Faculty/staff news update: October 2011

Academe welcomes news from 黑洞社区 faculty and staff about research, teaching and service activities. This column recognizes grants, honors, awards, presentations and publications, new appointments, new faculty, sabbaticals, retirements and deaths of our current and former colleagues.

Kate Bohn, assistant professor, counseling, educational and school psychology, co-presented 鈥淎ge, skill, and working memory effects on inference generation鈥� at the annual meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Poitiers, France in July. Bohn and her colleagues also presented a poster, 鈥淭he effects of a questioning-while-reading intervention on the eye movement of struggling adolescent readers.鈥�

Larry Britton, executive director, Veterans Upward Bound, has been selected by U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., to serve on his 2011 Kansas Service Academy Selection Board, which reviews and interviews candidates for admission to U.S. Service Academies. These include the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Those selected will enter the academies in June 2012.

Ngoyi Bukonda, associate professor, public health sciences, was invited by the University of Geneva, Switzerland, to serve as a co-facilitator of a week-long graduate seminar in Geneva on health and human rights. Seminar participants are two dozen doctoral and post-doctoral students selected from European universities that are part of the Coimbra Group. Bukonda will discuss discrimination in access to health care in both rich and poor countries and will be part of a panel convened to address how research can serve to end discrimination and improve access to quality health care globally.

Sandra Denneler, art director for Creative Services, produced the work that earned the Ulrich Museum of Art two of the four top design awards given by the Mountain-Plains Museums Association (MPMA) in its 2011 Publications Design Competition. The museum was awarded for the Ulrich Salon Circle brochure in the Brochure and Rack Cards category and for the Fisch Haus 21 catalogue in the Books and Exhibition Catalogues category.

Albert Goldbarth, Adele M. Davis Distinguished Professor of Humanities, English, has been named recipient of the 2011 Don Coldsmith Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement. The annual award pays tribute to a distinguished Kansas author whose lifetime contributions have used the written word to enhance the proud literary legacy of the Sunflower State. The award is sponsored by the Lucas, Kan.-based company Ad Astra Publishing, and was presented during a luncheon of the annual conference of Kansas Association of School Librarians on Oct. 13 in Salina.

Gene Hughes, former 黑洞社区 president, was honored in early September at a 50-year Math Club reunion of graduates of Chadron State College, where Hughes taught and directed the mathematics department.

Fuchang Liu, assistant professor, curriculum and instruction, has recently published 鈥淧reservice teachers' perceptions of departmentalization of elementary schools鈥� in the International Journal of Whole Schooling.

Gayla Lohfink, assistant professor, curriculum and instruction, presented at the International Reading Conference in Orlando, Fla., in May 鈥淭he Nature of Mexican-American Students鈥� Responses to Culturally-relevant Picture Books: Connecting Research to Classroom Literacy Practices.鈥� She also presented at the KU Strategies for Educational Improvement conference in Lawrence, Kan., in June: 鈥淐onfronting the Bully via Children鈥檚 Literature.鈥�

Patricia McDonnell, director, Ulrich Museum of Art, was interviewed for 鈥淚mpaCT,鈥� a KPTS Channel 8 community affairs program, regarding the Ulrich's photography exhibition by artist Terry Evans that features beautiful imagery of the Flint Hills and poignant photos from the small town of Matfield Green. The episode aired on Aug. 25 on KPTS and JPTS HD1. Watch it online at .

Richard D. Muma, associate provost and professor, physician assistant, is co-author with Barbara Ann Lyons, University of Texas Medical Branch, of 鈥淧atient Education: A Practical Approach,鈥� Second Edition, published earlier this year by McGraw-Hill. Wichita State physician assistant faculty LaDonna Hale, professor; Sue Nyberg, chair and associate professor; and Lucas Williams, instructor, also contributed.

Richard D. Muma was quoted in the Sept. 12 American Medical News article 鈥淣early half of office-based physicians work with NPs and PAs,鈥� regarding a recent study published by the CDC鈥檚 National Center for Health Statistics. Read the article at .

Michael Rogers, chair, professor and research director, Center for Physical Activity and Aging (CPAA); Jeremy Patterson, associate professor, human performance studies; and Nick Walton, program coordinator, CPAA, attended the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) annual conference in Denver in June. They co-authored 13 presentations, including seven with exercise science graduate students and six with colleagues from Japan and Spain. Rogers also presented a one-hour symposium for physicians on exercise and older adults. Patterson was awarded Fellow status in the ACSM. Former graduate student Kaelin Young, now earning a Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma, was awarded one of three student research awards from the ACSM.

Michael Rogers was invited to present two papers, both co-authored by Jeremy Patterson and two exercise science graduate students, at the International Conference on Therapy and Exercise in San Francisco in July: 鈥淓ffect of whole body vibration exercise on muscle activity when using elastic resistance bands in younger and older adults鈥� and 鈥淓ffect of Biofreeze gel on power output and blood lactate during a 30-second bout of high-intensity anaerobic exercise.鈥�

Michael Rogers was quoted in the New York Times鈥� Sept. 15 article 鈥淜eeping themselves fit for going to the rescue,鈥� about the state鈥檚 annual rehiring of lifeguards after they鈥檝e successfully passed tests for speed on water and on land. Go to .

Mark Schneegurt, associate professor, biological sciences, and Nick Solomey, director, professor, physics, were presenters for the 2011 Galaxy Forum held Aug. 27 at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, as part of the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative鈥檚 ongoing SCIENCE in KANSAS --150 Years and Counting sesquicentennial project. Schneegurt is working with NASA to study microbes living in salty environments on Earth that may be similar to those on Mars. Solomey gave an update on Kansas' involvement in the Auger North Cosmic Ray Observatory, whose control center is at Wichita State.

Rosalind Scudder and Trisha Self, professors, communication sciences and disorders, recently published the feature article 鈥淔aculty and Staff Development: Establishing a Culture of Leadership鈥� in the Access Academics and Research online resource offered through the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). The article proposes a different model of leadership that might help find solutions for the ever increasing and complex leadership challenges facing academe. Scudder is also the director of the College of Health Professions Leadership Academy. View the article at .

Darron T. Smith, assistant professor, physician assistant, has published a new book, 鈥淲hite Parents, Black Children: Experiencing Transracial Adoption,鈥� available through Rowman & Littlefield Publishers on Oct. 28. Smith鈥檚 co-authors are Cardell K. Jacobson, Brigham Young University, and Brenda G. Juarez, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Smith is co-editor of the controversial 2004 book 鈥淏lack and Mormon.鈥�

Elaine Steinke, professor, School of Nursing, was an invited speaker at the European Society of Cardiology 2011 Congress in Paris, France, on the topic of "Sexual dysfunction in men and women with heart disease: What do we know?"

IN MEMORIAM
Leonard M. Chaffee, 83, retired dean of the College of Education at 黑洞社区, died Oct. 3. A memorial service was held at University United Methodist Church on Oct. 7. Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Barbara J. Chaffee; sister, Kathryn C. Moore; daughter, Kathleen Wolff; sons, Bruce (Valori) and David (Pamela); and numerous grand and great-grandchildren. Memorials may be made to University United Methodist Church, 2220 N. Yale, Wichita, KS 67220 or Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, 313 S. Market, Wichita, KS 67202.

William R. Patton, 40, building systems engineer, Physical Plant, died Sept. 24 from a scuba diving accident. Memorial has already been held. Bill was an avid camper, hiker, skier, canoeist, scuba diver and racket ball player. He is survived by his parents, William R. and Rose Mary Patton; sister, Robin (Curtis) Wells; nephew, Dillon Wells; and fianc茅 Tina Langholz.

Maxine Wilmirth Shiblom, 91, retired administrative assistant and former member of Altrusa, died Sept. 18. She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth S., and brother T.A. Pirtle. Survivors are son, Sam K. (Terry) Shiblom, and grandson, Bryan Shiblom, of Gladstone, Mo. Services have been held. Memorials may be sent to Victory In The Valley.

Glen W. Zumwalt, 85, former professor, engineering, died Sept. 17 at home, surrounded by his family. A memorial service has been held. Preceding him in death were his parents and his sister, Rayma Jean Zumwalt. Surviving is his wife, Carol; daughters Marylee Southard of Lawrence, Kan., and Janis (Dean) Reeves of Roeland Park, Kan.; sons Paul (Karen) of Bothell, Wa., Alan and Karl of Wichita; son-in-law Jeff Southard; 10 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren (with one on the way); two sisters-in-law, Shirley (Dave) Mayer and Jere (Jack) Smith. The family requests donations in Glen's memory to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895; or to Immanuel Baptist Church, 1415 S. Topeka, Wichita, KS 67211.