National Park College (NPC) faculty members Leslie Braniger and Tamara St. Marthe,
Ph.D. have been selected to present at the National Institute for Staff and Organization
Development (NISOD) conference. The conference will be held May 25-28 in Austin, Texas.
NISOD is a prestigious organization that offers professional development to community
and technical college faculty. Their goal is to offer resources and activities that
promote student success.
Braniger is presenting on successes she has had with The Gravestone Narrative, a
required project in her Composition I class. Traditionally, the project required students
to write a narrative paper about their personal story. Braniger found that not only
is the narrative hard to grade, but it is hard for students to open up. While visiting
a graveyard, Braniger had the idea of The Gravestone Narrative, where students would
be tasked to visit a graveyard, choose a tombstone and create a story about that person’s
life. Braniger stated, "This semester we are looking at Arkansas history and bringing gangsters,
racial segregation in Hot Springs, bathhouses, the Madame Maxine, and making it a
part of their characters."
St. Marthe will be speaking about soft skills, which can be described as personal
attributes, personality traits, inherent social cues and communication abilities needed
for success. She believes it is important that faculty and staff teach students these
skills “in the academic environment so they can carry over those skills in the professional
environment, into their careers.” St. Marthe emphasized that it is important that
students are able to write a proper email or text message and address professionals
appropriately. If proper behavior, attire, attitude, self-confidence and adaptive
communication can be achieved in the classroom, then these things will benefit students
when job seeking.
Both Braniger and St. Marthe are excited and honored by this opportunity and look
forward to learning all they can to help their students succeed.
