Focus on Faculty -Workin' the Hill Fall 2014

QUALITY TEACHING • SCHOLARLY WORK • UNIVERSITY SERVICE

Fall 2014

Dr. Megan Bever, Assistant Professor of History, co-edited a volume with the University of Alabama Press title “The Historian behind the History: Conversations with Southern Historians”.

Dr. Albert Yeboah-Forson, Assistant Professor of Geophysics, recently published a paper entitled “Integration of electrical resistivity imaging and ground penetrating radar to investigate solution features in the Biscayne Aquifer” in the Journal of Hydrology, Volume 515, 2014.

Dr. Nicolas Nicoletti, Assistant Professor of Political Science, published a paper, coauthored with Phil Arena, entitled “Selectorate Theory, the Democratic Peace, and Public Goods Provision”. The paper appears in International Theory, Volume 6, 2014. He also had his statistical manual entitled, “Introduction to Stata: Getting Started with Stata Programming” published in the appendix of an economics textbook. The text is published by Pearson and is titled Economics 306: Introduction to Economics.

Dr. Jency Sundararajan, Assistant Professor of Physics, recently published two journal articles. The first is entitled “Synthesis, characterization and photoconductivity studies on Poly (2-Chloroaniline) and Poly (2-Chloroaniline)/CuO nanocomposites” and appears in the Journal of Composites, 2014. The second is entitled “Modeling of dual-metal Schottky contacts based Silicon micro and non wire solar cells” and appears in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Volume 130, 2014.

The excellence continues...

It is with a great deal of pride that I share the most recent collection of publications, presentations, and achievements of our exceptional faculty. I hope that you will find the time to read and appreciate their impressive levels of scholarly and service endeavors.

-Dr. Pat Lipira Vice President for Academic Affairs

M I S S O U R I S O U T H E R N S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

Attended Dr. Megan Bever, Assistant Professor of History, recently attended the Society of Civil War Historians Biennial meeting in Baltimore and was appointed to the SCWH Outreach Committee.

Dr. Mike Fletcher, Professor of Environmental Health, attended the meeting of the Environmental Health Accreditation Council (EHAC) held at the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) Conference in Las Vegas. He also attended the annual meeting of the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs (AEHAP), a group that he currently serves as president-elect.

Dr. Donna Johnson, Associate Professor of Biology, and Dr. Vickie Roettger, Professor of Biology, attended the Institute of Teaching and Learning Convention held during the American Physiological Society meeting in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Center. In addition, she took part in a Transition Academy held in the McDonald County School District. Both events were designed to discover ways to better prepare special education majors. Dr. Locher also attended IRIS training in St. Louis. IRIS is a federal grant project designed to infuse general and special education coursework with high quality, research-based curriculum materials.

Mr. Brett Peine, Instructor of EMS-Paramedic, attended the National Association of EMS Educators Symposium in Reno, Nevada.

Dr. Alla Peters, Assistant Professor of Biology, attended the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists in Orlando, Florida. She participated in a faculty development course on cadaver dissection techniques as part of the annual meeting.

Dr. David Locher, Professor of Sociology, attended two conferences to assist in the development of the new gatekeeping exam for teaching licensure in Missouri: Missouri Education Gateway Assessment (MEGA) Item Validation Conferences as a content subject matter expert.

The conferences were held in Columbia, MO.

Ms. Leslie Smith, Assistant Professor of Spanish, attended the 2014 Annual Convention and World Language Expo sponsored by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) held in San Antonio, Texas.

The convention is an international event that features more than 6,000 language educators from all levels and over 600 educational sessions.

Dr. Melissa Locher, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, attended the New Special Educator workshop at the Springfield Regional Professional Development

Dr. Scott Wells, Professor of Biology, attended the annual meeting of the American Physiological Society/Experimental Biology held in San Diego, California.

Awards Dr. Laura Adkins, Professor of Mathematics, received the 2013 Writing Excellence Award. Members of the Writing Program Committee recognize outstanding writing assignments used in upper division courses. Dr. Adkins won for her writing assignment in MATH 339/EDUC 339: Teaching Mathematics in Secondary Schools.

“She is a bright light on campus”; another added, “she is always willing to go the extra mile to help her students”.

Dr. Scott Wells, Professor of Biology, was also a recipient. One of his students commented that “he is by far the most helpful, caring, and professional teacher that I have ever had”.

Two Outstanding Teacher Awards were presented following the 2013-2014 academic year. Candidates for this prestigious award are nominated and selected by a committee of previous winners of the award. One recipient was Dr. Karen Kostan, Associate Professor of Psychology. In nominating her, one student wrote,

Dr. Michael Fletcher, Professor of Environmental Health, was recognized as the Outstanding Academic Advisor.

He was described by students as being “personally invested in his students and the program “ and as “courteous, patient and accessible”.

Presentations

Selected

Dr. Jeffrey Macomber, Professor of Music, composed an original piece of music entitled “Anthem: Be Glad Then, America”. The new composition will receive its premiere performance by the Louisiana Brass Quintet on December 1, 2014, in Lafayette, Louisiana. The music is based upon a refrain from a hymn found in Continental Harmony, a collection of similar works by Revolutionary War-era American composer William Billings.

Dr. James Donelson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, was selected to judge an undergraduate poster session at the Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Conference which was held in Fayetteville. He took several MSSU students with him to present their work at the conference.

Dr. Wendy McGrane, Associate Professor and Director of the Library, co-presented a program at a recent MOBIUS conference entitled “What We Learned at ALDS (III Academic Library Directors Symposium).

Dr. Steve Smith, Associate Professor of Geography, presented a paper and a poster at the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Broomfield, CO. The title of the presentation was “Using Geonarratives to Understand Environmental Perception in Post-disaster Recovery: A Pilot Study from the May 22, 2011 Joplin Tornado.”

Dr. Karen Turman, Assistant Professor of French, was an invited guest lecturer for a diversity series held at SUNY, The College at Brockport, NY. Her presentation included a talk on “Gypsies and Jazz Dancers in Bohemian Paris” as well as dance instruction on the Lindy Hop and the Charleston.

Dr. Norton Wheeler, Associate Professor of History, presented a talk on his book The Role of American NGLs in China’s Modernization, sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Dr. Conrad Gubera, Professor of Sociology, was notified by the National Council on U.S. – Arab Relations that he has been selected to be one of ten Malone Fellows (associates with the Council) that will travel in a delegation to confer with middle-Saudi officials and review the current status of the nation from a foreign perspective. The trip is scheduled during the winter break.

Dr. Wendy McGrane, Associate Professor and Director of the Library, was selected to a one-year term as Treasurer for the Missouri Bibliographic Information User System (MOBIUS).

Dr. Pat Murphy, Professor of English and Philosophy, was selected as a peer reviewer for Brontë Studies: The Journal of the Brontë Society.

Dr. Karen Turman, Assistant Professor of French, wrote a paper that was selected as part of the “George Sand and Childhood” panel at the annual Modern Languages Association Conference in Vancouver. The paper is entitled “Childhood Poetics in Sand’s Consuelo: Boehmerwald and the Return of Plan, Innocence, and Idealism”

and is an extension of the second chapter of her dissertation.

Certifications Mr. Jordan Garner and Mr. Mike Krieger, Adjunct Instructors of EMS-Paramedic, completed the national Association of EMS Educators Instructor/Coordinator Level I course in Springfield, Illinois. They are now certified as EMS educators held against the highest standards.

Reviews Dr. Karen Turman, Assistant Professor of French, wrote a review for the Nineteenth-Century French Studies journal article entitled “Carmen: A Gypsy Geography.”

Dr. Steve Wagner, Professor of History, reviewed John W. Malsberger’s The General and the Politician: Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and American Politics (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014).

The review will be published by Presidential Studies Quarterly.

Special Recognition Dr. Art Saltzman, former Professor of English and Philosophy, was recently honored with Emeritus status.

Dr. Saltzman served MSSU and our students for more than 25 years, from 1981 through 2007, passing unexpectantly in January 2008. He received the Missouri Southern Outstanding Teacher award in 1992 and a Missouri Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2003.

Special Congratulations Dr. Megan Bever, Assistant Professor of History, was recently notified that her dissertation entitled “War is a Terrible Enemy to Temperance: Drinking, Self-Control, and the Meaning of Loyalty in the Civil War Era” was nominated as the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

Dr. Carissa Gober, Instructor of Teacher Education, recently earned her Ed.D. from Lindenwood University.

Her dissertation was entitled “READ 180: Is It an Effective Reading Intervention for English Language Learners?” Dr. Gober is a member of the faculty at both MSSU and Crowder College, assisting with recruitment efforts at Crowder.

Faculty

Dr. Cherona Hicklin, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, recently graduated from Southwest Baptist University with an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership. Her dissertation was entitled “The Impact of Online Delivery Systems on Student Perceptions of Academic Achievement in Higher Education Learning Environments.”

Dr. Donna Johnson, Associate Professor of Biology, received the 2014 USDA Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG), a federal grant designed to help agricultural producers enter into value-added activities related to the processing and/or marketing of bio-based value-added products.

Faculty Leading Students Dr. Susan Craig, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, is supervising three student teachers who are doing four weeks of their student teaching in San Ignacio, Belize.

Ms. Joanna Derfelt, Associate Professor of Political Science and Dr. Nicolas Nicoletti, Assistant Professor of Political Science, led a group of students to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, PA, and Boston, MA to visit national sites related to the history of the U.S. Constitution. The trip was the capstone to the 2014 Spring semester PSC 498 course entitled “The Living Constitution”.

Dr. Bill Kumbier, Professor of English and Philosophy, led a quartet of students to the Stratford (Canada) Festival to attend performances of plays by Shakespeare. The students saw five plays and shared their experiences in their English 450: Shakespeare class.

Still Working the Hill…

Retired Faculty Ms. Sallie Beard, retired Athletics Director and Associate Professor of Kinesiology, recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators.

Recipients of the award, which is given annually to administrators who dedicated their professional careers to advancing women in sports, were honored during an Awards Luncheon as part of the NACWAA National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Ms. Beard served the MSSU campus for 37 years before her retirement in 2009.