Greetings everyone,

As I sit here to write this brief end of year wrap up, I must admit, I am luckier than most people. When I start each work day [and start walking because as you know, I must get my steps], I actually feel excited about all the projects we are working on. It is an incredible feeling to look forward to work every day, and for that, I have each and every one of you to thank.

Here we are at the end of 2020. What a year it has been! There have certainly been many challenges for us, our families, and friends, and our students with COVID. Many of you may be wanting to say “good riddance” to 2020. In our school, we have had many successes in 2020. We have created 2 programs, we have updated our General Education Core, written a bunch of rubrics, started to create a new Alternative Credit Center, closed the Open College, revised many courses, recognized each other for the great work we do, and we launched our 13^th annual call for proposals for the General Education Conference! Whew, that makes me tired to think about all of that.

I wanted to thank you all for a fantastic 2020! We have done some amazing work in and out of our classrooms. You should take pride in your successes. Thank you for everything you do to make the School of General Education a successful, and a great place to work!

Thank you for joining me as we move to 2021 and focus on our theme: General Education: Cultivating Tomorrow's Possibilities. How are we going to help students cultivate and understand the possibilities that they have within themselves? I know with this team; we will accomplish the impossible! As we head into the winter holidays and breaks, take some time to take a breath. I wish you all the best and a brief toast “here’s to 2021!”

Welcome Our New Humanities & Social Sciences Assistant Chair

Tyra Hall-Pogar, Ph.D. joined the university in 2009 as an adjunct faculty member in the General Education Science Department. For the past 6 years, she has served as a full-time faculty member, where she taught a wide range of undergraduate science courses. She has been involved in curriculum revisions and served as a faculty mentor, course lead, and student science club advisor. She has demonstrated her commitment to Purdue Global with her work on various committees including serving on the Institutional Review Board and as the chair of the General Education Science Literacy committee. She previously worked as a medical writer focusing on antibiotic resistance and disease states such as Alzheimer’s Disease. She started her academic career as an assistant professor at Neumann University and has served as a MCAT review editor in the field of biochemistry. Her experience also includes editing and collaborations on various research projects, textbooks, and book chapters. Dr. Hall-Pogar received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Science. As a trained biochemist/molecular biologist, her research was centered on the RNA molecule and focused on 3’ end processing and polyadenylation. Tyra resides in Houston, Texas with her family. She enjoys spending time with her family outdoors, taking walks with her dogs, and gardening. Congratulations on your promotion, Tyra!

This year our Annual Virtual General Education Conference will be held April 27 - 29, 2021. This year’s conference will again feature speakers from across the university, presenting on a variety of topics around several themes. Our theme for this year is SoGE 2021: General Education Transformed: A Renaissance of Equity, Achievement, and Diversity.

Presently the Call for Proposals is OPEN and accepting proposals! Please visit our conference site HERE for the full details. We are hoping to draw from all facets of our SoGE Team here and would love for you to come and share alongside your colleagues.

Coming up in January 2021 we will be seeking committed participants to be part of the reviewing team for our steering committee. Volunteers can be from across all of SoGE (Administration, FT Faculty, PT and FT Adjuncts, Staff) for the reviewing portion of our steering committee! So if you are interested, you can access the form and sign up early in advance of our call in January HERE.

The ACC is Ready to Open

The Purdue University Global (PG) Alternative Credit Center (ACC) will officially “open its doors” on January 2, 2021. The ACC is a School of General Education initiative that provides our students with the opportunity to evaluate their subject knowledge in several formats to receive college credit. The ACC will be a centralized repository for all the university course assessments (e.g., open learning, BSPr assessments [formerly PANeLs], and course assessments), and experiential credit-earning opportunities. One piece of this new initiative starts in early spring 2021 - re-designing the course assessment style and process.

With the assistance of a university-wide committee, the ACC has developed a new design, template, and standardized name for all PG course assessments. The new assessments will be referred to as an Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (ASK), replacing the generic term course assessment. ASK is the term officially used in the university catalog and should be used throughout the university. The new design will encompass both the traditional university course assessments and the PANeLs into one course in Brightspace. The PANeLs, utilized by our independent professional studies students, will now be sharing the same ASK with other students across the university. This new template will help streamline the assessment process for both students and faculty. The Curriculum and Innovation team will begin redesigning the course assessments into the ASK format starting in April and will finish the project in September 2021.

In addition to the new ASK, the ACC and the Curriculum and Innovation team have been very busy moving and improvising our current open courses into Brightspace. This newly updated and revised format will be available in the ACC in January 2021. Stay tuned for more updates and exciting things happening at our new Alternative Credit Center!

APA 7th Update

It’s been a long time coming, but we are finally ready for the complete transition to APA Style 7th Edition at PG as of January 1, 2021! Faculty looking for a desk copy of the 7^th edition can submit a request here. Note the requests are subject to APA’s internal review process. Questions about review copies can be directed to DeskCopy@apa.org

Links you can share with students:

APA’s Academic Writer: https://library.purdueglobal.edu/academicwriter

Library Guide to Academic Writer: https://library.purdueglobal.edu/academicwriterguide

PG Writing Center APA resources: https://campus.purdueglobal.edu/page/using-sources

PG Writing Center: APA Key Changes: https://purdueglobalwriting.center/apa-key-changes/

For more information with resources, visit our Writing Across the Curriculum WAC Page or by contacting the WAC Advisory Committee at: WAConcierge@purdueglobal.edu