Two very different kinds of climate are explored by this year’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Researchers.
Paul Cassak, PhD, assistant professor of physics, received the award for his exploration of how solar storms affect the magnetosphere, the magnetic shield that surrounds our planet and protects us from harmful material ejected from the Sun.
Amy Hessl, PhD, associate professor of geography, garnered her Outstanding Researcher Award for her examinations of tree rings, which help determine how climate may have affected wildfire.
Cassak studies magnetic reconnection, a process that occurs in extremely hot gasses called plasmas. His work specifically focuses on how the Sun’s magnetic field releases energy during solar flares.
Solar flares are usually associated with the release of high-energy particles into space. These eruptions are known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). A large CME can contain billions of tons of gas and other matter that pours into space at several million miles per hour. The charged particles in this cloud stream toward any planet or spacecraft in its path, and when the particles collide with the Earth, they can cause a geomagnetic storm—a disturbance in the magnetosphere.
Solar storms cause the beautiful phenomenon called the Aurora Borealis, or northern lights; but they can also disrupt technology and communication systems on Earth including those used by aircraft, satellite navigation signals and electrical power grids. A 2008 report by the US National Academy of Sciences concluded that an extreme storm could cause up to $2 trillion in initial damages by crippling communications on Earth and causing chaos around the world.
The ability to predict the frequency and intensity of solar flares and the storms they produce would go a long way toward protecting our infrastructure from costly damage. Predicting the effects of solar storms on the Earth is called space weather.
Scientists postulate that the sun’s magnetic fields break and release their energy in the same way a rubber band releases its energy when it snaps in a process called magnetic reconnection. By studying reconnection, Cassak and his colleagues may one day be able to track when and where these solar incidents occur and how they will impact the Earth.
“In examining how magnetic fields release energy we are finding important information about how solar storms work,” said Cassak. “For the solar storms that happened two months ago, scientists knew it would hit Earth but didn’t know how much it would affect things. We hope this research will lead to a way to know which storms will cause us problems.”
Since 1999, Amy Hessl has been researching the history of wildfires and their correlation to climate change by examining the tree rings from the Pacific Northwest, West Virginia, and Mongolia.
Few places on Earth have observational records of past fire activity prior to the 1950s and satellite records of fire are relatively new. Consequently, the best information about the extent, intensity and variability of past fire regimes come from the fire scars recorded in the annual growth of trees.
Wildfire is a critical ecological process, particularly in forested ecosystems, where it helps shape the structure, specifics composition and function of the forests throughout the world. Fire also plays an important role in the global carbon cycle since it can speed up the release of carbon dioxide and black carbon into the atmosphere, both of which contribute to climate change.
Though Hessl’s research has taken her from the Pacific Northwest to Mongolia, most recently garnering attention from National Geographic for her discoveries about climate during the rise of the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan, she is best known for her research in West Virginia. Her studies of fire history in the state are the only fire studies ever completed, allowing scientists to better understand climate change and the role of fire in settlements of European-Americans who used burning techniques to open up grazing and farming land.
“Understanding historical fire regimes gives us perspective on modern fires. Should we let them burn or put them out? Are they a natural feature of our forests or are they something people have imposed on the natural system?” said Hessl. “My hope is that this research will help land managers understand the natural role of fire in forest systems and make the connection between climate change and changing fire activity.”
For more information, contact Rebecca Herod, Director of Marketing and Communication, 304-293-7406, ext. 5251 or Rebecca.Herod@mail.wvu.edu
The world is coming to West Virginia University backyard, otherwise known as Pittsburgh, so the University is pulling out all stops to attract the high school brains headed to the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair next week (May 13-18).
Topping the list will be sophomore political science major Katherine Bomkamp, who as a student at North Point High School for Science Technology and Industry in Waldorf, Md., attended the fair in 2009 and 2010 with her invention, “The Pain Free Socket.”
“I’m very excited to be there and to be part of WVU’s presence,” said Bomkamp, one of six students who will be on hand as volunteers. “The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair changed my life. It gave me the confidence to move forward with this project. It’s like my past academic career meeting with my future.”
About 15 WVU faculty and administrators will also serve as judges for a competition that involves 1,500 high school students from 65 countries.
While making its first appearance at an Intel Fair, WVU will scout for future Bomkamps among the promising young inventors.
Its calling card will be a new display that includes hands-on demonstrations and features designed to grab students’ attention.
The display includes the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences’ blood spatter intrigue, in which students will examine paper stained with fake blood to simulate a forensic investigation; a cut-away model of a Toyota Prius, which reveals the inner workings of an alternative fuel vehicle like those found at WVU’s National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium ; an iris scanner, in which students can have their eye scanned – part of biometrics data collection that’s a included in the curriculum at WVU’s Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources – and receive an enlarged print-out; and more.
The display was a hit at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., in April.
Having Bomkamp on hand also helps in WVU’s recruitment efforts, according to Jay Cole, WVU’s chief of staff and one of the judges at the event.
“Katherine is a great example for students from this competition to see that they can go on and do great things in college,” Cole said, “She’s incredibly passionate about the Intel Fair and about WVU, and maybe she can show some of the competitors that WVU is the right place for them.”
And through Bomkamp, Cole hopes to encourage schools in West Virginia to increase their participation in local, regional and state science competitions.
But the goal includes more than recruiting high-quality students, according to Cole. It involves a larger strategy aimed at increasing WVU’s presence in the Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania regions and also initiatives tied to the school’s Strategic Plan 2020, including increasing diversity and under-represented groups among faculty and students. Also, through events like the Intel Fair, WVU can solidify and expand existing partnerships between other institutions, private sector businesses, foundations and organizations.
“It’s one piece of a larger, regional and national strategy,” Cole said.
WVU already belongs to The Power of 32, a 32-county regional economic development initiative in southwestern Pennsylvania that includes Pittsburgh, north central West Virginia, eastern Ohio and western Maryland. WVU President Jim Clements chairs the group’s implementation committee.
Also, Cole is a member of the Pittsburgh Today Advisory Committee. But, he said, participating in events like Intel Fair will increase WVU’s regional exposure and opportunities for the school, possibly building on research partnerships between WVU and the University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon, or establishing additional partnerships with philanthropic organization like the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
The fair rotates between several cities and will return to Pittsburgh in 2015 and 2018. Cole said WVU will build on its initial appearance.
“In terms of policy makers and opinion leaders and certainly folks in and around Pittsburgh – they are aware of us. But I think we can do more to raise our profile among those folks,” Cole said.
Bomkamp developed her invention aimed to alleviate phantom pain in the world’s millions of amputees after observing patients in a military hospital.
Since coming WVU as a young inventor, in two short years has become one of the nation’s most celebrated students.
Feedback from fair judges pushed her to improve her invention and WVU, she says, has helped her take it to new heights. Through WVU’s Center for Entrepreneurship, a component of the WVU College of Business and Economics, Bomkamp learned to think of her invention as a product and immersed herself in the commercialization process. She was awarded a grant to hire engineers to develop a prototype of the device.
Along the way, she was named one of Glamour magazine’s 21 Amazing Young Women and her innovation has received worldwide media coverage that includes CNN, the BBC, The New York Times and others.
She also became the youngest person ever invited to present to Britain’s Royal Society of Medicine’s Medical Innovations Summit and was recently named one of 162 college students from 32 states to be named a Newman Civic Fellow. The fellowships recognize student leaders who have worked toward finding solutions for challenges facing communities and are awarded by Campus Compact, a national collation of 1,200 college and university presidents committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education.
“WVU has supported me and opened my eyes to new possibilities,” she said.
For more information about the fair, see: http://www.societyforscience.org/intelisef2012.
Although the Division of Sociology and Anthropology has come to expect its graduate students to prepare papers and present research at regional and national conferences, the level of participation this year has been notable. All 13 graduate students in the program, and five WVU graduate and undergraduate students in other disciplines, gave presentations at the North Central Sociological Association’s (NCSA) annual meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa., April 12-15, 2012.
The conference presenters included Frank Annie of Charleston, W.Va., Damien Arthur of Huntington, of W.Va., Debra Blaacker of Covington, Ky., Katherine Burns of Parkersburg, W.Va., Kelsie Conner of Kearneysville, W.Va., Christopher Davies of Vienna, W.Va., Mary Dwyer of Jacobstown, N.J., Maisie Fraley of Reedsville, W.Va., Reinmar Freis-Beattie of Morgantown, W.Va., Lindsey Gordon of Van Wert, Ohio, Jacob Matz of Martinsburg, WV, Sharad Patel of Galloway, N.J., Jeannette Sanchez of North Bergen, N.J., Marshall Schmidt of Allison Park, Pa., Clara Simmons of Moundsville, W.Va., Ryan Sommerkorn of Long Valley, N.J., Rebecca Stevens of Kearneysville, W.Va., and Anastasiia Kucher of Kiev, Ukraine.
Anastasiia Kucher’s master’s thesis will be published in the Spring 2012 edition of Commune Bonum: The Public Good. The publication is a peer-reviewed academic journal, affiliated with the West Virginia University Division of Public Administration. Debra Blaacker sent her master’s thesis out for publication, but has not yet heard back from the journal.
“At a time when many sociology Master’s programs are moving to alternative graduation requirements, such as comprehensive exams and coursework-only programs, WVU’s sociology program has recommitted itself to teaching research and requiring students to demonstrate their ability to design a research project, collect and analyze data, as well as to write and present their findings to the scientific community and the general public,” said Joshua Woods, assistant professor of sociology and director of graduate studies for the Division.
The presentations covered a number of prominent areas within the social sciences, including crime and deviance, social inequality, media and communication studies, presidential rhetoric, social attitudes and perception and environmental sociology. Two students also spoke in sessions on teaching sociology. The specific topics ranged widely and included a study of attitudes toward corporate social responsibility, an examination of digital piracy, an analysis of political violence and two studies on regional environmental issues.
West Virginia University Professor Lawrence Nichols, president of NCSA, gave a special address, “Renewing Sociology: Integral Science, Solidarity and Loving Kindness.”
Travel to the conference was made possible with the generous financial support of the Eberly College of Arts and Science; Alpha Kappa Delta, the international sociology honors society and WVU’s Student Government Association.
For more information, contact Joshua Woods, director of graduate studies in sociology, at 304-293-8843 or Joshua.Woods@mail.wvu.edu.
A small town nestled in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, Moundsville derives its name from the area’s many Adena Indian burial mounds constructed more than 1,000 years ago. A WVU professor, the West Virginia Campus Compact, and graduate students working toward their master’s degree in public administration (MPA) are collaborating with the community to address community and economic development opportunities.
Margaret Stout, an assistant professor in the WVU Division of Public Administration, has taken on a two-year project to help the town engage citizens in planning. The resulting comprehensive plan will guide all city policies and programs that have to do with social, economic, and environmental quality of life.
“This type of collaborative project, addressing community needs, is part of our 2020 strategic plan,” said Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Jones. “Partnering to develop successful and healthy West Virginia communities is an invaluable way for our students to gain field experience and an important service component of our College and University.”
The project is divided into four separate courses, each of which will focus on one specific task of comprehensive planning. Initial research was completed last fall on the local and county governments, nonprofit sector resources, economic and natural resources in the region, and demographics of the city, including factors like educational achievement, income, mobility, and age. A Civic Index survey and set of Community Conversations were held this semester to learn about the community’s social and governance capacity and mobilize participation. The planning and implementation portions of the project will take place next year.
“We wanted to choose an area to focus on that made sense,” said Stout. “Moundsville is close to our campus for easy traveling, and the town requested our help.”
During the organizing process, students met with key stakeholders in the community including government, business, nonprofit, and school leaders. They also mobilized citizens through a variety of civic and volunteer groups. Each student is responsible for identifying a target demographic in the area ranging from tourism to government. They will act in an advisory capacity throughout the project so that they can engage in collaborative responses to issues and opportunities that are identified.
“I really wanted to bond with the community,” said Festus Manly-Spain, an MPA graduate and doctoral student in resource management and sustainable development graduate in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. “I’ve been working with the community on tourism and helping them to see the treasures within their community.”
Engaging youth has been an important part of the campaign. “Currently I’m focusing on working with the youth of the town,” said Abigail Wheeler, MPA candidate. “I hope the work we do provides a foundation for them to grow and develop. The project really gives young people a sense of possibility and community pride.”
The direct costs of the project are covered through a Campus/Community LINK program grant from Campus Compact, a national coalition of almost 1,200 college and university presidents—representing some 6 million students—who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. Campus Compact promotes public and community service that develops students’ citizenship skills, helps campuses forge effective community partnerships, and provides resources and training for faculty seeking to integrate civic and community-based learning into their curriculum.
For more information about the Moundsville community project, contact Margaret Stout, at 304-293-7978 or Margaret.Stout@mail.wvu.edu.
GIS technology greatly enhances our ability to plan and make decisions through integrating computer hardware, software and enormous data resources for capturing, managing, mapping and analyzing all forms of geographically referenced information. Some 80 percent of all data today have some form of geolocational reference. GIS has an integral role in clarifying some of the major issues facing West Virginia, including economic development in the oil and gas industry, tourism, improvement of transportation and many other services. GIS also has a major role in our everyday lives, powering apps on smartphones, tablets and personal computers that direct us on vacation, help search for routes, stores and services and tag our photographs and videos on maps.
More than 200 West Virginia geospatial technology leaders, commercial vendors, government managers and educators will meet at West Virginia University in Morgantown May 8 – 11 for this year’s State Geographic Information System (GIS) Conference. Events will be held in WVU’s Brooks Hall located at 98 Beechurst Avenue.
“Knowing where things are, and why, is essential to rational decision making”, said Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) Founder and GIS leader Jack Dangermond.
The West Virginia GIS conference will provide learning opportunities to participants from all levels of government, academia, nonprofits and the private sector. Through presentations, workshops and demonstrations they will discover new methods of research, sharing ideas and methods in GIS applications ranging from economic development, natural resource management, transportation and public health. A demonstration of the state-of-the art immersive CAVE will be a focus of geovisualization research.
This year’s conference theme of “Achieving Success with GIS in the Mountain State,” refers to the numerous GIS applications and research projects that benefit the citizens of West Virginia and our nation. Examples include parcel and tax mapping, trail development, land-use planning, marketing, wetland identification, permit tracking, natural resources management, crime mapping, road and utility maintenance and emergency services dispatching.
“By gathering experts from an array of different fields, these conferences have the ability to generate a common understanding of our local and regional geography,” said State GIS Coordinator Tony Simental. “I hope this conference will encourage GIS professionals to collaborate for better future development in West Virginia.”
The conference begins Tuesday afternoon (May 8) with Geocaching and GIS training opportunities.
Wednesday, May 9 has concurrent paper and poster presentations with a keynote address by Sheila Wilson, PhD, GISP, the executive director of the GIS Certificate Institute in Des Plaines, Illinois, a major accreditation agency.
Thursday, May 10 focuses on a roll call of reports on GIS use and accomplishments in state, local and federal government; K-12 and higher education; and non-profit organizations. WV Senator Dave Sypolt, a professional land surveyor/independent mapping and cartographic consultant, and Marion County Assessor Jim Priester are scheduled to speak in the morning.
A full day of GIS software, LiDAR and GPS workshops concludes the conference on Friday, May 11.
This bi-annual conference is hosted by the West Virginia GIS Technical Center housed in the WVU Department of Geology and Geography, the State Office of GIS Coordination and the WV Association of Geospatial Professionals.
More information about the conference can be found online or contact Kurt Donaldson, project manger at the West Virginia GIS Technical Center at (304) 293-0557.
Melissa Latimer always wanted to discover why things happened.
In her professional career, she settled on identifying and eradicating unfairness in society. That’s what she’s worked to do as an associate professor of sociology and instructor of women’s studies.
Latimer is also working to bring about change that will encourage women to be able to stay in fields at West Virginia University in which they are typically the minority. Faculty members of either sex are increasingly striving to achieve a balance between work and the rest of their life.
She directs the WVU ADVANCE Center, part of a $3.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation that is intended to recruit, retain and promote women in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.
She knows how easy it is to be consumed in work, but she’s found that playing in her band Second Cousin, which includes other WVU faculty members, has helped her to keep as much of a balance as possible.
Find out more about Latimer as a scientist and how she balances her personal and work lives on this new video, the first in a series of videos that give glimpses into the lives of the female faculty at WVU showing the meeting place between who they are and what they do.
The West Virginia University Department of History will host the third annual meeting of the Society of Appalachian Historians May 21-22, 2012. The event will feature keynote address, “History’s Lessons for the Future of Appalachia,” by Donald Eller, PhD, on Monday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Ballroom
Eller, distinguished professor of history at the University of Kentucky and southern West Virginia native, has spent more than 40 years writing and teaching about the Appalachian region. A former Rockefeller Foundation Scholar, he has directed the University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center, conducting research and service programs on a wide range of Appalachian policy issues including education, health care, economic development, civic leadership, and the environment.
His books include “Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers: The Industrialization of the Appalachian South,” and the award winning, “Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945,” (2008).
The Society of Appalachian Historians is an organization that seeks to provide a forum for the dissemination and discussion of innovative historical scholarship on any aspect of Appalachia.
The schedule events will be as follows:
Monday, May 21
8:00-8:30: Registration – Mountainlair
8:45-10:15: Session 1: Varieties of Appalachian Religion
10:30-12:00: Session 2: New Deal Era Appalachia
12:00-1:30: Lunch (on your own)
1:30-3:00: Session 3: 20th Century Politics and Class
3:15-4:45: Session 4: Civil War Appalachia
4:45-5:30: Free time for participants to go back to hotel
5:30-7:00: Banquet – Mountainlair
7:15-8:45: Public keynote, “History’s Lessons for the Future of Appalachia”
Tuesday, May 22
8:45-10:15: Session 5: Long Civil Rights History in Appalachia
10:30-12:00: Session 6: Post-WWII social transformations in Appalachia
This event is being sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council and the West Virginia University Eberly College of Arts & Sciences, with special thanks to the West Virginia University Department of History, the East Tennessee State University College of Arts and Sciences, and the East Tennessee State University Department of History.
For more information, contact Ken Fones-Wolf, professor of History, at (304) 293–2421 or Kenneth.Fones-Wolf@mail.wvu.edu.
Studying both journalism and biology at West Virginia University, senior Codi Yeager has been recognized for both her interests in plant biology and writings about botanical science.
Yeager is the recipient of a Young Botanist Award, given by the Botanical Society of America (BSA). The purpose of these awards is to offer individual recognition to outstanding graduating seniors in the plant sciences and to encourage their participation in the Botanical Society of America.
This is the first award given to a journalist-botanist by the BSA; emphasizing the importance of communicating plant science to the public. Yeager’s academic background and investigative approach made her well-qualified to write accurate and engaging articles about botanical subjects for her journalism internships, utilizing her interdependent journalism major and biology minor.
While enrolled in the Tropical Ecology-Bahamas course taught by Professor Kass at the Gerace Research Center on San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, she proposed and conducted an original research project, “A Study of Bay Lavender Seedlings, location, density, growth and seed germination,” on native dune-plant populations. This outstanding project was subsequently presented at two scientific meetings and is currently pending publication in the Bahamas Natural History Proceedings.
“Her findings are extremely important for the preservation of coastal dunes, which serve an important role in stabilizing shorelines,” said Lee B. Kass, PhD, who helped found the Bahamas National Herbarium, and has taught at the field station since 1982.
Her mentor at West Virginia University, Susan Moyle Studlar, PhD, curator of the WVU Bryophyte and Lichen Herbarium says that Yeager excelled at independent library and laboratory investigations; “her botany papers and reports reflect an independent and thoughtful perspective.”
Yeager’s award will be announced on the BSA website, and in the Plant Science Bulletin, a publication of the Botanical Society of America.
The Botanical Society of America, founded in 1893, is a membership society whose mission is to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere.
For more information, contact Lee Kass, adjunct professor of biology at WVU, at Lee.Kass@mail.wvu.edu or lbk7@cornell.edu or Susan Studlar, visiting associate professor of biology, at (304) 293–1794 or Susan.Studlar@mail.wvu.edu.
Bobby Davis did not want to go to college.
He had carved his career plan in stone, thanks in part to a fascination with his grandfather’s tales of “shooting guns” and “hand-to-hand combat.”
Davis’ grandfather was a Vietnam War veteran, Bronze Star recipient and United States Marine.
He wanted to be a Marine, too.
So four days after his 18th birthday, the Fairmont native’s march to the Marines began in a van bound for Parris Island, S.C.
Once at the Recruit Depot, his life turned upside down. Fiery drill instructors and nagging sand fleas aided in that transition.
“(After driving 10 hours) we were disoriented and tired,” Davis recalls. “Yet everyone yelled at you, whether you did something wrong or not. That’s the way it’s supposed to be, though.”
He endured.
Soon, he’d endure a year in Iraq.
And then a year in Afghanistan.
But along the way, something happened to that career plan Davis had carved in stone. It quickly faded.
Meanwhile, and closer to home, West Virginia University emerged as a top “military friendly” campus in the nation.
Bullets for books
Davis led Marines on street patrols during his 13-month deployment to the Anbar Province of Iraq. As dangerous as it sounds, he considers this experience “pacified.” With tons of downtime, Davis learned about the new G.I. Bill and its benefits for funding a college education.
The boy who swore off college now flirted with it.
The uncertainty of military life coupled with a few nerve-wracking clashes with the Taliban, which made his tour of Iraq look like a tranquil beach vacation, sped up this new thought process.
“If you’re in the military, next month, you could be anywhere in the world,” Davis said. “I wanted more control over my future.”
While nestled away in the mountains of Afghanistan, Davis exchanged emails with Terry Miller, veterans advocate at WVU, about enrolling at the University.
“He was helpful in getting me everything I needed,” Davis said. “I spent my last six months in the Marines focused on going to school – what to major in, what classes to take. Once I heard about that G.I. Bill, I knew I could do it.”
Home sweet home?
Fear. Emptiness. Despair.
It afflicts many soldiers after they come home from the mayhem and bloodshed.
They’d spent days taking marching orders, yearning for the comforts of American life and staring at the face of death.
Then, in a flash, they’re home sweet home. But home isn’t as sweet as they remembered. Now they must confront new battles assimilating.
Davis’ story is no different.
Transfixed on the military as a youngster, Davis felt relief upon receiving his honorable discharge as he returned to Fairmont in April 2011.
Relief turned to distress.
“I thought, ‘Everything’s going to be great when I get back,’” Davis said. “But everything wasn’t the same. I felt alone. I felt thrown back here. It’s a struggle to find your identity.
“Many veterans find that old friends, who were once such a definitive part of their lives, have vanished. This dilemma can leave one questioning his or her decision to leave the military. Therefore, I spent the summer months feeling as if I were lost.”
After a few months home as a civilian, Davis would find his life turned upside down yet again. He was entering WVU as a freshman – at age 23.
He was no longer a soldier. His comrades in battle were scattered and gone. His identity was unformed.
“My fear was getting here,” he said. “In high school, I had a hard time focusing. I was afraid that would happen here, too. If I failed here, then I really wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”
Montani Semper (Fi) Liberi
Before his first day on campus, Davis participated in an Adventure WV trip. Adventure WV, which began as an outdoor orientation program for incoming WVU students, hosted a whitewater rafting trip for student veterans.
“That week turned out to be one of the greatest times of my life, but more importantly, I gained a valuable network of WVU staff members, students and incoming veterans like myself before I had even stepped foot inside of a classroom,” Davis said.
Just like his transition into the Marines, he’d endure his transition as a Mountaineer.
On his first day of class, he knew he’d be alright. He’d build relationships with fellow students through veterans’ clubs, through Adventure WV, through support and study groups. He connected with students who faced the same obstacles he had in combat. He found out he wasn’t alone.
He enrolled in a public speaking class for veterans taught by Carolyn Atkins, a professor of speech pathology at WVU. He formed a new identity for himself not only as a student, but as a role model and a leader in that class.
“Bobby is representative of most veterans,” Atkins said. “When getting out of the military they have difficulty finding their way. He talked about Iraq and Afghanistan, and he didn’t know if he was capable of being college student.”
Atkins said Davis excelled.
His attitude and work ethic impressed Atkins so much that she volunteered him to speak about leadership and love of country before a group of 400 people, including legislators, alumni and University officials, at the Capital Classic luncheon in Charleston in January.
That day, Davis crafted a speech that brought down the house, earning three rounds of applause and ending with a standing ovation. Some in the audience cried.
“It was the first time I received a standing ovation,” Davis said. “Dr. Atkins and I rehearsed it several times and she helped me get rid of the ‘ums’ and ‘you knows,’ which she calls ‘fillers.’ She helped tremendously with my public speaking. Opportunities stemmed from that class that helped me create a name for myself.”
Now in his second semester at WVU, Davis has maintained a 4.0 GPA; is a leader and teacher in veterans’ groups; writes a column for the student newspaper and is learning multiple languages as an international studies major.
A few years earlier, Davis had already experienced the world. Now he wants to experience the world again, but in a different way.
“I want to work as a foreign services officer and be a diplomat in other countries,” he said. “I’d like to be a friendly face for the U.S. for other cultures.”
Davis is just one of hundreds of veterans furthering their education at WVU. For the third straight year, WVU has been recognized as a “military friendly” campus by G.I. Jobs.
Davis’ story is a prime example of how WVU has helped steer veterans back on track in the civilian world.
“You have to recognize what WVU has done that a lot of schools don’t,” he said. “I call friends at other schools and tell them we have priority registration, vets trips, vets clubs. They don’t have any of that stuff. They’re just another face at their school.
“I’m sure that I speak for all veterans when I say, ‘Thank you, West Virginia University, for enhancing the well-being and quality of life for your sons and daughters, especially those who have served this country.’”
Daisy Bloomfield is the winner of this year’s Carrie Koeturius Scholarship for Returning Women Students.
“Carrie” scholarships were first endowed in 1987. They help help women who have interrupted their education to complete their undergraduate degrees. The award’s namesake, Carrie Koeturius, is a former Morgantown activist for women’s issues who came to WVU to finish her bachelor’s degree in social work.
Bloomfield worked for eleven years as a counselor and social worker before entering the master’s program in social work at WVU. According to one of her advisors, “Daisy is a team player and demonstrates her empathy and authenticity in her work, as well as in her numerous volunteer activities that include the Wheeling Soup Kitchen and youth groups in her church.”
Co-winners of the Judith Gold Stitzel Award for Excellence in Women’s Studies Teaching and Learning are: Kristina Hash, associate professor and director of the Gerontology Certificate Program; and Loriann Sonntag, alumna of and adjunct instructor in the Division of Social Work.
This award is given to a faculty member engaged in women’s studies teaching and learning in a way that is sensitive to gender and which places women’s concerns, ideas, perspectives, and interests as much at the center of the scholarly and teaching enterprise as men’s have been. Hash and Sonntag are developing an online, interdisciplinary course called The Aging Woman, to be offered across campus and around the state.