GRAND VALLEY
A L L E N D A L E & G R A N D R A P I DS , M I C H I G A N ST U D E N T- R U N P U B L I C A T I O N S // P R I N T · O N L I N E · M O B I L E // L A N T H O R N . C O M
M O N D A Y, J A N U A RY 2 2 , 2 0 1 8 // VO L . 52 N O. 3 6
CLAS pushes back deadline for faculty committee nominations
OPPORTUNITY
Applicants still sought for Padnos Scholarship before Feb. 15 deadline BY TYLEE BUSH TBUSH@LANTHORN.COM
Applications for the studyabroad Barbara H. Padnos Scholarship are open until Thursday, Feb. 15, and so far only two students have applied. The scholarship committee hopes to award up to eight Grand Valley State University students with scholarships ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, meaning that students interested in studying abroad for the 2018-19 academic year still have time to apply. “This scholarship goes to a unique student who can envision being gone for two semesters, or one full year,” said Mark Schaub, chief international officer for the Padnos International Center and member of the scholarship review committee. “It’s a phenomenal experience, and the money is able to support that phenomenal experience.” The committee reviews applications submitted through myScholarships, then interviews prospective recipients in search of the most enthusiastic individuals. Final decisions are made, and the award amount is dependent on the recipient’s financial needs and how costly their program is. “This is meant to be a launching pad for the best and brightest GVSU students to have a great opportunity,” Schaub said. Last year, three students were awarded the Padnos Scholarship for an amount of $20,000 each. Christopher Lopez is spending the year in Chile, Joshua Bryant in Japan and Sophia Bagnall in Oman. Bryant is a senior at GVSU studying information systems and business. “I always wanted to go abroad,” Bryant said via email from Tokyo. “I figured it was the perfect time to do so before it was too late.” Bryant said he had always wanted to go abroad, and after receiving countless enticing emails from GVSU’s study-abroad office, he decided he couldn’t miss out on the opportunity. After researching Japan in the eighth grade, Bryant became infatuated with the country. He developed a strong desire to experience the culture, learn the language and meet the people there. So, when it came time for him to pick a study-abroad destination, it was an easy decision. “My experiences so far have been absolutely fantastic,” Bryant said. “Out of all my years in college, this is by far the best year. No question about it.” SEE PADNOS | A2
BY DEVIN DELY DDELY@LANTHORN.COM
T
he College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Grand Valley State University has recently extended the nomination deadline for CLAS representatives on different GVSU faculty committees in an effort to fill all the available seats and attract the right faculty members for each position. The deadline, which was originally supposed to be last week, has been extended until Friday, Jan. 26, at noon. There are well over a dozen different committees, encompassing such topics as writing skills, faculty salary and budget, and CLAS curriculum. CLAS faculty member Michael Henshaw weighed in on the importance of individuals becoming a part of these committees. “Faculty governance is a re-
sponsibility for faculty, and this is our obligation to participate in governing collectively,” Henshaw said. “It’s a part of our job. I think there are benefits: It gives you an opportunity to understand the university outside of your unit. Each unit (within CLAS) often has its own culture; they do things very differently, and when you step out of that unit, you get an even bigger picture of how things are done across the university.” Henshaw is the chair of the faculty council that organizes faculty governance within CLAS. According to him, the delay of the nomination process is nothing new and should not be viewed as a concern. “This has happened pretty much every election,” Henshaw said. “We could just open it (the nomination period) for two weeks from the start, but opening it for a week and then extending
it gives me an opportunity to remind people that this is still there and ongoing, and to go look at it if they haven’t done so. I’ve been on for three years, and I don’t think there’s one (election) that didn’t extend that second week.” However, if the nomination process does not move forward, it could be problematic. According to Henshaw, seats have the potential to go unfilled, leading to underrepresentation within committees, though he says it is unlikely that will happen. “If you’re missing perspectives within a committee and you try to draft a document or policy and haven’t calculated how, say, the arts work, for example, they’re going to say, ‘Wait, no, that doesn’t work for us,’ and then you have a problem,” Henshaw said. “At the college level, the policies and decisions you make are trying to account for the very diverse ways that all the units
in the college operate. “Some spots are harder to fill than others, though. Some of the ones that have an especially heavy workload can be more difficult to get all the nominations all the time.” Henshaw spoke more about the nomination process for the CLAS committees, as well as faculty eligibility. “The process starts in the fall,” Henshaw said. “The faculty council determines what seats need to be filled again in the coming year, and we create a nominations ballot that shows all those opportunities. All tenure-track CLAS faculty are eligible to be nominated. They can nominate themselves and they can nominate each other, but the nominated person has to approve their nomination for the seat. Then we can prepare a ballot for the vote SEE CLAS | A2
GOVERNANCE
New sustainability project pitched at student senate general assembly BY SARAH HOLLIS SHOLLIS@LANTHORN.COM
INVOLVED: A student senator during the Thursday, Jan. 11, general assembly. Senators discussed new initiatives on Thursday, Jan. 18. GVL | SHEILA BABBITT
A new sustainability initiative was proposed at the Grand Valley State University student senate’s general assembly on Thursday, Jan. 18. The meeting also included a guest speaker from the Office of Student Life, discussion on an upcoming conference at GVSU and reports from all members of the cabinet, as well as some of the senators. During the public comment period of the assembly, Samuel Merring, a GVSU student, pitched an idea to the senate regarding recycling and sustainability on campus. Instead of the blue plastic recycling bins given to students living on campus, he proposed using large zippered bags, as the blue bins are often just used as second trash cans. He polled nearly 300 students, faculty and staff around the Cook Carillon Tower and gathered signatures in support of his idea. Several members of student senate supported the idea behind the pitch. “I think it’s a great idea,” said
I think it’s a great idea. I think it makes students’ lives a lot easier. ... If I had something like that, I would definitely be recycling more.” MADISON ESSELINK STUDENT SENATOR, CAMPUS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Madison Esselink of the campus affairs committee. “I think it makes students’ lives a lot easier. “I live in the freshman dorms. I don’t recycle anything because we have the two little trash cans my roommate and I have. So, if I had something like that, I would definitely be recycling more.” “I definitely like the idea,” said
Holly Neva of the senate resources committee. “I love the fact that he (got) it from another university and that he decided to bring it here to show his love for Grand Valley. “He did all the surveys and everything. I think it was great, and the student action against it shows that you don’t have to be on senate just to be a leader.” The idea will have to go through several GVSU departments to be considered before it can be put into practice. “I’m sure that our campus affairs committee is going to work with him to see what exactly it is that he wants and how can we help him to achieve that because we’re always open to new ideas and want to help students accomplish things,” said Jonathan Bowman, student senate president. “It’s just the logistics of where do we go from here and what steps do we take. Obviously, you would need money for that, and you’d have to get approval from housing and disbursement.” SEE SENATE | A2