IIT Hosts Globalization Town Hall Forum
IIT will host the Financial Services Forum's Town Hall discussion on succeeding in the global economy, from 9 - 11:30 am on Monday, May 12 in the MTCC. This interactive dialogue moderated by CNBC Contributor and BMO Capital Markets Global FX Strategist Andy Busch will examine the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century global economy. The discussion will center on policy solutions to help workers, firms and communities, many of which are outlined in the Financial Services Forum's report Succeeding in the Global Economy: A New Policy Agenda for the American Worker, and features speakers such as Tom Wilson, CEO, Allstate Insurance Company, Congressman Rahm Emanuel (IL-5th District), and Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-6th District).

Featured Speakers
Tom Wilson, CEO, Allstate Insurance Company
Congressman Rahm Emanuel, IL-5th District
Congressman Peter Roskam, IL-6th District
David E. Baker, Vice President for External Afairs, Illinois Institute of Technology
Demetria Giannisis, President and CEO, Chicago Manufacturing Center
Jack Lavin, Director, IL Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
Robert Z. Lawrence, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
John Lutz, GM, Managed Business Process Services, IBM
Rob Nichols, President, Financial Services Forum
Matthew Slaughter, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
Pamela Tate, CEO, The Council for Adult & Experiential Learning
Tom Villanova, President, Chicago & Cook County Building & Construction Trades Council
Sandra Westlund-Deenihan, President & Design Engineer, Quality Float Works, Inc.

Please RSVP to rsvp@financialservicesforum.org if you would like to attend.

This event is sponsored by the Financial Services Forum, a non-partisan financial and economic policy organization comprised of the chief executive officers of 20 of the largest and most diversified financial institutions with business operations in the United States. The Forum works to promote policies that enhance savings and investment in the United States and that ensure an open, competitive and sound global financial services marketplace.

Faculty: Apply for a TGIF Award @ IIT
Have you been toying with a creative, new way to engage the students in your 100-200 level courses, but materials, staff and budgets are too stretched to put it into practice? The answer is to apply for funding through a Teaching Grants for Innovative Faculty (TGIF) award. TGIF awards are designed to fund creative projects that supplement the curriculum you already teach. Applicants must propose a specific project with a theme or focus that provides students with hands-on experiences, access to experts, exposure to industry, enhanced lab projects or other innovative projects. Wondering what type of proposals will be considered? Read on for stories from three Fall 2007 grant winners and what they were able to accomplish with TGIF funds.

Dave Maslanka, Sr. Lecturer, department of applied math, used the monies he was awarded to carry out his TGIF proposal for Math 119 - Geometry for Architects. Dave restructured the course from a lecture-only format into one in which hands on problem-solving took place; more of a just-in-time workshop where students could be assisted at their contextual moment of need. Working in groups was encouraged and the students benefited from the collaborative sharing of knowledge and energy, while group accountability encouraged the students to really work at the problems. The TGIF grant allowed Dave to hire a student assistant who helped facilitate the workshops. Teaching the course in this innovative structure allowed Dave to develop insights that led to suggested improvements for future classes.

Mark Snyder, Sr. Lecturer in the CAEE dept. used a TGIF grant to expose the future engineers in his CAE classes to essential professional values. Mark lined up speakers from across campus who addressed such topics as plagiarism, proper citation of sources, and communication skills, as well as lecturers who stressed ethical behavior, accountability, and adherence to professional standards. In addition to providing for speakers in the classroom, the TGIF award also subsidized a speaker on dinner etiquette and social conversation. Thanks to the TGIF award, students gained an awareness of the values that are necessary for success in engineering.

A third TGIF award was used by Blake Davis, an instructor in the College of Architecture, for a Basic Dwellings class for second year students. The students work with recycled paper to mold or cast the components of a geodesic dome. An EPA grant was secured to build the actual structure for display in April 2008 in Washington DC, but it came with so many restrictions it could have bogged down the project. Blake was able to use TGIF money to quickly get the project up and running. Integrating the project into the curriculum gave architecture students exposure to hands-on, quality research methods, because while the dome is an iconic structure, there can be problems with water seepage at its seams. Research continues on the various waterproofing techniques for the molded paper surface, and in the design of flashing to carry the water away from the structure. While the Basic Dwellings class initiated the dome project, some class members became so immersed in the topic that they have returned to volunteer on the project after the semester ended and grades were posted.

Three solid, innovative teaching ideas that may inspire you to apply for your own TGIF grant. Proposals should be completed and submitted via email to April Welch (welcha@iit.edu) no later than June 30, 2008. Awards will be announced August 1. Full details and eligibility requirements can be found here.

Pritzker Club and Collens Welcome Center to be Dedicated May 20
IIT University Regent and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees Robert Pritzker and IIT President Emeritus Lew Collens, will be recognized on May 20 at the McCormick Tribune Campus Center when the Pritzker Club and the Collens Welcome Center are dedicated in their honor.

The Pritzer Club and the Collens Welcome Center, both in the McCormick Tribune Campus Center, will be officially dedicated at 3 pm. The ceremony, presided over by President John L. Anderson and Chairman of the Board of Trustees John W. Rowe, will include a ribbon cutting.

The event will recognize the legacies of both men, who led IIT for close to two decades, beginning in 1990. The IIT community is encouraged to attend.

For further information, contact Carrie Casper in the Office of Institutional Advancement at 312.567.5066

BuckFest!: A Conference in Honor of F.R. 'Buck' McMorris

The Department of Applied Mathematics and College of Science and Letters will host BuckFest!: A Conference in Honor of F.R. 'Buck' McMorris, in celebration of Dean McMorris's 65th birthday and retirement. Fourteen invited speakers will deliver talks in fields related to McMorris's specialties in discrete applied mathematics and computational biology. Professor McMorris has been at IIT for nine years, serving first as the Chair of the Applied Mathematics department before being named Dean of the College of Science and Letters in 2003. For a complete list of speakers, abstracts, and schedules, please visit the conference website.

2008 CSL Teaching Enrichment Workshop: "Assessing and Grading Student Performance"
The College of Science and Letters held its 4th annual Teaching Enrichment Workshop on Wednesday, April 30, for IIT faculty and teaching assistants. Designed to help teachers of all levels, the workshop featured Professor and Chair Marvin Druger (Department of Science Teaching - Syracuse University and Secretary of the Education Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science), Professor and Director David Slavsky (Center for Science & Math Education - Loyola University), and Professor and Chair Norman Lederman (Department of Mathematics and Science Education - Illinois Institute of Technology) leading a workshop on "Assessing and Grading Student Performance."

Assessing student performance and assigning grades are important tasks for instructors. The development of meaningful criteria to effectively assess what students know and are able to perform is challenging. After assessing student performance, assigning grades raises concerns for instructors including... Should I grade on a curve? Should I simply grade according to a set standard? Should I give any credit for improvement over the course of the semester? While the grading process is not as easy as it may seem, grades are critically important to students' futures.

Professor Druger, who has taught over 50,000 students during his career, discussed the complex responsibilities of instructors who must "provide meaningful, motivational experiences that enrich the lives of students" while also "matching assessment procedures within the goals of a specific class situation." He advised instructors to "have a rationale for your assessment procedure and explain it to your students at the start of the course." "If you lack a good rationale for doing something, do not do it" said Druger. He also discussed favoring criterion-based grading over grading on a curve,as criterion-based assessment allows "students to compete against the course, not each other."

Professor Lederman echoed Druger's discussion by stressing the importance of clearly communicating your goals for your students and making them aware of the criteria that they are being assessed by. Lederman also discussed the implications of student performance, reminding attendees, "every student assessment is also an assessment of you, the teacher." Read more...

Pictured: (left to right) David Slavsky, Ishaque Khan, Marvin Druger, Norman Lederman

Faculty, Staff Volunteers for Midnight Breakfast at the Commons
Join President Anderson and other esteemed colleagues in supporting the student body during finals week by serving them breakfast at midnight in the Commons. The Midnight Breakfast will be held the night of Tuesday, May 13. Please email Eddie Skidmore with Sodexo at skidmore@iit.edu if you are willing to help.

IPRO Day, Bill Nye, and Stryker Award Banquet Photo Galleries Now Online

View the Spring 2008 IPRO Day gallery Photo by Bonnie Robinson

View the Bill Nye gallery Photo by Mindy Sherman

View the Stryker Awards Banquet gallery If you would like printed photos from the Stryker Awards gallery, contact Vickie Tolbert at tolbert@iit.edu indicating the picture number and number of copies requested

Restricted US Cellular Field (C8) Parking May 12 & 13
Please be aware parking in C8 will be restricted on Monday and Tuesday, May 12 - 13 for White Sox events.

US Cellular permit holders may park in eligible "black star" lots at this time. (Please refer to the IIT parking map for eligible parking lots.) As a reminder Sox game day updates are available on the Parking Services website.

Contact Parking Services at 312.567.8968 with any questions.

ECE and BME Poster Day Tomorrow

ECE Day The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will host the annual ECE Day Poster Competition this Friday, May 9 from 9 am - noon in Siegel Hall. ECE graduate students showcase their research each year to win cash prizes and the title of Best Student Poster in the largest department of Armour College. More than 80 students are registered to compete, making this year the largest poster competition the department has ever hosted. BME Senior Design Poster Day The Department of Biomedical Engineering will hold its Senior Design Poster Day tomorrow, May 9 from 11:30 am - 2 pm in Wishnick 315.

Keating Pool Hours for Finals Week
Monday, May 12 - Thursday, May 15
10 am - 12:45 pm
6 pm - 9 pm

The pool will be closed Friday, May 16 - Sunday, May 18. Summer pool hours will begin on Monday, May 19 and will be announced next week.