Mathematical Association of America to meet on campus
Adams State will host the regional conference of Rocky Mountain Section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), April 26-27. Drs. Matt Ikle’ and Steve Aldrich are the program co-chairs.
Nursing students serve in Guatemala
From Left to right: Tanya Archuleta, Rebecca Lindquist, Victoria Kretche (faculty), Lauren Johnson, Allison Bennett (staff), Jonathan Reed, Rikki Leyba, Stephanie Carino, Kenny Scally, Ana Banuelos-Valdez, Ashley Kelly, Valerie Smith, and Anita Salazar.
Nursing Department students who completed a service learning trip to Guatemala over spring break give a presentation on the experience Monday, May 6, at 7 p.m. in Carson Auditorium.
Counseling Honor Society
Dr. Sam Gladding, prolific author and professor of counselor education from Wake Forest University, recently presented at Adams State as a guest speaker for the Counseling honor society, Chi Sigma Iota, at its new member initiation ceremony.
Title III Grant provides STEM courses for teachers
A new multi-year STEM project recently began, with 36 teachers and three ASU staff attending an all-day class at the Space Foundation, followed the opening ceremonies of the annual National Space Symposium. The Symposium, which attracts individuals and space industry professionals from around the world, is the largest annual gathering of its kind.
The STEM Teacher Certificate project is part of the SEEDS Title III grant written by Dr. Joel Judd and awarded last Spring. The two goals of the project are to increase the numbers of English learners and other underrepresented students in STEM-related coursework, and to increase their achievement in these subjects.
Over the past six months, a 13-credit hour STEM Teaching Certificate was created and approved, and K-12 teachers from around Colorado were recruited for this endeavor. These teachers will take two space-themed courses each of the next two summers — this year in Colorado Springs and next year in Alamosa. During the subsequent school years, they will implement learning strategies and principles in their respective teaching contexts. The project will then follow-up with these teachers and their students to document how improved instructional planning and delivery increase the participation and achievement of all students. In addition to Dr. Judd, STEM Coordinator Barbara Kruse, and SEEDS Grant Coordinator Andrea Rydgren participated in Monday’s events.
Million Dollar Site
The School of Business achieved the “Million Dollar Site” designation from The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program for reaching the one-million-dollar-mark in refunds to San Luis Valley residents. In partnership with the IRS and the Piton Foundation, ASU accounting faculty and their volunteer accounting students prepared nearly 700 income tax returns, with a net to SLV residents of $1, 083,392. That number is likely to grow as final tallies are recorded. Thanks are given to all volunteers, faculty, and students for helping residents reclaim precious dollars, and keeping that money in the valley.
Student Achievements
Music business senior David Noller won the recent Colorado’s Got Talent competition and earned a private audition with the producers of “America’s Got Talent.” He is involved with Prime Studios, a production company from Denver and recently released his solo first CD “A Book of Scars,” available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc.
“The most important thing I’ve learned is how to be professional. It doesn’t matter how good I am if I can’t network and present myself well,” said Noller. He’s attributed this success in part to James Doyle, visiting assistant professor of music. “The percussion training I’ve received here has been extremely helpful. He’s a really cool guy, and he’s opened my eyes to the importance of being professional in the music business,” said Noller. Noller’s website.
Biology student Arwen Milroy co-authored a paper that was recently accepted to the prestigious journal Evolution. She collaborated with a doctoral student at Colorado State University on “Geographic and taxonomic disparities in species diversity: dispersal and diversification rates across Wallace’s line.” The abstract can be found online.
Psychology senior Tucker Jones was accepted to a doctoral program in psychology at Kansas State. He was offered a teaching assistantship with full funding guaranteed for 5 years. He presented his senior thesis study, “Coping with Rejection-Induced Emotions and Shame,” at Student Scholar Days. He also presented a version of it at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, and will present it at the Association for Psychological Science Convention (international) in Washington, D.C. in late May. Tucker received a $1,500 Psi Chi Research Grant to complete the project. Jeff Elison, asst. professor of psychology, was co-author on the posters.
Biology students Vance Barksdale and Marcus Newell will present an independent research project at the Regional Tri Beta Conference in Grand Junction in April. The title of their presentation is “Intergenic DNA sequence divergence in a Texas dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium divaricatum) population,” which they completed under the direction of Dr. Kristy Duran. Read the abstract.
The Human Performance & Physical Education Department’s Sport Facility and Event Management class hosted a fun and healthy event with the local PALS organization, March 26. PALS is La Puente’s Positive Activities Lead to Success program.
The free event included games, activities, and a snack break for children enrolled in the PALS program to have fun while learning to be healthy. The Adams State University HPPE 305 course allows students to gain real world experience with planning and organizing sporting events, as well as a chance for the Grizzlies to give back to our community.
Nelson Grant, senior at Alamosa High School and concurrent student at Adams State University, won a $2,000 scholarship for placing third in a video competition at Azusa Pacific University, where he will enroll as a freshman this fall. His film, The Definition of Noah Sellman, was created for ASU course, Personal Documentary, taught by Danny LeDonne. View the film on Grizzly Video YouTube.
