Children’s Literature
More than 400 students plus their school librarians and parents enjoyed activities and meeting the winning authors during the 65th anniversary celebration of the William Allen White Children’s Book Awards on October 7. The event included collaboration with ESU’s creative writing program and social science education.
Stingers Up
Around 400 people ranging from high school students to community members heard arguments for two cases before the Kansas Supreme Court when the justices convened at Emporia State on October 3. Before the hearings, the justices separated and visited students at all the high schools in Lyon and Chase counties plus Emporia State.
Army Family
Col. Laura Trinkle (BSE 1991), Regional Health Command-Pacific Chief of Staff, was featured in “Stories that Inspire,” a series of interviews that speak to the resiliency of the Army family. Learn more…
Admissions
ESU hosted the annual conference for the Kansas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers on September 27-29. Over 200 representatives from nearly 50 institutions in Kansas gathered to network, attend sessions, and explore the Emporia community.
Arts and Sciences
Dr. Scott Thuong, assistant professor of mathematics from Pittsburg State University, presented Mathemagic for Emporia Middle School and ESU mathematics students on September 20. Thuong showed students how to do card tricks using math and the “magic” of a Mobius Strip. The Inspired By Math program is a joint effort between ESU’s Department of Mathematics and Economics and Emporia Middle School. The program is directed by Dr. Qiang Shi.
Congratulations to biology graduate student Benjamin Wilson, who earned the Best Student Presentation award at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Kansas Ornithological Society, held on October 7, 2017, in Junction City, Kansas. See more from the ESU delegation in Presentations below.
Eight students and two professors from the Department of Mathematics and Economics became members of Kappa Mu Epsilon honor society on September 27. KME was founded in 1931 to promote the interest of mathematics among undergraduate students.
Congratulations to Dr. Kevin Rabas, chair of the Department of English, Modern Languages and Journalism, who was named an outstanding alumnus for the Kansas State University College of Arts and Sciences. Rabas and two other awardees will be honored at the eighth annual Eisenhower Circle Celebration on October 19.
It wasn’t concert tickets or Black Friday deals that had college students lining up at the biological sciences office before 7 a.m. They wanted to guarantee their spots on our Bahamas study abroad trip, part of our aquatic biology program!
Congratulations to biology graduate student Kelsey Porter who won the inaugural Lance Hedges Conservation Award scholarship from The Nature Conservancy.
Congratulations to music alumna Theresa Fischer who was named the 2017 Kansas Music Educators Association High School Music Teacher of the Year for the southeast Kansas district.
Business
A team of business students took first place in the first ever Kansas Collegiate Case Competition on Friday, September 26.
Students visited the Sweet Granada and Granada Coffee Company during the first Community and Business Enhancement tour October 5. The business owners shared how they got started and what it means to be an entrepreneur.
To prepare for the Harvard National Model United Nations Conference in February 2018, the Model of United Nations Student Club with advisor Dr. Antonina Bauman held a practice simulation of the UN Legal Committee meeting. Students discussed the topic of “Protection of Threatened Religious Minority Groups.”
Library and Information Management
Alum Robert Berning (1974) visited the SLIM office on Thursday, September 21 to visit with Dean Wooseob Jeong.
Congratulations to SLIM Ph.D. student Mernie Maestas, who serves as president of the Missouri Association of School Librarians and provides leadership in the organization’s efforts this year to re-file their bill to mandate certified school librarians and school library programs for all students in hopes of attaining a legislative vote.
Tiffany Newton, a 2013 alum who currently works at Green Forest Public Library, met up with Director Kathie Buckman and Dean Wooseob Jeong at the Arkansas Library Association annual conference in Rogers, Arkansas.
Presentations
Amanda Humphreys, MBA from ESU, and Keri Heston of Washburn, senior associates with CBiz/Hoffman and McCann presented on several current topics in accounting to the ESU chapter of Beta Alpha Psi on September 28.
SLIM Ph.D. student Mernie Maestas was a panelist on September 27, for the AASL webinar, Back to School: School Library Legislation in the Statehouses.
Katherine Daily O’Meara, assistant professor in English, Modern Languages and Journalism, chaired the panel “Migrating Online: Digital Technologies and Writing Program Administration” and presented “Using Canvas to Facilitate Teacher Professional Development and Program Assessment” on that panel at the 2017 South Central Modern Language Association conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, October 6.
Graduate students Heather Kraus and Benjamin Wilson and Drs. Alexis Powell and William Jensen from the ESU Department of Biological Sciences attended the 69th Annual Meeting of the Kansas Ornithological Society on October 7, 2017, in Junction City, Kansas. Their presentations were:
Benjamin S. Wilson and William E. Jensen: “Response of Bird Communities to Cattle Grazing and Plant Diversity in CRP Grasslands.”
Heather M. Kraus and William E. Jensen: “Nest Success and Brood Parasitism of Birds in Response to Grazing of CRP Grasslands.”
Alexis F.L.A. Powell and Jack Kirkley, (Biology Department, University of Montana): “Western Hybridization and Parental Interaction of Great-tailed Grackle and Common Grackle (Quiscalus)”
Bram H. F. Verheijen (Kansas State University), Hannah L. Clipp (West Virginia University), Alessandro J. Bartolo (Hampshire College), William E. Jensen, and Brett K. Sandercock (Kansas State University): “Effects of Patch-burn Grazing on Density and Space Use of Dickcissels”
Dr. Lendi Bland, instructor in the Department of Elementary Education / Early Childhood / Special Education, presented “Implementing a First-Year Seminar Course: Process and Progress” at the Women in Educational Leadership Conference at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln on October 2.
Publications
Dr. Emily Vardell, assistant professor in School of Library and Information Management co-wrote the paper, “Advancing the conversation: next steps for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) health sciences librarianship,” published this month in the Journal of the Medical Library Association.