IN THIS ISSUE:

• Recent Park grad wins University's first Fulbright Student Award
• CETL's Best Practices Institute to be honored with ACHE technology award
• Park School of Business enters candidacy for accreditation with ACBSP
• Communication arts faculty present at Central States conference
• Tonsmann presents case study on database extraction
• Byer presents research at International Boccaccio Conference
• Park summer session offerings in full swing
• Park Current reminder: Send us your favorite graduation/end of school photos
• Park In The News -- Robert Almonte, '02
• Green tip of the day
• Upcoming Events

Tamera Jenkins

Recent Park grad wins University's first Fulbright Student Award

Tamera Jenkins, a December 2009 Park University criminal justice/corrections graduate, has been awarded a 2010-11 Fulbright Student Award. Jenkins, from Independence, Mo., is the first Park University student in the program's history to win this award. Jenkins has been accepted to the graduate program of the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. She will begin at SFU this fall.

Park University President Michael Droge, Ph.D., said he was proud of Tamera's accomplishment and that the news of her award carried personal emotions for him -- Droge was a Fulbright award-winner when completing his senior year at the University of Kansas. "This experience will change her life in wonderful ways," he said.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is a Department of State-funded opportunity for any American of any age who has a bachelor's degree, but not a Ph.D., to spend nine months studying, researching or teaching in one of more than 130 countries. Park University students wishing to apply for a Fulbright Student Award have a deadline of Oct. 1 to submit their application. For complete information on how to apply or navigate the application process, contact Angie Peterson, assistant director of international education and study abroad, at apeterson@park.edu or (816) 584-6510, or visit http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html.


CETL's Best Practices Institute to be honored with ACHE technology award

Park University's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has won the Association for Continuing Higher Education's 2010 Award for Creative Use of Technology. CETL won the award for its "Best Practices Institute: Creating Development on Demand with Emergent Technologies" program. The award will be presented at the ACHE Annual Conference and Meeting awards luncheon on Saturday, Oct. 23, in Albuquerque, N.M. The award proposal highlighted the innovative and inexpensive use of technology to support faculty development for diverse geographic populations through CETL's Best Practices Institute. The BPI is comprised of online, interactive multimedia modules that have been researched and designed to improve teaching practice.

The CETL team of Amber Dailey-Hebert, Ph.D., director and associate professor of education, Emily Donnelli-Sallee, Ph.D., assistant director and assistant professor of English, and Jean Mandernach, Ph.D., research associate and professor of psychology, have researched content, and created and implemented the Best Practices Institute to reach Park University's diverse faculty -- including those online, at a distance and adjunct faculty. As the award-winner, the CETL team will present a concurrent session at the conference to highlight the program as a model of utilizing technology to support faculty development.


Park School of Business enters candidacy for accreditation with ACBSP

The Park University School of Business has been approved to enter candidacy for accreditation with the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs. The University will be awarded a certificate of candidacy for accreditation at an accreditation banquet on Sunday, June 27, at the 2010 ACBSP Annual Conference in Los Angeles. The Park School of Business will prepare a self-study of the current business program and peer evaluators will follow-up with a site visit before the ACBSP Baccalaureate/Graduate Degree Board of Commission grants final approval of accreditation.

ACBSP is a leading specialized accreditation association for business education, supporting, celebrating and rewarding teaching excellence. Established in 1988, ACBSP is the only business accrediting organization for all associate, baccalaureate and graduate degree programs. There are more than 725 member campuses, including more than 365 members from baccalaureate/graduate degree-granting institutions.

Dr. Lora Cohn

Communication arts faculty present at Central States conference

Faculty from Park University's Department of Communication Arts made a number of presentations at the Central States Communication Association's annual convention, April 14-18 in Cincinnati. Lora Cohn, Ph.D., assistant professor, Michael McDonald, Ph.D., Lynn Norris, Rusty Norris and Ashley Vasquez, adjunct instructors, as well as Thimios Zaharopoulos, Ph.D., interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, all participated.

Cohn presented three papers -- "It's About the Student. Period. Lessons on Course Design from Student Development and Learning Theory," "Lincoln's 1859 Ohio Tour: Evolving Arguments on the Path to the Presidency" and "The Current State of Adjunct Faculty Training Programs." In addition, she chaired the panel "They're Everywhere! What is to be Done About Adjunct Faculty in Academe?" Rusty Norris, Vasquez and Zaharopoulos also participated in the panel, discussing their experiences from the vantage point of the experienced adjunct, new adjunct and the administrator, respectively. Cohn also took part in the roundtable discussion on "Hope for Making a Difference Through Communication: Communication Activism and Engagement at Multiple Levels" where she discussed her work with the Northland Diversity Council.

McDonald presented two papers -- "Challenging by Example: Designing Courses with an Emphasis on Case Studies" and "Lincoln's 1856 Speech in Bronson Park: Kalamazoo, Michigan." Vasquez also presented two papers -- "The Adjunct Life: Designing Courses for Adaptability" and "Benefits of an Adjunct Faculty Training Program." In addition, she chaired the panel "In Honor of Lincoln's 200th Anniversary: An Examination of His Pre-Presidential Rhetoric." Rusty Norris was a respondent on that panel and he chaired the panel "Developing Challenging and Engaging Courses." He also presented his paper, "Training and Mentoring of Online Adjunct Faculty," which reported on the Park online training program on a panel chaired by Lynn Norris titled, "Supporting Adjunct Faculty: There's More to it Than Hiring." Cohn and Vasquez participated on the panel. Rusty Norris was also the chair of the adjunct and temporary faculty caucus at the conference. He was also elected to a two-year term as secretary of the caucus. View abstracts of the Park participants' sessions at http://associationdatabase.com/aws/CSCA/pt/sp/conventionprogram.

Dr. Guillermo Tonsmann

Tonsmann presents case study on database extraction

Guillermo Tonsmann, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science, Austin (Texas) Campus Center, was an invited presenter for the Program for Attracting and Retaining Scholars in Computer and Mathematical Sciences, a National Science Foundation-sponsored Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics scholarship program. The presentation was held April 16 in Boone, N.C. Tonsmann's presentation, "Extracting Information from Data: Case Studies," covered two topics on the extraction of information from data. The first, the extraction of rules from a database using concept lattices, explained the idea of concept lattices, and the sequential and parallel approaches to extract rules from them. The second covered the classification of DNA strands using a database of previously classified DNA sequences.

Dr. Silvia Giovanardi Byer

Byer presents research at International Boccaccio Conference

Silvia Giovanardi Byer Ph.D., assistant professor of English and modern languages, and assistant director of the Honors Program, presented research at the International Boccaccio Conference, April 30 and May 1 in Amherst, Mass. As a member of the panel on "Boccaccio's Fortune -- Re-Reading Boccaccio's Decameron in Maria de Zayas Novelas," Byer discussed how the majority of writers of 17th century Spain, such as Zayas, found creative inspiration and literary resource among the most noteworthy Italian writers, including 14th century Giovanni Boccaccio. In her paper, Byer illustrated several correlations among the framed collections of stories in the Decameron with Zayas' Novelas Ejemplares. On a deeper level, she analyzed Decameron’s fifth novella, 10th day, with Zayas' 10th story of the first part of her Novelas -- El Jardin engañoso (The Garden of Deceit). Byer's research is scheduled to be published in the refereed journal of the American Boccaccio Association this fall.


Park summer session offerings in full swing

With the start of Maymester classes on May 17, Park University's Summer 2010 sessions have kicked off. The regular eight-week Summer Session and four-week Junemester both begin Monday, June 7, and the four-week Julymester starts Monday, July 12. Park's summer sessions provide the perfect opportunity to earn college credits in a short period of time. Courses are stimulating, but also intense, in terms of their daily length and amount of material covered. There are a variety of face-to-face offerings, with some evening and weekend courses, as well as numerous online classes in an assortment of programs, providing students with the flexibility they need to complete their degree. To get started, visit www.park/edu/admissions, or contact the Park Student Success Center at pssc@park.edu or (877) 505-1059 ([816] 746-2526 in the Kansas City area). View the summer course schedule at www.park.edu/Summer2010.pdf.


Park Current reminder: Send us your favorite graduation/end of school photos

As summer nears, many Park faculty and staff may have relatives who are graduating -- be it from elementary school, high school or college -- or maybe your children are just enjoying the last few days of school. With this in mind, we invite faculty and staff to send in photos from family member's graduation ceremonies or their children at school as they prepare for the summer for the upcoming June issue of The Park Current. Make sure to identify any individuals in the photos, as well as provide information about the photo. E-mail your submission and photos to advancement@park.edu or fill out the news request form at www.park.edu/webguide/news.html. The deadline for submitting items for the June issue is 4 p.m. (Central time) on Wednesday, May 26.

Remember, The Park Current is also your opportunity to share personal news, announcements and accomplishments with your Park University colleagues, as well as a place to sell, buy or trade items. Please send this information to advancement@park.edu as well. Keep in mind that because of the personal nature of The Park Current, this newsletter is only distributed via e-mail and is not published to the University's website.


Park In The News

Robert Almonte, '02, was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next U.S. marshal for the Western District of Texas. A story about Almonte appeared in the May 14 issue of the El Paso (Texas) Times.


Green tip of the day

In the last issue of the Imprint Express, the tip focused on planting tomatoes. Now, branch out to these five practically fail-proof crops.
• Radishes thrive even when soil conditions are less than perfect. They're ready to harvest in mere weeks.
• Mixed greens come in packets for either summer or fall, so you can eat salad for much of the year.
• Onions -- if they don't do well, you can always eat the greens.
• Bush zucchini do not take up much room and are prolific.
• Diamant strawberries are mildew-resistant and delicious.

For more information and additional tips to lead a "green life," visit http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife.


Upcoming Events

• Through May 28 -- Graduating Fine Art Seniors Art Exhibit, Campanella Gallery (April McArthur reception, May 23, 2 p.m.)
• May 28 -- Maymester ends (KC area)
• May 31 -- Memorial Day (KC area offices closed)
• May 31-July 16 -- Andrea Rinkel Art Exhibit, Campanella Gallery (reception: June 6, 2 p.m.)
• June 3 -- Founders Day, 5:30 p.m., Airline History Museum (Downtown Airport), Kansas City, Mo.
• June 7 -- Summer session, Junemester begin (KC area)
• June 13-18 -- Park Summer Business Academy, Parkville Campus
• June 25-27 -- Alumni Weekend 2010, Parkville Campus
• July 2 -- Junemester ends (KC area)
• July 4 -- Parkville Community Band 4th of July Concert, 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
• July 5 -- Independence Day observed (KC area offices closed and no daytime classes)
• July 12 -- Julymester begins (KC area)

Note: To view a comprehensive schedule for all events, including athletics, visit www.park.edu/calendar/parkville.html.

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