Category: Academics

Fischler College Spotlight Shines on Zelphine Smith-Dixon

Zelphine Smith-Dixon

Zelphine Smith-Dixon received her Doctor of Educational Leadership degree from the Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice in 2005. She was elected as the president of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education. She is the first person of color to serve in this capacity and assist the country nationally in an effort of meeting the needs of students with disabilities.

Smith-Dixon is also the state director for the Division for Special Education at the Georgia Department of Education. She works to ensure that each student has an opportunity to be successful. She is committed to not only representing her students but the critical partnership for student success to include families, teachers, leaders, and communities.

She received the following accolades: Tri-County Special Educator of the Year, Vance-Providence Elementary Teacher of the Year and Orangeburg Consolidated School District Three Alternate District Teacher of the Year.  In April 2018, Columbia College of S.C. presented her with the Wil Lou Gray Outstanding Educator Award. Later, she served as the Columbia College Commencement Speaker in May 2019.

Smith-Dixon serves as a thought leader and cadre advisor for the National IDEA Data Center, National Consortium on Special Education Finance, National Technical Assistance Center on Transition, and National Center for Systemic Improvement to address the intersection of race and disability.

Smith-Dixon published an article in the March 2021 Case in Point edition in the Journal of Special Education Leadership (JSEL)titled “The State of Special Education: The Shift from Available to Appropriate!”

Smith-Dixon says she believes that receiving her Doctor of Educational Leadership degree at NSU fostered many of the leading skills within her that have served well and helped make her successful in her professional career. She is described as one of the most sought-after voices in education having shared her expertise with national and international audiences.

Smith-Dixon lives in Conyers, Ga., with her husband, Marki Dixon, and children Myles, Megan, and Mason. She serves in ministry at the dReam Center Church of Atlanta in Decatur, Ga., and is a member of the Covington Area Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

 

Speech-Language Pathology Student Presents at Annual Conference

Clarisse El-Khouri, the NSU Writing and Communication Center graduate consultant, presented at the Michigan Speech-Language-Hearing Association (MSHA) annual conference, March 18-20. El-Khouri is a graduate student in the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) master’s program in the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences.

El-Khouri presented alongside Associate Professor Jackie Hinckley, Ph.D., CCC-SLP ( Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences); Katie Strong, Ph.D., CCC-SLP (Central Michigan University); and Nick Malendowski (Central Michigan University). Their presentation, “Why didn’t I think of this before? Perceptions of Stakeholder Engaged Research,” analyzed the perception of stakeholders (specifically aphasia researchers) on collaborating with people with aphasia, their family members, and clinicians involved in aphasia care (i.e., SLPs).

“This was an amazing opportunity to team up with top aphasia researchers in the country and learn more about how stakeholder-engaged research can have an immense impact on improving care and quality of life in people with aphasia as well as their families,” El-Khouri said. She added that from the researcher interviews, one of the participants stated,  “Living with aphasia is very different than writing about it or giving programs.”

Click here to watch a recording of their presentation.

Access El-Khouri et al.’s presentation handout here. 

To learn more about the MSHA annual conference, visit  https://www.michiganspeechhearing.org/annual_conference.php

 

 

Getting Funding From PCORI: New Directions, New Collaborations

Is your project a collaboration between clinicians, researchers, or policymakers/payers? Does your project include patient partners to help design, plan or conduct the research? Then the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) may be a source of funding for you. In this presentation we will discuss PCORI’s aims and history, types of funding mechanisms, and tips from funded projects. We look forward to seeing you at the event. Zoom link

Rachel Edrich Receives 2021 Ashley Kaye Hess Scholarship

Rachel Edrich, B.A., 2021 winner of the Make the Most of the Dash and Ashley Kaye Hess Changing Lives Scholarship.

Graduate student Rachel Edrich was awarded the 2021 Make the Most of the Dash and Ashley Kaye Hess Changing Lives Scholarship. The scholarship is named for Hess – a cheerleader, dancer, teacher and Nova Southeastern University speech-language pathology master’s candidate – who was killed in a tragic car accident on May 14, 2016. Hess was 28.

Edrich is currently a graduate student at NSU pursuing her master’s degree in speech-language pathology at the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences and works as a speech-language pathology assistant at a private practice in Davie. She holds the position of treasurer for the SLP student government association. She received her bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders at the University of Alabama. She was a member of the Million Dollar Band Color Guard for five years and captain for two.

Edrich has always had a passion for dancing/performing and wanting to make a difference in the lives of others. She was honored and excited to win the award.

“I will continue to dance and touch other people’s lives with Ashley in my heart!” she said.

Congratulations Rachel!

Contributed by Tambi Braun, SLP.D., CCC/SLP, is an associate professor and NSSLHA mentor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology.

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

 

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)

 

University School Alumni shares Danny Lewin Best Student Paper Award 2021

Danny Lewin

This year, University School alumni won the Danny Lewin Best Student Paper Award 2021 from SIGACT (Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory). SIGACT is an international organization which promotes the discovery and dissemination of high quality research in theoretical computer science.

While he was a student at the University School that took a number of mathematics courses with us as a high school student.  Afterwards he went to Cal Tech.  Zachary is now a D. Phil. student in Mathematics at Oxford working in the area of additive combinatorics where he has been quite productive.

Two of the department’s faculty were especially remembered by Zachary.  “Having the opportunity to take NSU courses while a U-School student was crucial to my development as a mathematician. Beyond elementary number theory and differential equations increasing my passion for mathematics, I was introduced to proof writing, which made the transition to undergraduate courses significantly easier. The encouragement of Professors Ricardo Carrera and Evan Haskell was especially helpful to my career.”

 

 

FCE&SCJ Professor Moderates Roundtable Discussion for the Special Olympics Florida Youth Summit

Maribel Del Río-Roberts, Psy.D.

Maribel Del Río-Roberts, Psy.D., Associate Professor, Department Human Services at NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice (FCE&SCJ) recently moderated a roundtable discussion on Coping with Stress. The roundtable was part of the Special Olympics Florida Youth Summit and included two athletes and a unified partner.

Del Rio-Roberts is the lead faculty member for the M.S. in Developmental Disabilities and Access Plus Program.  She also serves as the Clinical Director for the Strong Minds discipline of the Special Olympics Healthy Communities program. Her research interests include, autism and developmental disabilities, lifespan development, early childhood Intervention, disability services administration and adult/transition Issues.

To view the roundtable, please click here.

Halmos Faculty Reappointed as Federal Fisheries Advisor

In January 2021, Halmos faculty member David Kerstetter, Ph.D. was reappointed as Technical Advisor to the U.S. ICCAT Advisory Committee (IAC). The IAC meets twice per year, usually in the Washington, D.C. region. Kerstetter has been serving on the committee as a Member or Technical Advisor since 2007.

This is a federally appointed position that helps set U.S. international management and

David Kerstetter, Ph.D.

policy positions in the Atlantic. ICCAT is the international fishery management organization for all Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS), including tunas, billfish, swordfish, and open-ocean sharks like our mascot’s shortfin mako.  The U.S. ICCAT Advisory Committee is charged with helping formulate our international policy towards the management of these species, and only 20 member appointments are made over two-year terms to represent the various U.S. HMS commercial, recreational, environmental, and scientific constituencies.  As you know, my lab works primarily with HMS fishes and the commercial HMS fisheries, including being one of the founding members of the Pelagic Ecosystem Research Consortium funded by NOAA Sea Grant.

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