Faculty & Staff News
Enrollment and Student Services (ESS) has published the Summer 2021 issue of the Dollar$ and $ense student newsletter. This newsletter provides information on upcoming deadlines, 2021-22 academic year updates, and more.
The newsletter is available on the NSU financial aid website.
Maribel Del Rio-Roberts
Maribel Del Rio-Roberts, Psy.D., associate professor, Department of Human Services at NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice provided training for Broward Sheriff’s Office Child Protective Investigators (CPI) on Best Practices in Supporting Parents with Special Needs.
The training will provide the CPI’s with information on the rights of parents with disabilities, specifically as it relates to the laws, services, and resources that pertain to them when a dependency case is opened. There were four different training sessions held on two days that introduced participants to a variety of relevant topics including the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), the challenges faced by parents with disabilities, the importance of personal assistance services, the intersection of parental disability and the child welfare system, interventions to support parents with special needs, and national and community resources.
Del Rio-Roberts is the lead faculty for the M.S. in Developmental Disabilities program.
During the Winter 2021 semester, undergraduate Communication students in COMM 4300: Social Media Theory and Practice had the opportunity to put their social skills into action and design a strategic social media campaign for NSU’s Guy Harvey Research Institute. Each winter, the course, offered through the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, partners with a real-world client seeking to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity with its social media presence.
“The best way for students to learn how to conduct a bona fide social media campaign is by partnering with a real client with a real need, and we were excited to have the chance to work with Dr. Shivji and the Guy Harvey Research Institute,” said Whitney Lehmann, associate professor of communication for the Department of Communication, Media, the Arts. “Dr. Shivji had a very clear, strategic vision for the GHRI’s social presence, and it was an invaluable learning experience for students to work with him and his team to design a unique and effective campaign tied to their organizational goals.”
Students kicked off the semester by conducting an initial client interview with Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., professor for the Department of Biological Sciences and director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute and Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center. Following the interview with Shivji and Tyler Plum, the GHRI’s social media manager and a master’s student in the Department of Biological Sciences, the undergraduate students conducted an audit of the GHRI’s social media presence and presented Shivji and Plum with proposed objectives, strategies and tactics tied to priority audiences and organizational goals. Campaign deliverables included new social media branding, a social media manual, targeted Twitter lists for networking with members of the media, and a revamped YouTube channel for archiving and curating GHRI video content.
“Working with Dr. Lehmann and her students was not only tremendously informative for us in terms of learning better strategies for social media platform construction and use, but it was also a pleasure interacting with the impressively creative undergraduates,” Shivji said. “The end result of this campaign is a vastly better social media platform for the GHRI to disseminate our work.”
For more information about the B.A. in Communication program, COMM 4300: Social Media Theory and Practice and other courses offered through the curriculum’s Strategic Communication concentration and minor, click here.
Follow the Guy Harvey Research Institute on social media @nsughri, the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences @nsuhcas, and the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts @nsu_dcma
Growth characteristics of Yersinia pestis wild-type (wt) and ΔyscF strains on MOX agar incubated at room temperature (RT) or 37°C for 48 h. Colonies of the wt are seen growing on MOX agar incubated at RT but not at 37°C, the temperature at which type III secretion is induced (top). Colonies of the ΔyscF strain, which does not have a functional type III secretion system, are seen growing on the MOX agar incubated at RT and at 37°C (bottom).
Several bacteria use needle-like structures called type III secretion systems (T3SS) to avoid our immune systems by injecting toxins into our cells and causing disease. If the T3SS is blocked, then these bacteria cannot cause the infection, making these structures an attractive target for new antibiotics.
Written by undergraduate students and Halmos College of Arts and Sciences biological sciences faculty member Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D., this paper discusses a new method developed in Garcia’s lab to detect inhibition of bacterial type III secretion systems by small molecules. This method may be useful for screening additional small molecules that target bacterial T3SSs to potentially be used as new treatments for antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.
Undergraduate students (now alumni) co-authors on this paper include Sukriti Prashar, Miguel Portales Guemes, Poorandai Shivbaran, Eugenia Jimenez Alvarez, Christopher Soha, Samir Nacer, and Michael McDonough.
The article, titled “Novel Disk Diffusion Assay on Magnesium Oxalate Agar To Evaluate the Susceptibility of Yersinia pestis to Type III Secretion System Inhibitors” was published in June 2021 in the ASM Journal Microbiology Spectrum. Learn more
Alvin Haywood, Ed.D.
Alvin Haywood, Ed.D., graduate of NSU’s Abraham, S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice, recently authored his third book, “Take Up Your Bed and Walk: This is My Story!” a tale of how he overcame cancer.
Haywood was born in Vallejo, California, and attended public schools there from kindergarten through the community college level. Upon transferring to San Jose State University (CA), he later received undergraduate degrees in social work and psychology, a master’s degree in education, and teaching and administrative credentials.
After retirement from 34 years of elementary and middle school teaching and overcoming a bout with cancer in 2007, Haywood enrolled in Fischler’s doctorate program. His book focuses on personal stories of diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and Haywood’s optimistic outlook and faith.
Haywood is also the author of “Cultivating Early Reading Development: Reaping the Benefits of School Success” and “Students Loving Math: What’s Reading Got to do With It?”
He earned his Doctor of Education from NSU in 2015. For more information on his book, “Take Up Your Bed and Walk: This is My Story.”
Dr. Gary Cohen
On the morning of June 24, the world watched in horror as a portion of the 12-story Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed, claiming the lives of more than 100 people, including class of 1989 Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine alumnus Gary Cohen, D.O., whose body was recovered from the rubble and identified two weeks later.
Cohen, who was a respected physician at the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center in Alabama, was in an 11th-floor condo in the Champlain Towers South building when the collapse occurred. He had come to South Florida to visit his terminally ill father and was staying with his brother Brad Cohen, M.D., who also perished.
Richard Mansell and Ricardo Celia, former golfers on Nova Southeastern Sharks men’s golf team, made their major championship debuts on July 15 at the 149th Open Championship, the world’s oldest major golf tournament. This year’s Open Championship was held at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England.
Celia, a native of Barranquilla, Colombia, arrived at Nova Southeastern as a freshman in the fall of 2010 and graduated following the 2014 spring season as one of the program’s most highly decorated players. He was named to the All-Sunshine State Conference team all four years, including first team honors in both 2012 and 2013. He also finished among the top-3 at each of his four SSC Championships, with a first-place tie as a freshman and a two-stroke victory in 2013. In addition, he earned recognition on three Golf Coaches Association of America All-American teams, the best of which was a first team nod in 2013, when he finished the season ranked No. 3 nationally, as well as a place on the All-Freshman team in 2011. In 2012, he aided the Sharks to the first National Championship in program history, defeating his Chico State opponent in the final round of match play by a single stroke. He earned his spot in this year’s Open as the winner of the 2019 Open de Argentina, waiting an extra year to fulfill his dream because the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled last year’s event.
“It is a dream come true. Playing an event of this caliber is something I will never forget. I feel like I’m in a kind of movie surrounded by the best actors on the planet. The happiness I feel is indescribable,” Celia told PGATour.com. He also played his practice round with six-time major champion Phil Mickelson, who won the event in 2013, and 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, adding “I wanted to put some pressure on myself before the first round to experience a little of what the tournament will be like. Playing with two idols like Mickelson and DeChambeau was amazing.”
Mansell, playing 213 miles from his hometown of Staffordshire, England, came to the Sharks as a transfer after a year at fellow NCAA Division II member Newberry College in South Carolina and wasted no time in making a name for himself. Much like Celia before him, Mansell also received a GCAA First Team All-American honor, finished the season with the No. 3 ranking in all of DII, and helped the Sharks to a National Championship, all in his first season with the program in 2015. He would go on to be named to both the All-SSC and All-American teams in all three years, picking up four SSC Golfer of the Week awards along the way. Another top-10 DII finish (No. 9) and individual National Championship run followed in 2016, and in 2017, he represented Team Europe at the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup and was a finalist for the Jack Nicklaus Division II Player of the Year award. He was named to the 156-player field as a final qualifier from an event held at Notts Golf Club in Nottingham at the end of June.
Dr. Jeffrey S. Grove
Jeffrey S. Grove, D.O., FACOFP dist., a 1990 Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine alumnus, received the American Osteopathic Association’s (AOA’s) Distinguished Service Award during its 101st House of Delegates Annual Meeting on July 15 in Chicago, Illinois.
The award, which is the highest honor the AOA bestows, is presented annually to deserving physicians or lay individuals for outstanding contributions to the understanding and advancement of osteopathic medicine through research, education, financial aid, or other areas that enable the profession to make a greater contribution to public health.
Santanu De
Santanu De, M.Sc., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center, was selected among top 20 applicants to participate in a competitive STEM Education Professional Skills Virtual Workshop organized by the Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) STEM Resource Hub of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The workshop was titled “Designing competitive research questions for grant proposals.” Representing NSU in the team of faculty members from multiple institutions across the U.S., De contributed to the following efforts:
De’s research interests include STEM education, pedagogy, reproductive physiology, developmental biology, cell biology, and protein biology. He is a member of the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS), an editorial board member of several journals including The American Journal of BioScience, and faculty adviser of NSU’s Med-ED student medical organization.
Ernst Vincent
Roland Joseph
The Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) and the Department of Humanities and Politics (DHP) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) hosted an event titled “Understanding the Conflicting Political Context of the Haitian President’s Assassination.” This event provided the opportunity for information and discussion regarding recent and historical perspectives on the events leading up to the assassination.
The event was coordinated by Elena Bastidas, Ph.D., faculty in DCRS. Bastidas welcomed the speakers and guests. Judith McKay, J.D., Ph.D., faculty in DCRS and Ransford Edwards, Ph.D. faculty in DHP were the facilitators. The speakers were two doctoral candidates in DCRS, Roland Joseph and Ernst Vincent.
Roland Joseph is a member of the Research Committee on Non-killing Security and International Relations at the Center for Global Nonkilling. He worked as a journalist and political analyst in Haiti for radio stations and newspapers such as Radio Evangelique Hosanna FM, Radio Ephphatha FM, and Journal le Matin for more than 15 years. He coordinated and led training sessions on peace, non-violence, nonkilling, and conflict resolution at Centre caribéen pour la non-violence globale et le développement durable (Caribbean Center for Global Non-Violence and Sustainable Development). Roland received his bachelor’s degree in political in Haiti; and his master’s degree in peace and conflict studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Ernst Vincent is working on his dissertation, which focuses on the conflict between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He is a pastor and a theologian. He received two master’s degrees from NSU, one in organizational leadership and one in conflict analysis and resolution. His research interests include the defense of human rights, race and ethnic relations and religious studies. Vincent is the current president of the Haitian Pastors Conference.