Month: June 2021

Fischler College Spotlight Shines on Zelphine Smith-Dixon

Zelphine Smith-Dixon

Zelphine Smith-Dixon received her Doctor of Educational Leadership degree from the Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice in 2005. She was elected as the president of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education. She is the first person of color to serve in this capacity and assist the country nationally in an effort of meeting the needs of students with disabilities.

Smith-Dixon is also the state director for the Division for Special Education at the Georgia Department of Education. She works to ensure that each student has an opportunity to be successful. She is committed to not only representing her students but the critical partnership for student success to include families, teachers, leaders, and communities.

She received the following accolades: Tri-County Special Educator of the Year, Vance-Providence Elementary Teacher of the Year and Orangeburg Consolidated School District Three Alternate District Teacher of the Year.  In April 2018, Columbia College of S.C. presented her with the Wil Lou Gray Outstanding Educator Award. Later, she served as the Columbia College Commencement Speaker in May 2019.

Smith-Dixon serves as a thought leader and cadre advisor for the National IDEA Data Center, National Consortium on Special Education Finance, National Technical Assistance Center on Transition, and National Center for Systemic Improvement to address the intersection of race and disability.

Smith-Dixon published an article in the March 2021 Case in Point edition in the Journal of Special Education Leadership (JSEL)titled “The State of Special Education: The Shift from Available to Appropriate!”

Smith-Dixon says she believes that receiving her Doctor of Educational Leadership degree at NSU fostered many of the leading skills within her that have served well and helped make her successful in her professional career. She is described as one of the most sought-after voices in education having shared her expertise with national and international audiences.

Smith-Dixon lives in Conyers, Ga., with her husband, Marki Dixon, and children Myles, Megan, and Mason. She serves in ministry at the dReam Center Church of Atlanta in Decatur, Ga., and is a member of the Covington Area Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

 

Halmos Alumna Earns Doctoral Degree from University of Surrey, UK

Michelle Rushefsky

Michelle Rushefsky, Ph.D., 2012 graduate in International Studies and English in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center, was awarded a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom.

Rushefsky’s thesis was titled “Horror Capriccios: (Re)imagining British Nineteenth-Century Fiction through the Veil of American Horror.”

She credits her undergraduate education at NSU for setting her on the path to this tremendous milestone in her academic career.

“NSU provided the initial freedom to explore different subjects which led me to the love of my life, literature,” she said. “Because of NSU, I continue to pursue academic achievement. The professors during my undergraduate years pledged support and fostered substantial academic rigor that inspired me not only as an early career researcher, but as an aspiring lecturer.”

NSU Outfielder Adan Fernandez Makes All-Region First Team

The accolades continue to roll in for Nova Southeastern University baseball’s second-year junior outfielder, Adan Fernandez, as officials from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) announced his selection among the association’s ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. II All-Region First Team. This marks the third All-Region nod this season for the Miramar native and second first-team honor – also the first for the Sharks since 2018.

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Halmos Professor Shares Expertise in Voting Rights

Charles Zelden

Charles Zelden, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics (DHP) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center and sought-after political expert, recently shared his expertise.

In an interview conducted by CBS4’s BoBeth Yates titled “Voting By Mail Becomes More Difficult Now,” Zelden was asked to comment on how the new Florida voting law will affect voters’ abilities to cast their ballots.

“They’re not making it impossible to vote, just more difficult,” he said. “So for example, the old rule was that you could register for a two-election cycle period to automatically receive an absentee ballot. Now, it is a one-year every cycle, you’ve got to re-register for.”

Zelden academic interests include American Constitutional History, Civil Rights, Legal Studies, and the Judicial Process.

Circle of Friends Holds Annual Meeting to Celebrate Achievements

The Circle of Friends, the advisory board and fundraising partners of the NSU Alvin Sherman Library held its Annual Meeting on May 19 online to celebrate the achievements of the past year and installation of incoming Board and Officers.

Douglas Ford was installed as the newest board member, Chuck Morton as president, Barbara Grosz as vice president, and Peter Woolf as past president, while Rona Levitt and Daniel Fleischer will continue to serve in their roles as secretary and treasurer, respectively. Also serving on the Board of Directors are Stephanie Brown, Adolfo J. Cotilla Jr., Tony DuBose, Peter Garcia, Bonnie Lippman, Vilma Lopez, Greg McDermott, Luis A. Muriel, Ronnie Oller, Ann Porterfield, Janet Speth and ex-officios Diane Klein, Laura Sturaitis, and Jim Hutchens.

During his address, outgoing President Peter Woolf thanked the board for supporting the following three initiatives:

  • Two years ago, Circle of Friends’ funding enabled the library to upgrade the its digital signage to include large touchscreen displays on the first and second floors. This year, this important project was completed, and today, digital signs are located throughout the building.
  • This year the Circle of Friends also invested in the ASL/OCL staff by funding the library’s professional development budget. Although the pandemic led to the cancellation of several opportunities, many more online offerings became available.
  • Circle of Friends is especially proud to have funded the Alvin Sherman Library’s contract with the consulting firm Library Strategies. This contract provides for three-year strategic plans for both the library and the Circle of Friends.

John Wensveen, Ph.D., chief innovation officer of the Nova Southeastern University’s Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation was the keynote speaker at this year’s annual meeting. He spoke about the development of the innovation center and its impressive cutting edge, world-class features and presented a virtual tour of this state-of-the-art center.

To join or renew your membership with Circle of Friends, click here.

Humanities Hosted 3rd Annual Crossroads Student Conference

On April 10, 2021, NSU’s Center for the Humanities hosted its 3rd Annual Crossroads Humanities Student Conference, under the direction of center director Aileen Farrar, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Humanities and Politics in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences (HCAS) and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center. Preparations for the conference included a series of pre-conference events, including a Digital Humanities Workshop, led by Sarah Stanley, M.A., the Digital Humanities Librarian of Florida State University; a Style Us “Conference Conventions & Etiquette Workshop,” part of the Department of Humanities and Politics Style Us: Writing and Professionalization Series; and a “Humanities to a Career in Tech” talk with Iris Nevins and Jasmine Haugabrook of the email marketing company, Mailchimp. Each event served as additional opportunities to connect students with the academic and professional applications of the humanities in our increasingly digital cultures.

This year’s conference theme, “Networks,” invited participants to explore diverse and interdisciplinary issues of networks and networking, from the social, political, and cultural to the technological, environmental, and biological. More than 150 members joined panels and events during this one-day virtual conference, including presenters and attendees from Greece, Indonesia, India, the UK, and all over the U.S., including Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, and Michigan. Undergraduate and graduate presenters represented a distinguished range of disciplinary studies from medicine and law to English, History, Political Science, Philosophy, Sociology, and more. The Center for Humanities was especially pleased to welcome peers from the “Making Diversity Meaningful in the Humanities: MDC-FIU Pathway Partnership.”

Adding to the day, two special guest speakers—Jessica Harvey, Project Manager of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, and Nina Schick, a political commentator and broadcaster who specializes in disinformation and technology and the author of Deepfakes: The Coming Infocalypse —delighted audiences with expansive perspectives on the growing need for humanities scholarship and skills in areas of conservation and politics, especially in an age of rapid technological advancement. Nina Schick’s talk, titled “Deepfakes and the Age of Synthetic Media,” was sponsored by the Department of Humanities and Politics’ Stolzenberg Doan International Studies Lecture Series.

At the end of the day, conference members gathered for the closing ceremonies. Three lucky winners of the Virtual Mural Raffle were awarded special Crossroads Conference grab bags. The pictures posted by Rachel Northrop from the University of Miami, Kate Poppenhagen from the University of Colorado Denver, and Greter Camacho Melian from Nova Southeastern University along with conference pictures posted by many other participants throughout the day can be viewed in the conference gallery: https://nsudhp.wixsite.com/crossroadsconference/gallery

The Crossroads Conference is also proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Digital Humanities Contest:

  • 1st Place – “A Different Image, Another Sound: Resistant Rhetoric and Black Identity” by Nhadya Lawes (U of Miami)
  • 2nd place – “A Meta-Analytic Review: The Implications of Virtual Reality with Immersion on Secondary Language Acquisition” by Dylan Darling and Greter Camacho Melian (NSU)
  • 3rd Place – “Griot to DJ: Remixing and Blending Globalizing Culture” by Sarah Djos-Raph (U of Louisiana at Lafayette)

Each project represents exemplary studies of impactful issues in digital humanities and will be posted to the Humanities Center website over the summer: https://hcas.nova.edu/humanities/.

The next Call-For-Papers for the Crossroads Humanities Student Conference (2022) will be released in Fall 2021. Ask to be added to our listserv for more updates by emailing humanities@nova.edu or follow us on Instagram @nsu_humanities.

Accepting 2021 NSU Hall of Fame Nominations Until June 18


The selection of the 2021 Nova Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame Class is right around the corner this Fall and nominations are now open for entry into this year’s class. For eligibility criteria and to make online nominations for consideration, please follow the Nomination Form on the NSU Hall of Fame page at NSUSharks.com.

Nominations will remain open until 5:00 p.m. on June 18, 2021 for the 13th NSU Athletics Hall of Fame class that will be honored in November 2021. For any questions, please contact Manager of Marketing and Promotions Abbie Lawson at (954) 262-1599 or by e-mail at alawson1@nova.edu.

Be sure to follow the Sharks on social media! Find us on Twitter @NSUSharks, on Instagram @NSUSharks and on Facebook /NSUSharksAthletics.

Looking Forward, Looking Back: Freedom, Afrofuturism and Reflections on Juneteenth, June 19

Virtual Event
Saturday, June 19, 3:00 p.m.
Free

RSVP

In recognition of Juneteenth, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale will present “Looking Forward, Looking Back: Freedom, Afrofuturism and Reflections on Juneteenth,” a free virtual panel discussion on Saturday, June 19 at 3:00 p.m. This event launches Community Voices, NSU Art Museum’s new initiative supported by the Community Foundation of Broward, that focuses on exploring social and racial inequalities and challenging social structures, including representation in museums. Community Voices will provide a new forum for community discourse as it highlights topics of identity, migration and race through talks, multidisciplinary performances and workshops that are aimed at celebrating diversity and that serve as a catalyst for social change. Join expert panelists Ransford F. Edwards, Jr., Ph.D., Kandy G. Lopez-Moreno, M.F.A. and Rachel Panton, Ph.D., faculty members of Nova Southeastern University, who will look back at the historical context of emancipation, as well as the ongoing tension between the rhetoric of recovery and an imagined and unenslaveable Black future in art, literature, and pop culture.

Tickets are free and must be reserved in advance. For reservations, email moareservations@moafl.org or call 954-262-0258. Tickets may also be reserved online at nsuartmuseum.org. 

Ransford F. Edwards, Jr., Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Humanities

Ransford F. Edwards, Jr., Ph.D.

and Politics in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences. His research interests include disaster politics, particularly disaster capitalism. He explores social and economic justice through the transformative nature of natural disasters. Edwards’ regional areas of focus are the Caribbean and Latin America. His work appears in Class, Race, and Corporate Power and he has been a reviewer for the journal Disasters. His teaching interests include quantitative research methods, political economy, and political film and fiction.

 

 

Kandy G. Lopez-Moreno, M.F.A

 

Kandy G. Lopez-Moreno, M.F.A., is an associate professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences. As a visual artist, Lopez-Moreno explores constructed identities, celebrating the strength, power, confidence and swag of individuals who live in urban and often economically disadvantaged environments. With a variety of mediums, her images develop a personal and socially compelling visual vocabulary that investigates race, the human defense mechanism, visibility and armor through fashion, and gentrification. Lopez-Moreno’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums.

 

Rachel Panton, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences. Panton’s primary focus is women’s narratives of wellness and transformation. She was a guest editor for the

Rachel Panton, Ph.D.

University of California, Berkeley’s Race and Yoga Journal and is the founder of Women Writing Wellness. She is the editor of the forthcoming book, Black Girls Om Too: Black Women’s Bodies & Resistance to the Visual and Narrative Rhetoric of Yoga and is co-editor of Calling of the Crowns: Black American priestess narratives of awakening to the divine feminine, divination, healing, and spiritual modalities of service in African Diasporic Religions.

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