Faculty/staff news update spring 2011

Academe welcomes news from WSU faculty and staff about research, teaching and service activities. This column recognizes grants, honors, awards, presentations and publications, new appointments, new faculty, sabbaticals, retirements and deaths of our current and former colleagues.

Danette Baker, adjunct faculty, theatre, received a Certificate of Merit from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for the fight choreography for the School of Performing Arts fall 2010 production of Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淭welfth Night.鈥

Ed Baker, assistant professor, theatre, was selected as a Coleman Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellow for 2010-2011. He was also interviewed by Theatreface.com, the networking site of Stage Directions Magazine.

Daniel J. Bergman, assistant professor and chair, secondary science education, received Award V: Implications of Research for Education Practice for his paper 鈥淪ynergistic Teaching of Science to English Language Learners: Comparative Analysis of the STRATEGIES鈥 from the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) at its Annual ASTE International Conference in Minneapolis, Minn., in January.

Ellen Burr, visiting assistant professor, music, participated in Emporia State University's Music Day in February, performing in recital with clarinet guest artist Robert Spring.

Alan D'Souza, policy analyst director for TRIO, was voted into the position of Kansas Authors Club awards chair for 2011.

Francis D鈥橲ouza, professor, chemistry, and Karl M. Kadish, a chemistry professor from the University of Houston, are the editors for the first volume set on Handbook of Carbon Nano Materials, published by World Scientific and Imperial College Press. More information can be found at .

Bret Jones, assistant professor and director of theatre, had a staged reading of his play 鈥淲ar Paint鈥 at Two Worlds Theatre program in Albuquerque, NM.

Antje Mefferd, professor, communication sciences and disorders, has received a WSU Award for Research /Creative Projects for summer 2011. Her grant is titled 鈥淎ge-Related Changes in Oro-Facial Motor Performance,鈥 a study to determine whether the ability to generate fast movement speeds with the lower lip and jaw declines with age. Findings will further provide a context to study age-related speech impairments.

Betty Monroe

Betty Monroe

Betty Monroe, professor, theatre, received a National Teaching Artist Award for Costume Design and a Certificate of Merit from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for her costume design for the School of Performing Arts fall 2010 production of Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淭welfth Night.鈥

Shalini Prasad, associate professor, bioengineering, and team won third place and $500 at Lab Automation 2011, an outgrowth of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening, with a poster titled, "Miniature Electronic Biosensor for the Detection of Glycan Biomarkers."

Amy Baker Schwiethale, assistant professor, musical theatre, had her dance piece FATE accepted into the New York Jazz Choreography project at Ailey Studios.

Trisha Self, professor, communication sciences and disorders, has received a WSU Award for Research/Creative Projects for summer 2011. Self was a co-investigator along with Jacque McClendon, nursing, and Victoria Mosack, nursing, as principal investigator on a project titled, 鈥淎n Exploration of Inter-Professional Evidence-Based Practice: Instruction & Use.鈥 The research project is a multiphase, inter-professional undertaking whose overall goal is the development and testing of an evidence-based practice instructional model for possible use in the College of Health Professions.

Xiao-Ming Sun, professor, communication sciences and disorders, has received a WSU Award for Research /Creative Projects for summer 2011. His grant is titled 鈥淪imultaneous testing of auditory brainstem responses and transient evoked otoacoustic emissions: a preliminary study in clinical patients,鈥 on improving the diagnosis of hearing loss in special populations, such as infants.

Lawrence Whitman, associate professor, industrial and manufacturing engineering, has been elected vice president for technical operations of the Institute of Industrial Engineers.

ON SABBATICAL
Betty Smith Campbell, associate professor, nursing, spring 2012; Doris Chang, associate professor, women's studies, fall 2011; Dharam Chopra, professor, math/statistics, academic year 2011-12; Darren DeFrain, associate professor, English, spring 2012; Anthony DiLollo, associate professor, communication sciences and disorders, fall 2011; Thalia Jeffres, associate professor, math/statistics, fall 2011; Hyuck M. Kwon, professor, electrical engineering and computer science, spring 2012; Kirk Lancaster, professor, math/statistics, academic year 2011-12; Chinyere Okafor, professor, women's studies, spring 2012; Royce Smith, assistant professor, art and design, spring 2012; Johnnie Thompson, associate professor, curriculum and instruction, spring 2012; Mehmet Yildirim, associate professor, industrial and manufacturing engineering, fall 2011

IN MEMORIAM
Kenneth W. Burk, 79, professor emeritus, speech and language pathology, died March 7 in 成人头条. Services have been held. He was preceded in death by brother Creighton Burk. Survivors are wife, Cathy; sons, Jeffrey (Vickie) Burk and Tony (Tonia) Burk; daughters, Leslie (David) Snodgrass and Megan Heinlein; brother, Dennis (Ruth) Burk; 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Memorials can be made to the Ken Burk Scholarship-WSU Communication Sciences and Disorders.