Director's Page
Barry Minai
Director of the Instructional Center
This article originally appeared in the Winter 2003 Contact
Newsletter.
Meet Barry Minai, the new Director for the Instructional Center
(IC). Barry may be new to the position, but he is not new to the
Instructional Center.
As a graduate student, in what he calls "the early years"
(but let's just say that the 1980's hadn't begun yet), Barry was
hired by his long-time mentor, Ferd Dario, as a work-study student
to tutor IC students in Economics.
Due to his dedication to the students and his conscientiousness
toward his job, Barry was hired in 1980 as a full-time Math instructor
for Student Support Services (SSS). This position lasted until 1987
when he became Lead Math Instructor for EOP and the IC.
In 1988, Barry became Assistant Director to the IC when the current
Director, Sandra Madrid, left her position, and Emile Pitre who was
serving as Assistant Director filled her position.
And now in 2002, twenty-something years later (or as Barry states, "a
LONG time" after arriving at the IC's doors), Barry became the
IC's Director due to Emile Pitre's promotion to Assistant Vice President
for OMA.
Barry intends to pursue Emile's already established pathway in research
that examines the IC's effect upon students who use its services.
Barry believes it is imperative to continue the quantitative research
that Emile began, but he also wants to be sure to incorporate needed
qualitative research as well. Barry believes that both are important
to reveal a comprehensive study on the IC's methods and results.
Since Barry believes that "to teach is to learn," he
would also like to begin new research, using a longitudinal study,
which examines peer tutors and the effects of tutoring in their own
academic successes. Through his observations as an instructor, peer
tutors benefit from the tutoring experience in that they become better
role models and develop better communication skills. He hopes to
use this future study to see if there is a correlation between peer
tutoring and personal academic/career success.
Although research is important to Barry, he also has a personal
vision for the IC. Part of this vision is to obtain more classroom
space for the IC. The IC's current space cannot meet the need of
the students. Another part of the vision is to partner with the School
of Education and to create an accredited program for potential teachers
to fulfill their student teaching requirements at the IC. This would
no doubt provide needed classes and workshops for EOP and SSS students,
as well as provide the required teaching practicum for future teachers.
All in all, the IC is very lucky to acquire Barry as the new Director.
His long-term knowledge of OMA/D and Instructional Center services
will no doubt aid the IC's future success in its quest to serve students
in award winning style.
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