Archives for November 2013

The Faculty Presentation Series, hosted by Torreyson Library, hosts the documentary film, A Cheerful Heart: The Dave Madden Story and presentation by Dr. Bob Reising on Monday, November 18, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. at Torreyson Library, Room 215. This event is free and open to the public.

A Cheerful Heart is the story of Dave Madden, who contracted polio in 1948 and was confined to an iron lung for sixteen years in Rochester, Minnesota. A nephew of Dr. Archibald Wright “Moonlight” Graham’s wife, Madden became nationally famous for his cordiality and good humor in spite of his debilitating health. This film was produced and released by the Mayo Clinic with Dr. Reising as a consultant.

Dr. “Moonlight” Graham, the professional baseball player who inspired the film Field of Dreams, was the focus of Dr. Reising ‘s book Chasing Moonlight: the True Story of Field of Dreams’ Doc Graham.

Stephanie Vanderslice was recently interviewed by Tasha Golden on the Ploughshares online literary magazine for an article entitled “Writing In A Changing World” at http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/writing-in-a-changing-world-craft-readerships-and-social-media/.

In June, she published the essay, Creative Writing is Not a Fast Food Nation, with the “gang of five” creative writing professors in the daily news source Inside Higher Education http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/07/05/essay-defending-way-creative-writing-taught.

 

 

Dr. Jud Copeland, associate professor, received the Pat McDonald Outstanding Individual Achievement Award during the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media (AAIM) conference in Rogers, Arkansas in April.

The Arkansas Association of Instructional Media is a group of professional educators dedicated to the improvement of education through the use of technology and media. The group hosts a professional development conference each spring providing educators with workshops specific to instructional technology, media usage, and current innovations in library media.

Dr. Jud Copeland has been teaching at UCA for five years. During his time at UCA, he has been teaching subjects such as cataloging, classification, intellectual property, and copyright. “AAIM inspires us to become more effective teachers with a passion for learning,” Copeland said.

 

Amy Whitehead, director of the University of Central Arkansas Center for Community and Economic Development, was recognized by the Arkansas Community Development Society (ACDS) at their annual conference and awards presentation on Thursday, October 24.

ACDS awarded individuals in five categories. Whitehead was awarded in the New Professional category, which was designed to recognize and encourage community developers who are new to the field.

ACDS is an educational nonprofit organization that works to advance community development and the community development profession by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of common interest among the members of the Chapter, providing for the publication and dissemination of community development information to members of the public, advocating excellence in community development scholarship research and practice for the good of mankind, and promoting citizen participation as essential to effective community development.

 

Dr. Deborah Dailey from the College of Education was awarded the Herbert M. Handley Outstanding Dissertation Award at the Mid-South Educational Research Association’s (MSERA) annual conference in early November 2013. For the award, Dr. Dailey received a plaque and a $250 cash award. Dr. Dailey’s dissertation, The Effects of a STEM Intervention on Elementary Teachers, was also presented in a paper session at the conference. Teaching and Learning Department Chair Tammy Benson indicated, “I heard the presentation of Debbie’s dissertation and it is very impressive.” Each year, MSERA sponsors the Herbert M. Handley Outstanding Dissertation/Thesis Award. Any current member of MSERA who has completed a dissertation or thesis (in the current year) within the member states of MSERA may submit their dissertation abstract for award consideration. In addition, the abstract from the winning dissertation is recognized on the MSERA web site and in the MSERA Educational Researcher publication. Dr. Dailey is currently serving as a faculty member in the Department of Teaching and Learning and earned her doctoral degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

 

Dr. Candice Barnes, Assistant Professor Early Childhood and Special Education, spoke to faculty at the Instructional Development Center’s (IDC) Eat, Engage, and Energize lunch session, October 31. Barnes joined fellow faculty members Kim Little-History, Sophie Dix- Writing, and Amy Pitchford-Communication for an interactive discussion about ways to incorporate service-learning pedagogy into teaching, research, and scholarship at UCA.

Barnes addressed the specific benefits of service-learning pedagogy as a teaching strategy for students in her education courses. As the Coordinator of Service-Learning activities for the Institute for Research on Social and Emotional and Service Learning, a part of Barnes’ role is to support the Mashburn Institute and colleagues. Within both the department and college, she organizes service-learning projects that support the scope and aim of teacher education. Teacher candidates must have varied and rich experiences engaging in service-learning projects so that they can more effectively engage their students in deep, rich learning. Therefore, working to create richer partnerships with local schools is vital to engaging students in both local, school-community and global projects.

Barnes is one of eight faculty who took part in UCA’s inaugural service-learning faculty fellows seminar. The seminar engaged faculty from colleges across campus for an interactive seminar focused on strengthening and incorporating service-learning pedagogy into teaching and learning.

 

 

 

 

 

During this season of gratitude, the Instructional Development Center is pleased to provide a service to students — Thank-A-Teacher. Students may submit online a brief note of appreciation to UCA faculty. The IDC will then send this acknowledgment to the faculty member at the start of the next semester.

Students are encouraged to use this service. Thank-A-Teacher does not take the place of university student evaluations. Access to Thank-A-Teacher can be found at https://uca.edu/go/thanks. Instructional Development Center, 501-450-5240; idc@uca.edu; uca.edu/idc.

 

UCA’s Center for Community and Economic Development  partnered with Talk Business to provide data collection and analysis for 12 Arkansas cities. The November/December issue of the magazine was released last week, and the article was published on pages 14-15. As part of this partnership, UCA also received a 1/2 page ad space for the Center (p. 15). Data collection and analysis was conducted by: Amy Whitehead, director, and Brett Roberts, project coordinator.

Here is the online version of the magazine: http://issuu.com/talk_business/docs/novdec13-tba-digital?e=7049807/5611367.

Has someone you work with done something outstanding this quarter (October – December)?

Employee of the Quarter is given to a staff member who has done something exceptional during a specific time period. UCA has many outstanding staff members that deserve recognition. This award was developed to recognize a specific “Above and Beyond” action that happened during the current quarter.

Nominations are being accepted for the Employee of the Quarter (II) Award. One full-time staff member will be recognized each quarter for outstanding job performance, going above and beyond, during that quarter. Any staff member with at least one year of service as of September 1, 2013 is eligible to be nominated. Any faculty, staff, student, or alumni can submit a nomination. Staff Senate sponsors this award and its aim is to recognize staff for their contributions to UCA.

This nomination form must be submitted by December 31, 2013.

Nomination Form

Nominate someone today that deserves recognition. The winner will receive some great prizes including $150 BearBucks, two tickets to UCA’s future Night of Distinction, and a reserved parking spot for the following quarter.

For more information on the process, please contact Stephanie McBrayer at smcbrayer@uca.edu.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) student chapter has been selected to receive an Outstanding award for activities conducted during the 2012-2103 academic year. The award will be presented at the 247th ACS National Meeting in Dallas, Texas in March 2014.

Professors Faith Yarberry and Karen Steelman are faculty advisors for the chapter. “Professor Yarberry and Professor Steelman’s efforts certainly represent the best in undergraduate science education and mentoring around the country. We extend our warmest congratulations to the students and Professors Yarberry and Steelman for setting such a fine example for other chapters and being exemplary chemistry ambassadors!” said Marinda Wu, president of the ACS in a letter to the university.

A full list of award-winning chapters will be published in Chemical & Engineering News and in the November/December issue of inChemistry, the student magazine.

 

Hunter Phillips Goodman, student in the Interdisciplinary PhD in Leadership within the College of Education, has been accepted to the 2014 Alice Manicur Leadership Symposium for Women Aspiring to be Chief Student Affairs Officers.

The Alice Manicur Symposium for Women is a program of NASPA, the national association for student affairs administrators in higher education. The competitive application process and program is held once every two years for mid-level student affairs professionals. Goodman brings direct experience in student affairs including leadership of service-learning and civic engagement at colleges and universities.

Goodman will join fellow experienced student affairs professionals from community colleges, two-year institutions, and four-year public and private universities for workshops and sessions focusing on strategic thinking, leading change, planning for career advancement, as well as personal and professional life balance. The Symposium will be held in Florida January 12-15, 2014.

International Education Week, coordinated by UCA’s International Engagement, is a national event established to increase awareness about international cultures and encourage students to study and travel abroad. These events were organized with the help of EDGE Residential College, the Intensive English Program, and several international RSOs. The full schedule for the week can be found at  https://uca.edu/international/news-2/.