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 or current and former colleagues.

AWARDS/HONORS

Sam Ramey, distinguished professor of opera, School of Music, has been honored with a lifetime achievement award by the editors of Opera News for his distinguished achievements in the field of opera. Read more about the award at goo.gl/q0sgFx.

Janell Mayer, clinical educator, School of Nursing, passed certification as a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy specialist. She was also elected president elect for the Kansas chapter of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. 

Patricia Dwyer, clinical educator, School of Nursing, received an APRN Mentor/Preceptor Award at the inaugural School of Nursing Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) CE Conference. 

Jennifer Rodgers, clinical educator in the Adult Care Nurse Practitioner program, School of Nursing, received the 2015 AANP Nurse Practitioner State Award for Excellence from the State of Kansas. 

Josh Barkan, assistant professor of English in creative writing, Department of English, was named runner-up for the Grace Paley Short Fiction Prize for his collection of stories, “Mexico,” which was also runner-up for the Juniper Fiction Prize from the University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst. His story, “The Kidnapping,” was winner of the United Kingdom’s Lightship International Short Story Prize. 

Academic advisors Janelle Darr and Bob Rozzelle, director of technology, LAS Advising Center, gave a talk, “PASS: The Class,” which was selected as the best presentation at the annual Kansas Academic Advising Network conference. All new NCAA athletes at WSU are required to take the course, which is designed to promote optimum academic performance. 

Kerry Jones, lecturer and writing center director, Department of English, was a finalist for the 2014 Autumn House Press Fiction Award for her story collection, “The Ghosts in the Glen.”

Professor Mel Kahn, Department of Political Science, presented a paper co-written with his student, Jonathan Piat, “The Discharge Petition as an Effective Legislation Tool,” at the Northeast Political Science Association’s annual meeting in Boston. The paper is based on the Glickman Papers housed in the Wichita State University Libraries Special Collections and University Archives. Kahn serves on the Kansas Democratic Party’s State Committee. 

The first cohort of Online Faculty Fellows include Kyoung Lee, associate professor of social work, David McDonald, professor of biological sciences, Lisa Overholtzer, assistant professor anthropology, Dan Close, associate professor of communication, and Eric Wilson, communication lecturer. Jennifer Tiernan, assistant professor of communication, is co-chair of the group. The role of the fellows is to establish a culture of online education and help other faculty increase the quality and quantity of online courses offered at WSU. 

Sam Taylor, assistant professor of English, was featured on the PBS NewsHour Poetry Series. 

Kaye Monk-Morgan, director of TRIO Upward Bound Math Science (UBMS) Center, has been inducted as the 40th President of the Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel, or MAEOPP. The organization, which covers 10 states, is the representative body of those who have an active interest in or who are professionally involved with increasing access and success in formal postsecondary education. 

WSU Provost and Senior Vice President Tony Vizzini has been chosen as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for his numerous scientific and academic contributions. Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction that is accorded to academic innovators “who demonstrate a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.” 

PRESENTATIONS

Mary Koehn, associate professor, School of Nursing, was invited to present “What to Say, When They Answer, ‘Yes, I Smoke’” at the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians: Family Medicine Tobacco Office Champion Team Training Day. Additionally, Koehn presented “Motivational Interviewing for Care Coordinators with Health Home Partners” via webinar presentation for WSU’s Center for Support and Research and a “Let it go: When learners become teachers” workshop presentation, along with other speakers, at the 14th Annual International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare, in New Orleans. Koehn also co-presented a number of posters, including: “Is it Possible to Increase Quality and Safety While Lowering Costs by Creating a Regional Collaborative for Healthcare Simulation?” at the Kansas Healthcare Collaborative: Sixth Annual Summit on Quality; and “Assessment of Simulation-based Curriculum Enhancements that Engage Students in Co-designing Learning Activities,” at the 7th Annual Healthcare Simulation Conference.

Barbara Morrison, associate professor and Janice M. Riordan Distinguished Professorship in Maternal & Child Health, School of Nursing, presented, “Ripples on a distant shore: The neuroscience of separation and non-separation,” at the 10th International Conference on Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), in Kigali, Rwanda. Morrison also presented a revised version of the presentation to residents, midwifery students and staff at Muhima Hospital, a local women’s hospital. 

Elaine Steinke, professor, School of Nursing, presented an invited paper at the 32nd Annual Cardiovascular Symposium in Wichita, “Sexual function and dysfunction in cardiac patients,” and a second paper titled “Sexual dysfunction in men and women with CVD: What do we know?” at the 1st Annual Advanced Practice Registered Nurse CE Conference, also in Wichita. Steinke was invited to present “Sex and acute coronary syndrome: When drugs get in the way,” at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Barcelona, Spain. She also presented a poster at the same meeting on behalf of co-authors Victoria Mosack, associate professor, School of Nursing, and Twyla Hill, professor and graduate coordinator, department of sociology, entitled “Factors predictive of sexual activity after cardiac diagnosis.” 

Debra Pile assistant professor and coordinator of the Accelerated BSN Program and Associate Professor Betty Elder, School of Nursing, presented their poster, “Sleep, Activity and Obesity,” at the Governor’s Obesity Conference. 

Clinical Educator Pam Martin, School of Nursing, presented her poster, “Bootstrapping: How to leverage health system change to teach essential nursing leadership skills,” at the 18th Annual Midwest Regional Nursing Educators Conference. 

Jose Enrique Navarro, assistant professor of Spanish, presented his paper “Americanismo and the Search for a Panhispanic Book Market: Francesc Cambo and the Publishing Houses of Seix Barral and Sudamericana,” at the 2015 Modern Language Association Annual Conference. The paper explores how two publishing houses, one in Argentina and the other in Spain, partially fulfilled the dream of a Panhispanic publisher that supporters of Americanismo, headed by Catalan politician Cambo, had at the turn of the century. 

Faculty and students from the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering presented 12 papers at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) conference in San Francisco. INFORMS is the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research, management science and analytics. The theme of the conference was “bridging data and decisions.” Department Chair and Professor Krishna Krishnan, Professor Mehmet Yildirim and Assistant Professor Ismet Buyuktahtakin made presentations along with 10 students in the areas of supply chain management, sustainable engineering, bio-fuels, bio-mass, healthcare operations management and online education.

Natalie Grant, assistant professor of social work, presented research with BSW student Lindsey Stillwell at the Council on Social Work Education national conference in Tampa, Fla. Their session shared a professor-student digital ethnography of the historic Dunbar Theatre community located in Wichita’s northeast area. Oral histories were shared through digital storytelling, and implications of memory, emotion and meaning to spaces and places were discussed in relation to social work, community capacity building and historic preservation. Information about the Dunbar Theatre can be viewed at powercdc.com/dunbar.htm. The two also partnered with local business owner, musician and writer, Michael Carmody to host a fundraiser to assist efforts to restore the theater, organizing an event with local musicians and the Bodo Trio, led by retired WSU professor Craig Owens. 

Additionally, Grant teamed up with Sarah Sell, WSU Student Success specialist and Veteran’s Center Coordinator, to present their paper, “Evaluating the Effectiveness of a First-year Experience Course,” at the National Symposium on Student Retention in Louisville, Ky. Through multiple evaluation measures, the team built a contribution story of WSU 101 in relation to student retention and experience. The paper has also been accepted for publication in the Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange at the University of Oklahoma. 

PUBLICATIONS

Alicia Huckstadt, professor, School of Nursing, authored a Health Promotion chapter in “Lubkin’s Chronic Illness Impact and Intervention,” 9th edition, published by Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Associate Professor Betty Elder, School of Nursing, co-authored “An Integrated Elementary School Module for Teaching Nutrition and Physical Activity,” in Kansas Association for Health’s Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, issue 2, pages 34-37.

Barbara Morrison, associate professor and Janice M. Riordan Distinguished Professorship in Maternal & Child Health, School of Nursing, authored, “Breastfeeding: 10% nourishing, 90% nurturing,” in Essentially MIDIRS, 5(7), 7-14. She also published “Paternal perceptions of and satisfaction with group prenatal care in Botswana,” in Online Journal of Cultural Competence in Nursing and Healthcare, 4(2), 17-26. Morrison also contributed to Breastfeeding & Human Lactation (5th ed.), Chapter 15, pp. 553-634, and Chapter 21, pages 859-894. Burlington, Mass., Jones & Bartlett Learning (2016). 

Associate Professor Mary Koehn and Clinical Educator Jolynn Dowling, School of Nursing, contributed a chapter on infant assessment to Breastfeeding & Human Lactation (5th ed.), Chapter 19, pages 775-813. Burlington, Mass., Jones & Bartlett Learning (2016). 

Susan Parsons, associate professor, School of Nursing, had her article, “The mouth in the mirror: assessing your patient’s oral health,” published in American Nurse Today; 9 (10). 

Elaine Steinke, professor, School of Nursing, co-authored an invited article with Professor Tiny Jaarsma, Linkoping University, Sweden: “Sexual counselling and cardiovascular disease: practical approaches,” in the Asian Journal of Andrology, published in the January 2015 issue. 

Gayla Lohfink, assistant professor of Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education, published her paper, “The impact of a school-university multicultural read-aloud project on pre-service teachers’ pedagogical understandings,” in School-University Partnerships, 7(2), 34-47. 

Arwiphawee Srithongrung, associate professor at Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs, will be published in the International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues in 2015. Her research is titled “Fiscal Policies and Subnational Economic Growth in Mexico.” 

NEW APPOINTMENTS

The Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) has recently added a number of new members to its staff: Bailey Blair, who is returning full-time in the role of behavioral health systems specialist to assist with the certified peer specialist training CCSR offers throughout the state; Brittney Hauck, behavioral health systems specialist, who is working to develop the Youth Leaders In Kansas (YLinK) program for youth receiving mental health services; Anne Maack, early childhood coordinator, who will focus the center’s resources on community initiatives that improve outcomes for young children; and Julia Nkanata, a new organizational development specialist whose primary duties involve providing expertise and direct technical assistance to local and governmental partners seeking to increase their capacity to fulfill their mission. 

The Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has hired a number of new staff and faculty, including: TJ Boynton, assistant professor of English; Kaytie Brozek, academic advisor in the LAS Advising Center; Casey Craig, mathematics instructor; Jill Fisher, assistant director of the Fairmount Center for Science and Mathematics Education; Keith Gray assistant professor of structural geology; David Groot, assistant professor of social work; Jeff Hayton, assistant professor of history; Brian Hepburn, assistant professor of philosophy; Steven Huprich, professor of psychology and director of clinical training; Eveline Kalomo, assistant professor of social work; Danielle Koupf, assistant professor of composition studies, Department of English; Matt Kraushar, field station manager for the Department of Biological Sciences; Foudil Latioui, physics instructor; Elizabeth Mlotkiewicz, academic advisor, LAS Advising Center; Rachel Safarik, mathematics instructor; James Schwartz, philosophy instructor; Catherine Searle, assistant professor of mathematics; Summer Steenberg, mathematics instructor; Yumi Suzuki, assistant professor of community affairs; Alex Shvartsburg, assistant professor of chemistry; and Andrew Swindle, assistant professor of hydrogeology. 

Laila Cure, assistant professor, has been brought by WSU’s College of Engineering from Western Michigan University to join the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department. 

MISCELLANEOUS

Ever feel like no one reads your academic work? Serendipity put a paper co-written by Lisa Parcell, associate professor and graduate coordinator at the Elliott School of Communication, into the hands of Rudy Maxa, former host of The Savvy Traveler and current host of Rudy Maxa’s World. Maxa was waiting on a professor at Ohio University when he picked up “Promoting Hershey: The Chocolate Bar, The Chocolate Town, The Chocolate King” to kill time. Recently, Maxa invited Parcell onto his program, the nation’s most widely syndicated radio travel show. You can hear a recording of the broadcast at goo.gl/isEIbU. 

Susan Sterrett, Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, Department of Philosophy, recently received positive reviews by MAA (Mathematical Association of America) and a “recommended” rating by Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries for her recently co-authored book, “Three Views of Logic: Mathematics, Philosophy, and Computer Science,” published by Princeton University Press. The book and reviews can be found online at press.princeton.edu/titles/10168.html. 

Professor Krishna Krishnan, department chair of industrial and manufacturing engineering, Assistant Professor Ehsan Salari and Assistant Professor Laila Cure have agreed to a contract to help RedGuard, a Wichita manufacturing company. The work performed by the faculty and student team from Nov. 1-July 30 will help the company to be more efficient, achieve significant cost reductions and streamline processes. In addition, the team will design a new facility in Wichita for enhancing the company’s production capabilities. The team will apply lean principles and concepts from the current production facility to the design of the new one, and their work will add jobs to the local economy. 

Murtuza Jadliwala, assistant professor of computer science, was quoted in an article by The Wichita Eagle, saying that because data security technology has not kept pace with internet use, tens of millions of people are at risk from unsecured data stored on remote servers. You can read the article at kansas.com/news/local/article2102134.html. 

Dominic Canare, an instructor of engineering design, is a leader in the local “maker space movement,” and was featured in The Wichita Eagle in a story on MakeICT, a local nonprofit that has built a community of innovators, equipping them with tools to build their ideas. Canare was quoted as joking that “MakeICT techies are so talented ‘they can make 3-D printers that make 3-D printers.’” Other MakeICT members featured in the story include Electrical Engineering and Computer Science undergraduate students Richard St. Aubin and Austin White. You can read the article at kansas.com/news/local/article1280069.html. 

EMERITUS FACULTY

Emeritus President Eugene Hughes was honored as an Outstanding Alumnus by Western Nebraska Community College at its inaugural banquet/awards ceremony held in Scottsbluff, Neb. The award is made to a graduate of WNCC who has been successful in his chosen career. Hughes was also recently honored as a Distinguished Alumnus by the Nebraska Community College Association at their annual awards ceremony in Lincoln, Neb.