Heart SoulCOLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Volume 14 No. 1 Northern State University Spring 2016

GOOD BYE FROM THE DEANWe in the College of Arts and Sciences shared a vision eight years ago when I first came to NSU.

SIMPLY STATED, we wanted to become the best in the region. We wanted to be known for our teaching excellence, student-centered education, and experien-tial learning. We wanted to graduate students who

will be known for their exceptional ability to communicate in writing and through the spoken word, for having thorough content knowledge of their respective disciplines, and for being able to apply critical thinking and technological skills to solving problems in their chosen fields. We wanted them to be ready to succeed in the job market and in graduate and professional schools. We wanted them to be prepared to play a leader-ship role in the state and the nation. To that end, with the strong support of the faculty, we moved forward to implement a number of initiatives:• We revamped the administrative structure

of the college and consolidated seven small departments into three and appointed de-partment chairs with broader responsibili-ties and authority to lead them. We wanted to encourage cross-disciplinary research work and inter-disciplinary degree pro-grams. We now have stronger leadership, a more democratic decision-making frame-work, closer and more focused oversight, and better management.

• We wrote and instituted a new college-wide strategic plan (with almost unanimous faculty support) with the number one priority of increasing student recruitment and retention.

• We received $2.7 million to renovate our MJ Science Labs. We got a $1.3 million grant to purchase new scientific equipment. We were awarded $800K through a new multi-year EPSCoR grant to start an NSU Center for Environmental Studies. We got a $1.5 million charitable trust grant from a private donor dedicated to supporting our

NSU Creative Writing program.• We built a new NSU $800K Greenhouse

to support research in the bio- and life-sciences.

• We hired fifteen new full-time, tenure-track faculty members to replace those who retired, decided not to apply for tenure, or were denied tenure.

• We instituted the MATH Pilot Program to improve student retention and have seen our success rates (C or higher grades) in Intermediate and College Algebra courses jump from the mid/high-50% to the low/mid-70%. We have now expanded this program to General Biology and General Chemistry classes with initial indication of similar success.

• We have seen the significant enrollment growth in selected majors. In particular, Bi-ology and Communication Studies majors have more than doubled.

• We strengthened the NSU Honors Program and saw it grow from about 40 to over 130 students.

• We started the new General Studies Pro-gram and are now graduating more than 20 students a year in the program.

• We hired three new Professional Advisors to establish a new advising program. We now have regular Fall and Spring semester student receptions to support advising and retention initiatives.

• We gained approval for a number of new degree programs intended to meet student interest and demand, including online AA degree programs in Gerontology and in Criminal Justice, and an AS degree program in Biotechnology; Certificates in Public History and Biotechnology; and Minors in Religious Studies and Creative Writing and Rhetoric.

• We have submitted curricular proposals for the opportunity to offer our Spanish and German degree programs online, a new undergraduate four-year degree program in Media Studies, and a Master’s degree pro-

gram in Mathematics to help current and future teachers learn disciplinary content and discipline-specific pedagogy. All these programs are unique and groundbreaking, and could become national models.

• Our Rising Scholars Program, offering dual-credit to high-school students, has grown from about 100 students to over 450 students today. It is by far the largest in the state. We are now seeking national accreditation.

• We started a new NSU Accelerated Nursing Program in collaboration with SDSU. NSU graduates can now stay in the Aberdeen NSU campus and complete a BS degree in Nursing from SDSU within twelve months.

• We built a more robust CAS Internship and Field Experiences Program.

• We started the Undergraduate Research Program and the Faculty Mentoring Pro-gram.

We feel that, for the most part, we have accomplished our mission. Our success rates in first-year mathematics courses are by far the best in the state. Student retention has gone up. Our numbers of majors and gradu-ates in practically all CAS degree programs are steady or have seen extraordinary growth. Our Honors Program is being described as the best we have ever had. Our new degree programs are innovative, growing, and meet-ing a need. Our alumni are getting good, well-paying jobs and are being admitted to top-rated graduate and professional pro-grams. Our faculty’s teaching evaluations, research productivity, and disciplinary and community service are just outstanding. All of this success is primarily due to the hard work, extraordinary dedication, and the unwavering support of the faculty and staff. As I move on, I am confidently assured that we are in good hands and that our future looks bright, for they are the best. It has been my distinguished honor and unique privilege to have worked with them in serving our students.

The Rising Scholars Program (RSP) is a collaborative partnership between Northern State University (NSU) and participating South Dakota high schools. The RSP provides high school students with the opportunity to take college-level courses and receive both college credit and high school credit for those courses—an arrangement known as concurrent enrollment. The high school instructors are pre-approved and partner with NSU faculty and academic departments to deliver college-level courses. NSU monitors and supports the quality of instruction.The NSU Rising Scholars Program was established in 2005 by the South Dakota Board of Regents. The RSP has grown steadily since 2009 and currently there are over 450 students participating in

the program. It is the largest concurrent enrollment program in the state. The program offers fourteen general education courses in eight disciplines. There are currently seven SD high schools participating in the program. This year, under the direction of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Rising Scholars Program Director, Ms. Terry Piatz, the program is seeking accreditation from the National Alliance for Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP). NACEP has served as a national accrediting body for concurrent enrollment partnership programs since 2004. Accreditation is awarded to programs after a comprehensive peer review by a team of experienced representatives of NACEP-accredited concurrent enrollment partnerships. NSU is

now conducting a self-study and preparing an accreditation application with evidence documenting how the RSP implements NACEP’s seventeen national standards for program quality in the areas of curriculum, faculty, students, assessment, and program evaluation.NACEP accreditation serves as a guarantee to students, policy-makers, and other postsecondary institutions that the RSP meets rigorous national standards. It distinguishes the RSP, thereby enhancing its ability to recruit new partners and students. It aids students and families when they seek credit recognition for their college credits earned through concurrent enrollment. If successful, NSU will be the first institution in the state to earn NACEP accreditation.

Dr. Margaret Adams, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, moved to Aberdeen from Charlotte, North Carolina last August. She has a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction: Math Education

and a B. A. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In addition, she has a Master’s Degree in Experimental Psychology from the City University of New York: Brooklyn College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Pace University in New York City, as well as teaching certification in Special Education and Secondary Mathematics. She taught special education, mathematics, and statistics in urban public schools at the middle, secondary and post-secondary levels. Dr. Adams will lead new initiatives and programs in Math Education at NSU.

Dr. Michael Bronikowski, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Physics, earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Physics from Stanford University and a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics

from Caltech. He had a number of post-doctoral appointments at the University of Colorado (Boulder), Rice University, and the University of Wisconsin. He worked as a research scientist at a number of high tech start-ups in Silicon Valley, CA before

coming to NSU. His research work is in nanotechnology working on building ultra-long carbon nanotubes.

Dr. Kristi Brownfield, Assistant Professor of Sociology, received her B.A. in English in 2001 and in Sociology in 2005 from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL. She then moved on to

pursue her M.A. (2009) and Ph.D. (2015) in Sociology at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIUC) in Carbondale, IL. She taught at SIUC for four years and spent a year at Hendrix College in Conway, AR. Dr. Brownfield’s areas of expertise include popular culture, online phenomenon, race/class/gender, social psychology, new media research methods, identity, and deviance. Her dissertation studied “fanvids” which are the creative work of fans that combine clips or images from a visual source (usually a television series or movie) to music to create an alternative narrative.

Dr. Greg DePies, Assistant Professor of History, received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. He is the first Asian historian in the state and will be working on developing a Far Eastern

Studies program and collaborating with the NSU Confucius Institute. His doctoral

dissertation is a critical examination of modern humanitarianism in Japan. Dr. DePies received the Japan Foundation Research Fellowship to conduct research in Japan in 2009. He teaches Japanese, Chinese, and Korean history from ancient to contemporary times as well as world history.

Dr. John Long, Assistant Professor of Computational Biology, has a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics from the State University of New York, a Master’s degree in

Environmental and Ecological Statistics, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, both from Montana State University. His area of expertise is the mathematical, statistical, and spatial aspects of the environment. Dr. Long worked at Montana State University as a Research Scientist using satellite imagery to quantify tree mortality due to Mountain Pine Beetle infestation. Dr. Long’s position at NSU is evenly split between teaching and research in support of the South Dakota EPSCoR mission, which is to strengthen research and education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics across South Dakota to increase science literacy and drive science-based economic development. Dr. Long is a retired Air Force Major with 21 years of service as a B-52 electronic warfare officer.

NSU RISING SCHOLARS PROGRAM SEEKS ACCREDITATION

NEW FACULTY AT NSU

Dr. Alyssa Anderson, Assistant Professor of Biology, collaborated on five articles in 2015 and 2016: “Winter Diets of Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) Populations in Southeast Minnesota and the Importance of Winter-emerging Invertebrates,” co-authored with E. Mittag, B. Peterson, B. Vondracek, and L.C. Ferrington, Jr., was published in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society; “The Chi-ronomidae (Insecta: Diptera) of San Salvador Island: A Preliminary Survey and Look to the Future,” co-authored with P. Kranzfelder, A. Egan, and L.C. Ferrington, Jr., and “Rainfall Drives Synchronous Spawning Episodes in the Scaly Pearl Oyster, Pinctada longisqua-mosa on San Salvador Island, Bahamas,” co-authored with E.S. Cole, , C. Urnes, A. Hinrichs, E.A. Rothfus, were published in the Proceedings of the 15th Symposium on the Natural History of the Bahamas; “Online Early – Only Online,” co-authored with T. Ekrem and P.H. Langton, was published in Chirono-mus: Journal of Chironomidae Research; and “Use of Chironomidae (Diptera) Surface-floating Pupal Exuviae as a Rapid Bioassess-ment Protocol for Water Bodies,” co-authored with J.E. Mazack, R.W. Bouchard, Jr., M.M. Rufer, and L.C. Ferrington Jr., was published in the Journal of Visualized Experiments.Dr. Guangwei Ding, Associate Professor of Chemistry, collaborated on four articles in 2015: “Impact of Soil Water Content and Temperature on GE Crop Cry1Ac Protein Degradation,” co-authored with Mei-jun Zhang , Mei-chen Feng, Lu-jie Xiao, Xiao-yan Song, and Wu-de Yang, was published in Information Systems for Biotechnology (ISB) News Report; “Research and Practice on Col-lege English Oral Test—A Case Study of Bei-jing Institute of Petrochemical Technology,” co-authored with Jiaolan Yan, Weiran Zhang, Yuan Yu, and Jie Chang, was published in English Language Teaching; “Estimation of Water Content in Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and Soil Based on Remote Sens-ing Data--Vegetation Index,” co-authored with Lujie Xiao, Meichen Feng, and Wude Yang, was published in Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis; and “Impacts of Water Content and Temperature on the Degradation of Cry1Ac Protein in Leaves and Buds of Bt Cotton in the Soil,” co-authored with Mei-jun Zhang , Mei-chen Feng, Lu-jie Xiao, Xiao-yan Song, and Wu-de Yang, was published in PLoS ONE.

continued on following page…

THE GROUP included students Connor Fullerton, Rachel Rogers, Sydnee Torrence, Michael Schneider, Victoria Biach, and April Moeller, as well as two faculty members: Dr. Alyssa Kiesow and Dr. Susan Landon-Arnold. They traveled from San Jose to Liberia to Hermosa to experience Costa Rica and its people. Some notable highlights of the trip included a visit to La Carpio—a low-income area of San Jose, a brief stay at the Hogar de Vida—a regional orphanage in north-central Costa Rica, a stopover at a clinic and private hospital, a ride to see a coffee and pineapple plantation, a visit to an area populated mostly by indigenous peoples, and several outings to volcanoes, conservation areas, and beaches. In the course of the trip, students were exposed to a variety experiences. They discovered the rise of the poverty-stricken region of La Carpio and effectiveness of Costa Rica’s orphanage program. They examined the socialistic health care systems, learning the pros and cons associated with such a system. They realized the importance of agriculture, conservation, and ecotourism to Costa Rica’s economy. Those experiences enabled students to reflect on the comparisons between the United States and Costa Rica, such as the similarities between La Carpio and United States’ Indian reservations, or the differences between the two health care systems: in Costa Rica health care is free to residents but requires following a specific process to get care. Coffee

and pineapple plantations are integral to Costa Rica’s economy, much like our ranches and farms are in the United States; family-owned agricultural areas provide jobs and housing to the population. Ecotourism has grown exponentially in the country, with many individuals serving as guides or running small travel agencies, thereby stressing the importance of maintaining the forested areas not only for industry but also environmental health. Costa Rica has pledged to become a carbon-free impact country by 2020.

For all the participants, the exploration of various aspects of Costa Rica provided an experience of a lifetime. Students were grateful for the opportunity, and are looking forward to further adventures that Northern State University may provide.

STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN FACULTY-LED TRIP TO COSTA RICA

In January 2016, a group of NSU students and faculty traveled to Costa Rica for a two-week excursion to observe and evaluate various aspects of the country, such

as health care, socio-economics, culture, agriculture, and conservation.

Students and faculty in attendance on faculty-led trip to Costa Rica in January 2016. Back row (left to right): Connor Fullerton, Rachel Rogers, Sydnee Torrence, and Michael Schneider. Front row (left to right): Victoria Biach, Dr. Alyssa Kiesow, Dr. Susan Landon-Arnold, and April Moeller

Neurological imagery used at Clinica Biblica, a private hospital in San Jose

Artwork created by indigenous tribe in north-central Costa Rica

Northern State University1200 S. Jay St.

Aberdeen, SD 57401-7198northern.edu

Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDAberdeen, South Dakota

Permit No. 77

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Ms. Janne Jockheck, Lab Manager for the NSU Biology Program, gave a presentation on professional opportunities in the area of Marine Science at the Women in Science conference held on NSU campus in March 2015.Dr. Pen Pearson, Professor of English, published a chapter of her novel, The Sisters Mew, in New Writing: International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writ-ing in October 2015. Dr. Pearson also pre-sented a chapter of the novel at the Great Writing Conference in London, England in June 2015.Dr. Ricardo Rojas, Associate Professor of Mathematics, published an article titled “Waiter! One Classic Calculus Problem, Hold the Calculus” in The College Math-ematics Journal in January 2016.Dr. Steven Usitalo, Professor of History, contributed a chapter titled “Curiosity and the Kunstkamera” in a book titled “A Century Mad and Wise”: Russia in the Age of the Enlightenment, published by Gronin-gen University Press in 2015. Dr. Usitalo also gave two professional presentations in 2015: “‘Dissident Nationalism,’ ‘Orthodox Nationalism’: The Soviet Union and Geno-

cide Recognition” was delivered (in Russian) at the annual meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars meeting in Yerevan, Armenia; and “Lomonosov’s ‘On the Strata of the Earth’ and its Reception in Eighteenth Century Russia” was presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies in Philadelphia.Dr. Courtney Waid-Lindberg, Assistant Profes-sor of Sociology, collaborated on two research projects that resulted in conference presenta-tions and publication. “Student Perceptions of the Death Penalty: Do Botched Executions Matter?,” offering a preliminary analysis of the data collected on NSU’s campus in February 2015, and co-authored with Mr. Daryl Kosiak (Northern State University) and Dr. Rhonda Dobbs (Tarleton State University), was presented at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meeting in Orlando, FL, in March of 2015. The same data was also ana-lyzed to examine different research questions

for a paper titled “Do Botched Executions Matter? A Comparative Examination of Student Samples From Two College Campuses in the United States,” presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Criminology in November of 2015 in Washington, D.C. The second research project, “The Origins of Prison Subculture Models in Hollywood Film,” coauthored with Mr. Daryl Kosiak, was presented at the conference “Visualizing Justice” held at the University of Win-nipeg in March 2015, and after additional collaboration with Dr. Kristi Brownfield, Assistant Professor of Sociology at NSU, was published in the Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research. Dr. Waid-Lindberg also collaborated on a chapter entitled “Fear of Crime Among University Students in Canada and the United States” in Psychology of Fear, Crime and the Media published by Routledge in 2015. Dr. Patrick Whiteley, Professor of Eng-lish, presented his paper “Remembering and Forgetting: An Ethical Dilemma in William Trevor’s Fiction” at the Western Regional Conference for Irish Studies in Rapid City in October 2015.