Spotlight 8-5-2009

  • Matt A. Casado, professor in the Hotel and Restaurant Management program, had a refereed article published in the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, Vol. 21, Number 2.
  • Retired Lt. Col. Andrew Griffin, a faculty member for both NAU ROTC and The W.A. Franke College of Business, and Chris Lockwood, associate professor and the management area coordinator for The W.A. Franke College of Business, had their paper, “Creating Active Learning Applications and Opportunities for an Online Leadership Course,” selected as an Award paper at the Allied Academies International Internet Conference this summer. Award papers are judged to be in the top 25 percent of all papers submitted to the conference. Consequently, their paper has been accepted for publication by the Academy of Educational Leadership Journal.
  • Fred Solop, chair of Politics and International Affairs, traveled to Santiago, Chile, in July to represent his department at the World Congress of Political Science. The theme was “Global Discontent: Dilemmas of Changes.” Solop presented a paper titled, “The Keys to the White House: Electronic Democracy and the Race for the Presidency of the United States,” which was part of a series of four panels exploring the implications of moving governmental processes to the Internet for nations across the globe.
  • Natalie Hess, professor of bilingual and multicultural education and English as a second language at NAU-Yuma, recently co-authored a book with Laurel Pollard titled, Wow! Stories from Real Life: A Low-Beginning, Multi-Skills Text, published by ALTA Press.Hess also had a chapter, “A Choice-Motivated, Textbook-Anchored Curriculum for Advanced Language Learners,” published in a Teachers-of-English to Speakers-of-Other-Languages publication, Using Textbooks Effectively, and an article, “Engaged Literacy through the Use of Poetry in Identity Texts,” published in the spring 2009 issue of the Arizona Reading Arizona Reading Journal.
  • Ted BunchMarilee Sellers and James Wittke, all of the College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences, are co-authors of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled “Shock-synthesized hexagonal diamonds in Younger Dryas boundary sediments.” The paper discusses nanodiamonds found in the Channel Islands that provide evidence of a cosmic impact event some 13,000 years ago that may have caused significant climate change and the ultimate demise of Pleistocene animals—including the pygmy mammoths that was once lived on the Channel Islands—and humans.
  • Kathleen Carpenter, senior academic advisor for the College of Education, and Jennifer Beltz, assistant director for the Center for Business Outreach, graduated from the Flagstaff Leadership Program in June. The nine-month program covers the challenges and opportunities facing the greater Flagstaff area. Graduates of the program leave ready to assume responsibility as community leaders and to serve as a resource for their employers and other organizations that seek to make a positive investment in our community.
  • The Program in Intensive English in the Department of English was one of six schools selected by the Educational Testing Service to participate in a study that investigates the validity of the use of the Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language scores for English as a Second Language placement decisions. The test measures the English language proficiency of non-native English speakers and is primarily used to inform admission decisions. The test also is designed to assist in placement decisions and on the extent to which  ESL coursework is necessary for admitted non-native English speaking students. The study will last for the duration of the fall semester.