews809

Early Childhood graduates presenting their teaching portfolios focusing on their growth and development over the course of their program. Dr. Hwa Lee with ETE 467 graduating early Childhood seniors at the Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Education Center, April 28, 2009.

This year, a small group of highly motivated art education students decided to take advantage of the opportunities for professional growth offered by the National Art Education Association National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Mary Beth Koszut (MFA’11), Molly Lynd (BA’10), Mike Morris (BFA’10), and Lauren Wenk (BA’10) were overjoyed to receive funds from Bradley’s Parents Board that defrayed costs of the trip. To help with funding, students arranged a fundraiser with Subway in Campustown.  The Department of Art and the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts generously also contributed.

The NAEA’s website described: “The five-day convention includes over 1,000 participatory workshops, panels. . . research reports, discussions, exhibits, and tours . . . keynote addresses by world-acclaimed educators, artists, researchers, and scholars.   [It is] a once-a-year opportunity to meet in a major American city and connect with colleagues from all over the world.  Each year some 140-200 exhibitor booths displaying the latest art textbooks, high-tech software, prints, slides, curriculum materials, equipment, and programs, as well as the latest studio and art history media are made available for examination and review to art educator delegates.  It is a professional development opportunity to update yourself on the vista of state-of-the-art materials to advance visual art instruction in your program.”

Students report the convention was all that was promised and more.  Most encouraging was the sense of joining a group of like-minded people dedicated to improving the lives of students through art education.  Molly Lynd and Mike Morris (Vice-President of Bradley’s NAEA chapter) were excited to learn an approach to teaching called Teaching Artistic Behavior (TAB).  Rather than focusing on individual projects, the goal of TAB is to facilitate independent, individualized creation.  Students might have several stations available to them in a TAB art classroon, and they are taught to think as an artist would in choosing their materials and goals.

Graduate student in art Mary Beth Koszut (Treasurer of Bradley’s NAEA chapter) most enjoyed meeting Paul Duncum and Peter London, art education professors from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  The four students would attend various lectures and workshops, then meet back with each other to share what they had learned.  All four students received all kinds of “freebies,” from Sharpie markers to a Vincent Van Gogh action figure!  In addition, they visited the internationally acclaimed Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center.  The students returned excited about sharing new ideas and information with their peers, and they are already discussing attending the convention again next year.

-Heather Brammeier

On April 18, 2009, Illinois Women in Educational Leadership (IWEL) honored Dr. Joan Sattler, Dean of the College of Education and Health Sciences at Bradley University (center) for her outstanding service and leadership. Also honored were Laura Nelson, superintendent of Scales Mound CUSD 211 (left) and Peggy Lewis LeCompte, retired Language Arts and Literacy Coach at East St. Louis Public School District 189 (right). After telling their personal and professional stories, each honoree was presented with a hand blown glass apple to commemorate the event.