U.S. Public and Private Higher Education
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from public, private and community colleges in the U.S.
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UL Press Title About Louisiana Decoy Carvers Lands Literary Award
LAFAYETTE, La., June 26 -- The University of Louisiana's Lafayette campus issued the following news story:
A title published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press was honored in the recent Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards competition.
"A Legacy Preserved: Contemporary Louisiana Decoy Carvers," by Harvey J. Lewis, earned a silver medal in the Crafts and Hobbies category. The book documents the artistry and skill of Louisiana's wildfowl decoy carvers.
Medalists were announced Saturday during the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago.
Librarians and booksellers
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LAFAYETTE, La., June 26 -- The University of Louisiana's Lafayette campus issued the following news story:
A title published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press was honored in the recent Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards competition.
"A Legacy Preserved: Contemporary Louisiana Decoy Carvers," by Harvey J. Lewis, earned a silver medal in the Crafts and Hobbies category. The book documents the artistry and skill of Louisiana's wildfowl decoy carvers.
Medalists were announced Saturday during the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago.
Librarians and booksellersselected medal winners in a range of categories for books that were published in 2016.
Five other titles published by the University press were finalists for 19th annual book award competition.
* "Ghost of Good Times: South Louisiana Dance Halls Past and Present," by Herman Fuselier and Philip Gould, in the Photography category, examines vanishing venues and the modern dance hall scene.
* "The Land South of the Clouds," by Genaro Kỳ Ly Smith, in the General category, is a novel that explores the childhood of a half-black, half-Vietnamese, 10-year-old in Los Angeles in years after the Vietnam War.
* "Madame Grand Doigt," by Yvette Landry, with illustrations by Cullen Bernard, in the Children's category, is a spine-chilling tale that is steeped in Cajun tradition.
* "Martha Wright Ambrose (1914-2000): The Rediscovery of a Southern Regional Artist," by Roulhac Toledano and Scott Veazey, in the Art category, details the artist's life and work, and the discovery of a trove of forgotten paintings.
The award competition is sponsored by Foreword Reviews. It is the only review magazine solely dedicated to reviewing titles by small, independent and university presses.
Learn more about the awards at: https://awards.forewordreviews.com/finalists/2016/.
Scott Carney 'Absolutely Honored' to Direct Institute of Optics
ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 26 -- The University of Rochester issued the following news release:
Scott Carney says he will have "the best job in optics" starting July 1. That's when he becomes the director of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.
"I am absolutely honored to be the new director," says Scott, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"This is the best faculty in optics. The people at the institute have defined optics for a generation, just as their predecessors defined optics for their generation, just as
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ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 26 -- The University of Rochester issued the following news release:
Scott Carney says he will have "the best job in optics" starting July 1. That's when he becomes the director of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.
"I am absolutely honored to be the new director," says Scott, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"This is the best faculty in optics. The people at the institute have defined optics for a generation, just as their predecessors defined optics for their generation, just astheir predecessors did."
The institute, founded in 1929, is the oldest school of optics in the nation and has awarded nearly half of all this country's optics degrees. The faculty conducts cutting edge research in fields such as fiber optics, quantum optics, laser matter interaction, optical coherence tomography, and terahertz waves.
However, the institute will not rest on its laurels, says outgoing director Xi-Cheng Zhang, who will remain on the faculty as the M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics.
"We are facing competition from other schools that have colleges or centers of optics that are much larger in research funding, faculty size, and number of students," Zhang says. "Scott is extremely capable. I have great confidence he can lead the institute to new heights. He's a wonderful hire, who is coming in with the overwhelming support of the faculty here."
This will be a homecoming of sorts for Carney, who earned his PhD in physics at Rochester studying with Emil Wolf, the leading expert in coherence and polarization of optical fields. Carney's doctoral work enabled him to become well acquainted with the institute.
"Everyone in Emil's group, and Joe Eberly's and Len Mandel's groups (also in physics) all kind of commingled with groups at the institute. There was really no distinction between optics done in physics and physics done in optics. It was a great community then, and remains so today," Carney says.
Wendi Heinzelman, dean of the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, says Carney "has a deep-seated love for the institute. He's coming in with a fresh perspective, but he knows the culture, the history, the aura of the institute -- and he very much wants to help bring the institute to the next level, building on the outstanding reputation it has."
Zhang's "hard work and heavy lifting" as director "has made it easier for me to come in," Carney says.
During his 5.5-year term, Zhang oversaw increases in:
* Undergraduate and masters enrollments,
* Student exchanges and other partnerships with overseas universities, especially in China and Russia, boosting the institute's international stature
* Professorships, and scholarships and prizes for graduate students
* Corporate partners in the institute's Industrial Associates program, which doubled in size
Zhang also created an executive committee to involve faculty in institute governance, restructured the staff, and brought deficit budgets under control, resulting in surpluses.
"He's done a fantastic job," Heinzelman says. "The institute is in a very good place, and a huge amount of that is due to Xi-Cheng's outstanding leadership."
Two of his initial priorities, Carney says, involve building on Zhang's initiatives to create a strong undergraduate program and involve faculty in the institute's governance.
Carney joined the University of Illinois in 2001, after two years as a post-doctoral associate at Washington University in St. Louis.
A theorist who has written seminal papers on near-field inverse scattering, his work bridges the gap between pure and applied research. "All of the projects in my group are either driven by applications or are meant to drive new applications," Carney notes.
Among his innovations is a handheld medical diagnostic probe that uses near-infrared light waves rather than ultrasound. The device is produced by Diagnostic Photonics Inc., a startup that Carney co-founded and serves as chief scientific officer.
Carney was recently appointed interim director of the Innovation, Leadership, and Engineering Entrepreneurship Degree Program at Illinois
"He is a very well-rounded candidate," Heinzelman says. "He's very outgoing and personable, and is well connected to the optics community, including involvement in the Optical Society." For example, Carney is editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Optical Society of America A.
Govind Agrawal, the James C. Wyant Professor of Optics, chaired the search committee. When Carney came to Rochester to interview, Agrawal says, "he was asking all the right kinds of questions: How can we best help students grow? What needs to be done to make further progress and maintain the reputation of the institute?"
MFA Program Hosts Summer Visiting Writers Series
KEYSER, W.Va., June 26 -- West Virginia Wesleyan College issued the following news:
West Virginia Wesleyan's Low-Residency MFA Program will host a Visiting Writers Series during the program's upcoming summer 2017 Residency. These events are free and open to the public. The award-winning visiting writers will read from their original work, and copies of their books will be available for sale. The series is being presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council. All readings will be held on Wesleyan's campus or at The Old Brick Playhouse, as noted.
JASON HOWARD, JULY
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KEYSER, W.Va., June 26 -- West Virginia Wesleyan College issued the following news:
West Virginia Wesleyan's Low-Residency MFA Program will host a Visiting Writers Series during the program's upcoming summer 2017 Residency. These events are free and open to the public. The award-winning visiting writers will read from their original work, and copies of their books will be available for sale. The series is being presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council. All readings will be held on Wesleyan's campus or at The Old Brick Playhouse, as noted.
JASON HOWARD, JULY8 AT 7 PM, WVWC LIBRARY
Howard is the author of A Few Honest Words and coauthor of Something's Rising. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, The Louisville Review, Lumina Journal, Bellingham Review, 1966: A Journal of Creative Nonfiction, Utne Reader, and on NPR. Howard serves as editor of Appalachian Heritage, a literary quarterly based at Berea College, where he also teaches. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
YURI HERRERA, JULY 9 AT 7 PM, WVWC LIBRARY
Herrera (Actopan, Mexico) has written three novels, all of them translated into several languages: Trabajos del reino, Senales que precederan al fin del mundo, and La transmigracion de los cuerpos; which have been published in English by And Other Stories. He is currently an assistant professor at the University of Tulane in New Orleans.
RAHUL MEHTA & RACHAEL PECKHAM, JULY 10 AT 7 PM, WVWC LIBRARY
Mehta is the author of the novel No Other World (Harper, 2017) and the short story collection Quarantine (HarperPerennial, 2011), which won a Lambda Literary Award and the Asian American Literary Award for Fiction. His work has appeared in the Kenyon Review, the Sun, the New York Times Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, Marie Claire India, and elsewhere.
Peckham is an associate professor of English at Marshall University where she teaches creative nonfiction. She is the 2016 winner of the Indiana Review ½ K Prize, the Orison Anthology Nonfiction Award, and the Crab Orchard Review Special Feature Literary Nonfiction Award. Her chapbook of prose poems, "Muck Fire," appeared at Spring Garden Press in 2011, and her essays have received notable mention in the Best American Essays series (2012 and 2015). Rachael is currently at work on a book-length collection of lyric essays focused on flight and trauma.
MESHA MAREN, KATIE FALLON, & MARY CARROLL-HACKETT, JULY 12 AT 7 PM, WVWC LIBRARY
Maren's debut novel, Sugar Run, is forthcoming from Algonquin Books in Fall 2018. Her short stories and essays appear in Tin House, Oxford American, Hobart, The Barcelona Review, and Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and she has been the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation.
Fallon is the author of Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird (Univ. Press of New England, March 2017) and Cerulean Blues (Ruka Press, 2011). Her first book for children, Look, See The Bird!, is forthcoming from Hatherleigh Press in June 2017. Her nonfiction has appeared in River Teeth, Fourth Genre, Ecotone, and elsewhere, and she has taught writing at Virginia Tech and West Virginia University. Her first word was "bird."
Carroll-Hackett earned the BA and MA from East Carolina University and an MFA from Bennington College. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Superstition Review, Drunken Boat, and The Prose-Poem Project, among others. She is the author of six titles: The Real Politics of Lipstick (Slipstream Press 2010), Animal Soul (Kattywompus Press 2013), If We Could Know Our Bones (A-Minor Press 2014), The Night I Heard Everything (Future Cycle Press 2015), Trailer Park Oracle (Kelsey Books 2016), and most recently, A Little Blood, A Little Rain (Future Cycle Press 2016). Another collection, Death for Beginners, is forthcoming from Kelsey Books in September 2017. She teaches Creative Writing at Longwood University in Virginia. She is currently working on both a memoir and a novel.
JON CORCORAN & KIM DANA KUPPERMAN, JULY 13 AT 7PM, WVWC LIBRARY
Corcoran is the author of the story collection, The Rope Swing, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards and long-listed for The Story Prize. He received a BA in Literary Arts from Brown University and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Rutgers University-Newark where he teaches writing. He was born and raised in a small town in West Virginia and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Kupperman is the author of The Last of Her (2016) and I Just Lately Started Buying Wings: Missives from the Other Side of Silence (2010). She is the lead editor of You: An Anthology of Essays Devoted to the Second Person (2013), and publisher of Essaying the Essay (2014). She is the founder of Welcome Table Press, a nonprofit dedicated to the essay and home to two online periodical series, Occasional Papers on Practice & Form and Essaying the Body Electric. She is currently working on a fictionalized biography based on the true story of a Polish Jew who was deported to a Soviet labor camp during World War II and later settled in Iran.
RODNEY JONES, JULY 15 AT 7 PM, OLD BRICK PLAYHOUSE, ELKINS, WV
Jones is the author of eleven books of poems. His many honors include the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Harper Lee Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award, and he has been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Griffin International Poetry Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in New Orleans and teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Warren Wilson College
For more information, visit the MFA website at http://www.wvwc.edu/MFA/ or contact MFA Director Jessie van Eerden at vaneerden@wvwc.edu, 304.473.8329.
Geologist Gem
KENT, Ohio, June 26 -- Wright State University issued the following news:
Ritu Ghose sees rocks differently than most people.
"Different types of rocks have different histories," she said. "By studying a rock sequence you can discover interesting things such as whether it was deposited in an ocean or land environment or what type of organisms were present during that time of deposition."
Studying geology also allows her to determine the direction of the wind when the rock was deposited, based upon the texture and details of the rock, she said.
For Ghose, who graduated in April with a master's
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KENT, Ohio, June 26 -- Wright State University issued the following news:
Ritu Ghose sees rocks differently than most people.
"Different types of rocks have different histories," she said. "By studying a rock sequence you can discover interesting things such as whether it was deposited in an ocean or land environment or what type of organisms were present during that time of deposition."
Studying geology also allows her to determine the direction of the wind when the rock was deposited, based upon the texture and details of the rock, she said.
For Ghose, who graduated in April with a master'sin earth and environmental sciences from Wright State, studying geology provides an opportunity to better the economy of Bangladesh through the use of fossil fuels.
Born and raised in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, Ghose received her undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Dhaka. She wanted to earn her graduate degree from the United States.
Wright State was a natural fit since the university could provide Ghose opportunities to conduct research in her field. In the summer of 2015, she was offered a fellowship and later a graduate teaching assistant position in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in Wright State's College of Science and Mathematics. She studies reservoir geology with a focus on hydrogeological and petroleum geology.
Ghose has a vision of earning her doctorate degree and becoming a petroleum geologist working in gas discovery and production in her home country.
"Bangladesh is a poor country, and the energy sources are something that can boost the economy of the country," she said. "I'd like to join the exploration team in my country and work to identify gas deposits."
She participated in a reservoir study to analyze how the variance in sedimentary attributes controls the petrophsyical properties that control carbon dioxide movement and trapping in a reservoir rock. A reservoir rock stores gas, oil or other fluids in its subsurface.
Ghose researched the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide by working with the Center for Geologic Storage of CO2, for her thesis. Wright State partners with Illinois State Geological Survey, University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne and other universities and companies throughout the country, on the project, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
"From my point of view, we're still relying on fossil fuels until the point comes when we can completely rely on solar energy or other environmentally friendly sources," she said. "Until then, we need to continue our exploration and production for the fossil fuels."
While Ghose came with the knowledge of her field, transitioning into a new culture provided a challenge.
She noted that American students may put their feet up on the back of chairs, something that is disrespectful in her culture. Students may also send texts or eat in class with little staff intervention, unlike her experience in Bangladesh.
She added that many students in Bangladesh memorize material instead of applying what they've learned to their projects since they are often taught much information and have difficult exam admissions.
Her experience with higher education at Wright State has been a positive one, observing how school is designed to be student-friendly.
"Americans smile a lot," she said. "You don't know a person and they'll pass you and smile at you, and I like that a lot. That's very friendly and welcoming."
Ghose also does classical Indian dancing and has performed for many events, including the Wright State International Festival. She is also the event coordinator for the Bangladesh Student Association at Wright State.
Outside of school, she is passionate about painting and has won national awards from Bangladesh and international awards. She taught painting at Bangladesh's Children's Art School for five years.
FHSU Instructor Recognized With Award for Work at Sias University
HAYS, Kan., June 26 -- Fort Hays State University issued the following news:
Jared Nielsen, instructor of leadership studies in Fort Hays State University's Virtual College International, was recognized for faculty excellence with a Lifetime Achievement award for his work at Sias University, Xinzheng, China.
Nielsen began teaching with FHSU as a Sias cooperating teacher in August 2013 and became a full-time faculty member in the Department of Leadership Studies this past year.
He has represented FHSU at multiple Sias University activities, served on various Sias and FHSU committees and spent
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HAYS, Kan., June 26 -- Fort Hays State University issued the following news:
Jared Nielsen, instructor of leadership studies in Fort Hays State University's Virtual College International, was recognized for faculty excellence with a Lifetime Achievement award for his work at Sias University, Xinzheng, China.
Nielsen began teaching with FHSU as a Sias cooperating teacher in August 2013 and became a full-time faculty member in the Department of Leadership Studies this past year.
He has represented FHSU at multiple Sias University activities, served on various Sias and FHSU committees and spentcountless hours working with and helping students develop their knowledge, skills and abilities.
Dr. Shannon Hankhouse Named Director of Tarleton-Waco at MCC
WACO, Texas, June 26 -- Tarleton State University, a member of the Texas A&M University System, issued the following news release:
Dr. Shannon Hankhouse has been named director of Tarleton State University's Waco outreach center on the campus of McLennan Community College. An assistant professor of criminal justice, she joined Tarleton in 2004.
As director of the Waco center, Hankhouse will coordinate more than 30 graduate and undergraduate degree programs as well as oversee services for the more than 1,000 students currently enrolled.
"Dr. Hankhouse has worked tirelessly to build the criminal
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WACO, Texas, June 26 -- Tarleton State University, a member of the Texas A&M University System, issued the following news release:
Dr. Shannon Hankhouse has been named director of Tarleton State University's Waco outreach center on the campus of McLennan Community College. An assistant professor of criminal justice, she joined Tarleton in 2004.
As director of the Waco center, Hankhouse will coordinate more than 30 graduate and undergraduate degree programs as well as oversee services for the more than 1,000 students currently enrolled.
"Dr. Hankhouse has worked tirelessly to build the criminaljustice program at Tarleton-Waco and strengthen relationships within the community," said President F. Dominic Dottavio. "I am confident that she will bring that same level of energy and commitment to her new role."
Hankhouse has a doctorate in higher education leadership from Nova Southwestern University, a master's in criminal justice from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor's in criminology from the University of South Florida.
"I am very excited about this opportunity to serve Tarleton and the Waco area," Hankhouse said. "I have had the pleasure of working on the Waco campus under great leadership, and I look forward to helping expand Tarleton's Waco outreach program."
CCECS Announces Benefits of Beekeeping
HILO, Hawaii, June 26 -- The University of Hawaii's Hilo campus issued the following news release:
The College of Continuing Education and Community Service (CCECS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo offers Benefits of Beekeeping, a workshop series designed for anyone new to bees as well as those who have bees and are interested in new ways to relate to and care for them.
Part 1 will cover bee biology, Hawaiian honeybee history, introduction to treatment-free beekeeping, pests and diseases, and pollination. The field day gives participants an opportunity to visit a thriving apiary, observe
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HILO, Hawaii, June 26 -- The University of Hawaii's Hilo campus issued the following news release:
The College of Continuing Education and Community Service (CCECS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo offers Benefits of Beekeeping, a workshop series designed for anyone new to bees as well as those who have bees and are interested in new ways to relate to and care for them.
Part 1 will cover bee biology, Hawaiian honeybee history, introduction to treatment-free beekeeping, pests and diseases, and pollination. The field day gives participants an opportunity to visit a thriving apiary, observeeffective hive management techniques, and to develop their relationship with bees. Classes will be held on Tuesdays, July 11-25, from 4:30 - 7:30 pm in UH Hilo's College Hall Room 6. There will be a field day at Paradise Nectar Apiaries in Kapoho on July 29 from 9 am - 3 pm. Cost is $90 and includes the required textbook.
In Part 2, participants will expand their understanding of bee behavior and get invaluable hands-on experience in handling bees. Every student will get to practice inspecting hives while getting feedback and guidance from the instructor. Classes will be held on Tuesdays, August 1 - 15, from 4:30 - 7:30 pm in UH Hilo's College Hall Room 6. There will be a field day at Paradise Nectar Apiaries in Kapoho on August 19 from 9 am - 3 pm. Cost is $90 and includes the required textbook.
A discount package for taking Parts 1 and 2 is available for $160. Students will need long pants, shoes, long sleeve shirt, hat, and gloves for the field days. Limited protective equipment will be available for use.
Instructor Jen Rasmussen has been caring for honey bees on Hawaiʻi Island since 2008. She has developed various methods of maintaining her hives without the use of chemicals or treatments.
For more information and to register, contact CCECS at 932-7830 or visit http://hilo.hawaii.edu/ccecs/.
