Congratulations to all of the new LU graduates. The holiday season is quickly approaching and as your mind works overtime to come up with that perfect gift, we want to encourage you to find some time to rest during the break. One way to do that productively is to take a look at your teaching philosophy. It might be time to update it especially if you were able to critically self-reflect about your work during this past semester. The journaling community at LU continues to grow and we want you to be a part of it. Look for the announcement of self-reflection sessions in the spring semester. University of Iowa professor Stephen Bloom created quite a stir with his op-ed piece in The Atlantic. Nate Kreuter's response in Inside Higher Ed provides a nice counterbalance. His thoughts validate the efforts we have pursued by creating the Faculty Learning Communities program at LU. The four current FLC have flourished and continue to work hard. Remember that we will be asking for suggestions for FLC for the 2012-13 academic year. Think about what you are missing most in your academic career and suggest that as a FLC. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is moving forward with the new Core Curriculum requirements that will take effect in 2014. Your LU Core Committee, chaired by Rebecca Boone, has completed the first phase of the review of the current core at LU and will begin to meet again in 2012 to look at modifying the new core curriculum under the revised guidelines. The main change is that the component requirement has been limited to 42 hours which is a reduction of six hours from the previous limit. That means that the core curriculum will look different at LU come 2014. Dr. Patricia Alexander will be visiting LU to present an interactive workshop on February 6, 2012. The session will be held in 702 MJGL from 1:00 until 2:00 PM. Look for more information to come in January. Happy holidays!