Campus Currents

Homecoming & Family Weekend is scheduled for Friday, October 28th, and Saturday, October 29th. Several fun events are on tap for students, families and alumni!

Highlights are below - visit www.framingham.edu/homecoming for full details!

Friday, October 28

• Family & Guest Reception
• The McCarthy Homecoming Takeover with giveaways
• Field Hockey vs. Fitchburg State
• The annual Moonlight Breakfast

Saturday, October 29

• Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of FSU Football
• Football vs. Mass Maritime
• Alumni Endzone
• Alumni of Color Network Gathering
• Men’s Soccer vs. Fitchburg State
• Men’s Ice Hockey vs. Southern New Hampshire University
• A meeting of the fRAMily Network

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022

Heineman Ecumenical & Cultural Center at 4:30 p.m.

Co-authors Kelly Kolodny and Mary-Lou Breitborde will discuss their book, Teacher Preparation in the United States: History, Current Conditions, and Policy. A Q& A session will follow their presentation.

Professor Audrey Kali's documentary film Farm and Red Moon will be screened in November at Tufts University followed by a keynote discussion with world-renowned author Dr. Temple Grandin.

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 6 p.m.
Jaharis Auditorium, Tufts University, 150 Harrison Avenue Boston, MA

This event is free and open to the community but you must register in advance.

The University has also arranged for a free bus ride for students, faculty and staff interested in attending the event. To register for the bus ride, click here.

Farm and Red Moon follows Professor Audrey Kali as she visits farms and slaughterhouses and meets with experts to reveal the ambiguous moral underbelly of humane animal slaughter. But what starts out as a concern for animals becomes a story about people. What she once saw as senseless acts of violence, she understands as a complicated agricultural system, pursued by decent people fully cognizant of the contradictions and complexity of their actions.

Dr. Temple Grandin is a world-renowned author and prominent spokesperson for the humane treatment of livestock and for the neurodiversity movement. She is currently a professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University. In addition to authoring numerous scientific papers on animal behavior, she has published several books related to the understanding of autism. Time magazine honored her as one the most influential people in 2010 and in 2017 she was named to the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

This screening is sponsored by Tufts University, Framingham State University, and Northeastern University.

A Conversation with FSU President Dr. Nancy Niemi: The Once and Future Power of Education at FSU

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 10 a.m.
Alumni House, 42 Adams Road

The first Coffee and Conversations talk of 2022-2023 introduces Framingham State University’s
new president, Dr. Nancy Niemi, to alumni and the greater FSU community. Please join us in a
conversation with Dr. Niemi and her vision for FSU.

Dr. Niemi became President of Framingham State University on July 1, 2022. As an elected
school board member and middle school teacher, through college professor, department chair,
and more, her experience in education is wide and deep. Her previous positions include:
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore,
Inaugural Director of Faculty Teaching Initiatives at Yale University, Professor and Chair of
Education at the University of New Haven. She’s published widely on social equity and on curriculum and instruction.

IAFSA’s Coffee and Conversations speaker/conversation series is a forum for fellowship amongst
FSC/FSU alumni and the larger community. It’s a way for alumni to connect with interesting
speakers and engage in conversation in the relaxed setting at Alumni House as well as via
Zoom.

The speakers, alumni or those with ties to FSC/FSU, introduce a topic they are passionate about
and speak for 15-20 minutes and then field questions and/or there is general discussion about
the topic among the attendees. Sessions last about an hour

By Publications Intern Leighah Beausoleil

Reused, revised, remixed, redistributed, and retained - all elements of the “Franken-books” made possible through creative common licensed open educational resources (OER).

Free of the limitations of a singular textbook, educators can draw from various sources to form class materials more representative of the learning objectives they wish to meet in a given course, according to panelists that met as a part of the Scholarly and Creative Showcase series led by the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, Scholarship, and Service (CELTSS).

The panel, “Free STEM Textbooks: Open Educational Resources and Equity,” focused on the purpose and implementation of OER and as well as addressed the obstacles and common misconceptions of its usage.

Included on the panel were Santosha Adhibhatta, an environment, society, and sustainability professor, along with the department’s Chair Larry McKenna, Mathematics Professor Ben Atchison, and Biology Professor Amanda Simons. This panel was moderated by English Professor Patricia Lynne.

OER contributes to the formation of a more equitable classroom as the materials are low to no cost for students, according to Lynne.

Adhibhatta shared how five years ago, she had a student who could not complete her course work because they could not afford the required materials.

This is when she decided to explore other options. Initially, she said she was afraid to use OER because she assumed anything free and online was of poor quality, but she soon learned the value of these sources after doing research.

McKenna, who was encouraged by Adhibhatta to begin using OER, said he shared the same misconceptions at first because he was raised to believe anything on paper was “good” while online resources were “terrible.”

He said, “There is an enormous amount of inertia in faculty to not adopt it and overcoming that inertia is very difficult.”

McKenna added there are two parts to the adoption of OER. The first part is the willingness to use materials already available and the second part is faculty creating their own.

Simons said not only did the idea of cheap or free materials for students draw her toward the usage of OER, but also the lack of effective materials available to teach some of her courses.

Exploring OER, Simons said she was able to use the basics of her subjects from old textbooks, while also incorporating new information through journal articles as well as implementing more interactive lessons.

She added a place to start at most universities is the library’s LibGuides.

Lynne said, “The OER movement has been driven a lot by librarians.”

Atchison recommends new users to start small and be careful with the resources they choose to use.

He said when it comes to finding and creating resources, “Community is essential.”

Given the time commitment and sometimes funding required to use OER, Atchison said it is important to have a support system both online and in person and recommended attending OER conferences as a way to build that network.

Atchison added though he wishes the University’s administration was more supportive and involved, “We have these amazing people who have supported us and continue to support us.”

He said this community “is essential and there's no other word to describe it.”

Join Attorney Carol Gray, a former public defender and current Bibb Fellow in the Department of Political Science, Law, and Global Studies, for an information session about applying to law school and careers in law.

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 1:30 p.m.
Hemenway Hall 220

Join us for Food Day, an educational fair presented by Community Nutrition students and Sodexo Dining Services.

Tuesday, Nov. 1st, from 12:30 to 2 p.m.
McCarthy Center Dining Commons

Booths will be up on Holistic Nutrition and Physical Activity; Debunking Social Media Myths; and Food Waste Reduction. There will be games, raffle prizes, samples, recipes and more!

For more information, contact Megan Mayer at mmayer1@framingham.edu.

The final event in our series on Emotional Wellness is scheduled for Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the Alumni Room and will include a discussion facilitated by Dr. Lorretta Holloway and Kim Dexter. 

The discuss centers around ideas presented in the book The Seven Laws of Enough: Cultivating a Life of Sustainable Abundance by Gina LaRoche and Jennifer Cohen.

This event is sponsored by the Arts and Ideas series, the Office of the Vice President for Academic Enhancement, and FSU’s Campus Professional Development Program.

A limited number of copies of The Seven Laws of Enough are available on a first come, first serve basis, and can be picked up in Dwight Hall, room 306.

Brazilian American Center: BRACE
Address: 560 Waverly St, Framingham, MA 01702
Time: 1 pm - 4:30 pm
Date: Sunday, November 6th, 2022

A special event open to the community and prospective MetroWest Early Start Scholars - meet professors, learn about career pathways and enjoy raffles and free food.

FSU Cooks from Scraps to Scrumptious: Focaccia Art with Food Scraps!

Friday, October 28th at 3:30 pm

Register here!

The USDA estimates that 31% of food is wasted, so let’s do our part to reduce this amount by using scraps and leftovers from our food labs to bake up a batch of surprisingly fast focaccia. Join us as we learn about food waste, bake up some delicious focaccia, and taste a piece or two or three!

Mix and Bake to Give and Take: Blue Ribbon Winner Peanut Clusters!

Friday, December 9th at 3:30

Register here!

'Tis the season to celebrate the end of the semester. Join us to mix and bake some peanut clusters. This effortless candy is great to pack up and share or nibble on throughout the winter break, but fair warning, it’s hard to eat just one! Come have some fun as we let the secret out of the bag for these simple treats, mix up a batch of delicious and award-winning (blue ribbon at the Pima County Fair) treats, and of course, taste a cluster or two!

Join us in celebrating our First-Generation college students at FSU!

Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the McCarthy Center Lobby.

There will be giveaways, banners to sign, and other quick activities to celebrate our first-generation college students.

October 25 at 5:30 p.m.

Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkdeyqrzgqE9GbhvhLcwGGtIndwVzXPfAM

Kaiden Girouard, MPH, CHES, is a FSU Food and Nutrition grad who went on to earn an MPH and his Certified Health Education Specialist certification. He now works as a Heath Promotion Specialist at Ithaca College and will be speaking about his educational and career journey in this remote Zoom session.