Category: Academics

FCE&SCJ Participates in The Florida Distance Learning Association and The Florida Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

The Florida Distance Learning Association (FDLA) and The Florida Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (FAMTE) welcome K-20 Educators and stakeholders to its Virtual Conference 2020, which took place on September 30 through October 2. Hui Fang Huang “Angie” Su, Professor at NSU’s Fischler Education & School of Criminal Justice Education is the Conference and Program Chair.

The conference committee put together a great program with ideas and strategies for virtually educating K-20 students during the pandemic.  The program is to inform participants of the latest developments in Distance Learning and academic content-related topics in Florida to narrow the gap between K-12 and Higher Education.   Many Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice (FCE&SCJ) faculty and staff members, and colleagues from other colleges within NSU presented at the conference.  The presentations were informative and relevant, especially during this time.  The colleagues diligently prepared highly informative presentations with the latest on educational tools, technologies, and services.  Their dedication to distance education, while not surprising, is appreciated.  FCE&SCJ is a grateful to the conference committee and the moderators for their time and tireless efforts to help make this conference a success.

To view the abstract of the presentation, visit our conference page at http://www.fdla.com/?page_id=3965.  Please also visit our website http://www.fdla.com and https://fctm.net/county-affiliates/famte-2/famte/  to learn how you can become an active member of FDLA or FAMTE throughout the year.

NSU Writing and Communication Center Produces “The Writer’s Edge” Podcast

The NSU Writing and Communication Center (WCC) produces a weekly podcast titled “The Writer’s Edge” (TWE), which promises to cover ”what it take to succeed as a writer in academia and beyond,” exploring all forms of writing and communication “from the arts to the sciences and everything in between.” TWE features the following:

  • Interviews with NSU faculty highlighting writing in their discipline
  • Topical episodes on writing issues (such as dealing with writer’s block)
  • Interviews with NSU authors/designers/makers discussing their creative process
  • A showcase of podcasts created by NSU students
  • Discussions of writing-related events and projects on campus

Their most recently released episode sits down with Dr. Richard Singer, Chair of the NSU College of Dental Medicine, to discuss writing in the scientific professions.

Currently, TWE is hosted by HCAS Associate Professor and WCC Faculty Coordinator, Eric Mason, Ph.D., with the help of WCC Graduate Assistant Coordinators, and HCAS Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Master’s students, Adara Cox, Emma Masur, and Michael Lynn, all of whom share a love for podcasting. “I feel like podcasting is really important for NSU students,” Adara states. “We’re all consuming media daily in some form or another, and a podcast gives students one more way to connect with different people and organizations, including the Writing and Communication Center.” For Emma, podcasting is a form of “digital storytelling where you can educate listeners about writing without having to resort to writing yourself.” And for Michael, hearing someone’s voice can be calming and encourage dialogue. He says a good podcast can be “like Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats in the 1930s and 40s, where radio was used to unify the country during times of crisis.” All of these suggest that now, while many students and faculty continue to connect remotely, is the perfect time for this podcast to reach out and engage students.

TWE is hosted on anchor.fm and available on Spotify and other platforms such as Google podcasts and Apple podcasts. TWE is always looking for faculty and students to talk to and projects to cover, so if you have episode ideas, questions or topics you would like them to address, or student podcasting projects to highlight, contact the WCC at wcc@nova.edu. They would love to hear from you.

To check out episodes: https://anchor.fm/nsuwcc

 

 

 

 

 

WCC Executive Director Presents at the 2020 Academic Chairpersons Conference

Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D.

Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D., Professor and Executive Director of the NSU Writing and Communication Center, presented at the 37th annual Academic Chairpersons Conference in Savannah, GA., February 5-7, 2020. Dvorak presented with Shanti Bruce, Ph.D., Professor and Assistant Dean of Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, Michael G. Strawser, Ph.D. (University of Central Florida), and Russell Carpenter, Ph.D. (Eastern Kentucky University).

Their presentation, “Administrative Best Practices for Engaging Millennial Faculty,” discussed how millennial faculty may: a) change the higher education system; b) adapt their own internal wiring to fit higher education; and c) relate to faculty/staff of other generations. They also addressed issues related to millennial faculty engagement and professional development, expectations of communication, and responses to campus sexual harassment.

The Academic Chairpersons Conference brings together academic chairpersons, administrators, and faculty from all areas of higher education to celebrate their successes, share best practices and innovative strategies, and collaborate with a network of campus leaders.

According to Dvorak, this conference was a “fantastic way to network with and learn from interdisciplinary academic leaders from across the country.”

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

College of Psychology Faculty Presents at Sports Nutrition Conference

Kayla Thayer, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor Kayla Thayer, Ph.D., from NSU’s College of Psychology, recently presented at a conference on the intersection of psychology and sports performance.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition conference took place in person in Daytona Beach, but implemented masks and social distancing. Presentations covered topics such as diet and amino acids, but Thayer took a different course.

Although sports performance is not Thayer’s main area of research, her presentation took the basic tenets of clinical psychology and evidence-based tools like cognitive behavioral therapy, but applied them to sports. Thayer noted that athletes also contend with common problems – anxiety, depression, trauma, legal issues, substance issues and sleep issues.

“When it’s your job to perform well, all of these problems negatively impact cognitive functioning, so by using clinical psychology, what we’re doing is targeting those underlying problems so that we can dedicate more cognitive resources to performance and enhancing it in the moment on the field,” Thayer said.

NSU University School Students Named 2021 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

NSU University School is proud to congratulate the 12th grade students who were named Semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. These are high school seniors who scored in the top percentile in the nation on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

  • William Boudy
  • Duncan Jurman
  • Tobi Margolis
  • Ella Marshall
  • Ben Miller
  • Peyton Ronkin
  • Ben Yohros

Out of approximately 1.5 million entrants across the nation, only about 16,000 students qualified as Semifinalists. These talented seniors will have the opportunity to advance to the Finalist level and qualify for winner recognition as well as university scholarships.

Student Osteopathic Medical Association Provides Supply Donation

The Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) chapter at the NSU Tampa Bay Regional Campus exceeded expectations with its school supply drive for the Chi Chi Rodriguez Foundation.

SOMA’s original goal was to establish a mentorship program with the foundation, which is a youth organization aimed at providing students a unique environment to develop teamwork, community building, and leadership skills. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, SOMA had to find different ways to engage with the program. SOMA reached out to the foundation and found it needed various supplies such as sanitizers, cleaning supplies, and masks. This is when SOMA decided to hold a school supply drive for the students.

SOMA had volunteers donate items, while making sure they were all sanitized before being donated. To ensure social distancing requirements were being followed, SOMA held the drive in the outdoor courtyard area of the campus and had three to four people sign up for each shift. Each volunteer had his or her own table where people could drop off materials.

The drive was a success, as more than $1,000 was raised, along with various donations as requested by the foundation. SOMA hopes to continue working with the foundation and eventually coordinate a mentorship program once in-person activities resume. SOMA members are already participating in the foundation’s career day activities, which involves having a few students discuss their journey to medical school and answer any question the youth may have about the process of becoming a physician.

“We were super excited to have raised this much and very happy with the level of participation from our class,” said second-year student Madhuri Prayaga, SOMA president. “Even during such difficult times, they came together to help raise money for an important and meaningful cause. We are incredibly grateful to our class for helping so much.”

KPCOM Launches Unity Program for Change

As police brutality toward communities of color continues to make national headlines with protests, riots, and trials, Paula Anderson-Worts, D.O., M.P.H., assistant dean of faculty and alumni affairs, along with Elaine M. Wallace, D.O., M.S., M.S., M.S., M.S., dean, have created a program that will promote cultural sensitivity and address the impact of racial injustice and racism in the United States.

The program, titled the KPCOM Unity Program for Change, has involved KPCOM faculty and staff members, as well as students, with the goal of serving as a catalyst for ongoing change toward equality and justice for all. The program began in July, with its first Zoom meeting being a dialogue on racial injustice. The program has since followed with various Zoom meetings with speakers on racial consciousness, discussion groups on healing, taking action, and racial consciousness and Zoom group discussions on related topics—all with the hope of galvanizing others to work to educate, unify, and advocate for change that will help eliminate systemic racism and inequality.

HCAS Student Presents at Pi Sigma Alpha National Student Research Conference

Lucas Dombroski, student in the Department of Humanities and Politics in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), presented his research at the Pi Sigma Alpha National Student Research Conference hosted by George Washington University. His paper was titled, “Capital Punishment and College Educated Individuals: How Do the College Educated View the Ultimate Punishment?”

According to Dombroski, “Essentially, my research involved analyzing National Election Studies (NES) data concerning how college-educated respondents felt about Capital Punishment.  I ran logistic regression models and cross-tabulations on these feelings toward capital punishment using the demographic information provided by the respondents, and I was able to see the relationships between feelings towards the death penalty and variables such as sex, political party affiliation, region, and ethnicity. My findings suggested that political party affiliation is the best indicator of how one feels about capital punishment whereas sex was the worst indicator; however, none of the relationships that were chosen to be tested in my research had a very strong significance.”

Ransford Edwards, Ph.D., faculty in DHP and NSU chapter advisor accompanied Dombroski. Dombroski was a recipient of the department Student Scholar Fund and used that financial support to take care of airfare, lodging, and food.

 

 

Kappa Delta Pi Omega Theta Chapter Recipient of Education Excellence Award

NSU’s Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) Omega Theta Chapter is one of the recipients of the 2019-2020 Professional Development Chapter Program Award presented by Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education. The Awards for Education Excellence honor those individuals and chapters for their significant contributions to the Society and the education world.

 

Over the past year, KDP Omega Theta organized five professional development presentations involving participants from the USA, St. Vincent, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, as well as other countries. The presentations included:

  • Covid-19 ‘New Normal’: Reshaping the teaching/learning platform
  • Economic, Entrepreneurial and Educational Perspectives in the Pandemic Era Conference
  • Professional development for teachers on the management and use of different platforms for virtual classrooms at the time of a pandemic
  • Special Education Forum
  • Beyond the book cover – 1 hour of reading

KDP, founded in 1911, fosters excellence in education and promotes fellowship among those dedicated to teaching. The Omega Theta chapter, established April 14, 1999, continues to demonstrate excellence in education, amassing awards in Literacy, Membership/Online Program, and outstanding regional Counselor. The chapter’s leader is Dr. Sandra Trotman.

Halmos College Faculty Discusses A Bee’s View on Food      

This fall, Halmos College faculty member Lauren Nadler, Ph.D. published a new popular science article in the Outside JEB section of the Journal of Experimental Biology (JEB), entitled, “Making a bee-line for food with octopamine”. In this article, Dr. Nadler describes a recent scientific study in the journal Biology Letters (by Tianfei Peng and two of his colleagues from the University of Mainz in Germany) that examined how bees find food and perceive its value. The researchers found that the brain compound octopamine (equivalent to the fight or flight hormone noradrenaline in vertebrates like humans) was involved, with bees increasing foraging by almost 75% following an octopamine-laced treat. This publication highlights the important role of the brain in driving the behavior of animals both big and small.

The Outside JEB section reports on the most exciting developments in experimental biology. The articles are written by a team of active research scientists highlighting the papers that JEB readers can’t afford to miss. Dr. Nadler has been contributing to Outside JEB since October 2018.

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