Category: Pride Bites

Yvette Fuentes, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Literature and Modern Languages in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), was a featured speaker at the Palm Beach Library in Boca Raton, during Hispanic Heritage Month. Her topic was: “Hispanic Presence in America: Culture, Literature and Language.”  She discussed the significant contributions & impact, Latin American culture, literature, and Spanish language have had on American society.

Fuentes’ areas of teaching and research interests include, Latin American literature, Cuban and Cuban-American literature, Spanish language, literature, and culture, U.S. Latino/a literature, and Spanish for the professions.

Honggang Yang, Ph.D., dean and professor in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), was honored during the 2018 Council of Chinese American Deans and Presidents (CCADP), hosted by Florida International University. This year’s theme was “Data Driven Leadership.”

Yang was a co-founder of the organization over 15 years ago and served as President for 2014-2016. This year he moderated a plenary session and was honored with the CCADP Recognition Award for outstanding service and leadership. 

The members of CCADP come from across the United States and share a unique set of cultural values, traits, experiences, and skills in addressing challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. higher learning. CCADP aims to contribute to the diversities in its broadest terms in the U.S. institutions of higher learning and commits to the success of its members through the organization’s mission and supportive functions.

On November 1, Halmos College faculty member Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D. was interviewed by Telemundo for a series of segments called “Amenazas Escondidas” or Hidden Threats on the new show “Al Rojo Vivo”. On that episode, she investigated the amount and types of bacteria that can be found on the bottom of your shoes and whether or not you should take off your shoes before walking around inside your house.

Three more episodes are scheduled for the next 3 Thursdays (Nov. 8, 15, and 22) and will discuss household mold, the importance of wearing socks when trying on shoes at the store and facts and myths about bathroom germs (i.e. can you get an STD from sitting on the toilet?). The show airs across the US and Latin America.

For more information https://www.telemundo.com/shows/2018/11/01/zapatos-acumulan-peligrosas-bacterias-que-danan-la-salud

This fall, Halmos faculty member Christopher Blanar, Ph.D. co-authored a paper entitled, “Validity of the Diplostomoidea and Diplostomida (Digenea, Platyhelminthes) upheld in phylogenomic analysis”. The group studied the parasite ordered Diplostomida. These includes schistosomes, that are parasitic flatworms responsible for a highly significant group of infections in humans termed schistosomiasis, which is considered by the World Health Organization as the second-most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease (after malaria), with hundreds of millions infected worldwide.

The family tree of this order has been hard to sort out- many of the taxa are difficult to distinguish morphologically, so you need to use molecular phylogeny instead. “The molecular wasn’t straightforward either, as there was discord between the results generated by nuclear vs mitochondrial DNA.”, says Blanar. While answering questions about the phylogeny of the Diplostomida, the group had the added bonus of describing a whole new species. Lead author Sean Locke, Ph.D. from the University of Puerto Rico has named it Cotylurus marcogliesei in honor of Dr. David Marcogliese who supervised both Locke and Blanar’s post-docs at Environment Canada. “It’s the first time I’ve ever had the privilege of participating in the description of a new species”, said Blanar.

For more information https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2018.07.001

The department of Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) has a long, successful history that sets it apart from other SLP programs in the country. Among these distinctions are some notable firsts. A major one is the provision of innovative delivery systems.

For example, the department was the first SLP program to offer an online delivery system. It was also the first to offer a professional doctorate. Another notable distinction is the size of the student body, with a current enrollment of approximately 750 students in three different degree programs.

The department began in 1983 as the brainchild of Jack Mills, Sc.D., Au.D., CCC-SLP. He was a speech-language pathologist and audiologist working with the deaf/hearing-impaired population. He had the foresight to know South Florida would benefit from an SLP master’s degree program, and he worked to make it happen. Mills ultimately became the program dean and served until 1997.

The first class consisted of speech clinicians employed in the Miami-Dade County and Broward County schools, so it was determined the first classes would be offered in the evening to accommodate them. This practice prevails today in the master’s degree program, with most classes held in the evenings or on weekends. This plan met the mission of the university at the time: to provide education for adults who work during the day.

An SLP clinic was created to offer services to individuals with communication disorders and provide students with clinical experiences necessary to meet degree requirements. Shelley Victor, Ed.D., was the first clinic director. Barbara Packer-Muti, Ed.D., Au.D., CCC-SLP, joined the faculty to teach audiology courses and provide supervision of the clinical experiences  in audiology.

You may read more of the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP’s) long, successful history by visiting the 2018 Perspectives Summer/Fall issue on page 54 and 55by visiting healthsciences.nova.edu/studentaffairs/messenger.html.

NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education recognized its employees who were celebrating milestone anniversaries with NSU at its annual Thanksgiving Luncheon. The luncheon was held on Wednesday, November 14^th in the University Club Room. Below are the employees who were honored for their years of service:

25 Years:

Rochelle Klein

20 Years:

Synde Bowen

Carmen Delgado

Michael Simonson, Ph.D.

Robert Stevens, Ed.D.

15 Years

Russell Garner, Ph.D.

Dana Mills, Ph.D.

Rashid Moore, Ph.D.

Anymir Orellana, Ed.D.

Zandra Stino, Ph.D.

10 Years

Melinda Coleman, Ed.D.

Paquita Copeland

Maria-Levi Minzi

Victoriano Lopez, Ed.D.

Janet Rivera, Ph.D.

Michelle Tenam-Zemach, Ed.D.

Sandra Trotman, Ph.D..

5 Years

Jia Borror, Ed.D.