Master Class
Congratulations to Ezgi Karakus, lecturer in music and doctor of musical arts student at University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. Ezgi was one of two students selected for a master class with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
New Program
The Teachers College now offers a Master’s in Elementary Educationprogram designed for career changers interested in teaching. Courses will launch in the summer of 2018.
Master Teachers
Seven educators representing nearly 160 years of classroom experience were honored as the 2018 class of Kansas Master Teachers April 4. The teachers, including four Emporia State alumni, toured campus, hosted a seminar for education majors, and were honored with a banquet and award ceremony during the 2018 Kansas Master Teacher Day.
Continued High Performance
Congratulations to our recent nursing graduates who posted a 96.15 percent pass rateon the National Council Licensure Examination, or NCLEX. Emporia State’s pass rate was the highest of Kansas programs and topped the state average of 82 percent and national average of 87 percent, according to data from the Kansas State Board of Nursing.
Arts & Sciences
More than 70 students, family members and faculty attended the Mathematics and Economics Department’s scholarship ceremonyon March 29. The department awarded more than $60,000 to current and incoming freshmen students for the 2018-19 academic year.
Dr. Shelly Rowley (Assistant Professor, Sociology) and four students attended the 2018 Midwest Sociological Society Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This year’s theme was “Sociology and the Public’s Health.” Attending were Dillon Reichert, Shelby Fairchild, Cherie Crisp and Emily Velazquez. Dr. Rowley helped in conducting a tour of the Family Tree Clinic; a community-based clinic that helps people who would otherwise not have access to health care.
Madison Galliano (Senior, Sociology major) coordinated a tour of the Lyon County jail for students in theSociology of Correctionsclass. The students had an opportunity to learn about the daily operation of the jail and about some of the challenges and problems facing the staff and the inmates.
Thanks to biology graduate students Jen Buchanan, Michael Marh and Justin Autz for presenting a talk on turtlesto LeaAnn Guion’s class at Lord’s Lambs Preschool in Emporia.
Chris Lovett, professor in social sciences, presented the keynote address at “Remembering Vietnam,”a memorial event for Vietnam veterans and their families at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene.
The Teachers College
On March 10, ESU’s Art Therapy program held its 44th Annual Art Therapy Discovery Day. Program alumni Megan O’Brien gave a presentation on community art therapy services and Ali Boughn presented on polyvagal theory and art therapy. Faculty members Libby Schmanke, Jessica Stallings and Gaelynn Wolf Bordonaro coordinated the day’s events.
More than 80 people attended the ninth annual More than the X’s and O’s one-day coaching workshop April 3 at Emporia State, coordinated by Dr. Mark Stanbrough, coaching education. The audience consisted of coaches and athletic directors from Kansas as well as Emporia State coaching education students.
Dr. Jim Persinger, chair of Department of Psychology, was interviewed for a Kansas Public Radio article on the shortage of school psychologistsin Kansas.
Academic Affairs
Congratulations to these faculty who received tenure and promotions. Tenure: Heather Caswell, Dan Colson, Sonja Ezell, Shawn Keough, John Morton, Damara Paris, Gina Peek, Rochelle Rowley, Gaile Stephens and Sarah Sutton. Promoted to associate professor: Heather Caswell, Rob Catlett, Dan Colson, Sonja Ezell, Shawn Keough, Mary Mitsui, Damara Paris, Rochelle Rowley, Gaile Stephens and Sarah Sutton. Promoted to professor: Michael Dennis, William Jensen, Kirsten Limpert, John Morton and Jun Yu.
Congratulations to Jared Burton, academic advisor in the Student Advising Center, selected as one of only 10 mentors in the NACADA Emerging Leaders Program. Through the program, Jared will serve as a mentor to an advising colleague for two years. Jared currently serves on several NACADA committees. He is the Region 7 state representative for Kansas and a member of the KAAN steering committee.
Student Affairs
Emporia State’s TRIO staff were busy during the recent Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Chapter of the Educational Opportunity AssociationAnnual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Julie Cayton serves as the president of the tri-state chapter; Shanna Eggers served as a trainer for the Members Involved in Leadership and Engagement program, and Kristi Bolen, Eden Tullis and Marla Frye served on the conference planning committee. Others who attended were Anne Bordonaro, Concha Dikin, Whitney Fulton, Lisa Jones, Courtney Crawford and Anita Muniz.
Three Emporia State TRIO students, all nominated by staff, received scholarships. Amanda Gross and Elizabeth Reyes, Student Support Services participants, received $1,000 Board of Directors Scholarships. Gustavo Murillo, Talent Search participant, received a $1,000 Board of Directors Scholarship and a $500 TRIO Works Scholarship to be awarded during the 2018-2019 academic year.
Business
On March 29th, the Koch Center for Leadership and Ethics hosted its second Governance, Law, and Economics Lectureof the spring. The lecture was given by Dr. Scott Beaulier, dean of the College of Business at North Dakota State University. Dr. Beaulier discussed Africa’s economic growth over the past 15 years and the role institutions played in achieving it.
The Koch Center for Leadership and Ethics hosted a session at the Association for Private Enterprise Educationmeetings in Las Vegas which took place April 1-4. A panel, moderated by Center Director Dr. Derek Yonai, spoke about their teaching projects supported by the Koch Center and included a teaching demonstration by Professors Dr. Kevin Johnson and Dr. Steve Lovett. The panel included Dr. Matt Seimears, two of his students (Kaitlyn Isch and Maya VanTrece), Dr. Sara Schwerdtfeger, Johnson, and Lovett. Yonai also presented his paper, “Rational Irrationality: Incivility, the new normal?” in a separate session titled, “Ethics, Philosophy, and Sociology.”
Congratulations to Dr. Joyce Zhou, who received the 2018 Mary Headrick Awardfor making a long-term commitment to promoting the growth of women in our school and community.
Beta Alpha Psi members assisted students at Riverside Elementary School with learning about financial literacy using Money Island,a program offered through ESB Financial.
The First Executive Leadership Summitwill be Friday, April 20, from 11:30 to 1 p.m. featuring three alumnae who are “Women who Mean Business” in the Kansas City: Denise Kruse, Teresa Martin and Linda Sinnett. Tickets cost $20 and include lunch. Community and ESU faculty, staff, and students are invited. Please RSVP to gestes@emporia.edu.
Library & Information Management
Congratulations to Jim Walther, assistant professor in SLIM, and Cynthia Kane, professor and director of assessment in University Libraries & Archives, who are running for offices in Library Instruction Round Table.Jim is running for vice president/president elect; Cynthia is a candidate for secretary.
Publications
Jeremy Tiemann (MS Biology 2002) co-wrote “First occurrence of a novel Corbicula (Bivalvia: Cobiculidae) Form D lineage in the Ohio River, USA,” which was published in The Nautilus.Jeremy is aquatic ecologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey.
“Geographic Distribution. Apalone spiniferaspinifera (Eastern Spiny Softshell) in Woodson Co., KS,” written by Greg Sievert (Biology clinical instructor) was published in Herpetological Review.
Dustin Michelson, Biology graduate student, and Greg Sievert, Biology clinical instructor, co-wrote “Geographic Distribution. Apalone spinifera spinifera (Eastern Spiny Softshell) in Lyon Co., KS,” which was published in Herpetological Review.
Biology student Caitlin Schoeck and David Edds, Biology professor, co-wrote “Lemur use of hands versus mouth” from Caite’s internship at the David Traylor Zoo in Emporia and her undergraduate research project in the Department of Biological Sciences. It was published in Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science.
Presentations
At the annual Online Northwest Conferencein Portland, Oregon, Dr. Sandra J. Valenti, (Assistant Professor, SLIM) presented a session on “About Being Accessible: Your Communication from a Universal Design Perspective”; and current Oregon 2017 student, Dr. Lynne Stahl, presented a lightning talk on “Allusive Meaning in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: Digital Humanities as Curricular Enhancement.”
Dr. Lendi Bland, elementary education, presented “Implementing a first-year seminar course: Process and Progress” at the Critical Questions in Education Conferenceheld in Portland, Oregon, March 5, 6, and 7.
Dr. Gaelynn Wolf Bordonaro, art therapy, was the keynote speaker at the Hofstra University Creative Arts Therapy Conferenceon March 29 in Hempstead, New York. Her speech was titled, “Nontraditional Media Exploration and the Ethical Mandate of Self-Care: Clinical, Cross-Cultural, and Personal Engagement with Art Materials.”
Dr. Kat O’Meara (assistant professor, English, Modern Languages and Journalism) presented twice at the 2018 Conference on College Composition and Communicationin Kansas City, Missouri. She led a half-day pre-conference workshop titled “Your Transition Toolkit: Successfully Moving from Graduate School to Early Career Professional” and presented on a panel, “Where Writing Happens: Making WAC/WID Work Visible and Valued at Diverse Institutions.”
Honors English student Alyssa Wistuba presented at the Undergraduate Research Poster Presentationat the 2018 Conference on College Composition and Communication. Her poster, “Making the Pages Bleed: An Error and Feedback Study of Mainstream and Multilingual Writers,” was based on an action research study she completed in Dr. Kat O’Meara’s spring 2017 “Introduction to Second Language Writing” class.
Conferences