"The Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind."

It’s not uncommon for a theatre to be considered “haunted”; actors, like athletes, can be notoriously superstitious. At present, however, the Wright State University theatre is occupied by a different sort of spectre, this one more spectacular than supernatural.

Wright State’s much-anticipated production of The Phantom of the Opera has taken over the Festival Playhouse. The show has already sold out its entire 15-performance run.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gothic musical tells the story of a twisted musical genius and his dangerously obsessive love for Christine, the young soprano capable of giving life to his songs. It is based on the 1909 French novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Gaston Leroux.

Winner of seven Tony Awards, The Phantom of the Opera is currently the longest-running show on Broadway. In 2004, it became a feature film starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum.

"Masquerade. Paper faces on parade."

“Our students all know this show inside and out,” said W. Stuart McDowell, chair of the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures. “They came to auditions with the songs already memorized.”

Those auditions were highly competitive, with one of the largest turnouts McDowell says he’s seen for a Wright State production.

“We have some wonderful actors in this department and we probably could have cast several people in each of the lead roles,” said McDowell. “We have some real ‘bench strength,’ as they would say in baseball.”

In the end, the coveted title role went to junior musical theatre major Casey Jordan. He was previously seen in Wright State’s productions of Hairspray, Little Women and Anything Goes.

“Phantom knocks anything else I’ve ever done out of the water completely,” said Jordan.

“I really had to take a step back before diving in because the Phantom is such an icon,” he said. “And the trouble with an icon is that you don’t want to play it just like everyone has played it before.”

"Listen to the music of the night."

The production also stars senior musical theatre majors Sam Helmstetter as Christine and Patrick Ross as Raoul.

Producing the musical is quite an undertaking, with more than 30 students in the cast and one of the largest orchestras the department has ever used. The set includes a massive chandelier that hangs over the audience and plays a pivotal role in the show’s first act.

Though many in the audience have already experienced The Phantom of the Opera, onstage or at the movies, McDowell promises a few surprises along the way.

“Some aspects of this production will be unlike any you’ve ever seen,” he said.

Performances run through May 27 in the Festival Playhouse of the Creative Arts Center on Wright State University’s Dayton campus.

It’s often a “perfect storm” of issues that leads mothers to kill their children, said Cheryl Meyer, a professor of psychology at Wright State University in Ohio, who has co-authored two books about mothers who killed their children.Often, these mothers at some point struggled with mental health issues and also are struggling with some sort of loss, whether it be a death, divorce or separation.

Read more at FloridaToday.com

"Specimen Dinner" by Julia Trimboli

The graduating seniors of the Wright State Art and Art History Program are as diverse as the artwork they create. Each student has a unique interpretation and expression that have developed over the course of his or her studies.

The 2012 Senior Exhibition in the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries showcases the hard work and creativity of these gifted artists. The exhibition features artwork by more than 40 students and will run from May 20 to June 10.

A special opening reception in the Galleries (Room A132 of the Creative Arts Center) on Sunday, May 20 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. will feature music, entertainment and light refreshments.

This annual event celebrates the talent of graduating art students while giving them the invaluable career experience of presenting a body of work in a public exhibition.

"Liquid" by Aaryn Combs

Participation in the show is a graduation requirement for the program. The exhibition highlights the best work of each student in a variety of mediums due to an extensive selection process.

Students in the Art and Art History program are required to take courses in each discipline offered at Wright State including printmaking, photography, painting, drawing and sculpture. Students select a medium in which to concentrate and are required to take five classes within that concentration before graduating.

Within each concentration, students create artworks to be judged for admission to the Senior Exhibition. Students consult with faculty members from their major to help them select up to 10 of their most successful pieces for submission to the full faculty jury. Only those works selected by the jury are displayed in the exhibition.

The 2012 Senior Exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information on the exhibition, please contact Megan Dooley-Smallwood at griffins.joy@gmail.com. For gallery hours, parking information, driving directions or general gallery questions, contact the Stein Galleries at (937) 775-2978 or visit http://www.wright.edu/artgalleries.

Students should take five classes to stay on track to graduate when Wright State switches to semesters in fall 2012.

For a busy student like Spencer Brannon, creating a MAP (My Advising Plan) did more than prepare him for Wright State University’s conversion to a semester calendar this fall; it gave him peace of mind.

Brannon, a junior pursuing majors in political science and economics and a minor in Spanish, has a lot of classes to juggle throughout his college years. “Before I made a MAP, the idea of when I was going to graduate was abstract,” he said. “The MAP tells me everything I will be taking, and when, so I know exactly what I will be doing until I graduate.”

Active in Model United Nations, Student Government, Rainbow Alliance, Black Student Union and numerous committees, Brannon needs to make effective use of his time. “My MAP will help me plan for study abroad and an internship, or to have my summers free, and my work schedule,” he added.

As the name implies, a MAP is a road map to graduation. It is an optional tool transition students can use to map out the courses they need throughout the semester transition to complete their degree without delay. Graduate students can create a G-MAP (Graduate My Advising Plan) and University College students can work with their advisor to create a Course Plan.

Brannon says the process to create a MAP was very straightforward. First he met with advisors in the College of Liberal Arts and the Raj Soin College of Business to determine the classes he needed for each major. He then met with an advisor in Liberal Arts to determine the best sequence to take those classes and to complete the MAP process. “We got a lot done in a half-hour appointment,” he said.

MAPs and G-MAPs must be approved by June 2, 2012, the last day of Spring Quarter 2012. University College students who will be accepted into their major by the end of Spring Quarter 2012 may submit a MAP by August 17, 2012.

Students should carefully follow their MAP in order to be guaranteed the promises made to them under Wright State’s Pledge to Students: the transition will not adversely affect the time to graduation or the cost of their degree.

Visit Wright State’s semester transition website at www.wright.edu/semesters to learn more about the transition and instructions for creating a MAP or G-MAP.

Wright State engineering professor Caroline Cao is the Ohio Research Scholar for the Ohio Imaging Research and Innovation Network.

It was post-war Saigon—deep in the night. Ten-year-old Caroline Cao and her family quietly slipped out of their home and made for the coast.

They were among the “boat people,” a tidal surge of refugees leaving Communist-controlled Vietnam in vessels of all shapes and sizes following the Vietnam War in the late 1970s.

Today, Cao has brought her talents to Wright State University. The Ohio Research Scholar for the Ohio Imaging Research and Innovation Network (OIRAIN) and expert in human factors of medical systems is a professor in biomedical, industrial and human factors engineering.

But the memories of her harrowing exit from Vietnam are never far from the surface.

As Cao’s boat cruised away from the Vietnam coast into the unknown, survivors from another vessel that had been damaged at sea sardined their way aboard.

“Not only was it crowded to start with; now it was overcrowded, bad living conditions,” Cao recalled. “We went from port to port, thinking people would let us land.”

Finally, they found safe haven in the Philippines. After spending three months in a refugee camp there, Cao and her family arrived at their new home in Vancouver, thanks to the United Nations. They were among the first boat people to come to Canada.

Cao later attended Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and seemed on her way to a career in dentistry when she became interested in scientific research. After her father suffered a brain aneurism that left him in a coma, and later on the road to rehabilitation, Cao elected to pursue rehab medicine. She focused on finding better ways to help patients recover their motor skills.

Cao obtained her doctorate at the University of Toronto and then went to Tufts University near Boston, where she was director of the human factors program as well as a faculty member of the mechanical engineering department. She won the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award in 2003.

The field of human factors engineering is applying the understanding of human capability in the design and development of technology and other systems to improve performance and safety.

“The future IS human factors,” Cao said. “And I think Wright State is the leading institution in human factors research. Everyone has some relation to human factors research. You’ve got a big group in the engineering school. You’ve got a big group in the psychology department. You’ve got Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which does a lot of human factors research. This is where it is.”

Specifically, Cao is an expert on the use of imaging techniques, visualization, and haptics in training physicians to do minimally invasive surgery.

Instead of the conventional surgical method of cutting open the abdomen and manipulating the tissues with the hands or surgical tools, tiny incisions are made, a miniature camera inserted and the operation performed with tiny chopstick-like instruments while watching the camera images. Recovery time for the patients is much faster.

“For the surgeon it’s very difficult and requires a different skill set,” Cao said. “It’s like looking through a keyhole and then you’ve got these chopsticks you’re trying to do surgery with.”

To train physicians, Cao has helped design surgical simulators. The simulators make it unnecessary to use and sacrifice animals to practice on or to build expensive inanimate models that resemble tissue.

“With surgical simulators, you can do it as many times as you want and keep repeating,” Cao said. “And you can create scenarios that are rare. If you’re only practicing the common procedures and you go into the operating room and something unexpected happens, you won’t know how to react to that.”

Cao–a marathoner and former dancer–will be one of the key researchers to be housed in the planned Neuroscience and Engineering Collaboration (NEC) Building, a $37 million project in the research corridor of the Wright State campus.

The NEC building will enable her to bring her medical human factors and imaging expertise to the table and collaborate with neuroscientists, engineers and neurologists to commercialize research discoveries and improve the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders such as stroke.

“I think it will be amazing,” she said.

On Friday, May 11, 2012, Dayton Daily News columnist Tom Archdeacon was honored as a “Living Legend” at Wright State University. Watch this video to hear Archdeacon speak about his time in the media.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

FAIRBORN — Wright State University has a new scholarship program that will position engineering and computer science students for a full-time job after graduation.

The College of Engineering and Computer Science will offer 30 Ohio students $6,000 annual scholarships and paid research positions during their undergraduate careers.

“It’s more than a scholarship. When the students graduate from the college, they will have hands-on experience that gives them a direct line on a job upon graduation, and they will graduate virtually debt-free,” said Dean S. Narayanan.

The Air Force Research Laboratory-Industry Experiential Learning Assistantship is aimed at recruiting and retaining Ohio high school students to create a local workforce, according to the university.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

While this figure represents about 5.9 percent of all students, most colleges and universities aren’t meeting their needs. This is particularly true if the students’ physical disabilities are so serious that they drastically impact daily living, according Chris Wise Tiedemann, who coauthors the website Disability Friendly Colleges with her son Tom, who has cerebral palsy.

According to Tiedemann, author of the forthcoming book College Success for Students with Physical Disabilities, only five schools — Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, University of California at Berkeley, University of Houston, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Wright State University — offer enough services for a student with serious physical disabilities to live on campus.

Tiedemann says seriously disabled applicants should consider one of the five schools. Tom, for example, studies at Edinboro. But students with less serious disabilities have more options if they do their research properly. Here are four tips for disabled applicants and students.

Read more at TheHuffingtonPost.com

Tarpey’s research has been heavily focused on biostatistics, which is used in medical research such as in the analysis of treatments. He is currently trying to help develop biostatistics curriculum and resources at Wright State.

Odds are that Wright State professor Thaddeus Tarpey would land in the statistics hall of fame sooner or later. Looks like sooner.

Tarpey, Ph.D., was elected by the American Statistical Association as a Fellow of the Association for his outstanding professional contributions to and leadership in the field of statistical science.

“It means a lot,” Tarpey said. “It’s like you’ve reached the pinnacle in some ways of your profession, and you’re being recognized for it.”

One of only 48 members worldwide elected as Fellows, Tarpey was recognized for his influential contributions to statistical research and applications, particularly in the areas of multivariate analysis.

A fundamental branch of statistics, multivariate analysis involves multiple variables that correlate with each other, such as height, weight, waist size, skull size, etc. Such analysis is used in the sizing of clothing or protective gear, for example.

Tarpey’s research has been heavily focused on biostatistics, which is used in medical research such as in the analysis of treatments. He is currently trying to help develop biostatistics curriculum and resources at Wright State.

Tarpey grew up in Lexington, Ky., and obtained his bachelor’s degree in math from the University of Kentucky. He later got his master’s and doctorate degrees in math from Indiana University.

Between degrees, Tarpey worked as a bicycle courier in San Francisco, darting through traffic and trying to avoid being “doored”—clobbered by doors being opened from parked vehicles. Today, he bicycles regularly to Wright State from his Yellow Springs home, a round trip of 22 miles.

The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the nation’s preeminent professional statistical society. The 2012 Fellows are from 18 states and six countries.

“The 48 individuals honored as 2012 Fellows represent an extraordinary set of accomplishments within the field of statistics,” said Robert N. Rodriguez, ASA president. “Their selection as Fellows signifies that they and their work have earned the admiration of their peers, and I congratulate them on behalf of our association.”

The designation of Fellow has been a high honor in ASA for nearly 100 years. Each year the Committee on Fellows can elect no more than one-third of 1 percent of the total ASA membership as Fellows.

Individuals are nominated for the honor by association members and must have an established reputation and made outstanding contributions in some aspect of statistical work. Weight is given to publications, positions held by the candidates in the organizations in which they are employed, activities within the association, membership and accomplishments in other societies and other professional activities.

The Fellows will receive their certificates at a July 31 ceremony during the annual Joint Statistical Meetings in San Diego.

The ASA, a scientific and educational society founded in Boston in 1839, is the second oldest continuously operating professional society in the United States. For more than 170 years, ASA has been providing its 18,000 members serving in academia, government, industry and the public with information about statistics. It serves statisticians, quantitative scientists, and users of statistics in a wide range of areas.

May 11, 2012

The Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science has created 30 scholarships and internships for Ohio undergraduate students that also provide a guaranteed internship with a regional employer, the university announced Friday, May 11.

“It’s more than a scholarship,” said S. Narayanan, dean of the college. “When the students graduate from the college, they will have hands-on experience that gives them a direct line on a job upon graduation, and they will graduate virtually debt-free.”

Dayton region defense and aerospace employers are increasingly looking to colleges to develop a workforce to fill a pipeline of jobs to support Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

Wright State was designated in summer 2011 by the State of Ohio as the lead institution to grow workforce development for the state’s defense and aerospace sector.

The program—the Dean’s AFRL-Discovery Lab Industry Experiential Learning Assistantship­—is geared toward recruiting and retaining high-quality Ohio high school students to create a local workforce.

Each student will get a renewable scholarship of $6,000 per academic year and will work on a summer research project through a research assistantship with AFRL’s Year at the Edge (YATE) Program, earning an additional $4,000. The assistantship is for three years—a minimum of two years with AFRL, and the third with an industry partner.

Each student will then be eligible for an internship in his or her senior year with the sponsoring industrial partner, positioning the student for a full-time position upon graduation.

The YATE program in AFRL’s Discovery Lab is an intense internship program sponsored by AFRL. Students work in teams mentored by researchers from government, industry and academia. Student research projects have tackled problems in autonomous systems, smartphone applications, layered sensing, nanomaterials, cybersecurity and virtual worlds, among others.

“This assistantship is a great opportunity to collaborate with Wright State and industry to help accelerate technology innovations important to the Air Force and the region while also growing tomorrow’s technology leaders,” said Rob Williams, Ph.D., research director for the Discovery Lab and the YATE research internship program.

For more information on the Dean’s Scholarship-Assistantship, visit http://cecs.wright.edu or call the College of Engineering and Computer Science at (937) 775-5001.

A spike in the number of college students using mobile devices to access the Internet has area schools scrambling to handle the increased load on their wireless networks.

Wright State University, Miami University and the University of Dayton are making costly upgrades to expand their networks.

Wright State has expanded and upgraded its wireless network during the past 18 months at a cost of $250,000 to accommodate about 19,000 unique wireless devices every week, including smartphones, tablets, laptop computers and gaming systems, said Larry Fox, associate director of technical services. The school has nearly 700 access points, he said.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

RIVERSIDE, Ohio (WDTN) – A group of students from Wright State University worked to revitalize the home of a widow of a WWII veteran on Saturday.

Wright State’s Project Management class paid a visit to the home of 92-year-old Lucille Long on Spinning Road in Riverside to spruce up the exterior of the house.

Read more and watch video at wdtn.com

FAIRBORN — A Dayton region consortium will invest $5 million on UAV test equipment in a bid to win more lucrative Air Force Research Laboratory deals which last year awarded $2.1 billion in contracts, officials said.

The newly renamed AHEAD — Alliance for Human Effectiveness and Advancement — will build the command and control system and other facilities at defense contractors and a medical center across the Miami Valley.

The Wright State Research Institute-led consortium comprised of mostly private industry partners have paid for the system in the hope the Air Force and other agencies will use the system.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

program will provide 30 scholarships and guarantee an internship with a regional employer, the school announced Friday.

The program — the Dean’s AFRL-Industry Experiential Learning Assistantship­ — is geared toward recruiting and retaining high-quality Ohio high school students to boost the local workforce. It falls under WSU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Read more at bizjournals.com

Advocates of a name switch for post-traumatic stress disorder want to change the term “disorder” to “injury” to reduce the stigma of the treatable illness and urge reluctant military service members who suffer from PTSD to seek help, authorities say.

A push to destigmatize the illness could mean health insurance companies or service disability claims could be treated differently than they are today, observers said. Changing disorder to injury “might help in terms of stigma, but it might hurt in terms of disability (claims),” said Larry C. James, a retired Army psychologist and dean of Wright State University School of Professional Psychology in Fairborn.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

Artist's rendering of the lobby of the planned Neuroscience and Engineering Collaboration building

The Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science marked its 25th anniversary on Friday, May 11, by announcing a new assistantship program that will provide scholarships, internships and a path to employment for 30 undergraduate students.

The announcement was a key part of an afternoon celebration that included student project demonstrations, laboratory tours, recognition of donors and a peek at the college’s future.

President David R. Hopkins congratulated the college’s faculty for producing successful graduates but also praised them for partnering with business and industry to improve the region’s economy, for making Wright State one of Ohio’s leading research institutions, and for engaging students in the community to help solve community problems.

“What you’ve accomplished in 25 years is truly remarkable,” said Hopkins, who delivered his remarks in a video because he was traveling.

Congressman Steve Austria praised the partnership between the college and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. “Wright State University is an important leg in the region’s defense sector,” he said.

S. Narayanan, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, underscored that relationship in announcing a new partnership between the college and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

The Dean’s AFRL-Discovery Lab Industry Experiential Learning Assistantship will provide 30 students with renewable scholarships of $6,000 per academic year and $4,000 yearly research assistantships with AFRL’s Year at the Edge (YATE) Program.

The assistantship is for three years—a minimum of two years with AFRL, and the third with an industry partner. Each student will then be eligible for an internship in his or her senior year with the sponsoring industrial partner, positioning the student for a full-time position upon graduation.

“The whole model is geared so the students can graduate debt-free,” Narayanan said.

State Sen. Chris Widener said Wright State “and particularly this college” have been helping Ohio rebuild the state’s work force. “An educated work force is the only way we can create jobs,” he said.

The college’s capacity to produce quality graduates has grown dramatically over the years. Krishan Joshi, who with his wife Vicky were the major donors for the Joshi Research Center, noted the Wright State campus consisted of just three buildings when he taught mathematics here in the early 1970s.

“In a few years we will have three buildings just for this college,” he said.

In addition to the Russ Engineering Center and the Joshi Research Center, Wright State will soon add the Neuroscience and Engineering Collaboration building. To be located between the Russ Engineering Center and the Boonshoft School of Medicine, the $37 million facility will house 125 people, including researchers in the $22 million neuroscience research center the university is creating in partnership with Premier Health Partners.

Narayanan showed an artist’s renderings of the building and said the facility will foster collaboration among scientists, clinical researchers and engineers to bridge the gap between basic science and commercial products for better health care as well as economic growth.

“We are poised for a great future,” he said.

Researchers study a 3D image of a satellite using a state of the art portable projection system in the Appenzeller Visualization Laboratory.

Wright State University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science will celebrate its 25th anniversary Friday, May 11, with a Research Showcase of its students’ work, laboratory tours and a program to reflect on the college’s first quarter century and preview the newest initiatives.

“We are really poised for some amazing things going into the future,” said S. Narayanan, Ph.D., professor and dean of the college.

Narayan will appear with other university officials along with former deans James Brandeberry, Ph.D., and Bor Jang, Ph.D. to discuss the college’s accomplishments and new activities. Congressman Steve Austria and Ohio Senator Chris Widener are also invited.

Narayanan said the presentation will include details about the Neuroscience and Engineering Collaboration building to be erected between the college’s Russ Engineering Center and the Boonshoft School of Medicine buildings.

Narayanan said the new building, estimated to cost $37 million, would be a “signature” project for Wright State.

The Research Showcase will feature students’ research projects from 3 to 6 p.m. Labs will be open for tours in Russ Engineering and the adjoining Joshi Research Center. Dynamic displays will range from an autonomous lawnmower to bird-size micro air vehicles.

The formal program is scheduled for 4:30-5 p.m. in the Atrium on the second floor of the Joshi Research Center.

Visit www.cecs.wright.edu/25thCelebration for more information.

In the final episode of the Follow the Phantom series, Casey Jordan, the junior musical theatre major playing the Phantom, shares his excitement about the show’s opening night. We also visit the entire cast during their final dress rehearsal to see the show in all its glory.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gothic musical tells the story of a twisted musical genius and his dangerously obsessive love for the young soprano capable of giving life to his songs. Winner of seven Tony Awards, the The Phantom of the Opera is currently the longest-running show on Broadway.

Wright State’s production plays May 10–27, 2012. The show is currently sold out for its entire 15-performance run.

Watch previous Follow the Phantom episodes to look back on Casey’s journey to becoming The Phantom of the Opera.

Previous episodes:
Auditions
Hitting the Right Notes
Acting the Role

The Wright State University Chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery will host its second annual high school programming contest from 9:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. May 12 on the university campus.

Contestants will be challenged to solve as many programming problems as possible in a limited time period Participants will be divided into teams of two or three students. Students can choose their team or be randomly grouped into teams .

Each team will be provided access to one computer and the appropriate software needed to develop solutions to programming problems using either the Java or C++ languages.

Students may pre-register online at here.

Read more at Western-Star.com

Wright State Univ. researchers led by physics Prof. Elliott Brown have been investigating these unique THz DNA signatures through a Multidisciplinary Univ. Research Initiative (MURI) funded by the U.S. Army Research Office. Their multi-year $600,000 grant has recently identified several unique and surprisingly strong signatures from DNA molecules between 0.7 and 1.0 THz.

Read more at LaboratoryEquipment.com

Thaddeus Tarpey, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio

For influential contributions to statistical research and applications, particularly in the areas of multivariate analysis and for excellence in teaching and dissemination of statistical knowledge.

Read more at Yahoo.com

It’s the revealing expression on the face of a student that shows comprehension—understanding something that had once been a mystery.

Those doing the “looking” are teams of teachers who have redesigned their lessons and are giving them a test drive before classes of elementary and middle-school students.

Wright State professors Ann Farrell (left) and Sachika Tosa (middle) meet with teachers at Kemp PreK-8 School in Dayton on March 14. At right, is Kemp teacher Vicki Westerfield.

It is all part of a professional-development model for teachers being used in Dayton-area schools under the leadership of Wright State University.

The “Lesson Study” model is one of four professional-development programs for STEM teachers supported by Wright State in 2011-12.

With 164 teachers from 77 schools in 12 counties, the programs have directly affected the instruction of about 11,500 students annually. Priority is given to teachers from schools that enroll high percentages of underserved minorities and the economically disadvantaged.

Originating in Japan, the Lesson Study model used in one program has been credited for a shift from “teaching as telling” to “teaching for understanding” in math and science classes.

In addition to Lesson Study, Wright State also sponsors traditional professional-development programs in which teachers gather on campus for intensive summer workshops four days a week for three weeks.

PIES (Partners in Earth System Science) focuses on the teaching of earth science and chemistry and deals with issues such as water quality and environmental impact. The program often includes field trips to the ocean or Great Lakes.

Another program, STONE (Science Teaching for Ohio’s New Economy), is co-sponsored by the Ohio Aggregate and Industrial Mineral Association. The organization represents the aggregate industry, which, for example, mines sand and gravel for the production of concrete.

“The participants learn about the extraction of things that are used in commerce and techniques for estimating how much you might be able to take out, whether it’s economically feasible,” said Edgar Rutter, director of Wright State’s Center for Mathematics and Science Education.

The fourth program is a multidisciplinary effort that offers summer workshops for STEM teachers of grades 5-11 in three areas: life science, earth science and physical science.

Then, there is the Lesson Study program. Supporters say Lesson Study is flexible, inquiry driven, creates curiosity and keeps teachers in control while making students the focus. It is taking root across the United States, being used in classrooms from California to Chicago to Florida.

“To really improve education, we need a more systemic approach,” said Rutter. “Lesson Study often involves all the teachers of a particular subject matter within a school and has more potential to have schoolwide impact or even impact districtwide.”

For example, a group of teachers at a particular school might want to improve the teaching of fractions.

They first meet as a team and discuss weaknesses in the existing lesson. A new, redesigned lesson is then presented in the classroom under the observation of the team, which carefully scrutinizes student reaction. The team later meets to discuss what worked, what didn’t, and revises the lesson. There is then a second class presentation and second debriefing before the lesson revision is finalized.

Rutter said it’s all about the skill and methodology the teachers learn as they solve problems together.

“They, themselves, have the power to improve their schools and the outcomes for their students,” he said.

There are about 60 elementary and middle-school teachers in the Lesson Study program, most of them from Dayton Public Schools.

Wright State professor Ann Farrell and assistant professor Sachiko Tosa meet with small groups of the teachers at their schools in three-hour sessions. Between August and December 2011, the two spent 170  hours in the sessions.

Farrell said the teachers bring their problems to the table.

“We help them look at their textbook, at other resources, at their student work and try to find the answer,” she said. “They build off of each other’s expertise. We want them to be researchers in their own classrooms and do it collaboratively. That’s one of the lasting effects we think there will be.”

Lisa Minor, Dayton Public Schools’ executive director of school improvement for pre-K to 8, experienced the Lesson Study program for several years when she was principal at Kemp PreK-8 School.

“The redesigned lessons were more meaningful and relevant to the students,” said Minor. “And veteran teachers were revived and refreshed by the opportunities in the program.”

Math lessons include such things as ratios, bar graphs, classifying quadrilaterals and two-digit subtraction with regrouping. Other lessons focus on the teaching of history and social studies.

Lesson Study has also affected teaching styles. One teacher learned to not always give students the answers, but let them work through problems–even if they fail to solve them.

“She said, ‘I never realized how important student struggles are and that it’s OK for students to have some struggles with material,’” Farrell said.

Tosa said there have been improvements in student test scores at Kemp PreK-8, where all of the teachers participate in the Lesson Study program.

“There is some good evidence of teacher growth and student growth,” Tosa said.

If you want to keep plant operators performing at optimal levels, how many alarms should you try to hold your system to? What’s the best way to present procedures to those operators so they know what to do when they do face an alarm situation? And what’s the best way to train them how to follow those procedures?

Dave Strobhar, principal human factors engineer at Beville Engineering… presented several interesting findings from the open industry-academia collaboration, the Center for Operator Performance, at ABB Automation & Power World last month in Houston. The group was founded by Wright State University and Beville Engineering, which specializes in the analysis of operator performance issues.

Read more at controldesign.com

To bring this topic to light, the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Physician Leadership Development Program and the Gamma Alpha Chapter, Delta Omega public health honor society are presenting an advance screening of the HBO documentary series “The Weight of the Nation.” Free and open to the public, this four-film series addresses our country’s obesity epidemic.

Obesity in America has reached a catastrophic level. Almost every aspect of our lives is threatened. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back. Each film in the series features case studies, interviews with our nation’s leading experts and individuals and their families struggling with obesity.

The films will run in May at White Hall on the Wright State University campus and will be accompanied by a panel of local health professionals to discuss the topics presented and answer audience questions.

Screening Schedule:

Thursday, May 10, 6:30-8:30 p.m.: “Consequences”—examines the scope of the obesity epidemic and explores the serious health consequences of being overweight or obese.

Panelists:
—Miryoung Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor, Boonshoft School of Medicine Lifespan Health Research Center
—Audrey Choh, Ph.D., research assistant professor, Boonshoft School of Medicine Lifespan Health Research Center

Monday, May 14, 6:30-8:30 p.m.: “Choices” —offers viewers the skinny on fat, revealing what science has shown about how to lose weight, maintain weight loss and prevent weight gain.

Panelists:
—Marietta Orlowski, Ph.D., associate professor, Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Community Health
—Paul Hershberger, Ph.D., professor, Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Family Medicine
—Cindy Giurino, R.D., L.D., C.D.E., medical nutrition therapist and adjunct instructor, Wright State University Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Thursday, May 17, 6:30-8:30 p.m.: “Children in Crisis”—discusses the concern that this may be the first generation of American children who will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Panelists:
—James Ebert, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., Boonshoft School of Medicine Oscar Boonshoft Chair and Director, Center for Global Health, and lead physician, Lipid Clinic, Children’s Medical Center of Dayton
—Rachel Riddiford, M.S., R.D., L.D., manager, Nutrition Clinic, Children’s Medical Center of Dayton
—Bruce Barcelo M.S., CTTS, GetUP Montgomery County, Public Health—Dayton and Montgomery County

Monday, May 21, 6:30-8:30 p.m.: “Challenges”—examines the origins and severity of the obesity epidemic, examines its major driving forces and looks at opportunities for communities to fight back.

Panelists:
—Gary LeRoy, M.D., Boonshoft School of Medicine associate dean for student affairs and admissions, and medical director, East Dayton Health Center
—Susan McGovern, executive director, Diabetes Association of the Dayton Area

For more information about the screening at WSU, please contact Carla Lachecki, carla.lachecki@wright.edu or 258-5554.

To learn more about the series and to view a trailer, visit: http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com.

Wright State University has named an interim dean for its College of Liberal Arts after an initial search did not yield a finalist.

Linda Caron, the associate dean, will begin serving as interim dean July 1.

The committee searching to replace the retiring Charles Taylor will be reconstituted in May, a search firm selected, and the committee will begin looking for a permanent dean early in the fall semester. Caron will stay on as interim dean until the new permanent dean starts, said university spokesman Jim Hannah.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

Other research with similar goals is under way. Mary Fendley, a Wright State University researcher in human factors engineering, said she designed a process through an Air Force Research Laboratory-supported project to help analysts examining images from intelligence sources to correct for cognitive biases.

Fendley’s three-part process included an “image bank” to provide multiple views of targets that analysts had defined, a marking procedure intended to help analysts avoid overlooking items of potential interest, and a message board to provide analysts with information about other objects of interest that had recently been spotted in a target area.

Read more at SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Wright State University President David Hopkins said there were many concerns about the proposed funding cuts. During a meeting Monday with the Wright State faculty senate, he said the plan had “met its end for a while.”

“The idea is we need to be less regulated so we can respond to the needs of our community,” Hopkins said following the meeting. “The concept is good. It’s just how we visit it in the future, and how we put it into existence that really works without taking money.”

Hodge said the state universities are still committed to the idea of reducing regulations and dedicating more money to scholarships.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

Are you a fan of musical theater but you missed out on getting a ticket to Phantom? Follow in Lara’s footsteps: volunteer to usher and get in free.

The monthly Raider Recon videos highlight student activities and organizations on campus and invites students to get out and explore their opportunities.

Check back at the end of May to see Lara learn more about S.C.U.B.A. at Wright State.

A plan to allow Ohio’s 14 public universities to become “enterprise” schools — receiving less state funding in exchange for no longer being held to some “burdensome” regulations — has stalled indefinitely, although no formal declaration of its status has been made by the state to the higher education institutions.

Wright State University President David Hopkins said there were many concerns about the proposed funding cuts. During a meeting Monday with the Wright State faculty senate, he said the plan had “met its end for a while.”

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

Artist Bing Davis (pictured at ArtsGala with his wife, Audrey) will be the featured speaker at this year's Friends of the Libraries luncheon.

Renowned Dayton artist Willis ‘Bing’ Davis will present “The Arts as an Agent of Change” at the Wright State Friends of the Libraries’ 33rd annual spring luncheon noon­–1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22, in the Nutter Center Berry Room.

The cost is $17 for Friends’ members and $19 for non-members. Lunch of either Jack Daniels Chicken or Oriental Stir Fry is included. Register online at www.libraries.wright.edu/calendar/events or by calling (937) 775-2380.

Davis’ artwork put Dayton on the map in creative circles. His work is known for being symbolic of his outlook on life today and the vision of a heritage long past. Through ceramics, drawing, painting, photography and jewelry, his art is considered a mosaic of both African and American cultures.

Davis is one of Ohio’s best-known artists and is especially suited to talk about the Arts as an Agent of Change in not only American but global society. He was a pioneer of the Dayton Public Schools Living Art Center program that was a forerunner to the National Artists in the Schools program, and has taught every age level, keeping in regular contact with many former students.

Born in Greer, S.C., and raised in Dayton, he graduated from DePauw University and received his M.Ed. from Miami University. He also attended the School of the Dayton Art Institute and pursued graduate study at Indiana State University. He has taught in the Dayton Public Schools, and DePauw, Miami and Central State universities. Throughout 20 years at Central State University, he served as chair of the Art Department and director for the Paul Robeson Cultural and Performing Arts Center. He also served as an artist-in-residence for the School of Education at the University of Dayton, and as a visiting scholar at Wright State.

His work has been exhibited throughout the world including the U.S. Embassy Accra, Ghana; the Museum of Applied Art in Frankfurt, Germany; the Society for Contemporary Crafts in Pittsburgh; the National Museum of Art of West Africa, and the Savannah College of Art and Design, among many others.

The Friends of the Libraries is a not-for-profit group created in 1978 that supports the Wright State University Libraries in their goals of continually expanding and improving upon collections, resources and facilities for the benefit of WSU students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community. More information on the Friends of the Libraries and membership support is available by calling (937) 775-2380 or online at http://libraries.wright.edu/support/friends/.

Physics professor Elliott Brown and graduate student Anna Lukawska work in the lab on nanobiological characterizations.

There is hardly a greater discovery during the past century than DNA–deoxyribonucleic acid–the biomolecular material in every cell of the human body. DNA contains the genetic information necessary for cell replication, protein synthesis and reproduction.

Naturally, DNA sensing and identification has become a very important technology in such areas as biology, medicine and law enforcement. But positive identification without ambiguity is difficult because DNA is so sparse in the human organism and because it shares many of the same chemical bonds as other more common biomolecules–proteins and polysaccharides.

So traditional spectroscopic methods, such as infrared transmission, cannot distinguish DNA from these other molecules. More elaborate techniques are necessary, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by gel electrophoresis, which are expensive and time-consuming.

Fortunately, the large size of DNA molecules makes them amenable to other spectroscopic methods in the THz region of the electromagnetic spectrum–a region well below the infrared in frequency but well above common radio and radar frequencies.

Wright State University researchers led by physics professor Elliott Brown have been investigating these unique THz DNA signatures through a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) funded by the U.S. Army Research Office. Their multi-year $600,000 grant has recently identified several unique and surprisingly strong signatures from DNA molecules between 0.7 and 1.0 THz.

“The surprise is that we have recently measured these DNA signatures under physiological conditions in which the DNA was suspended in an aqueous buffer solution very similar to that in living cells,” Brown said. “Previously, the strong THz absorption by liquid water was thought to be too strong to observe signatures from any suspended molecular species.”

So far, Brown said, the signatures appear unique to the DNA molecule at hand, be it single-stranded or double-stranded DNA.

“The caveat is that so far we have only observed relatively short DNA strands well under the length of the human genome,” he said. “But we are moving in that direction.”

The research project is headed by the University of California-Irvine, and along with Wright State University has collaborators at Marshall University, Yale University and the University of Chicago. The MURI Grant funds the research for up to five years.

Brown, Ph.D., Ohio Research Scholars Endowed Chair in Sensors Physics at Wright State, is an expert in terahertz radiation, which consists of invisible light waves in the electromagnetic spectrum higher in frequency than microwave and lower than infrared light. Terahertz waves can penetrate materials such as clothing, paper, cardboard, wood and plastic, but not metal or water.

Berkwood Farmer has spent the past decade of his life helping prepare students for a future in the business world.

As dean of the Raj Soin College of Business at Wright State University    , Farmer has steered the business school to high achievements, and colleagues say he leaves behind big shoes to fill.

He will retire from his post this June after 11 years, but will remain at Wright State as a professor.

But for Farmer, a no-nonsense leader whose southern accent has not waned the decade since he moved from Virginia to Southwest Ohio, the time is right to step …

Read more at BizJournals.com

KETTERING — A few years ago, it was a foregone conclusion that Ohio’s millions of ash trees would fall to the emerald ash borer.

Losing them to the insect or cutting them down in advance of the inevitable are no longer the only options.

The city of Kettering, which has been chemically protecting 200 of the approximately 1,500 ash trees that grow in parks and on other city properties since 2008, is wrapping up the 2012 treatments in locations including Polen Farm, Indian Riffle Park, Ireland Park and the grounds of the government center.

Parks supervisor Mike Fleener said the prognosis for saving the trees has improved and the cost of doing so has come down.

The city spends about $3,000 a year for a chemical that is sprayed on the trunks of ash trees to repel the borers.

“The way we do this is relatively quick and has a low impact, which is important because we are working in public areas,” Fleener said.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

FAIRBORN — Senator Sherrod Brown hosted a forum today at Wright State University to discuss a proposed bill dealing with Stafford student loans.

Brown’s bill would maintain the current interest rate of 3.4%.

Read more and watch video at daytonsnewssource.com

Fraternities from Wright State University took the stage at the Nutter Center for the 13th Annual Harley E. Flack Greek Step Show.  More than a thousand people were on hand to watch the groups show off their step skills.

Read more and watch video at daytonsnewssource.com

KETTERING — A few years ago, it was a foregone conclusion that Ohio’s millions of ash trees would fall to the emerald ash borer.

Losing them to the insect or cutting them down in advance of the inevitable are no longer the only options.

Wright State University is a partner in a long-term research project seeking a more permanent solution than temporary pesticides — breeding an American tree that resists the borer the way China’s less-desirable Manchurian ash does.

Don Cipollini, a professor of biological sciences at WSU, said the U.S. Forestry Service, Ohio State and Michigan State universities also are part of an effort that eventually may allow partial restoration of the North American ash.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

FAIRBORN — After a few minutes at the wheel, 19-year-old Richard Watson was a believer.

“I know I’m not going to text and drive again,” Watson said.

Watson and other students attempted to drive impaired as part of UNITE International’s texting and DUI/DWI simulator during Wright State University’s car show Saturday.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

U.S. Senator from Ohio Sherrod Brown reminded the crowd that national student loan debt, a sum he says is about $800 billion, is now greater than credit card and auto loan debt combined.

Roughly 10,000 students at Wright State University depend on subsidized Stafford loans to go to college. Soon after graduation, they all know they’ll have to pay it back with 3.4% interest. But this summer, that rate could double.

“We simply can’t allow the interest on student loans to increase,” said U.S. Senator from Ohio Sherrod Brown at his May 4 press conference in the Student Union.

Several years ago through bi-partisan agreement, the current rate was locked in, said Brown but that agreement is due to expire July 1, effectively doubling the interest rate for about 382,000 students in Ohio.

Joined by Wright State student body President Paul Reed, student body Vice President Nick Warrington and Michelle Anderson, a student-worker in the Office of Financial Aid, Brown argued the hike would be crushing for the future of education.  He reminded the crowd that national student loan debt, a sum he says is about $800 billion, is now greater than credit card and auto loan debt combined.

Brown and three Wright State students spoke at the May 4 news conference.

“The average student in this country who graduates from college has $27,000 in debt. It didn’t used to be that way and I don’t think we have any business piling more debt on top of that,” said Brown.

According to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the rate hike would add about $1,000 in loan debt per loan for the average student.

Brown, Senator Jack Reed (Rhode Island) and Senator Tom Harkin (Iowa) are the lead sponsors of the proposed legislation, Stop the Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act of 2012, which he said would keep the loan at its current rate and pay for the difference by closing an unrelated tax loophole.

Brown said it’s particularly important to take action to protect universities like Wright State that have kept tuition costs down and have such a large portion of the student body that are first-generation college students.

“This hike will be felt very much at a school like Wright State, which does a good job of keeping its tuition in check, and at places like Sinclair and at other community colleges too, where the cost of higher ed is still a burden for so many families because their parents can’t afford to lend them money,” said Brown.

Berkwood Farmer, dean of Wright State University’s Raj Soin College of Business, will retire in June after 11 years on the job. Farmer will remain at Wright State as a professor. He recently sat down with the Dayton Business Journal.

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing business school students today?

A: I think the biggest challenge for business students and for all students today is going to be how are they going to pay for higher education. Because the cost for higher education is going up every day and it has for 10 years — much higher than the rate of inflation. And then we have the trouble with financial aid. Financial aid is probably going to be less than it was in the future.

Read more at bizjournals.com

The government is spending millions of dollars to determine whether video games can be designed as instructional tools for intelligence analysts, who help compile reports that U.S. officials use to identify potential threats from emerging foreign powers.

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), research arm of the director of national intelligence, is coordinating the effort by hiring some of the nation’s largest defense contracting companies. The latest contract, a $9.1 million project awarded to a team led by Boeing Co. for work through December 2015, was issued in April through the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Some experts who have examined past failures of intelligence analysis have concluded that mistakes made as a result of cognitive bias were among the root causes, (Cherreka) Montgomery (an IARPA spokeswoman) said. Improving on that performance is a key for the intelligence community as a whole, she said.

Other research with similar goals is under way. Mary Fendley, a Wright State University researcher in human factors engineering, said she designed a process through an Air Force Research Laboratory-supported project to help analysts examining images from intelligence sources to correct for cognitive biases.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

Cedarville is one of more than a dozen area colleges and universities that works to find a speaker who is a financial, scheduling and community fit to provide the spring commencement address.

Schools use a range of committees, student recommendations and outside assistance to pick speakers whose messages they hope will resonate with more than 25,000 area graduates and attendees.

Neal Gittleman, music director of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, will receive an honorary degree from Wright State and serve as commencement speaker at the school’s June 9 ceremony. He said he will likely spend more time preparing for that address than many speeches he gives because he considers it a higher responsibility

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

Mia Schaikewitz, (at left) will visit Wright State Monday, May 7 for an advance screening of the new Sundance Channel docu-series "Push Girls."

A rising star swimmer in Atlanta, Georgia, Mia Schaikewitz was not unlike most able-bodied high school students achieving both in the classroom and in an athletic arena. Athletically gifted, her strength, technique and endurance in the water allowed her to accomplish feats that most of us could not. But no amount of training could prepare her for her biggest challenge.

One evening she found herself unable to move her legs. Within 12 hours, doctors discovered that an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) had ruptured in her spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

Shaikewitz hasn’t walked since, but she hasn’t held back either.

Schaikewitz’s story, and the stories of three women like her who continue to persevere, will soon be chronicled on the Sundance Channel’s newest half-hour long docu-series, Push Girls.

Click here to view the Push Girls trailer.

The show premieres in June, but the Wright State University community will get to see an advance screening of the show Monday, May 7, in part because of the university’s excellent record of serving students with disabilities.

The event will be in the Student Union Apollo Room at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. Those who attend will get the chance to meet Shiakewitz and participate in a Q&A session after the advance screening.

“For decades, Wright State has been a pioneer on accessibility issues,” said Jeff Vernooy, director of disability services. “It makes perfect sense that a television show about young adults achieving despite their disabilities is going to be shown to our community, which has so many similar students achieving at the same level.”

According to Vernooy, Wright State has more students with severe disabilities on its campus than almost any other school in the country.

In fact, in February, Wright State was named one of the nation’s top disability-friendly schools.

According to College Success for Students with Physical Disabilities by Chris Wise Tiedemann, Wright State and four other schools go above and beyond the rest in making independent living possible, offering the most supportive environments for students with serious physical disabilities to live on campus.

The book noted that Wright State has accessible housing, accessible transportation and a tunnel system that connects all of the academic buildings. In addition, the university has personal care attendants, wheelchair sports and a good online guide to help disabled students prepare for college.

“The environment we have here at Wright State has been built up over years and really reflects a decades-long commitment to accessibility yes, but to all of our students,” said Vernooy. “I’m looking forward to meeting Mia and hearing what she has to say about the show and the accessibility issues that will be brought to the forefront in the show too.”

Push Girls premieres June 5 at 10 p.m. on the Sundance Channel.

Visit http://www.wright.edu/communications-and-marketing/push-girls-advance-screening for more information about this event or call the Office of Disability Services at 937-775-5680.

Wright State student Naava Honer will study the gray treefrog, a local species with the unusual ability to tolerate being partially frozen.

A Wright State undergraduate biology major is one of 24 nationwide who has been named an American Physiological Society (APS) 2012 Undergraduate Research Fellow.

Naava Honer, a sophomore/junior-level biology major from Winston Salem, N.C., will receive a $4,000 stipend during the 10-week summer fellowship focused on a research project with David Goldstein, Ph.D., professor and chair of the biological sciences department. She will also have an opportunity to present her research results at the APS national conference in Boston, Goldstein said.

APS is the major national organization for basic and applied physiology. Its annual conference attracts more than 10,000 research presentations, Goldstein said.

The wife of an active-duty service member and mother of a 9-year-old son, Honer said she hopes to attend the Boonshoft School of Medicine after graduation and pursue a degree in radiation oncology.

The fellowship will enable Honer to gain more laboratory experience. “I learn so much in the lab and enjoy the hands-on experience that it provides me,” she said. It also gives her a unique opportunity to network with other investigators and make a contribution to scientific knowledge, she said.

Goldstein said Honer will study the gray treefrog, a local species with the unusual ability to tolerate being partially frozen. “We are particularly interested in the role played by proteins called aquaporins,” which allow the frog’s cells to regulate their volume and their biochemical environment, Goldstein said.

FAIRBORN — The former intern for ex-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who rushed to her aid in the moments after she was shot last year shared his story and made a call to public service to about 100 Wright State University students, faculty and community members Wednesday night.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

FAIRBORN — The man credited with helping save the life of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was in the Miami Valley Wednesday night.  Daniel Hernandez spoke at Wright State University as part of the University Presidential Lecture Series.

Read more and watch video at daytonsnewssource.com

President Obama called Daniel Hernandez a hero for his actions following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The man credited with saving the life of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot during a campaign stop in Tucson, Ariz., spoke at Wright State University, where he detailed the shooting and called on students and others to pursue public service.

“There are not enough people trying to change their communities,” Daniel Hernandez told about 100 Wright State students, faculty and community members. “I think all of us can find little ways in which we can give back to our communities; find something that drives us, find something you’re passionate about.”

Hernandez’ May 2 address in the Student Union Apollo Room was part of the university’s 2011-12 Presidential Lecture Series. His talk was titled “How Student Advocacy and Activism Helped Me Give to My Community.”

A 22-year-old University of Arizona student, Hernandez served as a campaign manager for a state representative and teaches young people how to run effective races. He was a volunteer who helped Giffords get re-elected in 2008 and became an intern for Giffords just days before the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting that left her critically injured and six people dead.

Following the shooting, Hernandez rushed to Giffords’ side, held her up so she wouldn’t choke on her blood, and applied pressure to her wound with his hand until clean smocks could be found. He then rode with Giffords to the hospital in the ambulance, explaining what was happening and trying to contact her husband and parents.

Hernandez told his Wright State audience that after he arrived at the hospital and was separated from Giffords, he heard that she had died and didn’t learn for eight hours that she had actually survived.

“For that eight hours, I was in a very distraught state because after all the things I that had done and all the things that other people had done, it seemed like all the work had been for naught,” he said. “So we were very lucky that we were able to get her into the … medical center within 45 minutes and probably saved her life.”

When President Obama came to Tucson for the memorial service a few days after the shooting, he said Americans were grateful for the actions by Hernandez, who rejects the idea that he was a hero.

“You may deny it,” Obama was quoted as saying, “but we have decided you are a hero because you ran through the chaos to minister to your boss and tended to her wounds and helped keep her alive.”

Hernandez said publicly speaking about the shooting has been “a very strange form of therapy.”

“For a lot of other people who were there, they have issues even today speaking about what happened,” he said. “But because I never had the opportunity to not talk about what happened, I’ve been forced to process it out loud, generally in front of a camera.”

Hernandez, who is Hispanic, has said that if there is a lesson to be learned from the tragedy, it is that public service needs to become a higher priority and that Americans need to come together regardless of race.

“Public service is something we need much more in our communities, whether it’s in Ohio or Arizona,” he said. “You never have enough public servants.”

Hernandez also emphasized the importance of kindness, civility, humility and education.

“It doesn’t matter what your economic status is, whether you’re a minority or disabled; it really is about how much work and effort you put into it because education is one of the greatest equalizers that we have,” he said.

The Wright State University Presidential Lecture Series was developed to advance human justice and promote the university’s commitment to creating a diverse university community and learning environment.

Joanne Li will assume the role of dean at Wright State’s Raj Soin College of Business on July 9.

Joanne Li, professor and chair of the Department of Finance at Towson University in Maryland, has been named dean of Wright State University’s Raj Soin College of Business.

Li has a Ph.D. in finance from Florida State University and is a recognized scholar in the fields of corporate governance and international finance. She has been a CFA Charterholder since 2001 and is a selected speaker for the CFA Institute and CFA Institute Asia-Pacific. Li is currently the associate editor for Financial Analysts Journal and editor for Baltimore Business Review, a Maryland journal.

Li spearheaded the creation of a soon-to-open T. Rowe Price Finance Laboratory at Towson University and planned an international joint finance concentration with Shanghai Finance University in China. Over the years, she has also developed strong relationships with the local business community. She is currently on the board of the Baltimore CFA Society.

“Dr. Li has a deep knowledge of international finance and has written extensively about banking and markets in Asia,” said Wright State Provost Steven Angle. “She is a great fit for Wright State. We are proud of our partnerships with local businesses, and Dr. Li brings with her a rich history of community engagement. In addition, our flourishing student exchange programs will benefit from her background and experiences.”

Li obtained her bachelor’s degree in finance from Florida State University and did her Ph.D. dissertation on the role of boards of directors in corporate governance. She was promoted to the rank of associate professor of finance at Loyola University in Maryland before assuming her role as a chair and full professor of finance at Towson in 2006.

At Towson, Li worked closely with multiple constituents to take on initiatives such as an interdisciplinary major in mathematical finance with the Actuarial Science and Mathematics departments and the joint finance program with Shanghai Finance University. She was also the project manager for the T. Rowe Price Finance Lab, proposing the budget, negotiating with vendors and taking part in fundraising. The finance lab is scheduled to open this August, with over $600,000 in pledges and donations as of today.

Li says the finance department at Towson emphasizes analytical skills and financial modeling and nurtures curious minds to become passionate about the social and economic welfare of the community through rigorous academic training.

“Striving for academic excellence, we cultivate a forward-thinking environment for students to grow professionally with an emphasis in ethical behavior and a curriculum that is responsive to the demand of the market,” Li says. “Upon graduation, our students are expected to be model corporate citizens who bring common good to the global business environment.”

Li will assume the role of dean at Wright State’s Raj Soin College of Business on July 9.

Judo is taught largely in Japanese, making international competition easy. Now, in 2012, judo is the only marital art recognized by the Olympics and the most practiced individual sport in the world.

A Russian competitor meets his English rival on the floor. A French referee gives the signal and the match begins. The remarkable thing? All three of them are speaking in Japanese.

That ease of communication is a feature of judo, a martial art developed by doctor Jigoro Kano in 1882. Kano envisioned a truly international sport, spanning borders and oceans.

Judo is taught largely in Japanese, making international competition easy. Now, in 2012, judo is the only marital art recognized by the Olympics and the most practiced individual sport in the world.

On May 5 at 9 a.m., judo competitors from across the region and the country will fill the Wright State Nutter Center for the Wright Way Judo Tournament. Spectators are welcome and parking and entry are free.

People expecting Karate Kid-style kicks and jumps will be surprised. Judo is made up of grappling, choke-holds and throws. Competitors get up close and personal.

“The basic distinction is that judo is a defensive art,” said Mark Curry, judo instructor at Wright State and at the Dayton Martial Arts Center. “Judo utilizes off-balancing to defeat an attacker.”

Translated to English, judo means “gentle way,” emphasizing its defensive nature.

The Wright Way tournament will feature male and female competitors of all ages, from a demonstration category for 3-year-olds all the way up to the masters category, including participants in their 60s. “It runs the total spectrum,” said Curry.

Some of the competition will be fierce. Curry expects experienced martial artists from around the country.

“Lots of the guys who are Olympic competitors are making a lot of these regional tournaments just to hone in and get ready for the trials,” he said.

Curry himself has been on the U.S. judo team and a multiple-time national and state champion. In March, he celebrated 45 years in judo.

At the tournament, Curry will lead a team of martial artists from the Dayton Martial Arts Center. There are prizes for first, second and third places in individual and team categories and awards for the best technician in junior and senior classes.

“We have our eyes on the first-place team trophy,” said Curry.

Wright State students, faculty and staff gather for a group photo Saturday, April 28, after the Miami Valley March for Babies in Carillon Historical Park in Dayton.

The March of Dimes’ annual Miami Valley March for Babies fundraising campaign finished with a flourish last week, thanks in part to efforts by Wright State students, faculty and staff.

Despite chilly temperatures and the threat of rain, hundreds of volunteers gathered at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton on Saturday, April 28, to turn in money, celebrate and walk in support of research and programs to help premature babies and their families.

“We must have been one of the largest contingents participating,” Wright State President David Hopkins said Monday in a letter to the campus community.

More than 150 student athletes, the Business Student Leadership team, representatives from We Serve U, and members of every college and division took part in Saturday’s walk, said Hopkins, who co-chaired this year’s campaign with his wife Angelia.

While donations are still coming in and being counted, the 2012 Miami Valley March for Babies appears to be on track to reach its community goal of $260,000, said Jacalyn Allen, director of the March of Dimes’ Dayton office.

The deadline for teams to submit their funds to compete for awards is June 1, but fundraising goes on throughout the year, she said.

Wright State teams should turn in their money by Friday, May 11, said Jacqueline McMillan, vice president for enrollment management and chair of the campaign’s campus steering committee. Additional prizes will be awarded later to top individuals and top teams, she said.

Wright State’s fundraising effort included raffling a 50-inch flat-panel TV. Volunteers sold 909 raffle tickets for $1 apiece or six for $5. The winning ticket went to Ulysses Drinks, director of administration for Communications and Marketing.

The name change comes as AHEAD rolls out a formal membership program, branding and a website for the public, government and industry to obtain information on its research.

AHEAD’s research capabilities include neuroscience/medical imaging; automated and semi-automated tools to measure human performance in the operation of remotely piloted unmanned platforms; intelligence analysis trust and visualization tools; and live learning, modeling, simulation and training environments.

The new name is designed to better acquaint the public with the research its members conduct for the 711th Human Performance Wing and other agencies and to differentiate it from other human performance research organizations.

AHEAD was established in 2010 as the Human Performance Consortium (HPC) under the auspices of the Wright State Research Institute, a not-for-profit corporation affiliated with Wright State University. In that time, AHEAD has won three, million-dollar-plus contracts awarded to its members aimed at advancing human systems technologies to meet future Air Force challenges.

S. Narayanan, executive director of the Wright State Research Institute, said that by bringing the best and brightest together in the region regardless of organizational affiliation and helping accelerate research at the Air Force Research Laboratory, the model has been proven to work.

“AHEAD is now beyond proof-of-concept, is generating jobs in the Dayton region and is ready to expand,” Narayanan said.

FAIRBORN — The Human Performance Consortium has rebranded itself AHEAD — Alliance for Human Effectiveness and Advancement — to better define what it does and expand its ranks to compete for contracts with the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, officials said.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

They’re not high-energy musical acts. They’re high-energy puppies being trained to become service dogs for children with disabilities across the country.

Last quarter, service dog training at Wright State officially launched with a pilot program, three pups and three students volunteering to foster the dogs during their training. Deemed a success, it continues this spring with four new canines and the help of 4 Paws for Ability, an assistance dog placement agency based in Xenia, Ohio.

“One of the most exciting and beneficial things to our service dogs that Wright State has that other colleges don’t have as much of is the community of students that also have disabilities,” said Jessa Brown, an instructor at 4 Paws.

Wright Students Lara Guthrie (left) and Brittany Clark are joined by service dog in training, Aerosmith.

Brown has played a role in placing about 300 service dogs with children who have disabilities. The agency has trained and placed about 600 since 1998.

Service dogs are trained best in public places with a wide array of environmental settings, and exposure to many different kinds of people. It’s particularly important that the animals are comfortable in school settings for long periods of time, as many will accompany youngsters in the classroom.

Agencies like 4 Paws are quickly learning that college campuses fit their training needs perfectly, and schools like Wright State that already feature a robust accessibility culture are an even greater fit.

“We’re not only allowing the use of service dogs, but we’re providing the proper support, and now we’re partnering with agencies to create more service animals,” said Jeff Vernooy, Wright State’s director of disability services.

Wright State is the only college in the country that has a dog park built specifically for service dogs. Vernooy says the park was opened because this community recognizes that service animals can be just as important to a person with a disability as a cane.

Wright State student Lara Guthrie works with Aerosmith at a bi-weekly meeting for students and service dogs who are part of the program.

Students who volunteer to foster the dogs are given a puppy 5–7 months in age and are expected to care for the animal for 16 weeks. The dogs receive basic obedience training, potty training and command training before they are fostered, but have almost no experience working as a service dog.

Senior Information Systems student Alex Campbell has been training dogs since she was 10. The service dog-training program may turn out to be part of her legacy at Wright State. Last spring in a course that required service-learning, she reached out to 4 Paws and got the ball rolling on campus.

“It’s really simple in some ways, and very difficult in others,” said Campbell of training service dogs. “It is a big responsibility. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. is a long day, especially for a puppy.”

One of the most difficult challenges in training service dogs can be teaching the puppy that there’s a time and place for play. Docile breeds like retrievers are commonly used (as will be the case with three of the animals on campus during the next training session), but German Shepherds are not uncommon, nor are smaller dogs that can be more convenient with their size and eating habits.

Brown beams at the idea of the unique exposure Wright State has to offer, with so many accessibility features built into the campus landscape.

“A lot of the students work on getting the dogs trained to open the handicap buttons by hitting the button; and obviously, if you’re in an environment where there aren’t many handicap buttons, that’s going to be harder to do,” said Brown.

Brown says matching the right dog with the right student is crucial to the training.

“I’m happy to place dogs with whoever would like to foster, as long as they are a right fit for the program regardless of abilities, and as long as they are able to care for the dog,” said Brown. “Matching the right schedule, home environment and mindset are musts.”

It’s a big commitment, but interest is certainly growing on campus said Campbell.

While many students respond to the Wright State call to action Raider up!, don’t be surprised to see more dogs on campus in the coming year as more students elect to volunteer their time and Raider pup!

Dayton Daily News sports columnist Tom Archdeacon will be featured at the annual event.

Dayton Daily News columnist Tom Archdeacon will present “Dayton Sports Through the Arch” 7:00–8:30 p.m. Friday, May 11, for the 3^rd  annual Living Legends of the Dayton Daily News Archive lecture on the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library 4th floor.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Register online at www.libraries.wright.edu/calendar/events or by calling (937) 775-2380.

A reception following the lecture will include an exhibit of Archdeacon’s materials from the Dayton Daily News Archive plus samples from the WSU Student News Bureau.

Archdeacon is described as an ‘old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue.” His column is sought out daily for personal, often heartwarming stories about sports, Dayton, Ohio, and anything else that catches his interest. Don’t miss this chance to meet him and hear his stories in person.

This series is sponsored collaboratively by Wright State’s Department of Communication and the Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives. Past speakers have been aviation photographer Ty Greenlees and former Dayton Daily News editor Jeffrey Bruce.

The students’ service projects included refurbishing an orphanage for use as a Catholic school.

When hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans, thousands of people were killed, injured or displaced. That was almost seven years ago, but the communities affected by the storm are still rebuilding.

This spring, Wright State University sent students to the Big Easy to help in that process. The trip was the culmination of a UVC service-learning class in which students studied the financial, social and psychological effects of Katrina on people and communities within New Orleans.

“It helped us gain an understanding of what they went through so we’d have background on the city when got down there,” said Chelsea Burns, who participated in the project. Burns is a junior mass communication major. She said that once the class arrived in New Orleans, the damage was not immediately visible.

“You don’t see a lot of the destruction,” she said. “They’ve done a lot of rebuilding. But they talk about how it’s not so much physically rebuilding; it’s about rebuilding the community.”

Kia Watkins, a senior psychology major, said the most moving part of the trip was meeting a man who had lost everything—numerous cars and three houses—in the storm but still invested his last penny in his community center.

“He was one of the most humble people I’ve ever met,” said Watkins. “He said Katrina was the best thing that ever happened to him because it taught him how to appreciate people, and that material things don’t last.”

While they worked in New Orleans, students had the chance to speak to many natives of the city about their experiences. Burns even spoke with Leona Tate, who helped desegregate schools in the wake of Brown versus Board of Education.

The students’ service projects included refurbishing an orphanage for use as a Catholic school and planting gardens to provide food and herbal remedies for people who cannot afford professional health care. They also planted trees in wetlands belonging to local native American tribes.

One of the most talked-about tasks was sorting Mardi Gras beads at an ARC (Association for the Retarded Children) center.

Watkins, who initially thought the project was strange and a little silly, soon learned otherwise. “I didn’t realize that so much funding from Mardi Gras and the Mardi Gras beads is given to the city to help in areas where help is needed,” she said. The ARC recycles the beads, selling them the next year for funds to run the center.

One of Burns’ favorite activities was a visit to a horse rescue.

The horses were found wandering after Katrina, or were let go by owners who could no longer afford to keep them. The woman who runs the rescue farm uses the horses in an incentive program for young people who are struggling in school. In return for good grades, they received riding lessons and got to spend time with the horses, grooming them and working in their stalls.

Both Watkins and Burns said that the trip to New Orleans was eye opening, not only because of the devastation of Katrina, but because it let gave them the opportunity to experience a different culture.

“It helps you learn to look at things from other people’s perspective and become more empathetic,” said Burns. “It gives me more motivation to step outside of my comfort zone and go after opportunities that I wouldn’t normally have.”

Watkins said the time outside the classroom helped her bond with classmates.

“I don’t talk in class at all,” she said. “But the minute you put me somewhere where I’m hands on and interacting with people…that’s the best way to learn.”

The trip to New Orleans builds on Wright State’s already-impressive resume of service-learning curriculum. In addition to the New Orleans group, Wright State sent students to Athens, Ohio this spring to partner with the Good Works. Students from Wright State also went to Joplin, Mo., last year in the wake of the F5 tornado that devastated the region.

Kids who have grown up in today’s media-saturated environment are more prone to be affected by news of disaster, said Todd Walker, a psychologist in private practice in Cincinnati and a member of the clinical faculty of the Wright State University School of Professional Psychology.

“Even more now than in previous generations, there’s less of a distinction between real life and what you see on TV,” Walker said. “In this day and age, watching things online or on TV is just one step removed from the event itself.”

This may be particularly true for preschool children, who aren’t yet media-savvy. “Young kids don’t understand that it’s the same newsreel over and over,” Goodman said of day-long coverage of a particular event. “They think it’s the same event occurring over and over.”

Read more at WOHL.com

While Sinclair has consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top community colleges, it has a graduation rate of 9 percent. Ohio’s four-year schools have a graduation rate of about 60 percent, and for two-year schools it’s 9 percent.

“The national graduation rate data … is flawed. It’s really bad data,” said David Hopkins, president of Wright State University.

WSU’s graduation rate is 45 percent.

“It’s been used so inappropriately. I think it’s been held up as an indicator of quality of an institution. It’s time we come up with a better indicator of student success,” Hopkins said.

College officials say their schools do not receive credit for graduating some students who reflect more of their population, such as laid-off workers returning to gain new skills or military members who attend part-time.

Read more at MiddletownJournal.com

Driven by operating companies, which are primarily in petroleum, the center also counts among its members three of the major control system suppliers: ABB, Emerson and Yokogawa. The group was founded at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, which has a strong background in human performance research, and is managed by Beville Engineering, which specializes in the analysis of operator performance issues in the refinery and petrochemical industry.

Read more at ControlDesign.com

Wright State President David R. Hopkins dons faux prison garb to raise "bail" for the March of Dimes

Wright State President David Hopkins briefly traded pinstripes for prison stripes on Friday, April 27—all in the name of healthier babies.

Campus police placed Hopkins under faux arrest at noon, handcuffing him in his University Hall office and incarcerating him in an open tent in the midst of Wright State’s “April Craze” festival. Wearing a black-and-white striped prison shirt and hat, Hopkins pleaded with passing students, faculty and staff to help him pay his $250 bail.

He was among 16 Wright State faculty and staff who volunteered for “jail and bail” as part of the March of Dimes’ 2012 March for Babies fundraising campaign. Hopkins and his wife Angelia are co-chairs of this year’s campaign.

“I was happy to go to jail so I could help raise money for the March of Dimes. I’m really honored to serve as chair,” Hopkins said.

The heads of three local educational institutions came to his aid.

Daniel Curran, president of the University of Dayton; Stephen L. Johnson, president of Sinclair Community College; and Col. Timothy J. Lawrence, commandant of the Air Force Institute of Technology, responded to Hopkins’ plea for each to pledge $50 to help get him out of stir.

“I want to thank President Johnson, President Curran and Col. Lawrence for helping me get out of jail,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins quickly reached his $250 bail, but he lingered to collect another $90. “We’re doing it for babies,” he said.

The March for Babies’ community fundraising goal is $260,000. The campaign  culminates at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 28, with a celebration and walk at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton. Visit www.wright.edu/marchforbabies to learn more or make a donation.

Judges who selected the winning photos represented a diverse group of Wright State staff, faculty, students, retirees and community members.

Judges said it’s clear there are many talented and creative photographers capable of capturing interesting views of nature on both Wright State’s Dayton and Lake campuses.

Take a look!

Earth Day 2012 Photo Contest results:

1st  place – Kyle Davis–”Under the Weather”

2nd place – Moner Ragas–”Veins & Arteries”

3rd place – Emily Polander–”Wooded Path”

Runners Up:

Chelsea Hall–”Spider”

Tina Vasilescu–”White Flowers”

Jeannette Loyer–”Dandelion”

Ellyn Polander–”Lake Beauty”

Honorable Mention:

Lake Campus–Russell Kerfoot–”Lake View”

WSU Woods–Amanda Phillips–”Little Wonders”

Interesting Perspective–Jessica Herbst–”Tall Pines”

Nighttime Residents–Paul Downing–”Deer on Campus”

Dramatic Scene–Jean Goettemoeller–”Pines at Night”

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission heard an appeal of a housing discrimination case, a sexual harassment case at a restaurant and a request by a hair salon to create a classification of jobs that could only be filled by female workers.

Students at Wright State University not only got a rare chance to see the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in action; they also got some career tips.

The five-member commission held a public hearing in the Student Union Atrium on April 26, collecting testimony in three different cases from around the state.

The commission also gave special recognition to Wright State, Trustee Grace Ramos and Berkwood Farmer, dean of the Raj Soin College of Business.

Executive Director G. Michael Payton said holding the hearing outside of Columbus was designed to bring the government to the people. He said coming to Wright State also gives the commission a chance to help educate future leaders.

“It’s completely compatible with the leadership principles you’re teaching here,” Payton said, adding that many students will likely be business leaders and face issues of diversity in a diversified world.

“Those who are able to navigate that are going to be successful,” he said.

The commission heard an appeal of a housing discrimination case, a sexual harassment case at a restaurant and a request by a hair salon to create a classification of jobs that could only be filled by female workers.

The commission employs about 80 investigators and others statewide, with the staff members coming from a wide variety of educational backgrounds and fields. Each investigation takes generally between seven and 10 months on average.

Prior to the hearing, Desmond Martin, the commission’s director of enforcement and compliance, offered advice to a group of Wright State students who might be considering careers as civil-rights investigators. Martin first became involved with the commission when he received an internship while a senior at the University of Akron. He later became an investigator.

“If you get an internship somewhere, that’s the best thing you can do for yourself,” he told the students.

Following the hearing, the commission presented Wright State with a Civil Rights Leadership Award of Excellence for the university’s support of civil rights and for being one of Ohio’s most accessible universities for disabled persons.

The panel also presented Farmer and Ramos with Civil Rights Leadership Awards of Excellence. Ramos served on the commission for 18 years. Farmer has been a strong supporter of civil rights and of the commission.

Commission Chair Leonard Hubert said the panel was delighted to come to Wright State, which he said is well known for promoting equality and supporting research on the causes and effects of discrimination.

“This forum allows us to present real cases that demonstrate the complexity of discrimination and the harmful effects it has that are often not discussed in the classroom, but are experienced in our everyday lives,” Hubert said. “We hope this experience will inspire a healthy discussion amongst students that serves to eliminate barriers to equality, promote diversity and encourage inclusion in our communities.”

The commission, established in 1959 as the Fair Employment Practices Commission, enforces Ohio’s laws against discrimination due to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, ancestry and age.

The quasi-judicial, administrative state agency receives about 5,000 cases of discrimination complaints a year, primarily in the job and housing areas. It also develops educational programs for students and other residents designed to help eliminate prejudice, its harmful effects and its incompatibility with American principles of equality and fair play.

“This is a unique opportunity for students, faculty, staff and the community to see firsthand how Ohio views violations of individual civil rights,” said J. Michael Bernstein, assistant dean at the Raj Soin College of Business. “The college is fortunate to have this opportunity to bring the hearings to our campus, as we are one of the few universities in the state that the commission visits during the year.”

"The Laramie Project" captures the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepherd (pictured) in Laramie, Wyoming.

A play by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, The Laramie Project captures the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepherd in Laramie, Wyoming. The murder was denounced as a hate crime motivated by homophobia and brought attention to the lack of hate crimes laws in various states.

In collaboration with events for a series of events at Sinclair Community College dubbed Laramie at Sinclair, Wright State University’s Department of Theatre, Dance & Motion Pictures is hosting a public reading of The Laramie Project Sunday, April 29, at 7 p.m. in the Herbst Theatre at the Creative Arts Center.

In an uncommon mix of students who are and are not studying theatre at Wright State, members of the student group Allies will join theatre students in the performance.

“I hope this reading can help us all broaden our tolerance, not just for the homosexual community but for all people, and help to erase some of that fear that is born out of what we don’t understand,” said Marya Cordes, Wright State assistant professor of acting.

The show at Wright State will be one of several performances that will precede a series of events that comprise Laramie at Sinclair. Organizers hope it will lead to greater tolerance for people from all backgrounds, races, religions and sexual orientations in the Dayton area.

Greg Pierotti, an original writer from The Laramie Project and a member of the original cast from the production in New York, will visit Sinclair next week for all of The Laramie Project events in May.

“If you don’t want anybody to be a target of hate in our community and you want a healthy community, I think you’ll want to be a part of this, especially the diversity walk and candle light vigil,” said Kathleen Hotmer, Sinclair adjunct theatre professor.

Laramie at Sinclair events include:

• Tuesday, May 1, 7 p.m.

Community reception with Greg Pierotti at the PRESS Coffee House, 257 Wayne Avenue, Dayton

• Wednesday, May 2, 7 p.m.

Reading and Panel Discussion of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later at Sinclair Community College Building 8, lower level stage area

• Thursday, May 3, 7 p.m.

Diversity Walk/Candlelight Vigil featuring the Dayton Gay Men’s Chorus starting at the Garden Station at the corner of 4th street and Wayne Avenue in Dayton.

• Thursday, May 3, 9 p.m.

After-Party Fundraiser, featuring the Rubi Girls at the Trolley Stop at the corner of  5th street and Wayne avenue.

Visit www.facebook.com/Laramie.at.Sinclair to learn more about Laramie at Sinclair and how you can get involved.

In the third episode of the Follow the Phantom series, Casey Jordan, the junior musical theatre major playing the Phantom, discusses the complex character of the Phantom and the central romance of the musical. We step into the rehearsal room for a look Casey’s acting approach to the role.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gothic musical tells the story of a twisted musical genius and his dangerously obsessive love for young soprano capable of giving life to his songs. Winner of seven Tony Awards, the The Phantom of the Opera is currently the longest-running show on Broadway.

Wright State’s production runs May 10–27, 2012. For tickets or more information, call the Box Office at (937) 775-2500.

Look for future Follow the Phantom episodes to join Casey as he becomes The Phantom of the Opera.

Previous episodes:
Auditions
Hitting the Right Notes

The event gave students an opportunity to engage with the Dayton community through service-learning as they conducted free health screenings and connected attendees with follow-up services.

One day after Earth Day 2012, more discussion tonight about man’s role in keeping the earth in balance.

These Wright State Lake Campus students were learning about sustainability.

Celina architect David Sundersingh was the featured speaker at an event at the campus.

The goal was to get people excited about why sustainability is important to mankind’s survival.

Read more and watch video at www.hometownstations.com

To schedule an appointment at the Wright State University, Atrium Medical Center, Samaritan Sleep Center or Miami Valley Hospital South locations, call CareFinders at (866) 608-3463. To schedule an appointment at the Conover Health Plus, Greene Memorial Hospital or Kettering Sports Medicine Center locations, call (937) 558-3988. The deadline to schedule appointments is May 4.

“Skin cancer affects people of all races and colors, so everyone should learn how to recognize the warning signs,” said Julian Trevino, M.D., professor and chair of the WSU Department of Dermatology. “If something looks suspicious, a screening can save your life. Skin cancer is very treatable if it’s found early.

“Dermatologists from across the Dayton region team up every year to raise awareness and offer these free screenings because we know this can save lives,” he said.

The free screenings will also include optional DermaScan™ viewing, which uses ultraviolet (UV) light to reveal sun damage invisible to the naked eye.

According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. It accounts for nearly half of all cancers in the United States. More than 2 million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancer are found in this country each year. Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, will account for more than 75,000 cases of skin cancer in 2012.

Melanoma is almost always curable when it is found in its very early stages. Although melanoma accounts for only a small percentage of skin cancer, it is far more dangerous than other skin cancers and causes most skin cancer deaths. It accounts for almost 9,000 of the nearly 12,000 skin cancer deaths each year.

The best way to prevent or lower the risk of skin cancer is to practice sun safety by limiting sun exposure and protecting the skin with proper clothing and sunscreens.

The screenings are offered annually each May as part of National Skin Cancer Awareness Month to promote early detection and teach prevention of skin cancer. The free screenings are sponsored by the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Dermatology, along with the American Academy of Dermatology, American Cancer Society, Atrium Medical Center, Conover Health Plus, Elizabeth Place, Good Samaritan Hospital, Good Samaritan North Health Center, Greene Memorial Hospital, Kettering Medical Center, Kettering Sports Medicine Center, Miami Valley Hospital and Premier Community Health.

Skin cancer screening dates and locations
Monday, May 7          
Conover Health Plus*
9 – 11:30 a.m.
Wright State University**
1 – 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 8          
Greene Memorial Hospital*
9 – 11:30 a.m.
Atrium Medical Center Women’s Center**
1 – 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 9
Samaritan Sleep Center**
9 – 11:30 a.m.
Miami Valley Hospital South**
1 – 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 10       
Miami Valley Hospital South**
9 – 11:30 a.m.
1 – 4:30 p.m.

Friday, May 11           
Kettering Sports Medicine Center*
9 – 11:30 a.m.
1 – 4:30 p.m.

*For appointment call (937) 558-3988
**For appointment call (866) 608-3463

The Ohio Civil Rights Commision heard cases during a public hearing in the Student Union Atrium on May 19, 2011.

Trampling on civil rights is a sure way to trigger an investigation by the state agency that enforces laws against discrimination. Wright State University and the surrounding community will get a rare look at such investigations when the Ohio Civil Rights Commission holds a public hearing on campus.

The five-member commission, including Executive Director G. Michael Payton, will hear two cases beginning at 9:30 a.m. on April 26 in the Student Union Atrium.

“This is a unique opportunity for students, faculty, staff and the community to see firsthand how Ohio views violations of individual civil rights,” said J. Michael Bernstein, assistant dean at the Wright State Raj Soin College of Business. “The college is fortunate to have this opportunity to bring the hearings to our campus, as we are one of the few universities in the state that the commission visits during the year.”

Commission Chair Leonard Hubert said the panel is delighted to come to Wright State, which he said is well-known for promoting equality and supports research on the causes and effects of discrimination.

“This forum allows us to present  real cases that demonstrate the complexity of discrimination and the harmful effects it has that are often not discussed in the classroom, but are experienced in our everyday lives,” Hubert said. “We hope this experience will inspire a healthy discussion amongst students that serves to eliminate barriers to equality, promote diversity, and encourage inclusion in our communities.”

Last year, the commission’s public hearing at Wright State bloomed into a real-world civics lesson, drawing nearly 100 students and others to the nerve center of campus. The atrium of the Student Union was transformed into a commission hearing room, replete with courtroom-like tables laden with microphones. Note-taking students filled the chairs.

The commission receives about 5,000 cases of discrimination complaints a year, primarily in the job and housing areas. Recently, military status has been added as a protected class.

Lori Anthony, chief of the Ohio Attorney General Office’s civil rights section, says discrimination can pop up in jobs or housing, where employers or landlords are reluctant to hire or lease to members of the military for fear they will be deployed.

Last year, the audience heard the commission discuss and rule on two cases: one a complaint by a schoolteacher who alleged she was forced to resign because of age discrimination and then suffered racial discrimination when the labor union representing her chose not to arbitrate her grievance; and a complaint by a city employee who alleged she was denied training for a fill-in cashier’s position because of race, sex, disability and religious discrimination. In both cases, the school district, union and city denied the allegations.

The commission, established in 1959 as the Fair Employment Practices Commission, enforces Ohio’s laws against discrimination due to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, ancestry and age.

As a quasi-judicial, administrative state agency, the commission investigates complaints of unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and institutions of higher education. It also develops educational programs for students and other residents designed to help eliminate prejudice, its harmful effects and its incompatibility with American principles of equality and fair play.

The commission meets every three weeks to discuss civil rights policy and rule on discrimination complaints based on the recommendations of its six regional offices.

The agency’s five commissioners are appointed for five-year, staggered terms.

“It’s really to highlight the international students and their contributions to our campus in terms of internationalizing the campus and bringing their cultures and their traditions to our university,” said Michelle Streeter-Ferrari, director of the University Center for International Education (UCIE).

Ferrari said that this year, Wright State has its highest number of international students to date. Between 850 and 900 students from around the world currently call themselves Raiders. They are from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India, China, Libya and many other countries—62 in all.

Below are just some of the rich and culturally diverse images from the 2112 festivity:

After arriving at Wright State, Holler decided to use his experience as a person with a disability to shoot for a degree in rehabilitation. After his third year at Wright State, he moved from home into the dorms, a huge step for someone with his disability.

He carries a 3.78 grade point average while holding a part-time job. He interned with a federal disabilities agency in Washington, D.C., conducting research for the commissioner. He is president of a campus group striving to unify students and students with disabilities.

And Wright State senior Zach Holler does it all from a wheelchair, where he deals with a genetic condition that has left him with greatly limited mobility and severely visually and hearing impaired.

The 23-year-old Holler says he enrolled at Wright State thinking he would just take a few classes and then look for a job. Today, he’s scheduled to graduate in June with a degree in rehabilitation.

“I met more and more people here, with and without disabilities, and I realized what opportunities were really available to me,” Holler said. “So it’s really been progressive, starting with almost nothing–starting from scratch–and it’s built up to a lot of hope for a good career.”

Holler said he initially wanted to attend college out of state, far from his home in the western Ohio town of Clayton. A visit to Wright State and a meeting with Jeffrey Vernooy, director of the Office of Disability Services, changed his mind.

Vernooy said he was impressed with Holler’s self-awareness and skills.

“When you sit down and understand his limitations in terms of his ability to see and hear, it’s pretty darn amazing how he traverses an area that we don’t think he may be able to do,” Vernooy said.

After arriving at Wright State, Holler decided to use his experience as a person with a disability to shoot for a degree in rehabilitation. After his third year at Wright State, he moved from home into the dorms, a huge step for someone with his disability.

Holler also holds down a part-time job with the Access Center for Independent Living, a Dayton non-profit organization that provides training, peer support and equipment designed to help people with disabilities transition from institutional settings to community living.

Holler has always been a star in the classroom. His 3.78 grade point average at Wright State followed a 3.932 GPA in high school. His academic strategy is to maintain a proper balance of study time, sleeping, personal care and friends-and-family time.

“That helps me minimize my stress and increase confidence,” he said.

Last summer, Holler landed an 11-week internship in Washington, D.C., with the Administration on Developmental Disabilities in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He assisted the commissioner on Medicaid-related research projects designed to identify areas of improvement for people with disabilities.

Since last fall, Holler has been busy as president of Abilities United, a social student organization at Wright State designed to bring together students with and without disabilities to promote awareness of advocacy and develop strategies for advocating for oneself.

“We’re trying to bring people of all abilities together in one group to break down comfort barriers,” said Holler. “Disability is a natural part of human experience; every one of us will experience disability of some kind at some point in life.”

But Holler said many people without disabilities tend to be uncomfortable with people who have disabilities because they don’t know how to approach them or are afraid they will inadvertently say something to offend them.

“That’s what we’re trying to break down,” Holler said. “We want people to come together and realize that we are more similar than different.”

Holler’s sister, Mallory, is also a Wright State student and, like her brother, has severe disabilities. Their father, Greg, says he and his wife, Kim, encourage their children just to be themselves.

The 23-year-old Holler says he enrolled at Wright State thinking he would just take a few classes and then look for a job. Today, he’s scheduled to graduate in June with a degree in rehabilitation.

“For those people who care enough to spend just a short amount of time to get to know who they are and what they bring to the table,” he said, “it doesn’t take long for people to start to seeing the neurons are connected and there is some really good stuff going on there.”

The sandy-haired Zach Holler uses interpreters to help him communicate. But his infectious smile needs no interpretation.

Vernooy said Holler connects with fellow students by using his outstanding people skills and by not being afraid to reach out.

“So often, people with that kind of disability sometimes end up hunkering down and pulling their walls in closer to them so they feel comfortable,” Vernooy said. “Zach doesn’t do that. Zach is always willing to try something new.”

Holler also holds down a part-time job with the Access Center for Independent Living, a Dayton non-profit organization that provides training, peer support and equipment designed to help people with disabilities transition from institutional settings to community living.

“I hope to see myself running my own business or starting a non-profit,” Holler said of his post-graduation plans. “I’ve thought about faith-based ministry for people with special needs, but that’s in the long term.”

Vernooy believes that Holler is destined for big things.

“I sense that he definitely is going to be a leader one day,” Vernooy said. “He’s already started that process on this campus.”

In the second episode of the Follow the Phantom series, Casey Jordan, the junior musical theatre major playing the Phantom, discusses the show’s music. We also join Casey for a music lesson where he sings two of his favorite “Phantom” songs.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gothic musical tells the story of a twisted musical genius and his dangerously obsessive love for young soprano capable of giving life to his songs. Winner of seven Tony Awards, The Phantom of the Opera is currently the longest-running show on Broadway.

Wright State’s production runs May 10-27, 2012. For tickets or more information, call the Box Office at (937) 775-2500.

Look for future Follow the Phantom episodes to join Casey as he becomes The Phantom of the Opera.

Previous episodes:
Auditions

DAYTON — The Department of Veteran Affairs is adding 1,900 psychologists, nurses and social workers, an acknowledgement that more mental health help is needed as troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Veterans and congressional leaders said the move was necessary because some of those returning home from combat face issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

Larry C. James, a retired Army psychologist and dean of the Wright State University School of Professional Psychology, said the VA should take steps to reduce the amount of time veterans have to wait to receive help.

“I’m sure that’s going to help tremendously,” said the former colonel who has deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Cuba. “The only snag or worry I have is being able to hire those people quickly.”

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

Rudy Fichtenbaum, a Wright State University professor, has been elected to lead a national professional association for faculty.

Fichtenbaum has been chosen to serve as president of the American Association of University Professors, which supports faculty unionization, tenure and quality standards in higher education. Fichtenbaum begins in his new role in June.

Read more at bizjournals.com

Anthony B. Whitmore (second from the right) was instrumental in the signing of an agreement in September between Wright State and Atilim University in Ankara, Turkey, for the two schools to collaborate in research and graduate education.

Anthony B. Whitmore, who helped connect Wright State University with a university in Turkey and helped get the growing local Ahiska Turkish community more involved in the Dayton area, has won the International Student Advocate Award.

The award will be presented to Whitmore by the University Center for International Education at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 21, during Wright State’s International Friendship Affair.

Whitmore, a Wright State graduate and currently director of community relations for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority, chaired this year’s Martin Luther King Day celebration in Dayton.

As part of the celebration, Whitmore assigned the Ahiska Turkish American Community Center a central role as the fiscal agent for the event, enabling its members to serve as fiscal agents and interact with many segments of the Dayton community.

Whitmore was also instrumental in the signing of an agreement in September between Wright State and Atilim University in Ankara, Turkey, for the two schools to collaborate in research and graduate education. In addition, Whitmore helped organize the Turkish-American Solidarity Conference, a two-day event at Wright State last fall held to explore cultural, social and historical themes.

The International Friendship Affair is designed to showcase the culture and heritage of Wright State’s international students. It features performances by ethnic groups, colorful displays by international students and food from all over the world. The award ceremony will be held in the Student Union Apollo Room.

For more information, visit: http://www.wright.edu/ucie/news/ifa.html

The Model United Nationals team from Wright State University was one of only 17 schools to be  recognized as having an outstanding delegation.

Watch video at WDTN Living Dayton.

The International Friendship Affair will take place on April 21, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in the Student Union Apollo Room.

The International Friendship Affair brings together Macedonian dancers and Danish singers this year in a celebration of Arts Around the World.

The International Friendship Affair has been a staple of the Wright State calendar for 28 years. Each year showcases a different theme. On April 21, performances and booths center on arts in different cultures. Past themes have included weddings, sports, festivals, music and family traditions.

“It’s really to highlight the international students and their contributions to our campus in terms of internationalizing the campus and bringing their cultures and their traditions to our university,” said Michelle Streeter-Ferrari, director of the University Center for International Education (UCIE).

Ferrari said that this year, Wright State has its highest number of international students to date. Between 850 and 900 students from around the world currently call themselves Raiders. They are from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India, China, Libya and many other countries—62 in all.

Wright State has its highest number of international students to date. Between 850 and 900 students from around the world currently call themselves Raiders. They are from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India, China, Libya and many other countries—62 in all.

Several of those international students work in UCIE as graduate assistants. Namrata Dave is helping to organize of the International Friendship Affair. She has helped book professional and student performers for the event.

“Every year we have different performances,” she said. “This year it is Arts Around the World, so we are promoting the different forms of art in different countries.”

Professional acts include Latin, Irish and Macedonian dancers. Students will perform African and Indian dances, and a Danish and a Turkish student will both sing.

“The graduate assistants play a big role in planning it, and the students themselves spend a lot of time setting up booths and dancing and practicing for performances,” said Streeter-Ferrari.

The festivities begin with an international flag parade and opening remarks from President David R. Hopkins. Admission is free and there will be refreshments.

The International Friendship Affair will take place on April 21, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in the Student Union Apollo Room.

Last year 35 teams participated, but 43 teams have already pre-registered and several are expected to signup the day of the event.

Relay for Life is an event like no other at Wright State. A roller coaster of exuberant support, sorrowful reflection and slaphappy activity, it takes participants on a cancer research fundraising ride that makes memories that last a lifetime.

“Relay for Life brings so many people together in this outstanding way,” said Holly Jackson, a second-year graduate student who is serving as the recruitment co-chair for the 2012 Wright State Relay.

From the survivor’s walk, to the luminaria and then the all-night party, Relay features a flow of activity that keeps people walking and thinking about fighting cancer through the night.

This year’s Relay kicks off Friday, April 20, on the Quad at 6 p.m. Teams will walk for 18 hours to raise money for cancer research.

The 2012 Relay could be the most successful Wright State Relay yet. Student leaders say they’ve already raised $13,000 and expect the bulk of the fundraising to take place at the event. Last year the Relay collected about $17,000. The goal this year is to raise $25,000.

Involvement is up too. Last year 35 teams participated, but 43 teams have already pre-registered and several are expected to signup the day of the event.

“We’ve gotten a lot more staff involvement this year,” said Jackson. “Since it started, this event has really been student driven, but this year the staff involvement has been better than ever.”

Like so many people involved with Relay, Jackson has been touched by cancer.

Last year she walked for a neighbor, as well as her best friend’s dad who died of cancer. This year she’ll be thinking of someone far closer to her heart.

“One of the father-figures of my life, Hank was just diagnosed with almost stage four cancer, so I’ll be thinking of him,” said Jackson.

Chelsea Kraft, the Colleges Against Cancer treasurer, has a similar story.

“I’ve had three family members diagnosed within a 13-month period, including my mom,” said Kraft.

Diagnosed several years ago with skin cancer, her mother is a survivor.

“I Relay because I’ve had many family and friends with cancer. Some beat it. Some did not. Relay for Life reminds us that cancer affects all of us on some level,” said Kraft.

“I have been a part of this Relay for three years, and it amazes me at the way it continues to grow. It’s so neat to see so many people get together for such a great cause.”

The latest numbers from the American Cancer Society (ACS) show that the cause is needed now more than ever and awareness is way up.

Relay for Life kicks off with a cancer survivor walk on the Quad at 6 p.m.

The ACS says there are roughly 12 million cancer survivors in the United States and those numbers are climbing. Still, one out of two males and one out of three females will face cancer in their lifetime in the United States, according to the ACS.

That makes cancer research and cancer awareness tantamount to fighting back.

Staff organization We Serve U has thrown its full support behind the event as its quarterly service project for the spring and will serve this year’s Survivor Dinner.

Like previous years the event will feature activities that are sure to keep you moving even in the wee hours of the night—one involving stuffing your mouth full of marshmallows and red cream soda to the tune of the Police’s “Roxanne”—another a race between teams to break T-shirts out of ice blocks and put them on.

“Miss Relay should be really fun too,” said Jackson. “Each teams sends a male representative to dress up as a very pretty pageant queen to go around and solicit donations from all of the teams.” The male student with the most money is crowned Miss Relay.

With participation and donations surging, organizers aren’t resting on their laurels. With just a few days to go before the 2012 Relay, they’ve rolled out a catchy slogan to try and drive even more participation: 10, 10, 10—10 minutes, 10 dollars and 10 friends.

“If you’re willing to come to the Relay for ten minutes, donate ten dollars toward cancer research and convince ten friends to do the same, the Wright State 2012 Relay will be a huge success,” said Kraft.

On April 28, WSU is hosting an enormous walk for March of Dimes. Hear how March of Dimes began, how they are helping families in our community, and how you can join in!

Read more and watch the video at wdtn.com

Wright State represented the United Kingdom. The team studied the U.K.’s foreign policy thoroughly before the trip and used that information to give speeches, write resolutions and write position papers during the conference.

For the 33rd year in a row, Wright State University’s Model United Nations team achieved the highest recognition possible at the national conference in New York City.

Competing against 255 teams from universities around the world, Wright State was one of 17 schools to be recognized as having an Outstanding Delegation. The Wright State team also collected several awards for Outstanding Committee Delegates (as voted by their peers) and Outstanding Committee Position Papers.

“The 25 delegates demonstrated award-winning negotiation, consensus building and leadership; they are truly better prepared to be global citizens,” said Donna Schlagheck, Ph.D., political science chair and Wright State’s Model UN faculty advisor.

This year, Wright State represented the United Kingdom. The team studied the U.K.’s foreign policy thoroughly before the trip and used that information to give speeches, write resolutions and write position papers during the conference. The team also visited the U.K. Mission to the United Nations.

Wright State’s head delegates for the 2012 team, Matthew Conaway and Jacquelyn Schroeder.

Wright State’s head delegates for the 2012 team, Jacquelyn Schroeder and Matthew Conaway, led the preparation on campus as well as Wright State’s team at the conference.

“We got the Outstanding Delegation award again, which means we worked well in committee, we knew our country’s policy, and above all else we were active and effective contributors,” said Schroeder.

Students represent their designated country and produce resolutions by working with students from other teams in committee. They try to get consensus, but different state policies conflict.

“We had to represent the U.K. policy as best we could and interact with others with it in mind at all times,” said Schroeder. “It’s really a game of negotiation and compromise.”

Students say the experience is invaluable because they learn to think from another country’s perspective. The process of learning that country’s position on global issues teaches tools that serve students well beyond the classroom.

“The program engages students in intense preparation for the conference, focusing on public speaking, negotiation, research and writing legislation and treaties,” said Schlagheck.

Schroeder, who has participated in five Model UN conferences, says her experience as head delegate in this, her final year, is bittersweet.

“It’s been my life the last five years, I guess you could say,” Schroeder said. “I’m really proud of the team and the work that they’ve done, definitely. I’m so pleased with all of our results.”

Fred Moore, a key player on Wright State University’s 1982-83 NCAA Division II national championship team, died Monday morning at Hospice in Cincinnati after a battle with cancer.

Moore, who came to Wright State from Louisville, Ky., helped the Raiders beat District of Columbia 92-73 for the national championship.

“It’s a real sad day for Wright State,” said Jim Brown, who was a WSU assistant coach during Moore’s playing days and helped recruit Moore.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

Ohio is not on track to produce enough college graduates to fill the anticipated 1.7 million new jobs that will be created statewide by 2018, according to new research.

Ohio has about 36 percent of working-age adults with a college degree. That number will need to increase to 57 percent within five years to meet market demands.

“To stay on track for Ohio’s future, we need to have more people with degrees,” said Jim Petro, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. “We’ve got a lot of advantages, but we don’t have a workforce that businesses can look at and say, ‘Ohio can meet my workforce needs both now and in the future.’ ”

The gap between jobs and the people trained to perform them is not new in Ohio, but it has recently grown, said Robert Premus, an economics professor at Wright State University.

“Everybody’s trying to push higher productivity, which requires higher-skilled labor,” he said. “Those, in turn, tend to be those people who have gotten their college degrees and work experience, especially now in the more technical fields.”

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

The winner of “The Apprentice” season four, Randall Picknett, will make an appearance this week at Wright State University.

Picknett, also an author and entrepreneur, will be the keynote speaker this Wednesday for the school’s 12th annual diversity conference, called Quest for Community: A Call to Action.

Read more at bizjournals.com

On April 28 at Carillon Historical Park, thousands of families and business leaders will join together in the March of Dimes annual March for Babies—the nation’s oldest walk fundraiser honoring babies born healthy and those who need help to survive and thrive

This year’s Miami Valley Ambassador Family is the Kilbys, Ambassador Mom Dawn and Ambassador Child Marri. Marri was delivered premature by emergency C-section weighing only one pound, five ounces. Today Marri is a vibrant eight–year-old, and the Kilbys want to make sure other families have the same happy ending.

The Kilbys are joined (in leading the campaign) by Dr. David R. Hopkins, the Miami Valley March for Babies Chair (and) president of Wright State University.

Read more and watch the video at fox.daytonsnewssource.com

Walk-in registration begins at 1:15 p.m. in the lobby of Wright State’s Mathematical and Microbiological Sciences Building. The fee to enter the contest is $20 for early registration until Wednesday, April 18 (extended deadline.) Walk-up registration on the day of the contest is $30.

The words emblazoned on purple T-shirts used to promote the 2012 Ohio Mathematics Contest at Wright State University capture the goal: “From Little Numbers Do Great Equations Grow.”

The April 21 contest could result in national recognition for area students, culminating in an awards ceremony in the Washington, D.C.-area and a cash prize of up to $500.

But more than that, the contest is designed to stimulate interest in math, make both students and parents more aware of the importance of learning math, and result in more students pursuing math as a career or as a way to land high-paying jobs that require strong math skills, such as engineering, medicine, business and many others.

“We need to improve our mathematical skills,” said organizer Munsup Seoh, Ph.D., a statistics professor at Wright State who worries that the United States is lagging behind other nations in math proficiency. “I hope this will make people more aware of the importance of mathematics.”

The contest is part of the National Math & Science Competition sponsored by the Korean Scientists and Engineers Association. Last year, 135 students took part in the Ohio contest at Wright State, hosted by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. A total of 2,124 students participated in the nationwide competition, and 34 of them received national awards.

All students in grades 4-11 are invited to participate in the Ohio contest at Wright State, with first-, second- and third-place winners in each grade. There are 30 questions on each exam, different for each grade and designed to be challenging. The questions were prepared by experts from University of Iowa.

The awards ceremony will be emceed by Don Nguyen, M.D., medical director of pediatric urology for Children’s Medical Center of Dayton. He said the contest is a good way to channel the natural competitiveness of students toward math, one of the most important building blocks of science.

“The spirit of competition is in many, many of us,” said Nguyen. “But that energy needs to be tapped.”

Walk-in registration begins at 1:15 p.m. in the lobby of Wright State’s Mathematical and Microbiological Sciences Building. The fee to enter the contest is $20 for early registration until Wednesday, April 18 (extended deadline.) Walk-up registration on the day of the contest is $30.

The exams begin in various buildings at 2 p.m., lasting 60 minutes for grades 4-8 and 90 minutes for grades 9-11. The awards ceremony follows at 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Students are asked to bring pencils. No calculators or any device that includes a calculator may be used.

While the exams are being administered, parents of the students can attend various presentations on math, astronomy, communication and other topics.

Besides the offices of University Provost Steven Angle and the dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, the Ohio contest is sponsored by Hospice of Dayton and community organizations such as the Asian American Council, the Ohio SW Chapter of Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the ACT-SO Group and Youth Council of NAACP Dayton Unit.

Nationwide, contests are held simultaneously in other states, with the winners of each state forwarded to Washington, D.C., where the national winners are determined. National award recipients and their parents will be invited to attend the awards ceremony on May 12 in the Washington, D.C., area. The national winners award amounts are: First place $500, Second place $350, Third place $250.

For more information, visit: http://iis.stat.wright.edu/omc/

Wright State is set to host a challenge for universities nationwide to come up with a system for battlefield airmen to scale buildings.

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s 2012 Service Academy and University Engineering Challenge will be held at its Tactical Laboratory, Calamityville, in Fairborn.

Engineering students and their faculty advisors from 17 universities nationwide and three service academies will be competing in this year’s challenge to design, fabricate and demonstrate a system to allow battlefield airmen, along with their equipment, to scale buildings or mountain faces under a variety of conditions.

Among the universities competing are Wright State University, the University of Dayton, Arizona State, Ohio State, Colorado State and Johns Hopkins University.

Read more at wdtn.com

“We kicked off the week Saturday with the RCA Get Lucky, Go Green event, and there were a lot of great ideas, but it was just the beginning,” said Linda Ramey, Ph.D., and Wright State’s director of sustainability.

At the event, students got together to talk about all the different ways they could live a greener life by reusing materials and by dedicating themselves to recycling.

“The goal for Earth Day is to connect people with the importance of caring responsibly for the space on earth that we lease while we are here.  We want to see ‘Earth Day, Every Day!’ translate into sustainable life choices by everyone, each day,” said Ramey.

Other Earth Day Week activities at Wright State include:

• Monday, April 16, at 7 p.m. in the Student Union, a screening and panel discussion of the “Call of the Scenic River: An Ohio Journey.” Wright State grad Tom Mayor shows his movie about Ohio’s Scenic River Program in the 40^th year anniversary of the Clean Water Act.

• Tuesday, April 17, and Thursday, April 19, take a walk in the Wright State Woods to learn about nature and pick up litter. Meet in the Creative Arts Center turnaround at noon to join the group.

• Wednesday, April 18, from 3 to 5 p.m. join the Wright State Raider detachment of the Army ROTC with a Campus Cleanup. To learn more, contact Lt. Col. Phillip Woolford at phillip.woolford@wright.edu or by phone at 775-2586.

• Friday, April 20, rise from the rack early and test your physical fitness in the Army Combat Physical Fitness Challenge at 7 a.m. To learn more, again contact Lt. Col. Phillip Woolford at phillip.woolford@wright.edu or by phone at 775-2586.

• Also Friday, April 20, at the Eastwood Metro Park from 12:30 to 4:30 Wright State’s Outdoor Recreation Center (ORC) is hosting a kayak float trip. For more information contact the ORC at 775-5019.

• Saturday, April 21, Wright State’s Gang Green, the University of Dayton Sustainability Club and FEED Dayton will participate in the Earth Day MobilizeU competition by building raised-bed gardens. Contact campus coordinator Adam French at French.21@wright.edu to learn more.

• Saturday, April 21, and Sunday, April 22, celebrate Earth Day in your own way and be part of the effort to do a billion acts of green. Sign up your activity with EarthDay.org.

• Saturday, April 28, join the Office of Sustainability and Adopt-A-Highway litter clean up along I-675.  The group meets at 9 a.m. in 264 Brehm Lab.

The Wright State Campus Community Garden project is another example of how the Wright State community is working together to ‘green’ the campus.  While this project is just getting started, the garden is intended to provide fresh produce for the Wright State Food Pantry.

Visit http://www.wright.edu/sustainability/ to learn more about how you can participate in these and other sustainable events and efforts on campus.

Dayton has the highest office vacancy rate among the nation’s metropolitan areas, and the portion of its office space that is unoccupied is at least at a 13-year high, according to new data from a real estate research firm.

Although on average, office vacancies across the U.S. dipped last fiscal quarter, the Dayton metro area’s vacancy rate rose, making it the 10th straight quarter where the rate either increased or did not budge, according to data from Reis Inc., a New York-based commercial real estate research company.

But local development officials and real estate experts questioned the validity of Reis’ data because other research suggests that Dayton doesn’t even make the top 10 list of cities with the emptiest office buildings.

John Blair, professor of economics with the Raj Soin College of Business at Wright State University, said Dayton’s high office vacancy rate is tied to the loss of the headquarters of major companies, such as NCR Corp. and Mead, and it also reflects a shifting preference of businesses for more suburban environments.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

SPRINGFIELD — Most elementary schools in Clark and Champaign counties have only a handful of male teachers on staff, but men can be valuable in the classroom as role models for children, according to experts.

About 8 percent of elementary school teachers in the area are male, according to a Springfield News-Sun analysis of Ohio Department of Education data. Twenty-five percent of teaching staff across all grades are male.

“It’s just historically been that way,” said Sally Brannan, chair of the education department at Wittenberg University. “It’s our cultural view in the United States.”

At Wittenberg, about 18-20 students graduate from the early-childhood program each year, but only one to two are males, Brannan said. Wright State University has an average graduating class in early childhood education of about 100 students, with up to four males a year, said associate professor William Mosier.

Read more at SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Her quest to learn more about epilepsy drove Christina Estrada’s interest in neuropsychology, a field that attempts to connect the dots between biology and behavior.

When doctors could not find a way to stop her mother’s epileptic seizures, Christina Estrada decided she would.

Her short-term goal was to find better doctors to stop the seizures that struck her mother without warning. But her long-term goal is to improve care for people with epilepsy and other neurological disorders by becoming a neuropsychologist and making a career that combines research and treatment.

Estrada holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from her hometown Portland State University in Oregon and is now enrolled in Wright State’s GRAD-PREP Biomedical Graduate Preparation Program, a National Institutes of Health–funded program that provides research and academic training in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. She hopes the program will give her the laboratory training and research experience she needs for a successful application to a top-quality graduate program.

Her road to GRAD-PREP really started in high school, when she found herself playing an important role in her mother’s care. Estrada worked full time to help support her family and took her first two years of higher education at a community college so she could stay close to home.

At the same time, she sought more effective medical care for her mother. “Her neurologist just wasn’t doing enough to help her, so I started taking things into my own hands,” she said.

Her quest to learn more about epilepsy drove Estrada’s interest in neuropsychology, a field that attempts to connect the dots between biology and behavior. Her research paid off when she found a research neurologist who took an interest in her mother’s case. She also learned ways to manage factors that could worsen her mother’s condition—by reducing stress, for example. Today, she said, “My mom’s story is a success story because she no longer has seizures.”

Estrada managed to earn a baccalaureate degree. But getting accepted into a Ph.D. program, especially in her chosen specialty, was problematic. The application process is highly competitive, and successful candidates often have lab training and experience.

She searched the Internet for ideas. Visiting the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website one day, she “followed a trail of links” to a page about the GRAD-PREP program at Wright State’s Boonshoft School of Medicine in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. It is directed by Mariana Morris, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Research; chair, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology; and assistant vice president for graduate programs.

Estrada learned that participants in the yearlong program earn an annual salary of $21,000 with health benefits, tuition remission, travel expenses for local and regional meetings and guidance through the Ph.D. program selection and application process. It would also enable her to work closely with faculty mentors.

Estrada met the minority requirement because of her Hispanic heritage. She applied for the program and was accepted. In July 2011, she packed her car and drove 2,300 miles to Dayton.

In GRAD-PREP, Estrada works in the lab as a university staff member. “I manage a genetically altered mouse colony. The particular model that I’m working with has a genetic mutation associated with Parkinson’s disease,” she said.

She also has a research project, which involves observing how maternal care affects mouse pups with Parkinson’s—what effects are from the disease itself, and what might be the result of different treatment by their mothers.

Mary Key, assistant director of the GRAD-PREP program, said participants receive a well-rounded experience in laboratory work and research. A valuable part of that experience is the opportunity to work closely with a faculty mentor.

“The mentor will be able to give them very good letters of recommendation to not only get into a graduate program, but get funding and assistantships in order to be able to support themselves while they’re in school,” Key said.

Estrada said the program is moving her toward her educational goals. “I think it’s an excellent program for someone in my position, who’s looking to become a more competitive applicant, but who needs a good amount of research experience,” she said.

She hopes to see her research results published, and she is planning to make a presentation about it at an international psychology conference in Chicago in May. But she said her goals aren’t just about publications and career milestones.

“My mom’s success story led me to search for a career where I could help others that were battling with neurological disorders that are not well understood. It’s personal, I guess,” she said, and then reflected, “What isn’t personal?”

The 2012 GRAD-PREP program will begin June 11, 2012. Applications will be accepted until all positions are filled.

More information:

(937) 775-2746

Email: bsom-gradprep@wright.edu

Visit www.med.wright.edu/grad-prep to learn more.

Undergraduate Nickellatt Edwards presented her research poster titled: Characterization of HIV Rev and Tubulin Interactions.

• Modeling the Liquid Phase Exfoliation of Graphene

• Music Instruction for Students Who Are Blind: A Collection of Methods and Materials for the Music Educator

• Supplier Decisions in a Two-Retailer, One-Supplier Transshipment System with Quantity Discounts

All were among the 134 academically diverse poster and oral presentations presented Friday, April 13, during the Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Rich and robust, Wright State University’s student research efforts were on display for the third annual Celebration in the Student Union.

The event is designed to showcase the work Wright State University students are doing both on the undergraduate and graduate levels, whether it be in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines or in the liberal arts.

“I think the stigma is that there’s only research being done in the sciences, but that’s not true. It’s done in liberal arts too,” said Dominique Belanger, director of undergraduate research and STEM activities. “It’s done in education, it’s done in theater and music. It’s everywhere. It just takes on a different form.”

According to Belanger, interest from students in the event continues to increase with participation up in comparison to last year.

“I think word is getting out and students are realizing this is something they ought to be doing,” said Belanger.

The forms of research presented at the event ran the gamut and were shepherded by students from diverse backgrounds as well.

Poster presenters Leigh Deuter and Mike Taylor, two non-traditional students working on bachelor’s degrees at the Lake Campus, presented their earth and environmental sciences research from work they’ve been doing while collecting and analyzing prehistoric shark fossils.

The Chondrichthyan species lived over 340 million years ago in the Mississippi system of northern Alabama. Much of the best research was done by a Southern scientist whose work was largely destroyed by Union troops during the Civil War. Deuter and Taylor have been unearthing new specimens to rebuild the work.

“We’ve been working in the muddy backwaters type of area from that time,” said Taylor. “We’re just stirring it up a little bit to see what we can find.”

As they’ve excavated, split and cleaned fossil-laden rock from the region, Deuter says they’ve found many teeth specimens of the species.

“With a trained eye you start to be able to determine what’s a pebble and what’s a tooth,” said Deuter.

Deuter and Taylor see the celebration event as a prime time to dig up some new ideas for their work too.

“As fellow students, we can co-mingle and network and look at each other’s posters,” said Deuter. “I saw there’s a filtration poster I want to talk to the student about to see if it would have applications in our laboratory.”

Wright State student Spencer Brannon was one of more than 60 students who chose to give an oral presentation instead of a poster presentation.

Students like Rebekkah Mulholland chose to conduct oral presentations instead of posters like Deuter and Taylor. She and six other students recently returned from the The Faith & Politics Institute’s 12th Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage.

Seven undergraduate and graduate students visited historic civil rights sites in Alabama. They also visited with present-day congressmen and civil rights leaders to learn more about contemporary civil rights issues.

“It wasn’t just visiting these sites to look at the historical approach but how they’re very relevant today with contemporary issues such as voter ID, registration rights and immigrants laws in Alabama,” said Mulholland.

One of the unique attendees of this year’s event was a graduate from last year, Jeff Fogle.

A research and development chemist for Heraeus Precious Metals North America DayChem (Heraeus), Fogle presented some of his chemistry research in polymers last year and picked up a job interview in the process.

“I think it’s a good way to get your research out there to other students, but also to other companies who might find it interesting and who might offer you a job,” said Fogle.

Just one year later, Fogle was part of a gaggle of sponsor companies, including Peerless  and Sterling Production Control Units (PCU), that supported the event financially and consider it an opportunity to meet talented students they may want to offer jobs.

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Amongst the many blooming buildings in the Wright-Dunbar neighborhood, there are still a few weeds.

“When we first got there, roofs were in the basement,” says Idotha “Bootsie” Neal, President of Wright-Dunbar Inc.

But officials hope to continue the neighborhood’s growing season with three new projects involving Wright State’s School of Professional Psychology.

Read more and watch the video at wdtn.com

Wright State will screen "Call of the Scenic River: An Ohio Journey" on April 16 as part of its Earth Week events.

Few realize that Ohio was the first state to declare a Scenic Rivers Program in 1968. Today, Ohio’s program continues to lead river conservation because of its respect of private property, its commitment to designating the most ecologically intact systems and its popular volunteer opportunities.

In the 40th anniversary year of the 1972 Clean Water Act, one Wright State alumnus has filmed an original documentary celebrating the beauty of Ohio’s rivers.

Tom Mayor, who graduated from the motion pictures program in 1997, will screen his film Call of the Scenic River: An Ohio Journey on April 16 at 7 p.m. in the Student Union Apollo Room. Filmed in high definition by fellow Wright State motion pictures alumni Mike King and Adam White, the film captures the natural beauty of our state’s watershed ecosystems.

The film's director, Tom Mayor, graduated from the motion pictures program in 1997.

A panel discussion will follow the film. The event is open to the public with a suggested donation of $10. All proceeds will benefit the Wright State Motion Picture Student Production Fund.

“Being in film school was one of the most challenging and creatively rewarding times of my life,” said Mayor. “I’m glad to be giving back in this small way.”

Parking for the screening is free. The event is sponsored by the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures, the Office of Sustainability and the Outdoor Resource Center. The film is distributed by Rivers Unlimited, Ohio’s statewide river protection organization.

“I hope this film inspires students,” said Mayor. “We may be screening to the next Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall or Jacques Cousteau.”

Wright State University’s National Center for Medical Readiness (NCMR) will host the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) 2012 Service Academy and University Engineering Challenge April 16-20, at its Tactical Laboratory, Calamityville, in Fairborn.

Engineering students and their faculty advisors from 17 universities nationwide and three service academies will be competing in this year’s challenge to design, fabricate and demonstrate a system to allow battlefield airmen, along with their equipment, to scale buildings or mountain faces under a variety of conditions.

The engineering students will be required to develop a system that will enable airmen to climb rock faces and concrete/adobe walls of 60 feet or higher, preferably without the need to grapple over the top edge of the structure. The winning device must be reusable, accommodate a 300-pound load, permit multiple pitches during the climb and be faster or less strenuous than current climbing methods—all while allowing the operator to do other tasks while climbing, including using a weapon, radio or other equipment

Each team of five or more undergraduates will work with trained climbers who will demonstrate their device by climbing one of the 90-foot concrete towers at Calamityville. A panel of judges will determine the winners.

Among the universities competing are Wright State University, the University of Dayton, Arizona State, Ohio State, Colorado State and Johns Hopkins University. The three service academies, West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy will compete separately.

“Calamityville is the perfect location for this challenge,” said Glenn Hamilton, M.D., senior director of the National Center for Medical Readiness. “A state-of-the-art, collaborative training and research facility, Calamityville is located on the site of a former cement plant, which has multiple 90-foot silos on site along with excellent access and acreage to set-up their equipment.”

The three service academies will compete against each other on Monday, April 16, and the universities will compete Wednesday through Friday, April 18-20. AFRL sponsors the annual challenge to promote and sustain university research and education focused on innovative military systems and related technologies.

“The annual Academy and University Challenge is a cornerstone of AFRL’s Innovation Portfolio, allowing us to tap into the energy and fresh ideas of young engineers to tackle a challenging problem facing our troops,” said Alok Das, Ph.D., senior scientist for design innovation at AFRL. The challenge not only exposes these students to real world engineering, but is also exciting because of the competitive demonstration of their engineering solutions, he explained.

“You can sense the enthusiasm and energy in the teams. They are eager to show their innovation and engineering prowess at the Calamityville event,” said Devon Parker, AEDC/XPR, Arnold Air Force Base Engineering Development Center, who is serving as the challenge program manager. Parker had high praise for the support of the WSU staff in preparing for this final demonstration, which is expected to result in a successful culmination of this year’s Academy/University Challenge.

The universities competing are:
Arizona State University
Auburn University
Brigham Young University
Colorado State University
Johns Hopkins University
Michigan Technological University
Ohio State University
Texas Engineering Experiment Station
University of Akron
University of Dayton
University of Minnesota
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Utah State University
Western Carolina University
Wright State University

Combined team:
Tennessee State University
Prairie View A&M

Service academies:
West Point
The Naval Academy
The Air Force Academy

The Dayton area has added jobs for two consecutive years, the first time that has happened in more than a decade, according to academic researchers.

Area employment has grown from about 363,500 people in 2010 to about 370,700 employed today, according to research by Richard Stock, director of the University of Dayton’s Business Research Group.

Stock was speaking before an MCOFuture public forum at Sinclair Community College Wednesday, the second such forum in a year-long exercise in trying to get citizens involved in addressing Montgomery County’s challenges.

“Better days may well be ahead for Montgomery County, especially for those who get the education and training for growth jobs,” said Kellen Winslow, Central State University athletic director and forum moderator.

Research from Jane Dockery, associate director of Wright State’s Center for Urban and Public Affairs, also showed that education pays dividends. The unemployment rate for those with doctoral degrees in 2010 was 1.9 percent, for those with bachelor degrees was 5.4 percent and for high school graduates was 10.3 percent, her research found.

Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com

In the first episode of the Follow the Phantom series, director W. Stuart McDowell discusses the popularity and plot of The Phantom of the Opera. We also introduce you to Casey Jordan, the junior musical theatre major tackling the show’s title role. He gives us an insider’s look at the audition process and show us a sneak peek of the production’s first rehearsals.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gothic musical tells the story of a twisted musical genius and his dangerously obsessive love for young soprano capable of giving life to his songs. Winner of seven Tony Awards, the The Phantom of the Opera is currently the longest-running show on Broadway.

Wright State’s production runs May 10-27, 2012. For tickets or more information, call the Box Office at (937) 775-2500.

Look for future Follow the Phantom episodes to join Casey as he becomes The Phantom of the Opera.

Randal Pinkett, the season 4 winner of "The Apprentice" and a self-described "serial entrepreneur" will be the conference's morning keynote speaker.

A reality television star who conquered the boardroom

A student film of youth and hope in post-apartheid South Africa

An internationally acclaimed singer who’s redefining the female musician

All these and more await attendees at the 12th annual Quest for Community: A Call to Action on April 18. Quest is Wright State University’s annual conference on diversity issues in higher education.

This year’s Quest features a wide variety of activities, speakers and entertainment with programming geared toward students as well as faculty and staff.

“We really went back to the drawing board and reimagined the entire conference,” said Jacqueline McMillan, Ph.D., vice president for enrollment management and chair of the Quest planning committee. “We looked at the event with fresh eyes and came up with a day that will not only be thought-provoking, but also entertaining.”

Quest will include opening remarks from John D. Transviña, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Quest will include a lunchtime performance by the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and an interactive workshop by DCDC2.

He will be followed by morning keynote speaker Randal Pinkett. Many remember Pinkett as the season 4 winner of NBC’s The Apprentice, but he’s also a scholar, an author and a community servant. As a self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Pinkett has launched several socially responsible business ventures. He was the first African American to receive a Rhodes scholarship at Rutgers University, and his first book, Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion-Dollar Business, was released in 2007.

Elizabeth Howard will be the conference’s luncheon speaker. Howard is interim director of Dining for Women, an international organization made up of members who “dine in” together regularly, bringing dishes to share, and use the money they would have spent eating out to empower women living in extreme poverty.

The conference will also feature a number of breakout session on a variety of topics:

• Leaders of the “Big 6” student organizations will lead a panel discussion on giving back to our communities.
• Faculty will learn to develop courses that fulfill the multicultural competency requirement in the new Wright State Core.
• Staff members will learn how to get involved in community service programs with We Serve U.
• Organizations that support gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning students will share how they’ve transformed the campus environment for the GLBTQA community.
• Students will participate in an interactive workshop with professional dancers from the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company 2.
• Welcome Dayton officials will show how the Miami Valley is attracting immigrants to the region.
• Students will screen footage taken during their service-learning trip to South Africa.

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Magdalen will perform during the conference's closing ceremony.

The conference will also include performances by the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, the Shawn Stanley Trio of jazz musicians and Magdalen, a singer-songwriter and cultural activist who reviewers say is  “smashing the ceiling of the American music industry.”

Although the conference (including lunch) is free and open to the public, pre-registration is required. In lieu of a registration fee, attendees are encouraged to bring donations for the on-campus Friendship Food Pantry.

For more information or to register, visit http://www.wright.edu/quest.

The CW Star is a part-time employee of Dayton’s CW television network. The position goes to the winner of a contest judged partly by audience votes. Zapata auditioned against nearly 80 other hopefuls and was chosen as one of nine finalists and 10 semifinalists.

Wright State student Brandy Zapata has a big smile and a bubbly personality. She’s an actor, dancer and a student leader, and now she’s on TV as the CW Star.

“Because I’ve been a singer, a dancer, an actress for so long,” she said, “being in front of people is not a big deal to me and talking to people is pretty natural.” So far, she’s appeared on the street handing out CW swag with other contestants, on local radio, online and in a CW Star promo on television.

Zapata’s new responsibilities as CW Star include managing Facebook and Twitter accounts detailing her activities and news about the CW. She also zips across Dayton shooting promotional videos for Dayton area events.

The CW Star is a part-time employee of Dayton’s CW television network. The position goes to the winner of a contest judged partly by audience votes. Zapata auditioned against nearly 80 other hopefuls and was chosen as one of nine finalists and 10 semifinalists.

The contest included promotional YouTube videos, a professional makeover and dozens of public events, so Zapata and the other contestants were able to stretch their social muscles.

Zapata was declared the victor after a private interview with the organizers of the competition.

She says she’s glad she waited until now to audition—she graduates in June, and with all that free time she’s planning on diving into her role as CW Star. Right now, her calendar is crammed with Wright State business.

“If I had done it last year and somehow magically won,” she said, “it would have been really hard to do it during my senior year.”

Zapata works in Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs and as assistant speaker of the house for Wright State’s Student Government. She’s co-president of the College of Liberal Arts dean’s student advisory board, vice president of Wright State’s chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary, a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society, coordinator of the President’s Ambassador Program, a member of the Troupe theatre club and a supporter of Operation Smile.

On top of all of that, she’s managing to work in a few CW Star events here and there.

“I have a planner and I write everything down, and I somehow appear at everything,” she said.

New Day Films was founded in 1971 by (back, L-R) Amalie R. Rothschild, Julia Reichert, Jim Klein and (front) Liane Brandon.

The pioneering films of two Wright State University faculty members are part of a collection recently added to Duke University’s Archive of Documentary Arts. The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library has announced its recent acquisition of the New Day Films Collection.

Motion pictures professors Jim Klein and Julia Reichert, along with Amalie R. Rothschild and Liane Brandon, founded New Day Films in 1971.

Specializing in social-issue documentaries, New Day Films is a unique distribution company that has been run as a participatory, democratic filmmakers’ cooperative for four decades; today, the company distributes 250 titles for 120 member filmmakers.

One of the films in the collection, Reichert and Klein’s Growing Up Female, was recently selected for the National Film Registry.

The New Day Films Collection includes the founding films and organizational records of New Day founders. The collection includes Academy Award winners and nominees, Emmy Award winners, and hundreds of winning entries from film festivals around the world.

In celebration of New Day’s 40th anniversary, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C., will showcase a selection of the founders’ films on Friday, April 13, at 4:50 p.m., and host a panel conversation with all four founding members about New Day’s history on Saturday, April 14, at 9:30 a.m.

For more information on New Day Films, see http://www.newday.com/.