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Spring & Summer 2014 Update

From the Classroom to the Training Room

Spring 2014 provided an opportunity for me to develop and facilitate professional staff writing sessions.  Supporting over 20 Al Akhawayn University staff members, the following topics were developed and delivered:

  • Audience Awareness in the Rhetorical Situation
  • Standard Business Correspondence
  • Organization, Development, and Clarity
  • Grammar Review
  • Sentence Patterns

The curriculum included both a pre-test and post-test, lectures, exercises, discussion of writing in-context, analysis of example documents, and handout resources.

Traveling to Casablanca to Teach English

As a part-time instructor for the School of Business Administration, I traveled to Casablanca twice a month from April through June to teach graduate students seeking the MBA degree.  The students work for an array of Moroccan and International companies.   

Presenting in California and Morocco

Two presentations were delivered at professional conferences.  Both addressed leadership—women in leadership and their aim for balance and preparing leadership institutes for an array of participants.

A Moment in the Living Portfolio

As a new initiative in my long-term use of the Teaching Portfolio, this summer I invited the Vice President of Academic Affairs, the Dean of the School of Business Administration, a Library staff member and several faculty across disciplines as well as colleagues who teach the Business Writing course to engage in dialogue with my students about the content and pedagogical strategies employed in the class.  

With renewed attention towards stellar teaching and learning at Al Akhawayn University, the initiative not only showcased an actual learning community but it engaged diverse stakeholders.  The exchange was in the shadows of two workshops held at Al Akhawayn University by a Fulbright Scholar who hosted teaching, learning, and assessment sessions. A Moment in the Living Portfolio is intended for a fall publication.

Concluding the Summer

Northern Wales
Northern Wales

After two rewarding and demanding semesters, I spent time in several European spiritual retreat settings and traveled the southern cities, villages, and towns of Ireland. Though the time included lots of rest and reflection and preparation of my fall management courses, I was also in search of photos to support my upcoming book’s cover. Europe’s diverse landscapes render great images of nature.

By Avis Winifred Rupert, Ph.D.

Dr. Rupert has a 20-year teaching/leadership track-record in education. She is a native of Texas but has relocated to the East Coast where she is the Associate Dean of Arts & Humanities at Bristol Community College. Her background includes both teaching and administrative positions in the university and community college, international contexts, and secondary and dual credit experience in both the rural and urban high school setting. Rupert has traveled to 21 countries to-date, partnered with populations from diverse ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds; and achieved an 8-year management career complemented by four levels of management with the largest retailer in the world. Dr. Rupert’s education is complementary to her professional and personal growth and interests. She has a BBA in Business Administration with a minor in Marketing, an MA in Composition Studies, an MA in Organizational Management with an International Focus, a PhD in Rhetoric and Writing, and she is presently working on an MA in Biblical Studies and Theology. Rupert’s profile gives her a unique way of at looking at opportunities in education and beyond that often escape others. She contributes her success to self-awareness, an unparalleled drive to grow and develop in varying ways, and a tenacity for leadership. Finally, her dissertation which required the exploration of ethnography requires mention, for it too has added to her unique perspectives and accomplishments.

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