Master of Arts News

Stacy Freeman

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:25:18 GMT

Stacy Freeman is thrilled to announce that she will be teaching at Mohawk Valley Community College upon graduating from the M.A. program. It has been quite a journey so far. To explain what this means to her, Freeman shared the following:

"When I started my master’s degree at Union Institute & University I eventually figured out that I didn’t need to be three different people. My home life, my work life, and my school life began to overlap, began to meld into one coherent form. I realized, with the help of the faculty and staff at Union, that I wasn’t three different people. At Union I finally became the person I truly am. I finally became myself. Most of the writing assignments I completed while at Union not only demonstrated my breadth of knowledge as a meager graduate student but also reflected my struggle as a single mom of a son with ADHD and the drudgery of being an employee at a rural Wal-Mart Distribution Center. The work I completed at Union reflects who I am and has prepared me for the next stage in my life, for the next role I will play, as an adjunct at a local community college.

Apparently my role as a mom and my role as a Wal-Mart employee are just as relevant as my education. Those roles are relevant because those are the same roles that the students, particularly on the community college level, are forced to embrace. They, as I am, are parents, employees, and students. They, as I do, want something more. Every role I have ever played, every experience I have ever had, will help me relate to my students, will help me understand the difficulties my students endure, will aid me in being compassionate toward their plight, will allow me to appreciate the sacrifices my students will be forced to make just to show up to class. In this next role as Composition Instructor I will still be a mom, I will still be a Wal-Mart employee, and I will still be a student. Though I know I will be teaching, I also know I will be learning. I have a feeling my students will have much to teach me. I have a feeling that my true education is about to begin."

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.

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:22:21 GMT

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg was recently selected as one of the 2012 BlogHer Voices of the Year for her article "The Path That Chose Me." The piece will be honored at the 5th annual Voices of the Year Community Keynote in the Identity category along with a total of 120 honorees worldwide in the six categories.

Rachel’s Master of Arts studies focus on cultural representations of disability. She shares her reflections and analysis in her powerful and thought-provoking new blog. In her latest musing she states, “The myth that we can control our bodies against difficulty, illness, injury, aging, and death is simply a blanket denial of physical reality, but the more I look, the more I see this myth all around me.” She links this mainstream myth promotion to the reason more money is spent on preventing the inevitable than in helping disabled people to have a better quality of life.

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.

Shirley Rossi-Rivera

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:19:58 GMT

Shirley Rossi-Rivera recently returned from the 46th Annual Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, MI. New to the field, she found the 3000 plus attendees quite daunting; however, she encourages anyone interested in attending a conference in their field to “go for it.” “It can be intimidating at first,” she explains, “but you have to remember that you are among like-minds who offer a wealth of information."

Shirley’s favorite part of the conference was being able to attend presentations by some well-known Crusades scholars whose work she has read and cited. One such presentation was given by Dr. Carole Hillenbrand, an extremely well respected historian. She reports, “When Dr. Hillenbrand spoke you could have heard a pin drop. The reverence she was paid was mind-boggling."

Although Shirley’s own research into Christian and Muslim women and the Crusades only began a year ago, she discovered that her focus is unique. In fact, her topic has attracted serious attention from a well-known publisher who proposed a contract to publish her manuscript when it is finished. Not knowing how seriously to take such offers, she sought the advice of UI&U faculty. The advice given to her was to read Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get it Published by Alfred Fortunato. While she is not quite ready to tackle a manuscript, we look forward to hearing more about her book in the future .

Colleen Kappeler

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:18:45 GMT

Already an experienced editor, Kappeler assisted one of her local writers in self-publishing a book through Kindle Direct Publishing and CreateSpace for her Applications course. Kappeler found the text to be inspiring and well-deserving of the extra effort to get it out in the public eye. Print and Kindle versions of the book, LOL by Patty Dunn Merletti, are now available on Amazon.com. Along the way, Kappeler learned helpful tips for successfully navigating the self-publishing market. She recommends starting with Kindle Direct Publishing and, when sales warrant hard copies for book signings, etc., to develop the print version in CreateSpace. Once the book is written, the hardest part is designing the cover because you have to make the front, spine, and back cover all in one document. Therefore, you may prefer to work with an experienced graphic designer for that step. After the book is published to Kindle, she suggests pricing it low (under $5) and generating a strong “buzz” through genre-specific chat boards. The more feedback on your book, the higher it comes up in searches on your topic.

Julie-Marie Bristol

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:17:31 GMT

Formerly a part of the Scandinavian empire, the Shetland Islands were pledged to Scotland in 1469 as part of a marriage arrangement involving Princess Margaret of Norway. Though now part of the Scottish realm and culture, Shetland maintained strong political and commercial links with Norway for some time, and the resulting blend of culture, traditions, and language resulted in the unique Shetland regional identity that remains more than 500 years later. This distinctive heritage is epitomized in the beautiful dialect, poetry, and strong oral traditions so characteristic of the Shetland Islands. It is this rich Shetlandic history that Julie Bristol has tried to convey as part of her Applications course, included as part of a presentation she created complete with interviews conducted with several Shetland poets, readings by two Shetland poets, and readings of her own poems that are written in the Shetland dialect.

Here is an excerpt from one of her poems to give you a feel for the melodious vernacular:

Ma dowter’s i ma airms
wi a glim apö her ee
Harken, mither! she sudden cries –
A trow is whit I’ll be.
Strampin aa owre Shetlan
birlin and rowlin da kames,
flinging da wadder aa roon aboot,
rummelin aabody’s hames;
makin da boanniest pictures
wi da lichts dat are held nort by

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.

Karin Cadwell, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:40:31 GMT

Doctors Nashwa Samra, Amal El Taweel and our own Professor Karin Cadwell recently published their research findings, “The Effect of Kangaroo Mother Care on the Duration of Phototherapy of Infants Re-admitted for Neonatal Jaundice,” in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine. Out of the 50 jaundiced infants studied at an oasis hospital in Egypt, those that received intermittent kangaroo mother care (KMC: held by their mother in skin-to-skin contact which allows on-demand breastfeeding, among other benefits) required significantly shorter periods of phototherapy to recover from jaundice. Although further research is recommended to confirm these results, the study indicates that KMC is a safe, effective treatment to reduce the duration of necessary phototherapy and frees up ICU resources for sicker infants.

Rudolph Ryser, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:39:27 GMT

Professor Rudolph Ryser reported the content of an intervention to the Adhoc Working Group on the Kyoto Protocols (AWG-KP) summit in Durban, South Africa, in support of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC). His report stressed the urgency of strengthening the Kyoto Protocol and cutting greenhouse gas emissions to protect Indigenous Peoples, especially in Africa, who are already suffering from the impacts of climate change..

His report warned that pressures to weaken the Kyoto Protocols could result in at least 5 degrees warming, and could lead to the destruction of cultures and the ecocide of territories. The intervention called for the AWG-KP to incorporate safeguards for adaptation and mitigation measures that are negatively impacting Indigenous Peoples. The formation of such an Indigenous Peoples’ Expert Group under the Kyoto Protocol must include Indigenous Peoples to be certain their rights are protected: rights to lands, territories and resources, full and effective participation, as well as the right to free, prior and informed consent, in line with applicable universal human rights instruments, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Professor Ryser is currently lecturing in Mexico under a Fulbright Scholarship Grant regarding the application of traditional knowledge to food security adaptation strategies in response to the adverse effects of climate change.

Judith McDaniel, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:38:14 GMT

UI&U Professor Judith McDaniel will be presenting “The Challenges of Using Authentic Assessments in Online and Community-based Learning Contexts” at the 17th Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning. Teaming up with Jan Kempster, the dean of the Adult Degree Program at Prescott College, they will each present different possibilities for authentic assessment of programs that emphasize interactive, experiential learning. McDaniel explains, “Both UI&U and Prescott College are founded on a belief that education is about the ability to think creatively and to interact with new knowledge as a way of incorporating knowledge into performance, so finding an authentic means of assessment has challenged the faculty.

Within their Applications course at UI&U, some students have chosen to design a course that demonstrates an ability to bring the theoretical learning into a practical application. Dr. McDaniel will demonstrate the design of the website where students create their courses and discuss the effectiveness of self and peer assessment in this context.

Loree Miltich, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:35:59 GMT

The March 2011 Exhibit at the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids, MN, featured Migration, a collaborative project by poets Loree Miltich and Susan Hawkinson, photographer Jackie Solem, and calligrapher Meridith Schifsky. Jackie Solem exhibited photographs from her travels that she explains changed her as she experienced diverse cultures of the world. Loree and Susan wrote in response to the photographs using a form that Loree calls “double-voiced” poetry. With Susan’s voice in the left column and Loree’s in the right column, the poem is also intended to be read line by line across the page to offer greater possibility. Follow this link to experience the poem.

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 .

Woden Teachout, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:32:01 GMT

Among Pulitzer Prize-winning historians and other eminent speakers chosen for the First Wednesdays Humanity Lecture Series in Vermont, Woden Teachout presented Imagining America to a packed house. Using famous drawings, photographs and literature, Teachout led the audience through unfolding conceptualizations of America across four centuries. The country has been represented as a dangerous wilderness; through Norman Rockwell’s famous paintings of freedom of speech, of worship, from want, from fear; and, in a recent Egyptian cartoon, as an oversize Uncle Sam lolling on a recliner. Teachout emphasized the fact that America looks very different depending upon who does the imagining. Her speech drew on Benedict Anderson’s famous idea of the nation as an “imagined community” to question the very idea of America. She challenges us to actively choose how we imagine America and shape that vision into being.

The most recent publication of Dr. Teachout, Capture the Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism, has been reviewed by many national publications, including The Wall Street Journal.

Dorothy Firman, Ed.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:24:52 GMT

Due to her expertise in transpersonal psychology, Professor Dorothy Firman was invited to blog for Psychology Today. Among other timely topics, she has written about “saying yes to the call of Self” to become “part of the solution to whatever problems we are faced with individually and globally.”

As tragic events unfold domestically and internationally, we are reminded to say “yes” to responsibility, to learning life’s lessons and to change. We learn to say “yes” to hope that give us the possibility of being a better nation and united people. For more sage advice, readLiving a Life of Purpose: Spirituality in Real Time.

Patricia Monaghan, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:23:38 GMT

Patricia Monaghan's book of poems, "The Grace of Ancient Land," has been published by the Voices from the American Land project, established to "revive and amplify a dominant tradition in American letters — the poetry of place, whether urban, rural, or wild." Monaghan's book portrays the little-known Driftless Area of Wisconsin, named for its lack of glacial soil or "drift" and the only area of the Midwest that has been untouched by glaciation for the last half-million years. Of the book, editor Renny Golden said, "Her work falls in the tradition of Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic.” Yet it is a subversive moral vision in the tradition of Eavan Boland’s ethic of “powerful ordinariness.” Monaghan thus genders her land ethic. Monaghan does not mythologize the land but embodies its beauty and bounty in the luminous ordinary of planting, canning, the fleeting presence of deer and hawk. She implicitly links seasonal change to the cycle of birth and death. When she sees the hawk circling for field mice, she reminds us of the mortal path we trod and bids us to pay attention to what grace offers: the quickening unbidden moment." More information atwww.voicesfromtheamericanland.org.

Anna Blair, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:22:40 GMT

Dr. Blair spoke on a cruise to Grand Cayman on May 17-21, presenting “Research Updates in Breastfeeding and Human Lactation.” At the end of August, she is lecturing on a cruise to Alaska on “Continuity of Care in Breastfeeding: Finding the Path to Best Practice.”

In addition to her responsibilities as M.A. faculty and advisor and chair of the UI&U's B.S. in Maternal Child Health, Dr. Blair performs clinical work at Healthy Children’s center on the cape. She also routinelyvolunteers for dolphin rescue at Cape Cod.

Leslie Korn, Ph.D.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:20:04 GMT

Dr. Korn served as a post-doctoral Fulbright scholar in Mexico for 2009-2010. She was awarded a joint grant from the U.S. State Department and COMEXUS to continue her research with indigenous women on traditional medicine in rural west Mexico. Dr. Korn has published two books this year, the bi-lingualMedicinal Plants of the Jungle/Plantas Medicinales de la Selva, and Preventing and Treating Diabetes, Naturally, the Native Way, with co-author Dr. Rudolph Ryser. Medicinal Plants of the Jungleeducates the reader about both indigenous and biomedical science of 11 of the most important healing plants chosen by the women of Yelapa, Mexico. This book is a product of the women’s community medicine project.

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.”

Rachel Martinez, M.A. 2012

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:54:40 GMT

Although she was already an IBCLC-certified practicing lactation consultant and educator, the MA Program provided Rachel Martinez a tremendous opportunity for career growth. While researching her thesis, Prenatal Breastfeeding Education: Impact on the Early Postpartum Period, she was able to apply discoveries made along the way to her work at the hospital throughout the entire process. She observes, “What really surprised me is how the experience showed me what is possible for the work I do and how I can now move forward with it.”

In addition to writing her thesis, Martinez also produced a prenatal breastfeeding education series that has garnered statewide interest. Martinez was invited to present her education series at the Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon’s Annual Meeting in March 2012. Area prenatal practitioners, hospitals, and multiple county WIC offices will be participating in implementing the series.

Martinez acknowledges, “I credit much of what I have gained through the Master’s Program to the supportive and knowledgeable staff, and my classmates who introduced me to varied experiences, perspectives, and camaraderie.” She leaves the M.A. with an extended circle of new colleagues from all over the country to continue to draw upon for a community of practice.