AWARDS/HONORS
Elaine Steinke at the School of Nursing was recently named a Health Care Hero by the Wichita Business Journal. Steinke joins a roster of local doctors, nurses, administrators, educators, volunteers and community groups to be honored at the Health Care Heroes event Oct. 17.
Bill Vanderburgh, associate professor of philosophy and executive director for the Office for Faculty Development and Student Success, was selected to become a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps of climatrealityproject.org.
James Snyder, professor of psychology, was recently appointed to the Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section at the Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health. Snyder will help review grant applications, make recommendations and survey the status of scientific research. Snyder's appointment to the position was based on his demonstrated competence and achievements in his field.
Frankie Brown, director of Human Resources, was one of 16 Wichita human resources professionals in the Wichita Business Journal's inaugural class of HR Professional honorees. Brown began her career in the university's HR department as an employment manager 1980, and is being honored for her professional and community leadership.
Both Connie Dietz, director of Cooperative Education & Work-Based Learning, and Cindy Claycomb, interim dean of the Barton School of Business, were recently inducted into the Wichita Business Journal Women In Business Class of 2013.
GRANTS
Bill Vanderburgh, associate professor of philosophy and executive director for the Office for Faculty Development and Student Success, received a $72,000 grant from the Patricia and John Morgan Academic Advancement Fund. The grant will be used to support the Peer Connections program, which assigns experienced students to incoming freshmen to help with the transition to college life.
Bill Vanderburgh was also awarded a $163,000 College Access Challenge Grant to support the Financial Literacy for College Success program. Since its inception in 2010-11, the program has received a total of $760,000 in external funding. In addition to conducting live outreach and workshops for college-bound high school students and current college students, the project created the MyCollegeMoneyPlan.org online resource that helps students and families get a handle on finances in college and increase access and completion. On Oct. 14, the project hosted its third annual conference on teaching financial literacy for college success. To date this project has reached more than 20,000 individuals, live and online, from around the country.
Susan Parsons, nursing, and Kathy Trilli, dental hygiene, have received a grant from Patterson Dental. It will be used to present collaborative oral health education and senior dental kits for older adults to WSU nursing and dental hygiene students.
PRESENTATIONS
From the College of Education, Susan Unruh, assistant professor, and Nancy McKellar, associate professor, made a presentation at the Midwestern Psychological Association's annual meeting in Chicago. Their presentation was titled, "Decreasing special education evaluations: What makes a difference?"
Michael Rogers, assistant director of clinical education, co-presented "Effect of deep stripping massage vs. deep stripping massage combined with eccentric resistance on hamstring length and strength," at the International Massage Therapy Research Conference, held April 25-27 in Boston.
Rick Pappas, physical education educator, made a presentation to all Shawnee Mission School District K-12 physical education teachers regarding the use of Kansas College and Career Ready Standards in physical education classes and appropriate physical education practices for the primary grades.
Elaine Steinke, PhD, APRN, CNS-BC, FAHA, FAAN, made presentations in September about her research on intimacy after a cardiovascular event, including to the European Society of Cardiology 2013 Congress and to the European Society of Cardiology 2013 Congress, both in Amsterdam.
Phyllis Fletcher presented "Review of Skills Used by the School Nurse" at the School Nurses Conference in July 2013.
Jennifer Rodgers, clinical educator in the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program, attended the National AANP Conference in Las Vegas in June 2013 "NP Driven Pulmonary Care on Continuum," and gave a poster presentation.
Kellie Thiessen attended the Kansas Public Health Association annual conference in Wichita and presented "Midwifery Care and Birth Outcomes in Kansas: A Call for an Integrated System" on Sept. 18.
Betty Elder, associate professor of nursing, Yvonne Fast, School of Nursing lecturer and Phyllis Jacobs, assistant professor of nursing and clinical coordinator, presented "Support Group Intervention for English Second Language Students" at the 40th Annual National Conference on Professional Nursing Education and Development in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 17-20.
Carol Bett, nursing instructor, and Theresa Cooper, clinical educator in the School of Nursing, presented "Simulation for Novice BSN Students: Adventures on the Road to Competency Validation" at the 40th Annual National Conference on Professional Nursing Education and Development in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 17-20.
Victoria Mosack, associate professor, and Phyllis Fletcher, clinical educator, are members of the School of Nursing's Interprofessional Education (IPE) team whose research, "Reflection of nursing and allied health students following initial exposure to interprofessional learning," was presented at the Johnson County Community College Healthcare Simulation Conference: Simulation: What's in Store? Imagine the Possibilities, Sept. 6-7, in Overland Park, Kan. Mosack will also present her co-research "Reflections of nursing and allied health students following initial exposure to interprofessional learning" at the ASAHP conference, Oct. 23-25, 2013, Orlando.
Jacquelyn McClendon, senior clinical educator, Victoria Mosack, associate professor, and Brandy Jackson, clinical educator, are members of the School of Nursing's IPE team whose research, "Assessing the knowledge, experiences, interests, and barriers to interprofessional teaching and learning," was presented at the 70th Annual Kansas Public Health Association Conference, Sept. 17-19, in Wichita.
Jacquelyn McClendon, senior clinical educator and member of the School of Nursing's IPE team, will present her co-research "Collaborative interprofessional faculty development" at the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) 2013 Annual Conference: Interprofessional Education and Practice in the Allied Health Arena, Oct. 23-25, in Orlando.
PUBLICATIONS
Mark D. Shaver, clinical audiologist, and Xiao-Ming Sun, associate professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, had their article, "Wideband energy reflectance measurement: Effects of negative middle ear pressure and application of a pressure compensation procedure," published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. This is the second article in this journal since five articles were published by a researcher in aeronautical engineering in the early 1970s.
Associate professor Nancy McKellar and assistant professor Susan Unruh, both of the College of Education, recently published an article, "RTI and practitioners: What trainers need to know," in the Trainer's Forum publication.
Susan Bray, assistant professor, counseling, will be published in the Journal of Professional Counseling: Practice, Theory and Research. Her article, "Masters-level Students' Beliefs Concerning the Causes of Poverty, Implicit Racial Attitudes, and Multicultural Competency," will appear in the September 2014 edition.
Wes Bergen, visiting associate professor in the Department of Religion, has recently authored the book "You Are Not Going to Heaven (and why it doesn't matter)," which proposes to refocus the Christian conversation and contends that salvation is something that either happens here on earth or not at all. It is published by Wipf and Stock Publishers, and is available for $18 on amazon.com.
Susan Parsons, assistant professor of nursing, co-authored an article, "Time Since Last Dental Clinic Visits and Self-Reported Health among the Elderly." It is scheduled for publication this November in the Kansas Journal of Medicine.
NEW APPOINTMENTS
Brian Austin is the newest member of the team in the Office of Cooperative Education and Work-Based Learning. He received his bachelor's degree from WSU and his masters from the University of Central Oklahoma, and worked as a sales coordinator at JB Hunt Transport. He will be the primary contact for the College of Engineering.
Jennifer Stone has joined the College of Education as an assistant professor of Special Education – Early Childhood Unified. She comes from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she earned a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching after teaching in San Antonio public schools for 12 years.
Molly Brown is the new office manager for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the College of Education. She was previously the senior administrative assistant in the Barton School of Business. She will assist the chair of the C&I department, supervising student assistants in the office and providing support to C&I faculty, staff and students.
Aileen LeBlanc has been named news director for Wichita public radio station KMUW 89.1. LeBlanc is a journalist, producer and director whose work in public radio, television and film has earned more than 60 regional and national awards. She has also worked as news director at stations WYSO in Florida, and WHQR in North Carolina.
Mandy Konecny, College of Health Professions, has been named the new manager of the college's Student and Advising Services, effective Sept. 15. Konecny replaces Toni Neff, who will retire from WSU later this semester. Konecny has worked at WSU since 2004, including her most recent service as an academic adviser in the college since 2011.
Eunice Doman Myers will return to her home department, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, after the end of the fall semester. Myers has been associate dean of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for seven years.
Jackie Berryman, Debbie Rice and Rhonda Williams are all new hires for the fall semester and are clinical educators for the School of Nursing.
MISCELLANEOUS
Megan Carlson, a first-year graduate student in speech-language pathology, has been awarded a scholarship from the Alpha Eta National Allied Health Honor Society to present a paper at the gorup's annual conference of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) in October in Orlanda, Fla. She was recommended to the organization by assistant professor Anjte Mefferd in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department. Carlson will present her paper at the symposium Oct. 25.
Catherine Bohn-Gettler, associate professor, educational psychology, will serve on the editorial board for the journal Discourse Processes.
Elaine Steinke chaired a writing group responsible for a scientific statement released July 29. The statement, "Physicians Should Counsel Patients About Sex Life After Cardiac Event," was a joint effort by the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology, and was published simultaneously in the journals Circulation and the European Heart Journal. It received more than 170 million views by readers in news outlets worldwide, including the Wichita Eagle, Forbes and US News & World Report. Steinke was also interviewed on The John Bolton Show, a live radio talk show out of Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta.
Barbara Morrison, associate professor at the School of Nursing, was interviewed on a radio talk show this summer. She worked with Close Up TV News, a PR company, for the past few months to spread the word about Kangaroo Care and breastfeeding. What started as a series of 4 radio shows has grown into a yearlong campaign. Listen to a recording of the show.
Barbara Morrison has also been selected to participate in the Visioneering Health Alliance Leadership Initiative, a partnership with the Kansas Leadership Center to provide training for up to 400 citizens in the next three years and achieve measurable progress on community-identified health priorities in south-central Kansas.
Susan Parsons, assistant professor of nursing, has been selected to present a poster entitled "Collaborative Oral Health Education to Promote Oral Health Care to a Special Population, Older Adults" at the American Public Health Association Convention Nov.4, in Boston.
Doris Chang, associate professor of women's studies, has been invited to be a panelist for the 2013 Straight Talk Symposium at Brown University. Straghit Talk is a non-partisan, student-run organization working to promote peaceful progress and constructive dialogue between young leaders from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Chang was invited to participate on a panel to be held Oct. 28 on "Nationalism, Feminism, and Radicalism: An Examination of Modern Chinese History," with the panel's goal being to show the impact of these three on China and Taiwan in the 20th century.
EMERITUS FACULTY
Pedro Bravo-Elizondo, professor emeritus of Spanish, is only the ninth person to be presented with an honorary doctorate by the National University Arturo Prat in Chile. He received the honor Aug. 17, during a celebration of his achievements and contributions to research in the field of social and cultural history. The recognition was a surprise for Bravo-Elizondo, because university officials told him the inauguration event wasn't scheduled for three more days. Bravo-Elizondo has kept busy with his research since retiring, publishing four books: "Tres Britanicos en la Era del Salitre" (co-author with Judy Berry-Bravo, 2013), "La Cancion de Protesta en America Latina 1960-1980" (co-author with Judy Berry-Bravo, 2012), "Era Chilena del Salitre 1880-1979" (co-author with Judy Berry-Bravo, 2011, 2nd edition 2012) and "Iquique, Memorias de Mar y Tierra" (2010).
IN MEMORIAM
Stephen L. Chambers, 57, formerly with the Office of Institutional Research, died at his home in Kachina Village near Flagstaff, Ariz. on Aug. 20. He worked for WSU from 1995-1997, and was known as a dedicated promoter of college education for disadvantaged populations in the U.S. Survivors include his sisters, Irene Brodie of Long Beach, Calif., and Linda Chambers of Flagstaff, Ariz., and stepdaughter, Allysun Bryden of Aspen, Colo.
Robert (Bob) Dryden, former chair of industrial engineering from 1977-1979, died July 6. After serving at WSU, Dryden went on to positions at many universities, including Virginia Tech, Portland State University, and in the Oregon University System for many years. He is survived by wife, Jean, son Bobby of Lubbock, Tex., daughter Julie of Blacksburg, Va., and grandchildren.
Elizabeth "Betty" L. Alford, 70, former secretary to the Dean of Engineering, died Sept. 28. Alford worked at Wichita State for 30 years, from August 1987 to December 2007. She also received her Bachelor of Arts degree from WSU in 1992. She is survived by her children, Michelle Katunzi, Sani Alford and Michael Alford; siblings, Barbara Brenner, William Tucker, Brock Peterson and Brett Tucker; eight grandchildren; four great-grandchildren. Memorials have been established with Valley Christian Church in Wichita and Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice. Arrangements through Lakeview Funeral Home.