Celebrating Children’s Literature
Kansas schoolchildren packed ESU’s Webb Hall on Saturday for the 2016 William Allen White Children’s Book Awards, photo at right. Nearly 550 people, including more than 400 students, came to campus to celebrate Sharon Creech, author of “The Boy on the Porch,” and Chris Grabenstein, author of “Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.” The celebration included games, crafts, meeting the authors for autographs, a parade and the awards ceremony.
Sharing Our Expertise
Emporia State students and faculty are teaming up to give Sunday night’s second U.S. presidential debate context for viewers. ESU Debate and the Public Affairs Club student organization are sponsoring a watch party for the debate followed by analysis and questions and answers with faculty members who will speak from their own expertise — political science from Michael Smith and debate and communications from Christopher Loghry.
Liberal Arts & Sciences
The ESU Research Studies Journal has branched out to multimedia with its first video from the Department of Social Studies. Dr. Michael Smith, professor and chair, interviews Dr. Chris Lovett, professor, about his work on Eisenhower and McCarthy. Learn more …
Matt Combes (B.S. Biology 1996, M.S. Biology 2003) has recently been promoted to supervise the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Agricultural Systems Research Field Station in Kirksville, Missouri, a facility focusing on research that helps landowners manage their land to better benefit wildlife and streams. For the past 13 years, Matt has been a stream ecologist at the field station, in charge of MDC’s statewide stream monitoring program. In his new position, Matt will continue to represent MDC as an expert in stream ecology and ichthyology, will serve on various research project teams and will supervise five other scientists.
Michael Smith recently interviewed former Kansas Govs. John Carlin, left in photo above, and Bill Graves for a book project Smith is working on with colleagues from other Kansas universities. The two former governors were headed to a news conference on judicial independence when the photo was taken.
ESU’s master of science in forensic science program has been awarded the Alpha Alpha chapter of Delta Delta Epsilon, an international honor society that is dedicated to stimulating academic achievement, promoting community understanding, and advancing the fields of forensic science wherever possible. Alpha Alpha is the 25th chapter of DDE.
Pardon Masarirambi, a first-year master of science in forensic science student from Zimbabwe, is the first president of the newly formed Graduate Student Association.
The Teachers College
Secondary education initiated a new internship design for the Phase I professional semester beginning this fall called the Secondary Teacher Expanded Practice (STEP) in which interns rotate through a series of placements (middle school, high school, special education, AVID, etc.). In this new design, pre-service teachers get notably more time in the schools, have the opportunity to teach in different settings and learn from multiple mentor teachers, administrators and other staff.
Two of the eight finalists for Kansas Teacher of the Year are ESU alumni. They are Maret Schrader and Jason Sickel (BME ‘04).
On September 16, Emporia seventh graders were hosted by ESU health promotion majors and health and physical education students for a day-long “Health & Fitness Day” as part of the school district’s ongoing STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading/wRiting, Engineering, Art and Math) grant.
Charlie Daniels and Jim Persinger will help host the Kansas Association of School Psychologists Conference on October 13-14 in Manhattan.
Sungwoong Lee, Instructional Design & Technology assistant professor, will be participating in the upcoming 2016 Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 17-21. He was selected to participate in AECT’s Early Career Symposium sponsored by the National Science Foundation, and then he will present “The Effect of Video Games on Math Achievement,” and “Embodied pulley physics: The development of hands-on user interaction in virtual reality” at the convention.
Psychology student Melisssa Kurtenbach was organizer of the September 24 event “Emporia Out of the Darkness” to raise awareness and funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Nearly $5,000 was raised this at this event.
Academic Success
More than 10 ESU student services professionals attended the Summit on Access, Persistence and Completion at Metropolitan Community College recently. Information on the session that three of them presented is below.
Last month, 15 students from Emporia State attended the Ad Astra Conference for First-Generation College Students at Wichita State University with ESU staff members Kathy Landwehr of Student Advising Center, Gary Rapp of ACES and Julie Cayton and Jared Burton of TRIO Student Support Services.
Information Technology
During National IT Professionals Day on September 20, members of our IT department worked a table in the Memorial Union to attract students to IT-related careers. The display included information on the lack of cybersecurity professionals and projected growth in the field, data of graduates from each major in the School of Business and their careers in IT and all IT positions at ESU as examples for possible jobs.
Learning Technologies is piloting an Online Readiness Course to help prepare faculty for online teaching. Fourteen faculty and staff are participating and providing feedback to the Instructional Design team.
Anna Catterson and Joseph Kern earned designation as Apple Education Trainers after attending the week-long professional development program in Cupertino, California, headquarters of Apple.
International Education
On Sept. 27 the OIE hosted an Interfaith Dialogue, a United for Peace event. The event, moderated by Dr. Gonzalo Bruce, opened the floor to discussion by representatives from different faith-based groups in the community to share on the topics “Unity & Peace”, such as Individualism vs. Collectivism, Mercy and Compassion, Care for the Needy and Justice.
The OIE in collaboration with Career Services hosted a two-day global career event Sept. 27-28. In addition to the topic of OPT/CPT work opportunities for international students, domestic students were invited to also learn about study abroad opportunities around the world and a demonstration of the resources available in Career Services for searching for employment within the US and abroad.
The Fan-Lin Safety Program was held on Sept. 28. This safety precaution workshop provides useful tips for international student on topics such as kitchen fires, pedestrian crossing, severe weather, and police & safety.
Emporia State University has joined the Institute of International Education’s Generation Study Abroad initiative to help more Americans to gain international experience through study abroad programs. IIE’s Generation Study Abroad seeks to mobilize resources and commitments with the goal of doubling the number of U.S. students studying abroad by the end of the decade.
Alumni Relations
The Alumni Association’s South Central Chapter hosted a reception for President Allison Garrett and Dean Ed Bashaw of the School of Business on Thursday, September 22. Alumni Ambassadors for the evening included John Allison (MS ‘94), Brig. Gen. Art (BSE ’55) & Sue Bloomer, John Boldenow (BA ‘75 & MA ‘77), Kurt (BSB ’79) & Kim (BSE ’79) Breitenbach, Shawn Brewer (BS ‘91 & MS ‘93), Steve Coen (BSB ‘76), Ed Flentje (BSE ‘64), Gary (BS ‘82) & Jan (BSE ‘80) Geringer, Dale (BSB ’78) & Sheryll (BS ’78) Gibbens, Carolyn Langenwalter (BSE ‘64 & MS ‘69), Dave Robertson (BSB ‘84), Randy (BSB ‘79) & Jan (BSB ‘80) Steinert, Jackie Vietti (BSE ‘71), and LaVonta Williams (BSE ‘71). Other special guests included Denise Scriber, a teacher from Goddard who recently received the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from President Obama. Special thanks to several generous underwriters for their contributions to the event’s success.
Dr. Yaokun “Angel” Yang, 2016 Outstanding Recent Graduate for Liberal Arts & Sciences, received her award early during the 2016 Music Gala concert on September 24. Angel, now an associate professor at Liaoning Normal University in Dalian, China, and director of Chinese Musician Association, was the featured performer at the gala. The two other Outstanding Recent Graduates will be honored at the Black & Gold Gala on October 14 during Homecoming festivities.
Business
The School of Business recently hosted the Kansas Future Business Leaders of America Board of Directors for their Fall Executive Board Meeting and also hosted the Board of Directors of the Kansas Business Hall of Fame, which is housed in Cremer Hall.
School of Business students from the Learning Community and the Marketing Club were able to meet entrepreneurs from three local businesses during the Emporia Main Street’s “How It’s Made Tour.” IM Design, Surly Mermaid and Twin Rivers Winery provided informational sessions for students which enabled them to ask questions and perspectives on how to be successful in starting, owning and running your own business.
At the end of the summer break, Dr. Antonina (Tonya) Bauman, assistant professor of management, hiked to the Hornet Lookout, atop Hornet Peak at an elevation of 6,477 feet, in Glacier Park, Montana.
Presentations
Dr. Joyce Thierer, professor in Department of Social Sciences, presented at Rendezvous 2016 sponsored by the Santa Fe Trail Center Museum, Fort Larned National Historic Site and Santa Fe Trail Association.
Dr. Damara Goff Paris, assistant professor of counselor education, was an invited speaker at the University of Kansas Disability Studies Seminar on, August 25. She presented “Navigating Intersectionality: Experiences of Native American, Deaf, Women.”
Kathy Landwehr, Kristen Watts and Morgan Mathews, all of ESU’s Student Advising Center, presented a session, “It Takes A Village: The Process Academic Advisors Play in Supporting Underprepared Students,” at the Summit on Access, Persistence and Completion at Metropolitan Community College.
During the Ad Astra Conference for First-Generation College Students at Wichita State University, Julie Cayton of TRIO presented the workshop, “Grit and a Growth Mindset: Discovering Passion, Perseverance and Motivation to Accomplish Your Goals”; Kathy Landwehr, Gary Rapp and ESU student Shelby Marten presented “Say What? College On Your Own Terms”; and ESU students Joshua Clary, Haley Vivone and Ceanne Trice were on a student panel facilitated by Jared Burton.
Yeol Huh, Instructional Design & Technology assistant professor, will present “Exploring Ways Online Teachers Teach Self-Regulated Learning Skills to Students in U.S. Online K-12 Schools” at the 2016 AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 17-21.
Publications
Dr. Satvir Singh, assistant professor of management in the School of Business, had his paper titled “Individual Deals Within Teams: Investigating the role of relative i-deals for employee performance” accepted in a prestigious (A level) management journal, Journal of Applied Psychology. It was published online in August 2016. The acceptance rate of a manuscript at JAP is 5 percent or less.
Dr. Antonina (Tonya) Bauman, assistant professor of management in the School of Business, published a paper titled “Students’ perceptions of the use of technology in cross-cultural communication,” in the Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning Journal, (Vol. 6, No. 2, pp.193–207).