CLAS Graduate Educational Policy Committee Candidates 2022

The 2022 CLAS Faculty Governance Elections are scheduled to run from 8:00 a.m. on Friday, March 4, to midnight on Friday, March 11. Please contact Lisa Gray with any questions or problems concerning the faculty elections.

The CLAS Graduate Educational Policy Committee meets monthly during the academic year to advise the College on policies and procedures relating to the College’s educational mission, curriculum, and teaching.  Committee duties detailed in the CLAS Manual of Procedure, Article VIII. The committee is chaired by Christine Getz, Associate Dean for Graduate Education. View the current membership of the Committee.

The Graduate Educational Policy Committee has three member seats to fill this year. One member must come from the Natural and Mathematical Sciences, one member must come from the Social Sciences, and one member will be elected At Large from any of the electoral voting groups. Voting faculty may vote for candidates in all electoral groups, and may cast votes for one, two or three candidates.

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NATURAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES (Electoral Group I) candidates (click on name to see statement)

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Electoral Group II) candidates (click on name to see statement)

AT LARGE candidates (click on name to see statement)

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NATURAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES (ELECTORAL GROUP I) CANDIDATE STATEMENTS

Rodica Curtu
Professor, Mathematics
Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Chair
Affiliated Faculty - The Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience
PhD, University of Pittsburgh
Joined UI Faculty in 2007

As a member of the Graduate Educational Policy Committee, I will advocate for relevant and effective training and mentorship in graduate education and will work to raise awareness of graduate students about non-academic career opportunities. I will seek solutions for increasing graduate student funding, including travel funds and CLAS-sponsored fellowships and help improve access of our graduate students to mental health and wellness resources.

Relevant Experience:

I served as Interim Director for the Applied Mathematical and Computational Sciences (AMCS) program in Fall 2019. Since January 2020, I have been the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in Mathematics. During this time, I secured funding from the Graduate College to co-sponsor AMCS students’ participation in a program for career opportunities outside academia, and I led Mathematics at Iowa to become a member of INMAS Midwest. (INMAS, “Internship Network in the Mathematical Sciences”, is an organization that prepares graduate students for internships through computational and professional skills training, and then places these students in internship projects with companies across the country.) I am also the departmental representative for the Association of American Universities (AAU)’ initiative for student-centered training in higher education.

As DGS in Math I led curriculum development and action-plans for the improvement of our Ph.D. graduate program. I also supported and worked diligently to advance departmental and university goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion, through recruitment, funding, and mentorship of females and other underrepresented minority students in STEM.

As a faculty in Math, I have mentored and supervised the research of 1 postdoctoral scholar, 8 PhD students, and 4 undergraduate students.

 

Bryan Phillips
Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Associate Chair for Graduate Education/Director of Graduate Studies
PhD, Texas A&M University
Join UI Faculty in 2009

Graduate education is not only a major part of the faculty educational mission in CLAS, but I believe it is the bedrock of the scholarly activity that helps form our creative work and research as CLAS faculty.  Graduate students function as our mentees and researchers but also are often our partners in our educational mission. Indeed, in some courses, graduate students are the first and major points of contact our undergraduates have as they traverse their first year on campus. Graduate students across the college are often engaged with several areas that intersect with our core mission as a university including didactic educational training, research, and mentorship. 

Given this importance of graduate education in our college, and if fortunate enough to be appointed to GEPC, I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues to help eliminate barriers to graduate education, to making graduate education more broadly accessible, and including our grad students, who represent the future of our disciplines, in these policy discussions. I also hold diversity in graduate education and broadening access to terminal degrees as a core values. In my three years as Director of Graduate Studies of the iBio grad program, I have advocated for graduate students in our department, I have engaged with DGSes in CLAS and across the university on a variety of initiatives, and I hope to continue to do so as a member of GEPC. 

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SOCIAL SCIENCES (Electoral Group Ii) CANDIDATE STATEMENTS
 

Brian Ekdale
Associate Professor & Director of Graduate Studies, Journalism & Mass Communication
PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Joined UI Faculty in 2011

I’m deeply passionate about graduate education. Graduate students add tremendous value to our university through their teaching, research, and service, and we have a responsibility to prioritize their success and well-being. If elected to the Graduate Educational Policy Committee, I will focus on ensuring that curricular decisions are grounded in (a) student advancement in their respective fields, (a) the realities of the job market, (c) diversity, equity, and inclusion, and (d) student well-being. In the School of Journalism in Mass Communication, we recently redesigned our curriculum to focus on building a collaborative and cooperative community supports mental health, work-life balance, and DEI.

I am currently the DGS in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication. Prior to serving as DGS, I was a member of the school’s Graduate Committee where I led our efforts in recruitment and retention. I also served a 3-year term as the faculty advisor for the school’s graduate student association. I have taught several graduate seminars, including designing one of two required theory/methods courses for our new curriculum. Since joining Iowa, I have co-authored publications with 8 graduate students, served on 20 dissertation/thesis committees, advised 3 students through the completion of their degree, and I am currently the PI for a 3-year interdisciplinary, multi-university grant that prioritizes faculty and graduate student collaboration.

 

Kate Magsamen-Conrad
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies
PhD, Communications, Rutgers University 2012
Joined UI Faculty in 2018 

If you do not want anything to change, please do not vote for me. Events of the last few years present exciting opportunities and challenge. Academic and university systems have been slow to respond to societal changes. Institutions of higher education cannot continue interpret the core meaning of graduate (or undergraduate) education as we always have. The timing is right for Iowa to emerge as an innovator in graduate education. If elected to this committee I hope to partner with other committee members to utilize our different disciplinary approaches to re-conceptualize graduate education in ways that produce scholars who addresses issues of bias, diversity, equity, and exclusion, lead purposeful lives and careers, and are empowered create impact far beyond the confines of discipline, degree, and campus.

Experience:

I took a leadership role in the health communication division (HCD) of the National Communication Association (NCA) in 2018. The HCD is one of the largest division in the national association. One of my primary agenda items was addressing issues of DE&I by making meaningful changes in division programming, leadership, initiatives, recognition, and mentoring. For example, in my first year, I worked with the NCA office to develop a secure online voting process for new leadership. This process was adopted by divisions across the national organization the following year.

In another example, I significantly changed the internal scholarship review process, creating a sophisticated set of surveys that matched scholarship with appropriate and qualified reviewers. The undergraduate students in my lab here at Iowa worked with me throughout this process, even as we had to pivot to a completely online environment. Elements of this process have been adopted by other divisions, as well as other academic organizations and conferences. I created space in the program for meaningful interaction, for example, my “Collaboration Spaces,” small groups dedicated to fostering great research projects. I started using our HCD budget to support students, which lead to the division’s Grad-DE&I grants, an award program the national organization is considering adopting. I worked to increase transparency in decision-making, and last year turned to reviewing award criteria as a major agenda item. During this time we also added a standing DE&I committee to the bylaws, as well as an award recognizing significant contributions to equity and inclusion in the health communication division.  

I plan to continue advancing DE&I in my discipline, and integrating my graduate and undergraduate students in these experiences. This is my final year in leadership in the HCD in this format. I am co-chairing (2022) and then chair (2024) the major mentoring pre-conference HCD offers every two years.

Prior to that I was part of the team who helped my former institution earn their Carnegie Classification for engagement. Then, I was part of the advisory board who transformed the Office of Service Learning into the Center for Community Engagement. I was also part of the NCA taskforce that created the NCA Center for Communication, Community Collaboration, and Change). I am currently planning the “Community” series for P.L.A.C.E National Communication Association 2022 Convention and serving on a special NCA taskforce that will consider the future of our national conventions, with a special focus on accessibility (these responsibilities will conclude in December, and August 2022, respectively). I will continue to advance opportunities for underrepresented scholars, and teach students to how to make lasting impact by immersing them in these processes.

I have been recognized for these practices here and at my former institution, at regional and national levels, and through other entities (e.g., campus compact, an education magazine).

 

Theodore Powers
Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Anthropology
PhD, Anthropology, City University of New York
Joined UI Faculty in 2014

We, as a university, face a challenging period due to the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic disinvestment from the state. The financial effects of the COVID-19 crisis have been devolved to the university level, as the state has chosen to run budget surpluses rather than support public goods. The impact of this politically-produced crisis is clear, with certain departments and/or programs slated for merger and institutional pressure being exerted over the form and composition of undergraduate and graduate programs alike.

In this context, I would pursue two primary aims if selected for this service position. First, to maintain existing graduate education programs. Given the high probability of medium-term institutional austerity, it is unlikely that a graduate program would be re-established if it were to be closed. Solidarity with those who have their graduate programs under threat is a primary objective in the near term.

A second goal is to undertake tangible and materially significant steps to counteract the increasingly xenophobic tone and character of US policy towards international students undertaking their professional training at our university. There is a clear need to undertake steps to reverse this trend on our campus and to take direct steps to support our colleagues. The suspension of the English Speaking Proficiency Assessment Test (ESPA) for international students who undertook their academic training in English is a welcome step in this regard, but much more can be done to counteract these worrying social and institutional dynamics.

I strongly believe in faculty self-governance and see service roles as a necessary corollary of protecting our autonomy. I am currently the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) for the Department of Anthropology and have served on a number of committees within CLAS and across the university.

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AT LARGE CANDIDATE STATEMENTS

Ana Merino
Professor of Hispanic Cultural Studies and Creative Writing
2020 Nadal Literature Award
2016 Collegiate Scholar

Creative Literacy Project (SCLP)

Department of Spanish and Portuguese
PhD University of Pittsburgh
Joined UI faculty in 2009

Graduate education is key for consolidating the quality and relevance of a university; it is a fundamental space in the development of the knowledge, research and creativity that protects our free society. I believe in transparency, dialogue, commitment, imagination, respect, diversity, cultures, languages and intellectual power. If elected to the Graduate Educational Policy Committee, I will work tirelessly to protect our graduate students and their rights in order to ensure that they have the best possible education and opportunities available at the University of Iowa.  

I joined the faculty of the University of Iowa in 2009 with the objective of establishing and developing an MFA program in Spanish Creative Writing, which I achieved; I served as Director of this program from 2011 and 2018. My main area of research and teaching are Hispanic Cultural Studies and Literatures with an emphasis on comics/graphic novels, literary studies, theories or representation of child marginality, women’s poetry, and creative writing with a focus on outreach, journalism and theatrical production. As a professor of Spanish, I have developed eleven different graduate courses at Iowa and as a visiting professor at the University of Zurich. Moreover, I have coauthored articles and volumes with students and alumni, advised 7 PhD students, and participated in 16 PhD dissertation committees; as well as directing 10 MFA thesis, and serving on 34 MFA committees.

I also have additional administrative experience that I would bring to the position. I was an elected member of the CLAS Executive Committee (Secretary Fall 2016/Spring 2017) between 2014 and 2017; from 2013 to 2016 I was a Faculty Senator; and from 2010 to 2013, I was a member of the Faculty Senate Governmental Relations Committee.

 

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