Campus Currents (remote learning edition)

When the going gets tough, the tough get sewing.

Faculty members from the Fashion Design and Retailing Department are doing their part to get masks into the hands of some of those who need them most. Professors Virginia Noon, Christine Jensen and Pamela Sebor-Cable have collectively sewn more than 100 masks, in a variety of styles and patterns, that they plan to donate to their local hospitals and nursing homes.

"As you are stitching, it is just a good feeling, knowing that your efforts may be helping someone remain safe," Professor Noon said.

Check out some samples at: https://www.facebook.com/FraminghamStateUniversity/photos/pcb.2791325314249046/2791321900916054/?type=3&theater

Many students are understandably dealing with stress and anxiety at this time. One FSU professor has gotten creative in helping to ease these feelings at the end of her classes.

Dr. Zeynep Gonen, from the Sociology Department, is a certified yoga instructor who has been practicing meditation for many years. At the end of each of her remote courses this semester, she has been doing (optional) guided meditations with her students.

"I know that it is a very powerful tool to deal with stress and anxiety," she says. "In these times, I believe students also need such practices."

This is just one of the many creative ways professors at FSU are going above and beyond for their students during this challenging period.

The staff at the Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University spent last week “brainstorming ways to ‘open the doors’ of the museum to you while our galleries are closed.”

The museum has uploaded photos of most of its current exhibit to its website and social media. And, the museum also invites patrons to view a video about Liz Albert’s exhibition, “Family Fictions.”

In addition, Danforth Art School has made its Adult Student Art Exhibit available as a video.

Learn more at https://danforth.framingham.edu/.

The English Department has begun hosting virtual coffeehouse gatherings each Wednesday night from 7 to 9 p.m. for English majors and minors.

Students get the opportunity to share a poem or a brief prose passage (either their own or from a favorite author) or sing a song. Those who just want to listen in, can do that as well. Of course, there is also plenty of time for them to chat with their English Department friends and professors!

Framingham State University student leaders are recording community videos with messages of inspiration and optimism during this challenging time. Be on the lookout for them each Monday on the University's Facebook and Instagram Accounts. The first video was from Samantha Collette, President of the Class of 2022.

Join the Office of International Education for a virtual Study Abroad Info Session!

Monday, April 13, and Wednesday, April 15, at noon.

https://zoom.us/j/387605476

The Office of Career Services and Employer Relations has organized several virtual events for students and employers, including drop in career counseling, career fairs, information on LinkedIn as a career tool, learning about etiquette in the virtual world and much more!

Visit their events page to learn more: https://www.framingham.edu/the-fsu-difference/career-services/events/index

-Dr. Rachel Trousdale co-edited a special issue of Nabokov Studies—a festschrift for her mother, Dr. Priscilla Meyer, who retired as a Professor in the Program of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at Wesleyan University in 2018. The issue contains articles on Nabokov by the volume’s co-editor, Zoran Kuzmanovich of Davidson College; Maxim Schreyer of Boston College; Susan Elizabeth Sweeney of College of the Holy Cross; Tatiana Ponomareva of the Nabokov House Museum, St. Petersburg; and Garreth O’Brien of the University of California, Berkeley. An essay by Dr. Trousdale, “My Scheme was a Marvel of Primitive Art: Durable Pigments in Lolita,” is also published in the volume.

Here is a link to the issue: https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/41799