Winter Break Changes, Delta State

By Emma Alford

A decision made by the president’s cabinet on Oct. 11 has shortened the winter holiday break for next year’s academic calendar by one week.

Next year, the holiday break will begin on Dec. 16 and students will return to classes on Jan. 9. This results in a three week break in comparison to the four week breaks students have had in the past. 

The break lost in the winter will be added to the summer holidays. This sets Delta States break as being the shortest out of the other universities in the state.

The decision was announced by Provost Dr. Ann Lotven during a faculty senate meeting on Oct. 14. A memo notifying all faculty was sent out on Oct. 28, two weeks after the decision was made.

Although, The Delta Statement was informed that the Student Government Association had been consulted in making the change, SGA president Emily Hearn stated the SGA had not been notified about the possibility of the schedule change prior to it being made final.

“I hadn’t heard about it,” said Hearn.

The administration’s reasoning for the schedule change is that there is an inadequate amount of time to prepare the dorms for the fall semester after all summer programs have ended. Lotven said, “With summer camps and Teach For America, it’s simply not possible to get residence halls ready.”

According to Julie Jackson, director of housing and residence life, only 1,003 of the 4,327 students enrolled at Delta State for the Fall 2010 live in either residence halls or family living.  

The Teach For America program ends on July 16 and the final session of summer school ends on July 28. The move-in date for students in 2011 is Aug. 21. The challenge posed in preparing the dorms is that in the past, less residence halls were occupied during the summer and, therefore, could be worked on.

Now with the addition of Teach For America being housed on campus, more dorms are occupied and facilities management is unable to work on those buildings throughout the summer. Lotven said all the programs combined have caused the difficulty in preparing the dorms.

“It’s not any one [that caused the change], it’s the combination of all them. If it was any one of those programs, probably the largest single one would be Teach for America,” said Lotven.

"One major factor in the equation is the TFA program which is a major positive step for the university and the Delta region. Some concessions have been made to accommodate this outstanding program to improve education and the quality of life in the Delta region," said Vice-President of Student Affairs Dr. Wayne Blansett.

Blansett also said that because of the extra time the dorms are occupied, along with the early arrival of groups of students such as athletes, band and hall directors, it has become more challenging to ready the dorms.

“One of the plans was you could take away fall break,” Blansett said. He said that many students had expressed to him that they didn’t want to see the fall break be lost.

“We are the only institution in the state that has a week at Thanksgiving and a fall break,” said Lotven. She said other possible adjustments to the calendar would have eliminated fall break or shortened the time off at Thanksgiving.

Lotven said that the idea of moving summer school up so that it would be completed earlier in July had not been discussed. An earlier summer school could possibly allow more time for residence hall maintenance to be carried out.

Blansett said, “We just have closed that gap so much between when summer school is over and when the actual start of the fall semester is.”

Lotven also has said that in making the change, they considered the idea that with a longer break, less students return.

“One of the things that was discussed in cabinet was that there are some indications that the shorter the break, the higher the retention rate. The longer you’re out, the harder it is to come back,” said Lotven.

Lotven said there was no data to support this claim, it was merely a consideration that went into the cabinet’s decision.

The decision was not submitted to the faculty senate for recommendation before it was made final. It came as an announcement to the senate that was not subject to change.

"Student opinions were sought and respected and based on all the input from Students, Faculty, and Staff the decision and recommendation was made," said Blansett.

The new schedule can be viewed at the academics page on Delta State's website.

Students feel the beat in Western Africa drum class

At every college institution in Mississippi, there is the typical English Composition, College Algebra, and biology courses.  However, it is uncommon to find an institution that offers an African Dance course that concentrates specifically on West African dance and West African drumming.

            

Photo by Lindsay Marter

This semester, Delta State University has made its first African dance course available.  The class focuses on traditional West African dance and drumming.  The drumming instructor is Karen Fosheim and the dance instructor is Cheryl Townsel, both of whom have been to Africa and studied the dance and drumming there.

            
According to Fosheim, the course is for everyone, experienced or inexperienced.  Fosheim said students can choose to be a drummer, a dancer, or both. “All of it is a great physical workout” said Fosheim.

            
In the course, drummers use traditional African rhythms while the dances also come from Africa, said Fosheim.  “All of the dances and all of the rhythms played by the drums have a basis that goes back thousands of years or so.  All of these rhythms had a purpose,” Fosheim continued.

           
 Fosheim specifically described a dance called the Ku Ku. The Ku Ku was done after fishing to celebrate a successful trip.  Now, the Ku Ku is one of the most known party rhythms, said Fosheim.

           
 According to Fosheim, the class started with eight dancers the first week of school and progressed to seventeen dancers by the second week.  Forsheim said that size, shape, or any other limitations are no factors in this course.  Students are encouraged to just do what they can.

           
 Katie Gibson, a senior music education major, said, “I enjoy this class because it’s very physical and I feel like I’m getting a workout.”

            
As the class progresses, Forsheim said students will see the connections between West African dance and modern day dances such as hip hop.  According to Forsheim, students should take this course because it is fun, builds a sense of community, and it is great physical exercise.

            
 Brian Thomson, a drummer in the African dance class, said he enrolled in the class because he believed it would help him with finding grooves and beats, which in return will benefit him as a musician. “As a musician, I’m just interested in a lot of different styles and I want to be as broad as I can and this class really helps with finding beats,” said Thomson.

           
 Stephen Chew, another drummer in the African dance class, said other students should enroll in this class because it is a great stress reliever.  “It’s a really good way to work out the stress on a Monday because the class meets on a Monday night,” said Chew, “My favorite part of the class is when we come together with the dancers and play.  It’s just amazing how everything interacts together like that. It’s really great,” said Chew.


According to Forsheim, African Dance is an official credited class.  They have been doing the drumming class since the spring of 2008 and are now incorporating the dance along with it. Forsheim said that the class is divided into the drumming specific class and the dancing specific class.  The dance class meets on Monday evenings from 7:15 to 8:30 and the drumming class meets on Monday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00.

Photo by Lindsay Marter

Forsheim also said there is no written work in the course and the performances take the place of test.  The class does several performances and workshops.  According to Forsheim, the class is getting ready to do a literacy festival on Sept. 11, 2010 and will be organizing school performances soon.

Various Impacts Of Teach For America In Our Region

By Emma Alford, The Delta Statement

Monday and Tuesday of last week, faculty members organized and met on campus to start a research group that will take a look at the various impacts of Teach for America in our region.

About four weeks ago, a decision was made to create more opportunities for research on campus and one of the themes decided upon was Teach for America. Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies, Dr. Albert Nylander, pushed for this topic and is leading the research group. He said the group is open to any faculty members that are interested.

“I want minds from various disciplines to participate in a study like this,” said Dr. Nylander.  Around 40 faculty members attended the meetings which were held over two days. Those that attended came from a number of different departments on campus.

This was the first time for those who wished to get involved to come together and discuss the possible aims and goals of the project.  Dr. Nylander said potential questions for the group to consider include the educational impact of TFA on Delta students, the social change it brings to the Delta, and the economical and business-related impact it has on the community. He also wishes to closely examine the program of TFA itself. Dr. Nylander said he would like to look at how it is funded and managed, how TFA recruits compare to local teachers and how its educational forces can be increased. Dr. Nylander said that TFA is very protective of its data, so coming up with the university’s own data is important in this project. He also said that many topics can be examined through the concepts of social networking and power, which they plan to do.

Although Dr. Nylander has set out a rough set of guidelines, he doesn’t wish for anyone in the study to feel confined to a particular topic.

“I want us to lead a research group in a way we haven’t done before on campus,” said Nylander.

Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Leslie Griffin, said, “Typically, faculty interests center on questions and issues that help us as a university and, more specifically, as a college, to address the needs of our region. These could range from how programs impact student learning to teacher efficacy and retention.” A close look will also be taken to analyze the short 

term versus the long term effects of the program.

Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies

Adam Nylander, Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies 

TFA first placed teachers in the Delta in 1991 and has had a growing number here since then. This past summer, around 600 TFA students were on campus which totaled around people 800 with their staff included. This was the first time for a TFA training institute to be in the Delta, or any rural location. The selection process into the program weeded out nearly 30,000 applicants, leaving only 4,100 chosen for the program this summer. The majority of them came from urban areas and about 11 percent of those chosen came from Ivy League schools to learn and teach in a rural environment.  The research group plans to analyze the impact of that on Delta students, the TFA recruits, and the community as a whole.

One faculty member attending the meeting said, “if Teach for America was finding incredible results, we’d be hearing more about it.”