April 20, 2016
Congratulations to Dr. Marshall Sundberg, the 2016 Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor. I was delighted to be part of a delegation that surprised Dr. Sundberg during his Biology of Plants class on April 8. For more: http://bit.ly/1TftrsY
Library & Information Management
Dr. Heidi Blackburn, SLIM’s recent Ph.D. program graduate, will present her dissertation research, “Factors That Influence Male Millennials to Become Professional Librarians,” this summer at the 2016 International Federation of Library Association and Institutes Marketing and Management Satellite Meeting at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Blackburn is a STEM library liaison to the College of Information Science & Technology, The College of Business Administration, and all science disciplines at the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library, University of Nebraska Omaha.
Congratulations to Dr. James Walters, assistant professor, who arranged the SLIM symposium on April 14 featuring Dr. Matthew Griffis, assistant professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, School of Library and Information Science, who presented “Town and Gown: Celebrating the Carnegie Libraries of Emporia, Kansas” and included library tours and a reception at the Emporia Public Library to celebrate National Library Week, April 10-16.
The Teachers College
Connie Phelps, gifted program director and associate professor, will present two concurrent sessions and one signature session in November at the National Association for Gifted Children annual convention in Orlando, Florida.
Liberal Arts & Sciences
Dr. Qiang Shi was recognized for his work in the mathematics classrooms of Emporia State during the 2016 Mathematics Association of America (MAA) section meeting at Fort Hays State University on April 9. Dr. Shi received the 2016 Kansas MAA Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics Award from Dr. Joe Yanik, section governor and chair of ESU’s Department of Mathematics and Economics.
History M.A. candidate Spencer King has accepted an offer to pursue his Ph.D. at The University of Mississippi, studying Civil War history. Congratulations, Spencer!
Connor Thierolf, who is currently student teaching at Madison High School, has been hired to teach seventh-grade social studies at Prairie Hills Middle School in the Buhler school district. He’s the first of our social sciences BSE students to be hired this semester.
Interdisciplinary Studies senior Tony Davis will receive the award for “Best Geography Paper” of 2015-16 from the Department of Social Sciences for a paper he wrote in fall 2015 in GE 438ZA, Geographies of International Development.
Two faculty members and seven students from Emporia State’s Department of Mathematics and Economics attended the North Central Regional KME (Kappa Mu Epsilon) Conference on April 1 and 2 in Kearney, Nebraska. ESU student Brian Mosier presented “Nowcasting the Flu,” based on work he did in summer 2015 at Carnegie Mellon University. Those who attended were Montana Garrison, Stephanie Albert, Brian Mosier, Jessy Schriefer, Makenzie Blitz, Michelle Foster, and Sarah Jane Clark with faculty members Dr. Brian Hollenbeck and Dr. Chad Wiley
ESU faculty and students attended the 148th Meeting of the Kansas Academy of Sciences on April 1 and 2 at McPherson College. The group gave presentations or posters on a total of 12 research projects. Yao Yan, a graduate student in biology, earned first place in graduate level poster presentation. Physical science student Logan Sleezer earned third place for undergraduate poster presentation. Those attending the conference were Lynnette Sievert, Dave McKenzie, Richard Schrock, Alexis Powell and Eric Yang, biology faculty; Yao Yan, Chris Alderman, Hui Qian, Changkun Hu and Chunmiao Yu, biology students; Susie Aber, Jim Aber, Rich Sleezer, Kim Simons, Eric Trump, and Mike Morales, physical sciences faculty; and Logan Sleezer and Taihao Yang, physical sciences students.
Congratulations to Emporia State senior Ariel Cooley of Osawatomie, who was named Journalist of the Year among four-year schools at the Kansas Collegiate Media Conference April 7 and 8 in Wichita. The award is the top individual honor given by KCM, and recognizes “journalists who have contributed the most to their staffs and collegiate journalism in Kansas during the academic year.”
Alumni Relations
ESU Ambassadors recently elected its executive board: Candy Cote, president; Elayna Coleman, vice president; Christina Brunton, secretary/treasurer; Camille Abdel-Jawad, marketing and traditions chair; Kelsey Porter, advancement liaison; Jean Canter-Segura and Lainie Stalcup, spirit co-chairs; Emily Magana, Senior Week; and Paul Reichenberger, social chair.
Business
On April 1, several School of Business students and faculty traveled to Wichita to visit Koch Industries for Koch Insights Days. Students met with Koch representatives to discuss careers in IT and various other business disciplines.
Six student members of Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting, information systems and finance, honorary organization, attended the Missouri Valley regional meeting the weekend of April 1. They had the opportunity to interact with students from chapters in North and South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. Activities of chapters were shared to help achieve the organization's goals to encourage and give recognition to scholastic and professional excellence in the business information field.
Members of Beta Alpha Psi traveled to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on April 8 to visit Phillips 66 headquarters. Students learned about company operations and career opportunities.
The School of Business hosted another successful Emporia Entrepreneur Challenge. Winners of the competition included Megan Allen first place (FHTC), Ebrahim Kayali, second (ESU), and Karen Martinez third (ESU). Allen will represent ESU/FHTC in the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge on April 25. A photo album is at http://bit.ly/1WbvDnv
Information Technology
A promotional video for ESU’s new Degree Works tool was chosen to be shown at the 2016 Ellucian Live International conference April 17 through 20 in Denver. The goal of the video was to showcase the benefits of Degree Works to our students and faculty, while adding in a little bit of humor. The video was part of a larger campaign that included digital posters, email, and a promotional website. View the video: http://bit.ly/1SgUP7t
MyIT is officially launched! MyIT is one piece of a multi-pillared initiative to increase knowledge and awareness of staff development and training opportunities, related to information technology, used at ESU. MyIT will be an ongoing initiative to build self-help videos and documentation for people needing help with ESU information systems (such as Banner, OnBase, Office, etc.).
Associated Student Government
The 2016-2017 president and vice president of Associated Student Government are Elijah Williams and Cassandra Stair.
Institutional Research
Congratulations to the 2016 Assessment Champion Award winners: Dr. Dipak Ghosh, Professor of Economics, School of Business; Dr. Melissa Reed, associate professor of elementary education, early childhood, and special education, The Teachers College; Mallory Koci, instructor of interdisciplinary studies and ethnic & gender studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Dr. Matthew Howe, associate professor of health, physical education, and recreation, The Teachers College; and Dr. Andrew Smith, associate professor and interim Associate dean, School of Library and Information Management
Athletics
Congratulations to Shayla Cotman, who was one of three MIAA athletes selected to attend the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum. Shayla is a volleyball and track and field athlete and a junior accounting major. She also serves as secretary of ESU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Our new artificial football turf was on display during the spring football game last Saturday. The Black team defeated the White team 10-0 in front of over 1,500 fans. The game consisted of two quarters, one with a running clock. For more: http://bit.ly/26bfcfQ
Facilities
Physical Plant Supervisor Bruce Love submitted and received his first United States Patent for his work on a trap-setting apparatus that would be dog proof. It was a long legal process that started in 2013. Congratulations to Bruce!
Advancement
With four weeks remaining to raise $2,000, the ESU Student Foundation is enlisting the help of local Emporia businesses. On Friday, April 22, the businesses will launch social media campaigns to secure donations for the Student Foundation, which uses its funds to help fellow students with financial emergencies. For more: http://bit.ly/23HgTTx
People
Congratulations to Dr. Raffaele De Vito, professor of management for the School of Business, who plans to retire this spring after 34 years with the university. A reception will be held in De Vito’s honor at the Emporia Country Club on Friday, April 22.
The provost’s office has announced five faculty members who have earned tenure and eight who have received promotions. Please join me in congratulating Karen Bates, Elementary Education, Early Childhood, & Special Education, Art Gutierrez, University Libraries & Archives, Mingchu Luo, School Leadership/Middle & Secondary Teacher Education and Derek Wilkinson, Art for being granted tenure and promotion to associate professor; John Wade, Psychology, for being granted tenure and promotion to professor; and Eric Conrad, Art, Roberta Eichenberg, Art, Paul Luebbers, Health, Physical Education, & Recreation, Connie Phelps, Elementary Education, Early Childhood, & Special Education, Kevin Rabas, English, Modern Languages, & Journalism, Marcia Schulmeister, Physical Science, Michael Smith, Social Sciences and Joyce Thierer, Social Sciences for promotion to professor.