Academe welcomes news from WSU faculty and staff about research, teaching and service activities. This column recognizes grants, honors, awards, presentations and publications, new appointments, new faculty, sabbaticals, retirements and deaths of our current and former colleagues.

Raymond H. Hull, professor, communication sciences and disorders, and co-reviewer Stacy R. Kerchen, were cited in the Jan. 18 Better Hearing Institute article “Highlighting the Connection between Heart Disease and Hearing Loss during American Heart Month” for their review (June 2010 American Journal of Audiology) of research on the negative influence of impaired cardiovascular health on both the peripheral and central auditory system and the potential positive influence of improved cardiovascular health on these same systems.

Becky Hundley, intellectual property specialist, research administration, was quoted in the January issue of Technology Transfer Tactics, about WSU’s relationship with the National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization (NISTAC) and WSU’s IP/Technology Transfer program.

Gayla Lohfink, assistant professor, curriculum and instruction, has recently published an article along with Juana Loya, a counselor in the Garden City, Kan., public schools, “The nature of Mexican-American third graders’ responses to culturally-relevant picture books” in the Bilingual Research Journal.

Walter Myers, former dean, College of Fine Arts, is one of 12 new members who will be inducted into the Alumni Association Hall of Fame of Dublin City Schools during a March 12 ceremony at the Marriott Northwest in Dublin. Myers was in the class of 1955.

Jeremy Patterson, associate professor and director, Human Performance Studies, is the co-investigator of a $99,956 Fit for Kansas Kids grant through the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. The project aims to prevent obesity in young children by involving pregnant women in physical activity and nutrition programs. It combines research with teaching as Patterson will involve his students in interviews and surveying the research participants who live in close proximity to the university.

Jeremy Patterson was awarded $11,000 by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to support HPS laboratory assessments on breast cancer survivors. He has also co-authored (with alum Chase Curtiss) state licensure documents that will be submitted to the Oklahoma Legislature in 2011, “Vote Yes for Clinical Exercise Physiology Licensure.”

Donna Sayman, assistant professor, special education, curriculum and instruction, recently published “How to Build a Delinquent: An Analysis of the Emotionally Disturbed Label in Special Education” in Power Play: A Journal of Educational Justice. She also published “A few good men” or “Are you man enough?,”an analysis of media recruiting campaigns and men in nursing in the Journal of Philosophy and History of Education. Sayman also was a presenter at the Society of Philosophy and History in September and the American Educational Studies Association in October.

Marlene Schommer-Aikins, professor and chair, counseling, education and school psychology, has been selected to receive the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Education at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Schommer-Aikins received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from U of I.

Mark Shaver, clinical audiologist, communication sciences and disorders, has been awarded a Resident and Graduate Student Poster Session grant sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the American Auditory Society. He will present a portion of the results from his dissertation study at the American Auditory Society annual meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., in March. The title of his presentation is “Effects of Negative Middle-Ear Pressure on Wideband Energy Reflectance.”

Elaine Steinke, professor, School of Nursing, with Victoria Mosack, Susan Barnason and David Wright, presented “Changes in MI specific sexual counseling by cardiac nurses“ in November at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

Anh Tran, associate professor, curriculum and instruction, has co-edited a book, “Teaching Listening: Voices from the Field,” which addresses emerging trends in language education in and out of the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) classroom.

Debby Werth, research assistant, biological sciences, has been appointed by Mayor Carl Brewer to participate on the city’s Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) committee. CSBG funds are a federal funding source designed to assist local agencies in providing services and activities having a measurable and potentially major impact on causes of poverty in the community. Werth was appointed to a two-year term.

IN MEMORIAM
Floyd Earl Goldsmith, 82, retired painter, Physical Plant, died Jan. 2 at Lakepoint Nursing Center. He was preceded in death by his wife, Clara, and four sisters and four brothers. Survivors include his sons John (Donna) of Winfield, Steve (Toni) of Leadville, Ark., Jack of Hutchison, Terry of Topeka, Gary (Sandra) of Wichita, Michael (Marcia) and Kevin all of El Dorado; brother Doyle Gene Goldsmith of Plano, Ill.; 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Services have been held.

Cleve Mathews, 84, journalism educator, former newsman and NPR director, died Jan. 14 in Asheville, N.C. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Marion; sons, Tom (Lois Heinlein) of Portland, Ore., and Rich (Jane Gianvito Mathews) of Asheville, N.C.; daughter, Kate Mathews (Bob Bowles) of Barnardsville, N.C.; three grandchildren; one great-grandchild; one brother, John (Sally Mathews) of Lewisburg, Pa.; and numerous relatives in the Waco, Texas area. Services have been held.

Mira Pajes Merriman, 78, professor emeritus of the School of Art and Design, died Monday, Feb. 7, in Wichita. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jim. Survivors include her sons, Leo (Virginia) of Wichita, and James (Anne) of Glen Ridge, N.J.; daughter, Pajes (Steven) Sterman of Stamford, Conn.; and seven grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in the spring.

Robert David Morrison, 70, retired engineer, died Jan. 4. He was preceded in death by his parents and three brothers. Survivors include sons Jon (Kathryn) Morrison of Derby, Bob (Julie) of Douglass, Bill (Suzanne) of Denver and Les (Darcy) of Texas; sister Kathy (Jerry) Bauman of Wooster, Ohio; 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Services have been held.