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

Assistant Professor Gina Brown, physician assistant program, College of Health Professions, was recently named “Humanitarian PA of the Year” by the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Brown was chosen for her outstanding commitment to human rights and exemplifying the profession’s philosophy of providing accessible and quality health care on domestic and international levels. Brown, who also won Wichita State’s Academy for Effective Teaching Award in May, was nominated for the Humanitarian Award by her own students. See a video highlighting Brown’s work.

Elliott School of Communication Director Matthew Cecil’s book, “Hoover’s FBI and the Fourth Estate: The Campaign to Control the Press and the Bureau’s Image,” won the 2015 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) History Division Book Award. Cecil’s book was chosen by a panel of three distinguished media historians. One judge called the book “a graceful, accessible and thoroughly researched account of Hoover’s propaganda campaign.” Another said, “Matthew Cecil’s work emerges as a clear and very navigable map showing how Hoover’s message-making compromised a press corps that took the roads that the FBI cleverly built for them.” The award comes with a $500 check and a plaque, and will be presented at AEJMC’s national convention in August at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel.

Pamela Martin, clinical educator in the School of Nursing, is a finalist for the Rodenberg Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Associate Professor Victoria Mosack, School of Nursing, was selected to participate in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Leadership for Academic Nursing Program. This program is designed to develop and enhance leadership skills in new and emerging executive administrators in baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs and better prepare participants to accept academic leadership positions, including the role of dean or director of the nursing academic unit.

Brandy Jackson, director of the School of Nursing’s undergraduate nursing program, was selected for appointment to the 2016 cohort of Online Faculty Fellows.

Stephanie Nicks, clinical educator in the School of Nursing, received the Volunteer of Excellence award from the Girl Scouts of the Kansas Heartland. The award recognizes those volunteers who have contributed outstanding service while partnering directly with girls in any pathway to implement the Girl Scout Leadership Experience.

Professor Betty Smith-Campbell, department chair in the School of Nursing, received the Excellence in Leadership Award by the Epsilon Gamma-at-Large chapter of Sigma Theta Tau nursing honor society.

Clay Stoldt, associate dean of the College of Education, was appointed to the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation Board of Directors as the Institutional Director. Read more.

Professor Mark Glaser, Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs, has been honored with the 2015 Faculty Award in Community Research at Wichita State. Glaser joined the Hugo Wall School faculty in 1994 where he has served as an expert in productivity measurement and development, community development and citizen perceptions of government. His research emphasizes the importance of bridging theory and practice. The award honors faculty chosen for setting the gold standard in teaching, research and creative activities.

Professor Hyuck Kwon, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was recently awarded the 2015 Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship for the second year in a row for his research in jamming/anti-jamming of wireless/mobile and space satellite communication systems, and has recently been awarded two patents and two Air Force Research Laboratory grants in this area. Kwon is also one of four finalists for the 2015 Wichita State University Academy of Effective Teaching (AET) Teaching Award, a certificate of recognition granted by outstanding WSU emeriti faculty.

Winners of the 2015 Kansas Professional Communicators contest were announced in April during the organization’s annual spring conference and banquet, following a day full of education, skill development and interaction with communication professionals. Faculty and staff at Wichita State who won prizes included: Cheryl Miller, assistant dean of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, whose newsletter won first place in the “Publications regularly edited by entrant – Magazine, newsletter or other non-newspaper” category, and article, “Bighorn Basin experience creates career geologists,” won first place in the “Feature Story – Magazine, newsletter or other non-newspaper” category; Angela Gaughan, project specialist in the Center for Community Support and Research, whose CCSR video won first place in the “Videos for Website – Nonprofit, government or educational” category; and Wilma Moore-Black, associate director of the Elliott School of Communication, who won two honorable mentions for “From the desk of the Associate Director,” in the “Reports” category, and “TRIO Day 2014 - The Trio Legacy,” in the “Newsletters – Nonprofit, government or educational” category. First place winners in the state contest will be judged in the National Federation of Press Women communications contest and awarded at the September national conference in Anchorage, Alaska.

Professor Mark Foley, School of Music, was awarded the Wichita Symphony Daniel Sevart Prize in Community Service.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas recently announced the selection of Gwynne Birzer as the next United States Magistrate Judge in Wichita. Birzer has been an adjunct instructor in WSU’s Criminal Justice program since 2008, and will succeed Magistrate Judge Karen Humphreys after she steps down after July.

Eric Sexton, vice president of student affairs and executive director of athletics, has been named to the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Executive Committee.

GRANTS

Assistant Professor Deborah Pile, Accelerated Nursing Program, received a Riverside Health Grant. She will use this grant to assist the accelerated students in a service learning project at a grade school, titled “Wellness at St. Joseph Ost School.”

PRESENTATIONS

Ronda Williams, clinical educator for Nursing Online Education, was a panelist on the RN-BSN National Spring Webinar hosted by Shadow Health. The webinars are held once a semester to provide opportunities to learn about strategies and assessment tips, and connect with other instructors.

Carol Bett, School of Nursing instructor, presented her poster, “An ethnographic study of health promotion activities in rural Papua New Guinea,” at the WIN (Western Institute of Nursing) Research Conference.

Associate Professor Susan Parsons, School of Nursing, and Kathy Trilli, dental hygiene clinical educator, have a poster titled “Interdisciplinary Senior Dental Toolkits to Enhance Oral Health Education for Nursing and Dental Hygiene Students,” which has been accepted for presentation at the American Dental Hygiene Association’s 92nd Annual Session.

Visiting Assistant Professor Beata Latavietz, in the department of Counseling, Educational Leadership, Educational and School Psychology, co-presented the poster, “Instructional Metadiscourse Supporting Elaboration, Inter-subjectivity and Autonomy in Collaborative Reasoning Discussions.”

Assistant Professor Peggy Hernandez, School of Nursing, presented “Mental Health Nursing Care” at the 5th annual Tilford Commission on Diversity Fellowship Colloquium.

Professor Michael Rogers, chair of the Department of Human Performance Studies, delivered the keynote address at the Via Christi Health Parkinson’s Education Symposium in Wichita, “Balance training with Parkinson’s disease.” The event was attended by more than 150 people including Parkinson’s patients and their family members as well as health care professionals who work with Parkinson’s patients.

Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor of History and Philosophy of Science Susan Sterrett presented a paper, “Pictures, Models, and Measurement,” in a invited symposium on Wittgenstein’s Picture Theory at the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Vancouver, Canada.

The Department of Counseling, Educational Leadership, Educational and School Psychology, in the College of Education, was well-represented at the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) annual meeting, held in Chicago. AERA is the nation’s most prestigious educational research conference, with 15,000 in attendance. Professor Jean Patterson, department chair, co-presented the paper, “Distributed Leadership and Instructional Reform in an Urban Middle School,” and was an invited participant for the Division A Fireside Chat, “Strengthening School Leaders’ Understandings of Identity, Culture, Language, Heritage, and Justice Conceptualization;” Assistant Professor Joel Abaya presented the paper, “Secondary School Principalship and Politics of Belonging: Exclusionary Framings of Gender and Culture in Kisii Central Subcounty, Kenya;” Assistant Professor Jiaqi Li co-presented the paper, “Southeast Asia International Student Clients in the Counseling Services: To Ignore or Advocate?;” Professor Marlene Schommer-Aikins presented “Teaching Educational Psychology in Cross-disciplinary Classes in the Book Panel Discussion: Contributing Authors Discuss Challenges and Innovations in Teaching and Learning in Educational Psychology,” and co-presented the poster, “Nature of Science Beliefs of Graduate Students in Research Apprenticeships;” Assistant Professor Eric Freeman presented the paper, “Diversion or Democratization? Community College Choice Among Rural Hispanic Students,” and co-presented the paper, “First Generation Rural Hispanic Students: An Inquiry into Community College Enrollment;” Assistant Professor Susan Bray co-presented the poster, “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Play Therapy Among Pre-school Children;” and Professor Donald Gilstrap, dean of university libraries, co-presented the paper, “Educational Research, Chaotic Systems, and the Lyapunov Exponent: Using Post Hoc Chaos Theory Methods to Better Understand Learning Systems,” and also chaired the “Chaos and Complexity Theories” SIG meeting.

Professor Sharon Iorio, College of Education dean’s office, presented “Wichita Teacher Quality Partnership: A University/School Partnership and Markers of Teaching Effectiveness,” at the Harris Manchester College of Oxford University Childhood Education Roundtable.

Assistant Professor Ashlie Jack, assistant dean in the College of Education, and Assistant Professor Gayla Lohfink, Curriculum and Instruction, co-presented “A collaborative linguistic and early literacy curriculum to prepare the next generation of teachers,” at the Kansas Association of Teacher Educators’ Conference in Manhattan, Kan.

Associate Professor Eunice Myers, Spanish division director, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, gave a paper, “Winding Up Childhood: Miguel Delibes’ ‘La mortaja’ as Bildungsroman,” at the annual Cefiro conference at Texas Tech University.

PUBLICATIONS

Two members of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction faculty, College of Education, recently published papers: Assistant Professor Donna Sayman, special education,

“I still need my security teddy bear? Experiences of an individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” in The Learning Assistance Review, 20(1), 77-98 (2015); and Associate Professor Danny Bergman, “Comparing the effects of classroom audio-recording and video-recording on pre-service teachers’ reflection of practice,” in The Teacher Educator, 50(2), 127-144 (2015).

Professor Alicia Huckstadt, School of Nursing, has published two chapters, “Peptic Ulcer Disease” and “Immunization Recommendations,” in the new edition of “Practice Considerations for Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioners” textbook.

Associate Professor Susan Parsons, School of Nursing, and Kathy Trilli, dental hygiene clinical educator, will publish their article, “Interdisciplinary Senior Dental Toolkits to Enhance Oral Health Education for Nursing and Dental Hygiene Students,” in the Journal of Dental Hygiene.

Assistant Professor Jason Li, in the department of Counseling, Educational Leadership, Educational and School Psychology, recently co-authored, “Raising cultural awareness of fifth-grade students through multicultural education: An action research study,” which appeared in Multicultural Education, 22(2), 39-45 (2015).

Professor Michael Rogers, chair of the Department of Human Performance Studies, along with colleagues from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya, Japan, published “Comparison of static and dynamic balance in healthy but untrained versus frail community-dwelling older adults” in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation International, 2(5), 1-4 (2015). The paper identified several deficits in postural control among frail older adults that should be correctable with balance training interventions.

The latest issue of the ASHA Leader (national publication for communication sciences and disorders), features an article with Associate Professor Trisha Self, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Terese Conrad, clinical educator at the Evelyn Hendren Cassat Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, and Associate Professor Kelly Anderson, Dental Hygiene. The article, entitled “Everything is Unexpected,” discusses an emerging neuroscience theory that the collaborative team is applying to combat the oral health challenges often encountered with children on the autism spectrum.

Assistant Professor Gayla Lohfink, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, published “Struggling readers? ‘Noticings’ to make meaning of picture books,” in The Open Communication Journal, 9, 12-22 (2015).

NEW APPOINTMENTS

The School of Nursing has added several new faculty members, including Wendy Dusenbury, assistant professor; Caleb Ediger, critical care nursing clinical educator; Abby Elliott, nursing simulation coordinator; Maryon Habtemariam, critical care nursing clinical educator; Stephanie Hare, critical care nursing clinical educator; Richard Nold, clinical educator in the accelerated nursing program; and Donna Robinson, clinical educator.

MISCELLANEOUS

The School of Nursing received a report from its national credentialing center (ANCC) announcing that the school had a 100 percent pass rate for nursing students taking the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner exam. The national pass rate is 85.7 percent, and the 2014 Family Nurse Practitioner class passed with a 95 percent success rate. The School of Nursing’s program at Wichita State has exceeded the national average in every category (including assessment, diagnosis, planning and evaluation).

Assistant Professor Deborah Pile, Accelerated Nursing Program, took her Care of Populations class to the Sedgwick County Point in Time Homeless Count event at Century II to provide interdisciplinary health screenings for the homeless. Her class enjoyed the experience so much, they recently donated $500 themselves to the Wichita Police Department Homeless Outreach Team to help out more.

IN THE NEWS

Jennifer Rodgers, clinical educator in the School of Nursing, was featured in a KWCH TV-12 news story about Via Christi’s Community Cares program, which helps COPD patients manage their disease in their own homes to give them a better quality of life and less risk of future ER and hospital visits.

Nancy McCarthy Snyder, director of the Hugo Wall School, penned a letter to the editor of the Wichita Eagle about Public Service Recognition Week. Read the letter.

The Wichita Business Journal named Wichita State’s Office of Special Programs, a division of Student Affairs, as a leader in diversity. Special Programs is led by Deltha Colvin, associate vice president for Campus Life and University Relations. Wade Robinson, vice president for Student Affairs, called the work that Deltha and her team does extraordinary. “They provide opportunity, hope, and support to thousands of people each year and it is great they are being recognized for their tremendous work. The work that Deltha Colvin and Jim Rhatigan started so many years ago is well deserving of this recognition.” Additionally, the newspaper named WSU’s Kaye Monk-Morgan as a Leader in Diversity. Monk-Morgan is the director of Upward Bound Math and Science, and president of the nonprofit Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel.

Assistant Professor Neal Allen, Political Science, was recently quoted in the Newsweek article, “How Timothy McVeigh's Ideals Entered the Mainstream.” Allen was consulted for his expertise on nullification laws, past and present, and how extremist obstructs the normal ebb and flow of politics. Read the full article.

IN MEMORIAM

Professor Emeritus Robert Anderson, College of Education, died Saturday, April 18, in Wichita. Born April 3, 1930, in Onawa, Iowa, Anderson graduated from Onawa High School in 1947 and attended St. Olaf College for one year before transferring to the University of Iowa, graduating with his bachelor’s in 1952 and master’s in 1953. He relocated his family to Wichita in the summer of 1967 to teach at WSU, where he was instrumental in creating the Field Research Services Division, through which he obtained his pilot license to better serve his students and school boards in all areas of the state. He loved his job, meeting many people around the state working with them to write grants, create bond issues, consult, advise and administer in-services workshops to assist, promote and support Public Education in the State of Kansas. He retired in 1992. His activities at included athletic events, fine arts and auditing classes, and he and his wife helped fund many scholarships through the WSU Foundation. Anderson was preceded in death by his parents, Archie and Gladys Anderson, brother Myron, and wife of 62 years, Darlene. He is survived by three sons: Stephen (Naomi), of Wichita; Kevin (Diana) of Port Jefferson, N.Y.; and Brian, of Wichita. He also leaves behind seven grandchildren, Joshua (Stephanie) of Keller; Tex., Lindsey Brittain (Christopher) of Wichita; Allison Clark (Andrew) of Kissimmee, Fla.; Chelsea Humann (JJ), of Knoxville, Tenn.; Dana Titlow (Mathew) of Marysville, Tenn.; Ellyn Anderson and Ethan Anderson of Port Jefferson, N.Y.; and five great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, a memorial in the name of Dr. Robert E. Anderson has been established with the WSU Foundation, 1845 N Fairmount, Wichita, KS 67260-0002. Arrangements through Baker Funeral Home Wichita.

Carolyn Barbour, 71, retired after 32 years in the Controller’s Office at Wichita State, died Wednesday, April 29, in her home surrounded by family. Barbour was born September 23, 1943, in Dodge City, and was preceded in death by her parents, Leonard and Ruby Dim Cox. She is survived by husband, Robert Barbour of Wichita; son Jeff (Rhonda) McKibbin of Valley Center; son Brad (Stacy) Barbour of Valley Center; and daughter Lori (Troy) Ledbetter of Wichita; grandchildren, Amber Harris, Stephanie Bowling, Chance and Cooper McKibbin, Hannah, Jason and Alexandria Barbour; and three great-grandchildren. Memorials have been established with Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, 313 S. Market, Wichita, KS 67202; Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 7901 W. 21st St. N., Wichita, KS 67205, and Lifeline Animal Placement and Protection (a no-kill animal shelter), 310 W. 45th N., Wichita, Kansas, 67204.