from 5 – 8 p.m., as they partner with McDonald's restaurant to help raise funds for the band's trip to the 2012 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. McDonald's, located on 2620 Battleground Ave., on the corner of Cone Blvd., will donate 10% of its proceeds to the A&T band. Everyone is invited to come have dinner with the Aggies and meet and greet the band members. Other McDonald nights are: Sept. 20, Oct. 18 and Nov. 8. Wear your blue and gold T-shirts and bring your Aggie Pride. For more information call 336.256.0863.
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ADMINISTRATOR RECEIVES NACTA TEACHER FELLOW AWARDDr. Antoine Alston
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Dr. Antoine Alston, interim associate dean of academic studies in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Studies at North Carolina A&T State University, recently received a North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Teacher Fellow Award, at the organization’s annual conference at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. NACTA is a professional society that focuses on promoting, recognizing and rewarding excellence in teaching agriculture and related areas at the post-secondary level in North America. Members are from two- and four-year public and private colleges and have a common bond of teaching agriculture and related subjects. Through the use of competitive awards, NACTA annually recognizes outstanding teaching and publication.
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RECEIVES GRANTDr. E. Moige Ongeri
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Dr. E. Moige Ongeri, assistant professor in the department of biology, at North Carolina A&T State University, has received a $426,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study “The role of meprins in ischemia reperfusion induced renal injury.” The funds will be spread over a four-year period.
NASA has selected a team of students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Purdue University to design and build an experiment, to be operated on the International Space Station.
The universities were chosen by NASA to create an original experiment in "capillary fluid dynamics" through the space agency's National Lab Education Projects for the International Space Station.
Primarily, undergraduate engineering students at both universities, will design and build the shoebox-size experiment, develop the procedures for operation in space, train the astronauts, process the data, and write research papers describing the results.
The experiment is part of overall work to provide data that could help in the design of systems that require the precise control of fluids and gases, such as life-support equipment and fuel tanks for spacecraft. Findings also could apply to technologies for use on Earth such as fuel cells, medical instruments and miniature diagnostic devices.
"The collaboration will expose our students, the next generation of explorers, to microgravity science and technology," said Dr. John Kizito, professor of mechanical engineering at N.C. A&T.
Kizito and Dr. Steven Collicott, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue, are leading the project.
"This project will give students unique and in-depth, real-world, team-based, original, design-build-test educational experiences that will accelerate their learning and their careers," Collicott said. "We anticipate the experiment becoming operational in orbit in 2014 or 2015."
About 20 Purdue undergraduate students will be involved in the project each semester over approximately three years. About 10 A&T students will be directly involved with the project each semester. Another 20 will interact with the project as part of their course work in fluid mechanics.
Collicott has designed previous experiments operated in weightlessness on the space station and by using suborbital rockets and drop towers.
"Collaborating with Dr. Kizito to lead our students in the development of an orbital experiment is an exciting step for me. His NASA experiences and his teaching and research make this a good pairing."
Before coming to N.C. A&T, Kizito worked for eight years at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. He conducted research on microgravity environments.
The project includes efforts to motivate middle school students to pursue and enjoy topics in science, technology, engineering and math, or the STEM disciplines.
"We envision the development and distribution of curriculum that teaches basic STEM concepts based on the topic of the experiment," Collicott said. "A great thing about the experiment topic is that we can design desktop demonstrations that middle school teachers and students everywhere can replicate and learn from in a hands-on manner."
The effort also will include contributions from Portland State University. Other team members are professors Mark Weislogel of Portland State and Todd Kelley from Purdue and consultant Emily CoBabe-Ammann.
North Carolina A&T State University junior and current Student Government Association vice president of external affairs, Canisha Cierra Turner, has been awarded the Jo Anne J. Trow National Scholarship
Earlier this month, the national president of Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor Society for First Year Students, Dr. Susan Melton Huffman announced Turner received one of 35 Trow scholarships.
Each year, National Alpha Lambda Delta awards at least 35 Trow scholarships to outstanding students across the country. The competition is open to any sophomore member of the society who has maintained the required 3.5 GPA. Selection is based on academic records, participation in Alpha Lambda Delta activities, applicants' statements and campus and community activities.
For the 2012 competition, the national selection committee reviewed more than 100 strong applicants for the Trow award. The scholarship was started in 1988, in honor of a past National President of Alpha Lambda Delta, Jo Anne J. Trow.
The award was originally established to give chapters of Alpha Lambda Delta an annual opportunity to reward outstanding sophomore member with a small stipend. The society currently offers five $6,000 awards, five $3,000 awards, five $2,000 awards and 20 $1,000 awards.
Turner is a Waverly, Va., native majoring in agricultural business. She is a USDA Scholar who has maintained a 4.0 grade point average through her first two years in college. Turner’s scholarship is worth $1,000.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Dr. Barbara O’Neal, an assistant professor in the masters of school administration at North Carolina A&T State University, recently co-authored a book chapter titled Salient Factors Affecting Urban African American Students’ Achievement: Recommendations for Teachers, School Counselors and School Psychologist. The chapter appears in the recently published book African American Students in Urban Schools, edited by James L. Moore and Chance W. Lewis, Peter Lang Publishers.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Dr. Nichole Smith, an assistant professor in the department of curriculum at North Carolina A&T State University recently published two manuscripts. The citations are as Follows: Smith, N.L. (May/June 2012). Showing you care: Suggestions for library relationships. Knowledge Quest, and Smith, N.L., & Day, B.B. (Spring 2012) Reviving reading; five successful reading practices for your classroom in the New Teacher Advocate.
Dr. Teresa Styles
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Teresa Jo Styles, professor of journalism and mass communication at North Carolina A&T State University, developed and presided over a lively media management discussion with international and national media scholars serving as panelists at the 100th Anniversary of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, held in Chicago in August. Styles also attended the 2012 Edelman Academic Summit held at Stanford University in June, where she was one of more than 90 professors who interacted in Palo Alto and Silicon Valley with 40 brand, media and digital thought leaders, as was reported in the Huffington Post.
ENTREPRENEUR CONFERENCE SET FOR OCTOBER
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Aggie Alumni Entrepreneurs Network will host a conference on Oct. 25, from 3-6:30 p.m., in the Merrick Hall auditorium in the School of Business and Economics.
The second annual conference is geared toward all alumni, alumni entrepreneurs, staff, faculty and students interested in entrepreneurship. The conference is a collaboration between the Interdisciplinary Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business, the Office of Alumni Affairs and the National Alumni Association.
Founder and chief executive officer of Act-1 Group, Janice Bryant-Howroyd, is this year’s keynote speaker. She will share the secrets for her success in building a billion dollar company. The conference will also feature panel discussions about increasing sales with social media marketing, transitioning from a startup to growth and increasing revenue from government and corporate sources. There will also be a student business idea competition, presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Entrepreneur and networking.
To register for the conference, visit https://ncat.gosignmeup.com/aggiealum2/. For more information about the conference and sponsorship opportunities, contact Thaddeus McEwen, (336) 334-7656, Ext.4030 or mcewent@ncat.edu.
ENGLISH PROFESSOR WINS HOFFER AWARD
Mug: Valerie Nieman
GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina A&T State University associate professor of English, Valerie Nieman is the winner of the 2012 Eric Hoffer Award for General Fiction for her novel, “Blood Clay.”
The Hoffer awards were established at the start of the 21st century in the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer by “highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers.”
Born in western New York State, Nieman attended Jamestown Community College, and graduated with a journalism degree in 1978 from West Virginia University. She worked as a reporter and editor for West Virginia dailies before moving to Greensboro, N.C., to work for the News & Record. She returned to college to earn an MFA in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte, and joined the faculty of N.C. A&T.
“Blood Clay” is her third novel and fifth book. A story that readers say they “can’t put down,” a crime drama that reflects on home and community, and a lyrical look into the changing face of the New South – “Blood Clay” is all three. The story centers on Tracey Gaines, who has moved to rural Saul County, NC, to escape the wreckage of a divorce. She devotes herself to teaching at an alternative school and renovating a farmhouse, but finds she can’t easily build connections in this new place. When she witnesses a tragedy, her insistence on truth-telling splits the community—but she finds an ally in a native son who left for new opportunities only to face his own trauma and a forced return home. Internationally acclaimed writer Jane Alison called it “both a tense, plot-driven story about complicated issues of race and guilt, and a meditation on solitude, history, and ways of living,”
In their citation, the Hoffer Award judges said: “Touching on themes of loneliness, belonging, and racism, this book will haunt the reader." It was also selected to the short list for the Montaigne Medal, an allied award presented for a thought-provoking book. Other accolades have come from the American Book Review, which called it "a little…great American novel in story, character, and writing,” as well as Our State Magazine, Gently Read Literature, and numerous other reviewers.
Nieman is also the author of a collection of short stories, “Fidelities” and “Wake Wake Wake,” a poetry collection. She has received an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, the Greg Grummer Prize in Poetry, the Elizabeth Simpson Smith Prize in Fiction, and the Byron Herbert Reece Poetry Prize. A founding editor of Kestrel magazine, she is the poetry editor for Prime Number magazine and teaches at programs including the John C. Campbell Folk School. She is finishing another novel set in North Carolina and working on a new poetry collection.
A&T TO HOST ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE EDUCATIONAL FORUM AND GALA
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Dr. Goldie Byrd and a team of researchers in the Department of Biology at North Carolina A&T State University will host an Alzheimer’s disease Educational Forum on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Mint Museum Uptown at the Levine Center for the Arts, 500 S. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC, 28202.
The “Keeping Memories Alive” gala will celebrate the advancements made in Alzheimer’s disease research. Nationally, the awareness campaign will educate millions of Americans about the increasing prevalence and effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Special guest, Ruben Studdard, award‐winning R&B artist and former American Idol winner, will perform.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia that currently affects more than 5.4 million Americans. Every 68 seconds, someone in America develops the disease, and it is expected that by mid-century, someone will develop the disease every 33 seconds. The number of Americans, age 65 and older, who have or will have the disease, is projected to increase from 5.3 million in 2010 to 7.7 million by 2030. By the year 2050, it is projected that 60 percent of people with Alzheimer’s disease will be age 85 and older.
Currently, there are no known treatments to prevent, cure or delay the onset or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Since age is the primary risk factor for Alzheimer’s, this public health crisis will only increase as Americans are living longer, unless there is an intervention.
A special partnership has been established with researchers at N.C. A&T, the National Alzheimer’s Association and AARP‐North Carolina to educate and empower diverse communities around the country about Alzheimer’s disease, which is robbing families and caregivers of their loved ones, their finances and their personal health. The national campaign will take powerful messages, based on extensive research, to ten major cities across the country that will educate and motivate more than 12 million Americans about Alzheimer’s disease.
To purchase tickets or discuss sponsorship opportunities, visit www.ncatad.com or contact the A&T Office of Continuing Studies & Professional Development at (336) 334-7810.
Dr. Daniel Webb has been invited to serve as an abstract reviewer of Special Populations on the Research Consortium panel for the 2013 AAHPERD Convention in Charlotte in April.
An article by Dr. Stephanie Luster-Teasley, associate professor in the School of Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University, has been featured in the spring 2012 issue of On Campus with Women.
On Campus with Women is published online by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU). The magazine is sponsored by AACU's Program on the Status and Education of Women AND provides readers with the most up-to-date information on women in higher education. It focuses on women's leadership, the campus climate, curriculum and pedagogy, and new research and data on women.
Luster-Tealey’s article was featured in the “From Where I Sit” section of the university and discussed her tenure process and listed four provisions to improve the process.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Kiawana Fulford has been selected as North Carolina A&T State Univeristy School of Nursing’s representative to Johns Hopkins School of Nursing’s Minority Health Disparities Research Training (MHIRT) program for the summer of 2012.
Fulford will travel to South Africa to be immersed in studying the culture and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She is the ninth student from N.C. A&T who has participated in the program since 2004.
The project is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Dr. Fannie Gaston-Johansson of Johns Hopkins School of Nursing is the project director.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Nine students from the North Carolina A&T State University, School of Education attended the Student North Carolina Education (SNCAE) Conference in Raleigh March 30-April 1.
Elementary education major Christina Davis said “the conference was a wonderful learning experience and opportunity.”
“The different workshops that the SNCAE conference offered were really informative,” she said.
“It is good for students interested in education to attend workshops/conferences such as the SNCAE conference in order to increase their awareness and skill sets which are needed to be successful in the education arena.”
Elementary education major Jazmin Vann, also enjoyed the conference. She was able to meet new people from universities around the state and attend workshops to learn new tools to add to her toolbox for teaching from former teachers.
“I plan to attend the conference next year and learn more tools that will help me become successful in my teaching career in the near future,” she said.
Vann is even thinking of running for a statewide office for the next upcoming election in the spring of 2013.
The conference provided students with a wealth of information including the six NCATE standards. The workshops were geared towards paraprofessionals, knowledge, skills, and dispositions, including diversity in the classroom, teacher leadership, money management and the things you don’t learn in college. The conference also allowed students to research problems or methodologies.
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PROFESSOR HEADS TO CUBA TO STUDY POLITICS AND ECONOMICS Dr. Sarita Jackson
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Dr. Sarita Jackson, an assistant professor in the department of political science at North Carolina A&T State University, has been selected to go to Cuba to study current economic and political issues.
She will travel June 17-27, as a part of the Council on International Educational Exchange-International Faculty Development Seminar (CIEE-IFDS).
Jackson and the other scholars will travel to the cities of Havana and Matanzas to examine a number of current social, political and economic issues within the context of globalization.
For more than 20 years, the seminars in different countries have provided university professors the opportunity to bring "contemporary, global themes to their curricula, campus and community at large."
Jackson looks forward to learning more about Cuba’s economic reform programs that have been implemented within the last year and sharing her experience with students in her courses such as Latin American and Caribbean Political Economy, The Politics of Free Trade, and Comparative Politics.
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ALUM TAKE REINS IN NCDOT RAIL DIVISION Anthony Fuller
North Carolina A&T alumnus, Anthony Fuller has been appointed as the new director of the Rail Division of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). His duties will begin on June 25.
He has a B.S. in business administration from N.C. A&T and a M.S. in leadership, and management from the University of LaVerne.
As director, Fuller will supervise the day-to-day operations for the division, which oversees more than 3,300 miles of railroad tracks throughout the state used by freight and passenger trains.
“Anthony brings visionary leadership and broad-based management skills that will strengthen North Carolina’s leadership position in multi-modal transportation,” said Paul Morris, NCDOT Deputy Secretary for Transit in a press release. “His wealth of experience and knowledge obtained while working for over 22 years across the rail industry, combined with a dedicated and qualified staff in the rail division, will provide us with the ability to meet the challenges of creating a rail system for the 21st century.”
Fuller goes to NCDOT from Amtrak in Los Angeles where he most recently oversaw rail operations in the transportation department. His career has spanned both the public and private rail sectors across the country. He has worked on strategic projects that include integrating freight and passenger movement and testing new and high speed rail equipment for revenue. He also is certified in locomotive engineer management, which enables him to operate trains and locomotives, as well as complete evaluations on engineers while they operate trains.
The Rail Division is in the process of investing more than a half billion dollars in federal funds to improve and modernize North Carolina’s rail system. The division works with communities throughout the state to make rail-highway crossings safer and more efficient by installing traffic-control equipment and closing and consolidating high-accident crossings on highways, streets and bridges. It also operates two state-supported trains, providing passenger travel options as well as efficient and environmentally friendly transportation.
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CHANCELLOR APPOINTS VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Dr. Barry L. Burks
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Dr. Barry L. Burks has been appointed vice chancellor for research and economic development by North Carolina A&T State University Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr., effective July 1. Burks replaces Dr. Celestine Ntuen who served as interim vice chancellor.
“Dr. Burks is an accomplished senior research manager who has over 30 years of experience working in a variety of technical fields spanning science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Martin. “He is a visionary who has the expertise to strengthen our research programs as we make great strides to connect the university’s research to the business community and contribute to the economic competitiveness in the Triad, the state of North Carolina and the United States.”
Burks carries a broad perspective based on experience developing technology, leading projects and managing programs for the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, NASA, commercial nuclear industry, automated manufacturing industry and, most recently, university-based applied research.
Burks has served as associate director of the Charlotte Research Institute (CRI) at UNC Charlotte since July 2007. His focus has been on growth of research and research infrastructure at UNC Charlotte and connecting the university’s research enterprise to the business community in North Carolina as well as national and international businesses. From 1997-2007, Burks worked at TPG Applied Technology in Knoxville, Tenn., where he held several positions including vice president, president and senior technical program manager. Prior to that, he was employed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a postdoctoral research associate in the physics division where he advanced through several staff and management positions in other divisions.
He is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Nuclear Society (ANS), Robotics and Remote Systems Division, the ANS Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Robotics and Automation Society. He is the recipient of the ANS RRSD 2008 Ray Goertz Award for outstanding contributions to the field of nuclear applications of Robotics and Remote Systems.
Burks received his B.S. degree in physics and mathematics from Lynchburg College, M.S. in nuclear physics and Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.