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APPA awards

The Department of Campus Planning and Facilities received the prestigious APPA Award for Excellence, which recognizes excellence in the field of educational facilities. The international award, presented in Vancouver, recognized the work of more than 140 employees in the department for the services provided to campus including the award-winning landscapes, green space, energy conservation and buildings.

Kudos

baylen Dr. Danilo M. Baylen, associate professor of media and instructional technology, co-authored the article, “Challenges and Issues in Teaching Online,” which was published in the Encyclopedia of Distance Learning (2nd edition). Baylen also co-presented “How do we foster the quality of hybrid courses in teacher education?” at the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education international conference in Charleston.

Dr. Cristine G. Goldberg, assistant professor of media and instructional technology, and Dr. Danilo M. Baylen presented "eBooks as Children’s Literature: Understanding the Connections between Literacy, Technology and Children" at the Kennesaw Conference on Literature for Children and Adolescents.

Dr. Allison Nazzal, assistant professor ofmiddle grades education, published a model for DistanceEducation for the National Professors of Middle Level Education Journal. The publication and model reflect years of course development and manuscript development, utilizing distance education as a medium, and lessons learned for quality delivery of instruction in the distance format.

Kevin Mobbs recently joined the Distance and Distributed Education Center in the role of faculty support. Prior to joining the DDEC, Mobbs taught music appreciation at UWG. He has designed a new online section of music appreciation offered this fall. His duties include assisting faculty that employ some form of distance education technology, such as CourseDen, Web Tools and Wimba Classroom. He will also provide instructional design support for faculty creating and updating courses. These services are provided for the face-to-face classroom and online courses. Kevin may be contacted at kmobbs@westga.edu or 678-839-5294. To view upcoming workshops and training sessions, go to http://www.westga.edu/~training.

Associate Professors Promoted to Full Professors: Amin Boumenir, Department of Mathematics; Muriel Cormican, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature; James Dillon, Department of Psychology; Michael Gordon, Department of Mathematics; David Newton, Department of English and Philosophy; Denise Overfield, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature; Majorie Snipes, Department of Anthropology.

Associate Professors Tenured: Margaret Mitchell, Department of English and Philosophy; Daniel Rocco, Department of Computer Science; Alison Umminger, Department of English and Philosophy.

Assistant Professors Promoted to Associate Professors and Tenured: Eilis Crean, Department of Art; Euisik Kim, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature; G. Dawn McCord, Department of Music; Gary Schmidt, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature; Rui Xu, Department of Mathematics; Mohammad Yazdani, Department of Mathematics.

Kudos features UWG faculty and staff articles and book publications, conference attendance and presentations, grants, organizational leadership and awards. E-mail your news to the Campus Chronicle editor.

Campus Talk

Dr. George Kieh is the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Formerly a professor in the Department of Political Science at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, he served as dean of International Affairs at Grand Valley and also chaired the political science department at Morehouse College. He is founding director of the Center for International Studies as well as the Institute for Conflict and Development Studies at Morehouse College. A political scientist by training, Kieh brings a range of academic and administrative experiences to this position, including program director, chair, dean and professor.

Debra Jacob, associate director of marketing, comes to UWG from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was director of communications. In her marketing career, she also has held director-level positions at Carnegie Mellon University, Florida Atlantic University, Anderson Communications and Bayer Corp. She owned her own firm for several years, serving primarily technology spin-off companies. She is co-chair of the Independent Communicators Roundtable for the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). She is an avid hiker and has explored Red Top Mountain, Sweetwater, Floyd, Cheaha, Tanner and Roosevelt State Parks since she arrived on campus July 1.

Dianne L. Hoff is the new Associate Dean for Teacher Preparation and Professional Programs. Before coming to UWG, Hoff was a professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Maine where she taught education law, policy, research and finance. Her undergraduate and master’s degrees are from Indiana University, and she holds an Ed.D. from the University of Louisville. Before her higher education appointments, she served as a principal in Georgia and southern California.

Dr. John von Eschenbach has accepted the position of Interim Chair of the Department of Special Education and Speech Language Pathology. Many of you are well acquainted with "Dr. von" from his tenure as professor and former chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Von Eschenbach retired from UWG last year but has remained involved in the activities of the COE.

* Campus Talk features UWG faculty and staff announcements of marriages, births, new hires, promotions, transfers, retirements, trips and volunteer work. E-mail your news for publication consideration to the Campus Chronicle special sections editor.