Congratulations to Shane Shivley, who was named Tuesday as the new president/CEO of the ESU Foundation and Emporia State vice president for advancement. Shane will assume his new role March 1 and we are confident that he and the entire Foundation team will continue the momentum of the Now & Forever campaign and will lead our efforts into the future. For more: http://bit.ly/1Tb050Q
And a special thanks to Jennifer Denton, foundation vice president president for stewardship and administration and ESU associate vice president for advancement, who, with Shane, was a co-leader of the Foundation while we searched for our new president/CEO.
Many thanks to Kevin Rabas, chair of English, Modern Languages and Journalism, and his students who are presenting the Valentine’s Day Short Play Festival on Sunday at the Red Rocks State Historic Site, 927 Exchange St. Students in our theater program will act out the short, script-in-hand plays. The free event begins at 2 p.m.
Biology faculty Eric Yang and his six students presented six research posters at the General Meeting of American Society for Cell Biology held December 11 through 17 in San Diego, California. Christopher Alderman and Yao Yan received student travel awards.
A group of students who traveled to Iowa to observe the presidential caucuses were featured on WIBW TV news in Topeka. The students traveled with Dr. Michael Smith, associate professor of political science and chair of social sciences. It was a whirlwind trip that also included attending a post-caucus rally for Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. You can see photos from the trip by searching Twitter for #CorkysCaucus. For more: http://bit.ly/1P4fsEx
Speaking of politics, Dr. Michael Smith wrote a blog post for the Midwest Political Science Association to explain delegate selection by both parties in the race for the presidency. Read it here: http://bit.ly/1mqtg1Y
We are honoring Black History Month on campus with rotating displays in the Memorial Union plus four special events. The month launched with a forum on February 4 about guns on campus, which was sponsored by Black Student Association and Associated Student Government. Tomorrow, is a lecture, “Colorism: A critical analysis of politics, ethics, and social issues within the African American Culture when it deals with the construct of skin tone,” at 6 p.m. in the Preston Room. More than 250 students and sponsors are registered for the Black Leadership Initiative Conference on February 23, a one-day conference for African American high school freshmen through Emporia State University graduate students. Also on February 23 downtown at JavaCat will be “The House of Haiku,” an interactive artistic explosion that includes haiku other mediums like vocal, dance and instrumental portions as well as live painting and more. For more: http://bit.ly/1XgCqeL
Rosie Riordan, an adjunct instructor in the Emporia State/Johnson County Community College education program, will benefit from a $1 million grant to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Rosie is the museum’s head of school and educator services. The grant from the David T. Beals III Charitable Trust will support that work. For more: http://bit.ly/1nLficv
Congratulations to Dr. Robin Kurz, assistant professor, School of Library and Information Management, who presented on January 25 at the Colorado Association of Libraries Children and Teen Services Division 2016 Winter Workshop in Colorado Springs. The purpose of this forum is for library staff to share ideas for providing excellent services to patrons from birth to 18 and their caregivers throughout Colorado. Seven Master of Library Science students who attend SLIM classes in Colorado attended the conference.
Both the Emporia State men’s and women’s tennis teams are picked to finish sixth in the MIAA Coaches Preseason Polls released February 4. For more: http://bit.ly/1nJUh1h
Congratulations to alum April Lemon, who opened her new glassblowing studio in Holton. She and her studio were featured in the Topeka Capital-Journal: http://bit.ly/20cxDei
President Allison Garrett is getting to know students and the Emporia State campus during tours of academic departments. She’s taken photos with students in nursing, sociology and chemistry during tours of College of Liberal Arts and Sciences programs. You can find the photos on Twitter — @esuPres.
Congratulations to our 22 faculty and students who attended the 14th annual Symposium of the Kansas-IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE) was held on January 16-17 in Overland Park. Sean Claridge, Emporia senior, was one of only five undergraduate students selected for a podium presentation. Other students who presented their research were Christopher Alderman, Emporia junior; Ashlea Chapman, Atchison senior; Charissa Forsythe, Emporia senior; Douglas Kepko, Olathe senior; Lauren Miller, Emporia senior; and Xinwei Li, Liaoning, China, senior. The K-INBRE aims to create opportunities for undergraduate students to become engaged in authentic research projects in Cellular and Developmental Biology. Through various programs and initiatives K-INBRE has provided over $1.5 million in research support to ESU.
Kudos to our ESU baseball team, which opened the 2016 season with a three-game sweep at home of the Colorado State – Pueblo ThunderWolves. For more: http://bit.ly/1RmLpuh
Our Information Technology department continues to improve campus. In partnership with Registration, Student Success and the Graduate Office, IT officially launched DegreeWorks, providing both students and ESU departments with a more effective method for digital degree planning. The next phases of this project include the implementation of the Student Educational Planner, beginning this February, which will provide students with an interactive “What If” degree planning modeler, and the Transfer Equivalency module, slated for Summer 2016.
In partnership with the ID Office and Facilities, IT has successfully completed and closed the initial Card Access Project, which transitioned all 60-plus “card access” doors across campus to the new system, replaced failing hardware, streamlined the integration of accounts into the “software” side of card access, and also transitioned our Hornet Cards to the new proximity “bump” smart cards, utilizing more securely, and ecrypted, chips. Now that we are past the installation project, future expansion includes distributed door administration of requested areas, adding a single, exterior, card-access door for each academic and administrative building, and enhancing the “After Hours Access” form/process by making it digital and integrated with card access, on campus.
Shout out to Colin Coleman, who ran a provisional qualifier to highlight the Emporia State track and field teams’ efforts at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska, last weekend. For more: http://bit.ly/1SegXDK
Congratulations to ESU alumnus Stan Roth, who was honored February 5 at the Kansas Natural Resources Conference in Wichita as Kansas Wildlife Conservation Champion of the Year. The aware was sponsored by the Kansas Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Stan has been teaching, inspiring, and conserving in Kansas since the 1950s and has a renowned reputation of exceptional field notes and data collection rarely seen in modern times. He’s been heavily involved in the research and conservation of wide variety of taxa, including bats, birds, plants, reptiles, and amphibians.
Congratulations to Phil Kelly, professor of political science, on the publication of his new book this month. “Classical Geopolitics: A New Analytical Model” is published by Stanford University Press. Said one reviewer, “A milestone reinterpretation of geopolitical theory.” For more: http://bit.ly/1LePFpm
Emporia State women’s soccer coach Bryan Sailer announced on February 5 the signing of four high school players and a junior college All-American to attend Emporia State and play soccer for the Hornets. For more: http://bit.ly/1Q7sx3v
Thanks to School of Business faculty and staff as well as other volunteers from across campus who gave of their time during the District 7 FBLA contests on campus Monday. The event brought 550 students from 19 high schools to campus.
Congratulations to our School of Library and Information Management graduates in Denver and Salt Lake City. Both sites hosted graduation ceremonies for the students last month.
Shout out to our music faculty and students who took their talents on the road recently. A percussion quartet under direction of Tracy Freeze performed at schools in Wichita and Andover. And the choir under the direction of Jacob Narverud completed a two-day swing to schools in Olathe, Paola, Mill Valley and Blue Valley districts.