eInside Briefs

Six Kent State Educators Honored at 20th Annual Celebrating College Teaching Conference

Six Kent State University educators were honored for their achievements in the classroom at the 20th annual Celebrating College Teaching Conference on Oct. 24 and 25.

Three faculty members received the Kent State Alumni Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award (DTA) for demonstrating extraordinary teaching in the classroom and a commitment to impacting the lives of students.

Three faculty members also received the Outstanding Teaching Award (OTA), sponsored by the University Teaching Council, which honors full-time, nontenure-track and part-time faculty who consistently demonstrate extraordinary skill in classroom teaching.

Recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Award are:
Ann Abraham, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Kent State University at Ashtabula
Leslie Heaphy, Department of History, Kent State University at Stark
Catherine Leslie, School of Fashion Design and Merchandising, Kent Campus

Recipients of the Outstanding Teaching Award are:
Robin Joynes, Department of Psychology, Kent Campus
Uma Krishnan, Department of English, Kent Campus
Randy Ruchotzke, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Kent Campus

More information about each recipient will be featured in upcoming issues of e-Inside.

Kent State’s College of Nursing Named Center of Excellence by National League of Nursing

Kent State University's College of Nursing was named a
Center of Excellence by the National League for Nursing
during its annual education summit in Washington, D.C.
Pictured are faculty members from Kent State's College of
Nursing at the award ceremony. 

Kent State University’s College of Nursing program was one of 10 schools named a Center of Excellence by the National League for Nursing (NLN) during its annual education summit in Washington, D.C. Kent State was recognized in the category of “Creating Environments that Advance the Science of Nursing Education.”  

Immediate past dean of the College of Nursing Laura Dzurec, Ph.D., Interim Dean Susan Stocker, Ph.D., and 10 faculty members attended the National League for Nursing’s banquet, where Kent State was recognized for its nursing program. Deans and other top administrators from schools across the nation attended the ceremony.

Stocker is proud of the school's achievement and the national recognition it is receiving.

“I really want to credit the faculty and the administrative staff in the College of Nursing," Stocker says. "This honors their work and dedication to our students.”   

Schools were chosen by the organization’s Board of Governors. Stocker says the organization judges schools based on continuous improvement, innovation and superior educational vision.

“The most rewarding part of this is to know that the Kent State College of Nursing is contributing to the health of Northeast Ohio," Stocker says. "I’m so proud of all the work our graduates are doing throughout our country to provide healthcare to those in need.”

“We are proud to offer this elite status to deserving nursing education programs and organizations that model excellence in their teaching/learning strategies and implementation; initiatives that nurture professional development; rigorous scholarship; and promotion of academic progression for lifelong learning,” says National League for Nursing President Judith Halstead, Ph.D., in a statement.

Michelle Bozeman, outreach program manager for the College of Nursing, says this is a very exciting time for the college.

“It’s great to have the students and faculty recognized for their strong commitment,” Bozeman says. 

Initial Center of Excellence designations, like this one, are granted for a four-year period.

The National League for Nursing was originally founded in 1893 as the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses. A board of governors leads the organization at its New York City headquarters. National League for Nursing members include health care and education agencies, nurse educators and interested members of the general public.

For more information about Kent State’s College of Nursing, visit www.kent.edu/nursing.

Seven Members Inducted Into Varsity "K" Hall of Fame

Seven new members were inducted into the Varsity "K"
Hall of Fame class on Oct. 26.

The Kent State Department of Intercollegiate Athletics inducted seven new members into the 2013 Varsity "K" Hall of Fame class as part of the 35th induction ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Joining the Kent State Varsity "K" Athletics Hall of Fame are Jennie Allerding Bishko (softball, 1993-97), Shannon Beck (field hockey, 1989-92), Emmanuel Burriss (baseball, 2004-06), Nathan Fanger (track and field, 1997-00), Heather Langham (gymnastics, 1999-02), Cathy O'Donnell (administrator) and Tom Viggiano (ice hockey, 1980-84).  In addition, the 1990 softball team received a Team of Distinction honor and Lenard W. Hairston, '69, was recognized as a Distinguished Athletic Alumnus. Larry G. Disbro, Ph.D., '71, is the 2013 Varsity "K" Person of the Year, and Michael Beder, '00, is this year's Honorary Varsity "K" Member.

Bishko, came storming onto the softball scene, earning All-MAC First Team honors as a freshman. She broke the Flashes' single-season record for strikeouts in 1996 on her way to another all-conference season.  The Loudonville, Ohio, native was a two-time Academic All-American, earning a first team nod in 1996. She received the Janet Bachna Award in 1997, recognizing Kent State's senior women's student-athlete who demonstrated combined qualities of leadership, athletic ability and academic performance. Bishko also served as a pitching coach for Kent State.
 
Field Hockey's starting goalkeeper for three seasons, Beck posted a program-record 26 shutouts, leading the Golden Flashes to MAC regular season and tournament titles in both 1991 and 1992. She claimed All-MAC First Team honors in both 1991 and 1992, while earning all-region accolades. In 1991, Beck carried a 0.26 goals against average as the Flashes finished 18-1-2. Her 40 career wins are the third most in school history and her 18 wins in 1991 are the most in a season.
 
A native of Washington, D.C., Burriss was the 33rd overall pick of the 2006 MLB Draft and spent parts of five seasons in the major leagues, including a pair of World Series runs by the Giants. In 2006, he was named Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and earned All-America honors from both Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association. Kent State's leadoff hitter in 2006, Burriss hit .360 with 17 extra-base hits, leading the Golden Flashes to a MAC regular season title. He also helped the Flashes to a conference tournament title in 2004. Burriss holds Kent State records for stolen bases in a career (92) and a season (42). 

The MAC discus champion for four straight seasons, Fanger's throw in 2000 (194-3) is still the longest in Kent State's history. He was also a two-time place winner at the MAC Indoor Championships in the weight throw and a two-time place winner at the MAC Outdoor Championships in the hammer.  A native of Kalispell, Mont., Fanger's efforts in the discus and hammer helped the Golden Flashes win a MAC outdoor title in 2000. He was a two-time qualifier for the NCAA Championships and earned Academic All-MAC First Team honors in three straight seasons. He has also served as assistant track and field coach for 12 years, guiding Kent State's throwers to more than 40 MAC championships.
 
Langham still holds Kent State's highest finish in the all-around at the NCAA Championships, a 14th place in 2002, earning second team All-America honors. The Concord, Ohio, native helped the Golden Flashes to a 2001 MAC Championship by finishing second on the floor, third on bars and seventh on vault. Langham won an individual MAC title in 2000 on bars. That season, she finished second at the MAC Championships in the all-around, earning All-MAC First Team honors. Langham claimed a spot on the all-conference second team as a freshman and earned Academic All-MAC accolades twice.
 
Serving Kent State Intercollegiate Athletics for 22 years, O'Donnell began her time in the department as an academic counselor. She later became senior woman administrator and executive associate athletic director. O'Donnell guided student-athletes in academic, social and real-life endeavors. Meanwhile, she played a major administrative role in the department as numerous teams achieved new levels of athletic and academic success. An indicative reflection of O'Donnell's work with Laing Kennedy came during the 2009-10 academic year when Kent State won the Reese, Jacoby and Cartwright Awards for excellence in athletics, academics and community service.
 
Viggiano averaged over a goal per game throughout his four seasons of playing ice hockey and was the first four-year varsity letterwinner in the program's history. He holds Kent State's career records for goals scored (97), total points (203) and hat tricks (9). Viggiano ranks second in career assists (106) and game-winning goals (9). He also served as an assistant coach and head coach for the Golden Flashes from 1986-88.

This year's group of seven inductees brings the membership of the Varsity "K" Athletics Hall of Fame to 284 since the original 13-member charter class of 1979. The induction ceremony took place at the Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center.  The 2013 class was introduced on Oct. 26 at halftime of the football game against Buffalo.

Beware Fraudulent Emails Sent to Kent State Faculty and Staff

You get an email from Kent State University, apparently, saying your mailbox has exceeded its storage limit set by your administrator. In order to receive new mail, it states you must re-validate your account. You click on the link, fill out the information requested, including your password and you go about your day. You haven’t done a thing wrong, and your information is safe with the university, right?

Wrong.

On Oct. 14, a fraudulent email was sent to a large portion of Kent State employees and students. The email, which appeared to be from the university, was sent by an unauthorized third-party in a tactic known as Phishing, as in Phishing for your personal information.

“Phishing is very serious and is a real concern,” says Jason Wearley, Kent State’s executive director of information technology infrastructure services and support. “This act is targeted directly at getting your personal and sensitive information.”

The university will never ask you to verify, validate, re-validate or supply any personal information through email. If anything, Kent State will only ask you to reset your password, Wearley says.

Students and staff who clicked on any links in the email or entered any personal information are asked to contact the Office of Security and Access Management at 330-672-5566 or security@kent.edu.

Tips to Protect Yourself

1. Run updated anti-virus software to remove any bad software potentially installed on a device.
2. If you used credit card information with the scam or used it on any site after the scam, contact the credit agencies and place a fraud alert on your accounts.
3. Change passwords on any site accounts you accessed while vulnerable to the scam.
4. If identity theft has occurred, report it to law enforcement as criminal activity.
   

For more information about Kent State’s Office of Security and Access Management, call 330-672-5566 or visit www.kent.edu/is/security/index.cfm.

Professor Analyzes Ancient Crater in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Pictured is an image of a rare, multi-ringed, complex-impact
crater of unusually small diameter in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Kent State University Professor of Geology Joseph Ortiz
partnered with a team of scientists to publish an article about
this unique crater.

Joseph Ortiz, Ph.D., a professor of geology at Kent State University, is part of a team of scientists who recently co-authored a publication about a rare, multi-ringed, complex-impact crater of unusually small diameter in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Eastern Canada).

His colleague, Patrick Lajeunesse, Ph.D., from Laval University, who was the lead author and lead principal investigator on the project, first reported the discovery of the crater in 2001. In addition to Ortiz and Lajeunesse, the team consisted of Jacques Locat of Laval University, Guillaume St-Onge of  Université du Québec at Rimouski, Mathieu J. Duchesne of the Geological Survey of Canada and Michael Higgins of the Université du Québec at Chicoutimi.

Ortiz assisted with some of the sedimentological and physical properties analysis and in the interpretation of these results. He has also been working with members of this team to study paleoceanographic changes that occurred over the past several tens of thousands of years in the marginal waters of the Canadian Arctic and Subarctic.
 
"One of the things that excites me about science is the thrill of the discovery of the unknown,” Ortiz says. “Our team was not looking for this feature, but when you find something like this, your scientific curiosity leads you to solving the mystery of its origin."

The article, which appeared in the international journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science, described the four-kilometer diameter and 185 meter-deep crater lying on the seabed at greater than 40 meter water depths with a central uplift and concentric rings, features characteristic of a complex impact crater. The impact origin of the crater is suggested by its shape, and a rock fragment recovered from the crater surface that shows, under the microscope, evidence of impact-related melting and shock-induced structures. These features indicate intense temperature and pressures that are consistent with an impact-related origin. The absolute age of this impact structure is unknown, but its geological setting indicates that it was likely formed long after the Mid-Ordovician (470 million years ago) and before Quaternary glaciations (2.6 million years ago).

The crater was named the Corossol Crater after the name of a ship from the fleet of King Louis XIV, which wrecked in the area in 1693.

Important Information About Final Grading of Fall 2013 Second Five Weeks (F2) Classes

Online final grading for fall 2013 second five weeks (F2) courses meeting from Sept. 30 through Nov. 3 began Thursday, Oct. 31, via FlashFAST. Grading is also now available for any fall 2013 course section that was flexibly scheduled and has an end date no later than Nov. 3. The deadline for grading submission is midnight on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Any final grades for Fall 2013 second five weeks (F2) courses not reported in FlashFAST by the grades processing deadline will have to be submitted using the Grade Change Workflow. These fall 2013 second five weeks (F2) courses will be available in the workflow on Thursday, Nov. 7.

Incomplete Mark and NF/SF Grades:
The administrative mark of IN (Incomplete) may be given to students who are unable to complete the work due to extenuating circumstances. To be eligible, undergraduate students must be currently passing and have completed at least 12 weeks of the semester. The timeline shall be adjusted appropriately for flexibly scheduled courses. Graduate students must be currently earning a C or better grade and are unable to complete the required work between the course withdrawal deadline and the end of classes.

The grade NF (Never Attended–Fail) denotes that the student neither attended one class session nor formally withdrew from the course. The grade SF (Stopped Attending–Fail) denotes that the student stopped attending the course and did not formally withdraw and must be accompanied by a date of last attendance in the course.

For complete information on university grading policies including Incomplete Mark and NF/SF grading policies, procedures and timelines, please visit the Grading Policies and Procedures section in the university catalog at www.kent.edu/catalog.

Grades processing tips and FAQs may be found on the Office of the University Registrar's website at www.kent.edu/registrar/facstaff/facresc.cfm. Any faculty member needing personalized instruction on submitting their grades via FlashFAST should contact their campus Registrar's office during normal business hours for assistance.

To access FlashFAST, login to FlashLine from www.kent.edu (click FlashLine Login from top right menu bar) then click the Faculty & Advisor Tools tab. Locate the Faculty Toolbox, and select Final under the Submit Grades heading.

Troubleshooting Tip: FlashFAST is accessible from any Internet-capable computer that has the cookies function enabled. We recommend that you clean out your cookie and cache files regularly to help your computer run faster, and to potentially restore and/or improve your access to FlashFAST and/or FlashLine by improving your connection to the server. Our helpdesk is prepared to offer assistance with these issues. Please contact them at 330-672-HELP (4357) for one-on-one assistance and technical issues.