Professors recognized

Dr. Shoudong Feng, associate professor, College of Education, Department of Early Childhood and Special Education (ECSE), was recently selected as 2013 English Teacher of the Year for College Education by the Arkansas Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts (ACTELA). Dr. Feng has been at UCA since 2002 and is currently Coordinator of the graduate Reading Program for ECSE. His responsibilities include coordinating the Reading Program, teaching graduate and undergraduate level reading courses, and advising graduate/undergraduate students. Dr. Feng will receive the award at ACTELA’s fall luncheon on October 31st.

Dr. Nancy Gallavan, professor, College of Education, Department of Teaching and Learning, has been selected as an inaugural member of the Eleanor Roosevelt Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) and will be inducted at their 49th Biennial Convocation October 24-26, 2013 in Dallas, Texas. The Eleanor Roosevelt Chapter is a new Honorary Chapter that honors men and women who have made significant and longtime contributions to Kappa Delta Pi. They have also demonstrated a commitment to its ideals and excellence in education.

Anthony McMullen, visiting assistant professor of business law and UCA debate team coach, was named Arkansas College Teacher of the Year by the Arkansas Communication and Theatre Arts Association at their annual meeting in Fort Smith recently. Anthony McMullen helped restart the UCA debate team in 2007. In addition, he is on the Arkansas Bar Association’s Mock Trial Committee, which sponsors the Arkansas High School Mock Trial Competition. In 2012, he was also named Coach of the Year at the Southern Forensics Championship Tournament. McMullen, along with Dr. Larry Dilday of the Department of Communication, will lead the UCA debate team as they start their season on September 28-29 at a competition hosted by Henderson State University.

Dr. Michael Mills, assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, has been accepted into the nationally recognized Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) Program’s Class of 2013. Mills is one of only 70 educators selected this year to join the more than 2000 educators worldwide who are passionately committed to the improvement of teaching and learning through educational technology. Mills participated in a week-long ADE Institute in Austin, Texas, in July 2013. The Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) Program began in 1994, when Apple recognized K-12 and higher education pioneers who are using a variety of Apple products to transform teaching and learning in powerful ways. Today it has grown into a worldwide community of over 2,000 visionary educators and innovative leaders who are doing amazing things with technology in and out of the classroom. More information on this group of innovative educators is available online at http://www.apple.com/education/ade. Dr. Mills joined UCA’s College of Education in August 2011.

Dr. Reinaldo Morales, associate professor, spoke to the Kadohadacho Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society on Tuesday, September 10 on the campus of Southern Arkansas University. He presentation explored lessons about interpreting prehistoric iconography by studying the significance and use of living art traditions.

Dr. Wendy Rickman, assistant professor, College of Education, Leadership Studies Department, served as conference chair of the Arkansas Association of School Librarians Annual Conference was recently held in Little Rock at the Holiday Inn Presidential. She also serves as current Chair of the Arkansas Association of School Librarians state organization. Conference presenters included College of Education personnel Dr. Jud Copeland, Dr. Stephanie Huffman, Dr. Shelly Albritton, Dr. Jeff Whittingham, Tracy McAllister, Erin Shaw, and Dr. Kay Bland as well as school librarians, academic librarians, and public librarians from around the state, the FBI, and several educational co-ops.

Mark Spitzer, associate professor of creative writing and recipient of the 2013 CFAC Award for Creativity and Research (finalist at the university-wide level), recently had his book Crypto-Arkansas accepted for publication by Spuyten Duyvil Books, Brooklyn. Other recent acceptances or publications include his essay “Gar vs. Sewage: A Tragedy of Waste,” forthcoming from The Oklahoma Review (as well as in Big Muddy); “First-World Problems in Third-World Countries: Trolling for Tropical Gar” in Green Hills Literary Lantern”; “Gar Rodeo in the Cajun Swamp” in Animal) and “Enter the Next Generation” in Flyway. Spitzer’s book review of Charles Bukowski’s The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain was accepted for publication by Oyster Boy Review. He had some other book reviews published in Terrain: A Journal of Built + Natural Environments. As a scholar in residence at the City University of Hong Kong, Spitzer recently took part in the 2013 Summer Institute for English Teachers’ Creativity and Discovery in Teaching University Writing Conference, where he taught workshops on puppet pedagogy, gave a poetry reading, and took part in the final keynote panel.

John Vanderslice, associate professor of writing, traveled to London in June to give a presentation on historical fiction to the Great Writing conference, the leading creative writing conference in the United Kingdom. In July he was the featured writer on the blog of the journal Versal, a literary review published out of Amsterdam. He also published several pieces this summer. His short fiction appeared in Gemini magazine and Whistling Fire. His memoir essay, “A Minute Inside the Ocean Cafe, July 1980,” appeared in Squalorly magazine. Meanwhile, a pastiche essay on the subject of marathon running was accepted by 1966, a journal of research-driven creative nonfiction, and will soon appear in that magazine. Also, a historical fiction, “On Cherry Street,” was accepted by Pembroke magazine and will appear this fall.

Roy Whitehead, professor, has been appointed to the editorial board of The CPA Journal. The CPA Journal is the official publication of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.