Category: Academics

NSU Writing and Communication Center Executive Director Publishes Article in The Department Chair

Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D

Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D., Executive Director of the NSU Writing and Communication Center (WCC), and Shanti Bruce, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts, published “Administrative Best Practices for Engaging Millennial Faculty” in vol. 31, no. 2, fall 2020 edition of The Department Chair, a publication for administrators.

In the article Dvorak and Bruce, along with Michael G. Strawser, Ph.D.(University of Central Florida) and Russel Carpenter, Ph.D. (Eastern Kentucky University), discuss how millennials (or Generation Y) are uniquely suited to engage with other faculty at the department level and beyond. Through newfound technological expectations, emphasis on teaching and learning strategies, and community engagement, the authors argue that millennial faculty members are a unique, yet necessary addition to the current professoriate. Bruce et al. suggest that integrating technology into workspaces, establishing mentor programs, and designing systems for acknowledging success are some of the ways in which to engage millennial faculty in higher education classrooms.

This article provides readers with a strong foundational knowledge of supporting new faculty members within collegiate classrooms. The authors remind the audience that “purposeful leadership can help millennial faculty understand their roles and responsibilities in a clear and helpful manner.” For more information and to read the article fully, be sure to check out The Department Chair’s website, and be sure to follow the NSU Writing and Communication Center on Instagram at @nsuwcc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HCAS Faculty Lead Author in Chemistry Article

This fall, HCAS Chemistry faculty member Maria Ballester, Ph.D. was lead author of an article entitled, “Protonation of Planar and Nonplanar Porphyrins: A Calorimetric and Computational Study”. Published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A, this article reported the first calorimetric study of the diprotonation of a series of planar and nonplanar free-base porphyrins, coupled with a DFT investigation of the enthalpies of diprotonation.

This researcher was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Johnson Research Foundation. Computations were performed using the computational resource at the Department of Biochemistry of Biophysics (UPenn).

The Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts Hosts NSU Law Alumnus Joshua Lida as a part of the Art + Design “Know Your Worth” Lecture Series

Joshua Lida

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, NSU’s Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts within the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences presented a guest lecture with NSU Shepard Broad College of Law alumnus Joshua Lida as part of its Winter 2021 “Know Your Worth” Art + Design Lecture Series.

The workshop, which took place on Zoom, helped emerging artists and designers navigate the business side of creative entrepreneurship with a focus on the legal system and copyright issues in the art world.

Lida was born and raised in South Florida and studied intellectual property and business law as a law student in NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law. Upon graduating from NSU, Lida co-founded the law practice Twig, Trade, and Tribunal – also known as “T3” – which focuses on Art Law, including art transactions, art leasing, due diligence, advisory to gallerists, contract negotiation, litigation, intellectual property, art loans and art wealth management.

For more information about the “Know Your Worth” Art + Design Lecture Series, including upcoming events, visit https://www.facebook.com/nsuartdesign

 

 

 

Qualitative Report 12th Annual Virtual Conference

Scholars, Researchers, and Academics from around the World make TQR 12th Annual Virtual Conference one of its Largest Ever.

Keynote speakers Dr. Venus E. Evans-Winters and Dr. Kakali Bhattacharya joined over 246 scholars, researchers, and academics to celebrate “30 Years as a Learning Community” at The Qualitative Research 12th Annual Virtual Conference.

The participation from all conference attendees contributed to the enriching exchange of ideas, insights, and experiences during and between conference sessions. During the three-day event held at Nova Southeastern University (NSU), presenters shared over 175 panel, paper, and workshop presentations on wide ranging topics including the latest innovations in technology-assisted research, pedagogical advancements for teaching online, and methodological progress for conducting and reporting qualitative research.

Dr. Ron Chenail, Editor-in-Chief of The Qualitative Report, NSU’s online qualitative research journal, closed the conference with a keynote titled “The Qualitative Report: 30 Years and Counting as a Learning Community”. He also announced that the theme for the 13th Annual Conference to be held in January 2022 will be “Research “For a Change”: Time to Evoke, Provoke, and Invoke.” Please stay tuned in to our conference website for more information.

Launch of 2021 Grant Writing Mentoring Program for NSU Faculty

Hosted by the NSU Grant Writing Lab and Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, this year’s Grant Writing Mentoring Program will support early stage NSU researchers (i.e., those who do not have past success in winning grant funding for their work) in the grant seeking process. The mentoring program will pair established researchers (i.e., those with experience and success applying for and winning research funding) with these junior faculty with the aim of writing and submitting an internal or external grant application by the end of the program period. Participation in this program will allow mentees access to external grant review of their proposals as well as equip them with their own grant writing handbook.

The 2021 program plans to welcome a cohort of 10 mentees and 10 mentors. The overarching goal is to increase the capacity (i.e., knowledge and skills) of NSU researchers early in their careers to find, apply for, and be competitive to receive grant support for their research. This goal will be accomplished through an approximately year-long program that features one-on-one meetings between mentees and their mentors, check-ins with the program’s Advisory Committee, and utilization of NSU’s grantsmanship trainings and resources.

Full-time NSU faculty fitting the Mentee Criteria & Commitment (https://www.nova.edu/tred/research-resources/grant-writing-mentoring-program.html) should submit an application online by March 1, 2021.  For more information on participating in this program as a Mentee, please join us on Zoom on Thursday, Feb. 25, 12:30-1:00pm. The program Advisory Committee will discuss program goals, Mentee expectations, and program timeline.

To Submit a Mentee Application:

  • Eligible Mentees (i.e., full-time assistant and associate professors at NSU) will find a course invitation from Canvas in your email inbox for the course “2021 Grant Writing Mentoring Program.” This invitation is sent at the start of the open recruitment period for Mentees.
  • Accept the course invitation and click the “Modules” tab on the left-hand course toolbar.
  • Under the “2021 Application for Mentees” module, choose the “2021 Mentee Application – click here to apply!” item.
  • This will launch a survey form to collect more information about you and your interest in the program. The information you provide here will be used by the program’s Advisory Committee to facilitate Mentee selection and matching with a Mentor. Deadline to complete this application is March 1, 2021.

Questions? Email GRANTLAB@nova.edu

 

HCAS Faculty and Alumna Present at the Association for Conflict Resolution Annual Conference

Judith McKay, J.D.

Judith McKay, J.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) gave a presentation with alumna Michelle Finneran, Ph.D., at the 2020 Association for Conflict Resolution Annual Conference held in the fall. The conference was held virtually, and the theme was “Conflict & Justice in an Era of Polarization.” Their presentation was entitled, “Intimate Partner Violence and the Impact on Conflict Resolution Practice.”

Finneran received her doctoral degree from DCRS and is a therapist in private practice in Coral Springs.

McKay is the Director of the Ph.D. program and faculty advisor to the Social Justice Roundtable and works with students in the community through Community Resolution Services, a practicum and volunteer site for DCRS. CRS hosts Story Café, We Love our Families series, The Women’s Roundtable, and is involved in offering workshops, training for the Crisis Intervention Teams, and other events for community groups and organizations. Her scholarly interests include conflict coaching, mediation, strategic community planning, and prevention and intervention in family, neighborhood, and organizational violence.  For more information about CRS events and how we can partner with your group, free to contact McKay at mckayj@nova.edu.

 

NSU Writing and Communication Executive Director Publishes chapter in Leading through Crisis, Conflict, and Change in Higher Education

Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D

Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D., Executive Director of the NSU Writing and Communication (WCC) published “The FOCUS on Faculty Model of Crisis Leadership: Remote Leadership Support across Institutional Contexts,” in Leading through Crisis, Conflict, and Change in Higher Education, published by Magna Publications, 2020.

Dvorak’s chapter, coauthored by Russell Carpenter, Ph.D. (Eastern Kentucky University), Michael G. Strawser, Ph.D. (University of Central Florida), Timothy Ford, Ph.D. (University of Oklahoma), and Masha Krsmanovic, Ph.D. (University of Southern Mississippi), to provide faculty development professionals a model to “support and enhance student learning” (19). Dvorak et al. developed the FOCUS model:

F- frame the situation,

O- identify urgent opportunities,

C- communicate your message,

U- understand stakeholder needs,

S- suggest tangible action steps,

to assist faculty in times of crisis, in order to enhance student learning experiences. This five step framework for institutional leadership addresses the need for accessible leadership models during the era of remote instruction.

The authors write, “While this concept of leadership amid remote delivery of institutional programs and courses might differ from traditionally defined leadership, several considerations rise to the top: the need for timely information among a variety of priorities for quality and accessibility” (22). The FOCUS model not only addresses these needs appropriately, but also allows for several paths for institutions to implement.

Other topics discussed throughout the book include challenges of educating students on campus response to COVID issues, the need for leadership, crisis response and communication, change of management from academic leadership, leadership in higher education, and more.

Leading through Crisis, Conflict, and Change in Higher Education is now available for purchase.

To learn more about the NSU Writing and Communication Center, visit https://www.nova.edu/wcc/.

 

 

 

 

 

HCAS Researcher Works with Ancient DNA tp Reveals Secrets of Game of Thrones Wolves

Extinct dire wolves split off from other wolves nearly six million years ago and were only a distant relative of today’s wolves, according to new research published in Nature (January, 2021). Dire wolves, made famous in the TV show Game of Thrones, were common across North America until around 13,000 years ago, after which they went extinct.

The study shows that dire wolves were so different from other canine species like coyotes and grey wolves that they were not able to breed with each other. Previous analyses, based on morphology alone, had led scientists to believe that dire wolves were closely related to grey wolves.

Halmos College biology faculty member Andrew Ozga, Ph.D. was one of the 49 researchers across nine countries who analyzed the genomes of dire wolves alongside those of many different wolf-like canid species. Their analyses suggest that unlike many canid species who apparently migrated repeatedly between North America and Eurasia over time, dire wolves evolved solely in North America for millions of years.

Although dire wolves overlapped with coyotes and grey wolves in North America for at least 10,000 years before their extinction, they found no evidence that they interbred with these species. The researchers suggest that their deep evolutionary differences meant that they were likely ill equipped to adapt to changing conditions at the end of the ice age.

The dire wolf is one of the most famous prehistoric carnivores from Pleistocene America which became extinct around 13,000 years ago. Known scientifically as Canis dirus, meaning ’fearsome dog’, they preyed on large mammals like bison. The team suggests the dire wolves’ stark evolutionary divergence from grey wolves places them in an entirely different genus – Aenocyon dirus (‘terrible wolf’)- as first proposed by paleontologist John Campbell Merriam over 100 years ago.

Faculty From Two NSU Colleges Partner for COVID-19 Research

 A cross-disciplinary COVID-19 research project is bringing together faculty from NSU’s College of Psychology and the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The research is a joint effort involving Madhavi Menon and Weylin Sternglanz, both faculty in the College of Psychology, and Bindu Mayi of the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

“What we’re looking at is psychological correlates of COVID-19 preventive health behaviors,” Sternglanz said.

Sternglanz noted that while there are many preventive behaviors like masking and social distancing that can reduce people’s likelihood of contracting COVID-19, not everyone carries out those behaviors. Because of that, Sternglanz, Menon, and Mayi are studying the personality and social variables that might predict if people will or will not engage in preventive health behaviors.

The current project builds on previous research that the three faculty members conducted in 2019 on preventive health behaviors relating to mosquito-borne illnesses. That research was inspired by the Zika fever outbreak that had previously made news headlines. Menon said the study will have about 400 participants, divided evenly between undergraduate students and medical students.

“It’s very similar to what we had for our Zika studies, and we’re trying to keep everything comparable across the two studies,” Menon said. “The only distinction is we’re incorporating these COVID-19-related questions about beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes towards the coronavirus.”

According to Menon, the research will also study factors like self-esteem, overall psychological well-being, and social support from family and significant others. The previous study examined the relationship between conscientiousness and social support and found that the interaction of both influenced preventive health behaviors.

HCAS Faculty is Panelist in Webinar Hosted by the University of West Indies

Ismael Muvingi, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) participated in a virtual seminar for the Caribbean region, hosted by the University of West Indies. The seminar was entitled, “Toward Conflict Transformation and Peace Building in the Caribbean Region”. Muvingi’s presentation was “Defining Conflict Transformation and Peace Building.” The other seminar presenters were; Talia Esnard, Ph.D., (Head of Department, Behavioral Sciences, UWI) , Hon. Elizabeth C. Solomon (Judge, Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago), Hon. Donna Parchment Brown (Office of Political Ombudsman, Jamaica), Terry Savage, Ph.D., (Researcher and Practitioner, University of Leuven, Switzerland) and Mr. Srdan Deric (RCO Team Leader, United Nations, Trinidad & Tobago).

The seminar was moderated by Ann Diaz, MSW, the head of the Mediation Unit at UWI, and DCRS Ph.D. student.  The event had about 55 attendees. The organizers have indicated follow up sessions and a desire to collaborate on development of conflict transformation programs in the Caribbean soon.

Muvingi’s academic interests include human rights, African politics, and transitional justice. His classes include Negotiation Theory and Practice, Violence Prevention and Intervention, Conflict and Crisis Management, and Qualitative Research Methods. He is the faculty advisor to the African Working Group.

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