In the Spotlight: Nov. 2, 2012

Kudos to these faculty, staff and students

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  • Morris, Bowen and others at U.S. Green Building Council awardsJohn Morris, associate vice president of Facility Services, and Rich Bowen, associate vice president of economic development, accepted an award on behalf of Northern Arizona University that acknowledged the institution’s leadership in developing and driving sustainable building practices in Arizona. The U.S. Green Building Council, which certifies structures with LEED ratings, presented 23 Arizona organizations with its “Heavy Medal Awards.” NAU received the only “LEEDing the Way” award. Click here for the list of awards.
  • Jim Allen, professor and executive director of the School of Forestry, was named president-elect of the National Association of University Forest Resource Programs. The organization’s members include more than 70 universities that offer forestry and natural resource management programs.
  • Octaviana Trujillo, professor of Applied Indigenous Studies, was appointed co-chair to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National and Governmental Advisory Committee. The committee advises the U.S. Representative to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation on specific U.S. government policy issues related to the implementation of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation and U.S. policy positions regarding implementation of the Environmental Supplemental Agreements to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
  • Karen Renner and Mara Reisman, professors in the Department of English, presented research at the meeting of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association in Boulder, Colo., last month. Renner’s paper, “Disease and Deviance in Antebellum America,” examined the deployment of disease metaphors in antebellum reform discourse. Reisman’s paper, “Fay Weldon’s Challenges to Cultural and Literary Conventions in The Spa Decameron and The Stepmother’s Diary,” addressed Weldon’s subversion of cultural and literary conventions regarding romance, marriage and family.
  • Laura Camden photo
    Photo by Laura Camden

    The photograph at right of Dust Bowl survivor Jossie Favors, taken by Laura L. Camden, assistant professor of photojournalism and documentary studies, was selected to appear in the 12th annual juried photo exhibit at the International Cultural Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Camden’s image will be on display as part of the exhibit, “High and Dry: People and Places of the World’s Dry Lands,” from Nov. 23 to Jan. 18. One hundred fifty professional photographers worldwide submitted more than 500 entries. Information is available on the event website.

  • Nineteen students in anthropology instructor Janina Fenigsen’s Exploring Cultures (ANT 102) courses received the Public Anthropology’s Community Action Project Award from the Center for a Public Anthropology. The students—Kyle Morales, Abrahan Garibay, Cassidy McLean, Mara Armstrong, Melissa Theobald, Kathryn Fisher, Sara Graper, Justin Abbott, Kevin Koril, Mia Khan, Maria-Jazmin Pedroza, Arries Rogers, Keesa Rottweiler, Alex MeronBethany Kieffer, Keanu Lindsey, Abdullah AshkananiRyan Boser and Elizabeth Bermudez—read four case studies and then voiced their views on how Institutional Review Boards and Review Ethics Boards should enforce a set of common rules regarding research. Review their op-eds here. This is the third time Fenigsen and students in her freshmen-level classes have received the Public Anthropology’s Community Action Project Award.
  • Professors William Culbertson and Dennis Tanner and senior lecturer Stephanie Christensen, all with the Speech-Language Sciences and Technology Program in the Department of Health Sciences, have published the second edition of The Anatomy and Physiology Study Guide for Speech and Hearing. The workbook includes an active learning guide that helps students complete the workbook exercises. Published by Plural Publishing, this 417-page study guide helps students preparing for the praxis examination.
  • Gene Balzer, emeritus professor of photography, will have his July 2012 photographs of Hovenweep National Monument on display all November at Wil McNabb’s Fine Jewelry Studio, 18 N. Leroux Street in Flagstaff, starting with tonight’s First Friday Artwalk.
  • Bill Wiist, professor for the College of Health and Human Services, organized and moderated a panel at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in San Francisco on Oct. 29. The session, titled ”Snack Food and Beverage Industry in Global Noncommunicable Chronic Disease,” was attended by more than 240 convention participants. Wiist also was a member of a panel discussing the epidemiological cascade of corporate influence on health.
  • The Civic Service Institute has been invited to be one of 50 sites to start recycling empty plastic deodorant sticks. Departments wishing to participate in this recycling program should contact the Civic Service Institute at (928) 523-3560 to receive a recycling bin for collection.
  • Carole Mandino, director of the Civic Service Institute, has been invited to be a member of the Senior Corps Evaluation Field Working Group for the Corporation for National and Community Service. The group will measure the benefits of the Senior Companion, Foster Grandparent and RSVP programs to both the volunteers and clients they assist.
  • Freshman Savana Bezdicek was named Big Sky Conference Golfer of the Week.
  • Junior Elinor Priest and sophomore Diane Buzzard were selected for the 2012 CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District Women’s Soccer First Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
  • An interdisciplinary team of faculty including Jeff Downard, principal investigator and professor of philosophy, Debbie Huntzinger, assistant professor of climate sciences, Erik Nielsen, assistant professor in the School of Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability, and Andrea Houchard, instructor of philosophy, have been awarded an Ethics Education in Science and Engineering grant of $299,992 from the National Science Foundation. The purpose of the project is to develop and test a model for graduate education that incorporates ethics into the curriculum for master’s degree students in the Climate Science and Solutions and Environmental Sciences programs. The NAU team from the College of Arts and Letters and CEFNS are partnering with the e-Learning Center and the Office of Academic Assessment to develop and test course modules, screencasts and videos that will help students draw on moral principles and ideals in deliberation about environmental issues and learn to engage more effectively in communication with the public in a series of discussion in communities around northern Arizona.The NAU team also is collaborating with teams from the University of Montana and University of Colorado Boulder; the latter team has been awarded a related NSF grant of $99,967 to create a series of documentary videos about environmental issues around the Colorado Plateau that will be used in the public discussions and shown at the Museum of Northern Arizona.