Tag: Alumni

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.

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/

Michelle Cromwell, M.S. (’01), Ph.D. (’08), is an associate vice president for inclusive excellence and the chief diversity officer at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts. As a member of the college’s President’s Cabinet, Cromwell counsels the president and administrative council on matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Previously at Regis College, Cromwell was an associate professor of politics and social justice, as well as director of the Honors Program from 2010 to 2016. She has also served as the chief diversity officer at The School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. Describing herself as a pracademic, Cromwell says she is a scholar-practitioner who has “one foot in the academe and the other in the community, as a practitioner.”

She was the cofounding executive director at the Massachusetts Peacemaking and Talking Circle Initiative, a nonprofit organization designed to foster conversations about discrimination and racism in schools, nonprofits, and organizations. In addition, Cromwell serves as an independent consultant working with nonprofits, higher-education institutions, corporations, and government entities with an emphasis on conflict resolution, crisis management, and diversity and inclusion.

At Nova Southeastern University, Cromwell earned an M.S. in Dispute Resolution and a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution specializing in ethnic conflicts. She earned a B.S. degree in social work at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago in 1998.

Deborah A. Tedder, M.B.A. (’00), M.S.N. (’09), is the chief nursing officer at Northwest Medical Center in Margate, Florida.

With 42 years of experience, Tedder has held nursing leadership positions at major health care systems, including Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, where she served as chief nursing officer. She also worked at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, before moving to Northwest Medical Center in 2016.

“Achieving an M.B.A. at NSU provided me with the financial and business knowledge to fiscally manage and oversee nursing,” said Tedder, whose early nursing career focused on medical-surgical intensive care. “Obtaining an M.S.N. degree-also at NSU-allowed me to combine nursing leadership knowledge with the business skills needed to successfully lead the nursing division of these major health care systems.”

In 2016, Tedder was elected to the Board of Nursing Consortium of South Florida. She serves on the boards at Mercy Hospital and Mercy Care Hospice and the advisory board at Florida Atlantic University. She belongs to the Florida Nurses Association, National League for Nursing, and South Florida Organization of Nurse Executives. Tedder is the 2017 recipient of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Patient Leaders Fellowship and the 2011 recipient of AHA McKesson Quest for Quality Prize award.

Christopher Carita, B.S., 2019 graduate of the sociology program in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) received a prestigious Bloomberg Fellowship. Carita was one of the names announced by The Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, as a member of the 2019 cohort of Bloomberg Fellows. Fellows are drawn from an organization working on one of five health challenges facing the nation: addiction and overdose, environmental challenges, obesity and the food system, risks to adolescent health, and violence.

The 2019 Bloomberg Fellows Cohort is the third and the largest to date and includes fellows and organizations spanning twenty-four states and the District of Columbia. Fellows receive full scholarships to pursue a Master of Public Health or Doctor of Public Health. Carita starts the MPH program this fall.

Carita, a Dean’s List student, brought his wide array of skills and experiences to the table throughout his years of study at NSU.  “I found that the writing-centered curriculum in the Sociology program at Nova helped me tremendously in understanding the importance of clear communication in messaging.  That focus is essential in implementing effective change in our society.”

Carita joined the Fort Lauderdale Police Department in 2009, where he has earned 14 Department Commendations and 6 Public Commendations for exemplary police work. He has served in various roles, from patrol, to street narcotics, to burglary/robbery investigations, and currently serves as a Detective with the Special Investigations Threat Response Unit. Carita investigates mass casualty threats (schools, churches, workplace, etc.), political violence, and extremist groups. He has initiated numerous investigations, identifying pattern offenders and threats to public safety, compiling strong criminal cases in cooperation with the State Attorney’s Office.

For more information about the Bloomberg Fellows, see https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2019/bloomberg-school-announces-2019-bloomberg-fellows-cohort.html

Nicholas W. Carris, Pharm.D. (’08), is a pharmacist and an assistant professor at the University of South Florida (USF), where he conducts research and teaches at the College of Pharmacy and the Morsani College of Medicine.

Carris completed his B.S. in Biology at NSU, graduating with distinction in 2008. He graduated summa cum laude with a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Florida (UF) in 2012. He completed his pharmacy residency at Tri Star Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, followed by a two-year, postdoctoral fellowship in family medicine at UF. Concurrently, he was also serving as an instructor at both UF’s College of Pharmacy and College of Medicine physician assistant program.

A board-certified pharmacotherapy  specialist, Carris holds pharmacist licenses in Florida and Tennessee. He has established a clinical practical in an Accountable Care Organization-a group of health care providers who voluntarily coordinate quality care for their Medicare patients. He is also participating in an initiative to de-prescribe opioids and benzodiazepine.

Among other honors, Carris is the recipient of the 2017-2018 Best Researcher Award at USF’s College of Pharmacy and was recognized as the Top Reviewer by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in March 2018. He is the author of numerous articles, book chapters and publications and presents at national and regional conferences.

He is a member of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the American College of Cardiology.

Adrian Kenneth Lane, B.S. (’00), is a physician assistant serving in Afghanistan. He has used his medical skills and training in a variety of health care and tactical environments, including Afghanistan and Iraq. He works for AEgis Technologies Group/ GardaWorld Federal Services. Operating under a contract with the U.S. Department of State, he provides medical services ranging from basic and preventive care to trauma care.

Working in Afghanistan for seven years, Lane was a PA for DynCorp International, where he was responsible for providing medical services to DynCorp personnel and others at camps in Kabul. Prior to deploying to Afghanistan, he was a battalion physician assistant at the Florida Army National Guard 3/20th Special Forces in Camp Blanding, Florida.

He served as a special forces adviser/medical officer for the L3 National Group in Iraq. Lane was embedded with the 5th Division Iraqi Army/Military Transition Team to provide special operations counter-insurgency techniques to the Iraqi Army.

Lane earned a B.S. in Physician Assistant Studies from NSU and a B.S. in International Affairs from Florida State University. The recipient of several medals and honors-including the Soldier’s Medal, Bronze Star, Joint Meritorious Unit Award Ribbon, and Joint Service Commendation Medal-Lane has retired from the military. His 37 years of service included active duty, Army Reserve, and the Florida National Guard.

Wynona James, Ph.D.

Wynona James, Ph.D., doctoral graduate of the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), has published an article entitled, “Imprint of Racism: White Adult Males’ Transformational Experience from Racial Antipathy to Racial Reconciliation” in the June 2019 edition of the American Journal of Qualitative Research. See   https://www.ajqr.org/article/imprint-of-racismnbsp-white-adult-males-transformational-experience-from-racial-antipathy-to-racial-5813

James has over 39 years with the federal government and currently serves as the Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Manager and Senior Mediator with the Department of the Air Force at Peterson Air Force Base (Colorado Springs) Colorado, where she serves over 10,500 Department of Defense civilian, military personnel and dependents in conflict management skills and resolution. She has been an invited speaker at a number of venues – presenting training sessions on conflict resolution and race relations – as well as mediating workplace disputes at a number of military, federal, and state agencies. James has been a guest contributor to the Secretary Air Force General Counsel Newsletter and the Peterson Air Force Space Observer newspaper with published articles on conflict resolution in the workplace, conflict management, crisis management, and equal opportunity.

She is the recipient of the 2010 United States Secretary of the Air Force General Counsel Mediator of the Year Agency Award and the 2019 Air Force Blacks in Government Meritorious Service Award for Civil Rights and representing Air Force Space Command as the nominee for the 2019 national competition. 

James is also a part-time adjunct instructor for online studies with the Graduate Department of Conflict Management with Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX.