Category: SharkBytes

Alumni Spotlight: College of Psychology – Dwight Hollier, M.S.

Dwight Hollier, M.S. (’00), is the senior associate athletic director for the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is a national board certified and licensed professional counselor with extensive experience working with adolescents, families, and adults.

Hollier played professional football for nine years, including seven years with the Miami Dolphins, where he was a fourth-round draft pick and played linebacker for hall of fame coach Don Shula.

Prior to his current job with UNC, Hollier served as the vice president of wellness and clinical services at the National Football League (NFL). He helped current and former NFL players by increasing their awareness and participation in mental health and wellness resources and by reducing the stigma of seeking help. Working in the player-engagement department, his responsibilities included overseeing the total wellness platform and managing the education and professional development curriculum.

In 2000, Hollier earned an M.S. in Mental Health Counseling at NSU’s College of Psychology, completing his practicum at NSU’s Family Violence Program while still an active NFL player. He was one of several NFL players who participated in the NO MORE campaign and television commercial to stop domestic and sexual violence.

Holier earned his B.A in Psychology and Speech Communications at the University of North Carolina in 1991.

Education Alum Publishes Book on the Role Principals Play in Turning Around Schools

Josh Martin, Ed.D., graduate of NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice (FCE&SCJ), recently published the book, Turning a School Around: Key Considerations for Real Success. The book discusses the key roles that principals play in school turnaround efforts.

Dr. Martin has been a Texas educator for 17 years. During that time he has served as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, and Special Programs director. He currently works as the Chief Academic Officer at Farmersville Independent School District, in Farmersville, Texas. In each of these roles, he has been driven to work towards finding and cultivating the best within his students by mentoring teachers and campus administrators to provide the best learning environments possible.

He earned his doctorate of education in 2011 with FCE&SCJ. To learn more about the book or to purchase, please visit: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Turning+a+school+around%3A+Key+considerations+for+real+success&ref=nb_sb_noss

CAHSS Faculty Publishes on Assisted Reproductive Technology

Eileen Smith-Cavros, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), has published an entry in the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Families, Marriages, and Intimate Relationships, published in August 2019. Her entry on the subject of “Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART),” includes the changes related to ART procedures and attitudes toward ART over time and across societies.

Smith-Cavros teaches courses in sociology and anthropology, including Introduction to Anthropology, Environmental Sociology, Social Problems, and Research Methods in Social Sciences. Her research interests include, women, infertility, and assisted reproduction; visual anthropology, and sociology; and African American churches and environmental activism.

CAHSS Faculty and Doctoral Students Present on Partner Violence Assessment and Intervention at AAMFT Conference in Austin, TX

Christine Beliard, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Family Therapy (DFT) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), and 3 DFT students conducted an Institute at the 2019 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. The Institute was entitled, “Removing Our Masks: Partner Violence Assessment and Intervention.” The conference was held in Austin, TX.  The three students included, Porshia Cunningham, Michaelle Pierre, and Mariana de Guzman. Cunningham and Pierre are in the Ph.D. program and de Guzman is in the DMFT program.

Beliard’s research centers on MFTs’ collaborative assessment and treatment of Intimate Partner Violence, and the influence of historical racial trauma on couples of color. Additionally, she is committed to social justice and the provision of relevant mental health services to minority families through best practices in training and service delivery.

CAHSS Alum Selected as the Director of Believe Greater Dalton Education Partnerships

Stephani Womack, M.S., 2014 graduate of the master’s program in College Student Affairs in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), is the Director of Believe Greater Dalton Educational Partnerships, in Dalton, GA. In this position, Womack builds bridges across the school systems and strengthens partnerships with higher education. This provides students with opportunities for success at every step along their educational journey. Believe Greater Dalton is a five-year strategic plan focusing on strategies to improve the community.

Prior to this appointment, Womack held several positions at Dalton State College, including Assistant Director of Career and Professional Development, Assistant Director of Orientation, and Coordinator of Orientation and Leadership. In addition to her master’s degree from NSU, Womack earned a B.S. from Michigan State University.

Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Median – Randy S, Katz, D.O

Randy S, Katz, D.O, (’99), FACEP, serves as chairman of emergency medicine at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, and actively lectures on a variety of topics in emergency medicine. He is also the medical director for the City of Hollywood Fire Rescue and Beach Safety.

Having practiced emergency medicine in Broward County for the past 15 years, Katz has been instrumental in improving the delivery of cardiac arrest care, stroke care, and disaster preparedness in South Florida. Additionally, he has served as a clinical professor for multiple institutions, including Florida Atlantic University School of Medicine and NSU’s Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Katz holds appointed leadership positions in numerous organizations, including the Broward County Trauma Quality Improvement Committee, Memorial Regional Hospital Medical Executive Committee, Broward Stroke Council, Florida Association of EMS Medical Directors, and American College of Emergency Medicine EMS subcommittee. He has published many peer reviewed articles.

Active in the community, Katz has served on the board of The 3G Project, a charitable Organization dedicated to providing a lifeline to teenagers in the foster care system in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an active member of the EMS community.

KPCOM Faculty Members Provides Milestone Lecture

Alison C. Bested, M.D., FRCPC, director of student research development and chair of integrative medicine at the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, piloted a milestone achievement on August 19 when she presented the inaugural lecture on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) to osteopathic medical students. According to Bested, only 15 percent of patients are diagnosed and treated for ME/CFS, mainly because ME/CFS is a newly recognized disease that isn’t taught in most medical school curricula.

“Providing lectures to medical students will spread information about ME/CFS in the medical community. It will give patients a better opportunity to receive the correct ME/CFS diagnosis, begin treatment sooner, and have better long-term outcomes using the clinical diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS,” Bested said. “It will also support diagnosed patients in the community by empowering knowledgeable physicians to provide supportive symptomatic care to severely ill and bedridden ME/CFS patients.

CAHSS Alum is Director of Orientation Programs at Purdue University

Craig Johnson, M.S.Craig Johnson, M.S., 2015 graduate of the College Student Affairs master’s program in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) currently serves as the Director of Orientation Programs at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. As Director, he oversees the development and execution of online and on-campus welcome programs for incoming undergraduate students. For the fall of 2018, orientation programs at Purdue University welcomed over 8,600 students, the largest in Purdue’s 150-year history.

Outside of Purdue, he is an active member of the Association for Orientation, Transition and Retention in Higher Education (NODA) at the national and regional levels. In 2018, Johnson was recognized as the NODA Outstanding New Professional for Region VII (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and the province of Ontario), and next spring, he will serve as host for NODA’s 2020 Region VII Conference held at Purdue.  Johnson also serves as a member of the Leadership Operations Projects Team (LOPT) for the Barbershop Harmony Society, a music organization with 22,000 members across North America and affiliated men’s and women’s organizations in more than a dozen countries. As a member of the LOPT, he works closely with a group of Leadership Facilitators who help active BHS chapters align organizational goals to their program and community impacts through a series of active facilitation practices.  Inside and outside of work, conflict analysis and facilitation strategies are critical to the success of his teams and others. “I often reflect back on strategies learned in my time at NSU, and see myself opening doors for others into the conflict, mediation, and facilitation communities.”   Prior to earning his M.S. from NSU, Johnson earned a B.A.A. in Organizational Communication from Central Michigan University. He has been at Purdue University since July 2015.

Halmos Alumna Featured by Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

At the beginning of August 2019, Halmos M.S. alumna Nina Pruzinsky and her research were featured by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI). As a master’s student in marine biology, Ms. Pruzinsky examined the abundance, distribution, and morphological characteristics of larval and juvenile tunas (family Scombridae) and identified primary drivers of their distribution to help fill this gap and inform future management and conservation efforts.

The research took place in the research laboratory of Halmos faculty member Tracey Sutton, Ph.D. who leads the DEEPEND Consortium, which is assessing how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill may have damaged the Gulf of Mexico’s little-explored deep-sea ecosystems.

GoMRI’s mission is to investigate the impacts of the oil, dispersed oil, and dispersant on the ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico and affected coastal States in a broad context of improving fundamental understanding of the dynamics of such events and their environmental stresses and public health implications.

For more information:http://gulfresearchinitiative.org/grad-student-pruzinsky-uses-morphological-patterns-to-id-young-tuna-for-population-assessments/

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