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 current and former colleagues.

AWARDS/HONORS

WSU College of Education Dean Shirley Lefever has been selected to serve on the Kansas Education Commissioner’s Blue Ribbon Task Force, which will study and make recommendations to the Kansas State Board of Education on how to remedy the shortage of qualified teachers in Kansas. The task force comprises 26 education professionals from across the state, considered to be the top strategic minds in education.

Susan Norton, director of the Office of Adult Learning, has been selected as a member of the Stamats Adult Student Marketing Conference Advisory Board. Selected from numerous applicants, the nine members of the board will provide expertise across a wide range of topics and disciplines specific to the Stamats conference. As part of being selected, Norton receives a complimentary registration for the 2017 Adult Student Marketing Conference, taking place Feb. 7–9, 2017.

KMUW, Wichita Public Radio 89.1 FM has been honored with three prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association for excellence in a four state region. The news team has been honored with Edward R. Murrow Awards for feature reporting by Abigail Wilson, investigative reporting by Deborah Shaar and news documentary by Abigail Wilson. In addition to the Murrow awards, Wilson garnered a Gracie Award from The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation for “The Pieces That Remain,” and KMUW has been recognized as the Large Market Radio Station of the Year by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters for the last two years.

Mel Kahn, professor of political science, has been elected president of the Wichita Downtown Lions Club. Lions Clubs give people the opportunity to give back to their communities by getting involved in local projects.

Cheryl Miller, senior assistant dean for Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been selected as the 2016 Communicator of Achievement by the Kansas Professional Communicators. This award considers professional achievement, community service and service to the National Federation of Press Women, Kansas Professional Communicators and Wichita Professional Communicators.

Jay Price, professor of history, received the 2016 John R. Barrier Distinguished Teaching Award. The award honors humanities and social sciences faculty who exhibit excellent teaching and influence upon the lives and career choices of their students.

Alexandre Shvartsburg, assistant professor of chemistry, was selected as one of three WSU faculty to receive the 2015-16 Coleman Fellowship. Faculty chosen as Coleman Fellows teach courses and projects, generally outside the college of business that support self-employment education for their students.

Deborah Ballard-Reisch, Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Chair in Strategic Communications, was selected for the president’s Distinguished Service Award. Recipients are recognized for having demonstrated outstanding service to the university community beyond their job descriptions.

Barbara Chaparro, associate professor of psychology, is the recipient of the Excellence in Research Award. The award is given annually to a Wichita State University faculty member who has established an exemplary and demonstrable record of research that has not only enhanced the faculty member’s career, but has also advanced the university’s research mission.

William Groutas, WSU Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, was recognized with the Academy of Effective Teaching Award, a student nominated award. Finalists in the nomination process submit teaching portfolios, which are then evaluated by Academy Steering Committee members.

Four Fairmount College faculty members were recognized for their work at the first Innovation Celebration award ceremony, hosted by WSU Ventures in October. William Groutas, WSU Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and Douglas English, associate professor of chemistry, each received the Patent Award. Barbara Chaparro, associate professor of psychology, accepted the Ambassador Award, and Jibo He, assistant professor of psychology, was honored with the Newsmaker Award. Awardees were chosen because of their adoption and advancement of the Innovation University initiative.

Carmen Garcia won honorable mention in the Sodexo Heroes of Everyday Life award for her work with feeding the homeless in the community. Garcia uses her own time and money to prepare and sell food to raise funds for feeding the homeless. Regardless of weather or her own personal health, Garcia announces to the homeless community each week when she will be providing food so her events help the maximum number of people. She was awarded a $1000 prize, which she plans to use to provide tables and chairs for the homeless and to obtain a license to give out food at the local food bank. 

Lyle “Leon” Flickenger won the District Sodexo Experience Award for April. Since 1968, Flickenger has been a part of the Wichita State University Dining Services team, starting as a cashier and moving on to a utility worker in 2008. Flickenger retired in May after 48 years of service.

Mike Ross, sport management educator, was presented the 2016 Leadership in the Advancement of Teaching award at the Education Faculty Awards Ceremony.

The Special Programs Magazine titled “Ignite Freedom Through Education” won first place from the Kansas Professional Communicators organization in the “Newsletters –Nonprofit, Governmental or Educational” category. The magazine is now qualified for entry in the national competition. Committee members include Larry Ramos, Wilma Moore-Black, Travis Feeney, Ashley Cervantes and Alan Dsouza. The Special Program Magazine is published under the supervision of Deltha Q. Colvin, associate vice president for Student Affairs.

Gayla Lohfink, professor of Curriculum and Instruction, was awarded the 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award at the Education Faculty Awards Ceremony.

Doris T. Chang, associate professor of Women’s Studies, was invited to join the editorial board of the International Journal of Taiwan Studies, from 2016-20. In addition, she was invited to give a presentation on “Women’s Empowerment and Leadership in East Asia,” at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington.

GRANTS

James Beck, assistant professor of biological sciences, procured a $149,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for his project, “Phylogenomic analyses of goldenrods (Solidago, Asteraceae) using herbarium specimens.” His work will use genomic data from hundreds of museum specimens to reconstruct the diversity and evolutionary history of this challenging plant group. Three WSU undergraduate researchers will participate in this experience, combining museum, laboratory and bioinformatic techniques.

PRESENTATIONS

Beatrice Latavietz, assistant professor of Educational Psychology, presented “Dynamic Assessment of Slavic Interactive and Persuasive Performance,” at GURT 2016. She also presented “Socialization via metadiscourse in Collaborative Reasoning discussions and essays: Inclusive of quiet and shy children,” at the AERA Centennial Annual Meeting in Washington.

Elizabeth Behrman, professor of physics, gave two invited talks in India in November. She delivered the keynote address at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Conference on Research in Computational Intelligence and Communication Networks and was an inaugural speaker at the Quantum and Nanocomputing Systems and Applications conference in Agra.

Kenneth Kriz, Regents Distinguished Professor of Public Finance, opened Economic Opportunity in Kansas, a conference about upcoming economic policy. Kriz discussed the state of the economy and economic opportunity in Kansas.

Chinyere Okafor, professor of Women’s Studies, gave a keynote presentation at the Social Science International Conference at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Nigeria, in December.

Anh Tran, associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction and co-editor of the book “Teaching Listening: Voices from the Field,” was invited to introduce the book to prospective and current members at the TESOL 2016 International Conference: 50 Reflecting Forward 1966-2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. 

PUBLICATIONS

David (Jingjun) Xu, assistant professor in the Department of Finance, Real Estate & Decision Sciences, published “Do different kinds of trust matter? An examination of the three trusting beliefs on satisfaction and purchase behavior in the buyer-seller context,” in the Journal of Strategic Information Systems, along with colleagues from the University of British Columbia. The journal is ranked fifth among the 85 journals in the category of Information Science & Library Science by the Journal Citation Reports 2014 (Thomson Reuters).

Elaine Steinke, professor for the School of Nursing, co-authored “Sexual counseling for sexual problems in patients with cardiovascular disease,” published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. She also had two book chapters, “Ineffective sexuality patterns” and “Sexual dysfunction,” published in the Nursing Diagnosis Handbook, and a chapter, “Issues regarding sexuality,” published in Evidence-Based Geriatric Nursing Protocols for Best Practice.

Heidi VanRavenhorst-Bell, clinical educator in Human Performance Studies, along with her colleagues, published an interdisciplinary line of research involving the Department of Human Performance Studies and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. The study, “Tongue strength and endurance: Comparison in active and non-active young and older adults,” is the first of many collaborative works to establish a better understanding of the potential beneficial effect physical activity may have on tongue muscle performance (e.g., swallowing, maintaining upper airway patency). The study was published in the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. To read the article, go to http://bit.ly/27Smgil.

Jim Wolff, professor of Management in the Barton School of Business, was recently honored by Emerald Group Publishing for his article, “Small firm growth as a function of both learning orientation and entrepreneurial orientation: an empirical analysis.” The article was published in the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research. The journal’s editorial team selected the article as a Highly Commended Paper in the 2016 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence.

The Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Five Easy Steps for Not Bungling the NFL Draft,” which featured research done by WSU professors of Economics Philip Hersch and Jodi Pelkowski. To read the article, go to http://on.wsj.com/1YZdZDa.

James Schwartz, philosophy instructor, co-edited “The Ethics of Space Exploration” with Tony Milligan of Kings College, London. The book features essays by many established contributors to space ethics, policy and law discussions. Authors include Schwartz and Milligan, along with award-winning science fiction author Stephen Baxter; Jacques Arnould of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales; Mark Lupisella of NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center; Charles Cockell of the U.K. Centre for Astrobiology and Frans von der Dunk of the University of Nebraska. For more information about the book, go to http://bit.ly/1UdptSb.

Cheryl Miller, senior assistant dean for Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, won several awards at the Kansas Professional Communicators’ contest for her publications. Her features, “Hunger Awareness One Focus of Professor’s Work” and “Dean Profile: Paul Magelli” won second place in their respective categories. She also won second place for her work on the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Newsletter.

Chelsea Redger, assistant director of Student Involvement, was featured on the NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education blog. The piece she wrote focuses on blogging as used by alternative spring break and study abroad students. To read the blog, go to http://bit.ly/1Rqwp9X.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

David Cain and Larry Walker are joining university staff to work in Dining Services. Cain, who has a degree in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University, has worked in university dining at Northeastern State University and Oklahoma City University. He will be joining WSU in Resident Dining. Walker worked as the executive chef at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Wichita for 16 years, and will work with the catering team at WSU.

The College of Education’s Curriculum and Instruction Department will welcome a new department head, Kim McDowell, and a new assistant professor in Special Education, Heidi Cornell, for the upcoming academic year.

MISCELLANEOUS

Jeri Carroll¸ professor from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, is retiring after 33 years at WSU.

Christine Downey-Schmidt was presented with the College of Education Champion Award at the college's recognition night in May. Downey-Schmidt is the co-chair of the College of Education Advisory Board, serves on the board of trustees of the Higher Learning Commission and is a former Kansas state senator. Downey-Schmidt presented an Ed Talk in April in which she urged students, faculty and community members to be involved in their communities and to advocate for children.

Alan Held, associate professor in the School of Music, is currently rehearsing in Washington for three complete cycles of Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Held is recognized as one of the leading singing actors on the operatic scene and has been recognized around the world for his portrayals of Wagner and Richard Strauss over his 30-year performing career. Next year, he will appear at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, The Vienna State Opera, and in concert with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

President John Bardo and Coach Gregg Marshall, along with Darryl Carrington, community laison, and Ted Ayres, director of Community Engagement and Opportunity, spoke at a statewide summit for community engagement on health and safety at the Fairmount park community center in May.

Heidi VanRavenhorst-Bell, clinical educator in the Department of Human Performance Studies, has been an entrepreneurial mentor to one of the final six teams in the 2016 Shocker New Venture Competition, NanoFit LLC.

Nick Taylor, Sport Management lecturer, has qualified for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio to play tennis with Team USA.

Frank Rokosz, assistant professor of Human Performance Studies, tied for the longest faculty tenure in the department at 43 years. He tied Gladys Taggart, who taught in the department from 1928-71, and Twyla Sherman, who taught in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction from 1965-2008.

IN THE NEWS

Misty Bruckner, director, Public Policy and Management Center, was featured in WalletHub’s article about 2016's cities with the most efficient public spending. To read the piece, go to http://bit.ly/1Vo2OVL.

IN MEMORIAM

Donna Louise Strong, 85, died on April 19 in Scott City, Kansas. Strong graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she got her bachelor’s degree in Business Accounting as one of three women in her degree program. She moved to Wichita in 1952 for a job with Boeing, where she worked for nine years. In 1976, Strong accepted a position at Wichita State University, where she worked in accounting for 17 years. Strong is survived by her daughter, Brenda Strong; and her son, Greg Strong.