In the Spotlight: Oct. 28, 2011

Kudos to these faculty, staff and students

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  • Phoebe Morgan, professor of criminology and criminal justice and a former coordinator of the NAU Faculty Ombuds Program, successfully completed the International Ombudsman Association’s certification exam. The exam is the final step toward earning the association’s Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner credential, which to date only 100 organizational ombudsmen have earned.
  • Representatives from NAU’s Honors Program made the following presentations at the National Collegiate Honors Council national conference in Phoenix last week:
    • Margaret Sheble, history and art history dual major, presented a student interdisciplinary research panel, “The Once and Future Hero: A Vindicated Mordred.”
    • Anne Scott, English professor and Honors writing and academic enrichment program coordinator, and Glenn Hansen, assistant director for the Honors Program, along with Honors students Jackie Rindone, international affairs major, and Bryan Kimoto, philosophy and English dual major, presented “An Integrated First-Year Experience: Learning, Teaching, Leadership, Mentoring, Service.”

      Hansen also co-presented “Building Bridges Across Arizona: Perspectives on a State Honors Council,” along with other Arizona Honors Council members.

  • Five members of NAU’s English Department presented at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association’s 65th annual conference in Scottsdale Oct. 6-9. Nancy G. Barron, associate professor of English, presented “Our Goals Influence Our Performance: Looking at Assessment via Goal Setting and Evaluation.” Sibylle Gruber, professor of English, presented “Acquiring Languages, Acquiring Cultures: Learning English in Context.” Karen J. Renner, lecturer in American literature, presented “The Antebellum Origins of the Superhero.” Donelle R. Ruwe, associate professor of English, presented “Utilitarian Poetics: Enigmas, Conundrums, Acrostics, and Charades in Children’s Poetry from 1780-1835.” And English literature graduate student Erica C. Schmitt presented “Woman Resisting Motherhood: Michael Cunningham’s The Hours and Flesh and Blood.
  • Laura L. Camden, assistant professor of photojournalism and documentary studies in the School of Communication, presented “Interpreting National Parks with Student Multimedia Projects” at the 11th Biennial Conference of Research on the Colorado Plateau with National Park Service employees Jean Palumbo and Lisa Thomas.

    Chris Gunn
    Lindbergh Elementary School principal Julianne O’Shea, left, and Resource Center specialist Nancy Garrett join Chris Gunn to display the books collected for the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors book drive.
  • Chris Gunn, director of NAU’s Counseling Services, served on the host committee for this year’s national conference of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors, recently held in Scottsdale. As part of the conference’s theme of social justice, Gunn organized a book drive that raised more than $2,200 to buy 330 classroom books for the Lindbergh Elementary School in Mesa—a school of 600 students, the majority of whom are English language learners and on financial assistance for the school’s lunch program. NAU English professor Monica Brown donated two of her bilingual children’s books.
  • Wes Swaffar, a graduate student in environmental sciences and policy—along with assistant professor Erik Nielsen, professor Abe Springer and research specialist Sharon Masek Lopez from the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability; and assistant professor Julie Mueller and professor Xiaobing Zhao from The W.A. Franke College of Business—hosted a workshop for watershed managers, national experts and scholars to shed light on the potential of implementing Payment for Watershed Services programs to fund forest restoration on more than 12 million acres of degraded National Forest lands in the western United States. Participants identified the opportunities and challenges associated with such programs on publicly owned forest lands and offered recommendations for future implementation. The workshop was part of a larger project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Water Sustainability and Climate Program and NAU’s Watershed Research and Education Program.
  • Several NAU students, faculty and alumni are featured in the 2011 National Juried Ceramics Exhibition at the NAU Art Museum. Art student Blake McCord has pieces Spire and Untitled; art student Ben Jordan has pieces Whiskey Jug and 3 Mugs; art student Eugene Brosseau has pieces Swamp Sparrow and Badge. Ceramics instructor Jennifer Holt is exhibiting Untitled; her piece Float Version 3 was awarded first place. Ceramics assistant professor Steven Schaeffer has pieces Crynoid and Latitude in the exhibition. Alumnae Rebecca Rands Eisenhauer has a piece titled Spirits of Nature in Three Aspects, and Heidi Kreitchet also has her piece, Tchotchka, in the exhibition. The exhibition run until Nov. 23. Information is online.
  • Derek Hansen, marketing coordinator for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, has published a new book that he wrote and illustrated. The Ultimate Hang: An Illustrated Guide to Hammock Camping features more than 200 illustrations to help clarify and visualize the fundamentals of hammock camping.