January 30, 2004 Highlights
Utah
State Blue Light Honors Outstanding Achievements
| To demonstrate pride in
the many accomplishments of Utah State University faculty,
staff and students, the Utah State Blue Pride Light was
turned on Monday, Jan. 26, and the Carillon Bells rang
at 1:05 p.m. Every four months the university designates
a Blue Pride Light Night to recognize individuals for
outstanding achievements.
Honorees this quarter are English professor Christopher
Cokinos; Todd Fallis, music professor; assistant dean
for continuing education and special education and rehabilitation
professor Ronda Menlove; agricultural systems technology
and education professor Bruce Miller; and Jennifer Peeples,
speech languages and philosophy professor.
Cokinos was awarded a Whiting Writers' Award for his
work Hope is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle
of Vanished Birds. As one of 10 national recipients,
Cokinos received $35,000 for the award, which is given
annually to emerging writers of exceptional talent and
promise. Former president of the Kansas Audubon Council,
Cokinos drew on his knowledge of the natural world to
write the book. Published by Tarcher/Putnam in 2000, it
chronicles the decline and extinction of the Carolina
parakeet, Labrador duck, great auk, ivory-billed woodpecker,
heath hen and passenger pigeon.
Fallis and Miller are newly appointed full professors
who participated in the Utah State Inaugural Professor
Lecture series. The series is part of an on going effort
to increase the visibility of outstanding scholarship
on campus and to recognize the unique contribution of
newly promoted full professors to their discipline and
to the community of scholars influenced by their work.
All newly promoted full professors are invited to participate
in the program.
As an assistant dean and professor, Menlove trains special
education teachers around Utah. Nationally, and throughout
Utah, there are critical shortages of special education
teachers. In an effort to address this need, Menlove works
closely with the Utah State Office of Education and local
school districts to train special education teachers via
distance education. She has received more than half a
million dollars from the USOE to support this training,
and she shares her expertise through publications and
national presentations. Menlove currently serves as president-elect
of the American Council on Rural Special Education.
Peeples received the Golden Anniversary Monograph Award
at the National Communication Association convention.
She received the award, along with co-author Kevin DeLuca
of the University of Georgia, for the research article
From Public Screen: Democracy, Activism, and the Lessons
of Seattle. The Golden Anniversary Monograph Award
is a national research award given to the best research
article of the year published in any of the communication
disciplines.
The Utah State Blue Pride Light atop Old Main lights
the Cache Valley night sky as a symbol of Aggie tradition,
heritage and pride. The outstanding professors, staff
and students honored are a part of this heritage and contribute
to the high quality of Utah State.
|
|
Robert
Gillies Flies High With Golden Mouse Award
 Assistant
professor in plants, soils and biometeorology, Dr. Robert Gillies
was awarded the Golden Mouse for his creativity in utilizing
technology successfully to enhance flight students' understanding
of weather conditions.
Inaugurated in Fall 2001 by the provost's office, the Golden
Mouse Award is given twice a year to recognize those who have
innovatively integrated technology into teaching and learning.
In his laboratory component of the aviation weather course
(BMET 3250), Gillies teaches pilots how to read and interpret
coded meteorological reports and forecasts. Using "real
time" meteorological data, Gillies helps his students build
a visual picture to note where potential problems might lie
along their flight route.
"This is a demanding skill to acquire and it is generally
not intuitive," said Gillies. "It is extremely important
though, considering national statistics indicate that 23 percent
of aircraft accidents are weather-related and 26 percent of
those are fatal."
The success of Gillies approach is further documented in its
current use at the local airport, where a number of students
request the facility to aid in their day-to-day flight preparation.
Unique
Abilities Of Utah State's Utah Water Research Lab Win Grant
For Professor
 Dr.
Blake Tullis, assistant professor in civil and environmental
engineering, was awarded a $325,000 grant from the National
Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) to test and develop
designs for more natural, environment-friendly highway culverts.
This 30-month grant was awarded to Tullis because Utah State
University's Utah Water Research Lab (UWRL) is the only facility
in the country with the unique ability to test and measure size
scale effects of pipe and flow capacity.
Tullis, along with UWRL senior engineer Steve Barfuss and a
few graduate students, will work to design parameters for larger
culverts that feature more natural elements similar to streams
and rivers.
"Traditional culverts are small and seen as barriers to
fish, often preventing them from swimming through," said
Tullis. "The new culvert would not only be larger, but
would have rocks and sand on the bottom, making it look more
like a natural habitat."
Tullis said the larger culverts could also better facilitate
debris which frequently blocks passageways in smaller culverts,
making it impossible for fish to swim through.
utah
state today/archives/January
2004/archives
prior to Sept 2002/
Brought
to you by Utah State University Public Relations and Marketing
|