Shared Futures

Drury University

Richard Schur
Assistant Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies
rschur@drury.edu

Richard Schur is Director and Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Drury University. He also serves as the coordinator for Drury University’s “Global Perspectives for the 21st Century, ”or GP 21, general education program, chairs the GP 21 Council, and coordinates Drury’s year-long freshmen seminar, “the Alpha Seminar.” He is responsible for staffing Drury’s five core global studies courses, developing the curriculum of those courses, administering the growth of the entire general education program, and fostering an ongoing conversation about the integration of the liberal arts and the professions. In addition, he has facilitated a series of faculty workshops and reading groups designed to foster integrative teaching about globalization. He has revised Drury’s approach to assessing writing and critical thinking. Most recently, he has developed a pilot project where faculty from across campus can assess student writing and critical thinking in all of their classes. The data will be inputted on Drury’s intranet on a master database. Moreover, Schur has worked with the GP 21 Council to pilot an outcome assessment tool that will measure the effectiveness of Drury’s global studies curriculum.

As part of administering Drury’s core curriculum, Schur began a major revision of the course reader for the Alpha Seminar, The Alpha Reader. Schur standardized the introductions to all of the readings, used Drury’s critical thinking rubric as the basis for the questions following each of the selections, and added appendices that provided resource materials pertinent to Drury’s unique curriculum. After completing this task, Schur then repeated this process for Drury’s sophomore-level course, GLST 201: Global Awareness and Cultural Diversity. Drury recently began using its own reader for this course as well. Schur has begun focusing his attention on Drury’s capstone general education course, Global Futures. Currently, he has led a process to revise the course description for this course and is beginning discussions about the possibility of creating a Global Futures Reader. In addition to creating readers for students, Schur has developed detailed teaching guidelines for the faculty who teach these courses. Because faculty from across the university teach these courses, he has published guidebooks that include rubrics, possible case study materials, sample syllabi and handouts, relevant videos, bibliographies, and other materials. These materials have helped Drury realize a greater coherence across sections even as they identify the spaces where faculty are free to innovate within the curriculum.

n 2003-2004, Schur coordinated Drury’s general education program review and prepared the institution to commence a re-examination of its GP 21 program. In Spring 2005, he moderated an open forum at Drury’s Spring Faculty Retreat. For the Fall 2005 Faculty Retreat, Schur broke the faculty into groups to discuss the five most pressing issues identified at the Spring Retreat. Currently, the GP 21 Council is working through the information elicited at these retreats and is planning to create a proposal for a curriculum refinement sometime in the next year. Schur has also began the first stages of planning to create an advisory council for GP 21 consisting of alumni and local, national, and international leaders who have special insight in what today’s students need to prepare themselves to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Jayne White
Professor of Education
jwhite@drury.edu

Jayne White has served as a professional educator for 35 years.  In her 20th year at Drury, she is a Professor in the School of Education and Child Development.   She also serves as Director of the School Development Program.  A native of Cherokee County Oklahoma, White received a B.A. degree in 1970 from Southwest Baptist University, an MED degree in 1975 from the University of Missouri at Columbia, and an Ed.D. in Higher Education in 1982 from Oklahoma State University.  In 1997 she completed postdoctoral work at Yale University’s Child Study Center where she served as a visiting faculty fellow.  Upon return, she was instrumental in the development of the collaborative partnership between Drury, Yale University and Boyd/Berry, Pipkin and Central Schools.

In addition to her formal studies, White has participated in leadership development programs at Yale University and Vanderbilt University. She is currently a member of the National Faculty for the Yale University Child Study Center's School Development Program.

Before coming to Drury in 1984, White was a professor at Oklahoma State University.  She has been a speaker for state and national conferences, and she serves as an educational consultant for school districts, community organizations, and other entities. She has conducted leadership development academies for practicing educators and parents in addition to programs designed to address child/adolescent issues and concerns.  She has also served as a Panelist at Yale University’s Annual Developmental Academy.  She has served as a consultant to many school districts regarding child/adolescent issues and school reform.  She is involved in various community organizations that impact the lives of children and adolescents.

White has spent most of her professional career promoting the collaboration of parents, educators, and community to improve social, emotional, and academic outcomes for children that, in turn, helps them achieve greater school success.

For her work, she has been recognized by many organizations. In 2004, she received the prestigious ET3 TEC Champion Leadership Award presented at he Education Braintrust meetings,  (the 34th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference held in Washington, DC.).  This award goes to people who have played a pivotal role in pioneering education reform that establishes a legacy of empowerment in traditionally underserved communities across America. In 1997 she was selected to receive the Drury University Award for Outstanding Teaching and in 1996 she was honored with the Life Service Award from her alma mater, Southwest Baptist University. 

White’s research interests include child and adolescent development, minority student achievement, leadership development, and instructional leadership. Her most recent publication is a chapter entitled, “The Relationship Between Social-Emotional Development and Learning.”  This appears in How Social and Emotional Development Add Up: Getting Results in Math and Science Education, edited by. Haynes, Ben-Avie, and Ensign of the Yale Child Study Center and was published by Teachers College Press.

Most recently, White has begun focusing her attention on Drury’s general education program, Global Perspectives 21.  In the Spring of 2005 she was part of a discussion group focusing on possible revisions of the Global Futures course.  She is scheduled to teach a course in the GP21 Program in Spring 2006. 

Campus Governance
Chair, Social Sciences Division (1998-2001)
Chair, Tenure & Promotion Committee (1998-2001)
Faculty Review Board (1999-2000)
Chair, Assessment Review Council, (2000-2003)
Faculty Affairs Committee, Chair, (1997-2000)
Academic Advisory Council  (1998-2001)
Co-Team Leader, Drury's AACU's Global Learning Team (Fall 2005)
Global Futures Reading Group (Spring 2005)
Dean’s Reading Group (Spring 2003)
Advisory Council Graduate Criminology Program  (2000-present)
Advisory Council – Breech School of Business
Teacher Education Council (1985-present)
Graduate Education Council (1985 – present)
Teacher Education Advisory Council (1985-present)
New Faculty Orientation Leader  (Academic Year 2005/06)