Student and faculty members of Sankofa Scholars 2013. (Photo provided by WSU)
Westfield State celebrates student and faculty diversity
WESTFIELD – Westfield State University held the 5th annual Sankofa Scholars, Kente Stoling Ceremony honoring 84 students on Wednesday, May 8th at in Scanlon Banquet Hall.
Created by Dr. Carlton Pickron, former dean of multicultural affairs and affirmative action, the Sankofa Organization of Diverse Faculty and Staff assists in the recruitment, admission and retention of historically underrepresented students, encourages and supports campus-wide activities that promote diversity, and assists in the recruitment and hiring of both faculty and staff of diverse backgrounds. It also supports activities that promote unity including cultural luncheons and student scholarships for short-term educational experiences abroad.
Sankofa honors graduating students who have persevered and demonstrated the spirit and vision of Sankofa by presenting them colorful Kente stoles. Each color has a different meaning and students wear their stoles during commencement to show their dedication to promoting diversity.
“Sankofa is just one of the many ways that the institution is working towards increasing global and cultural awareness while encourage diversity dialogue,” said member Waleska Lugo-DeJesus.
Sankofa is dedicated to helping ensure that diversity and inclusion will continue to grow at the University. All members of the group honor the spirit, vision and ideals of Sankofa by actively embracing a commitment to the expansion of the spirit of global diversity and multicultural principles.
“In today’s democratic society, diversity is at its base,” said Lugo-DeJesus. “It is important we learn all we can from our peers whose race, religion, sexual orientation, and culture, may be different than our own. How fortunate Westfield State is to have students like this. You have allowed us to grow as a university and expand opportunities for all of our students.”
Westfield State students create a visual tribute that expresses beauty and addresses violence. (Photo provided by WSU)
Westfield State students demonstrate the importance of kindness and compassion
WESTFIELD – Most professors assign a final paper or exam to end the semester, but Andriana Foiles, adjunct professor of Ethnic and Gender Studies, had her students conduct a campus-wide presentation on the importance of kindness.
Called Cranes for Compassion, Foiles’s Intro to Women’s Studies students spent weeks collecting stories of random acts of kindness and documented the stories on papers that were folded into paper cranes. The more than 700 stories folded into cranes were on display against a clothesline of statistics on violence.
Foiles said the project was a compromise among her students.
“One group wanted to focus on a ‘Stop the Violence Campaign’ and the other wanted to do ‘Cranes for Compassion,” Foiles said. “Together, they created a perfect balance showing that although there is harm and violence in our world, we do amazing things for each other every day. They also addressed bigger questions: why should we wait for a tragedy to celebrate all of the kindness and generosity we show each other?”
“It’s easy to focus on one portion of our society, be it the kindness or violence. When they are side-by-side, it shows a richer expression of who we are as a people, and does not allow us to focus on only one piece of a much larger conversation.”
Melissa Fifer ’13 said the project was an opportunity for her fellow classmates to interact with each other.
“I personally enjoyed getting to know some of the people in my class,” said Fifer. “Professor Foiles gave us all the responsibility and left us to decide everything which turned out to be a really good thing. We all developed some autonomy as well as new friendships.”
More than 1,500 students, faculty, and staff stopped to see the exhibit and more than 1,100 people signed the banner the classes made pledging to stop violence. In addition, the classes raised more than $450 for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.
The classes picked the project after a discussion the day after the bombing and concluded that people have the ability to change the world and end violence, but to do that, they must act.
“If we want the world to be different, then we must act and make our voices heard,”Foiles said. “And if we want a kind, just world, then that’s what we offer; we make our world.”
Westfield State University to Offer On-Campus GRE Preparation Course
WESTFIELD – Westfield State University, in partnership with Educational Testing Consultants, Inc. (ETC), will offer an on-campus GRE (Graduate Records Examination) preparatory course this summer. The class will be held June 4th to 27th, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 pm.
The GRE Test Prep course helps students prepare for the GRE, a common testing requirement for those individuals in the process of applying to graduate schools. This GRE Test Prep course is recommended for those individuals seeking advanced degrees in a wide range of fields, including education, public administration, and psychology – all graduate programs offered by Westfield State University. An individual’s GRE scores last for five years, so this course is also an excellent opportunity for those looking to get a head start on the graduate school application process.
Led by expert instructors, the 24-hour instruction of this course covers each of the three main sections of the GRE revised General exam: Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning. Quantitative test topics include picking numbers, both for quantitative comparison and for multiple choice problems, tips for breaking complex word problems into small, manageable parts, and tips for turning geometry diagrams into solvable equations. Verbal test topics include solving antonym and analogy problems when the vocabulary is unfamiliar, answering reading comprehension questions quickly, without reading the entire passage, and using comparison and contrast clues to solve sentence completion programs. General test topics include utilizing the process of elimination; mastering time management skills, and minimizing test anxiety and identifying common disasters. In addition to these topics, strategies for the analytical writing section will be outlined and sample prompts with accompanying essays will be discussed.
Available to Westfield State University students, as well as community members and students attending other educational institutions, the cost of the GRE Test Prep course is $749, which includes all books and materials required. To find out more information about this GRE preparation program, please visit http://www.westfield.ma.edu/neighbors/community-education/test-preparation/. To register for the GRE Test Prep course, please contact Brandon Fredette at (413) 572-8033 or [email protected].
