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Excellence in Undergraduate Education Program
1999 Awards

EUE Abstracts - FY 99

Coordinator's Note: Abstracts of proposals funded in the FY 98 EUE Program are presented below. At total of 62 proposals were submitted; total requests were slightly over $650,000. Fourty-two proposals were funded for a total of about $355,000.

Because of the wide variety of career opportunities in the musical field, it is absolutely necessary to assist our students in their discovery assessment, and understanding of various career options. The Visiting Professionals Residency is designed to encourage insight regarding the professional musical world to the undergraduate and graduate population in the Department of Music by professionals from both yesterday and today.

There is much to he learned from professionals from other generations, experiences, and geographic areas. Artists must learn to become not only instrumentalists, but also consultants, fund-raisers. financiers. administrators, and advisors. The modern musician must learn to have organizational, business, communication, technological, and people skills in order to he successful in today's business world. After all, music is a business.

I propose to bring guests to SIUE to (1) meet our students and talk with them about decisions that they have made and where those decisions led them; (2) to share some of the lessons they have learned from experience; (3) trends they see in the professional world; (4) how they have married their strengths with their ideas in order to achieve the completion of successful projects; (5) a personal forecast of "what is to come" (6) conduct master classes for both solo and/or chamber music. What will be particularly fascinating will he how each guest's experiences and perspective differs, (depending on their age, generation, and priorities, etc...) and what visions they might share regarding the past, present and future of classical music.

As more undergraduate courses are offered in women's studies, we find that Lovejoy Library requires additional materials. We request the funding of an electronic database on women (for one year), the purchase of several videos, and approximately 40 books, The acquisition of these materials would improve the library's collection in women's studies and greatly strengthen our undergraduate curriculum.

To provide SIUE Art and Design undergraduates the opportunity to see major collections of work which previously have been studied only in textbook for, and to see culturally diverse and historically important American cities.

Proposed is to invite four renowned musicians (two conductors and two instrumentalists) to campus for four three-day series of master classes, workshops and concerts (two each semester). Each artist will present master classes for university students, rehearse with the SIUE Wind Symphony, present clinic/workshop for university students using SIUE students as models, and culminate in a concert performance with the SIUE Wind Symphony.

A number of opportunities exist for undergraduate students in the areas of cell and molecular biology to produce data which requires photodocumentation. These opportunities include labs in skills-based core courses, research based upper division laboratory courses, and independent research in faculty labs, including URA projects. - Current photodocumentation systems are limited in terms of the range of data that can be analyzed, and in cost per photo. This proposal is to request a video based system which will provide undergraduates with hands-on experience with the current photodocumentation technology.

The Department of Physics is requesting funds to purchase a video projector for classroom use. The projector will allow us to readily integrate visual instructional materials developed by our faculty into classroom presentations. The recent addition of internet connections to our instructional classrooms will also allow faculty to utilize a wide-range of instructional materials available on the world wide web.

I propose to develop an interdisciplinary core course for first-year students. It would be a two-semester sequence, and would integrate material from arts and humanities disciplines (including contributions from natural sciences and social sciences as well) with an English composition skills component.

A recent report by the Advisory Committee to the National Science Foundation (Shaping the Future) calls for America's science, math, engineering and technology (SME&T) faculty to actively engage students preparing to become K-12 teachers (a) and to address curricular issues need to significantly improve the level of student preparation in these areas. This proposal outlines a plan to engage elementary education majors in their last semester (student teaching) in small group work directed at their student teaching experience which enhances their background in both content and in teaching methodology. This pilot program will begin with Field III students in grades 3-6, a level which requires a broad knowledge of the sciences and reasonable understanding of basic concepts. The program will emphasize ways to engage students in learning science with hands-on activities and a constructivist approach to science instruction. This experience will reinforce and expand on the current courses, SCI 341 and CI 442, courses emphasizing engaged learning in the sciences. This pilot study will be the basis for seeking external funding to support changes in the curriculum.

EUE funding will provide further support for development of an American Humanics-based, undergraduate curriculum at three levels: 1) equipping interested students with identified competencies required of individuals employed at the entry-level in nonprofits, 2) teaching other students basic philanthropic literacy, civic skills, and attitudes in support of community-based, voluntary action, 3) teaching and incorporating competency-building activities more fully into the learning of students through the Student Leadership Development Program. Development of this undergraduate nonprofit curriculum at SIUE is part of a broader, collaboratively based, regional effort to develop a comprehensive program of educational and technical assistance services in support of the regional nonprofit sector. EUE funds supporting the development of this curriculum at SIUE will be supplemented by W. K. Kellogg Foundation support through the Nonprofit Services Consortium. SIUE is a founding member of NSC - a partnership of four universities, one professional organization, five technical assistance providers, the St. Louis Community Foundation and, most recently, the Greater East St. Louis Community Fund. Funding and support from several identified collaborating partners within SIUE will further support and advance this project, moving the university forward toward inclusion of this undergraduate educational program in RAMP - 2001 and into the undergraduate curriculum of the university.

This proposal seeks funds to expand and update Lovejoy Library's core collections to meet demands created by the extraordinary turnover of faculty at SIUE since 1995. One hundred and eight new teaching faculty have been added at the Edwardsville campus in the past three years. These faculty members have had a significant impact on both the curriculum and the Library as they have introduced innovative new courses and new approaches to existing courses. This project would enable each new faculty member, working in consultation with a librarian, to select materials to support undergraduate research and reading in their courses. Specifically, each new teaching faculty member hired in FY95, FY96, and FY97 could select approximately 15 books (or a corresponding dollar amount of videos or films) each year for the next three years. Virtually every discipline has had significant additions to their faculty during this time. Thus, a broad segment of the student population would benefit from funding of this proposal.

Case study analysis is an accepted medium for active learning within the business curriculum. However, very few cases are available with a "sports" focus. Indeed, sports franchises are profit-minded businesses and their managers make decisions based on sound business principles. Because many students feel attachments to sports teams, a study of sports-related business decisions becomes more palatable. This provides a unique pedagogical opportunity whereby business principles can be taught within a framework that students enjoy. Further, most currently available case studies consist of written text only. An enhancement to this format is the inclusion of a video that provides background information and actively engages and interests the student in solving the problem at hand.

This project proposal is for the development of a sports-related case study with an accompanying video. An issue surrounding one of the major league teams in St. Louis will provide the material for the case study.

The goal of this grant is to update the Psychology Resource Center. The Resource Center serves the needs of all psychology undergraduate courses and serves hundreds of students. The Resource Center includes the department psychological testing library, reference library, psychological interviewing rooms, centralized storage of video resources, computerized psychological testing and interpretation, and data analysis equipment. The Resource Center is in need of updating and improvement to keep pace with the field.

This Excellence In Undergraduate Education (EUE) proposal seeks $2,338.20 to purchase teacher editions (grades K-5), resource books (grades K-8) and accompanying compact disc recordings (grades 1,4, and 7) of the textbook series, The Music Connection. The materials, published by Silver Burdett Ginn, meet the quality standards set forth by the Music Educators' National Council (MENC). The series will strengthen undergraduate education by providing a respected new set of instructional materials for student use, thereby enabling students to become more informed music educators. The music education text resources will be added to the Curriculum Materials section of Lovejoy Library, with the music compact discs to be housed in the Music Listening Room. This EUE award would be timely, given the anticipated accreditation review of the SIUE music program by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) evaluators in 1999.

Acquisition of the Robert Beverly Hale video taped artistic anatomy lectures will provide SIUE art and design undergraduate students the opportunity to study artistic anatomy in depth as an aid to understanding, interpreting and drawing the human figure.

With the advent of inexpensive, high-speed desktop computers, chemical educators throughout the world have developed exciting (often free!) tools to present three-dimensional chemical concepts in a visual way. Several SIUE chemistry faculty members incorporate this chemical visualization into their course lectures, but the time required to assemble widely dispersed, semi-portable computer components and load software limits the practical use of this technology. This project seeks funds to train and support a graduate student who will help implement chemical visualization in undergraduate chemistry courses via use of truly portable equipment. This project will impact on approximately 1000 students per semester during the 1998-99 academic year.

This project provides students with hand-on experience and training in standard archaeological field methods. The Archaeological Field School (ANTH 375, 475) is a valuable opportunity for ten students to participate in archaeological field work outside of the classroom and in a community outside of Illinois. Students will survey and test excavate early colonial settlement sites on Virginia's Eastern Shore during an eight week period in June and July of 1998.' The Field School is a requirement for B.S. degree candidates in Anthropology. It is also open to other students who have interdisciplinary interests in American cultural history. Field school topics include artifact identification, surveying and sampling, excavation strategies, laboratory analysis and archaeological site interpretation. New advances in computer mapping, GPS and remote sensing techniques used for prospecting archaeological resources are introduced. Students will also experience modern Virginia culture as they will live and work in a rural community that has a strong interest in local history and its interpretation.

This grant will be used to procure and expand the campus modem pool by adding 48 modems (56 kB/s digital). Although the University procured 48 - 33.3 kB/s modems last year, and added another 24 earlier this year, the dependency of the student and faculty to access the network services and Internet continues to exceed the amount of modems available. This grant money will help relieve the congestion at the new modem pool. Matching funds will be applied in the form of monthly payments for the external ISDN lines to Ameritech. The forty-eight modems will be installed in an existing chassis and can be operational within three days of receiving the multi-port interface card.

The request for funding this proposal will enable the Disability Support Services office to purchase adaptive software to upgrade the computers that will be donated and located in the Disability Support Services computer laboratory. Students with disabilities will be able to perform independently and at a level comparable to other students. Approximately 200 students with disabilities will have access to these adaptive computers.

The binomial distribution may well be the single most important probability mass function that is taught in statistics classes. We teach the uses for this distribution, we teach the formula that generates the probabilities that we need, and we list the conditions that must hold before the binomial distribution can be used as an appropriate model. This is done in our Stat 244 classes, our Stat 380 classes for engineers and computer scientists, and in several upper level applied statistics classes. The project director has in mind the design of a device which he is calling a BINO-BOARD that can be used in the classroom to teach about this distribution. Some of the ideas go back to Sir Fancis Galton and the year 1873, but one cannot purchase today a working realization of the board, one that is suitable for classroom use. We request support for the construction of a board that has wooden backing, numerous wooden dowel rod pegs protruding from the front, and a whole batch of marbles that come tumbling down over these pegs. The marbles form themselves into a normal (Gausian) curve at the bottom. More important, each of the four conditions that must obtain for this to be the correct model can be demonstrated and visualized using the BINO-BOARD. We can anticipate widespread use for this device by those of us who teach stat courses. In fact there may be significant interest on the part of commercial educational products supply houses in such a board.

This proposal requests EUE funding for 1/3 of the cost for up to 40 undergraduate students to attend the 37th Annual Student Marketing Conference to be held in February 1999 at the Holiday Inn -Westport in St. Louis. Each student will be required to fund 1/3 of the fee and the SIUE Marketing Association will fund the final third. The conference provides a unique experience for SIUE students from all disciplines to interact with business professionals from local and national companies and college students from at least eight surrounding states. This conference is an excellent means to strengthen SIUE's reputation among the St. Louis business community which opens doors for internships and job opportunities for our students.

This proposal was approved last year for two years with a supporting one year budget to support the investigation of problem-solving sessions (outside lecture) on the affects of improved grades, student learning and/or retention of chemistry students. The requested funds ($10,275) for the first year were used to pay graduate student salaries. The current request is for funds to pay workshop leaders (undergraduate students) during a second year of the program and is substantially less since recent information led us to believe that undergraduates can be effective workshop leaders. The results to date (for one semester) are very encouraging.

As manufacturing processes and technologies quickly change in response to diversified product types with low production volumes, high quality and short life cycles, it is important to provide engineering students with quality education in manufacturing. This is a joint project that will affect students in the industrial, mechanical, and civil engineering programs. In this EUE proposal we request funding to equip our CAD/CAM Quality Design lab with UNIGRAPHICS software which will enhance engineering undergraduate education in manufacturing/quality related courses. UNIGRAPHICS is a state-of-art software system that supports all facets of computer aided design (CAD). computer aided manufacturing (CAM). and computer aided engineering (CAE) from product design, analysis. testing. to final manufacture. It is being widely adopted in local as well as national manufacturing firms. The amount requested from EUE funds is $17,500 which will be used to purchase a one-time University license fee of $10,000 ($651,520 list price) and a three-year maintenance fee of $7,500 ($22,986 list price). In order to run UNIGRAPHICS, 10 high-end workstations will be purchased from School of Engineering funds and industry matching funds totaling $44,000 as cost sharing. UNIGRAPHICS will also help to fully utilize the existing automation hardware used in the industrial engineering computer integrated manufacturing lab and is essential in providing quality undergraduate education in manufacturing as we move into the next millennium.

This innovative project enables Business undergraduates to work closely with Business Students in Mexico and in Europe on collaborative projects. The pilot program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is already underway this semester. In this program, students in the capstone MGMT 441 class are competing (via a computer simulations) against student teams from ITESM in Toluca, Mexico to produce and market a product in a simulated international marketplace. At the middle and end of the semester, student teams prepare presentations on their companies' performance. These presentations will be made via video-teleconferencing, so students at SIUE and ITESM can view each other's presentations. A second project, in MGMT 461, involves a semester-long research project where SIUE and ITESM studies "chat" about topical issues, swap research materials, and critique each other's papers. Joint presentations will be made at the end of the semester, again using videoconferencing. Our proposal calls for a similar project to be implemented in International Economics (ECON 361/461).

These projects allow our students to closely interact with students in another country. In doing so, their awareness of cultural differences is heightened, as they struggle with how to overcome these differences they gain valuable experience in intercultural communication. They also are gaining valuable first-hand knowledge about an important market. This proposal requests funds to continue the project next year, and to expand it to include more classes and, possibly, more countries. Department of Education funds will be used to share 50% of the cost of the project.

Continuation of the Student Experimental Theater Organization (SETO) program: a program of dramatic works, dance concerts, musicals and experimental productions developed and staffed by students who may or may not be majoring or minoring in the Department of Theater and Dance.

SETO annually produces 3-4 productions, some with no admission charge. Each of these productions is given four performances, affording an opportunity for an audience of around three hundred, mostly SIU students. The cost for one season runs around $4000, half for commodities and half for contractual services. Box office income averages around $1500 for the season. We are requesting $2000 to help meet the cost.

This project is designed to expose the students to a variety of professional Artist/Professors who are not only expert in their fields, but who also are experienced educators. The artist/professors who are engaged for this event will give concert performances for the students and interested public, master classes in which the students perform for the guest artist/professors and receive instruction & guidance, and individual student coachings. One event will be scheduled for each of the fall and spring semesters. The two participants for 1998-99 will be: 1.) Clariana, a vocal/piano trio consisting of soprano, mezzo soprano and piano. They will perform and teach about vocal chamber music. This is a rather uncommon offering as the large majority of vocal master classes focus only on solo vocal repertoire and performance making this a unique educational opportunity for the students. 2.) Professor Delfo Menicucci of Milan, Italy is an operatic tenor and recitalist. He will perform and give one or more master classes on his specialized vocal technique entitled "Tecnica di Affondo." This technique is practiced primarily in Italy and there are very few voice teachers in the United States who know how to teach it. It is a complimentary technique and should not disrupt the student's current technical work, but rather offer another possibility for singing particular types of repertoire. It is important for students to be exposed to many different types of technique as they are developing their own. Invitations will be sent to students and teachers at other Colleges and Universities in the area.

We have entered an undergraduate student team in the International Collegiate Business Policy Competition for four consecutive years. In this competition, the student team manages a computer simulated business which competes with other teams from other universities in a simulated industry. In managing the business, students are required to apply knowledge gained in overall management which is required by the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Program (BSBA). As such, the competition creates active learning and helps students integrate formal education with practical experience for their future. At the same time, this experience attains the goals of the BSBA Program. The team members' learning from, and performance in, the competition therefore provide a good assessment of the participation in the competition, and indirectly, an assessment of overall education in the BSBA Program. Because of this, we hope to enter a team each year since different students (chosen from the current senior class) make up the team each year.

The proposed project will create a compilation of case studies pertaining to various environmental engineering topics. Environmental engineering case studies are difficult to find and time-consuming to research and write. However, they are a valuable teaching tool. They encourage active learning and cover real situations involving real decisions. They highlight the importance and relevance of material covered in a course while addressing higher-order thinking skills, such as problem solving and critical thinking. In addition, they can incorporate issues in traditional assignments typically difficult to cover, such as ethics, political feasibility, an social feasibility.

To develop quality case studies, the proposed project is broken into three phases. The first phase involves developing criteria for selecting and writing the case studies. This phase will include reviewing the case study literature in law and medicine and interviewing colleagues. The second phase involves obtaining actual project and site data to be used in writing the case studies. Government agencies, regional firms, and colleagues nationwide will be contacted to provide data. The third phase involves the completion of new case study development and curriculum implementation.

The Video Otoscope (VO) represents the "state-of-the-art" instrumentation to objectively assess the status of the outer and middle ear structures. Diagnostic judgments, patient referrals, and management interventions are made with greater reliability and validity when the VO evaluation is considered. The VO employs a hand-held, slim bodied scope, hooked by cable to a color video monitor. The fiber optic light source provides excellent illumination. The combination of fiber optic light source with a wide-angle video camera lens permits exceptional visualization of all aspects of the outer and middle ear structures. Solid foundation and valuable hands-on-experience using the VO would positively strengthen the quality of our undergraduate program, assure uniform student training and facilitate in accurate detection and intervention of hearing disorders.

This program request will provide funding for a series of theatrical dramatizations, dedicated to topics of health and wellness. The dramatizations will be performed by SIUE students. The topics for these performances were determined from a survey administered by Health Education and Campus Recreation in fall semester 1997. The project is a collaborative effort between Health Education, Campus Recreation, and the Wellness Program. It will provide a laboratory for majors to acquire practical experience, while teaching health-related subjects to a large student population, in classroom settings, student organization meetings, residence hall meetings and other appropriate learning environments.

In order to educate the SIUE students about these health topics, a peer education group will be selected, educated and trained to perform informational theater. Students will be auditioned for their abilities as actors/actresses and interviewed to determine their health knowledge and personal commitment to helping other students improve their quality of life. Peer education is one form of teaching that has been proven most effective delivering health-related information. It is our students who have indicated through the survey the need for educational information about health and wellness related topics.

The School of Business proposes to continue The Business Hour. As in FY 1998, no classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 A.M. until 12:30. In those time periods, the School will sponsor a series of events to supplement the classroom experience and to build community. We will schedule speakers and workshops sponsored by units like the Student Leadership Development Program and the Career Development Center. We will have monthly department events and athletic leagues as well as other social and intellectual functions. It is our hope to build on last year's successes and expand the number of events we schedule. We will demonstrate to students that they can have fun while on campus (even when they are learning and developing as professionals), and will facilitate faculty-student and student-student interactions. We anticipate that the majority of School of Business faculty will participate in this event. The Dean has procured external funding for some of the events ; this proposal is to enable us to expand the offerings.

Students in the field of speech pathology and audiology must have a basic understanding of the scientific principles of speech production, acoustics of speech, audiology and speech perception. These principles are essential for the understanding of normal and disordered communication processes and are taught in SPPA 321 Speech Science and SPPA 322 Hearing Science to approximately 40 students. In these classes, basic scientific equipment is used to link the student's academic knowledge and application of scientific principles. Currently, the department has the capability of providing basic instrumentation experience for the undergraduate students in the Speech Science and Hearing Science courses. The purpose of this proposal is to request funds to purchase the MultiSpeech software package and it's supporting software. The Multi-Speech program is a technologically-advanced windows based software program for speech analysis. It is designed to capture, analyze, and play speech samples in a more user friendly environment than what is possible with the current instrumentation. These programs will provide innovative teaching through a multi-media interactive environment.

The IMAGE program will be a complement to the proposed FY99 Business Hour, scheduled for each Tuesday of each semester, 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. There will be 26 sessions during the year, 13 each semester and students from all disciplines will be invited to attend. Professionals from the metro area and faculty and staff from SIUE will be solicited to participate in the presentation of IMAGE sessions. We anticipate 60 external presenters to participate in this program. In addition, about 40 SIUE faculty and staff including professionals from the CDC and SLDP, will be involved. One of SIU general education objectives is to prepare students to begin a career in their disciplines. This proposal is in compliance with this objective and the EUE priority to improve general education outcomes. We expect students who complete the IMAGE program to be better prepared to enter the job market. They will feel more comfortable in social and business situations which will give them the confidence they require to succeed in their professions.

This project offers an enhancement to our existing Chemistry Department curriculum through the introduction of important and innovative experiments in thermodynamics and thermochemistry to our physical chemistry laboratory using a constant volume calorimeter. Despite the fact that theoretical thermodynamics and thermochemistry is covered quite extensively in physical chemistry courses, our present physical chemistry laboratory courses are unable to fully demonstrate the application of various crucial aspects of the theory since the department lacks the necessary equipment. Thus, the proposed program will significantly improve our existing laboratory activities. The courses that are involved in this proposal are: Chem 365 Physical Chemistry Laboratory, SRA Chem 499 Senior Assignment, Chem 396 Introduction to Research, and Chem 496 Chemical Problems.

Many students at SIUE struggle with making a connection to the institution. They also struggle with making a connection between their in-class and out-of-class experiences. These feelings of disconnectedness result in many different outcomes; students may not perform well academically, they may not adjust well personally and intellectually, and at worst may not complete their programs and ultimately leave the institution. In FY 1999, Woodland Residence Hall will house the Discover program of Focused Interest Communities (FICs). University Housing will group students together in the living environment according to academic major or interest and place them in the same general area. Academic units and University Housing will provide enhanced academic programming and services to the FICs in the form of tutoring, structured discussion and study groups, workshops pertaining to the field led by faculty and staff, and more. While the FICs have a residential component, all special programs and academic support services would be available to any interested student.

In the proposed project, students will use and create visualization models which illustrate scientific concepts. Using World Wide Web technologies such as three-dimensional graphics and Java programming, realistic and interactive simulation models can be created. One phase of the project supports the use in EE 326 of a diode model already created. It is hoped that a visual, working model of this semiconductor device will help students better understand the concepts covered in the course. Another phase of the project will give senior-level students from several disciplines the opportunity to create models that demonstrate concepts from their areas of expertise. This experience will involve the students in a multidisciplinary effort in which they will learn new skills as well as provide graphical tools that will help future students visualize complex engineering or scientific concepts.

This request is for the second year of funding under the three-year proposal approved as 1998 EUE Project No.98-056 (copy attached). The Zacks Investment Research system provides earnings data, screening tools, portfolio management tools, and the trading strategy evaluator. The on-line data system has been used as a component of class-room related assignments and projects. FIN 320 and FIN 513 students use Zacks data to conduct investment analysis and determine whether to add stocks to a portfolio. FIN 430 students use the Zacks system to obtain analysts' recommendations, earnings surprises, and other crucial financial statistics. GBA 490 students use Zacks to obtain information about their companies and its competitors. Another group that uses Zacks extensively is the Student Managed Investment Fund which actively manages a portfolio of stocks for the SIUE Foundation. They use the data on a continuous basis to monitor their position and make stock purchase decisions.

Calculator-Based Laboratory (CBL) technology will be introduced into the two large "freshman" chemistry sequences, Chem 124 a,b and Chem 125 a,b, CBL technology is an economical way to introduce modern instrumentation into these laboratories. Probes used in conjunction with a CBL and a graphing calculator are used to measure pH, temperature, conductivity and pressure. The data are collected, analyzed, and graphed with the calculator. The data can also be transferred to a computer outside the laboratory for printing.

The use of CBLs will allow students to explore new concepts in the laboratory. Five new experiments using CBLs will be introduced into the Chem 124 course; four new experiments will be added to the Chem 125 course. Additionally, three current experiments will be revised to use CBL technology in each of these courses. The CBLs will allow students to collect more precise data and carry out a more sophisticated analysis of the data.

Students need modes of instruction that are suitable for the increased emphasis on active learning, problem solving, applications and higher-order thinking skills. Laboratory assistants will enhance the quality of instruction in our efforts to incorporate technology.

The enhancement of the Computer Vision and Image Processing (CVIP) Laboratory is proposed to integrate the computer-based component into interactive lectures. Additionally, this project will support the enhancement of our web site to include computer imaging demonstrations and educational resources. Through the development of innovative teaching methods by extending the existing capabilities of the SIUE CVIP Laboratory and web site, undergraduate students will also be encouraged to become involved in computer imaging applications research.

In an attempt to present chemical processes in an understandable and delightful way, several chemistry faculty members incorporate chemical demonstrations into their course lectures. However, the time required to prepare demonstrations greatly limits their practical use. This project seeks funds to continue to support a graduate student Chemical Demonstrator who will safely develop, prepare, and present chemical demonstrations in undergraduate chemistry courses. These demonstrations will impact on approximately 700 students per semester during the 1998-99 academic year. Chemical demonstrations not only illustrate interesting phenomena, but also help to foster understanding of chemical principles, development of reasoning skills, and a healthy attitude toward science.

Members of the highly acclaimed St. Petersburg String Quartet (one of Russia's cultural treasurers and perhaps one of the greatest young chamber music ensembles in the world) will perform at SIUE as part of the 1998-99 Arts & Issues series. This project would keep them on campus for an extra day-and-a-half to conduct a study of the Shostakovich string quartets. When I met with the members not long ago, I found that the cellist and the second violinist spoke enough English to communicate directly with me, and to translate for the other two players. At SIUE, they will use this same communications technique for all four members to give a lecture demonstration on the playing of, and a masterclass on the interpretation of, the early Shostakovich quartets. To follow up on the two sessions, students participating would receive a 50% discount to attend the Arts & Issues performance by the Quartet which will feature the works of Dimitri Shostakovich. During the lecture demonstration, the Quartet members will play for the students. During the masterclass, students will play for the Quartet members. The cultural and musical exchange would be tremendous at a modest cost by extending the stay of the performers.

The proposed workshop for graduate assistants is designed to enhance undergraduate education by providing graduate assistants with the teaching tools they will need in the classroom. Information presented in the workshop and orientation will enable graduate assistants to better meet their responsibilities associated with teaching, mentoring, tutoring, and assisting faculty with classroom needs. Graduate assistants also provide campus support to administrative and service units, and their understanding of University policies and resources will strengthen their contributions to the mission of the University and its commitment to excellence in undergraduate education.

The 1 1/2 day workshop/orientation will be held during the week preceding the first week of classes in fall, 1998. Participation will be required for all new graduate assistants whose first term of appointment will be summer or fall, 1998. Estimated audience will be 40-50 for the workshop and an additional 70 for the orientation. Funding is sought for honoraria for faculty contributors to the "how to" manual on teaching and presenters at the workshop. Publication expenses are requested.