From Wikipedia

Remember Election 2008? We know it was soooo long ago but if you are feeling nostalgic, get ready:

2012 is getting a blast from the past. Joe the Plumber is running for Congress.

Joe Wurzelbacher quickly (randomly) became the centerpiece for John McCain’s presidential bid after questioning Barack Obama on his tax policy. The nick name “Joe the Plumber” came to symbolize real hard working Americans, or at least that’s how it was intended.

Now he wants to work in Washington as a Republican representative from the 9th district of Ohio.

What do you think? Is this just a run to extend his 15 minutes of fame, or do you think this plumber would be a good representative? Either way it’s always good to have a plumber handy.

And the race gets dirty. Perry goes epic on Romney

@Qwikster, the pot smoking twitterer (tweeter?) gets to keep his twitter account as the Netflix venture goes up in smoke.

Think that boarding pass is a sure way to get from A to B? Guess again, airlines can kick you off a flight for almost any reason.

Psalm 103:1-5 (NIV)

1 Praise the LORD, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2 Praise the LORD, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

3 who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Reflection:

We find David proclaiming from his own heart, with grateful remembrance of all the mercies and blessings he has received from God. David’s praise here focuses on the good things for which to praise God: He forgives our sins (every one), heals our diseases (every one), redeems us from death (saves our life), crowns us with love and compassion (a paradise crown), satisfying our desires with good things (beauty eternal), and renews our youth (like the eagle’s). What an incredible amount that we received - all without deserving any of them.

Responding to the Transmission:

Let us take a moment to remember all the mercies and blessings that we have received. This is a good exercise that we ought to do frequently. With thankful hearts, let us join with David and praise God from the depths of our hearts because we have received much: both forgiveness and healing.

Thanks to the anonymous person that shared their notes from this session. Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

Presenter: Ashwani Vasishth, Rampart College of New Jersey

The way we make decisions need to fundamentally change
The best way to do this is to reach into the general education (GE) system

In Ramapart college mission there are Four "pillars" for college
-International
-Intercultural
-Inderdisclipinary
-Experimental
-Sustainability - not official but seen as the 5 pillar

There is Plenty of "evidence" but no actual structure for sustainability on campus
New opportunities are presenting themselves to push for sustainability in General Education
- Sustainability education center
- MA in sustainability studies
- Center for sustainability studies
- President signed ACUPCC

Recent moves towards sustainability
- Trying to establish sustainability studies as a presence on campus
- Treating the move to sustainability as a complex system
- Gradually drawing out of resources through speaker funding and library acquisition
- Redesign the India study abroad program with a sustainability focus

General education curriculum work at Rampart
- Established a general education committee to assess and infuse sustainability
- Provided survey to faculty to gauge interest and awareness
- 52 faculty members have responded so far
- Applied for a FIPSE grant - grant funding fell through
- grant was to provide funding for events for sustainability on campus
- "dinky little pokes" towards system wide change
- once people are made aware of the problem they want to help
- but once you inform them of the problem, the vastness of it overwhelms them
- networking through departments and courses

Curricular interventions
- Recent emphasis on assessment
- Started professor swap program
- Sustainability living facilities
- Interdisciplinary course as one path to success
- Student learning outcomes

Curricular Potential
- First year seminar
- Five year masters program in sustainability
- Student groups
- Presentations to students and faculty

Encouraging student groups on campus to take the lead on student outreach helped Allegheny College (PA) reduce dorm energy consumption by 12 percent during its annual Energy Challenge last October. With the $5,739 saved in energy bills, the campus is installing a six-panel solar array, said Sustainability Coordinator Kelly Boulton, who presented alongside Environmental Science Professor Eric Pallant.

The college formed a student sustainability coordinating committee as a way to bring together all student groups at once instead of having "17 different conversations," said Boulton. Some of the student group approaches to student outreach that came out of this committee include:

• Stargazing hosted by the Astronomy Club as alternative to watching TV

• Bicycle-powered smoothies

• Glow-in-the-dark condoms passed out as part of a "Do it in the Dark" campaign

• Dinner in the Dark

• Acoustic open mic night

Pallant also pointed out that the challenge takes a "fun fury" approach to entice and incentivize the campus to reduce its energy consumption. "We were not going to make people feel guilty. There was no finger wagging," he said. In addition to mock bills and challenge progress updates, the college hosted a vampire movie screening that gave away free popcorn to those students that unplugged the "vampires" in their dorm room and showed up with dirty jeans, proving that they stayed away from a washing machine.

For this year's challenge, taking place this month, challenge organizers reached beyond the "usual suspects" who are eager to help out each year and focused on building relationships with new student groups to enlarge the outreach circle.

Freeman Hrabowski, President, Jack Suess, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO, and John Fritz, Assistant Vice President for Instructional Technology & New Media, write for the EDUCAUSE Review about transformational initiatives in higher education, the value of assessment and the role of information technology. You can read the full article, “Assessment and Analytics in Institutional Transformation,” online.