Board Highlights - June 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.

June 2006

Commencement News

Each year, families, friends, and the university community proudly join together with graduating seniors for a final night of celebration before the formal commencement ceremonies that will usher them on to the next stage of their professional and academic careers. The Baccalaureate Reception — traditionally scheduled for the night before Undergraduate Commencement Exercises — was held in the Sherman Library, Research, Information and Technology Center on May 6. At the Baccalaureate Reception, two Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences faculty members were recognized for their excellence in teaching: Emily Schmitt, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Math, Science, and Technology, with the Full-Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, and Wes Glassgow, from the Division of Humanities, with the Adjunct Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award.

On May 7, at the Undergraduate Commencement Exercises, degrees were conferred to graduating seniors from the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, the Fischler School of Education and Human Services, and the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship. Award-winning author Salman Rushdie delivered the keynote address, and Katherine Maxwell was the student commencement speaker. In addition to awarding of degrees, student awards were presented. The James Farquhar Award for Outstanding Student Contribution was given to Elizabeth Harbaugh for scholarship and service to the university. Outstanding Achievement Awards were awarded to six students from the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences (two from each division) and two students from each of the other colleges:

Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences:
Elizabeth Harbaugh and Kate Maxwell, Division of Humanities:
Jenna Lee Pasternack and Maria Farrell, Division of Math, Science, and Technology
Monique Mendez and Ruhama Hendel, Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Fischler School of Education and Human Services:
Michelle Marie Hinman and Yaritza Manzano

H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship:
Marisol Martinez and Shelly Oaks

The day after delivering the keynote speech at Commencement, author Salman Rushdie met with about forty members of the faculty from the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences in an open discussion of politics, literature, and world affairs. Later that day he spent time with a small group of students and administrative leaders of the college for a personal lunchtime discussion about a range of topics. The lunchtime discussion, like previous events for the college’s Distinguished Speakers Series, have brought together students with leaders in their fields for intimate discussions not always available to students at other universities.

Faculty News

Allison Brimmer, Ph.D., Chetachi Egwu, Ph.D., and Kate Waites, Ph.D., faculty members in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities, traveled to “Many Floridas: Women Envisioning Change,” the inaugural conference of the Florida Women’s Studies Consortium held in Tampa in April. Communication studies senior Danielle Garcia accompanied the faculty and presented her research on body image, identity, and the extreme measures taken by young South Florida men and women to fit social stereotypes of the ideal body. The professors are currently developing a film project based on Garcia’s research.

In March, Allison Brimmer, Ph.D., assistant professor of English in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities, attended the Conference on College Composition and Communication, held in Chicago. Brimmer is currently working on a book project tentatively titled Doing Damage: White Writing Teachers Reinforcing Racism in the Classroom and the Profession. Her research focuses on how writing teachers’ attitudes about multicultural curricula and the use of standardized English often reinforce racism both in the classroom and in the profession at large.

Eileen Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, was the guest speaker at April’s Tropical Audubon Society meeting in Miami. Smith discussed her research on environmental activism, spirituality, race, and environmental attitudes. Smith is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the natural environment of Key Biscayne. Much of her sociological research takes place in urban Dade County locations — Liberty City, Overtown, and Goulds — where she examines the ways people interact with the natural environment around them, as well as the long-lasting effects of urban renewal.

Suzanne Ferriss, Ph.D., a literature professor in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities, published an essay in the May 26 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education on the subject of “Chick Lit.” The essay was co-written with Mallory Young, Ph.D., an English professor at Tarleton State University in Texas. Ferriss and Young are the co-authors of Chick Lit: The New Women’s Fiction, a collection of a range of academic insights about chick lit’s popularity and importance that was published by Routledge Press in October 2005. Last August, Publisher’s Weekly listed Chick Lit as one of five “Titles to Watch” in fall 2005.

College News

Top new NSU undergraduates scheduled to enter the university in fall 2006 were presented with NSU Honor Awards at a Dean’s Scholarship Reception held by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences in April. NSU Honor Awards go to first-year undergraduate students based on academic merit and scores on standardized college admission exams. At the reception, Don Rosenblum, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and other university officials met with and congratulated more that 130 students, whose scholarships will total almost $3 million for their four years of education at NSU.

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences and NSU’s Criminal Justice Institute initiated a dual admission program in criminal justice at a late April ceremony marking the occasion. NSU offers dual admission programs in more than 20 fields that allow highly qualified students to apply to the NSU graduate or professional school of their choice at the same time they apply to the undergraduate studies program. The programs reserve seats in graduate school for participating students, who then must maintain established academic criteria throughout their undergraduate careers. Dual admission programs relieve some of the pressure faced by undergraduates while also encouraging them to pursue a diversity of interests inside, and outside, of their intended career goals.

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences has approved a new minor in information assurance/security in the college’s Division of Math, Science, and Technology. The College of Arts and Sciences now offers 35 minors in addition to 18 majors and a master of arts in writing. The information assurance/security minor is intended for students in any major who wish to acquire more knowledge in the field. Topics covered include general surveys of computer and information security technologies, legal and ethical aspects of computer security, and related data structures and operating systems.

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 runs through 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 organized by Barry Barker, Ed.D., professor of environmental science/studies in the Division of Math, Science, and Technology. The collection’s perspective on endangered species represents the work of students and faculty who use the photographic expeditions to learn about and document fragile ecosystems.

NSU’s 2006 annual Forensic Sciences Symposium held in April on NSU’s main campus offered a varied lineup of topics for both forensics experts and layman forensics fans. The two-day series of workshops and lectures were 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. Highlights included presentations about current research and hands-on workshops in blood stain pattern recognition, forensic insect identification, and document examination. The symposium was 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 Promethean Theatre presented the Southeastern Premiere of BLUE/ORANGE by Joe Penhall in April and May at the Mailman Hollywood Auditorium on main campus. The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences proudly welcomes the Promethean Theatre to the college’s newly renovated auditorium as NSU’s theater in residence. It is one of the many partnerships between the college and South Florida arts organizations that connect campus and community creative resources. The Promethean Theatre seeks daring and creative approaches to classical pieces as well as contemporary and new works that engage the imagination and inspire passionate discourse among its artists and the audience.

The college this spring started the Farquhar Student Journal, a peer-reviewed, online journal devoted to research and exploration by students of the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences and other undergraduate students at NSU. The journal will serve 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 Farquhar Student Journal is open to all current students in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, undergraduates from other NSU colleges and centers, and Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences graduates within the past two years. The primary author must be a student. However, faculty and/or members of other universities can be secondary authors. The journal will published online twice each academic year — issue #1 in the fall and issue #2 in the spring of the next calendar year.

Each year, in addition to other distinctions such as Dean’s List, students also have the opportunity to receive national recognition through honor societies that acknowledge high-achieving students. Many national honor societies have chapters at NSU. Two of those societies held induction ceremonies in late March and early April. The Alpha Chi National Honor Society inducted 82 NSU undergraduates, and Beta Beta Beta, the national biology honor society, welcomed 67 Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences students into its ranks.

The Division of Math, Science, and Technology held a May science workshop for K-8 teachers from Broward County parochial schools. “Inquiry Matters”, a six-hour hands-on workshop, was attended by 22 teachers, with material presented by Patricia Galvan of the American Chemical Society's K-8 Outreach Office in Washington, DC. Attendees left charged with innovative ideas for their science classes. The project was funded partly by the Camille Henry Dreyfus Foundation, the South Florida section of the American Chemical Society, and the Fort Lauderdale Forensic Conference. It was the second year for the workshop. Last year, 44 public school teachers participated.

Students interested in careers in communications, public relations, and marketing met for a late April panel discussion on the topic — “Public Relations: The Dynamics of Organization Image Management”— sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities. The featured speaker was Janet Oppenheimer, president of the South Florida chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), who offered insight into the growing field of public relations and offered advice for those wishing to enter the profession. Communication studies students Susan Salvary and Danielle Garcia spoke about their experiences attending the 2005 national conference of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and their motivation to become PR professionals.

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