Engagement Begins with Us

Learner engagement focuses heavily on the learner’s connection and sense of belonging at the university, which is typically fostered through relationships with other students, faculty, and staff. Engagement increases within learners when their encounters are respectful, trusting, supportive, and caring. Learners feel more confident and motivated when faculty and staff show support and care about their efforts.    Conversely, when learners feel disconnected, they perceive those relationships with faculty, staff, and engaged learners as disrespectful, offering a sense of instability and…

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Congratulations, and a Farewell

As the Director of User and Research Services at Bell Library, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some news from our team. First, the happy news! Alexa Hight, who is our Scholarly Communication and Copyright Librarian, was recently the winner of the Texas Digital Library (TDL) Service Award for her leadership of the OJS (Open Journal Systems) User Group. TDL uses Open Journal Systems software to allow faculty or staff of TDL member institutions to create open access…

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Blücher is a Bad Name for Warships

While many residents of Corpus Christi are familiar with the German pioneer family of surveyors, the Blüchers, the famous family name also lived on in Germany simultaneously. The Blüchers had been landowners and nobility for hundreds of years when Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher was born in 1742, a little over 100 years before his kin would arrive on the unsettled Texas coast. Blücher would go on to match Paul von Hindenburg as the most highly decorated Prussian-German soldier in history.…

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