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Katherine Kealey has been named the new director of the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership (CSIL) at Millersville University.
As director of CSIL, Kealey will oversee various programs including student and campus activities, clubs and organizations, Greek life, multicultural programs, leadership programs and the University Activities Board.
“I am extremely excited to return to the CSIL office to develop opportunities for students to engage in the campus community,” Kealey said.
Most recently, Kealey had worked as associate director of CSIL and program director of the Office of Transition Programs. Prior to joining Millersville, Kealey was the director of fraternity and sorority life at Wingate University in North Carolina. Kealey earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Elon University in North Carolina and a Master of Education from Ohio University.
Millersville University has also appointed Cleo “Vickie” Blackston as interim director for housing and residential programs. Blackston had previously worked as residence hall director, area coordinator and associate director of housing and residential programs at Millersville since 1979.
Through these positions, both Kealey and Blackston join the leadership of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management’s student engagement team.
Faculty/Staff News
Dr. Duane Hagelgans, earth sciences, recently opened the New Mexico Emergency Management Conference. Hagelgans gave the plenary speech to the 400+ attendees on the opening day of the state conference, “Planning for the unexpected: A Black Swan Event.” Hagelgans spoke about his research into regionalization and how regional cooperation allows the emergency management field to better handle disasters, especially those unexpected disasters like the 2006 Nickle Mines Amish shooting. He discussed the four days he spent at this tragedy and how this began his research into better regional cooperation in the field of emergency management.
In addition, Hagelgans was asked by Lancaster County to be the keynote speaker at the County’s annual 9-11 memorial service at the Lancaster County Emergency Services Training Center. He will be reflecting on that horrific day in 2001, the lives that were lost, the collaboration that took place and as in line with his research, how regional cooperation and all responders and citizens working together is essential in any disaster for a successful outcome.
Dr. Abdelhadi Halawa, Wellness and Sport Sciences, completed his visiting professorship at the Center for Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development, a research center at Henan University, Henan Province, China. From mid-May to mid-August, 2015, Halawa who was selected by the Chinese Ministry of Education as a National High-End Foreign Expert and Lead Researcher at the Center, led a team of two faculty researchers and four graduate-level student co-researchers to conduct a study on the traditional dietary habits, food consumption, and related health practices of the Chinese Hui Nationality living alongside the Yellow River Basin in central China. Additionally, Halawa gave several public speeches and presentations at the Journal of Hui Culture Studies in Zhengzhou City, Henan University, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, and for the visiting exchange students and faculty members from Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin. Halawa has been reinvented to serve in the same capacity to conduct another research project at the Center in the summer of 2016.
The Chinese news about his presentation for the visiting exchange students and faculty from Beloit College is at: http://www.hhwm.org/news/230
Dr. Gordon M. Nesbitt, Wellness and Sport Sciences, Campus Recreation and Dr. Anthony Grant, former interim athletic director, contributed a chapter titled “Applying the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership Findings to Collegiate Recreation and Athletics” in the just released “New Directions for Student Leadership” periodical series titled “Student Leadership Development through Recreation and Athletics” by Jossey-Bass publishers.
Congratulations to Aileen J. Brown, Registrar’s Office, who married Greg Sanchez on September 5, 2015.
Retired Faculty:
MU PROFESSOR EMERITUS WINS PRESTIGIOUS COMMISSION
Dr. Sy Brandon, professor emeritus of music, was selected as the 2018 recipient of the Thor Johnson Memorial Commission that is sponsored by the Delta Omicron Foundation. Brandon will be composing a composition for flute, clarinet and piano that will be premiered at the Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity’s Triennial Conference in 2018. The commission covers the cost of writing the composition as well as expenses to attend the performance. He was selected from an international pool of composers who applied.
Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity is a professional fraternity in the field of music with collegiate chapters established throughout the United States and abroad. Three undergraduate students founded the fraternity in 1909 at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Its objectives are to promote American music and musicians, to further the work of composers, to stimulate appreciation of good music at the community level, to advance high ethical standards of professional conduct in the musical world, to encourage understanding of the cultures of all nations, and to do any and all things conducive to the service, betterment, and ultimate welfare of musicians. The Thor Johnson Memorial Commission by the Delta Omicron Foundation honors the memory of Dr. Thor Johnson, National Patron of Delta Omicron.
Dr. Sy Brandon holds the rank of professor emeritus of music from Millersville University, Millersville, PA where he taught low brass, composition, orchestration, music history, electronic music and music industry. In 2010, he was commissioned by the Arizona Commission on the Arts to compose the band composition to celebrate Arizona’s Centennial in 2012. Dr. Brandon has received widespread acclaim for his compositions including first prizes in the Kappa Gamma Psi Original Composition Contest (1963), WITF-FM Classical Composition Contest (1996), Tuba Universal Brotherhood Association Tuba Etude Composition Contest (1996), El Dorado Sacred Music Composition Contest (2000), Franklin and Marshall College Wind Ensemble Composition Contest (2001), New England String Ensemble Competition (2003), and Quadre Composition Competition (2015). He was an American Prize finalist and semi-finalist in 2012 and 2013 in several composition categories.
Brandon’s music has been recorded by Czech National Symphony Orchestra on the Albany Records Label, the Philharmonia Bulgarica and the Kiev Philharmonic on the ERM label, the Contemporary Record Society, Trutone Records, by the Swiss Duo Delimme on the Arizona University label, and by numerous artists through Emeritus Recordings. His music has been performed both throughout the United States and abroad, including performances by the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force Bands and broadcasts by many public radio stations including NPR’s “Performance Today” and APR’s “Pipedreams.” He is the author of “A Composer’s Guide to Understanding Music” and “Dr. B’s Music Practice Guide.”
The composition that Brandon will be writing is a five-movement, 15-20 minute composition for high school level musicians called “Emoticons”, an aural representation of contrasting emotions.
