Geology professors elected Fellows in prestigious societies

Dr. Kristen St. John has been elected a Fellow by the Geological Society of America and Dr. Eric J. Pyle has been elected a Fellow by the Geological Society of London.

St. John and Pyle had to be nominated by current Fellows in each organization to be considered for acceptance.

St. John becomes the third member of JMU's geology department to be elected a Fellow by the GSA, joining department head Stephen Leslie and Associate Professor Steven Whitmeyer.

The GSA, founded in 1888, is a global society with members from 115 countries and a mission to advance geoscience research and discovery, service to society, stewardship of Earth and the geosciences profession.

Founded in 1807, the Geological Society of London is the oldest geological society in the world. The organization strives to improve knowledge and understanding of the Earth, to promote Earth science education and awareness, and to promote professional excellence and ethical standards in the work of Earth scientists, for the public good.

Having access to literature that can be difficult to find in the U.S. and costly to obtain if not a Fellow is one the main benefits of becoming a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, Pyle said. "It will allow me to ramp up some of the things I am doing in my teaching," he said. "Oftentimes I'll be doing some literature search and see something that's a really cool reference and then realize it's from the Lyell collection and you can't access it without ponying up money or being a Fellow."

Launched in 2007 to celebrate 200 years of the Geological Society of London, the Lyell Collection — named for Charles Lyell, one of the fathers of geology — is an online collection comprised of the society’s journals, special publications, key book series and journals published on behalf of other societies.

Pyle, JMU's lone member of the Geological Society of London, said the honor also will enable him to expand on his research.

See the list below for more faculty and staff accomplishments.

GRANTS (awarded in April)

Dr. Emily K. Akerson (Coordinator of Clinical and Interprofessional Initiatives, Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services) received $14,042 from the Rockingham Memorial Hospital Foundation for Healthy Families Shenandoah County. Akerson received $14,042 from Rockingham Memorial Hospital Foundation for Healthy Families Page County. Both grants fund efforts to meet the needs of at-risk families by providing education, resources and support.

Kimberlee Hartzler-Weakley (Director of Children and Youth, Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services) received $99,207 from the Virginia Department of Health to direct the Campus Suicide Prevention Center of Virginia as a training and resource center for Virginia’s college and university campuses and to create a Virginia Campus Coalition of 10 institutions.

Dr. M. Hossain Heydari (Professor, Computer Science), Dr. Brett C. Tjaden (Professor, Computer Science) and Dr. Xunhau Wang (Associate Professor, Computer Science) received $99,181 from GenCyber for a cyber defense boot camp for high-school technology teachers.

Dr. S. Keith Holland (Associate Professor, Engineering), Dr. Kyle G. Gipson (Assistant Professor, Engineering), Dr. Justin J. Henriques (Assistant Professor, Engineering) and Dr. Robert L. Nagel (Assistant Professor, Engineering) received $2,798 from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance to train students to be drivers of change through the implementation of a new innovation leadership minor.

Joyce H. Krech (Director, Small Business Development Center) received $463,318 from George Mason University for the Central Region Small Business Development Center.

Dr. G. Fletcher Linder (Director and Professor, Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies; Professor, Anthropology) received $4,650 from the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund for “Place-based Teacher Education: Using the Chesapeake Bay and Its Watershed.”

Dr. David S. McLeod (Assistant Professor, Biology) received $500 from the Virginia Herpetological Society for a herpetology outreach program to provide amphibian and reptile natural history, ecology and conservation education to K-12 students in the JMU community.

Dr. Jonathan J. Miles (Professor, Integrated Science and Technology) received $130,019 from the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy for “Solar Energy Development for State Facilities” to assist with the implementation of the solar deployment component of the Clean Energy Development and Services Program.

Dr. David A. Slykhuis (Interim Head, Educational Foundations and Exceptionalities; Associate Professor, Science Education) received four grants from the Virginia Department of Education – $127,600 to provide funding for professional development academies during the 2016 Content Teaching Academy, $100,000 to sponsor the Adapted Physical Education Academy at the CTA, $30,000 to sponsor the Early Childhood Adapted Physical Education Academy at the CTA and $29,400 to provide funding for professional development academies during the CTA to include the Early Childhood Special Education Academy.

Dr. Trevor F. Stokes (Professor, Graduate Psychology) received $18,000 from Virginia Autism Spectrum Services to provide internships for two master’s-level students. Stokes received $55,000 from the Shenandoah Valley Regional Program to provide six graduate students with internships in Harrisonburg and Staunton city and Rockingham, Augusta, Page and Shenandoah county schools.

Dr. Brett C. Tjaden (Professor, Computer Science), Dr. M. Hossain Heydari (Professor, Computer Science) and Dr. Xunhau Wang (Associate Professor, Computer Science) received $92,792 from GenCyber for the CyberPatriot Coach’s Boot Camp that will emphasize cyber ethics, the GenCyber First Principles and Windows and Linux security for technology teachers from the mid-Atlantic region.

Chin Hong Wang (Associate Executive Director for Strategic Partnerships, International Programs) received $27,880 from the Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation and Research to host English-as-a-second-language students, teachers and researchers for the 2016 English and Culture for Mexican Learners program.

Dr. Rhonda M. Zingraff (Associate Dean, College of Health and Behavioral Studies; Director, Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services), Cheryl L. Henderson (Co-director and Instructor, Training/Technical Assistance Center) and John T. McNaught (Co-director and Instructor, Training/Technical Assistance Center) received $43,000 from the Virginia Department of Education to continue to support state-directed and regional/local activities for the department’s Training/Technical Assistance Centers.

HONORS

Caitlin Anzalone (Graduate Student, Occupational Therapy) and Kelly Rebholz (Graduate Student, Occupational Therapy) received a grant from The Graduate School to present “Reducing Challenging Behavior in Preschool Children through an Emotion Regulation Skills Group” at the American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference and Expo in Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Katey M. Castellano (Associate Professor, English) was selected as a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar to attend the NEH Summer Institute titled “Extending the Land Ethic: Current Humanities Voices and Sustainability.” The four-week program will be held at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Caitlin Cheresnowsky (Graduate Student, Occupational Therapy) and Elizabeth Coit (Graduate Student, Occupational Therapy) received a grant from The Graduate School to present “On Track to Understanding the Relationship of Running on Motor Skills, Balance and Self-Concept in Adolescents with Hearing and Visual Impairments” at the American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference and Expo in Chicago, Illinois.

Chelsea Lambright (Graduate Student, Occupational Therapy) and Christine Tuebner (Graduate Student, Occupational Therapy) received a grant from The Graduate School to present “The Effects of Ball Chairs on Engagement and Postural Control in a Second Grade Classroom” at the American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference and Expo in Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Eric J. Pyle (Professor, Geology and Environmental Science) has been named a Fellow of The Geological Society (London).

Dr. Kristen St. John (Professor, Geology and Environmental Science) has been elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

Alexandra Short (Graduate Student, Communication Sciences and Disorders) received a grant from The Graduate School to present “Efficacy of Digital Otoscopy in Telemedicine” at the Audiology Now conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Dr. Jon M. Thompson (Professor, Health Sciences; Director, Health Services Administration) received the 2016 Higher Education Network Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives on behalf of the undergraduate health services administration program. Thompson has been appointed to serve on the Bon Secours HealthSource Innovation and Strategy Council in Richmond, Virginia.

PRESENTATIONS

Dr. Timothy C. Ball (Assistant Professor, Communication Studies) presented “Developing a Measure of Students’ Attitudes towards Communication” and “Ethical Reasoning in Action: Using 8 Key Questions to Facilitate Group Decision-Making” at the 2016 Eastern Communication Association Convention in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Maureen G. Shanahan (Professor, Art History) presented a talk at the Hillary Clinton Center of Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. Her talk, “Visions of Masculinity in Gatan Gatian de Clrambault’s Moroccan Photography,” discussed the photographic and psychiatric work of Clrambault, a leading French psychiatrist during the interwar years and chief psychiatrist for the Parisian police.

PUBLICATIONS

Dr. Heidi L. Pennington (Visiting Assistant Professor, English) published an essay, “Life, Death, and Identity in ‘The Lifted Veil’: George Eliot’s Experiments in First-Person Fiction,” in the edited collection, “Critical Insights: George Eliot” by Salem Press.

Dr. Stephen C. Poulson (Associate Professor, Sociology) published a book, “Why Would Anyone Do That? Lifestyle Sport in the Twenty-First Century,” through Rutgers University Press.

Dr. Gary K. Ritcher (Professor, Music) co-edited “Connecting Practice, Measurement, and Evaluation: Selected Papers from the Fifth International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education,” a collection of papers published by GIA Publications Inc. His co-editor is from University of Florida.

Dr. Margaret F. Sloan (Associate Professor, Strategic Leadership Studies) published an article, “Nonprofit Leader Perceptions of Operating Reserves and Their Substitutes,” in Nonprofit Management and Leadership. Her co-authors are from Rutgers University and the University of Missouri.