Author: Christie Williams

Community Voices: Art and the African Diaspora featuring Marquese McFerguson, Edouard Duval Carrié and Morel Doucet at NSU Art Museum

 

Saturday, February 5, 2022

2 – 3 pm

FREE

NSU Art Museum is partnering with various community organizations on a variety of programs as part of the Community Voices Series, 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.

Support has been provided by the following Funds at the Community Foundation of Broward: Barbara and Michael G. Landry Fund for Broward, Peck Family Fund, Julia C. Baldwin Fund, and Frederick W. Jaqua Fund.

Community Foundation of Broward

This panelist lecture, led by Marquese McFerguson, featuring Edouard Duval-Carrie and Morel Doucet explores ideas surrounding Art and the African diaspora. Artists reflect on their work and their experiences navigating contemporary life as artists of African descent. This panel discussion provides a space for community discourse as it highlights topics of identity, migration and race.

Click link for more information and to RSPV Community Voices: Art and the African Diaspora – NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale

Click link to view more 2022 Black History Month Events at NSU (nova.edu)

 

Civil Rights in the Sunshine State: The Lynching of Rubin Stacy

Date: Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Time: 5:00pm – 6:30pm

Location: Alvin Sherman Library, Second Floor, Cotilla Gallery

According to records maintained by the NAACP, between 1882 and 1968 there were 4,743 documented cases of lynching across the United States, with the majority of victims being African American.  A combination of their frequency and the system of white supremacy which condoned these mob killings ensured that most victims were soon forgotten. The case of Rubin Stacy, who was lynched by a mob in 1935 on what is today the corner of Davie Boulevard and SW 31st Avenue, stands out though because it was a recorded in a number of searing photographs taken that day. From the NAACP fliers that used these images in support of its anti-lynching campaign to the recent decision of the City of Fort Lauderdale to rename a stretch of Davie Boulevard in his memory, this talk will revisit the story of Rubin Stacy’s murder and photographs which propelled it to national attention.

Presented by Dr. David Kilroy Ph.D., a Professor of History and Chair of the Department of Humanities and Politics. A native of Dublin, Ireland, his research interests fall broadly within the parameters of U.S. political and cultural engagement on the world stage.

Click here to register for Zoom. Click here to register for in-person attendance.

Click link to view more 2022 Black History Month Events at NSU (nova.edu)

Civil Rights in the Sunshine State: Eula Johnson and the Fort Lauderdale Wade-ins

 

 

Date: Friday, February 18, 2022

Time: 5:00pm – 6:30pm

Location: Alvin Sherman Library Second Floor, Cotilla Gallery

Prior to the 1961 Wade-ins on Fort Lauderdale Beach, and a landmark district case, public facilities in Broward county were segregated. Eula Johnson was the first woman president of the Broward chapter of the NAACP. Johnson, along with Dr. Von D. Mizell coordinated and organized a series of protests called the “Wade-ins” in the summer of 1961 to desegregate the beaches. Both faced white supremacist backlash during and after the protests. The City of Fort Lauderdale eventually sued Johnson and Mizell for “disturbing the peace” during their demonstrations. Johnson and Mizell won their case, which set the precedent for the future desegregation of Broward county. This talk will be led by Janay Joseph and Tara Chadwick on Johnson’s legacy, and the work that can be done today within our current political climate. A preview of the documentary short film “She Had A Dream: Eula Johnson’s Fight to Desegregate Broward County” will also be featured, along with a discussion on the research and production of the film.

Presented by Janay Joseph and Tara Charwick, History and International Studies Majors in the Department of Humanities and Politics at the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

Click to here register for Zoom. Click here to register for in-person attendance.

Click link to view more 2022 Black History Month Events at NSU (nova.edu)

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.

NSU Research Focuses on Elusive, Vulnerable Big Cat: The Leopard

Credit: Nikolay-Zinoviev

The majestic leopard – the only great cat species (Genus Panthera) to roam about both Africa and Asia today – is classified as highly vulnerable by the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). An international team involving scientists from Nova Southeastern University (NSU), Nottingham Trent University, the University of Cambridge, University of Leicester in U.K. and the University of Potsdam in Germany hope to improve that status.

Because of its elusive nature, and its adaptation to multiple landscapes (rain forest, savannah, deserts and mountain sides) an accurate estimation of their global census has not been possible.

Using the latest technologies of population ecology and molecular evolution, researchers sampled the genome DNA sequence of 23 individual leopards from eight geographically separated subspecies locales. Ancient DNA sequences for 18 archival specimens along with five living leopards were combined to refine our understanding of the leopard’s movements, population reductions, divergence and isolation, and over the past half million years.

The new study was published in Current Biology in May.

 “This study changes everything about genetic contributions to conservation management of the world’s leopards, particularly the highly threatened Amur leopard,” said Stephen J. O’Brien, Ph.D., a professor and research scientist in NSU’s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, who is a collaborating author and also led the genetic analyses the Florida panther restoration two decades ago.

O’Brien, is also the Chief Scientific Officer at the Theodosius Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics, St. Petersburg State University, Russia, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

See full story.

Student Wins NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship

This spring, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences marine biology major Nikolas Kuncis was awarded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship. Given to only 120 undergraduates a year, Mr. Kuncis is conducting research with Halmos faculty member Joshua Feingold, Ph.D. This is NSU’s second winner of this prestigious award.

The Hollings Scholarship Program provides successful undergraduate applicants with awards that include academic assistance (up to $9,500 per year) for two years of full-time study and a 10-week, full-time paid ($700/week) internship at a NOAA facility during the summer. The internship between the first and second years of the award provides the scholars with hands-on, practical experience in NOAA-related science, research, technology, policy, management, and education activities. Awards also include travel funds to attend a mandatory NOAA Scholarship Program orientation and the annual Science & Education Symposium, scientific conferences where students present their research, and a housing subsidy for scholars who do not reside at home during the summer internship.

https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/hollings-scholarship

 

Pregnant Shark Migration Tracked from Space

This spring, Forbes Magazine published an article on an amazing international collaboration.

For the first time, researchers have been able to record in near real-time the migration of a pregnant scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) from the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador to Isla del Coco in Costa Rica, located over 435 miles (700 kilometers) away.

This collaboration: the Charles Darwin Foundation’s shark ecology project, the Galapagos National Park Directorate (GNPD), Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center, and Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University (USA) have teamed up to study the migrations and population genetics of the world’s largest scalloped hammerhead shark aggregation.

Scalloped hammerhead sharks are a globally endangered species. It inhabits different habitats throughout its life cycle, making information about their movement and use of habitat disjointed at best. Enter a special hammerhead shark: Cassiopeia. Measuring about 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) long, this pregnant female was tagged in February of this year during an expedition to Darwin Island.

Satellite tracking data revealed that after swimming north of Darwin Island for about 10 days, Cassiopeia started swimming eat until she reached Isla del Coco. The trek Cassiopeia made between the two islands means she covered around 390 nautical miles (700 km) in just under 14 days, travelling an approximate of 28 nm (50 km) per day. While previous studies have documented inter-island movements of hammerheads using passive acoustic tags, the tags weren’t able to capture the precise pathways the sharks would take. With satellite tags, scientists were able to see exactly the route she went.

HCAS biology faculty member Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute and Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center stated, “The data being collected in this study will be key for establishing a flexible management system that provides this protection at precisely the right places and times.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissacristinamarquez/2021/05/04/migration-of-a-pregnant-hammerhead-shark-documented-from-space/?sh=1b7e8fba5256

 

Halmos College Student Wins Prestigious National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fellowship

Rose Leeger

This spring, Halmos College Marine Biology, Environmental Science, and Biology Major Rose Leeger was awarded the NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions Undergraduate Scholarship. This prestigious scholarship is only awarded to eight undergraduates per year.

Ms. Leeger is a member of the Farquhar Honors College and is currently conducting research with HCAS faculty member J. Matthew Hoch, Ph.D. on mosquitofish population dynamics in the everglades.

The EPP MSI Scholarship Program provides successful undergraduate applicants with awards that include academic assistance (up to $9,500 per year) for two years of full-time study and students complete an 11 week paid ($700/week) summer internship and training at NOAA in Silver Spring, MD, between May and July of the first summer. During the second summer, students complete a 10 week paid internships at NOAA facilities across the country. The internships provide the scholars with hands-on, practical experience in NOAA-related science, research, technology, policy, management, and education activities. Students are paid a stipend and receive a housing allowance during summer internships. Student scholarship recipients attend a two-week orientation at NOAA in Silver Spring, MD, and begin their first summer internship in early June. At the end of both summer internships, students present the results of their projects at the annual Education and Science Symposium, scientific conferences where students present their research, in Silver Spring, MD (travel expenses paid).

EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship Program | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov)

 

Families Dive Deep Into Germs at Alvin Sherman Library

This winter term, HCAS biology faculty member Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D. gave a presentation for the Alvin Sherman Library entitled, “Germs: Good Guys or Bad Guys” as part of their Family Deep Dives series. She taught kids and their families about different types of germs, where they can be found, how to protect themselves from bad germs and the benefits of good germs.

The Deep Dive Series allows families learn and explore together. They can get the inside story and Q&A time with experts in science, history, community services, and more. Recommended for ages 6 and up.

1 2 3 … 113