Faculty and staff achievements
Kristine Blair, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, is one of five Purdue University alumnae to be recognized as 2017 Distinguished Women Scholars for exceptional contributions to their fields and impressive leadership. The award ceremony was March 10. Blair earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in English from California State University, Sacramento, and she received a PhD in English Rhetoric from Purdue in 1994. She came to YSU in May 2016 from Bowling Green State University, where she had been professor and chair of English.
Vicki Kress, professor, Counseling, and director, Clinical Mental Health & Addiction Counseling, received the Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person from the American Counseling Association. A prestigious national award, it is presented to an AMA member who gives to others without fanfare or expectation of reward other than the personal satisfaction of seeing other people made happier. Kress was presented the award, along with a $1,000 honorarium, at the ACA Conference in San Francisco March 18. She is director of advocacy for the National Board of Certified Counselors, serves on the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapist Board and is American Counseling Association Midwest Region chair. She has received more than 30 counseling awards, has published more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has coauthored several books on clinical counseling of adults and children.
Dr. James A. Conser, professor emeritus, Criminal Justice and Forensic Science, coauthored two chapters in Law Enforcement and Technology: Understanding the Use of Technology for Policing, a text published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Both chapters were coauthored with Louis P. Carsone, a part-time instructor at YSU and public safety director for the city of Hubbard, Ohio. The chapters are titled “Technology that Aids the Investigative Process” and “Technology and the Future of Policing.”
Jeffrey Tyus, associate professor, Communication, and Ann Gardner, assistant director, International Programs, traveled to Ghana, Africa, in February for a weeklong international student recruitment mission. Starting off in the nation’s largest city, Accra, they also traveled to Kumasi and Cape Coast, making presentations at seven schools and at the U.S. Embassy. In all, they discussed YSU and its programs to about 3,000 prospective graduate and undergraduate students. Tyus also spent some time recruiting students for YSU when he traveled to Ghana in spring 2016 to visit friends.
Faculty earn Sabbaticals, Improvement Leaves
The following faculty have been awarded a Sabbatical or Faculty Improvement Leave for the 2017-18 academic year:
Sabbatical
Michael Butcher, Biological Sciences
Alina Lazar, Computer Science and Information Systems
Kenneth Miller, Counseling, Special Education and School Psychology
Josef Simeonsson, Chemistry
Faculty Improvement Leave
Diana Awad Scrocco, English (Fall semester)
Laura Beadlin, English (Spring semester)
Ewelina Boczowska, Dana School of Music (Spring semester)
Sung Hee Lee, Counseling, Special Education and School Psychology (Fall semester)
Collen McLean, Geological and Environmental Sciences (Fall semester)
Alicia Prieto Langarica, Mathematics and Statistics (Spring Semester)
Daniel Van Dussen, Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology (Fall semester)
Gina Villamizar, Foreign Languages and Literature (Spring semester)
Bruce Waller, Philosophy and Religious Studies (Spring semester)