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I'm A Hornet From President Allison D. Garrett

Seasonal Attire

Thanks to the Unwind Knit and Crochest recognized student organization, the Corky in front of Plumb Hal was ready for fall weather and Homecoming fun.

Turning Dirt

Around 100 ESU students, faculty, staff and alumni turned out last weekend to break ground for a new residence hall on the campus in Emporia. Faculty in the arts and performing arts provided input on the design of the new building, which will be directly across Market Street from both King and Beach halls, which house the departments of music, art and theater.  

New Index

Dr. Marc Fusaro presented the Emporia State Economic Index at the Emporia Area Economic Outlook Conference held on October 26. The index gives a timelier picture of the state of the economy in Kansas and its neighbors.  

Highest Honor

Congratulations to David Coufal, named the 2018 Kansas Principal of the Year. He earned his master’s degree from The Teachers College at ESU. A Topeka native, Coufal has been the principal at Hiawatha Middle School in USD 415 since 2005.

 

Archives

Thanks to Courtney Renfro and Maria Moylan, student assistants in Special Collections and Archives, a new campus timeline is available online. 

 

The Teacher’s College

The Halloween open house at The Earl Center was a multicultural event with games that showcased African-American, deaf community, Hispanic, Japanese and American roots. Thanks to elementary education and American Sign Language students who joined for learning and holiday fun.

Congratulations to alumnus Jesse Griffin (MS HPER, 1997) who was named the 2017 National High School Girls Track and Field Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track, Field, and Cross Country Coaches Association.

International advisors from University College Copenhagen in Denmark visited the one room schoolhouse on the Emporia State campus on November 2.

The class “High Impact Learning in Education” continues to introduce students to various venues and specialists in education. They have heard from a representative from the Kansas Association of School Boards, state legislators, Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson, and President of Kansas National Education Association Mark Farr.

Congratulations to students Morgan Kerfes, Makenzie Boltwood and Kayla Ayers who won the college bowl at the 2017 Kansas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance convention in Topeka in October.

Congratulations to Dr. Mark Stanbrough, professor of coaching education, who was recently selected as an executive committee member of the National Committee for the Accreditation of Coaching Education.

 

Athletics

Emporia State's Brian Newkirk has received an at large bid to the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships in Evansville, Indiana. He is the first Hornet male to qualify for the national meet in 15 years. 

The Emporia State soccer team had three players earn All-MIAA honors in a vote of the league coaches. Tanna Benefiel and Leah Mettam earned third-team honors while Bethany Reeves was an honorable mention selection.

 

Business

Susan Thomas with 10Fold Communications was honored as the Honorary Beta Gamma Sigma inductee and visited five classrooms, sharing her story and giving her advice of "Earn it, Be Helpful, Be the Example, and Be Great at Being You."

The School of Business recognized its 2017 Distinguished Alumni, Dr. Dan Deines and Jim Trecek, and Outstanding Recent Graduate, John Moyer, at a reception during Homecoming.

Craig and Brad Clark, brothers and alumni of ESU, were the guests for the first Executive Hour, a forum to bring accomplished business executives on campus periodically to deliver real-world information on select topics, outline the relevance of the topic for a new college graduate, and make themselves available for questions.

Congratulations to Beta Alpha Psi for being recognized internationally as a distinguished chapter for 2016–2017. The chapter has far exceeded the baseline requirements of Beta Alpha Psi and has excelled in the areas of academics, professionalism and leadership. Dr. George Durler and Dr. Liz Diers are the advisors.

Beta Alpha Psi held its first Trivia Night event on October 27.  Forty two students, faculty, and alumni participated in a friendly completion of answering trivia questions in six themed categories. This event also celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the installation of the Lambda Psi chapter at Emporia State University.

 

Arts and Sciences

Almost 60 Hispanic middle school students from across the state attended Si Se Puede at ESU on October 28. Students participated in four workshops led by Hispanic professionals from ESU and the Emporia community. The ESU student group HALO shared their college experiences and also helped with the event. The program is directed by Dr. Betsy Yanik, Dept of Mathematics and Economics. 

Many thanks to Koreyn Wight, a Social Science BSE student in Teaching with Primary Sources class, who helped out with a field trip for Americus seventh graders at Red Rocks State Historic Site on Friday, October 20. 

Nearly 500 students from across the state of Kansas attended Math Day at ESU on October 25. Students competed in algebra and geometry individual events as well as team events in algebra, geometry and a catch-all event called math scramble. Medals were handed out to the top 3 teams and top 5 individuals of each event and division. 

Thanks to the Learning Technologies department in Information Technology, Dr. Joyce Thierer’s perfoance as Kansas settler Mary Fix can be viewed online in virtual reality. 

Library & Information Management

Dr. Andrew Smith, associate professor, recently returned from another successful trip to Serbia with 11 students from SLIM’s Emporia, Kansas City, Colorado and Oregon cohorts as part of SLIM’s Global Experiences program. They spent 10 days in Serbia as part of a semester-long class, visiting libraries and archives and studying librarianship in a different cultural context.

Oregon SLIM Alum 2007 Sue Mecklem was elected treasurer of the legal division of Special Libraries Association in Oregon.

Oregon SLIM Alum 2006 Meredith Solomon has started a new position as outreach officer at Harvard Medical School, Countway Library of Medicine.

Peg Werner, SLIM 1991 alum, received the Minnesota Library Association's highest honor at last month's annual conference: the William G. Asp Distinguished Service Award. Pictured with her is her husband Perry, who is also a SLIM 1991 alum.

 

Information Technology

Events sponsored by IT to recognize October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month included guest speaker Steve Riat, a movie night featuring the documentary “Killswitch – The Battle to Control the Internet,” an information security contest for students and Donuts & Coffee roundtable discussions for faculty and staff. 

IT’s use of InstaVR in various academic classes is a showcased as a customer story on the company’s website. 

 

Conference 

Mallory Koci, clinical instructor for interdisciplinary studies, attended the second annual Know Your Worth Women's Leadership Conference at Kansas Leadership Center in September. The workshop connected women from around Kansas and asked them to construct a shared vision of a more prosperous state in their work, homes and communities.

Ellen Hansen, chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, attended the Tilford Conference on Diversity and Multiculturalism at Fort Hays State University in October.

Mallory Koci, clinical instructor for interdisciplinary studies, represented ESU in the Transformation Grant Strategy Workshop at the Kansas Leadership Center to further ESU's goals of creating a culture of change and leadership on campus. She was subsequently invited to join the KLC Faculty in Residence here at ESU. 

 

Publications

Dr. Kat O’Meara, Department of English, Modern Languages, & Journalism, recently published a chapter, “Building the Infrastructure of L2 Writing Support: The Case of Arizona State University,” is featured in the edited collection of The Internationalization of Writing Programs.

Congratulations to Jeremy Tiemann (M.S. Biology 2002) on his recent publications in Freshwater Mollusk Biology & Conservation:

  • Stocola, K.W., A.P. Stodola, and Jeremy Tiemann. 2017. Survival of translocated Clubshell and Northern Riffleshell in Illinois. Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation 20:89-102. 
  • Ashton, M.J., Jeremy Tiemann, and D. Jua. 2017. Evaluation of costs associated with externally affixing PIT tags to freshwater mussels using three commonly employed adhesives. Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation 20:114-122.

SLIM Dean Dr. Wooseob Jeong published “Media Visualization of Book Cover Images: Exploring Differences among Bestsellers in Different Countries” in Digital Humanities Quarterly, 11 (3).

 

Presentations

Dr. Evandro Camara, Sociology, Anthropology, Crime and Delinquency Studies, presented “The Phenomenology of Being: A Schutzian Account of Race” at the Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences conference October 18-21 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Connie Schrock, professor in Mathematics and Economics, spoke at several mathematical conferences this past month. She presented:

  • “Leadership Today” at the Texas Association of Supervisors of Mathematics in Austin, Texas, October 17.
  • “Moving Learning Forward with Learning Targets, Formative Assessments and Feedback” at the NCTM Regional Conference in Orlando, Florida, October 19.
  • “Density — How does it impact Equity?” at the Council of Chief State School Officers in the mathematics session for the State Collaboratives on Assessment and Student Standards in Dallas, Texas, October 25.

Dr. Derek Yonai, Koch Center for Leadership and Ethics, conducted a workshop titled “Trade and Culture” on October 21 at the 2017 Texas Council for the Social Studies Conference in Irving, Texas.

Also, on Oct. 23 Dr. Yonai gave a public lecture titled “The Need for Free Enterprise in Business Education” at Wheeling Jesuit University's Institute for the Study of Capitalism and Morality. 

School of Business Assistant Professor Steven Lovett, J.D., who served as appellate counsel on behalf of former New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, as well as other state officials, won an appeal, issued on October 31, 2017, by the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals, Cause No. 08-14-00060-CV, that will become a published legal opinion in West Publishing’s South Western Reporter, 3d. 

Dr. Christopher Stone and his coauthor, Dr. Jennifer Stone of Wichita State presented “Enough with POLC: Using Education Theory to Improve the Teaching of Principles of Management” at the annual meeting of the Southern Management Association.

Dr. Mark Stanbrough, professor of coaching education, and ESU coaching education students presented “Developing Mental Skills to Enhance Activity and Performance “at the 2017 Kansas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance convention in Topeka on October 26. Students included Jessy Schriefer, Taylor Winegarner, Alex Griffin, Kayla Ayer, Gabe Sams, Iva Shepherd, Shelby Marten, Dominic Rios.

Ken Murfay, instructor in Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and students Dominic Rios and Cameron Peak presented “Fitness Ideas for Physical Education” at the 2017 Kansas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance convention in Topeka on October 26.

Dr. Mark Stanbrough, professor of coaching education, presentedTaking It to the Coaches — Introducing Mental Skills to Athletes and Coaches” at the Association for Applied Sports Psychology National Convention in Orlando, Florida, in October.

Dr. Andrew Smith, associate professor in SLIM, with students Sabrina Davis, Sara Motsinger, Jim Powers and Melinda Rittgers presented “A different type of learning: Discovering librarianship in Serbia” at the annual meeting of the Kansas Library Association and Kansas Association of School Librarians in Wichita, Kansas.