Sharon P. Blase, a Ph.D. in Education student, presented the keynote address, “Reducing Childhood Obesity with Get Moving, Get Healthy New Jersey” to the Tri-County Community Action Partnership child care and family daycare providers gathering on Nov. 15 at Cumberland County College in Vineland, N.J.

James W. Closs, a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration student specializing in Nonprofit Management and Leadership, was presented the Boy Scouts of America’s prestigious Venturing Leadership Award at a banquet held Jan. 24. A veteran of Operation Desert Storm, Closs is an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, where he has served as post and district commander, among other positions. Closs is an adjunct political science professor at Gordon College in Barnesville, Ga., and is a director with the Georgia Veterans Memorial Park Foundation. In 1994, he retired after a distinguished 25-year career in the U.S. Air Force.

Edward Dunn, a Ph.D. in Public Health student, is co-host of an online Native Health series called Native New Health. Each episode is 30 minutes long and is produced for Native peoples of the United States and Canada. Topics in the series include managing diabetes, weight management, smoking cessation, alcohol and heart health. The producer plans to air 13 episodes by December 2009. A promotional video can be viewed here.

Richard C. Edwards, a Ph.D. in Public Health student specializing in Community Health Promotion and Education, served as an abstract reviewer for the World Federation of Public Health Associations, rating submissions to the 12th World Congress on Public Health to be held April 27 through May 1 in Istanbul, Turkey. Edwards was recently hired as an adjunct professor at Campbell University School of Pharmacy in the Department of Clinical Research. 

Kevin Fandl, J.D., a faculty member in the School of Public Policy and Administration, published his article “The Role of Informal Legal Institutions in Economic Development" in the June 12, 2008, issue of the Fordham International Law Journal. Fandl’s article, “Immigration Posses: U.S. Immigration Law and Local Enforcement Practices,” is forthcoming from the Journal of Legislation.  

Dr. Rodney Ford, a faculty member in the School of Psychology, published the book Psychological Transference: Cognition and Interpersonal Perception (VDM Verlag 2008).

Dr. Stuart Gold, a faculty member in the School of Management, wrote a chapter titled “The Effects of Computer Mediated Communication on Student Outcomes” published in the book Human Computer Interaction: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (Information Science Reference 2008).

Hilda Grigorian, a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration student specializing in International Nongovernmental Organizations, met with former President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai via videoconference on Sept., 28, 2008, to discuss her work as a field program officer working with the Jalalabad Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Brian C. Grizzell, a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences student, co-authored the article “An Analysis of the Nuance and Practical Applications of Situational Leadership in the Management and Administration of International Health Care Organizations” published in the July–September Issue of the GITAM Journal of Management. He also co-authored “The Value of Servant Leadership Skills in Government Employees” for the Dec. 1, 2008, edition of the online Career Convergence magazine, a publication of the National Career Development Association.

Susan Hamilton-Hill, RN, a student in the School of Nursing, published her article, “Avian Influenza: Does the Increase in Worldwide Incidences of Infection Portend a Global Pandemic?” in the Jan. 21–Feb. 3, 2009, online issue of the journal ADVANCE for Nurses.   

Janice H. Hawkins, a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration student specializing in Public Management and Leadership, was profiled as part of a Black History Month special on the Web site Social Workers: Help Starts Here.  

Dr. Sunil Hazari, a faculty member in the College of Management and Technology and The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership, co-authored an article, “Assessment Challenges for Business Education in Changing Times,” published in the Journal of Applied Research for Business Instruction (Vol. 6, Issue 4).

Cynthia J. Hickman, an M.S. degree program in Nursing student specializing in Education, was selected to be a National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations mentee at the coaltion’s fifth national conference, “Creating Research Careers: Leading the Way," to be held March 12–15 at Albuquerque, N.M.

Dr. Aridaman Jain, a faculty member in the College of Management and Technology, co-published “Evaluating Electronic Voting Systems Equipped with Voter-Verified Paper Records” in the May–June 2008 edition of IEEE Security and Privacy.

Patricia Kean, a Doctor of Education student specializing in Teacher Leadership, was involved in an effort to help people in Sudan in her capacity as the faculty advisor to ONE Curry, a member of the ONE Campus Challenge at ONE.org at Curry College in Milton, Mass. One of the group’s members is a “Lost Boy” of Sudan, and he told the group his village needed clean water. ONE Curry's six members raised $11,000 within two years for a well, which will be built this spring in Bor, Sudan. Kean is an assistant professor at Curry College and received a Walden Commitment to Social Change Scholarship in summer 2007.

Jamie K. Meseke, a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences student with a specialization in Learning Management, co-authored the articles “Facilitating the Learning Process: A Pilot Study of Collaborative Testing vs. Individualistic Testing in the Chiropractic College Setting” and “Student Course Performance and Collaborative Testing: A Prospective Follow-On Study” in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. She presented two posters, “Effect of Gender, Age and Learning Style on Student Performance in a Collaborative Testing Environment” at the Society for Neuroscience's 2008 annual meeting, and “Clinical Experience with HIFU in Patients with Low-Risk Primary Prostate Cancer” at the 2008 Société Internationale d’Urologie World Uro-Oncology Update in Santiago, Chile. Meseke was a co-winner for first place in the Best Research Paper in Education presentation at the 2008 Association of Chiropractic Colleges Educational Conference and Research Agenda Conference.   

Dr. Kwabena Ofori-Attah, a faculty member in The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership, wrote the chapter, “Urbanization and Schooling in Africa: Trends, Issues and Challenges from Ghana during the Colonial Era” in the International Handbook of Urban Education (Springer 2007).

Jen M. Padron, a Ph.D. in Health Services student specializing in Epidemiology, published  “HIV/AIDS/STD/HCV, Coinfection, Seroprevalence and Education in Severe Mental Illness: Health Education Pilot” in the December 2008 issue of the journal Psychiatric Quarterly.

David Peter, a Ph.D. in Education student with a specialization in Educational Technology, made two presentations at the League for Innovation in Community College Conference held Oct. 19 to 22, 2008, in Salt Lake City. The presentations were “Technology, Teaching and Learning” and “Technology and Faculty Development.”

Robin Perez, a Walden University academic advisor, is photographing 80 neighborhoods in Minneapolis for an exhibit titled “Minneapolis Neighborhood Series.” Perez said her intent is to “bring attention to the value inherent in neighborhoods.”

Dr. James Rohrer, a faculty member in the School of Health Sciences, has co-published the following articles: “Youth, Unemployment and Male Gender Predict Mortality in AIDS Patients Started on HAART in Nigeria” in AIDS Care, “Limited Stair-Climbing Ability and Weight Control in Family Medicine Patients” in Chronic Illness,“Obesity and Symptom Burden in Family Medicine Patients” and “Does Behavioral Bootstrapping Boost Weight Control Confidence?: A Pilot Study” in The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, “Age, Obesity, and Medical Visits in Family Medicine” in Population Health Management, “Patient-Centeredness, Self-Rated Health and Patient Empowerment: Should Providers Spend More Time Communicating With Their Patients?” in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, and “Do Retail Clinics Increase Early Return Visits for Pediatric Patients?” in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine: JABFM.   

Cherif Sidiali, a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration student, was appointed to the King County Civil Rights Commission in Seattle. His appointment was made by the county executive and confirmed with a unanimous vote of the County Commission. He is serving a three-year term on Washington state’s second-largest government commission.

Michael R. Solomon, a Ph.D. in Health Services student, published his article “Information Technology to Support Self-Management in Chronic Care: A Systematic Review” in the journal Disease Management and Health Outcomes (2008: Vol. 16, Issue 6).

Linda Snyder, a student in the School of Nursing, published the article “Good Hand Hygiene Practices; Home Health Care Nurses Can Reduce Infection by Following CDC Guidelines,” in the Dec. 21, 2008, issue of the online journal ADVANCE for Nurses.

Dr. Teresa Tirrito, a faculty member in the School of Counseling and Social Service, co-published “Caregiver's Spirituality and Its Influence on Maintaining the Elderly and Disabled in a Home Environment” in Volume 51 of the Journal of Gerontological Social Work.

Mitzie Trammel, an M.S. degree program in Nursing student with a specialization in Education, was recently appointed to the North Carolina Board of Nursing committee for the Foundation for Nursing Excellence Transition to Practice.

Send news of your professional accomplishments to ponder@waldenu.edu for publication in the Walden Ponder newsletter, Walden alumni magazine and other publications.

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