Faculty & Staff News
During Health Literacy Month, the library recognizes the importance of making health information easy to understand and implement. We have selected topics to help improve your health, longevity, and quality of life. The presentations cover eating habits, mindfulness, and preventing illness.
“Food Deserts” are usually defined as geographic areas without local access to fresh food. Using community ecology statistics, Halmos Environmental Science alumna Annie Goyanes, ’21 and her faculty adviser J. Matthew Hoch, Ph.D., looked at supermarkets to quantify the availability of healthy food. They tested whether produce diversity is correlated with neighborhood income or demographics. Abundance and diversity of fresh produce was quantified in supermarkets in Broward County.
J. Matthew Hoch, Ph.D.
Their research, conducted while Goyanes was an undergraduate, was recently published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Their research determined that food deserts should not only be defined by geographic measures, but other influential factors such as diversity and quality of food available. Previous food desert studies often involve lengthy interviews, and/or food index surveys, focus group discussions, administered consumer surveys, and an inventory of food. These methods represent a new application of statistics that have been traditionally used in ecology. This is a quick and easy way to identify gaps in food availability in potentially marginalized communities, which opens an easier path to solving those problems.
This research was supported by a President’s Faculty Research and Development Grant from Nova Southeastern University.
Araine McWhinney, M.S., CCC/SLP, a practicing clinician, understands that everyone benefits from positivity and opportunity.
TrueVoice Speech founder, Araine McWhinney, M.S., CCC/SLP, 2012 alumnus of the Masters in Speech-Language Pathology in the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, recently published, “The Parent’s Guide to Successful School Meetings” (eBook). This guide is specifically curated to positively change the experience and working relationships between parents, families, advocates, teachers, and school administrators, she says.
McWhinney’s passion stems from working with children in early intervention programs, teenagers, adults, and the geriatric population. Her TrueVoice company is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE).
For decades, coral reef ecosystems have been in decline due to a variety of environmental stressors. Considering this decline, coral restoration efforts in the Caribbean have been implemented to promote reef recovery.
In partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line and the Perry Institute of Marine Science, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences marine science alumna Cassie VanWynen ’20 recently published her thesis research. It compares the growth and survival among the acroporid taxa A. cervicornis, A. palmata, and their hybrid, A. prolifera, in three in-situ coral tree nurseries established around Great Stirrup Cay, The Bahamas.
VanWynen is now a research associate in Halmos College’s Coral Reef Ecology with an emphasis on Restoration, Assessment, and Monitoring (CRRAM) housed in the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center. The research in this lab includes investigating the ecology, restoration, and conservation of staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) populations. The lab has a strong resource management focus and works closely with local, state, and federal agency resource managers.
For the full journal article at Frontiers in Marine Science.
NSU’s Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) Omega Theta Chapter 584 in collaboration with Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais solicit your assistance in their Haiti Bags of Love Project. Children and pregnant women airlifted from the earthquake-stricken zone in Haiti to the University hospital in Mirebalais need your help.
The project goal is to distribute at least 100 adult care packages, 50 care packages, and children’s books to the pediatric unit and maternity unit.
Items needed: small backpacks, children’s books (creole) and/or picture books, soft toys, coloring books, and crayons, hand sanitizers, wipes, sanitary pads, toothbrushes and toothpastes, soaps, bath towels, washcloth, deodorants, lotions
Drop off: Donations may be left at the Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice breakroom on the 4th Floor of the DeSantis Building or at the Miami-Kendall Campus Student Lounge. You may also make a monetary donation by entering the following site as a NSU affiliate or as a guest here. Donations will be accepted until December 3, 2021.
The KDP Omega Theta chapter, a gold award winning chapter, received recognition for excellence in education through its 2020-2021 community service and literacy projects. Kappa Delta Pi is an International Honor Society in Education. The chapter will be recognized for its achievement at the KDP’s first-ever Virtual Convo on November 5 at 2 p.m.
For additional Information, please contact faculty adviser, Sandra Trotman at trotman@nova.edu
Jessica Muñiz-Collado, M.F.A., faculty in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts, in the Halmos College of Art and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), will be the featured virtual presenter on Saturday, October 2, 2021, from 2 to 3 p.m. for the Broward County Library. Muñiz-Collado’ s presentation, “Same Yet Different,” will explore the similarities and differences in Latin Music.
Jessica Muñiz-Collado
Muñiz-Collado has performed and recorded with numerous musicians and artists including Grammy-nominated saxophonist Steve Elson, jazz vibraphonist Arthur Lipner, Cookie “Conga” Lopez, Anders Astrand, Jean Geoffroy, Ney Rosauro, and trumpet all-star John Walsh. She has also performed throughout North and South America, toured with the FROST Percussion Sextet in Japan, and was a guest lecturer and performer at the international music conference LeRock & L’Amour held at the Universite Paul-Valery in Montpellier, France.
At NSU, she has taught courses in composition, music production, and percussion. In addition, she directed the Mako Band, NSU Pep Band, and managed NSU Mako Records.
An upcoming two-day workshop will help faculty curate their scholarly content for global dissemination.
NSUWorks, NSU’s institutional repository, and SelectedWorks, the online professional profile system, work together to curate content for the Digital Commons network of repositories for dissemination of your scholarly output to the world at large. Digital Measures is NSU’s internal review and tracking system for faculty to keep track of their professional activities.
Part one of the series will discuss how these three systems work at NSU, explain your college process for adding your scholarly contributions into these systems, and provide think-tank opportunities for the creation of new scholarly work for yourself and your students. Part two will be a hands-on workshop experience to show you how to manage your SelectedWorks profile effectively on your own.
Part one will be held on October 19 from noon to 1 p.m. and part two on October 21 from noon to 1 p.m.
The Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences Student Government Association programs are asking for your help to raise money to assist individuals affected by Hurricane Ida.
By making a contribution, you will support experiential learning and advance our philanthropic efforts as future health care providers. We are looking at building mission trip opportunities and lead an alternative spring break trip to New Orleans depending on travel restrictions. We will proudly work with other charitable organizations in the Greater New Orleans area.
The fund-raiser will be until November 1. For more information go to https://www.givecampus.com/schools/NovaSoutheasternUniversity/fins-up-for-louisiana
For any questions, contact Julia Beattie jb3683@mynsu.nova.edu.
Dean Holly Baumgartner
NSU Network Chats will present “Forming Interdisciplinary Collaborations at NSU,” featuring Holly Baumgartner, dean of the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences. The event, sponsored by Translational Research and Economic Development, will be held Friday, October 22, from noon to 12:45 p.m. via Zoom.
The Multicultural Affairs Committee will present a Diversity Roundtable Discussion on the first Monday of the month through December from 12:05 p.m. to 12:55 p.m. The discussion will be on Zoom with social time beginning at noon. All students and employees are invited, as well as silent observers.
The objectives of this roundtable are three-fold:
The 2021 schedule are as follows: