Dr. Veronica Acosta, associate professor of biology, received an additional award through a Department of the Army (DoA) grant: Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program and High School Apprenticeship Program. A $6,000 stipend was granted to one undergraduate research student, Fernando A. Hernandez, biology major, and one high school student, Sara Ana Henriquez, Atonement Academy. In total, Dr. Robert Miranda, postdoctoral fellow, and Acosta trained three undergraduate research students and two high school students in the lab. Acosta had “Retention of Underrepresented Minority faculty: Strategic Initiatives for Institutional Value Proposition Based on Perspectives from a Range of Academic Institutions,” published in “The Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education,” Summer 2015, 13(3):A136-A145, Whittaker JA, Montgomery BL, and Martinez-Acosta VG; and “Evolutionary Aspects of Annelid Regeneration,” accepted for publication online in “eLife Science,” Fall 2015, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester. DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0022103.pub2, Martinez-Acosta VG, Zoran MJ, October 2015.
Dr. Adrienne Ambrose, assistant professor of religious studies, received an exploratory research grant from the Hagley Library in Wilmington, Del., to support her research into their extensive collection of advertising trade cards.
Lisa Bazley (pictured right) joins UIW as the new vice president for information resources; Dr. Kevin Vichcales, associate provost and former dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research, now serves as the dean for the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CHASS); Dr. Mitchell Seal is the new dean for UIW Online; Dr. Denise Staudt, dean of the Dreeben School of Education, has been promoted to associate provost; and Dr. Osman Özturgut, assistant professor of doctoral studies in the Dreeben School of Education, now serves as the dean for the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.
Dr. Jeff Crane, associate dean of CHASS, received a contract with the University of Colorado Press to co-edit with Char Miller “The Politics of Hope: Grassroots Organizing, Environmental Justice, and Social Change.” He served as a roundtable commentator in the H-Environment Roundtable Review (Vol. 5, No. 7, 2015) of Brian Drake’s “Loving Nature, Fearing the State: Environmentalism and Antigovernment Politics before Reagan” (August 2015). Crane wrote a review of “Wilderburbs: Communities on Nature’s Edge in the Summer,” in the”Oregon Historical Quarterly” (May 2015).
Dr. Christopher Edelman, assistant professor of philosophy, had his article, “The Therapeutic Skepticism of Michel de Montaigne,” published in the “Review of Metaphysics” in June.
Dr. David Fike, professor of teacher education, coauthored the following publications: “Construct Validity of a Social Outreach Subset of the Professionalism in Physical Therapy: Core Values Self Assessment Tool,” in the “Physical Therapy Journal of Policy, Administration and Leadership,” 15(3), J22-J31, Denton JM, Fike DS, Walk ME, 2015; “Qualities University Students Seek in a Teacher,” in the “Journal of Economics and Economic Education Research,” 16(1), 42-54, Zhang S, Fike DS, DeJesus G, 2015; and “Impact of an Interprofessional Teaching Clinic on Preventive Care Services,” in “Family Medicine,” 47(7), 558-561, Zorek JA, Subash M, Fike DS, MacLaughlin AA, Young RB, Samiuddin M, MacLaughlin EJ, 2015.
Dr. Stephen Goffar, associate dean of academic affairs for the School of Physical Therapy, successfully re-certified as a Federation of State Board Physical Therapy (FSBPT) Orthopedic Certified Specialist.
Dr. Sharon Gustowski, associate professor of osteopathic medicine, was elected to a three-year term on the board of governors for the American Academy of Osteopathy, March 2015-2018; was elected as alternate delegate at the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association, American Osteopathic Association House of Delegates -Annual Business Meeting, July 2015; and presented at the 2015 American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) annual conference on “Faculty created OMT videos: impact on student learning.”
A review paper by Dr. Cindy Heiss, assistant professor of nutrition, and her collaborator, Dr. Lynette R. Goldberg, from the University of Tasmania Medical School’s Wicking Center for Dementia Studies, “Post-Meal Exercise may Attenuate the Glycemic Response to a Carbohydrate Load: Important Implications for Adults Who are Obese, with Pre-Diabetes or Diabetes, and/or At-Risk for Dementia,” was recently published in the journal “Obesity Research.”
Dr. Deborah Kaliski, assistant professor of physical therapy, and Dr. Mona Bains, assistant professor of physical therapy, received funding from the Feik School of Pharmacy (FSOP) Competitive Intramural Scientific Research Awards 2015-16 for their research on “Effects of Sex Hormones on Mitochondrial Bioenergetics in a Model of Neurodegeneration.”
Dr. Robyn Madson, founding dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine, was elected as a Texas Osteopathic Medical Association delegate to the American Osteopathic Association House of Delegates.
This summer, Dr. Michael McGuire, professor of business administration, taught Economía de la Empresa (Managerial Economics) in the M.B.A. program of the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (UCA), San Salvador, El Salvador. This summer marked McGuire’s 27 years of summer teaching service to the UCA. The service began with McGuire’s two complete years at the UCA as a Fulbright Scholar (1989-1991). McGuire submitted for publication to the journal, “Estudios Económicos de América Latina (ECA),” published by the Jesuit Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (UCA): “Tributación para el Desarrollo Inclusive en América Latina: Una Crítica de la Política Tributaria del Banco Mundial” (“Taxation for Inclusive Development in Latin America: A Critique of World Bank Tax Advice”).
Dr. Kenneth Metz, professor of music, composed a noh-influenced play, “Life and Beyond in Las Vegas,”performed on Oct. 29, 2015 at UIW’s Seddon Recital Hall as part of a “Where Rivers Meet” concert. Another work of his, “Hermetitos for Piano Solo,” was accepted to be performed Oct. 10 at Texas State University as part of the National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA) regional conference.
Dr. Robert Miranda, postdoctoral fellow in biology, coauthored “Arginine Vasotocin Induces Calling Behavior with a Female Social Stimulus and Interacts with Gonadotropins to Affect Sexual Behaviors in Male Xenopus Tropicalis” published in “Physiology & Behavior,” 151: 72-80, Miranda RA, Searcy BT, Propper CR, 2015.
Dr. Tom Mohr, associate dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine, was elected to the board of trustees for the Association of Osteopathic Directors and Medical Educators in April 2015; completed his term on the Program Committee for the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine’s AACOM-AODME annual conference where he presented on “GME Alternate Funding Mechanisms”; and was appointed to the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Bureau on Education in April 2015.
Theresa Northway, instructor of art, represented the UIW Art Department at the Texas Association of Schools of Art (TASA) Conference in Lubbock, Texas, October 1-3. One of her works was on display in the Texas Tech University Satellite Gallery as part of the TASA One Foot Exhibition 2015 (www.tasart.org/tasa_conferences.htm) at Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA). At Northwest Vista, she had a piece of artwork on display as part of “Fotoseptiembre USA” in September (fotoseptiembreusa.com/fotoseptiembre-usa-2014-northwest-vista-college-palmetto-center-for-the-arts/).
Dr. Scott Roberts, associate professor of business administration, presented “Discmania’s Instagram Strategy” with UIW student Kasey Wolf at the Academy of Business Research conference in October.
Dr. Sally Said, professor of modern languages, spent six weeks on the Navajo Nation at Diné College in Tsaile, Ariz. There she assisted the head of the Navajo Language Program with two projects. She compiled a list of useful Navajo phrases related to health care for use at a local hospital and helped to design new materials to train elementary school Navajo teachers. She also attended sessions of the annual Navajo Language Academy’s Summer Linguistics Workshop July 6-24 at the college.
In June, Dr. Sara Tallarovic, associate professor of biology, Dr. Bonnie McCormick, professor of biology, and Dr. Brian McBurnett, professor of chemistry, presented the paper “Lessons for Success: Active and Cooperative Learning in Science Classrooms” at the 2015 Science Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics (STEAM) and Education Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. The paper was accepted for publication in the conference proceedings.
Dr. Suleyman Tek, associate professor of mathematics, gave a presentation, “Surfaces from Deformation of Parameters,” at the XVII-th International Conference on Geometry, Integrability and Quantization, June 5-10, Varna, Bulgaria.
(Pictured right) In August, Dr. Keith Tucker, director of counseling, and Marveen Mahon, director of health services, retired from UIW. A celebration was held on Aug. 14 in Mabee Library’s Special Collections Suite to honor their more than 60 collective years of service. Tucker joined what was then Incarnate Word College in 1975 and, in addition to counseling services, had served as a faculty member as well as chaired the Faculty Association and the search committee instrumental in hiring UIW President Dr. Louis Agnese in 1985. Mahon came to UIW in 1992 as assistant director of health services, but was quickly promoted to director after one week. Tucker and Mahon met as colleagues at the university and eventually married, celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.
Dr. Elizabeth Urteaga, associate professor of pharmacy instruction, was awarded a faculty-endowed research grant of $3,000 for a project entitled “Evaluation of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination for Pharmacy Students and Residents,” 2015-2016.
