Category: Academics

Neil Katz, Ph.D. professor in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) has published the 3^rd edition of his book, Communication & Conflict Resolution Skills (2020). In addition to co-authors John Lawyer and Marcia Sweedler, Ph.D., this latest edition includes new co-authors Katherine Sosa, Ph.D., and Peter Tokar, M.Div.

Sosa is a graduate of the doctoral program in conflict resolution and is an organizational development specialist in a large healthcare system. Tokar is a doctoral student in the program and the lead pastor of the 1,400 member Bridge Church. Three other doctoral students assisted with this latest edition, Eileen Petzold-Bradley, Julio Chang, and Kristal Garia.

For more information about the book, please go to https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/communication-and-conflict-resolution-skills

On Thursday, January 30, at 12:35 p.m. Halmos mathematics faculty member Lei Cao, Ph.D. will present a talk titled “Soccer Tournament Matrices”.

In this talk, he will present a combinatorial object, soccer tournament matrices, which is understandable to undergraduate students and gives a taste of combinatorial matrix theory.

Consider a round-robin tournament of n teams in which each team plays every other team exactly once and where ties are allowed. A team scores 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 point for a loss, then each particular result leads to a soccer tournament matrix. Let T(R, 3) denote the class of all soccer tournament matrices with the row sum vector R. In this talk, I will explore some necessary conditions of a vector R, such that T(R, 3) is nonempty with the audience, and then for some R, I will show an algorithm to construct a soccer tournament matrix whose row sum is R.

Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography department of mathematics hosts the mathematics colloquium series in Parker Building, Room 338. For more information about the math colloquium series, please contact mathematics faculty member Jing Chen, Ph.D. (jchen1@nova.edu) or Evan Haskell (haskell@nova.edu).

This fall, Halmos College biology faculty member Santanu De, Ph.D. published a paper titled “YWHA (14-3-3) protein isoforms and their interactions with CDC25B phosphatase in mouse oogenesis and oocyte maturation”. This work is on the key cell cycle-regulatory proteins 14-3-3 and CDC25B that are conserved across most species, including humans. Dr. De published this research in association with his former students at Kent State University, OH. By looking at select 14-3-3 isoforms expressed in mouse oocytes and eggs, the research allows biologists a better understanding of the molecular basis of female infertility.

Bill Adams, D.M.A., faculty in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), served as a panelist for Broward County Cultural Division’s 2021 Cultural Diversity Program. To represent the diversity of people living in Broward County, the grant program is designed to support events such as Rhythms of Africa (Embrace Music Foundation), Danceport Ballroom Dancing (CID-UNESCO), Diwali Festival of Lights (Indian Regional and Cultural Center of Florida), and We Drum in Peace (Japan Arts). The grant panel will review grant requests totaling $167,000 and recommend funding these organizations to the Broward County Commissioners.

As an arts administrator, Adams serves on panels, which recommend funding for Broward Cultural Division’s Cultural Investment Program, the Cultural Diversity Program, and the Cultural Tourism Program. He has been the artistic director of the Renaissance City Men’s and Women’s Choirs as well as South Florida Chorale Arts, Inc.

NSU University School congratulates the Upper School students who have been selected to participate in the Nova Southeastern University Sports Management Internship. Blake Stern and Emma Pereda will have the opportunity to work alongside NSU Athletics staff, volunteers, and athletes. They will gain hands-on experience within various departments of NSU Athletics such as digital media and graphic design, facilities, equipment management, marketing, promotions, and more. We look forward to watching these students as they continue to learn during this exciting and educational internship.

Writing and Communication Center (WCC) Faculty Coordinators, Kelly Concannon (College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Associate Professor of Writing) and Janine Morris (CAHSS Assistant Professor of Writing), presented at the 2019 Feminisms and Rhetorics conference at James Madison University, November 13-16, 2019. Their presentation, “Mindful Mentorship, Self-Care, & Fostering Graduate Student Well-Being in the Writing Center,” focuses on a month-long mindfulness project the two conducted in fall 2018 with CAHSS Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Master’s student Nicole Chavannes and alumna Veronica Diaz (both WCC graduate assistant coordinators at the time).

Their presentation focused on the effects of a four-week project Concannon, Morris, Chavannes, and Diaz undertook to examine how performing self-care and mindfulness practices affected mentorship and leadership positions. The presentation concluded with acknowledging the benefits and challenges of practicing mindfulness and self-care as mentors and provided attendees with strategies to enact in their own writing centers.

Concannon stated, “The conference allowed us to share our experiences cultivating mindfulness in the writing and communication center and to create collaborations with faculty and students who were additionally invested in feminist practices.”

The mindfulness project is also the focus of a co-written article by Concannon, Morris Chavannes, and Diaz that will appear in a forthcoming issue of WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship.

 

Over 175 first-year biology students visited the NSU Writing and Communication Center (WCC) for its first BIOL Night Against Procrastination (BNAP) on Sunday, October 27th, 2019, from 6 – 10 p.m. Students received assistance on writing their major enzyme lab reports from WCC Biology Fellows and BIOL 1500 Lab Assistants. The event was part of a collaboration between the WCC and the Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography Department of Biological Sciences that provides course-embedded writing assistance to all sections of BIOL 1500: Biology I/Lab.

Over the course of four weeks each semester (from the time the report is assigned to when it is due), the WCC offers BIOL 1500 students course-specific one-on-one consultations and a series of open studio hours, which are times when students can visit the WCC to write and get quick feedback from trained BIOL Writing Fellows. This semester, the WCC offered BNAP on the Sunday night before the week final reports were due in order to provide students with an additional opportunity to visit the center; collaborate with peers, fellows, and lab assistants; and get their final reports completed.

The event opened with over 100 students visiting during the first hour. Students were offered pizza, while a DJ from Radio X played downtempo /ambient music students could work to while completing their reports. “It was eye opening to see 177 students show up for an academic event focused on writing. It was not just a social or happy hour, it was a chance to better their writing, and they all showed up! It was very fulfilling,” said Melissa Vaz-Ayes, junior Biology major and an undergraduate student coordinator in the NSU WCC.

The overall project is based on collaborative efforts of Dr. Kevin Dvorak, Executive Director of the NSU WCC; Dr. Kelly Concannon, Associate Professor in the CAHSS Department of Writing and Communication and Faculty Coordinator at the WCC; Dr. Aarti Raja, Associate Professor in the Halmos College Department of Biological Sciences; and Melissa Vaz-Ayes.

The WCC anticipates running the program and BNAP event for the coming semesters. For more information about the NSU Writing and Communication Center, please visit www.nova.edu/wcc or call 954-262-8108.