Faculty and staff sketches

October 29, 2024 (Volume 48, Number 5)

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Faculty and staff members who have given presentations, were recognized for outstanding contributions or had their research published are detailed below. The campus community can submit a sketch online for future publication. 

In the News
Laura Schneider, associate professor of political science, and students Rachel Noreen, Isabella Grunwald and Samantha Derry were interviewed for a Michigan Public's Stateside podcast on Gen Z and voting issues.

Donald Zinman, professor of political science, and students Jolienne Schutte, Jaylen Moore, Ashyah Zander and Karilyn Anderson were interviewed by WXMI-TV for a story about how college voters could impact the election.

B. Donta Truss, vice president for Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach, was interviewed by Bridge Michigan for a story about enrollment at Michigan public universities rising despite federal financial aid challenges; and by The Lakeshore for a story about the grants received through the Make MI Home program.

Polly Diven, professor of political science, was interviewed by WZZM-TV for a story about the early October missile strike by Iran on Israel.

Christian Glupker, senior clinical affiliate faculty of economics, was interviewed by WGVU Public Media for a story about a survey he and the Seidman College of Business conducted to find the economic impact of arts and culture in Grand Rapids.

Sketches
Information Technology's eLearning staff members gave presentations at the Anthology Together Conference: Glenna Decker, "Student Voices: Learning from Students, Learn Ultra Experiences to Better Inform Faculty"; Vince St. Germain, Katie Clark and David Nivala, "Driving Interdisciplinary Assessment Projects by REACHing Higher with Innovation and Technology"; and Kim Kenward, Colleen Cameron, Noah Campbell, Kelley Senkowski and Glenna Decker, "One Year Under Our Belt with a Full-Scale Learn Ultra Adoption: Reflections, Successes, and Next Steps."

Al Steinman, Allen and Helen Hunting Research Professor at AWRI, gave a keynote presentation on Michigan's Groundwater at the annual conference of the Michigan Gardens Club in Bay City and a presentation, "Restoration and Revitalization of Muskegon Lake," at Cook Valley Estates in Grand Rapids.

Kyle Brink, professor of management, was a co-author of an article, "Liberals Versus Conservatives in Your Office: How to Cool Tensions," published in the MIT Sloan Management Review.

Justin Melick, senior instructional design specialist, received a 2024 Exemplary Course Award from Anthology (Blackboard) for EDT 312: Children and Technology. The Exemplary Course Program recognizes instructors and designers who demonstrate best practices in course design, assessment and learner support. 

Psychology faculty members Michael Wolfe and Brian Bowdle were co-authors of an article, "Textbase and Situation Model Representations as Educational Constructs," published in the journal Discourse Processes.

Kristin Graef, visiting professor of writing, gave poetry readings during a fundraising event, "Lister Steps, the Old Library Concert and Poetry, Liverpool, England," where she studied 40 years before.

Lisa Perhamus, director of the Center for Civil Discourse and professor of interdisciplinary studies, wrote an article, "Biographic-Storytelling Classrooms as a Workaround to Critical Race Theory Pushback," published in the Journal of Educational Controversy.

Mario Fific, professor of psychology, gave presentations, "Modular Serial-Parallel Network (MSPN): A Unified Model for Hierarchical Cognitive and Perceptual Processes" and "Analytical Transformation of Facial Holism: Unveiling Reversed Alchemy through Computational Modeling," at the Theory and Methodology in Configural Perception conference in Taiwan.

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Faculty & Staff Sketches