In celebration of African-American Heritage Month, PBS will air a 30-minute documentary produced and directed by Lawrence Londino, chair of Broadcasting.
"A Place For Us," which takes a look at the history of the Shady Rest Country Club in Scotch Plains-the first African-American golf club in the country-can be seen Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m. on Channel 13.
The documentary, produced in 1994 with assistance from broadcasting students, is narrated by Geoffrey Newman, dean of the School of the Arts, includes music composed and performed by Eric Diamond of Theatre and Dance, and was written by Londino's wife, Cathleen, a professor at Kean College.
At a time when blacks were still oppressed and restricted by society, the Shady Rest Country Club offered African-Americans a place to go where they could feel a sense of "community and pride." The club provided a golf course, restaurant, tennis courts and horseback riding, and it attracted such performers as Ella Fitzgerald and Cab Calloway.
The documentary features interviews with former club members sharing their memories and experiences of the club, as well as a special tribute to America's first professional golfer, John Shippen, who also was the first African-American to play in the U.S. Open Golf Championship.
With still photographs and fascinating film footage of the club, "A Place for Us" draws parallels to Ken Burns' critically acclaimed series, "The Civil War" and "Baseball."
A team of faculty and administrators from universities in the region will be on campus to evaluate Montclair State University for reaccreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The team will arrive Sunday, March 9, interview faculty, staff and students on Monday and Tuesday, and prepare a preliminary report before leaving Wednesday, March 12.
The Middle States Association reaccredits colleges and universities every 10 years. The process includes a self study as well as a visit by evaluators from other institutions.
"The team identifies people they want to interview, based on the self study report they received in advance," said Gregory Waters, deputy provost and vice president for Institutional Advancement. "They will evaluate how well we meet our own goals and objectives. We are a complex and dynamic organization and I expect the team to be impressed with how we have evolved as a university."
Waters, who will be working with Joe Attanasio of Communication Sciences and Disorders on the logistics of the visit, asked that faculty and staff be available for meetings with the team on March 10 and 11.
"One of the great advantages of the American higher education system is that we have the opportunity to benefit from the observations, evaluations and constructive criticism of others in our profession," said President Irvin D. Reid. "The premier organization for review in this region is the Middle States Association, and we genuinely look forward to the feedback we will get from this effort.
The campus has put forth an extraordinary self-study document that gives a portrait of a university not only in the making, but on the rapid move. The dialogue with our visitors from Middle States will make a significant contribution to advancing our mission."
The visit is the culmination of a process that began two years ago with the creation of the Middle States Self Study Steering Committee, headed by Attanasio and Mildred Garcia, who was then assistant vice president for Academic Affairs. The committee included seven subcommittees, covering governance, organization and administration; institutional mission and goals; teaching and learning; student development and campus life; public service; budget and facilities; and institutional advancement. The final report, 176 pages plus appendices, includes a chapter from each subcommittee. More than 100 people were involved in preparing the self study.
The report "looks at Montclair State as a new university charting its future," Waters said. Attanasio noted that it is an honest report that presents Montclair State in a positive light. "If you were a visitor reading this report, you would know why we're so good, the challenges we face and the methods we might use to meet those challenges," Attanasio said. "Almost everyone on campus will be pleased with the report. It places our problems in context; they are not unique. The same problems probably are being faced by most institutions across the country."
Waters noted that much has changed since Montclair State's last accreditation visit a decade ago. "It was a more regulated environment then, pre-autonomy. Now we are a university and the Department of Higher Education no longer exists. The last evaluation contributed to stronger shared governance, improved computer systems and improved communications, and more emphasis on planning."
The members of the visiting team are Dr. Lawrence K. Pettit, president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, chair; Dr. Margarita Benitez of the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey University; Mr. Edwin R. Golden, vice president of Business and Financial Affairs at Bowie State University; Dr. John R. Howard, Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology, SUNY College at Purchase; Dr. Deborah J. Leather, director of Cook Library at Towson State University; Ms. Linda A. Suskie, assistant to the president for special projects, Millersville University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Juan F. Villa, professor of chemistry at Lehman College of CUNY; and Dr. Carol Williamson, dean of students at Salisbury State University. They will be accompanied by Dr. Angela C. Suchanic, director of programs and services for the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education.
Several years ago on campus a dialogue began about the way faculty roles were changing and ways of rewarding faculty work. "We were prepared to look at two long-standing assumptions," Provost Richard Lynde explained, "the definition of scholarship and faculty load."
The seed for this exploration was planted at a 1993 meeting of the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) on faculty roles and rewards. From that seed grew the Faculty Scholarship Incentive Program (FSIP), giving faculty the opportunity to become involved in scholarship on a regular basis. The administration and the union, Lynde noted, were partners in creating this project.
Last month, Lynde, Nicholas Michelli, dean of Education and Human Services, Vaughn Vandegrift, dean of Science and Mathematics, Kenneth Brook of Anthropology, Gil Klajman of Sociology and Bonnie Lustigman of Biology returned to an AAHE meeting in San Diego on faculty roles and rewards, this time to give a presentation about the FSIP program now in full bloom at Montclair State. In the presentation, "Using Scholarship Reconsidered in Redefining Roles and Rewards," the group joined a team from California State University-Long Beach that discussed a similar program to be instituted there this fall.
"In a way it was like coming full circle to that earlier conference, where the idea of redefining scholarship first was discussed," Lynde said, adding that Vandegrift, Brook, Klajman and Michelli also were part of the group that went to the earlier meeting along with David Stuehler of English. "This was a successful trip. We had a good story to tell. MSU is doing something unique with its scholarship incentive program and we were the only institution with honest-to-goodness results to report. The program has been in place long enough [2 1/2 years] to show a discernible increase in faculty articles and presentations."
The FSIP provides faculty flexibility to participate in scholarly and creative activities. Lynde explained: "To get there, we had to broaden the definition of scholarship and look at our reward system, now basing it on this broader definition."
Each year, faculty can opt to teach a 24 teaching credit hour load or submit a proposal for a scholarship project for up to six credits of on-load time relating to one of three areas of scholarship: Scholarship of Pedagogy; Scholarship of Discovery, Integration or Aesthetic Creation; or Scholarship of Application.
Nearly 50 percent of the faculty are involved in the FSIP program. Lustigman, who as chair of Biology had helped administer the FSIP within her department and has participated in it herself, says the program has been "positive for me and my department."
"There has been a rejuvenation for both junior and senior faculty in the department," she said. "It shows that the administration encourages research. There has been a blossoming of research activity and an increase in grant writing."
Lustigman was quick to point out that despite the faculty release time, the department still has been able to maintain productivity and accommodate its 600 majors.