Dean's Community Message

April 22, 2020

Dear College of Engineering Community,

Happy Wednesday! Today’s quote was submitted by David W. Jones, Environmental Engineering Lab Manager:

“Creativity is born from anguish, just like the day is born from the dark night. It’s in crisis that inventiveness is born, as well as discoveries made and big strategies … it’s in the crisis where we can show the very best in us.”
—Attributed to Albert Einstein

Engineers are creative people. We have to be able to solve problems. Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have seen so many people — including engineers — step up in truly innovative ways to help each other. In our own college, we have started to collect stories on these individuals and the work they are doing. Please take a moment to read through and celebrate the inventiveness, discoveries, and strategies our colleagues are producing.

Today’s updates:

Learning Disability Resources for Faculty and Students

Faculty should consistently remind all students, whether verbally or in writing, to contact appropriate resources (e.g., Student Disability Resources, CAPS, academic advisors, Penn State Learning, etc.) if they are experiencing any barriers attributed to the virtual experience or to remind them individually if accommodations were approved prior to the transition. Student Disability Resources continues to be available to collaborate with faculty on accommodation or accessibility concerns in order to best support our students in the remote environment. The office can be reached at 814-863-1807 or at edaccessibility@psu.edu for consultation on accommodations, accessibility, or best practices.

Cybersecurity for Students

Penn State’s Office of Information Security (OIS) encourages students to protect their personal information by increasing cybersecurity measures. Doing so will also help keep important University information and systems se cure. Best practices are listed here.

ASEE & ASPIRE: Teaching Inclusively & Equitably Online Workshop

The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) in collaboration with the NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance National Change team (Aspire National Change) is offering a new workshop on Tuesday, April 28, at 1 p.m. ET that is designed to help faculty, instructional staff, Teaching Assistants/Graduate Student Instructors, and support staff effectively transition to online learning environments, while maintaining a focus on inclusive and equitable practices. Register in advance here.

Remote Teaching Tip

Today’s Remote Teaching Tip encourages faculty to consider ways to reduce student’s testing anxiety during remote final exams.

RTT #5: Students who are unaccustomed to learning remotely may have increased anxiety about final exams. Begin by acknowledging that your students may be experiencing anxiety and that you are implementing course adjustments to try and address these concerns. Consider making your exam open-book and allow students to use outside resources. Increase accountability by requiring students to list the resources they used and make direct reference to course-specific materials within their answers. Contact the Leonhard Center for more resources from their recent workshop on stress-free final exams, and for help setting up your finals, contact the Office for Digital Learning.

Please continue to email me your “Because I couldn’t …” and your inspirational quotes. Penn State updates are available on the University’s coronavirus information site. You can connect with me on LinkedIn and follow the college on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Be well!

Justin Schwartz
Harold and Inge Marcus Dean, College of Engineering