We congratulate our winner of the 2015 Willa Dean Lowery Fund to Support Research in the Natural Sciences:
Asal Johnson, Associate Professor of Public Health
Socio-Spatial Analysis of Florida Suicide Mortality
Category: Faculty Awards
We congratulate our winners of the 2014 Willa Dean Lowery Fund to Support Research in the Natural Sciences:
Roslyn Crowder, Associate Professor of Biology
Developing a Transfection Protocol to Improve Jurkat T Cell Transfection Efficiency
Cindy Bennington, Professor of Biology
3 Separate Project Informing the Volusia Sandhill Ecosystem Restoration
Project
Congratulations to the following recipients of the 2015 Hand Awards for Distinguished Faculty Achievement.
Catherine Cameron, Ph.D., Professor of Legal Skills
Hand Award for Research, Creative and Professional Activity
Lance Long, Ph.D., Professor of Legal Skills
Hand Award for Research, Creative and Professional Activity
Kimberly Flint-Hamilton, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology
Hand Award for Community Impact
Stuart Michelson, Ph.D., Professor of Finance
Hand Award for Community Impact
Through the generosity of Homer and Dolly Hand of Belle Glade, Florida, the University has established honorary monetary awards to recognize outstanding faculty work. This year, we recognize the professional achievements of two outstanding members of our faculty for the Hand Award for Community Impact. The Hand Award for Community Impact celebrates the achievements of faculty serving the needs of the community, both the Stetson community and the community beyond the campus. It, therefore, gives me great pleasure to present this award to two individuals – one in the School of Business Administration, to be awarded this afternoon, and the other in the College of Arts and Sciences.
KIMBERLY FLINT-HAMILTONhas been a member of the Stetson community since 1999 when she joined the faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, a department she currently chairs. She has served on numerous University and College committees and task forces including the Faculty Senate, and Tenure and Promotion Policy Committee. Over the course of her tenure, Her deep commitment to Stetson has manifested itself in notable and extensive mentoring of faculty, particularly pre-tenure and visiting faculty across all disciplines and through myriad formal and informal venues. A quote from her nomination packet reads “Whereas many of us discuss and deliberate over our core values and of the practical application of social justice, we see in Kimberly one who actually lives social justice and promotes inclusive excellence among students, staff, and faculty”. For her professional commitment and deep impact on the Stetson Community, Kimberly Flint-Hamilton receives the 2015 Hand Award for Community Impact.
Through the generosity of Homer and Dolly Hand of Belle Glade, Florida, the University has established honorary monetary awards to recognize outstanding faculty work. This year, we recognize the professional achievements of two outstanding members of our faculty for the Hand Award for Community Impact. The Hand Award for Community Impact celebrates the achievements of faculty serving the needs of the community, both the Stetson community and the community beyond the campus. It, therefore, gives me great pleasure to present this award to two individuals – one in the College of Arts and Sciences, which was awarded this morning to Kimberly Flint-Hamilton. The other to a faculty member in the School of Business Administration.
STUART MICHELSONhas been a member of the Stetson community since 2001, when he became the Roland & Sarah George Professor of Finance. Over the course of his tenure, Stuart has served as director of the Executive MBA Program, dean of the School of Business Administration, and on over a dozen University and School of Business Administration Committees and Task forces. He is a model teacher-scholar and University citizen. At Stetson, everyone is a leader of the University’s future vibrancy – Stuart exemplifies this commitment, contributing significantly to advancing the mission and excellence of the University. For his professional commitment and deep impact on the Stetson Community, Stuart Michelson receives the 2015 Hand Award for Community Impact.
Presented by Provost Noel Painter on May 11, 2015 at the 129rd annual Undergraduate Commencement
Education Associate Professor and Jessie Ball duPont Chair of Social Justice Education, Rajni Shankar-Brown, Ph.D., pictured in the classroom, has been awarded an Education and Culture grant by the U.S. Department of State and the Partners of the Americas. This competitive grant will allow Shankar-Brown to travel to Brasilia, Brasil and Bogota, Colombia to facilitate intercultural exchange and work to develop programing to connect public schools in Central Florida and around the nation with schools abroad.
“I am humbled and honored,” Shankar-Brown said after receiving her award. “As a social justice educator, I am committed to promoting global citizenship and passionate about advancing educational equity. Encouraging cultural understanding and building relationships is indispensable to social justice.”
Shankar-Brown has high expectations of what she will accomplish during her trip and she looks forward to keeping a full schedule. “I will work on developing K-12 programming focused on EcoJustice education,” she said. “In particular, I will focus on increasing students’ understanding of ecological and social issues, as well as their entwined cultural roots, and providing opportunities to explore collaborative pathways to a sustainable, equitable future.” Shankar-Brown will also be researching human rights issues, including family homelessness and poverty while she is overseas.
The people Shankar-Brown will be interacting with in South America are not the only ones who will benefit from her work. Once Shankar-Brown returns to Stetson, she plans on sharing everything she has learned with her students. “This journey will actively support Stetson University’s values of personal growth, intellectual development and global citizenship and support my work as a social justice teacher-scholar. I look forward to bringing back experiences and knowledge to share with my students and our community.”
As the director of Education Graduate Programs and the co-coordinator for the M.Ed. in Elementary Education: Educating for Social Justice program, she is especially excited about involving Stetson’s graduate students in global justice work. Shankar-Brown conveys deep gratitude to be part of a university that encourages social responsibility and interdisciplinary partnerships.
Until her departure at the end of this month, Shankar-Brown has other important events to keep her busy. Shankar-Brown is currently working on planning the second annual Poverty and Homelessness Conference, which will take place at Stetson in October. She is also the Co-PI for the Volusia Center for Excellence in Education, a $1.1. million grant recently awarded by the Florida Department for Education. Shankar-Brown has been invited to serve as a keynote speaker as a member of the steering committee for the first annual Educational Justice Conference hosted by Bethune-Cookman University on July 12-14. The theme of the conference is “Connecting with the Diverse and Underrepresented Youth of Today,” and the goal is to provide inspiring discourse for educators that will empower leadership skills. Shankar-Brown’s title for her presentation is “Collective Impact: Advancing Social Justice Education.” Shankar-Brown insisted, “We must work together to address persistent social inequities and build a brighter world for our children.”
For more information about the upcoming Educational Justice Conference, visit http://www.cookman.edu/ejconf/.
by Nicole Melchionda
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Congratulations to the recipient of the 2015 William Hugh McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching
Dr. Elisabeth Poeter, Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures
The Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs is pleased to congratulate our Stetson teacher-scholar faculty on the submission of proposals for innovative scholarship, research and creative inquiry. The following Summer Grants Program projects were recommended by the Professional Development Committee to the Provost for their outstanding potential and dedication to Stetson’s mission of teaching, research, and artistic development:
Christopher Bell, “The Ritual Evolution of the Tibetan Buddhist Protector Deity Dorje Shugden.”
Gary Bolding, “Vaselina Springs and the Arkie DeLeons: A Southern Gothic Rock Soap Opera.”
Rosalyn Crowder, “Developing a Transfection Protocol to Improve Jurkat T Cell Transfection Efficiency.”
Kimberly Flint-Hamilton, “Sankofa: Go Back and Fetch It. Part III.”
Mayhill Fowler, “Beau Monde: State and Stage on Empire’s Edge, Russian and Soviet Ukraine, 1916-1941.”
Melissa Gibbs, “Have Reproductive Patterns Changed in an Invasive Armored Catfish Inhabiting Volusia Blue Spring.”
Alan Green, “Contracts, Property Rights, and Economic Development: a Theoretical and Empirical Investigation.”
Laura Gunn, “Public Health Research Projects for Completion.”
Melinda Hall, “Uses of Disability in Horror Film and Fiction.”
Jamil Khader, “The Part of No Part: (Re)Theorizing the Palestinian Subject.”
Michael King, “Behavioral Effects of Gustatory Cortex Microstimulation in Conscious Rats.”
Katya Kudryavtseva, “The Afterlife of Kazimir Malevich’s Suprematism.”
Jason Martin, “Academic Librarians’ Perceptions of Transformational and Transactional Leadership in Academic Library Leaders.”
Leander Seah, “Conceptualizing Chinese Identity: China, the Nanyang, and Trans-Regionalism.”
Rajni Shankar-Brown, “Using Bioecological Systems Theory to Understand Family Homelessness: Critical Perspectives for Educators.”
Paul Sibbald, “Development of A Synthetic Pathway to Novel 3-Substituted Indolizines.”
Margaret Venzke, “Essays on Ottoman Land Administration in the 16th Century: A View from the Older Islamic Provinces, Eastern Anatolia and Syria.”
Nancy Vosburg, “(Re)Collecting the Past: Historical Memory in Spanish Literature and Culture.”
Rebecca Watts, “Personhood on the Plantation: Interpreting Slaves and Slavery at Public Plantation Sites.”
Matt Wilson, “NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaching Contracts: A Comparative Analysis of Incentives for Athletic and Academic Team Performance.”
John York, “Removal of Sulfer Impurities from Petroleum Fuels Using metal Complexes.”
We congratulate our winner of the 2013 Willa Dean Lowery Fund to Support Research in the Natural Sciences:
Matthew Schrager, Professor of Integrative Health Science
Sage Hall Expansion of the Biomechanics Laboratory: Linear Gait
Kinematic Characteristics of across the Age Span Using GAITRite
System
Congratulations to the following recipients of the 2014 Hand Awards for Distinguished Faculty Achievement.
Timothy Peter, Ph.D., Professor of Music
Hand Award for Research, Creative and Professional Activity
Alicia Slater, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
Hand Award for Research, Creative and Professional Activity
Rajni Shankar-Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Education
Hand Award for Community Impact
Three-year project will train teachers in core subject matter, accelerate effectiveness
Stetson University, Bethune-Cookman University, Volusia County Schools and New Teacher Center have been awarded a $1.1 million grant from the Florida Department of Education to create and launch the Volusia Center for Excellence in Education (VCEE).
“VCEE represents a new model of excellence in educating new teachers,” said Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D., president of Stetson University. “There is a strong need for deeper core subject knowledge for elementary school teachers, strategies to help teachers manage their classrooms and solutions that meet the needs of diverse learners. Stetson is committed to serving those needs through this exciting new program.”
The grant was awarded after collaboration by all the partners led to a proposal for strengthening and enhancing the skills of teachers as well as their knowledge of core subject matter. In-depth coursework, labs, field experiences and clinical education training will be required for all teachers going through this program.
“This program will allow us to better serve the educational needs of the community by training elementary and secondary school teachers at the newly created VCEE,” said Edison O. Jackson, Ed.D., president of Bethune-Cookman. “At B-CU, we are committed not only to training the best teachers in the nation, but also to providing current teachers with the best educational methodologies to help them succeed in the classroom. Better teachers mean better prepared students.”
“The training our mentor teachers receive will provide them with a research-based approach to give the senior interns they are supervising the best possible on-the-job teaching experience,” said Margaret Smith, D.Ed., superintendent of schools for Volusia County. “This includes providing strategies for dealing with issues first-year teachers typically struggle with so they can be addressed before that college student graduates. This collaborative effort will develop better trained teachers who will continue to receive peer support throughout their first year teaching with Volusia County Schools.”
Both Stetson and B-CU will transition all of their preparation programs for elementary school teachers to the new VCEE model aligned to Volusia County Schools’ Florida DOE-approved instructional framework.
“We’re extremely excited about this new partnership and the difference it will make to the success of the new teachers and their students in Volusia County Schools,” said Jordan Brophy-Hilton, vice president of Program Partnerships at New Teacher Center (NTC). “This initiative will provide a seamless transition for new teachers from their university pre-service programs, to their early experiences co-teaching in the classroom working alongside a qualified teacher and on through their first two years on the job and induction period, with aligned coaching and support at every stage. The result will be improvements in both teaching quality and student learning.”
(Alex Sanchez ’12, one of Stetson’s top education graduates, is pictured above teaching in one of Volusia County’s schools.)
About New Teacher Center
New Teacher Center focuses on improving student learning by accelerating the effectiveness of new teachers and school leaders. NTC partners with states, school districts, universities and policymakers to design and implement programs that create sustainable, high-quality mentoring and professional development; build leadership capacity; work to enhance teaching conditions; improve retention; and transform schools into vibrant learning communities where all students succeed.
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