Campus Spotlight

“Once again, we were reminded of the consistent high quality of our students’ writing at the 2008 Literary Awards ceremony,” said Dr. Evelyn Perry, English Department, coordinator of the annual event which took place Thursday, April 24. “From academic essay to poetry to prose, the winning pieces were thoughtful, sophisticated, articulate and artistic.”

Three of the winning pieces were produced by Kristen Gridley, ’10, who won first place for the Sparrow Award and first and third places for the Hirt Award. Brad Petrishen, ’08, won the the Chartier Award. Sara L. Fortin, ’10, was the second place winner of both the Hirt and Sparrow Awards. Emily L. Harvey, ’09, and Sarah Sarlitto, ’10, were the second and third place winners respectively of the Sparrow Award.

These talented student writers are seen above with Perry: from the left, Fortin, Petrishen, Gridley, Perry, Sarlitto, and Harvey.  Harvey is an art major and the  other four students are English majors.

“FSC’s professors–the English department in particular–have been a tremendous influence on my academic career thus far,” said Gridley. “The faculty here is extremely encouraging to students both in and out of the classroom. I couldn’t have asked for a better collection of professors than what I have found here at FSC.”

“We are indeed lucky to have such excellent young writers at work at Framingham State College,” said Perry. “We’re pleased to have the opportunity to showcase their talents.”

A less paper intensive purchasing process will be initiated on campus by July 1, 2008. The change will be implemented in four areas: 1) requisitions; 2) approvals; 3) receiving of goods; and 4) checking your budget.

1) Requisitions and 2) approvals. Requisitions will be completed online using SunGard Banner (FSC’s administrative software suite). By doing so, you will be able to track the requisition through the purchase order then through the payment to the vendor. Requisitions will go through an electronic approval process. Notice of approvals will be sent to you automatically through Banner messaging. What’s even better is that a few items, such as subscriptions and memberships, will no longer need requisitions.

3) Receiving of goods. Here’s how things will work: items will be received by the storeroom, which will enter receipt into Banner. In lieu of payment vouchers and handwritten signatures, when items are delivered to your department, you will go into Banner and verify that you received the items.

4) Checking your budget. You will have real-time, 24/7 access to your budget online and also have the ability to know how much remains on an open (or standing) purchase order. In addition, you will be able to click through to see what vendors were paid under which object codes along with the amounts paid.

Training dates for the new system can be found in myFramingham. Just click the “FSC Work” tab and look for the “Training/Professional Development” channel (located in the middle column under the “Business Office Resources” channel.)

Above, members of the business office staff: back row, from the left, Nancy Murphy, Director of Financial Services Joseph Calapa, Director of Purchasing Brenda Bussey; front row, Michelle Fallon, Linda Nesta.

Many emeriti faculty and administrators returned to campus Tuesday, April 29, to enjoy a luncheon in their honor with former colleagues.

Dr. Margaret Carroll, chair of the biology department, third from left above, welcomed past faculty members of the biology department Dr. Paul Cotter, far left, and, center to far right, Drs. Dana Jost, Judy Klaas, formerly academic vice president, Willard (Bill) Spence, Rene LeBlanc, and Joseph Previte.

Mr. Ralph Eddy, ’96, second from left, is an alumnus of the biology department and director of FSC dining services. Together with his staff, he deserves credit for the success of this lively reunion. The event was coordinated by the office of college advancement.

“Jim Eng . . . fostered the creative development of hundreds of students throughout his long tenure at the college,” says Art Department Chair Marc Cote. Now Eng is retiring after 32 years as a member of the art department faculty.

The All-Student Juried Show, in the Mazmanian Gallery from April 28 to May 9, is dedicated to him. Eng is seen above April 29 at the exhibition reception with Elizabeth Sousa, ’10, who won the Best of Show award with “Grit,” her brush and ink drawing (on right).

In retirement Eng looks forward to traveling, plein air painting, spending quality time with grandchildren, and working in his studio. “It is amazing to think I have spent half my life so far teaching at the college,” he says. “I leave with unbelievably wonderful memories and I hope that I have contributed in positive ways to the lives of my many students. I certainly have gained much from them.”

April 16, Brandon Krebs,’09, and Ashley Hall,’09 (above), took their commitment to nutrition education to an important segment of the population, children. The two students in the Coordinated Program in Dietetics organized a health fair for children at St. Bridget’s School in Framingham as a project in Professor Janet Schwartz’s Community Nutrition class.

Their aim was to show middle school students that too much snacking at the movies is not healthy. Hall and Krebs designed the project to get through to their young audience. “We bought three movie passes to an AMC theater and raffled them off to the groups of kids as an incentive to pay attention,” explained Hall.

“I think I learned as much as the students,” says Krebs. “This event showed me how capable I am of teaching these kids something useful using the skills and information I’ve learned.”

Hall also felt well equipped to reach out to the community: “Along with the many factual things we learn in class, the faculty prepare us for situations like the St. Bridget’s fair. The program is set up in a unique way that combines academic knowledge with hands on experience which gets students ready to enter all different sectors of the nutrition world.”