Posted Nov. 16 - My job at Manchester is to tell stories. Today, over coffee at Sisters, Heather Schilling, Education Department chair and director of teacher education, shared some great ones. Each one reflects a facet of who we are and the kind of community we want to be. We only had an hour, so she had to talk quickly:

• Assistant Professor Stacy Stetzel organized 15 faculty and staff volunteers to serve as mentors to our wrestling team. It’s a reciprocal relationship. Since not all of the mentors know much about wrestling, some of the wrestlers are putting together a video explaining scoring. (If you’ve ever been lost watching college wrestling, you’ll want to see it.)
• Heidi Wieland, field experience and assessment coordinator, and Heather, through friendships and conversations with two of our African-American students, invited a diverse group of nearly 20 students to Heather’s home to talk about what it is to be black at Manchester. It was exactly the kind of conversation we want our students to have, listening to and learning from each other, guided by trusted faculty and staff.
• Faculty are working on a partnership with a South Whitley preschool, giving our students opportunities to serve as classroom assistants and strengthening the quality of services offered to the children. They are also actively involved in the Wabash County Early Childhood Initiative.
• Our Student Education Association (SEA) is always vibrant, and this year is no exception. Our delegation to the fall state convention was the largest of any college or university – public or private – and our group is the second largest in the state, period. Our students regularly serve in state-level leadership positions; Bradley Williams is the representative for Region 2 this year.
• The department spent a day with our custodial staff scraping gum off the bottom of desks and sanitizing classrooms in the Academic Center. Organized by Stacy and joined by Dean Leonard Williams, they devoted Reading Day (the Monday of finals week) to working shoulder to shoulder with their staff colleagues.
• Faculty actively engage students in joint research. Assistant Professor Mike Martynowicz, in the troughs of finishing his dissertation, worked with a student over the summer studying retention at Manchester. Their preliminary results were especially helpful after we experienced a downturn in first- to second-year retention this year.
• Heather is the official mom for the Women’s Basketball Team and helps organize football tailgating for players and families. She is a tireless cheerleader for our student-athletes in all sports and draws everyone around her into supporting them.

You can get to know our education faculty by following this link.