The Butterfly Effect

Everyone who attended Convocation last Wednesday received a small butterfly made out of wire and fabric. It's a symbol to remind us that even a small act can have a significant impact. This is part of a campus-wide effort to get students, faculty and community members thinking about the butterfly effect.

The term “butterfly effect” comes from a Ray Bradbury science fiction story, “A Sound of Thunder”, and from Edward Lorenz’s research in meteorology, first published in the early 60’s, that led to the development of chaos theory. It refers to the occasional huge effects of even the tiniest actions, often unintended or even unknown, and also unpredictable when they will occur.


Many events and projects on campus this year will incorporate the butterfly theme. The kick-off event took place right after Convocation. Campus clubs and community non-profits set up tables and signed up volunteers. About 200 people attended, possibly because of the free ice cream. Campus clubs reported 75 new students signed their lists. Some of those signatures were for the Navigator, Debate Club, Radio Club and Yearbook.
 
Let's flap those wings!

David Brandt

I received some news from David Brandt ('04). David has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He says it is very treatable and curable and has completed five rounds of chemo so far. You can read more about David's health on his FB notes page: http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=503388126

I emailed everyone about an opening for a sales position with Advantage Staffing, Inc. Please contact me if you want more information.

If you are not receiving my emails, please let me know so that I can update my distribution list with your new information. Please send me all the news you want to share with your fellow alumni on this blog. Please send me a photograph of you at your job, you with your child, you with your spouse, you on vacation, or just you, so I can put it on my bulletin board.

Until next week!

Stacy
ssimon@piedmont.edu

Week Two

I have made a commitment to publish a new post every week. I planned to do this each Monday, but today is Tuesday, which means I'm already behind. I have a good excuse though! I had jury duty yesterday. I was grumpy about it, because yesterday was the second day of my Mon/Wed/Fri classes and I thought I should be with my students. If you read my Facebook statuses (statusi?) you would know this. If you haven't already done it, go ahead and friend me!

Tomorrow is a big day for my family. My daughter is moving to college. She is attending Oxford College of Emory University. Why not Piedmont? Because she wanted to go to Oxford and she got herself a full-tuition scholarship. Way to go Emily! In case you haven't thought much about this, Emily and most of her fellow freshmen were born in 1992. Every year, Beloit College releases its "Mindset List" describing the cultural events that have shaped the lives of this year's freshmen. Here's a link to the list for the class of 1014:  http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2014.php

Last week, alumna Deanna Allen visited us in our new mass comm building, the Swanson Center. We were excited to see her and happy to give her a tour. Next week I'll blog about all the latest news I've received from our alumni. So start sending it my way.

Fall 2010

After what seemed like a very short summer, Fall Semester has begun at Piedmont College. The Mass Comm faculty have returned to our offices, and we are greeting the new freshmen, perfecting our syllabi, attending faculty meetings, etc.

We are excited that 19 new students are joining the Mass Comm department this year. That includes freshmen and transfer students. And it brings our total number of majors and minors to about 55.
College-wide, enrollment is up since last year at this time. A new dorm, Plymouth Hall, is nearing completion. Students should be able to move in just after Labor Day. And an Executive Committee is launching a nationwide search for a new president. Dr. Cleere has announced that he's retiring after this academic year.

I hope each and every one of you is well. Dr. Van Cantfort, Dr. Moss, Professor Arbitter, Professor Oakley and I love to hear from you, so please continue to keep in touch with us.