Board Highlights - May 2006

Office of the Dean

Nova Southeastern University
Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences
3301 College Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314
Phone: 954-262-8408
Fax: 954-262-3930
www.undergrad.nova.edu

Highlight Reports for the NSU Board of Trustees

The Office of the Dean provides periodic reviews of college activities and initiatives. These Board Highlights are distributed to the Nova Southeastern University Board of Trustees, the College of Arts and Sciences Board of Advisers, and others in the community.

May 2006

The College of Arts and Sciences continues to promote active engagement of students, faculty, and the community through diverse programs, speakers, and events. Curricular enhancement and development continues, and is designed to expand student options and opportunities. Prior to commencement, several honor societies will conduct induction ceremonies recognizing excellence in student academic performance.

College News

Author Salman Rushdie will be the keynote speaker for the university’s undergraduate commencement exercises on May 7, 2006 at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, FL. Nova Southeastern University will award Rushdie an honorary doctorate of humane letters. The commencement speech by Rushdie will also serve as a capstone for the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences’ year-long interdisciplinary exploration of the theme of “Good and Evil” through classroom activities and public events. Throughout 2005–2006, the college welcomed to campus leaders in the arts, sciences, and public affairs whose lives and work offer valuable perspective on issues of tolerance, acceptance, and social justice. “I am excited and thrilled. Here is a man who put principles and ideas on the line and is the perfect commencement speaker. He not only goes well with the year’s theme of good and evil, but is a shining example to students in deed and word about standing up for beliefs and commitment,” said Gary Gershman, Ph.D., an assistant professor of history and legal studies in the Division of Humanities. Rushdie has written more than 15 novels and short story collections and is the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread Book Award. He is widely regarded as a leading novelist of the 20th century and a strong advocate of free expression in writing. “Rushdie exemplifies not only creative brilliance, but courage,” said David McNaron, Ph.D., an associate professor of philosophy in the Division of Humanities. Rushdie gained widespread international attention in 1988. After publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, he was forced into hiding by an Iranian government death sentence issued against him in response to the book. The College of Arts and Sciences proudly welcomes Salman Rushdie as an individual who signifies higher education’s central role in the open, uncensored examination of social, cultural, and religious issues. “The choice of Rushdie as speaker inspires questions, invites challenges, and embodies larger issues like the importance of free thought and the necessity of creative scholarship,” said Eileen Smith, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences. “His literary themes, from identity to racism to immigration, are at the forefront of current events and they are the issues that confront our graduates. I have great hopes that his visit will inspire dialogue and a respectful, but lively, exchange of intellectual ideas.”

Award-winning poet, essayist, and fiction writer Judith Ortiz Cofer read and discussed her work during the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Speakers Series in March. During her daylong campus visit, Cofer joined students in the classroom to discuss her work. In her evening address to the NSU community, Cofer spoke about how the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 affected her writing. She also reflected on the importance of poetry to both offer comfort during difficult times as well as provide an avenue for social and political exploration. Cofer’s novels and collections of poetry and essays include the 2003 novel The Meaning of Consuelo and the 2005 A Love Story Beginning in Spanish: Poems. She is a native of Puerto Rico, and her work often deals with multiculturalism, focusing on prejudices and difficulties faced by immigrants who encounter hostile urban environments in the United States. Cofer’s visit was sponsored by the college’s Division of Humanities as part of the college’s exploration of the theme of “Good and Evil” through classroom discussions and public events.

As part of its Distinguished Speakers Series and ongoing college-wide examination of “Good and Evil,” the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences welcomed psychologist and historian of science Michael Shermer, Ph.D. to campus to consider a scientific perspective on the theme through meetings with students and a public lecture. The event was presented by the college’s Division of Math, Science, and Technology. Shermer, whose latest book is The Science of Good and Evil, is the director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology, and the co-host and producer of the 13-hour Fox Family television series, Exploring the Unknown. During the week of Shermer’s visit an accompanying panel event, “A Buddhist Discussion of Good and Evil,” sponsored by the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, looked at how introspection, such as meditative work, influences a person’s ability to handle the good and evil of life experiences.

NSU Theatre in early April presented the third and final production of its inaugural 2005–2006 season, The Night of the Assassins, by Cuban playwright José Triana. In this controversial and complex study of a revolutionary family, three siblings perform a ritualistic murder of their parents. The play was originally written in Cuba in 1964, and was subsequently banned there for 30 years. The Night of the Assassins was produced in English, with a cast that included theatre students Samantha Dolling and Sammy Garcia, Jr., and English and humanities student Liz Harbaugh. It was co-directed by Dolling and Mark Duncan, M.F.A., assistant professor in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities. It was a successful first year for NSU Theatre, housed in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities. Besides The Night of the Assassins, the 2005–2006 season also featured productions of Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes and Joan Holden’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. All three of the plays inspired theatre students in their acting and directing, as well as in exploration of new areas of interest, such as set design, costume design, and stage management. Four productions are in the works for next season, beginning with Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in fall semester. Theatre program events take place on NSU’s main campus, and are open to all members of the NSU community interested in participating.

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences has initiated a clinical partnership with the Health Professions Division that will give undergraduates insight into the diversity of healthcare fields available. Through the Clinic Explorations Program (CEP), open to all NSU undergraduate students, participants shadow doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and other medical professionals working in HPD’s clinics. The program is managed by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Math, Science, and Technology. Although the Clinic Explorations Program provides hands-on experiences for students majoring in biology or enrolled in general science, it also serves students in any major considering careers in healthcare.

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences celebrated research in early April during a week of special activities that culminated in the Undergraduate Student Symposium, NSU’s annual showcase for outstanding undergraduate scholarship. During the week preceding the Undergraduate Student Symposium, the college presented research demonstrations and games like “Research Jeopardy” to bring together faculty and students. The symposium featured dozens of research presentations and creative performances from undergraduates throughout the university, a prime opportunity for students to demonstrate scholarship and communication skills that will serve them well as they prepare for graduate school and careers. An overall “Best in Show” symposium winner will be announced at a special luncheon for all winners in late April.

Winners of the 2006 Undergraduate Student Symposium:

Oral Performance: 1st place — Marissa Dass, “Trinidad Carnival: ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’”
Creative Writing: 1st place — Louis D’Lando, “The Way it Has Been”; 2nd place — Lisa Marie DiStefano, “Girls and Boys”
Humanities Research: 1st place — Gregory Kyriakakis, “Exposing the Repressed”; 2nd place — Deborah Greenbaum, “It Takes True Grit to Challenge Gender Stereotypes”
Science Research: 1st place — Maria Farrell “The Effects of Aluminum on Gene Expression in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae”; 2nd place — Deirdre Foisy, “Cellulitis and Risk Factors for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) in a Collegiate Athlete: A Case Report”
Poster: 1st place — Viviana Sumi Lee, Shweta Shah, and Rafia Chodhry, “Adhesion of Transferrin to FDA Group II Contact Lenses”; 2nd place — Kamaljit Kaur and Farheen Parvez, “Induction of Apoptosis by Resveratrol in Cancer Cells During Combination Treatment with Nutlin-3 and TGF-P”; 3rd place A — Leda Castrillo, “Polygamy: Is having Multiple Spouses Inappropriate?” and B — Lauren Stephens and Melissa Dieppa, “Erickson’s Model of Psychosocial Development with Autistic Children and Connections to Effective Educational Practices for No Child Left Behind”

The Farquhar Student Journal, a peer-reviewed online journal, is devoted to research and exploration by students of the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences and other undergraduate students at NSU. It serves as a forum for research as well as commentary, and is open to a variety of forms — original, scholarly activity such as quantitative and/or qualitative research studies, critical commentaries, editorials, or debates concerning pertinent issues and topics. The journal will be published online twice each academic year, beginning with the first issue in fall 2006.

A series of special writing workshops were offered to NSU students throughout the winter semester by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Office of Academic Services. The “Grammar and Writing Process Workshops” were geared toward two student populations—NSU students in general who need support for grammar and the writing process, and students whose first language is not English who have a greater need for grammar and sentence structure. Style workshops — “Citing Sources using APA Style” — were also offered to help students as they prepared their final semester papers.

Learning how to do research is an important part of an undergraduate education. In an effort to help students gain the valuable skills needed to conduct successful research projects and to develop effective student-teacher research teams, the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Math, Science, and Technology hosted a March workshop on how to enhance research mentorship. The guest speaker was Sue Graves, Ed.D., associate professor of exercise science and health promotion at Florida Atlantic University, who discussed some of the unique challenges facing both students and teachers as they pursue research together.

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences presents “ENDANGERED!: The Galapagos Islands, Madagascar, The Amazon, Borneo, and China,” an exhibit of more than 120 photographs focusing on tropical ecosystems and endangered species. The exhibit will run from April 20–July 20, 2006 in the Alvin Sherman Library Second Floor Gallery. “ENDANGERED!” is a collection of scientific photographic data compiled through trips during the summer of 2005 to five unique areas of the world. The photographic expeditions, organized by Barry Barker, Ed.D., professor of environmental science/studies in the Division of Math, Science, and Technology, offer an innovative way to learn about and document fragile ecosystems.

Egyptologist David Silverman, Ph.D., curator for the Museum of Art/Fort Lauderdale’s exhibit of “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” spoke about the exhibit in a March campus event. Silverman’s talk, “Tutankhamun: Exhibiting a Legend,” was presented by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences. Silverman is the Eckley B. Coxe, Jr., Professor and Curator at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ars Flores, NSU’s orchestra in residence, performed its annual April Fool’s Family Concert in the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center. Ars Flores is a unique center for musical education, made up half by seasoned professional musicians and half by student “fellows” from colleges and high schools.The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences proudly partners with Ars Flores, which provides musical education and collaborative opportunities for the Nova Singers and other campus arts organizations.

NSU’s annual Forensic Sciences Symposium, scheduled for April 28–29, 2006 on NSU’s main campus, will offer a varied lineup of topics that are accessible by both forensics experts and layman forensics fans. The two-day series of workshops and lectures is sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Medical Sciences, Applied Biosystems, and the American Chemical Society’s South Florida chapter. The 2006 Forensic Sciences Symposium is the result of a year-long programming effort of the nonprofit Fort Lauderdale Forensic Conference, whose executive board consists of NSU faculty and community law enforcement officials, including Venkatesh (Vic) Shanbhag, Ph.D. and Robert Pomeroy, Ph.D. in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Math, Science, and Technology; Ronald Block, Ph.D. and Khin Tu, M.D. in the College of Medical Sciences; and George Duncan, Ph.D. of the Broward Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab.

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences and Hillel, a national foundation that promotes on-campus exploration of Jewish culture, sponsored a March evening of film and discussion about sexual identity, violence, and religion with New York City filmmaker Nancy Schwartzman. Schwartzman screened segments of her new documentary, Between Us, followed by a discussion of the film’s issues.

NSU students representing cultures from around the world offered insights during a March Study Abroad Showcase. The showcase was sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities. The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to supporting study abroad opportunities for NSU students, which include upcoming summer study abroad trips to Ireland and to the Peruvian Amazon. Through study abroad, students can earn academic credit while also enriching their academic and personal lives with international experience.

The Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR), housed in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, held a “Civic Engagement Opportunity Day” in April to connect its members and the general public with volunteer opportunities in Broward County. The Civic Engagement Opportunity Day provided information and resources for individuals interested in volunteer activities. In addition, Edward N. Aqua, D. Eng., the director of the Institute for Learning in Retirement, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Senior Volunteer Services, the Broward County operating unit of the federally-funded Senior Corps.

More than 350 students from 30 high schools in Broward County visited the NSU main campus in early March as part of Broward Student Leader Day, sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Office of Admissions. The College of Arts and Sciences partners with government, educational, and community organizations in its commitment to connect Broward County with NSU’s rich and diverse resources. Throughout the day, students met with college advisers and learned more about NSU’s programs and opportunities.

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences in March finished its “Good and Evil” film series. Weylin Sternglanz, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences organized the series. Crash (2005) was shown in January, Europa, Europa (1999) was shown in February, and Born into Brothels (2004) was shown in March. All films were followed by discussions.

A day of events to celebrate the poets, artists, and musicians of the 1950s Beat Generation was held in March. “The Jack Kerouac Birthday Beat Salon,” organized by Frank Casale, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities, focused on the Beat Generation’s diverse writers, musicians, artists, and filmmakers.

Faculty News

Alexandru Cuc, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, has been awarded a grant from the Jacobs Foundation to study memories of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. The project — “Collective amnesia of traumatic events and its relation to narratives of national identity in Romania and Republic of Moldova” — will focus on the intergenerational basis of collective amnesia about the Holocaust and its relationship to young people’s sense of national identity in the two countries. The Jacobs Foundation, a private philanthropic organization based in Zurich, Switzerland, supports scientific research projects that enhance the quality of young people's lives and promote their personal and professional development.

Tom Fagan, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, will be honored by the American Psychological Association with its 2006 Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Practice in the Public Sector. The award will be presented at the APA’s annual meeting in August. Fagan is also a past recipient of the Special Achievement Award of the APA’s Division 18, Psychologists in Public Service. In honoring Fagan, the APA pays tribute to his longtime work in the field of correctional psychology. Fagan spent 23 years with the Federal Bureau of Prisons developing policies, procedures, and quality assurance measures in what was then an emerging discipline. By 1991 he had become director of clinical training for psychology services. He has also done significant work in the areas of hostage negotiation and suicide prevention.

The Faculty Lecture Series, sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, offers lively discussions about ideas and issues relevant to the college faculty’s diverse areas of interest.

In March, Darren Hibbs, Ph.D., assistant professor of philosophy in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities, took on “The Philosophical Problem of Evil.” Does the existence of evil in the world prove that God does not exist? If God does exist, why would God allow so much preventable suffering to occur? Hibbs presented the most common philosophical responses to these questions.
In April, Patricia McGinn, Ph.D., assistant professor of athletic training in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Math, Science, and Technology, discussed a Spring Break study abroad trip to Greece. During the winter semester, McGinn and her students from the Evolution of Sports Medicine visited Olympia, where the students toured the ancient Olympic ruins and explored Marathon, the ancient battle site that inspired the modern marathon.

Eileen M. Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, presented a paper at the Southern Sociological Society conference held in New Orleans in late March. Her paper, “Environmental Attitudes of Modern Black Churchgoers: Place, Nature and Memory” was part of a panel on the subject of “Urban Space and Inequality.” In her research, Smith examines urban areas and the various ways in which people interact with the natural environment around them.

Fuzhen Zhang, Ph.D., a professor of mathematics in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Math, Science, and Technology, attended a math conference at Drexel University in Philadelphia in March, where he contributed a presentation on the teaching of linear algebra. More than sixty people attended the one-day event that featured eight presentations, including world-renowned experts in the field, such as Gilbert Strang (MIT) and Peter Lax (New York University), the 2005 Abel Prize recipient, one of the top prizes in the field of mathematics.

Student News

Sonia Ghazarbekian, M.F.A., visiting professor in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities, and students in her Intercultural Communication course, organized a February multicultural performing arts program to showcase diversity. The program included a choral reading of an arrangement of quotations by Mahatma Gandhi, George Bernard Shaw, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, St. Francis of Assisi, Abraham Lincoln, and others. Students and guest performers shared music and dance, from reggae, gospel, and Creole to ballet and belly dancing.

Taylor Liput, a senior psychology major in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences will volunteer in Peru this summer. Liput will either work in an elementary school, counsel dispossessed teenage girls who have been pulled off the streets, or develop an independent community service project. Liput is a graduating member of the first class of the Leadership Roundtable Scholars Program, sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences and NSU’s Division of Student Affairs. In the program, students undertake a four-year commitment to community and campus leadership. Each year, ten new students are accepted into the program. Throughout their academic careers, they develop leadership skills as they work with faculty and staff members to design and tailor service activities to their talents, interests, and career goals.

Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Students Taylor Liput (psychology), Alyssa Reeves (deciding), Natasha Romero (marine biology), Divya Sadhwani (biology), and Maryanne Samuel (biology) were selected to receive the Young Women Leaders Award from the Fort Lauderdale branch of the American Association of University Women. The Young Women Leaders Award celebrates students’ accomplishments and their promise for future leadership and service.

Danielle Garcia, a student of communication studies and English in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities, has been selected as one of 25 recipients of the International Radio and Television Society’s 2006 summer fellowship. The fellowship is an all-expense paid summer program in New York City, where Garcia will be learning from noted experts and practitioners in the communications field through hands-on experience and classroom activities. Garcia was selected from more than 800 applicants.

Seven Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences students spent a spring weekend volunteering their time and energy in New Orleans cleanup efforts. They were part of a group of more than forty lawyers and students organized by Phi Alpha Delta, the national pre-law fraternity, in its “PAD FlyAway: Project Katrina.” With travel support from the College of Arts and Sciences, the students flew to New Orleans to join the other volunteers as they cleaned debris and helped recover personal belongings for some of the people hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. For more about the trip and insights from the students, read Sun-Sentinel columnist Ralph De La Cruz’s April 9 column, “A higher calling in Lower 9th.”

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities has published the third issue of Digressions, a literary magazine created by undergraduate students that features poetry, short fiction, original artwork, and photographs. Editor-in-chief of Digressions is Liz Harbaugh, a senior English and humanities student, and faculty adviser is literature professor Suzanne Ferriss, Ph.D. At an April magazine launch event, contributors and staff provided a tour of artworks included in this year’s issue read selected pieces. Copies of Digressions are available from the Division of Humanities or online.