Online Newsletter for NSU Faculty & Staff
On this episode of Mako TV News, reporters cover the NSU Men’s basketball watch party, Sharks’ thoughts on the possible TikTok ban, the potentially dangerous traffic surrounding the Fort Lauderdale campus and more.
Music students in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts recently created original music for Mako Media Network, including introductions and transitions for Mako TV and Mako Radio. Songs featured on Mako TV included music for four different segments: the news intro, Sports Update, Sharks on the Street and Health Update. The music created for Mako Radio will be incorporated into future podcasts.
“This whole experience was a really great opportunity for my students, not just to have a chance to do something creative and original, but also because they had to work on a deadline,” said Bill Withem, the assistant professor of music. “Plus, their music had to satisfy Mako Media Network, which was basically our real-world client throughout the process.”
Posted 04/08/24
Graphic Design students in the B.A. in Art + Design program in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts at Halmos College of Arts and Sciences recently created a campaign for the David Posnack Jewish Community Center’s (JCC) grant-funded Hire-Ability project.
Through the course ARTS 4500: Professional Print Design, students expanded their professional portfolios with logo designs, food truck wraps and menus, while creating opportunities for adults with special needs. Students also gained experience pitching their concepts to a client, and those who participated were compensated with payments and recognition in the final Hire-Ability materials.
“Our graphic design students had a chance to participate in a project emulating a real-life situation, where a client has a briefing with specifics,” said Kolos Schumy, assistant professor of art and design, who taught the course. “The project with the David Posnack JCC was an ideal, lifelike experience for our students, paving the way for them becoming professional and seasoned graphic artists.”
For more information about the B.A. in Art + Design and its concentration in graphic design, click here.
Posted 04/07/24
Marina Handal, a third-year Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and Master of Public Health student, has been awarded a 2025 Good Skin Knowledge grant from the American Academy of Dermatology.
Her project created a four-module lesson plan using arts and crafts to teach students about skin health and sun safety at the Fuller Center in Boca Raton, Fla. Handal and her sister, Jenna, a senior biology major in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, built models of the skin, drew pictures of the sun and created UV bracelets that changed color with sun exposure.
“We feel very humbled to have represented NSU public health through this service activity,” the sisters said. “We are thankful to our mentors from public health who have set fantastic examples of what it means to be an active team player in the community.”
Posted 04/07/24
Sneh Patel, a student in the Department of Biological Sciences in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center, gave a virtual presentation at the University of West Alabama’s annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on March 4. His presentation was titled “Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on global education in anatomy and physiology.”
Sean Mahajan, B.S., Halmos biology major alum, was co-author on the project. Halmos Associate Professor Santanu De, M.Sc., Ph.D., mentored the students in the research collaboration.
Posted 04/07/24
From left, David Kilroy (Chair, Department of Humanities and Politics), Jared DeRosa, Christophe Godbarge, J.C. Avila (C.O.O., Montachem International, Inc.), Aidan Kunju, Hailee Delgado, Amanda Furiasse (Assistant Professor of Humanities, Marlisa Santos, professor and director, Center for Applied Humanities) at the IN-SIGHT showcase event.
While younger generations may prioritize climate change and plastic waste reduction in their beliefs, they are less likely to recycle than older generations, according to findings in a research study done by Nova Southeastern University students.
A small group of students began a collaboration in 2022 with Montachem International, following the company’s sponsorship of a case competition for NSU’s INST 1500 Global Issues course. Students in that class were invited to do a research project on global plastic use and waste, and three winners were selected based on a faculty panel decision. The three winners were then invited to present to Chief Operating Officer J.C. Avila and his colleagues from Montachem.
Seven students have participated over the past two years in the IN-SIGHT program, an undergraduate think tank that works with businesses and community organizations.
“Montachem’s enthusiasm for that first iteration of the case competition then translated into their support for the think tank,” said Marlisa Santos, Ph.D., director for NSU’s Center for Applied Humanities.
Montachem has been serving the plastics industry since 1988, distributing a line of thermoplastic resins and related additives to plastics’ converters around the globe. Realizing the potential negative impact of plastic distribution, Montachem is exploring approaches to incentivize recycling efforts.
From left, IN-SIGHT fellows Christophe Godbarge, Aidan Kunju, Hailee Delgado Jared DeRosa
The students were 2022-23 IN-SIGHT Fellows Jared DeRosa, Hailee Delgado, Christophe Godbarge and Aidan Kunju and 2023-24 IN-SIGHT Fellows Jared DeRosa, Savannah Delano, Alexis Lass and Charlotte Opris. The groups have worked under the direction of NSU Assistant Professor Amanda Furiasse, in the Center for Applied Humanities.
As part of their project with Montachem, the students did research and produced an in-depth report on a topic that presents a problem and provides a solution.
“The IN-SIGHT fellowship vividly demonstrates the humanities’ unique capacity to embrace diverse perspectives and leverage the inherent creativity of the human spirit, paving the way for sustainable solutions that resonate beyond academia,” Furiasse said.
Among some of the findings of the group uncovered were:
Jared DeRosa and Aidan Kunju assist in a beach cleanup.
The students’ concluded not all plastic products can be recycled with present technologies. Recycling requires significant investment in infrastructure and technology, and while recycling may reduce plastic waste it may not necessarily reduce the environmental impact of plastic production and use because of greenhouse gases recycling produces.
After the students’ presentation, the Montachem asked them to expand on their research. While this is their first client, Santos is optimistic there will be others in the future.
“The IN-SIGHT program demonstrates not only how relevant the humanities are in addressing real-world problems,” she said, “but also how imperative it is to seek perspectives from these disciplines, as they provide critical vision in improving our communities.”
Melissa Dore, the director of academic support and administration for the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences
Before Nova Southeastern University became Nova Southeastern University, Melissa Dore was here.
Dore was raised in rural Maine, far from the glitz of South Florida and its enticing beaches and balmy temperatures. She was drawn to the small South Florida school formerly called Nova University because of her love for marine studies. It was January 1992. Nova U. had the only master’s program in coastal zone management she could find.
Without realizing it, Dore found herself catching the wave of three decades of historic growth on the once fledgling campus. In 1994, Nova University merged with Southeastern University of Health Sciences, which added colleges of Pharmacy, Optometry, Allied Health, Medical Sciences and Dental Medicine, to form Nova Southeastern University.
For Dore, it was the right place at the right time.
After receiving her master’s degree in Marine Biology/Coastal Zone Management, Dore was hired in 1997 as an administrative assistant at the Oceanographic Center. She now is the director of academic support and administration for the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences.
“Since I have been here, NSU has provided me opportunities I wouldn’t have been able to get in the Northeast,” she said. “In my current role, I am the liaison among student services, students, faculty and administration for the college. I collaborate with others in the dean’s office to streamline processes to benefit the students and to uphold academic integrity.”
Dore’s first studied ostracods – minute aquatic crustaceans – in the marine environment. She worked with scanning electron microscopy to determine the environmental history of a place by using the ostracods as environmental indicators.
“Throughout my time at NSU, the most exhilarating research I participated in was working with the Broward County Sea Turtle Project back in the early 1990s,” she said. “Seeing what hard work we did then continue to grow and come to fruition now is amazing.”
Dore has used her extensive educational background to amplify her impact at NSU.
With her doctorate in higher education leadership, Dore helped develop retention plans at the undergraduate and graduate levels at NSU. Using her M.S. in College Student Affairs, she has explored how to help students enter the university. Her M.S.in Law, which she’ll complete this summer, has enabled her to research artificial intelligence in higher education and its legal ramifications.
“My current work is building resilience in students, staff, faculty and administrators in higher education,” she said. “I am the educational chair of the Academic Resilience Consortium and I have been developing and running a monthly webinar series focusing on how to create mental, emotional and social resilience in all stakeholders in higher education.”
Dore grew up surrounded by great aunts, uncles and grandparents who loved nature and showed her lakes, ponds, streams, bogs and glacial moraines in the Highlands of Maine. There, she learned how to identify animal tracks, birds and animal calls.
“I grew up swimming, boating and mucking around in these glacial waters,” she said.
Among Dore’s most influential role models were Dr. Lynn Margulis, an evolutionary biologist and huge proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution, and physicist and oceanographer Allyn Vine, a leader in the development of submersibles to explore the deep sea.
Education has been Dore’s foundation throughout her life, and her positive experiences in that realm at NSU have kept her here.
“One of the driving forces in higher education for me has been the ability to continue to expand my knowledge and work in a collaborative atmosphere,” she said. “Also, the fact I was allowed to see areas of concern and had the ability to develop solutions for the benefit of the students.”
When Dore is not researching or working with students, faculty and staff, she sings and volunteers. She has been singing with the Nova Singers since 1995. This year marks the 48th concert season of the Nova Singers, NSU’s community chorus made up of 140 members — from undergraduate students to older residents. When the 14th Dalai Lama made a historic visit to campus in 2004, Dore was among the singers at the ceremony at the Alvin Sherman Library, where the religious leader honored the university with a “prayer wheel” and received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from NSU.
“We have traveled to Europe, sung in the Vatican and Carnegie Hall, too,” she said. “I also volunteer for the Little Free Libraries in Fort Lauderdale. We stock all the small free libraries around the neighborhoods so everyone has a book to read.”
From left, Charlotte Opris, Sophia Wehle, Nicholette Lanane, Melina Isabelle Pecci
Students from the Department of Humanities and Politics in the Hamos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center presented their research at the Florida Political Science annual conference hosted by the University of Florida. Students were mentored by department faculty member Ransford Edwards, Ph.D.
The presenters and papers:
Posted 03/17/24
From left, Michelle Bellino (University of Michigan), Jan Stewart (dean of education, Manitoba), Zaira Magana (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Lindsey Horner, University of Edinburgh and NSU’s Cheryl Duckworth.
Cheryl Duckworth, Ph.D., faculty and director of the master’s program in conflict analysis and resolution in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center, presented at the Comparative and International Education Society’s conference in Miami (March 10-15). Her research looks at how the media covers school shootings, and what the impact of this is for fostering peaceful school cultures.
Duckworth is the faculty facilitator for the Peace and Conflict Education Working Group in the department. She teaches qualitative research methods, peace education, foundations of conflict resolution and history, memory and conflict resolution.
Posted 03/17/24
The Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center invites you to participate in “Understanding the Dynamics between Religion, Politics and Conflict.” This free four-session online course will be offered on Saturdays from March 30 to April 27. It will be offered in English from noon to 2 p.m. and in Creole from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
The course is being offered by the International Center for Leadership and Conflict Studies, a Florida-based non-profit that promotes global leadership development and peaceful conflict resolution.
The lead trainer is Ernst Pierre Vincent, Ph.D., a doctoral graduate of DCRS. Vincent is a global conflict expert, focusing on identity, religious and political conflict, race relations, statelessness, slavery and neo-colonialism. His research with Dominicans of Haitian descent and religious leaders explores challenges faced by stateless individuals. As founder of the center, he investigates the church’s role in racial reconciliation and social justice in the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States.
This course is sponsored by Latin America and The Caribbean Working Group in DCRS, which aims to raise awareness of issues in the region, fostering partnerships among NSU’s community and diverse Latin American nations.
See the flyer for registration information.
Posted 03/17/24