Two Catawba College faculty members have been granted tenure and two are being promoted by a unanimous vote of the College Board of Trustees. These tenure and promotions will be effective with the 2014-2015 academic year.
Dr. Jim Hand, assistant professor and director of athletic training education, and Dr. Margaret Stahr, assistant professor of English and director of Catawba’s Writing Center, were granted tenure. Additionally, trustees approved a promotion for Stahr from assistant to associate professor, and for Dr. Michael Bitzer, provost of the college, from associate professor to professor.
Trustees voted to grant tenure and promotions for these aforementioned faculty members at their Feb. 18 meeting.
Hand joined the Catawba faculty in 2010. He earned his undergraduate degree in recreation management with a minor in sports medicine from Culver-Stockton College, his master’s degree in physical education from Ohio University, and his Ed.D in educational leadership from California Lutheran University. Prior to joining Catawba, he served as an assistant professor of motorsport management at Winston-Salem State University, as an assistant professor of human performance and sports medicine and director of athletic training education and assistant professor of sport sciences and coordinator of clinical education at California Lutheran University, and as an assistant professor of sport sciences and director of athletic training education at Wingate University.
Stahr joined the Catawba faculty in 2008 after earning her master’s degree and her Ph.D. in English with an emphasis on composition, literacy and pedagogy from the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her bachelor’s degree with honors in English literature with a minor in biology from DePauw University. Prior to joining the faculty at Catawba, she served as acting director of the Writing Center, part-time instructor of English and part-time assistant dean for academic affairs at DePauw University.
Bitzer joined the Catawba faculty in 2002 as a visiting instructor in the political science department. He moved up through faculty ranks from assistant to associate professor and served as acting provost and chair of the department of history and politics before being named provost in January 2014 by Catawba President Brien Lewis. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Erskine College, a master of arts degree in history from Clemson University, and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs.
Kristi Leonard of Rockwell, a student at Catawba College who serves as the ’13-’14 Student North Carolina Association of Educators (SNCAE) President at the college, will serve as a delegate for Catawba’s SNCAE chapter, at the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) Constitutional Convention March 21-22 in Hickory. Leonard is majoring in elementary education at Catawba.
Dr. Forrest Anderson, an assistant professor of English at Catawba College, is speaking at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., during Catawba’s spring break (March 10-14). He will speak about his work as an archivist for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Robert Olen Butler.
Anderson joined the English faculty at Catawba in 2010. He earned his Ph.D. from Florida State University, where he worked for two years as an archivist and assistant for Robert Olen Butler.
Catawba College students have an opportunity to improve their chance of success in a variety of classes thanks to 12 Supplemental Instruction (SI) Sessions being offered during spring semester. These free, informal sessions are led by students who have taken the course before and agree to sit through one section of the class.
The SI sessions have gradually increased in popularity since the inaugural six SI sessions were offered during the spring of 2013. During fall 2014, eight SI sessions were offered as student demand continued to increase.
According to Catawba’s SI coordinator, Kelly Heinemann, who also serves as Catawba’s director of mail services and assistant director of Housing & Supplemental Instruction, the hour and a half long, SI sessions are offered two times a week and “most are chosen because of an abundance of tutoring requests from students coming to the Academic Resources Office.” These SI sessions are offered in two sections of elementary Spanish II; music theory II; intermediate Spanish II; media law and ethics; principles of macroeconomics; survey of American History II; accounting I; anatomy and physiology II; general psychology; bioscience; and philosophy and culture.
SI leader Rhonda Elder explained the sessions she has led like this: “SI is not only a chance to help others learn, but it’s a learning experience itself. I’ve learned valuable skills like time management, organization and communication. I’ve learned that working with others has helped me understand the content more in depth and that makes me better at helping students during the sessions. SI also provides a second exposure to content in a more step-by-step and relaxed environment, and I’ve seen that that helps many students.”
“SI has been a fantastically rewarding experience, allowing me to review some of my favorite classes while helping others enjoy them as much as I did,” explained Donovan Patrick James, an SI leader.
“It has been great helping fellow classmates and friends do well in a subject they find difficult,” added Michael Waller, also an SI leader.
Students who have signed up for the SI sessions say they have been well-served.
“They were helpful when I needed them and I wouldn’t change anything,” student Taylor Lee said.
“The SI sessions were very helpful and offered fun activities,” student Patrick Moore added.