Innovation Awards Presented Faculty, Students Earn Prize Money

BY EMILY KESEL

The winners of the 2022 Innovation Awards at Central Methodist University were recognized on December 7 at the regular faculty meeting, highlighting the outstanding projects put together by Central’s faculty and students. Awards were presented by Carrie Strodtman ’03, associate professor and director of digital learning.

This year’s faculty winners, each receiving $250 in prize money, were Dr. Ryan Woldruff, Dr. Kevin Carnahan, and Sandra Wald. The top student award of $150 went to Alexia Sprick, while Emily Elliot, Angela Dixon, Mason Sickler, and Keagan O’Riley each won $50.

The awards were designed to recognize projects that utilized Central’s Digital U innovation to represent a creative way to engage students and promote critical thinking and new ways of looking at problems, namely using iPads and virtual reality.

Woldruff, associate professor of English, submitted a project in which groups of students were to pitch an original tabletop role-playing game. The assignment put the students’ creativity, world-building, writing, and teamwork to the test in multiple stages. One of the winning student projects came from this assignment as well – O’Riley’s submission of an original game titled “The Merge.”

Carnahan’s assignment gave students a chance to reflect on a virtual reality experience. As a professor of religion and philosophy, Carnahan wanted students to reflect on issues such as freedom, moral standing, and perceptions of the self as it related to VR.

Wald, assistant dean for First Class and dual credit, also utilized VR for her students’ assignment. Class members were given the chance to use Digital U equipment to take a virtual tour of the annex where Anne Frank and her family hid during World War II and the Holocuast. They then reflected on the tour and answered questions, considering both the tour and other literature they’ve consumed about the subject.

Student projects varied as well, with participants submitting art, comics, and videos, all taking advantage of Central’s Digital U technology.

To learn more about the Digital U advantage, visit https:// centralmethodist.edu/academics/digitalu/index.html.

After 40 years at Central Methodist University as a coach and professor, Dr. Mozaffar Rahmatpanah retired this spring, earning emeritus status for his dedication and service to the university.

“Coach Moz,” as he has been affectionately known on campus and throughout the Fayette area, became the head men’s soccer coach at

Central in 1983 and spent 23 years in the role before beginning to teach physical education full-time in 2006. While his teams recorded an overall record of 158-197 during his time on the touch line, Rahmatpanah was instrumental in building up the program that would go on to win back-to-back NAIA national titles just over a decade after he handed over the reins. He was also instrumental in establishing the women’s soccer program at Central.

A native of Iran, Rahmatpanah played soccer throughout his life, including in high school and in college. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Teacher Training College in Iran before coming to the States to further his education. He earned a master’s degree from Western Illinois University and a doctorate from the University of Missouri. It was during that doctoral study that he was recruited by former Central athletic director Jim Luetjen to coach the Eagles.

Throughout his years of coaching, the team grew in both size and success, and Coach Moz was eventually honored with the Champions of Character Award in 2007. He was an embodiment of the Champions of Character program and its five core values: respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership, and sportsmanship. He brought those same values into the classroom as a professor of physical education, helping to guide students on their path to achieving their goals.

Coach Moz was also notably the “undisputed champion of badminton” on campus for more than 30 years, holding an annual tournament in which he routinely defeated dozens of students challenging his reign.

Rahmatpanah continued to be a mainstay at CMU soccer games after transitioning to the classroom, and even now that he is retiring from teaching as well, that is not likely to change.