Faculty & Staff News
Pharmaceutical Sciences Professor Benedict C. Albensi, Ph.D., has been chosen to be the keynote speaker at the upcoming 4th Annual Aging Well Summit. The event, dubbed
“Healthy Brains, Healthy Caregiving,” will be held November 11-12 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Madison, WI.
Professor Albensi, with NSU’s College of Pharmacy, will speak on “Are We Missing the Boat with Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Care.”
Posted 11/01/23
Scott Poland
NSU’s very own Professor Scott Poland will be the keynote speaker at the First Annual Broward College Mental Health Symposium on Nov. 8, 2023, at the North Regional/Broward College Library from 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. He will discuss promoting mental health for students in challenges times.
Among the sessions will be:
Poland is a professor at the NSU College of Psychology and the director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office for NSU Florida in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
He is a licensed psychologist and is an internationally recognized expert on school safety, youth suicide, and school crisis prevention/intervention. He has authored or co-authored six books and many chapters and articles on these subjects and has served as a legal expert in several lawsuits.
He also authored the Suicide Safer School Plan for the state of Texas, the Crisis Action School Toolkit-Suicide for the state of Montana and the Florida STEPS School Toolkit for Educators to Prevent Suicide. He previously directed psychological services for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in Texas for 24 years and is a past President of the National Association of School Psychologists and a past Prevention Division Director of American Association of Suicidology. He is very dedicated to prevention and has testified about the mental health needs of children before the U.S. Congress on four occasions. He was a founding member of the National Emergency Assistance Team and has personally assisted school communities after many tragedies including school shootings and suicide clusters. He is known for his dynamic and practical presentations. He has received many awards including being named the most outstanding psychologist in Texas. Dr. Poland also has received the Houston Wage Peace Award, the Parkland Helping the Community Heal Award and the APA Division 16 Distinguished Career Award.
Posted 11/01/23
The Farquhar Honors College and the Alvin Sherman Library present “The Open Classroom: Beyond Fake News & Deepfake Fear: Hope & Media Literacy.”
Join us for an open discussion on fake news and deepfakes and the importance of media literacy in combatting falsehoods.
The Open Classroom series features conversations with scholars from various disciplines who share their expertise on important issues and provide insightful perspectives rarely seen in the media.
Posted 10/27/23
The Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences’ Department of Physical Therapy has been celebrating National Physical Therapy Month during October.
Physical therapists are movement experts who team with physical therapist assistants to treat people of all ages and abilities.
They are licensed health care providers who help you avoid surgery and prescription drugs, maximize your mobility, manage pain and chronic conditions, and improve your physical function and fitness.
Join Us in Celebrating the Value of Physical Therapy (PT).
More information about Choose PT please visit: https://www.choosept.com/
Posted 10/27/23
Get out your running – or walking – shoes and sign up for the 18th Annual Sallarulo’s Race for Champions at the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus on Saturday, November 4. Runners and walkers from all over South Florida will come to campus to participate in this 5K race to benefit Special Olympics Florida – Broward County.
Registration starts at 6:30 a.m. and the run starts at 8 a.m. in the circle on Ray Ferrero Blvd. NSU is the only private university in the country with a local Special Olympics chapter on its campus, now housed permanently in the NSU University School sports center. In fact, a member of NSU’s Board of Trustees, Paul Sallarulo, serves as Chairman of the Race for Special Olympics Florida – Broward County.
NSU’s partnership with this worthy organization is made possible by the late Don Taft, who had been committed to supporting special-needs children and adults. All proceeds from the race will benefit Special Olympics Florida –Broward County, whose mission is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competitions for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Registration is open at www.champions5k.org. NSU students can use the code NSU2023 to register for free. We hope to see you there.
Posted 10/26/23
All faculty and staff researchers are invited to join the NSU Division of Research and Economic Development for a dialogue related to research at NSU via Zoom. Our next Research Connect quarterly town hall meeting will be on Monday, Nov. 6, from noon to 1 p.m.
Each of the Research Connect events will highlight a different research-related topic, resource, and/or process with the next topic of discussion being: NSU Procurement. Experts from the Office of Procurement Services will talk about the procurement process and supporting researchers, followed by a Q&A session with the experts.
To attend through Zoom, please RSVP using the following link, https://bit.ly/Nov6ResearchConnect, and don’t forget to add the event to your calendar. Lastly, to help answer as many questions as possible during the event, we encourage you to submit questions prior to the event to dor@nova.edu.
Posted 10/26/23
Shannon Hall, the general manager of the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center
Theatre. Numbers. People.
These are the three ingredients in life that bring joy to Shannon Hall, the general manager of the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center. Hall has been with the Broward Center of the Performing Arts for more than 15 years and GM for the Miniaci PAC for five of those years.
The Miniaci PAC, a venue affiliated with the Broward Center of Performing Arts, is a 498-seat seat theatre that is part of the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center on Nova Southeastern University’s main Davie Campus. This gem is in its 22nd season and supports many NSU academic engagements as well as promoting and contributing to the cultural life of the NSU community and of the community at large.
The Miniaci family, led by the late matriarch Rose and her late husband Alfred, inspired their family to generously support NSU and the South Florida community, helping create the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center.
The world has been a stage for Hall since she was a young girl, getting cast in shows in elementary school and capturing the lead role in a Girl Scout production as “Daisy,” the affectionate nickname of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts. From there, Hall took part in numerous high school production and received a theatre scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Theatre.
“Fresh out of college, I was fortunate enough to get a job with Broadway Across America, the largest Broadway company of touring shows in Fort Lauderdale as an assistant bookkeeper,” she says. “From there I worked for Live Nation Concerts and eventually found my way back to my first love, theatre, and then took a job as the settlement accountant working with numbers, my second love.”
Now Hall calls herself “lucky” to be the GM of the Miniaci PAC, where she enjoys working on a “beautiful campus and building some exciting programming and partnerships.”
Hall beams when asked about the joys of her job.
“You know what’s great? Being surrounded by young adults just beginning their life journey,” she says. “I feel like we are in a new beginning here too at the Miniaci PAC, especially post-COVID. The passion that each collaboration affords me feels refreshing, fun, and energetic.”
Over the years, the Miniaci PAC has been home to some top acts. In collaboration with the Division of Student Affairs, the center held an NSU Life 101 Speaking Series with artists such as John Legend, Jason Taylor, Vanessa Williams, Anthony Bourdain and Dwayne Johnson also known as “The Rock.” It also has held sellout concerts such as the Peruvian superstar Eva Ayllon and Matisyahu, as well as a mix of iconic groups such as the doo wop group The Coasters, popular Irish folk group The High Kings, and Ken Block and Drew Copeland of Sister Hazel.
And the future continues to be bright, when it comes to upcoming acts, Hall says.
The dance company Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami returned with two ballets this season, the first “Falling for Dance” and a soon-to-be announced Mother’s Day brunch and ballet event. Miniaci PAC also is introduced its first-ever comedy series featuring HBO and BET’s Shang, Greek American LGBTQ+ stand-up comedian Gus Constantellis, Netflix’s Abby Hatcher, and the jaw-dropping Samantha Ramsdell, known for earning the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest mouth.”
“With a new team and outlook here, we are looking forward to recreating what we do at the Miniaci PAC,” Hall says. “It’s so heartwarming to see patrons moved by the performing arts when they watch or learn from an event – with every spectrum of emotion.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MINIACI PAC AND ITS UPCOMING PERFORMANCES.
Posted 10/22/23
For the third year, the Nova Southeastern University Military Affairs’ Veterans Resource Center will be holding its “Nominate a Veteran” contest, honoring veterans on campus.
Here’s your chance to nominate a NSU veteran or military-affiliated person who you regard as someone who goes above and beyond in the Shark Community.
You can nominate a student, staff or faculty member, a cadet, or an alum. One winner in each category will be chosen. The winners will be honored during NSU’s Veterans Day ceremony on November 11 and will be given a NSU challenge coin. They also will be photographed.
Make your nomination today. The contest ends November 3.
Posted 10/23/23
NSU University School Middle School Robotics teams delivered impressive results at the 2nd Annual Great Philosopher’s Get Together.
Notably, Team 63724B finished second place in skills, qualification matches, and in finals, and is now ranked #1 in the state for skills. Team 63724A finished seventh in qualification matches and third place in skills, and is now ranked #2 in the state for skills. Among the 29 teams competing, just four of them were middle school teams.
Learn more about NSU University School’s college preparatory program for students in Preschool – Grade 12 at www.uschool.nova.edu.
Posted 10/22/23
The NSU Art Museum is welcoming members to the opening of “Walasse Ting: Parrot Jungle.” This exhibition will provide viewers the opportunity to immerse themselves in Ting’s neon-soaked visions of nubile women, flora, fauna, and an endless menagerie of cats, parrots, and hibiscus.
Simultaneously, the show will establish a biographic narrative, in which viewers will learn about the diasporic life of Ting; whose transnational identity left him without the typical ambassadorship countries engage in to display their creative wealth.
This exhibition is curated by the Museum’s Bryant Taylor Curator, Ariella Wolens. It will be accompanied by a full-color, hard-bound monograph published by Skira, edited, and with an essay by Wolens and additional text by Pierre Alechinsky, Bonnie Clearwater, Xiao (Amanda) Ju, and Ting’s daughter Mia Ting.
“Walasse Ting: Parrot Jungle” is sponsored by those who wish to remain anonymous, Stephen & Joan Marks, Barron Family Foundation, Imperfect Family Foundation, Funding Arts Broward, Inc., Sam Francis Foundation in honor of Francis’ 100th Birthday, Marlène Brody, Marion Lefebre & Robert S. Pynoos, David Stonehill & Caroline Cruise, Wenise Wong & Eric Barron. This event will be held at the NSU Art Museum (One East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33301) on Thursday, Nov. 9 from 6 to 8 p.m.
For more information please contact the NSU Art Museum, moareservations@moafl.org or call 954.525.5500.
Posted 10/18/23