In the Spotlight: April 4, 2012

Kudos to these faculty, staff and students

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  • Vice provost Karen Pugliesi, psychology chair Michelle Miller and Blase Scarnati, director of the First Year Seminar Program, participated in a teleconference on course redesign sponsored by CISCO and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities on April 3. The team was selected to present about Northern Arizona University’s First Year Learning Initiative.
  • Students and faculty members from the School of Communication participated in the Arizona Communication Association meeting held at Glendale Community College on March 31.

    • Marie Baker-Ohler, senior lecturer, received the association’s “Arizona Communication Educator of the Year Award.” She also was invited to continue serving as president of the board for another year because of her outstanding leadership in the association. Baker-Ohler’s CST 498 capstone students presented a poster session of their scholarship for the semester.
    • Faculty members Dayle Hardy-ShortDaniel Foster and Brant Short chaired sessions at the meeting.
    • Several undergraduate students presented papers at the meeting:
      • Alexandra Corcoran presented “A Critique and Analysis of Robert H. Jackson’s Opening Statement at the Nuremberg Trials.”
      • Miranda Coates presented “President-Elect Obama Gives a Speech of Hope and Change.”
      • Jennifer Green presented “‘Challenger Address’: An Analysis of President Reagan’s Speech to the Nation after the Challenger Disaster.”
      • Caitlin Long presented “Propagating the Paranoia: The Paranoid Style in Conservative Political Rhetoric.”
      • Several graduate students in the applied communication program also presented papers:
      • Helena Squier presented “This Is So Going On My Blog: LiveJournal, Russia, and the Crisis of Internet Downtime.”
      • Rene Baca presented “Communication and Christian Mediation: An Exploration of Theory and Practice.”
      • Tracey Powers presented “Reconceptualizing the Group Communication Course for the 21st Century.”
      • Tyler Rising presented “Environmental Arguments in Favor and Against Hunting.”
      • Rebecca Reategui presented “A Romaine Lettuce Recall: An Attempt at Image Restoration.”
      • Ethan Riley presented “Gateway Loop Trail: Rhetoric of Tight Places, Open Spaces.”
      • Johan Bodaski presented “‘The American Scholar’: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Jeremiad of Americanism.”
      • Kevin Snyder, a recent graduate of the program, presented “Global Warming and the Risen Lord: An Analysis of Evangelical Climate Change Rhetoric.”
  • Deborah Huntzinger, assistant professor of climate science in the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, recently published “North American Carbon Program Regional Interim Synthesis: Terrestrial Biospheric Model Intercomparison,” in the journal Ecological Modelling. The North American Carbon Program recently organized several interim-synthesis activities to evaluate and inter-compare models and observations at local to continental scales from 2000 through 2005. Huntzinger’s work compares the results from the terrestrial biospheric models collected as part of this activity in order to assess current understanding of the terrestrial carbon cycle in North America.
  • Ricardo Guthrie, assistant professor of ethnic studies, made two presentations about his historical research and creation of a public mural, addressing gatherings at the Flagstaff NAACP’s annual luncheon in December 2011, and at the Cogdill Recreation Center’s Black History Month forum Feb. 29. Guthrie’s presentations, titled “From Segregation to Congregation,” discussed how his research and artwork were reflected in the mural at the Murdoch Community Center in Flagstaff.
  • Jason Hess, associate professor of art, had three pieces selected for the juried art show, “Ink & Clay 38,” a national competition for ceramics, printmaking and drawing. Hess was one of 43 artists accepted out of 163 applicants and received a jurors cash award for his piece 7 Tall Bottles. Hess also has a major solo exhibition on display April 6-29 at Plinth Gallery in Denver, Colo.
  • Martin Kalb, instructor of history, has been awarded a fellowship for a month’s study at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., this summer.
  • Rudy Dawahoya, Jr., an NAU art student and member of the Hopi tribe, is the winner of an art contest for the cover design of the book Native American College and Career Success by Marsha Fralick, Bea Zamora and Larry Gauthier. His art, which he titled “Filled Life,” includes the Snow Katcina Mother (Nuvaktsinmana) in the center of the clouds, composed of Hopi pottery and textile designs, which he said signifies “her beauty and significance. She appears during the Niman (Home Dance) katcinam of late summer to summon a good snow season for the upcoming planting season.” The book is designed to improve student retention and success for Native American college students and will be available in June. An approximation of the cover can be seen online.