Author: iharrell

Library of Congress Features Halmos Faculty Article

Yair Solan, Ph.D.

Yair Solan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics (DHP) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences (HCAS), published an article on Buster Keaton’s 1924 film “The Navigator” that was recently featured in Now See Hear!, the blog of the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The article is part of an online collection of essays dedicated to films selected to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, which annually recommends for preservation a list of films deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

In this essay, Solan explores the making of one of the most iconic comedies of the silent era, detailing how a chance encounter with a decommissioned ocean liner led to the production of Keaton’s commercial breakthrough. Emblematic of the actor-director’s inventive visual comedy, the film includes intricate mechanical gags and innovative underwater sequences.

Solan teaches courses in literature and film studies in DHP. He previously presented his research on “The Navigator” in a commentary track on DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film. His published articles have appeared in Modernism/modernity, Studies in American Naturalism, and the Journal of the Short Story in English.

Read the full article.

Posted 02/05/23

Phi Delta Chi Awarded 3rd Place Overall for Thurston Cup

Brothers of Phi Delta Chi Pharmacy Fraternity with the awards

Gabriela Aponte (Current President) and Krysten Ferraino (Past President 2021-2022)

Phi Delta Chi (PDC), Beta Lambda Chapter, is a professional pharmacy fraternity that values selfless service, purpose-driven leadership, lifelong learning, and Brotherhood. For the academic year 2021-2022, the Beta Lambda Chapter was recognized in each pillar of our fraternity. We were ranked 1st in scholarship, 4th in Leadership, 6th in Brotherhood, and 4th in Service.

To achieve the Scholarship award, PDC organized 2-3 study sessions per month during the academic year, Brother-led tutoring sessions, and implemented the ‘A-Jar’ where Brothers who received an A grade in multiple assessments received a small gift card, with a final result of at least 50% of Brothers listed on the Chancellor’s or Dean’s Lists. For Leadership development, PDC arranged multiple events, such as roundtables and workshops for CV review and LinkedIn guidance by engaging our wonderful alumni.

Faculty adviser Devada Singh-Franco PharmD, RPh, CDCES

For Brotherhood, PDC facilitated peer mentoring by coordinating monthly events (bowling, ice skating, retreats) to foster professional growth. And most importantly, for Service, for at least  10 years, PDC has sold flowers at NSU graduation ceremonies to fundraise for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. During this time, PDC has donated about $20,000 to our national philanthropy. Additionally, the Beta Lambda Chapter hosted an Introduction to Sign Language event with an instructor that was open to all professional colleges at NSU.

Overall, the Beta Lambda Chapter was ranked 3rd out of 80+ chapters. As a Chapter, we are honored for this recognition and achieving this would not be possible without the help of each officer, Brother of our fraternity, and mentorship from our faculty advisor, Devada Singh-Franco, PharmD, RPh, CDCES.

Posted 02/05/23

International Relations Group Hosts Model UN Event

The Nova International Relations Association, a longtime student group in the Department of Humanities and Politics, hosted its 10th Annual Model United Nations on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

The event, under the leadership of our professor and Model UN Team Coach, George Nelson Bass III, Ph.D., J.D., had eight local high schools (including USchool) and more than 170 participants! It was a resounding success and created a buzz in the schools about NSU.

We were grateful for use of the Alan B. Levan NSU Broward Center of Innovation as it really showcased NSU to the public – both parents and prospective students. They were impressed!

Posted 02/03/23

Halmos Announces Dialogues in Local Democracy

Nova Southeastern University is delighted to announce an exciting community project designed to bring participants from across Broward County to the university’s main campus in Davie for facilitated dialogues related to their communities. The project, “Dialogues in Local Democracy,” is a new project initiated by NSU’s Council for Dialogue and Democracy and supported by the university and through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  (Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities).

The goal of the project is to provide an opportunity for community participants to share their thoughts, suggestions, and reflections about their community. Facilitated dialogues will take place on the NSU main campus in Davie on three Saturdays, February 18th, March 18th and April 15th.  Sessions will run from 8:30 am to 2 pm with breakfast and lunch provided.  Transportation can be arranged as needed. We are inviting participation from residents in Broward County.

The Council for Dialogue and Democracy (CDD) is a collaboration between the Department of Conflict Analysis and Resolution and Department of Humanities and Politics in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center. For more information about the CDD, please see: https://hcas.nova.edu/cdd/index.html If you have a question about the project, feel free to contact CDD co-directors, Dr. Charles Zelden, (zelden@nova.edu; 954-262-8218) or Dr. Judith McKay (mckayj@nova.edu).; 954-262-3060.

Posted 02/03/23

Haitian-Inspired Exhibit at Art Museum Through April 23

NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale presents “Kathia St. Hilaire: Immaterial Being,” the first solo museum exhibition of South Florida artist Kathia St. Hilaire (b.1995, West Palm Beach, FL). The art exhibit will be on display through April 23, 2023.

St. Hilaire’s work – appropriately on display through Black History Month – portrays tender images of family gatherings, children at play, celestial bodies, scenes of death, and distinct Haitian iconography. Her visual language is enhanced by the ornate, textured surfaces on which these images appear. The distinct constructions are composed through a lattice framework of linoleum panels, sewn together to form quilt-like formations resembling ceremonial Haitian Vodun flags. St. Hilaire refers to her signature surface making technique as reduction relief printing. This laborious crafting method combines an array of materials such as cosmetics, textiles, detritus, jewelry, enamels and metals, which together form a haptic, abstract collage. These intricate and ethereal backgrounds become the stage for the artist’s figurative imagery.

This exhibition addresses the artist’s personal transcultural experience and material experimentation. Her interest in matter and process goes beyond a formal, visual concern, as it simultaneously creates a space in which to address the concept of the painting’s surface as it connects to the understanding of skin, color and race. These critical notions are at the center of the artist’s practice and the broader Haitian narrative she seeks to tell.

The artist’s work is largely informed by the African spiritual belief system known as Vodun. This religion is considered the source of a psychological liberation that enabled the Haitian Revolution, though it has been widely misunderstood by the outside world, which has ignored its rich history and complexities.  As the child of Haitian parents in South Florida, St. Hilaire’s experienced the divisions in different parts of Caribbean and American culture. Within each community, identities are insulated and protected. However, in presenting to others, efforts are made for appearances to assimilate into American culture. St. Hilaire interprets these experiences of race and transformation as primarily existing on a surface level, leading physical materials to play a key part in the formation of Black American societies. In the artist’s practice, the consumption of beauty products, such as skin lightening creams and artificial hair, come to represent the Caribbean diasporic experience.

Posted 01/31/23

Learn About Businesses Amid Changing Social Norms, Feb. 9

The Farquhar Honors College and the Alvin Sherman Library present “The Open Classroom: Are Businesses Doing Well While Doing Good?”

Join us for an open discussion on how changes in social norms impact the free market and how firms can positively contribute to society while maintaining a profit.

  • When: Thursday, Feb. 9 at 12:30 p.m.
  • Where: Cotilla Gallery, Alvin Sherman Library, 2nd floor
  • Free and open to the public

Register here

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 01/27/23

NSU University School Students Connect Through Literature

NSU University School, has launched the Mako Prize YA (young adult) for Middle School students who share a deep connection with literature. The Mako Prize is a reading tournament co-founded by Director of Student Academic Services Ann Sellers that aims to help readers discover new books and foster a community of and for readers.

Students, faculty, and staff who choose to participate read recent best-selling works of fiction over the semester and determine their favorites using a bracket system, which ultimately narrows the list down to one winner.

Learn more about NSU University School’s college preparatory program for students in Preschool–Grade 12 at www.uschool.nova.edu.

Posted 01/22/23

NSU Receives STARS Silver Rating for Sustainability

The Association for the Advancement for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) recently awarded Nova Southeastern University’s Office of Facilities Management a Silver certificate rating in its Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS).

STARS® is intended to engage and recognize the full spectrum of higher education institutions, from community colleges to research universities. It encompasses long-term sustainability goals for already high-achieving institutions, as well as entry points of recognition for institutions that are taking first steps toward sustainability. STARS is designed to:

  • Provide a framework for understanding sustainability in all sectors of higher education.
  • Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the international campus sustainability community.
  • Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability.
  • Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance.
  • Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community.

From the AASHE STARS Team:

“Thank you for your hard work and dedication to sustainability. We know that you have spent a substantial amount of time on STARS, and we hope that this report will be useful in advancing sustainability at your institution. We look forward to your continued involvement as a STARS participant and a member of the AASHE community.”

Posted 01/22/23

VA Deputy Secretary Holds Student Roundtable at NSU

Donald Michael Remy, the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, visited Nova Southeastern University on Wednesday, Jan. 18, and held a roundtable discussion with several student veterans. Joining the deputy secretary was Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz; NSU President and CEO George L. Hanbury II; and Jane Che, the Senior Adviser to Remy. Matthew Chenworth, NSU’s Senior Director of Military Affairs organized the event at NSU’s Alan B. Levan Broward Center of Innovation at the Alvin Sherman Library on the Davie campus.

Donald Michael Remy, the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

NSU student veterans were joined by students from Broward College and Florida Atlantic University. The students ranged from Air Force, Army, Marine, and ROTC cadets. Among their questions were PTSD support, housing allowance issues, whole health initiatives, burn pit compensation, and veteran suicides.

Deputy Secretary Remy had an additional support team on hand to ensure that each question posed was properly answered and follow-up opportunities were available. President Hanbury highlighted to extensive support and programming that NSU provides for its student veterans, and also invited Remy to return to NSU in the future.

Before coming to the VA, Remy was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer at the nonprofit National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), where he oversaw all strategic planning, operations, budget management, and legal affairs for the $1 billion enterprise. Remy earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and a Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law.

After the roundtable session, Deputy Secretary Remy sat down for a quick Q&A session.

How many of these roundtables has the VA had?

About seven or eight of them.

What have been your takeaways from the sessions?

“There is a constant theme: How do I get the educational benefits that I have earned. The other thing is that I find our students are absolutely engaged in the thought that they put into the questions they ask and the answers received from those questions.”

What is your key objective of these roundtables?

“To know the needs of our student veterans. Our student veteran population is a population that has earned the right to have benefits and access to those benefits, and they have questions about their health care and those benefits. Our goal is to hear from them, to answer their questions, and to improve their circumstances.”

Do you track and follow up with the student veterans who attend these events?

“All of them. That’s why we have a team of experts here and when questions are posed that we don’t have immediate answers to, our experts will reach out them and pass out cards so that people have access to the information.”

Do you see yourself returning to NSU in the future to have another roundtable?

“I really enjoy Florida and visiting the campuses here. It’s been great to be in Broward County. Anywhere that there are veterans we go because we want to hear from them and make sure that they get access to benefits, services, and health care that they’ve earn. And so, it may very well be the case that you’ll see me here again listening to our students in this community.”

Posted 01/22/23

Halmos Faculty Publishes Op-Ed in Sun Sentinel on ChatGPT

Jeremy Weissman, Ph.D.

Jeremy Weissman, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Humanities and Politics in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), published an op-ed in the Sun Sentinel on the challenges posed to higher education by the public release of ChatGPT, a breakthrough AI program. Amongst ChatGPT’s numerous stunning capacities, it is capable of writing quality college-level essays as well as accurately answering take-home exam questions by simply entering questions or writing prompts into the system.

In the essay, Weissman argues that the threat this software poses to age-old institutions such as the college essay will be replicated across a myriad of professions as ChatGPT is already capable of computer coding, medical diagnoses, and is poised to rapidly become much more powerful and accurate in coming iterations just around the corner. With this developing AI-dominated world in mind, Weissman suggests doubling down on a humanistic orientation to education in the classroom, focusing on teaching students how to better human society and lead meaningful and flourishing lives in a world where many existing job skills are at risk of being replaced by machines.

You can read the full article here with a subscription to the Sun Sentinel.

Posted 01/22/23

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