News
In January, a faculty group composed of Fellow for Academic Excellence and Professor of Physical Therapy Karen Abraham, Ph.D.; Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Jeff Coker, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of Nursing Brenda Johnston, M.S.N., PMHNP; Assistant Professor of Music Therapy Hakeem Leonard, Ph.D.; Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director of General Education Amy Sarch, Ph.D.; and Director of Didactic Education and Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies Anne Schempp, M.S., traveled to Uganda to explore the possibility of future collaborations between Shenandoah University and the Nyaka AIDS Orphan Project. Dr. Sarch coordinated and led the trip. For the past six years, Nyaka’s founder, Jackson Kaguri, has spoken to First-Year Seminar (FYS) students about his work in Uganda. This year, faculty and students organized a letter writing campaign (initially led by FYS student Renee Jennette after she heard Kaguri speak about Nyaka). The faculty group hand-delivered holiday cards and letters to each student in the Nyaka Primary School during the January trip.
Co-director of the Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology and Academic Computing Technology Richard Pierce, Ed.D., along with three other authors, published an article titled “Pharmacy student preferences on instructional strategies in a mental health elective” in Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, January–February 2016, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 133-138. Dr. Pierce also had his paper, “Exam performance and recorded lecture viewing: A closer look,” accepted for presentation at EdMedia 2016 – World Conference on Educational Media and Technology.
Adjunct Assistant Professor of History Jonathan Noyalas ’01, M.A., was named a statewide Outstanding Faculty Award (OFA) winner for 2016. Noyalas is also an assistant professor of history and the director of the Center for Civil War History at Lord Fairfax Community College. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia administers the OFA program, which is Virginia’s highest honor for faculty at public and private colleges and universities across the state. Nominees must have a demonstrated record of superior accomplishments in teaching, research, knowledge integration and public service.
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Amy Sarch, Ph.D., co-presented a plenary session and a series of workshops with Thia Wolf, Ph.D., director of the First-Year Experience Program and English Studies at California State University, Chico (CSU-Chico) at the Association of American Colleges and Universities Conference on General Education and Assessment in February 2016. “It Takes a Village: Applying a Public Pedagogy Town Hall Format to General Education Reform” demonstrated how Shenandoah University adapted CSU-Chico’s student town hall format to lead the way for campus-wide general education reform discussions among faculty, staff and students. Dr. Sarch currently is helping a series of other campuses develop their own Faculty General Education Town Hall Summits and was be the plenary speaker at University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s Town Hall in April. Shenandoah University’s work adapting and developing the Town Hall model for was made possible by a C-4 Consortium for Curricular Coherence grant funded by the Teagle Foundation.
Business
The collaboration between Associate Professor of Marketing Giles Jackson, Ph.D. and Brendan Buckley, Ph.D., Lamont Research Professor at Columbia University, regarding sustainable development and ecological research was explored during a Feb. 25 lecture presented by Dr. Jackson at Hester Auditorium in Henkel Hall. Dr. Buckley, co-founder of the Bidoup Field School at Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located in the central highlands of Vietnam, joined Jackson by Skype for the lecture, called “The Frontiers of Climate Research: Bidoup Field School, Vietnam.” Jackson oversees the business aspects of the field school. Both professors are members of the national park’s International Advisory Board.
Professor of Finance Emeritus Bruce Gouldey, Ph.D., Dean of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business and Professor of Management Miles Davis, Ph.D. and Professor of Economics Clifford Thies, Ph.D., recently had a paper, “Stakeholder Theory and the Market Value Rule,” accepted for publication in the scholarly Journal of Financial Decisions.
Professor of Sports Management Rajah Abdullah recently had a book chapter accepted for publication. The chapter, “Islamic Leadership In The Modern Gaming Industry” will appear in the book, “Entrepreneurship and Business Management in an Islamic Context.” A chapter preview has already been published in Arabic by https://www.casinoelarabs.com
Dean of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business and Professor of Management Miles Davis, Ph.D. was featured in the official AACSB International blog, discussing the challenges of hiring minority professors. Read the blog.
Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Associate Dean and Professor of Management RT Good, Ed.D., will retire at the end of this academic year to accept an appointment as dean for the College of Business and Management at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. In 1992, Dr. Good began his career at Shenandoah in Student Affairs. During his time with the university, he has also served as a Shenandoah Conservatory faculty member, dean for the School of Continuing Education and Northern Virginia Campus, and dean for Global Education and Special Initiatives. “Shenandoah University has been a terrific place to build my career and I am grateful to the institutional community and leadership for the opportunities I have had. My departure is bittersweet as I hate to say goodbye, but I am excited and Shenandoah has prepared me well for this next opportunity with Lynn University.”
Conservatory
In February 2015, Assistant Dean for Student Learning; Charlotte A. & Verne E. Collins Endowed Professor; Director of Music Education and Associate Professor of Music Education Jeffrey Marlatt, Ph.D., served as co-chair of the Fifth International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education. This four-day symposium offered music education researchers and practitioners an opportunity to meet and discuss policy and practice of assessment in music education. Participants numbered over 300 and represented thirteen different countries. Marlatt served as an editor for the symposium proceedings, published through GIA Publications.
Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Conducting Timothy J. Robblee, Ph.D., served as guest conductor for honor bands in Spotsylvania County and Loudoun County (Virginia), numerous Virginia high school bands and the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) Honor Band in Seoul, Korea. The APAC band included the top students from several prestigious international schools, including Seoul Foreign School; Concordia International School Shanghai; Hong Kong, International School; American International School of Guangzhou; Canadian Academy of Kobe, Japan, and Shanghai American School.
Associate Professor of Voice (Baritone) and Musical Theatre Styles Specialist Matthew Edwards, D.M.A., presented a workshop and served as an audition coach for the professional summer stock auditions at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina. He also judged the 2016 Martinsburg Concert and Show Choir Festival in Martinsburg, West Virginia and provided vocal coaching for the new production of “Troy,” a rock musical by Jon English, at Brigham Young University. Dr. Edwards also traveled to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio to present two days of masterclasses for the Musical Theatre Initiative. Other guests included Kimberly Grigsby (musical director of Broadway shows including “Spider Man,” “Grease,” and “Spring Awakening”) and Trineice Robinson-Martin, Ed.D.C.T., (Princeton University). In January, Edwards was a resident artist at the University of Northern Colorado and was an invited guest presenter at the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance conference in San Diego, California.
Master Teacher in Acting and Professor of Theatre Larry Silverberg recently launched a new acting masterclass series in partnership with Cast It Talent, one of the two biggest online actor casting services in the world. Silverberg’s reach now extends to more than 170,000 actors from around the world who are in Cast It’s acting pool. Learn more.
A paper written by Director of Graduate Music Therapy Studies and Associate Professor of Music Therapy Tony Meadows, Ph.D., and co-authored by Katherine Wimpenny (senior research fellow from the Disruptive Media Learning Lab at Coventry University, United Kingdom), was accepted for the European Music Therapy Conference in Austria July 4 through 9, 2016. Their research seeks to profile, synthesize and represent qualitative research authored by music therapists regarding meaning making in clinical improvisation and is supported by the American Music Therapy Association Flagler Fultz Research Award.
Coordinator of Strings and Professor of Bass Donovan Stokes, D.M., performed as soloist at the University of Texas at Austin, West Texas A&M University and the 2016 Texas Christian University International Double Bass Festival during the first week of March, primarily performing his own compositions and a few solo jazz works.
Costume Designer and Associate Professor of Costume Design Jennifer Flitton Adams, M.F.A., designed the costumes for “Stupid F*ing Bird” at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre. The piece is a modern work based on Chekhov’s play, “The Seagull.” This is Adams’ fourth season designing for the Maryland Ensemble Theatre, a small professional theatre company located in Frederick, Maryland.
Adjunct Instructor of Music Production and Recording Technology Mike Sokol, A.A., will release his second book on the topic of live sound production, “How To Mix Like a Ninja,” in summer 2016. In addition, he launched a weekly 30-minute video webinar series in March 2016 about all aspects of audio production at www.livesoundadvice.com, where he also recently re-published more than fifty articles he has written over the last thirty years for major pro-audio magazines.
Assistant Professor of Jazz Dance Tiffanie Carson, M.F.A., completed a choreographic residency at American University (AU) in February, setting a 2010 work titled, “La Vogue de la Jupe” on the AU Dance Company members. This work was shown at the Millennium Stage at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, March 25, as well as in AU’s Spring Dance Concert Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9, at the Greenberg Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Associate Professor of Bassoon and Music Theory Ryan Romine, D.M.A., was appointed principal bassoonist with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. This summer marks the festival’s 24th season of celebrating music from the baroque and beyond by presenting music composed by Bach, Vivaldi, Purcell, Handel, Vinci, Blasco, Thomson, Copland and Ginastera.
Director of Acting and Associate Professor of Theatre J.J. Ruscella, M.F.A., is the first professor to create online courses for an innovative, comprehensive digital curriculum produced by Education Axis, a startup with the goal to provide new educational resources to students around the world.
“Education Axis has something very special here; in both the brilliance of its individuals and the openness of its culture,” Ruscella said. “They’re forward-thinking as far as innovations in technology that we haven’t even accomplished yet, and the impending impact of those upon education is being addressed in the minds of these amazing individuals. It’s just fun to be a part of, and an honor to be chosen as the first course instructor.”
Ruscella’s course, Introduction to Theater, introduces students to a variety of concepts surrounding theatrical history and practice, including story forms, theatrical roles, and a critical survey of Theater History. The course will be broken into 40 sections averaging 10 minutes of rich video lecture per lesson, allowing students to take the course at their own pace, with opportunities for deeper study throughout each lesson.
Education Axis’ mission is to equip students worldwide with quality, accessible education. Ruscella’s course will be one of more than 100 courses in the complete high-school-level curriculum. Educators from a wide range of backgrounds will provide expertise on subjects from science to the arts, in order to create a unique blend of courses. “The goal of Education Axis is to help make a better world by providing affordable, quality tools of learning for all people,” said Aaron Linne, one of the founders of Education Axis. “We are overjoyed that the talents of Ruscella and the art of theater will be made accessible to the furthest reaches of the globe.”
Assistant Professor of Piano Ieva Jokubaviciute, M.M., performed a Feb. 20 solo piano recital at the St. Andrews Music Society in New York City, at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church; violin and piano recitals with violinist Hye-Jin Kim on March 11 and 18 at the Melbourne Chamber Music Society, Melbourne, Florida, and Eureka Chamber Music, Eureka, California, respectively; and the Shostakovich Concerto No. 2 with the American Youth Philharmonic on April 3 in Alexandria, Virginia.
Professor Emeritus of Conducting James Laster, Ph.D., is keeping busy. He frequently serves as a substitute organist in various churches and played 40 Sundays in 2015. Paraclete Press has released his composition “Set Me as a Seal” written for the wedding of former Shenandoah colleague, Professor Emeritus of Voice Donna Gullstrand, M.M. He appeared as Peter Quince in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” performed for two weekends in August in 2015 in the gardens of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Virginia. In November 2015, he appeared as Elgin, the butler, in Winchester Little Theatre’s production of Agatha Christie’s “Spider’s Web.” In January 2016, he performed the role of Jack Jameson in Wendy Wasserstein’s play, “Third,” also at Winchester Little Theatre. He also conducted his composition “Rejoice in the Lord,” written for the ordination service of Shenandoah graduate, Karen (King) Cuffie ’82, in San Jose, California.
Professor of Saxophone Timothy Roberts, D.M.A., recently was selected to adjudicate the Collegiate Young Artist Competition hosted by the 2016 North American Saxophone Alliance’s Biennial Competition at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Dr. Roberts also performed the U.S. premiere of award-winning Australian composer Matthew Orlovich’s “Hurly Burly” at San Francisco’s Hot Air New Music Festival in March 2016. Later that week, he played the piece at the biennial meeting where he served as an adjudicator.
An article by Coordinator of Music Theory and Associate Professor of Music Theory Keith Salley, Ph.D., titled “On Duration and Developing Variation: The Intersecting Ideologies of Henri Bergson and Arnold Schoenberg” was published in the December issue (Vol. 21.4) of Music Theory Online, a peer-reviewed online journal of the Society for Music Theory. The article uses archival and analytical scholarship to investigate relationships between the French philosopher Henri Bergson’s concept of subjective time and the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg’s philosophy of developing musical ideas. It presents analytical readings of three of Schoenberg’s compositions that were written around the time that German translations of Bergson’s works were first made widely available. In doing so, the article establishes an intersection between French metaphysics and Austro-German expressionism—an intersection that will hopefully invite further inquiry into this topic.
Visiting Associate Professor of Jazz Dance Bob Boross, M.A.,served as guest jazz and musical theatre dance teacher from Jan. 6 through 16 at the Boris Eifman Dance Academy and the newly opened Phil LaDuca Russian Broadway Dance Center, both located in St. Petersburg, Russia. His residency as a designated “cultural specialist” was sponsored by the United States Department of State. The Boris Eifman Dance Academy is the school of the world-renowned Eifman Ballet company, which regularly tours the United States. Another recent guest teacher was Akram Khan, the noted English contemporary dance choreographer. Named after Phil LaDuca (the first American to teach theatre dance in Russia in the 1980s), the Phil LaDuca Dance Center is a new initiative to train Russian dancers for a burgeoning Broadway musical theatre movement in Russia. Boross was the first American theatre dance teacher invited to teach.
Education and Human Development
Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction Diane Painter, Ph.D., attended the 38th Annual Teacher Education Division Conference for the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) held November 4 through 7 in Tempe, Arizona. She presented her research on how her graduate students in the initial teacher licensure programs for special education examined National Board Certified Teachers’ teaching portfolios. The session, “The Accomplished Teaching, Learning and Schools (ATLAS Pilot): Lessons from Accomplished Teachers,” highlighted the effectiveness of ATLAS resources in pre-service and in-service teacher-training programs. Dr. Painter also attended the Virginia Society for Technology in Education annual conference held Dec. 6 through 8 in Roanoke, Virginia. She presented the session “Creating Web-based Learning Activities to Support the Needs of Diverse K-12 Learners.” Participants learned how initial teacher licensure candidates in the School of Education and Human Development used iBook Author and Softchalk applications to create Web-based content that meets meet specific instructional goals, learning styles and diverse interests of K-12 learners.
Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction Karrin Lukacs, Ph.D., along with co-author Tami Augustine of The Ohio State University, published the iTunes U course “Working With Students In Poverty.” The course features professional development activities designed to deepen teachers’ understanding of this critical issue in education. Dr. Lukacs presented her study “A Different Kind of Career Switcher: Stay-At-Home Moms Who Decide to Become Teachers” at the Hawaii International Conference on Education in January. Lukacs published the iTunes U course “Authoring a Multi-Touch Book in 15 Weeks.” The course features 20 multi-touch books, which address a variety of topics in P-12 education, created by students in the fall 2015 course EDU 647–Projects in Curriculum & Instruction.
Professor of Research John R. Goss III, Ph.D., presented “Designing Service Learning Programs: An Organic Model” at to the Student Virginia Education Association 2016 Delegate Assembly on March 19. Dr. Goss also served as a judge at Frederick County (Virginia) Public Schools’ Junior and Senior History Day Competition on Feb. 24. Additionally, Goss serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Faculty Development, Sage Publications and Oxford University Press.
Health Professions
Two members of the Shenandoah University Athletic Training staff and one faculty member presented in January on the “Appropriate Care of the Spine Injured Athlete” to the Virginia Athletic Trainers Association annual meeting at Kingsmill Resort. Head Athletic Trainer Mike Kotelnicki, M.S., ATC, along with assistant athletic trainer Lacey Collins, M.S. Ed., ATC, CSCS, and Adjunct Instructor of Athletic Training Jessica Kotelnicki, M.S. Ed., ATC, CSCS, presented on the latest developments in the care and protocols of spine-injured student-athletes.
Nursing
Assistant Professor Sherry Rawls-Bryce, M.S.N., RN and Veteran to BSN (VBSN) Project Manager Tamara Farmer presented the School of Nursing’s VBSN initiative, “From Battledress to Scrubs,” at the Council of College and Military Educators’ (CCME) annual professional development symposium in San Antonio, Texas on Feb. 17.
Professor of Nursing Pam Webber, Ph.D., APRN, BC, FNP, spoke about her STEWii (Screening Teens Early With Identification and Intervention) study at the Valley Health Interdisciplinary Research and Evidence Based Practice Conference on Feb. 12. Findings from this research, titled, “Effectiveness of early identification and electronic interventions for teens with risk factors for the development of heart disease and diabetes,” was published in the Feb. 2016 issue of Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Assistant Professor of Nursing Naomi Pitcock, D.N.P., RN, presented a poster, “Tengo Leche,” at Winchester Medical Center’s Research and Evidence Based Practice Conference on February 12. This is the second phase of a three-phase project aimed at increasing breastfeeding among rural Hispanic women.
Professor of Nursing Jennifer Matthews, Ph.D., RN, CNS, CNE, FAAN, was appointed to a two-year term as a member of the advisory editorial board of the American Nurses Association’s peer-reviewed online journal, The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. This journal focuses on current issues in patient care and health care policy.
Pharmacy
Adjunct Instructor of Pharmacy Practice Katelyn M. Sanders ’11, Pharm.D., MBA, has been named the pharmacy school’s director of admissions. In the role, she will handle recruiting of and admissions for traditional students.
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice Kacey Carroll, Pharm.D., CGP, was one of four pharmacists nationwide selected to participate in a Parkinson’s Disease Pharmacotherapy Traineeship offered in 2015 through the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) Foundation. “I was very honored to be among the four chosen,” said Dr. Carroll. “The group of pharmacists that I attended the traineeship with were fantastic — we all represented different aspects of pharmacy and brought a different experience level, and it was great to learn not only from those leading the traineeship but from each other’s experiences as well.” Conducted at the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, the traineeship focused on Parkinson’s disease, although other movement disorders and conditions were also studied. During the traineeship, Carroll saw many different aspects of Parkinson’s care, including medication management, occupational therapy and physical therapy care, clinical trials, and how social workers and nurses care for patients and families. Each clinic patient was unique; the variety in symptoms she encountered helped her better understand the nuances of treatment. Carroll noted that her experiences at the traineeship have positively altered what she teaches.
