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

Rick Pappas, physical education educator, received the SHAPE America Central District Honor Award at the Central District Conference in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Jan. 26. The Central District is composed of nine states and the Honor Award is the highest award given to its members.

On Dec. 4, 2017, Program Educational Assistant Miguel Sabas was recognized by the Wichita Public Schools Board of Education with the Good Apple Award. According to the program, “the Good Apple Award program allows schools and administrative support centers to recognize employees, volunteers and partners who provide exemplary service to the district and its students. Award recipients are nominated and selected at the building where their efforts are most profoundly felt.” Sabas was selected by school officials at Wichita North High School. He also provides services to students at Pleasant Valley Middle School. Principal Sherman Padgett of North High School provided the following excerpts that were printed in the ceremony’s program. “Through the TRIO program, Miguel meets with many North High School students and serves as a mentor to them. He provides assistance and guidance as they plan for postsecondary opportunities. He is very approachable and serves as a valuable resource to our students.”

PRESENTATIONS

Michael E. Rogers coauthored a presentation with colleagues from the University of Nevada titled, “Impact of adding resistance training to a clinical weight management program,” given at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Chicago on Oct. 21-24, 2017.

Heidi A. VanRavenhorst-Bell and her Graduate Research Assistant, Brianna Caldwell, recently presented at the 2017 Annual American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention in Los Angeles. Their research focused on “Age-Responsive Relationship between Tongue Muscle Performance and Physiological Measures.” This was Caldwell’s first time to attending and presenting at a national conference, and she did a wonderful job presenting to over 14,000 attendees.

PUBLICATIONS

Noell Birondo, associate professor of philosophy, published a critical review of Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski’s new book “Exemplarist Moral Theory” (Oxford UP) in the most widely read journal in the discipline of philosophy for book reviews, “Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.” Zagzebski is the George Lynn Cross research professor and Kingfisher college chair of the philosophy of religion and ethics at the University of Oklahoma. Birondo’s article can be found at http://ntrda.me/2nU2pPF

Jason Li coauthored an article with colleagues from Texas Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University titled, “Academic Adaptation among International Students from East Asian Countries: A Consensual Qualitative Research” in the Journal of International Students, 8, 194-214. The article can be viewed at http://bit.ly/2srtu1l

Sport Management’s Wonyoung Kim weighs in on the ability of PyeongChang to turn the opportunity of hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics into a profitable tourist attraction in the Jan. 30 issue of Forbes magazine. http://bit.ly/2sqqylv

NEW APPOINTMENTS

Michael E. Rogers was appointed to the National Council on Aging’s Evidence-Based Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Program Review Council. He will be responsible for identifying community programs that meet the highest level of U.S. Administration for Community Living program criteria established for evidence-based programs and to recommend funding through the Older Americans Act (OAA) Title III-D for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Services.

EMERITUS FACULTY

The Office of Academic Affairs announces new emeriti faculty:

Deborah S. Ballard-Reisch, professor emerita of communication, effective July 1, 2017
Darwin A. Dorr, professor emeritus of psychology, effective July 1, 2017
Marie A. King, professor emerita of music, effective June 1, 2017
Don E. Malzahn, professor emeritus of industrial systems and manufacturing engineering, effective, December 18, 2017
Nancy A. McKellar, associate professor emerita of counseling, educational leadership, educational and school psychology, effective August 1, 2017
Michael J. Palmiotto, professor emeritus of criminal justice, effective December 31, 2017

IN MEMORIAM

Brad R. Victory, 71 years, former ballroom dance champion, instructor and dance lecturer at Wichita State University, passed away on Friday, Dec. 29, 2017. He was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of the late Roy and Dorothy (Honn) Victory. After graduating from Valley Center High School in 1964, he served in the U.S. Navy. After his military service, Victory trained in Dallas as a ballroom dance instructor. He won many competitions, both professional and with his students, and was one of the judges at the Jr. Ballroom Dance Championships at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, and at the All American Girl Pageant at Astroworld. In the early 1970’s he taught at Arthur Murray’s of Hollywood, and in the late 70’s he was an instructor at Fred Astaire, south of Houston, before opening his own studio, The Galleria Studio of Dance in 1981. He and his students danced at the Wichita Downtown Lions Club Pancake Day every year since 1982. He began his career at WSU in 1993. He is survived by his sisters Joetta (Ambrose) Antoine of Wichita, Gloria & Ralph McGinley of Wichita, brother Rex (Anita) Victory of Valley Center, many other nieces and nephews. Service took place at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 8, with visitation before the service at Grace Church of the Nazarene, 1024 W. 53rd N., Wichita, Kansas. Graveside followed the service at the Valley Center Memorial Cemetery. Condolences may be left for the family at www.bakerfhvc.com

Cratic-Bullock, Lee, Bennie 82, died January 17, 2018. She was a retired Wichita State custodian who worked at WSU from 1984-96. She is survived by daughters Sheila Officer, Cheryl Cratic, Anita Parker and son Gay Jackson.