The Teaching and Learning Center and the Clark Memorial Library parterned to host a Festival of Achievement in conjunction with SSU's Silver Anniversary Celebrations on Thursday, April 7, 2010. Faculty publications and art work were be on display in the library. 

Festival of Achievement Presentations- April 7, 2011

Session 1a: 9-10:00                Location: Library Alcove

Presenter: Lavanya Vemsani, Ph.D Associate Professor

Title: Himalayan Ecologies

 

The Himalayan rivers, including Ganga and Yamuna, fertilize almost half of India, and support a vast industrial base. Development in the last 50 years has encroached on the forest cover and damaged the natural ecology of this region. In this paper, I will try to address, the ecological imbalance and environmental degradation resulting from the dams and thermal power projects in the region. I will also examine the water conservation methods applied in India. This basically presents the dismal picture of water management in India. Unless immediately prevented this might lead to a great environmental and demographic catastrophe, considering the fact that this is one of the most densely populated regions in India. I will then compare my findings with international environmental issues.

 

Presenter: Shannon Lawson, MA  Assistant Professor

Title: “Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Ogoni People and Oil Drilling in the Niger Delta”

This past summer, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico shocked and angered thousands of Americans.  By the time it was all over, estimates suggest 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the ocean and to date; BP has spent $11.2 billion in clean-up and compensation.  The oil spill received world-wide attention for months.  Yet, it is a profound shame that the Niger Delta, which has experienced numerous oil spills over the past 60 years does not garner much if any world-wide attention. 

 

Session 1b: 9-10:00                Location: Library 205

Presenter: Brian Richards, B.A.  Adjunct Faculty

Title: “Enridged”

A collection of poems concerned with natural life around author’s cabin in the deep woods of Southern Ohio.

Presenter: Neil Carpathios, M.F.A . Assistant Professor

Title: “Poetry Reading”

I will read poems from my published collections, as well as new poems.

Session 1c: 9-10:00                 Location: Library 207

Presenters: Barb Bradbury,Ed.D  Dean of Students

Brenda Haas, Ed.D  Interim Dean of University College

Title: “Examining factors impacting Shawnee State retention and … ‘Where do we go from here?’”

With the increased attention on accountability and results in higher education, retention has taken on a critical importance. This session will include a brief overview of the theoretical perspectives of retention. Presenters will highlight Shawnee State retention efforts to date and share programmatic successes. The presenters will engage participants in discussing the academic and non-academic factors impacting SSU and start the discussion of “where to go from here?”

Session 2a: 10-11:00              Location: Library Alcove

Presenter: Anthony Dzik, Ph.D  Professor

Title: “The American Great Plains: Images of an Enigmatic Region”

The goal of regional geography is to view an area in its entirety, bringing into consideration such factors as the natural environment, the people, and economic and cultural activities. Dr. Dzik has studied the Great Plains for 35 years and created this presentation to illustrate the regional geographer’s art.

Presenter: Jim Coleman, Senior Instructor

Title: “Reading Sermons as --- Sermons?”

The published sermons of John Wesley, the eighteenth century founder of Methodism, are often studied as “theological outlines” rather than as the persuasive, inspiring preaching their author intended. This presentation highlights Mr. Coleman’s proposal that Wesley’s Sermons on Several Occasions be read “homiletically,” that is, as sermons. Coleman’s in-process doctoral thesis reveals a four-level contrastive pattern which makes Wesley’s early sermons come alive with powerful practicality.

Session 2b: 10-11:00              Location: Library 205

Presenter: Phanindra Upadhyaya,  Assistant Professor

Title: “Nationalistic discourse and hegemony: Critical discourse analysis of government sponsored school textbooks in Nepal since 1970”

My presentation will use critical discourse analysis to examine some of the discourse in government sponsored school textbooks from the autocratic, the democratic, and the republican era in Nepal to show that despite the socio-political changes that have occurred in this country over the last five decades, textbook discourse still promotes the values considered to be important by traditionally powerful groups.

Presenter: Kenneth Carlson, Ed.D.  Associate Professor

Cybertrek is a Faculty Learning Community that explores new technologies and how they impact teaching and learning. This short presentation will show how some faculty members at SSU have integrated some of the new technologies into their classroom teaching.

 

Session 2c: 10-11:00               Location: Library 207

Presenters: Christine Raber, Ph.D., OTR/L   Associate Professor

Dr. Jane Melton, Clinical Director for the Social Inclusion Program and Associate Director of Quality at 2gether NHS Foundation Trust

“International Collaboration: Creating Opportunities to Build Learning Communities”

This presentation will illustrate one faculty member’s experience with building international relationships that result in collaborative learning experiences for all stake holders. Dr. Raber and co-presenter, Dr. Jane Melton, Clinical Director for the Social Inclusion Program and Associate Director of Quality at 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, England, will discuss experiences and strategies that support the development of inter-agency and institutional relationships. Opportunities for questions and discussion will summarize the session.

 

 

Session 3a: 11-12:00              Location: Library Alcove

Presenter: Thomas Piontek, Ph.D  Assistant Professor

Title: “Teaching By (Bad) Example”

This presentation is based on an action research project for which I gave “the worst presentation ever” to an introductory literature class and then asked students to critique both the presentation and my presentation style. From the critique of my “bad example” we jointly developed a list of best practices for oral presentations for the students’ own presentations later in the semester.

Presenter: Melody Sands, Senior Instructor

Title: “Lighting a Fire with the Appalachian Ohio Think Tank”

A concept developed to motivate First Generation Appalachians to attend college to conduct passionate and inspired research on challenges facing the wide-ranging solutions-based research, and discovered their voice could be heard through persuasive writing. They learned that civic involvement is a right and responsibility, and that the idea of participating was not so foreign with the tools of persuasive writing, discussion and critical thinking. The concept of solutions-oriented research and thinking provided the spark for their fire of discovery on the value of persuasive writing.

Session 3b: 11-12:00              Location: Library 205

Presenter: Allyson Klutenkamper, M.F.A.  Assistant Professor

Title: “The Narrative Impulse”

 Theatricality and use of the tableau is evermore prevalent in contemporary art. From Cindy Sherman’s Centerfolds to the highly constructed images of Jeff Wall and Tina Barney, these, among other artists of a similar genre, have refined fragmentation of narrative imagery into a theoretical context through the construction of the mise en scene. Analysis of this trend encompasses the size, format, and visual strategies as photographs have become larger and more cinematic than ever before; including why the single frame photograph, unlike the moving image, is more apt to utilize the viewer’s psychology and the platform on which narrative significance operates.

Presenter: Shirley Crothers-Marley, M.F.A  Adjunct Faculty

Title: “Who’s The Baby?”

Christmas number for mixed choir (SATB) Published by Gentry Publications.

Session 3c: 11:12:00               Location: Library 207

Panelists: John Valentine, Ph.D  Professor

Timothy Hamilton, Ph.D.  Assistant Professor

Chip Poirot,  Ph.D. Associate Professor

Panel Discussion: “Conscription”