Faculty/Staff Activities

Faculty/Staff Activities

Dr. Duane Hagelgans, earth sciences, has been chosen to be the chair of the Training and Education Committee for the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM).  IAEM Board President Teri Smith chose Hagelgans for this important position with the organization. The IAEM is comprised of over 3,000 members from around the world.  The Training and Education Committee is tasked with overseeing the training and educational opportunities for the membership, including everything from coordination with the National Training Institutions to partnering with the higher education community.

Dr. Abdelhadi Halawa, wellness and sport sciences, published his research paper titled “Effects of Subjective Feeling of Environmental Temperature on Appetite and Food Intake in Chinese Sociodemographic and Ethnic Groups” in the December 2019 issue of the Journal of Ethnic Foods-BMC. This paper is the product of his summer 2016 second food culture research project in collaboration with the Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development at Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan Province, China. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of ambient environmental temperature variation (hot or cold) on the appetite and food intake in Chinese adults residing in nine climactically and geographically diverse cities. Halawa was awarded two consecutive summer grants in 2015 and 2016 by the National Office of High-End Foreign Experts of the Chinese Ministry of Education to serve as the principle investigator and lead researcher for the two research projects.

Dr. Micheal Houlahan, chair of music, was recently elected as a member of the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) for a three-year term. NASM is an organization of schools, conservatories, colleges and universities with approximately 639 accredited institutional members. It establishes national standards for undergraduate and graduate degrees and other credentials for music and music-related disciplines and provides assistance to institutions and individuals engaged in artistic, scholarly, educational and other music-related endeavors.

Janet Kacskos, APR, PRSA Fellow, communications & marketing, recently earned the “Crisis Communication Certificate” from the Public Relations Society of America. The certificate was the culmination of successfully passing a course covering the principles of effective crisis response, obtaining public forgiveness, telling your story in a crisis, influencing leaders, establishing an effective crisis response team and effective crisis planning.

Dr. Xun Pan, music, has become a Steinway Artist. He was welcomed to the international family of Steinway Artists in December, for his “significant contributions to the performing arts, academia and the community.” Pan joins renowned artists such as Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Murray Perahia, Mitsuko Uchida and Yuja Wang. More on Steinway & Sons contribution to education is at https://www.steinway.com/education.