Happy Birthday!
Paul Edwards, creator of Emporia State’s Corky the Hornet, celebrated his 102nd birthday on January 12. He earned a shout-out from NBC’s Today Show, pictured above. The photo shows Paul and his son, David.
The Teachers College
Congratulations to Joella Mehrhof, professor in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, who will be inducted into the North American Society for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport and Dance during the SHAPE America Convention in Boston on March 16.
Emporia State's Athletic Training's Quiz Bowl team consisting of students Jared Bashaw, Ali Lee, Lindsey Maxwell and Daisuke Monda finished as the runner-up in the 2016 Kansas Athletic Trainers Society student quiz bowl in November. They will be one of two teams representing the state at the Mid-American Athletic Trainers’ Association (District 5) Meeting in Omaha in March.
Eleven Emporia State Coaching Education students conducted a Mental Skills and Drills for Athletes Workshop at Waverly on November 29, with 80 middle and high school students participating. They will conduct additional workshops with area middle and high school students in the spring of 2017.
Lincoln Elementary in Clay Center, headed by Principal Matt Weller (MS, 2011 - Education Administration), was one of 68 schools to be named a 2016 National School of Character by Character.org.
Tom Grady (BSE ’93; MS ’02) is the new assistant director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Congratulations to the five faculty members who were recognized last week for their work within The Teachers College. John Morton received the Excellence in Instruction Award; Neal Luo earned the Excellence in Scholarly Activity Award. George Yancey was presented the Excellence in Service Award. The Darrell E. Wood Served Award was given to Bob Aman, and the Ervay Family Award for Applied Scholarship was given to Jim Persinger. Learn more…
Athletics
Congratulations to five ESU football players who earned spots on the 2016 Don Hansen Football Committee All-Super Region Three Team. Offensive guard Jarrett Stastny and defensive lineman Eddie Vinson earned first-team honors while receiver Mitchell Foote, linebacker Kole Schankie and cornerback AJ West were named to the third team. Learn more…
What’s even better than making the game-winning half-court shot to beat Washburn in basketball? Making ESPN’s Top 10 Plays! Congratulations to Brandon Hall, who earned national exposure for his feat. See the video…
The Emporia State track and field women posted three provisional qualifiers as they had two event champions and four runner-up performances at the Shocker Prelude hosted by Wichita State. The Hornet men had one provisional, three event champions and two runners-up on the day. In the team standings, the Hornet women placed second and the men third. Learn more…
Arts & Sciences
Bill Jensen, associate professor of biological sciences, shared his latest research grant on the Kansas Ag Network’s podcast Dec. 29. The study of how grazing on grasslands affects plants and wildlife if a joint project with Wichita State researchers and received $1.05 million in federal funding. Learn more…
Alumna Kristen Mengelkoch (BFA 2002) was featured in a Cincinnati.com article profiling her and her twin sister, Kelly, and their acting careers. Learn more…
An original work by Martin Cuellar, professor of music, had its world premiere at the Lincoln (Nebraska) Music Teachers Association concert Jan. 8. “Vals Melódico” was commissioned by and written for LMTA by Cuellar.
Husband-and-wife duo, Kevin Rabas, professor and chair of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism; and Lisa Moritz, associate affirmative action officer and Title IX deputy coordinator, are having success with their Open Mic event during Emporia’s First Friday arts activities. Both read their original works and Moritz sings during the event, which also gives ESU students an opportunity to read or perform, often their first public appearances. Learn more…
Michael Smith, professor and chair of social sciences, provided expert analysis for Kansas Public Radio’s broadcast of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s State of the State address on January 10. That appearance followed his participation in KPR Presents on January 8. Listen to KPR Presents…
Congratulations to double-theater major Isabella Tate, who was featured in the Pontiac (Illinois) Daily Leader newspaper for her visit to the home of Albert D.J. Cashier in Saunemin, Illinois. Tate is working on a three-act play focusing on Cashier, a woman who came to the U.S. from Ireland, enlisted in the Union Army as a man during the Civil War, then settled in Saunemin and lived the rest of his life as a man. Learn more…
Library & Information Management
Congratulations to Christy Davis, alumna of SLIM’s Oregon program, who was named Person of the Year by the Herald and News. Davis is director of the Klamath County Library. Learn more…
Graduation ceremonies were held at our distance locations earlier this month. The Salt Lake City program graduated 20 students on January 6 and also was host for orientation for 13 new students. In Denver on January 8, 22 students graduated and another 22 attended orientation. Learn more…
Congratulations to two recent Salt Lake City graduates. Ashley Will will start work as a librarian at the Salina (Kansas) Public Library. Hyunjin Han continues in her position as librarian in the Mandel Public Library in West Palm Beach, Florida, a position she began while still a student.
Police & Safety
ESU Police welcomes Luis Villarreal, a new police officer trainee who reported for duty January 3. Luis has approximately 10 years of experience with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office as a detention officer. Luis began Basic Training Tuesday at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center.
Alumni
When the Kansas Legislature opened its 2017 session on January 9, there were a number of Hornets serving as elected lawmakers. See the full list…
Business
Congratulations to Joyce Zhou, marketing professor, for recently graduating from the 29th Leadership Emporia class. Leadership Emporia was established by the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce as an educational program designed to nurture and enhance the leadership skills of individuals from all segments of our community.
The Koch Center for Leadership and Ethics has announced the Faculty Grant Awards for Spring 2017. Each grant award is $3,000 and was awarded on the basis of an applicant’s proposal for an embedded course project which will focus on “Ethics and Leadership” or “Can Ethics be Taught in the Classroom?” or “Freedom vs. Control.” The following six ESU faculty members have been awarded a grant: Deanne Howell, instructor, The Teacher’s College; Diane Nutbrown, assistant professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Satvir Singh, assistant professor, School of Business; Andrew Smith, associate professor, School of Library Information and Management; Christopher Stone, assistant professor, School of Business; and Susan Zuber-Chall, instructor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Congratulations to Thomas Houk, MBA student, (and student advisor Marc Fusaro) for being named a finalist at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka on February 28 for his poster abstract titled “Improved Tracking of Kansas Economic Activity.” The Summit is being hosted by representatives from six Kansas regents’ universities.
Emporia State University and the School of Business will be hosting the District VII FBLA conference on February 1. Historically, this brings over 350 high school students to campus who are members of FBLA. Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, Inc. (FBLA-PBL) is the largest career student organization in the world.
Call for essays! Board members of the Kansas Business Hall of Fame, located in Cremer Hall, are inviting Lyon County high school students to participate in its first annual KBHF Essay Contest. If you know a high school student in Lyon County, share this link with them. Information about the contest can be found at the bottom of the web page. https://www.emporia.edu/business/community/kbhf/
Presentations
- Gaile Stephens, assistant professor of music education; Dawn McConkie, professor clarinet) and Riley Day, ESU alumna and orchestra teacher at Emporia Middle School; will present “Say What?!? Teaching Music Theory and Composition Through Popular Song Formats” at the 2017 Kansas Music Educators Association conference on Feb. 24 in Wichita.
- Eric Yang, associate professor and chair of biological sciences, and six biology students attended and presented six posters at the General Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology on December 3 through 7 in San Francisco.
- Mirah Dow, professor in School of Library and Information Management, and Kenneth Thompson, professor of physical sciences, presented “Co-teaching in Physical Sciences at the University Level: Positive Impacts of Combining Two Areas of Expertise” at the Association for Science Teacher Education on January 12, in Des Moines, Iowa.
- Antonina Bauman, School of Business, presented her paper “Teaching a Capstone Course in Strategic Management” at the 15th Hawaii International Conference on Education in Honolulu on January 4.
- Amanda Lickteig, assistant professor in School Leadership / Middle and Secondary Teacher Education, presented “Stepping into the Role of Teacher: A Case Study of a Secondary Teacher Expanded Practice (STEP) Internship” at the Hawaii International Conference on Education.
- Neal Luo, associate professor in School Leadership / Middle and Secondary Teacher Education, presented a paper “Do the Long-Term Outcomes of Public and Private College Education Differ?” at the Hong Kong International Conference on Education, Psychology and Society, December 14 through 17.
Publications
- Kevin Rabas, professor and chair of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism, who published “Mall Top Fussball” in Thorny Locust, 22.2 (December 2016) and “Holiday Flute Choir” in Half x Mystic, Issue II: Saudade (December 2016).
- “The Anti-melanoma activity and oncogenic targets of hsa-miR-15a-5p,” co-written by biology professor Eric Yang and undergraduate student Christopher Alderman was recently published in RNA and Disease.
- Kevin Coulson, Joyce Zhou, and Jun Yu of School of Business conducted a research project with Jenny Zhen Yin, a School of Business alumna. The paper, titled “Promoting Business Schools: A Content Analysis of Business School Magazines,” is accepted for publication by the Journal of Applied Business and Economics.
- Steve Lovett, School of Business, had an article published titled, “The Toolkit and the Carpenter: Teaching the Critical Distinction Between Business Ethics and Personal Morals,” in the e-Journal of Business Education & Scholarship of Teaching (eJBEST), Volume 10, No. 2, December, 2016.
- Biology graduate students Changkun Hu and Huiyun Sun with alumnus Yunqi Zhao (MS Biology 2009) and biology Professor Eric Yang published “Synergism of Dam, MutH, and MutS in methylation-directed mismatch repair in Escherichia coli” in Mutation Research (January 6, 2017).