Dear Bellarmine Students, Faculty and Staff,
Bellarmine University awarded 88 master’s
and 377 bachelor's degrees during its 55th annual commencement exercises
on Saturday, May 10. Curt Tofteland, founder and director of
Shakespeare Behind Bars and producing director of the Kentucky
Shakespeare Festival, delivered the commencement address. Tofteland also
received an honorary doctorate.
In addition to the conferral of degrees, several special awards were
presented. Jourdan Hubbuch and Trish Todd were co-winners of the
Archbishop's Medal for Scholastic Excellence (highest grade point
average). The Wilson W. Wyatt Fellowship for Academic Excellence was
awarded to Tumaini Malenga, and the In Veritatis Amore Award (best all
around male and female as voted by the faculty) went to Trish Todd and
Wesley Thomas. Faculty awards were presented to Tom Byrd and Ruth
Wagoner.
Pfeffer and Davis appointments
It is my pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr.
Carole Pfeffer to the position of Associate Vice President for Academic
Affairs. Dr. Pfeffer has successfully served Bellarmine in many faculty
leadership and administrative positions over the course of her
distinguished career. Her energy, passion, and effectiveness are well
known and she exemplifies our commitment to excellence in teaching,
scholarship, and service. Dr. Pfeffer will work closely with Dr. Doris
Tegart to advance the general academic agenda with particular emphasis
on strategic planning, SACS compliance issues, and the development and
implementation of institutional assessment.
I am also pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Beth Davis to the
position of Director of Academic Operations. She clearly demonstrated
her great value to the University during the SACS effort and is well
suited for success in her new post. With a BA from Centre College and an
MA in International Economics from George Washington University, she
has demonstrated great intelligence, effectiveness and a true sense of
collaboration, and is clearly masterful in meeting deadlines, attending
to details, and managing many tasks at once. Beth will focus on special
projects within the academic area, QEP implementation, and the
coordination of operational activities including budget oversight and
the management of contracts in the academic area.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Pfeffer and Ms. Davis and in
welcoming them to their new positions of responsibility, which will help
us realize Vision 2020.
Bellarmine wins VITA Award
Bellarmine University has received the inaugural
Louisville Asset Building Coalition/Chilton & Medley CPAS VITA
Collegiate Challenge University Leadership Award in honor of outstanding
volunteer contributions. Bellarmine student Barry King accepted the
award from Metro United Way on May 22, 2008. It is a permanent trophy,
with Bellarmine students reporting 550 hours compared to 230 for U of L
and helping VITA recover some $8,000,000 in tax refunds for the
community.
Bynum Appointed to National Board
At its March 29 meeting, the College and University
Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) board of
directors approved the appointment of Lynn Bynum as an at-large
representative to its national board: Bynum has been a member of CUPA-HR
since joining Bellarmine and has held a number of leadership positions
in the association, including vice chair of the Kentucky Chapter from
2001-03, chapter chair from 2003-05, member of the program committee for
the Southern Region’s 2007 conference and site chair for the Southern
Region’s 2009 conference.
Dr. Hinson-Hasty co-edits book
Congratulations to Dr. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty in the
Theology Department on the publication of Prayers for the New Social
Awakening: Inspired by the New Social Creed (Louisville, KY: Westminster
John Knox Press, 2008) which she co-edited with Christian Iosso, and to
which she is also a contributor. The book contains a hundred prayers,
by a virtual who's who in Christian theology, on the theme of the new
social creed.
News from The Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education
Professor Sonya Burton, made a presentation on Critical
Literacy at the Rouge Forum conference.
Professors Deb Baker and John Sizemore represented
Bellarmine at the New York Times Town Hall Meeting on March 6th entitled
Linking Leadership to Learning: A More Coordinated Approach, where
Bellarmine’s MA in Instructional Leadership and School Administration
(MAILSA) program, was recognized as a model for principal preparation
leadership.
Dr. Mary Goral conducted a presentation on the JCPS Waldorf-inspired
cadre at an AERA pre-session in March in New York.
Dr. Claire Hughes made two presentations at the national Council for
Exceptional Children’s annual conference in Boston in April. The first
was entitled Cognitive Engagement as a Sensory Intervention for Children
with High-Functioning Autism. She was a co-presenter on A Means to an
End: Using Co-Teaching to Implement RTI.
Dr. Christy McGee was honored at the Kentucky Education Association’s
(KEA) Retired Teachers’ Mentoring Program dinner with the “You Made a
Difference Award” on March 28th in Louisville.
Dr. Corrie Orthober and her peers made a presentation at the American
Education Researchers Association (AERA) annual meeting in March
entitled, Assessing 350 freshmen academy students within a title I high
school: A formative assessment methodology.
Dr. Christine Price and Dr. Christy McGee presented Out of the fire at
the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher
Education in February.
Dr. Adam Renner recently published an article entitled, Desegregation,
integration, and the Supreme Court: Student assignment in Louisville
KY.
Culligan tours with Days of the New
Paul Culligan is going out on tour again this summer as
the drummer with the band Days of the New. The band has sold upwards of 4
million copies of their records worldwide and the song, "Touch, Peel
and Stand" was at number one on the Billboard charts for 17 weeks
straight. In addition, Days of the New had three other songs in the top
40. Days of the New continues to sell out where ever the band travels.
Also, Paul will be playing on the next record, entitled "Purple" due out
this fall. He will travel all over the USA and Canada this summer and
in-between teach at Bellarmine in the fall.
Padgett wins "Creative and Innovative Teaching Award"
Congratulations to Dr. Barry Padgett, who received the
Academy of Educational Leadership's "Creative and Innovative Teaching
Award" for his MBA business ethics pedagogy. To be eligible for
consideration, an individual must be nominated by a member of the Allied
Academies and undergo evaluation by the Teaching Awards Committee. Dr.
Padgett's work was judged by the committee to be worthy of the
designation, "Distinguished Teachers."
Biology Department News
Katy Blair (Class of 2008) presented a poster of her
research at the annual conference of the American Institute of
Biological Sciences held in Arlington, Virginia, on May 12-13. She
competed against other undergraduate students, as well as graduate
students, in a student contest. The poster was titled “The Ambrosia
Project: Analysis of a cDNA library from Giant Ragweed pollen and
Initial Examination of Allergenic Pectate Lyase”. It was co-authored by
Dr. Joann Lau and Dr. Dave Robinson (Biology Department).
Dr. Dave Robinson and Dr. Joann Lau presented an hour-long webinar
hosted by Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (Hercules, CA). It was entitled
“From Plants to Sequences: A Six-Week College Biology Lab Course”. There
were 84 attendees (which is the most that Bio-Rad has had for any of
their webinars). Attendees included a classroom of high-school students
in Florida, as well educators in places as far away as Taiwan.
News from the Lansing School
Congratulations to Dr. Kathy Hager for having her IDC 301
course in gerontology accepted by CCSA in Sidney, Australia for 2009
Dr. Nancy Urbscheit and Dr. Megan Danzel have just returned with a group
of physical therapy students from an intense learning experience at
Curtin University in Perth, Australia.
Dr. Mark Wiegand and Dr. Tony Brosky, along with a group of physical
therapy students, have teamed with Dr. Adam Renner in Jamaica. The
faculty and students will be doing service and learning in a physical
therapy clinic for needy children.
Dawn Ginter, Robert Holland and LaShannda Harris (former nursing
student) have published an article, "DATA BITS: Medication Errors in a
Rural Hospital Setting" in the Kentucky Nurse, April, May, June, 2008
issue.
Mallory Brake, BSN student, has been accepted into the VALOR Externship
program at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center, Louisville for
Summer 2008
News from Foreign Languages and International Studies
Gabriele Bosley was a presenter on the topic of
"Integrating Theory, Research, and Application for Program Design" at
the 2008 FORUM on Education Abroad Conference in Boston on April 3,
2008. She also presented on the topic of "Intercultural Growth and
Learning in the International Education" at the 2008 NAFSA Conference in
Washington, D.C. on May 30, 2008.
Dr. Bosley had her co-authored article on "Dynamics of Cultural
Contents: Meta-level Intervention in the Study Abroad Experience"
published and released in the book "Developing Intercultural Competence
and Transformation" in May 2008 by Stylus Publications in Higher
Education, with a book signing arranged by NAFSA in Washington D.C. on
May 30, 2008. Finally, Bosley has accepted an invitation by the EFIL
(European Federation of Intercultural Learning) and the Friedrich
Schiller Universität/Jena to present at the "Moving Beyond Mobility"
Conference in Berlin, Germany, October 13-14, 2008 on “Combining Theory,
Research and Design in the Development of Target-Culture Behavior
Through Meta-Level Analysis During Cultural Immersion”.
Julien Carriere presented a paper entitled, "Samuel Beckett and Music:
The Influence of Franz Schubert’s Death and the Maiden on All that
Fall," at the 28th Annual Cincinnati Conference on Romance Languages and
Literatures in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 9.
Nelson Lopez' book "Andrés de Claramonte, Valiente negro en Flandes:
edicion para actores y editores" was published and released in April
2008 by the prestigious European & professionally peer-reviewed
scholarly press, Reichenberger with offices in Barcelona, Spain, and
Kassel, Germany. Dr. Lopez also translated and directed for the stage
Sergio Vodanovic's El delantal blanco (The White Apron). A Chilean play
on social class struggle and inequalities. Produced by the ST@B at
Bellarmine University for their Festival of Shorts.
Melody Carriere presented a paper entitled, "Creolizing the Canonical
Text: Maryse Condé’s Caribbeanness in La migration des cœurs" at the
University of Cincinnati's Annual Romance Languages and Literatures
conference.