Eberly News

Renowned urban ecologist at WVU on Nov. 12

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:21:00 EST

Eric G. Strauss, founding director of the Boston College Environmental Studies Program and founding science director of the Urban Ecology Institute, will present a seminar entitled “Urban Ecology: Research for Understanding the Socio-ecological Dynamics of Cities” at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 12 in 316 Percival Hall on WVU’s Evansdale Campus.

The seminar is free and open to the public.

Strauss will explore his collaborative research efforts that have ranged from the conservation biology of diamondback terrapins to Eastern coyote behavioral ecology and rapid ecological assessment of urban habitat mosaics. Also discussed will be regional and national initiatives from the USDA, Forest Service and the National Science Foundation that are providing opportunities for collaborative research with faculty, staff, students and the greater community of WVU.

Thomas to Chair Department of Biology

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:05:00 EST

Richard Thomas knew he wanted to be a biologist after he took his first class in ecology as an undergraduate. After graduating and working on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina for a year, he found his niche in the field of plant physiological ecology.

In October, Thomas accepted the position of chair of the Department of Biology.

The Department of Biology is very diverse with 30 research and teaching faculty members and 45 graduate students. It has one of the largest undergraduate programs at WVU, with over 900 pre-biology and biology majors.

Thomas thinks that these numbers present many opportunities for the Department but also many challenges. He is committed to undergraduate retention and to building and developing graduate programs. Additionally, he is excited about President Clements pledge to hire 100 new faculty in the next three years.

“We need to retain our faculty and help them develop their research and teaching careers,” said Thomas. “And we need to add new excellent scientists to our faculty to add new research and teaching directions to those already present in our Department.”

Thomas identifies several ways that alumni can help the Department reach its goals. He says that support for undergraduate research projects in the form of scholarship dollars is crucial to maintaining the level of instruction the Department currently provides. He also sees support for graduate student travel to national meetings to present their work and to develop contacts for their future careers as a pressing need.

“Research and presentation of that research is a crucial component in the development of a well-rounded academic,” he said. “In order to improve the national standing of WVU we need to grow our graduate programs and to do that we need funds to offer the most comprehensive and competitive experience to our graduate students.”

Thomas’ research addresses issues related to global environmental change including complex, interrelated phenomena such as greenhouse warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, tropical deforestation, loss of biodiversity, atmospheric nitrogen deposition, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and a host of other environmental changes.

Specifically, he focuses on understanding how plants interact with a changing environment, both physical and biotic, and the physiological adaptations of plants to environmental stress. His is also interested in scaling plant physiological processes to the ecosystem level, for example, defining the role of nitrogen-fixing plants in ecosystem nitrogen balance or understanding the role of forest productivity in the global carbon balance.

Early in his career at Duke University, he developed the Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment with Boyd Strain, one of the pioneers of plant physiological ecology. Their FACE experiment was the first to manipulate an intact forest ecosystem.
The main objective of FACE research is to understand the role of forests in the global carbon cycle. FACE builds on many greenhouse and chamber experiments where individual plants are examined under different conditions of climate change. Today there are a whole network of FACE experiments worldwide that examine many types of ecosystems.

Richard Thomas received his doctorate from Clemson University in 1987. He joined the Department of Biology in 1995 and was promoted to full professor in 2006. He has published over seven book chapters and over 56 articles in referred journals including, Science, Plant and Soil, Oecologia and Plant, Cell and Environment. In 2000, he received the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Researcher Award.

Messages may be sent to Richard Thomas at richard.thomas@mail.wvu.edu.

WVU to feature Native American documentary at Thursday discussion series

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:37:00 EST

A screening of “A Thousand Roads” will be held by WVU’s Office of Student Life-Multicultural Programs on Thursday, Nov. 5. The 2005 Native American documentary, part of the Brown Bag Lunch Film & Discussion Series, will be shown from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Gluck Theatre. “

A Thousand Roads” was directed by Chris Eyre and produced by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. It will be presented by WVU Native American Studies Coordinator Bonnie Brown, on the occasion of American Indian Heritage Month. Rather than presenting a conventional historical perspective, the film is composed of short contemporary fiction about individuals belonging to a specific community: a stressed-out Mohawk stockbroker in Manhattan; a young Inupiat girl sent to live with her grandmother in Barrow, Alaska; a Navajo gang member who must find his core values in his reservation on the mesas of New Mexico; and a Quechua healer in Peru, attempting to save a sick child.

Screenwriter Joy Harjo, a poet and member of the Creek Nation, was charged with finding stories that fulfilled that mission. Pizza will be
provided first-come, first served. For more information, please call 304-293-0890 or go to http://www.studentlife.wvu.edu/mpprograms.html#bblfds .

Graduate student deadlines for December graduation

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:38:00 EST

Friday, November 6, 2009

All Shuttle Sheet Request Forms and Plans of Study must be submitted to Kimberly Dixon in the College Graduate Office in order to qualify for December graduation. All students planning for a December graduation must have a Shuttle Request Sheet on file.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

All students planning for a December graduation must complete defense of all theses and dissertations. Following defense, all blue Shuttle Sheets must be signed and returned to Department representatives so that they may be copied by the Department and sent to the College Graduate Office within 24 hours of the student’s defense. Forms not signed by the Department will be returned for signature.

Friday, December 4, 2009

All paperwork is due in the College Graduate Office. All blue Shuttle Sheets, Plans of Study, and Grade Modifications must be submitted by this time in order for a student to be eligible for December graduation.

To contact the College Graduate Office, email Kimberly Dixon at kimberly.dixon@mail.wvu.edu.

Forms can be accessed here.

Fall of the Wall events

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:44:00 EST

Add your mark to history by putting some graffiti on the Berlin Wall. The wall is part of a series of events planned by the German and History Clubs to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall November 9, 1989.

From November 2-9 in the quad between the School of Business and Ecomomics and the Life Sciences Building, students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to add their mark to the Berlin Wall exhibit. On the 9th the symbolic reconstruction will be destroyed. Free graffiti supplies will be available between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday-Wednesday.

Other events include:

November 3

“Remembering the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Twenty Years After, ” a forum at 6 p.m., in Woodburn Hall, Room G-4

Presenters include Diana Kietzmann, a social worker from Mecklenburg (former East Germany), Marlies Watermann, a social worker from Frankfurt (former West Germany), and Katherine Aaslestad, associate professor of German history at WVU who lived in Hamburg, West Germany in 1989 researching her dissertation. Kietzmann and Watermann are in Morgantown as exchange participants with WVU’s Council on International Programs. Deborah Janson, an associate professor of German at WVU who lived in East Germany in 1987, will moderate.

Light refreshments will be served.

November 4

“Divided Heaven,” a film by Konrad Wolf will be shown at 8 p.m. in the Wise Library, 104 Media Services. The film, praised by critics as one of Germany’s 100 Most Important Films, is a love story that questions the construction of the Berlin Wall.

A brief introduction will be presented by Lauren Ashcraft, German and international studies major.

November 5

“The Lives of Others,” (2006) a film by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in the Wise Library, 104 Media Services. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR’s secret police.

Commentary will be provided by Robert Blobaum, director of the Slavic and Eastern European Studies (SEES) program at WVU.

November 6

Potluck dinner and discussion on the fall of the wall at 6 p.m. in E. Moore Hall.

November 11

“Good-bye Lenin,” (2003) a film’s by Wolfgang Becker, will be shown at 8 p.m. in the Wise Library, 104 Media Services. In the film Alex’s mother falls into a coma for eight months. When she wakes, her heart is weak, so Alex has to keep the secret that the Berlin Wall has fallen. What begins as a little white lie turns into a major scam.

For more information about any events, please contact Katherine Aaslestad or Deborah Janson.

Nominate someone for the President's Volunteer Service Awards

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:23:00 EST

The Center for Civic Engagement and the United Way are now accepting nominations for the President’s Volunteer Service Awards. The awards are presented to individuals who have completed at least 100 hours of community service between January and December
2009. Nominations are being accepted for students, faculty and staff at WVU.

The hours can be from community service or service learning courses. There are three award levels:

Bronze- 100 to 174 hours

Silver- 175-249 hours

Gold- 250 or more hours

The awards will be presented at a ceremony on February 11, 2010, at 7 p.m. in the Health Sciences Auditorium. All honorees receive a pin and certificate signed by the President of the United States.

Nominations will be accepted from alumni, parents, faculty, staff, fellow students, or you can self-nominate.

Nominate a student, faculty or staff member today.

WV Literature Symposium seeks undergraduate papers

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:52:00 EST

The Department of English in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences announces a call for papers in preparation for the 18th annual West Virginia Literature Symposium for Undergraduate Students to be held February 13, 2010, at West Virginia University.

Undergraduate students from any institution in West Virginia are invited to submit analytical, theoretical, or interpretative studies of literary works, films, or culture for review. The top three papers will receive cash prizes.

One submission per person will be accepted, and only papers written during the 2009 calendar year are eligible. Papers should be appropriate for a 15-minute presentation and between 8-10 double-spaced, typed pages. The selection committee will not read any submission beyond the tenth page.

Students should send completed papers with their name, address, telephone number and e-mail address (if applicable) to: Donald E. Hall, Chair Department of English, West Virginia University, PO Box 6296, Morgantown, WV 26506-6296.

Papers must be postmarked by Friday, December 18, 2009. Students will be notified of their status by Friday, January 29, 2010.

For more information, contact Adam Komisaruk, conference coordinator, at (304) 293-9724 or Adam.Komisaruk@mail.wvu.edu.

Call for student papers for In-house Philosophy Conference

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:15:00 EST

The Department of Philosophy will hold its annual In-House Undergraduate Philosophy Conference on Tuesday, November 10.

The conference provides a forum for students to present their work.

The Department is seeking submissions of papers on any topic in philosophy. Papers must be five to ten pages in length. Three student’s papers will be chosen to receive a $100 prize. Winners will have the opportunity to present their work at the conference.

The deadline for submission is Monday, November 2.

Submission may be sent to David Cerbone’s at dcerbone@mail.wvu.edu.

Caperton, first F. Duke Perry Professor of Leadership Studies, to lecture Nov. 4

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:56:00 EST

Former Governor Gaston Caperton has been named the first F. Duke Perry Professor of Leadership Studies. He will be on campus November 4 for a roundtable discussion on leadership. President James Clements will moderate the discussion.

The event will take place at 7 p.m. in the Mountainlair Ballrooms. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

“Gaston Caperton is a world-class businessman, public servant and educational innovator,” said Lisa DeFrank-Cole, director of the Leadership Studies Program. “We are pleased that he has agreed to serve as the first F. Duke Perry Professor of Leadership Studies. He represents a portrait of what one can accomplish in life through determination and a commitment to the principals of leadership. Our students, and the community, will benefit greatly from his insight and experience.”

Gaston Caperton, a former two-term governor of West Virginia, is the eighth president of the College Board, a not-for-profit membership association founded in 1900 that consists of 5,000 of the nation’s leading schools, colleges and universities. Among its best-known programs are the Advanced Placement Program and the SAT.

Caperton began his career as a businessman in West Virginia. After graduating from the University of North Carolina, he went to work for a small insurance agency in Charleston, West Virginia. Under his leadership, the company grew into the tenth-largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm in the nation.

As the state’s thirty-first governor, Caperton brought West Virginia back from the brink of bankruptcy with more than $500 million in debts, and transformed it into a state that could boast of a $100 million surplus. Under his leadership, West Virginia’s unemployment rate dropped from 9.8 percent to a low of 6.2 percent. This was accomplished by creating more than 86,000 jobs. The sound financial management approach that he initiated led Financial World magazine to call West Virginia the most improved state in the nation.

Leaving the statehouse, Caperton spent the spring of 1997 teaching as a fellow at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Politics at Harvard University. He then taught at Columbia University, where he founded and managed the Institute on Education and Government.

Gaston Caperton has received numerous state and national awards and special recognition, including eight honorary doctoral degrees. He was chair of the Democratic Governors’ Association and served on the National Governors Association Executive Committee. He also served as chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, Southern Regional Education Board and the Southern Growth Policies Board.

In addition to his public lecture, Caperton will address students enrolled in the Leadership Studies Program in a private lecture that day.

The F. Duke Perry Professor of Leadership Studies was endowed by the Board of Directors of the WVU Foundation in 2007. The endowment honors WVU Foundation President F. Duke Perry and benefits the Leadership Studies Program in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

Perry led the non-profit WVU Foundation from 1999 to 2006. During that time, he provided leadership and direction that produced over $900 million in private and corporate gifts to support the mission of West Virginia University.

For more information about the event, please contact Lisa DeFrank-Cole at lisa.defrank-cole@mail.wvu.edu.

Alumna Berger selected to serve on Federal Bench

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:36:00 EST

The Senate Tuesday voted 96-0 to confirm Judge Irene Berger for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. President Barack Obama nominated the Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge in July. Berger will become the first African American federal judge in West Virginia’s history.

Judge Berger served as a judge on the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia for 15 years. After graduating from law school, Berger worked as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Charleston, where she primarily represented low income clients in matters involving domestic, consumer and landlord-tenant disputes. In 1982, she became an assistant prosecuting attorney for Kanawha County. In 1994, Judge Berger joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, and then was appointed by Governor Gaston Caperton to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County.

Judge Berger graduated from West Virginia University in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. She completed her law degree at West Virginia University’s College of Law in 1979. She is a member of the WVU Student Affairs Visiting Committee and former president of the WVU Alumni Association Board of Directors. In 2008, Berger received the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Departmental Alumni Award from the Department of Mathematics.

Read more about Berger’s appointment in The Charleston Gazette or The State Journal.