Master of Arts News

Kyle Patrick Williams

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:23:27 GMT

Soon to graduate, Kyle Patrick Williams has been selected for a two-year contract at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. He will join the Office of Service Learning's Visiting Service-Learning Tutorship Scheme with responsibilities including expanding and creating programs for service learning, research (at least one original study), and hostel duties (learning communities). Williams successfully interviewed via Skype, and will depart in a few weeks to begin the August 2012-August 2014 contract.

Williams enthuses, “I am very excited about this program, as it is the golden opportunity to gain two years of international experience in my field. I cannot wait to hit the ground running in Hong Kong!” At the end of his contract, Williams intends to return to complete his Ph.D.

Michael Horowitz

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:20:58 GMT

In preparation for his final document, Michael Horowitz is questioning the manner in which homes are being rated by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and other internationally-recognized green building certification systems. Can they truly be rating sustainable building and development practices when the size of the building in relation to the number of occupants does not seem to be a significant part of their calculations? Horowitz explains the problem, “Overall, size is one of the most significant contributing factors to the resource efficiency, and therefore the environmental impact of a home. In short, it is possible to save more energy by reductions in size, than by increases in the quality of energy efficient construction.” Horowitz will be using sustainability as a lens through which to view policy, leadership, design and management as they relate to green building. Through his research he intends to highlight how the current green building certification systems contains a socioeconomic bias towards larger homes with “nifty green features,” AKA "Green McMansions.” He plans to propose alternative ways of measurement that take sustainability into account.

Kyle Patrick Williams

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:14:23 GMT

Kyle Williams is currently serving as the AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) Leader for the Kentucky Campus Compact project at Northern Kentucky University, where he has integrated his Master’s research into his role. William’s research study, “Strengthening Citizenship through Service Learning in Kentucky Higher Education,” will poll student attitudes about citizenship and service learning and determine how programs designed to strengthen citizenship through service learning could be integrated into course curriculum. The population for the online study will be post-secondary students at member institutions of the Kentucky Campus Compact, which are colleges and universities seeking to connect with their surrounding communities. Williams hopes to propose a program design that can be replicated at other universities across the U.S. by AmeriCorps VISTA members.

Asghar Zomorrodian, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:34:37 GMT

Due to his expertise in areas of public administration and management, Asghar Zomorrodian was appointed by The Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), to the 2010-11 Peer Review Committee for the Fulbright Specialist Program. With his selection, he joins the ranks of distinguished scholars and professionals worldwide who are leaders in the educational, political, and social lives of their countries. Dr. Zomorrodian has also been appointed as a member of the International Scientific Committee of Academic Public Administrative Studies Archive (APAS). APAS is designated to collect, archive, and disseminate scientific papers focused on public administration.

In 2010, Dr. Zomorrodian acted as track chair for Emerging Trends in Management: Creativity and Innovation for the 17th Annual Conference of American Society of Business & Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS). Dr. Zomorrodian’s paper, Program Evaluation: Its Significance and Priority for Shaping and Modification of Public Policies: A Comparative Analysis, co-authored with Lucia Matei of Romania, was selected as the best paper by a track chair of the ASBBS .

Anne Roth, M.A. 2012

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:55:59 GMT

As a special education teacher in Tennessee, Anne Roth focused her studies in the Master of Arts on the achievement gap between low income children and their more privileged peers. She has seven years of experience working with both inner-city and rural children and adolescents in Tennessee. Roth watched the heartbreaking pattern of children living below the poverty line experiencing an ever-widening achievement gap and wondered how best to teach them. Roth explains, “My passion is to help those children who are born into communities and homes where education cannot be priority because daily survival is often insecure.”

Her thesis research showed that students fall behind during their time outside of school, so government programs focusing on families with young children, e.g. the early Head Start program, have the greatest impact. Successful programs coordinate with other efforts to consider such important aspects as targeting, developmental timing, intensity, and accountability.

Roth traveled to Haiti this summer to provide assistance to families there that ranged from bringing toothbrushes, setting up a soccer ministry, feeding a village of children and their families, to bringing school supplies to children in orphanages. Roth exclaims, “I am so excited to bring back experiences that will help enrich my teaching strategies and to help those who I work with understand the lifestyle of those living below poverty, whether in our country or elsewhere.”