Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 501

NEW HAVEN, CONN.SouthernLife Southern Connecticut State University MAY 2012 • Vol.15 No. 6A NEWSPAPER FOR THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY

inside: 4 Bugging out with illustrations5 Heaven helps those who eat healthier

Southern’S quartet of 2012 Henry Barnard Distin-guished Student Award recipients are pursuing careers with the intent of helping others develop a keen intellect and/or healthy body.

Each of this year’s award win-ners at Southern plans to seek a career in the education or health-related field.

A total of 12 students are chosen for the award each year from the four Connecticut State University campuses, including four from Southern. It is con-sidered among the university’s most prestigious awards. Criteria include a 3.7 GPA or better and having demonstrated significant participation in university and/or community life.

Christopher Buter, a public health major, has a 3.79 GPA. He plans to pursue a master’s degree program in public health at Southern, and eventually hopes to become a college professor.

Buter has served as a member of Zeta Delta Epsilon, a national honor society focus-ing on service, and Eta Sigma Gamma, a public health honor society. He also has been an environmental health intern at the New Haven Health Department and a volunteer with Faithcare International, Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Hospital of St. Raphael. He currently works in the adult daycare center of the Mary Wade Home in New Haven, where he assists senior citizens with physical and

Sharp Minds and Big Hearts Barnard Scholars Excel in Classroom and Community Service

psychological disabilities. He is a registered nurse trained in his native Nigeria.

William Faraclas, chairman of the univer-sity’s Public Health Department, says that Buter won the Public Health Award for Excel-lence in 2011, an award that recognizes both high academic achievement and exceptional community service.

“Christopher is a remarkable young man with an indomitable spirit, who has grown tremendously while a student at Southern,” Faraclas says. “He represents (the university) so well, as a scholar and humanitarian.”

Melanie Guillerault, an elementary educa-tion and psychology major, has a 3.82 GPA. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in reading at Southern.

Guillerault has been a member of three honor societies – Kappa Delta Pi (educa-tion); Psi Chi International (psychology) and

Zeta Delta Epsilon, a national honor society focusing on service. She has earned the Barbara G. Mastroianni Memorial Endowed Scholarship for her excellence as an educa-tion student. She has been a student teacher at various elementary schools in Hamden and has worked at Oakwood Child Care Center in Hamden as an infant and toddler teacher.

Laura Bower-Phipps, assistant professor of elementary education, says Guillerault worked extensively with her and distin-guished herself as an outstanding scholar with a diligent application of college coursework to the profession. She notes that Guillerault has completed more than 80 hours of field-work in curriculum courses, as well as having spent between seven and 10 hours a day in the classroom as a student teacher and an additional two to three hours daily preparing

for the next day.“Throughout my work with

her, I have been impressed by Ms. Guillerault’s intelligence, commit-ment to the teaching professions, communications skills and work ethic,” she says.

Christopher Knickerbocker, an exercise science major, has a 3.95 GPA. He plans to pursue a mas-ter’s degree in exercise science/human performance at the Cali-fornia University of Pennsylvania starting this summer.

Knickerbocker is this year’s recipient of Southern’s Physical Education Outstanding Future

Professional (OFP) Award. He has served as co-president of the Physical Education Club and as a community adviser for the Office of Residence Life. He also has been a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is a certified strength and conditioning specialist. He has been selected to “Who’s Who Among American College and University Students.” He is a non-traditional student, having earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications/public relations in 2001 from Susquehanna University.

Daniel Swartz, chairman of the Exercise Science Department, says that Knickerbocker also has been very active in his profes-sional development. He points to various conferences and competitions in which Knickerbocker has participated as examples as to how he seeks to bolster his ability.

teacher, children’S author and nBc correSpondent Jenna BuSh hager will address about 1,200 graduates during the 2012 undergraduate commencement ceremony at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena on May 18. The event starts with an academic procession at 10:15 a.m.

Community leader Chris-topher J . Korenowsky, the executive director of the New Haven Free Public Library since October 2010, will speak at the graduate commencement, which will be held at the same venue the previous evening, starting at 6:30.

Two graduate commencement ceremo-nies were on campus at the Lyman Center for the last several years, but there will be one combined ceremony at the Webster Bank Arena for 2012. The undergraduate commencement is also moving indoors at Bridgeport after being held outside at the Connecticut Tennis Center in Westville since 2001.

Hager is a contributing correspondent to NBC’s “Today,” where she focuses on telling the inspiring stories of wonderful people doing great things across America. In 2006, Hager traveled to Latin America as an intern with

Former First Daughter to Address GraduatesUNICEF. During her jour-ney, she was inspired to write "Ana’s Story: A Jour-ney of Hope," a New York Times bestseller based on the life of a 17-year-old single mother living with HIV and determined to shield her child from the abuse and neglect that riddled her own child-hood. Hager shares her own stories of creating change in someone’s life and leaves audiences with a call to action on how

they also can improve people’s lives in their own communities.

She is still very involved with UNICEF and is currently the chair of UNICEF’s Next Gen-eration, an initiative dedicated to reducing the number of preventable childhood deaths around the world. Hager visited Guatemala in 2010, when she reported on a product called “Sprinkles,” a home food fortification that provides the proper iron, vitamins, folic acid and zinc required for healthy develop-ment in children.

Hager is a graduate of the University of Texas where she received a degree in Eng-lish. Passionate about literacy, education and improving inner-city schools, Hager taught

Christopher Buter Jonathan uhlMelanie Guillerault Christopher KniCKerBoCKer

If You Build It, They Will Park

Construction of a new parking garage next to the Moore Fieldhouse proceeds in earnest. The building, scheduled for completion by the start of the spring semester, will include 1,200 parking spaces.

third grade at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Com-munity Freedom Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. She also served as a read-ing coordinator at the SEED Public Charter School in Baltimore. In addition to "Ana’s Story," she is the co-author of "Read All About It!," a book that encourages children to read.

Hager and her twin sister, Barbara, are

the daughters of former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush. They are also the grandchildren of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush. Hager was married in 2008 to Henry Chase Hager, the son of former Virginia Republican Party Chairman John H. Hager.

SpeakerS continued on page 6.

Barnard continued on page 6.

Jenna Bush haGer

SouthernLifePublished by the Southern

Connecticut State University Office of Public Affairs

Patrick Dilger, Director

EDITORPatrick Dilger

WRITERSBetsy BeacomMike BellmoreMike Kobylanski Natalie MissakianJoe MusanteVillia Struyk

DESIGNERJanelle Finch

PHOTOGRAPHERIsabel Chenoweth

Alisha Martindale

SouthernLife is published monthly when classes are in session, from September through June, by the Southern Connecticut State University Office of Public Affairs, 501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT 06515-1355. News and calendar inquiries should be addressed to Wintergreen 162, campus mail, or call 392-6586. Story ideas, news items and comments can also be e-mailed to the editor at DILGERP1. The editor reserves the right to consider all submissions for timeliness, space availability, and content.

2 SouthernLife • MAY 2012

A Message from the President

News from the Vice Presidents’ Offices

SouthernLife • MAY 2012 3

President Mary A. Papazian

SouthernBrief lyThe latest additions to SCSU on iTunes U include the Hallelujah Broadway Concert, held recently at Hamden’s Spring Glen Church. The concert featured internationally known singers Alfreda Burke and Rodrick Dixon, along with the University Choir. In addition, a short documentary has been added on Spanish professor Luisa Piemontese, as she explains her distinctive silent teaching technique for learning Spanish. The latest news show from SCSU TV can be found in the SCSU TV News collection. To visit SCSU on iTunes U, go to www.SouthernCT.edu/itunesu and click on the large icon at the bottom of the page.

English professor Brian Johnson will deliver a lecture this month at the University of Stuttgart in Ger-many. The lecture, on the American poet Robert Frost, is entitled “Frost’s Longings.” Johnson will also be the featured American poet in the annual American Days Festival in Stuttgart, a two-week festival of American arts and culture sponsored by the James Byrne Institute.

The Buley Library’s Tiffany windows brochure has received the 2012 Publicity Brochure Award from the Connecticut Library Association. The CLA Publicity Committee sponsors an Annual Awards Con-test in which materials designed by a library to promote a library concept or event may be submitted. Christina

Baum, director of library services, and Alba Reynaga, social sciences reference librarian, were honored for their work on May 7 at the Connecticut Library Association Awards reception. The brochure showcases details and elements of the Tiffany windows, which are currently in storage due to the renovation of the older portion of Buley. These priceless works of art are treasures for the university and beyond, and once construction on the library is complete, they will once again be displayed. Members of the Office of Public Affairs staff who worked on the brochure include Barbara Kagan, graphic designer; Mary Pat Caputo, director of marketing and publications; Isabel Chenoweth, university photographer; and Marylou Conley, coordinator of graphic services.

Southern will get a boost to its recycling efforts this summer thanks to a significant grant made possible by The Coca-Cola Foundation and Keep America Beautiful. The university will receive a total of 75 recycling bins designed specifically for placement in classrooms across the campus. Recipients were chosen by Keep America Beautiful based on various criteria including level of need, recycling experi-ence and the ability of applicants to sustain their program in the future. The Bin Grant Program awards recycling bins directly to recipients and leverages volume buying discounts. In its seven years of operation, the Bin Grant Program has placed 29,000 recycling bins in more than

500 communities in 48 states and the District of Colum-bia. A full list of the spring 2012 Bin Grant recipients and further information about the grant program is available at http://bingrant.org/.

A Southern student and a student group were among the honorees at the Connecticut Commis-sion on Community Service Awards ceremony on April 24 at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. The awards program is sponsored by the Depart-ment of Higher Education. This year, 17 Connecticut colleges submitted 53 nominations for the three award categories: Individual Student, Student Group and Special Award for projects led by faculty and staff. Recipients were selected based on their ability to design projects that distinctly serve a community, incorporate originality and unique approaches to community service, substan-tially raise student participation and address community problems. The 2012 award recipients included Southern senior Stefan Keller, who received the Individual Student Award, and the SCSU Service Team, which received the Student Group Award. Keller is the Service Team chairman and service commissioner. When the Student Government Association recently created a Service Commission to oversee service initiatives funded by the Student Govern-ment Association, Keller was selected as the first service commissioner.

itS School colorS may Be Blue and white, but Southern has stamped itself as one of the up-and-coming green campuses in the nation.

Southern placed fourth of 98 schools in the country in reducing its electricity use during the recent Campus Conserva-tion Nationals 2012, a spring competition among colleges and universities to reduce energy consumption. The university posted a reduction rate of 20.5 percent during the three-week period from March 26 to April 16. A benchmark usage rate was taken at each school – generally in the weeks before the contest began.

The other top five schools in electrical energy savings are: Bowling Green University, University of Kentucky, Hofstra University and Western Technical College. The com-petition is coordinated by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The energy reduction posted by Southern – equal to 76,251 kilowatt hours – translates to a cost savings of $11,437 for the university. But as one of the top 10 schools in the con-servation contest, Southern also will receive a credit for 200 megawatt hours of renewable energy from Sterling Planet, a company that works with organizations toward becoming carbon neutral. The 200 megawatt hours of free energy should be enough to power one of the university’s smaller residence halls for about a year.

“This is very exciting for us – both from a sustainability standpoint and in terms of cost savings,” says Executive Vice President

Campus Conservation is ElectricSouthern Nationally Rated for Reducing Energy Consumption

James E. Blake. “Stu-dents applied their natural competitive-ness toward achieving an incredibly positive result. Our university has really come a long way in the last five to 10 years in terms of energy conservation and this project exem-plifies our efforts.”

The money saved from the renewable energy credit will be used to fund future sustainability initiatives on campus, according to Robert Sheeley, associate vice president for capital budgeting and facilities operations.

“Saving energy and preserving the envi-ronment have been and continue to be goals of the university and this is an example of what students, faculty and staff can do to accomplish those objectives,” Sheeley says. “In particular, our resident students and housing staff, under the leadership of Housing Direc-tor Angela Todaro, have done a remarkable job. They all deserve to be congratulated.”

North Campus Midrise — the largest residence hall on campus — recorded the most significant savings of all nine residence halls with a reduction of 28.4 percent. Jenna Retort, director of the North Campus Resi-dence Complex, says several initiatives took place before and during the competition in an effort to save energy.

“In our North Campus office, we engaged in an ‘Operating in the Dark’ effort in which we kept the lights off as much as possible during that three-week period,” Retort says.

She also points to a “Caught Green-Handed” program coordinated by students in that residence hall.

Elizabeth Dishian, a student who spear-headed that program, says it entailed an interactive bulletin board that displayed the names of students who were particularly energy conscious during the three-week period. Students who qualified for such recog-nition also received a free T-shirt or reusable

shopping bag.“It was a lot of fun to see the residents get

involved and active in the process of being energy conscious,” Dishian says. “And it was a great feeling when we found out that our residence hall had the highest percentage of savings. Many of the students were shocked because most said all they did were the simple things – turning off the lights and the TVs when they left the room. But those small things truly make a big difference.”

Josh Kwame Sumrell, a student serv-ing as North Campus senior community adviser, says he participated in a “Discover: Sustainability” program in which he and other community advisers advocated sustainable practices to their peers on campus. “We wanted students to know the advantage of being a sustainable community,” Sumrell says.

Suzanne Huminski, an instructor of sci-ence education and environmental studies who helped coordinate Southern’s participa-tion in the national contest, pointed out that many sustainability initiatives are in progress. “Southern is a very green university with

campuswide efforts growing very quickly,” she says.

She notes the following programs and projects are examples of sustainability efforts at Southern in recent years:

•In 2007, Southern became a charter signa-tory to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which calls for schools to bolster their conserva-tion efforts in pursuit of eventual carbon neutrality.

•In 2010, the university began purchasing graduation caps and gowns made from plastic bottles.

•The university adopted a single-stream recycling program last year.

•Southern last fall installed solar panels on Brownell Hall, one of the campus residence halls. The soon-to-be opened School of Business also will have solar panels.

•The university annually participates in “Recyclemania,” a national campus recy-cling competition.

•A community garden and orchard were created on campus last year.

Huminski notes that next fall, Southern plans to launch a Sustainable Living Learn-ing Community, in which students can opt to live in a residence hall with sustainability as a focus. :

Retired Navy Capt. Mark Kelly, husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), speaks to an enthusiastic audience at the Lyman Center during the recent Mary and Louis Fusco Distinguished Lecture. Kelly is a retired American astronaut and naval aviator who flew combat missions during the Gulf War. He was selected to become a NASA space shuttle pilot in 1996 and served as commander of the space shuttle Endeavour. He discussed his career and the challenges his wife has overcome in her continued recovery from a traumatic brain injury resulting from a January 2011 assassination attempt.

Dear Colleagues,I received a most welcome phone call

recently informing me that Southern has been granted a full 10-year reaccreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). I don’t want to comment at length until I receive the official letter of reaccreditation, which should arrive shortly. But suffice it to say that congratulations are due to all those who worked long and hard to com-plete our self-study during the last few years, led by interim Provost Marianne Kennedy. This reaccreditation is testament to the quality of education and support services that we provide and also reflects our ongoing commitment to student success in the classroom and beyond.

Southern students have been building a rep-utation for their commitment to volunteerism, which not too long ago saw the university earn

ACADEMIC AFFAIRSThe perennial struggle to find a practical

and effective work-life balance is the focus of the latest edition of Southern Dialogue, an online newsletter produced by the Office of Faculty Development.

The newsletter includes suggestions from several faculty members on how individuals can juggle time and energy between their work life and personal life. It also addresses the challenge of conducting research and creative projects with a full teaching load – generally four courses per semester.

“We decided to make work-life balance the theme of the spring 2012 newsletter because more and more faculty members have expressed a need to develop some kind of balance in their lives,” said Jennifer Hudson, faculty development associate and editor-in-chief of Southern Dialogue.

The edition also includes an array of faculty news – such as updates on creative projects and research, announcements of grants and upcoming events. Faculty members who would like to share news items with their colleagues in future editions are asked to email them to Hudson at hudsonj1@SouthernCT.edu . Classroom techniques, practical ideas for teaching and book reviews that deal with teaching and learning are among the types of submissions sought.

The newsletter can be found at: www.SouthernCT.edu/faculty_development

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATIONAs part of an ongoing effort toward greater

environmental sustainability, Southern has joined with the state Department of Trans-portation to encourage greater participation in ride sharing, Executive Vice President James E. Blake has announced.

Points can be earned in a rewards system that enables participants to obtain discounts at area restaurants, stores and events. Those

national recognition on the (U.S.) President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. The tradition continues with two major awards from the Connecticut Commission on Community Service. Stefan Keller, a senior who will graduate this month with a degree in social work, was the first student from Southern to receive the Individual Student Award for Outstanding Community Service. The SCSU Service Team, which Stefan was instrumental in forming, also won the Student Group Award. This team has grown from a few students in the fall of 2010 to a strong and growing mem-bership of 25, coordinating a wide range of community service projects.

Stefan has been a wonderfully involved student during his four years at Southern, and off-campus, he has also served as co-chair of Relay for Life in several nearby towns, vol-unteered at the Jewish Family Services food bank, served as an assistant teacher at the Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services and provided activities for elderly residents of the Beacon Brook Health Center! Even with all this involvement, this outstanding young man has maintained a 3.81 GPA as a member of Southern’s Honors College. His passion for, and selfless dedication to, the service of others is an example for us all.

Southern has made great strides in its sustainability efforts since becoming a char-ter signatory to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2007. These efforts received national rec-ognition recently when the university placed fourth among 98 schools nationwide during the Campus Conservation Nationals 2012, a spring competition measuring reduced energy consumption.

Southern posted a reduction rate of 20.5 percent during the three-week period from March 26 to April 16. This equaled 76,251

kilowatt hours and translates to a cost savings of $11,437 for the university. Executive Vice President James Blake points out that this is an exciting development for the university, both from a sustainability standpoint and in terms of cost savings.

News just in of another major grant that will be shared by the university – this one a seven-year, $31.5 million federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP) grant to improve college access and readiness for Connecticut’s students.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that the state GEAR UP program will serve 3,000 students attending 12 middle schools in East Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury through 2019, and will follow these students though middle school, high school and their first year of college. The funding will be used to significantly increase the number of low-income students prepared to enter and succeed in post-second-ary education, and to provide scholarships for eligible high school seniors.

The program is a partnership involving the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education, three higher education institutions – Manchester Community College, Naugatuck Valley Community College and Southern – as well as their local school districts. Starting in 2013, Southern will host about 125 seventh-graders from eight city middle schools who will participate in science, math and literacy pro-grams during a five-week period. This program is another notable step in our ongoing efforts to help bridge the achievement gap and ensure that higher education is an attainable goal for all.

who use mass transit, walk, bike or car pool even one day a week can gain points toward those awards.

Blake said the NuRide program is a “win-win” for everyone – helping Southern make strides toward greater sustainability, while also offering members of the campus community discounts and other financial incentives during these chal-lenging economic times. “And those incentives are on top of the money people can save by reducing their gasoline consumption,” Blake said.

More information will be forthcoming about the program, which is purely voluntary. The program offers to find commuters poten-tial “ride mates” who live close to them or along their route to work, but only the names of individuals who want to find a ride mate will be provided.

“We also recognize that each person’s schedule and circumstances are different and the program is not going to be practical for everyone,” Blake said. “But we would encour-age people to find out more about the program and see if it might be beneficial to them.”

INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENTEmbracing a tradition of giving back to the

university and supporting future students, 231 seniors have made a gift to the 2012 Senior Class Giving Campaign — donating more than $5,380 to date.

Each senior who gave $20.12 received a Class of 2012 T-shirt and a commemorative cup, and had his/her name included on an acknowledgement banner that will be dis-played at commencement. Student donors also were thanked in an announcement that ran in Southern News, the student newspaper.

Those who have not yet contributed to the campaign may still do so by contacting Carrie Pettit at pettitc1@SouthernCT.edu or (203) 392-6515. Additional information is available at www.SouthernCT.edu/supportsouthern/2012seniorclasscampaign/.

In other news, the spring phonathon, which focuses on parents, generated gifts from 228 parents totaling $5,053; an additional 234 par-ents pledged $9,587. Conducted on campus by student callers, the phonathon supports the Southern Fund, an unrestricted fund that benefits new programs and areas of great need, including but not limited to, scholar-ships, academic programs, and laboratory and computer equipment.

STUDENT AND UNIVERSITY AFFAIRSA new orientation program for transfer

students will pay special attention to the par-ticular transition needs of this group, said Peter Troiano, interim vice president for student and university affairs.

“We recognize that transfer students have a different set of needs than the typical 18-year-old first-year student who has just graduated from high school,” Troiano said. A three-tiered support program has been designed, based upon the number of credits that each transfer student has already earned at other institutions.

Students transferring 15 or fewer credits are required to attend one of the five New Student Orientation sessions, while students with more earned credits will attend one of several planned sessions in July. Troiano said that the new transfer orientation will include smaller groups than those of New Student Orientation. Students will come to Southern for a day to meet with an adviser to plan their schedules and ask any questions they may have about student life at the university.

New Student Orientation will begin earlier this year, with the first session planned for May 31-June 1. Troiano said the program is essentially the same as last year, with a few modifications based on feedback received from past attendees.

All information regarding New Student Orientation can be found at www.SouthernCT.edu/orientation.

Sincerely,

Mary Papazian, Ph.D.President

Shani Small, a psychology major, is the recipient of the 2011-12 Mary A. Lehman Memorial Scholarship. The award is presented annually at the Celebration of Philanthropy luncheon sponsored by the SCSU Foundation, Inc. and the SCSU Alumni Association. Pictured with Small are Michael Shea, chairman of the English Department, and President Mary A. Papazian.

Southern shows off its green side after finishing fourth of 98 schools in a national energy conservation competition. Pictured are: (front row) Jenna Retort, director of the North Campus Residence Complex, and Robert DeMezzo, associate director of residence life. (Back row – from left) are: students Carisa McLaughlin, Chermele Christy, Jay Henderson, Suzie Huminski, Joshua Sumrell, and Director of Resi-dence Life Angela Todaro.

A Commanding Presence

4 SouthernLife • MAY 2012 SouthernLife • MAY 2012 5

SouthernProfiles

in a Beginning Span-iSh claSS, where students are expected to learn the basics of the language, the teacher typically stands in front of the room, speak-ing Spanish words and

phrases, and the students repeat back what they hear.

Now imagine that same beginning Span-ish class, with the teacher standing quietly in the back of the room, observing the students busily helping each other with an activity. Or with the teacher pointing to colored spots on a board and silently mouthing sounds, as the students try to make the sounds the teacher is suggesting. What is going on here?

What is going on is The Silent Way, an approach to teaching languages developed by Caleb Gattegno in the 1960s. Gattegno, who died in 1988, is best known for his innova-tive approaches to teaching and learning math, languages and reading, and for inventing teaching materials for each of these approaches.

Luisa Piemontese, pro-fessor of world languages and literatures, who this year began to use this little-known method in her introductory Spanish classes, could be the only instructor in the country who is currently using The Silent Way to teach a foreign language. She learned of The Silent Way as an under-graduate at Purchase College,

margo cranSton never thought twice aBout walking into a Supermar-ket and picking up fresh fruits and vegetables. Then she took a tour through Bridgeport’s East End. On street corner after street corner, she found bodegas selling snacks and pro-cessed convenience foods, but there wasn’t a full-service grocery store in sight.

“That was shocking to me,” says Cranston, a public health major in her senior year at Southern. “Living here, you would think that everyone had access to supermarkets and fruits and vegetables, but that’s not the case.”

Cranston is one of six Southern public health students working on a project to reduce the health disparities that often exist in inner-city neighborhoods like Bridgeport’s East End. Health experts describe such communities as “food deserts” because wholesome foods options are scarce.

“Some people are at a real disadvantage for having good health and not through any fault of their own, but through the larger world that they live in,” says Peggy Gallup, professor of public health at Southern and director of the department’s Health Equity Project.

The students are being paid through a fellowship funded by a grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Service Administration. The grant was awarded to Yale’s School of Public Health, which hired the Southern students as subcontractors. Students were competitively selected from among under-graduate and graduate public health majors, according to Gallup.

The students are working on two projects to encourage healthier eating in Bridgeport. One is a community garden to provide East End residents with a source of fresh produce

profeSSor Steven k. Burian is the chairman of the Biology Department, but his office looks like it belongs to an artist as much as it does a scientist. Intricate pen and ink drawings of animal life cover the walls. Across from his main work station is a desk on which sits a light table and a container of drafting pens. As an entomologist, Burian uses the table and pens to draw insects.

He recently used them to draw an insect no one had drawn before. It was a new species of mayfly, which he identified and named “Acentrella rallatoma” in a paper submitted to the Journal of Aquatic Insects.

Luke Myers, a research associate with the Lake Champlain Research Institute and co-author of the paper with Burian, was sampling streams in a state park on Long Island when he found mayfly specimens he didn’t recognize. He sent them to Burian, who says he recognized immediately that these samples were something different.

“There’s a lot of undescribed biodiversity right here in the temperate region, even in places like this where modern humans have been occupying for 300-plus years,” Burian says. “There is a high density of species in tropical areas, so you’re almost surrounded with new things everywhere. But the truth is you don’t have to go to the tropics to find

new, undescribed species.”Of all those species, it is the mayfly that

most fascinates Burian.Acentrella rallatoma – the new species

of mayfly discovered by Myers and drawn by Burian -- distinguishes itself from others in the Acentrella genus in many ways. The Latin name "rallatoma" roughly translates to mean scoop-shaped incisor, which is derived from its distinctive mouth parts.

Instead of being sharp and pointed like its close mayfly relative, the parvula, ral-latoma’s teeth are more spoon-like, used for scraping up food. Acentrella rallatoma also has banded cerci – paired tail-like appendages -- and bristly hair on its legs. Like all mayflies though, it spends its early life in the water as a nymph before reach-ing a fleeting maturity, when it sprouts wings and mates. While the individual insect dies only a few days into its adult phase, mayflies are quite the survivors. The genus has existed for more than 300 million years.

Burian says he’s always been drawn to aquatic creatures. As a boy, his father would take him fishing on the Quabbin Reservoir -- the largest lake in Burian’s home state of Massachusetts. At his child-hood home in the town of Hampden, his yard was bordered by swampland. All the kids on his street, he says, would play in the streams that fed into that swamp. For Burian, water was a playground. He says he was fascinated by all the life he found inside it, from fish to algae.

“It wasn’t specifically just the bugs,” Burian says. “It was the crayfish, the frogs,

Learning a Language in Silence

Heaven and Health

where all of the language classes were taught using this approach. Later, at Yale University, while working on her Ph.D., she became interested in learning how to teach using The Silent Way and took two workshops with Gattegno in New York City. Now she has brought this unusual teaching method to her Spanish courses at Southern.

“People are using this approach to TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), as an ancillary rather than primary approach,” Piemontese explains. She also knows a teacher in the New Haven Pub-lic Schools who uses the approach to teach math and special education, but he doesn’t use it as his only approach.

How does it work? Piemontese explains that the teacher is

silent, in part, to focus on the student’s learn-ing. Activities are student-generated, although

the teacher is an active participant in the class. In her 100-level classes, she says, she speaks maybe one or two phrases per class. The students, she says, “need to discover on their own and with the help of their peers. I know where I want the students to end up, but they discover the sounds, the language and the culture.”

Beginning students start with learning pronunciation of the language’s sounds. The instructor might use one of several special “props” to assist with learning. For instance, Piemontese has a “Leo color chart,” a black board with many spots of different colors painted on it. Each spot of color represents a different vowel or consonant sound. She explains that the instructor points to a color and shapes her mouth as if making the sound, although she remains silent. The students then imitate the sound they understand the instructor is representing.

close to home. The other is the Body and Soul Project, an education program that works with African-American churches.

Both programs are being directed by Marilyn Moore, executive director of the Witness Project CT, a breast and cervical cancer education and advocacy program for African-American women.

Health professionals believe lifestyle factors are the major contributors to higher-than-average rates of cancer, diabetes and heart disease among African Americans in Connecticut and the nation. In Connecticut, 13.3 percent of African-American adults have been diagnosed with diabetes compared with 6.9 percent of adults overall, according to a 2011 report by the state Department of Public Health. African Americans also have the state’s highest mortality rate for heart disease, accord-ing to a 2010 DPH report.

The Body and Soul program, which has been successful around the country, involves churches because they are a place where members of the African-American commu-nity consistently gather and seek guidance, Moore says.

She is piloting the program in two Bridge-port churches, English Chapel United Free Will Baptist and New Hope Baptist, and hopes it can eventually expand throughout Connecti-cut. Moore says the pastor of English Chapel approached her earlier this year, concerned about the growing number of church mem-bers being diagnosed with chronic illnesses.

Pastors of both churches have promised to emphasize healthy eating in sermons and activities while members of the congregation have pledged to identify up to three lifestyle changes they will make in the next year. They are also keeping journals of the fruits and

vegetables served to their families weekly.The program also asks churches to offer

healthier choices at social functions.The Southern students have been work-

ing on a tool kit to leave with the churches and which will eventually be used by peer counselors who will continue the program and help members of the congregation to sustain their new healthy habits.

For the gardening project, students have been planting seedlings for a community garden at the Ralphola Taylor Community

Another prop – a “Fidel chart” – has colored letters that the instructor can point to silently. Yet another tool of The Silent Way are Cuisenaire rods – small brightly colored narrow blocks of different lengths. The colors coordinate with those painted on the sound color chart and the Fidel chart, and the instructor can use the rods for any-thing from introducing simple commands to representing objects.

The most unusual feature of the approach – the teacher’s silence – “gets everyone to focus on the structure of the language,” says Piemontese. Students have fun with the boards and the rods, like a game, she says, but they also retain the structure of the language. She introduces vocabulary words later in the semester.

Piemontese admits that The Silent Way is slower than other approaches and focuses more on the quality of learning rather than

quantity – it is not focused on memorizing vocabulary lists, for instance. But, she says, stu-dents are learning the basis and essence of the language. “You are building something, and it stays with you,” she says, add-ing that it is good for students who learn in different ways. :

the snakes and all the other things you could find by scooping stuff up.”

Burian started sketching at a young age, too. He began with pencil drawings of fish, though these early sketches were not quite the scientific reproductions of real-life specimens that Burian creates now. What he drew he copied from photographs. He says the actual fish that he and his father brought home from lake Quabbin didn’t last long enough to draw.

“We actually ate them,” Burian says. “There wasn’t much time to sketch them. You get them home, they get cleaned, they went into the freezer, and the next week you had them for dinner.”

Not until graduate school did Burian become the artist he is now. While work-ing on his doctorate, he took an insect morphology class that required students to complete a series of anatomical drawings. Burian says that’s when he started to learn the techniques of pen and ink. Today, he teaches an illustration class of his own here at Southern.

He says the clarity and simplicity of pen and ink give it an advantage over photo-graphs. Photographs show a whole picture -- both what is pertinent in an illustration and what is not. They must be touched up elec-tronically, he says. Arrows are used to point out the important parts of the illustration, while, with pen and ink, an artist can simply draw the important part all on its own. Burian says he can create a pen and ink illustration in less time than it takes for him to put together an illustration using Photoshop.

But the part of the job Burian enjoys most -- even more than the drawing -- is wading through water on a summer day, trying to anticipate which bend in the river

Students in Southern’s Public Health Department have been working with African-American churches in Bridgeport to promote a healthier diet among residents in the poorer neighbor-hoods of that community. Pictured are: (Standing from left) Peggy Gallup, professor of public health; Shajiuddin Faraz Mohammed; Tamara Rissman; William Faraclas, chairman of the university’s Public Health Department; Nichole Theriault; Shayla Ranmal and Marilyn Moore, chief executive officer of The Witness Project of Connecticut. Seated, from left, are Margo Cranston and Shannon Thibodeau.

Luisa Piemontese, far right, instructs her Spanish students using common props of The Silent Way, an unusual approach to teaching languages.

Center in Bridgeport and helped organize a community garden fair in conjunction with the Bridgeport YMCA.

The students said they are grateful for the hands-on learning opportunity. “I have learned more working on this fellowship than in any other semester of my college career,” says Nicole Theriault, a senior public health major with a minor in nutrition.

“Health disparity is a really big problem so it’s great to be trying to tackle it,” says Shayla Ranmal, a senior. :

Burian Identifies, Illustrates New Species of Mayfly

SKetChy BugsWhile the individual

insect dies only a few

days into its adult

phase, the genus has

existed for more than

300 million years.

Steven Burian, chairman of the Biology Department, displays his illustration of the recently discovered ‘Acentrella rallatoma.’ (Upper left) Mayfly nymphs undergo microscopic scrutiny.

Burian at work in his office.

The 'artist's palette'

Mayfly nymphs in their watery habitat.

The teeth of the ‘new’ mayflies are more spoon-shaped than their better-known cousins, which sport sharper, fang-like teeth.

6 SouthernLife • MAY 2012 SouthernLife • MAY 2012 7

a team of marketing StudentS tied for third place in the American Marketing Association’s International Case Competi-tion – a contest that pitted Southern against schools such as the University of Pennsyl-vania and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

The team developed a marketing plan for an academic publishing company. “Our students represented themselves and our university well,” said Robert Forbus, associ-ate professor of marketing who helped coordinate Southern’s participation in the competition. The students included: Cassan-dra Cortese, Emily Burkhardt, Peter Romas, Nicholas Gallicano, Marina Virgalla and Daniel Morales.

two Southern teamS earned firSt-place awardS at the Connecticut Collegiate

Southern’S Student-athleteS continue to shine both in the classroom and in pursuit of their athletic goals.

The Owls have received extensive rec-ognition on the conference, regional and national levels for both its student-athletes and its teams during the 2011-12 academic year.

To date, nearly half of all Southern student-athletes have been honored in some manner for their academic prowess this year. Most recently, the department had 15 selections to the Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference teams for the winter season – the most of any school in the league. A total of 23 Owls have been selected for the year, the second highest in the league.

To be eligible for selection to the NE-10 academic teams, a student-athlete must have participated in at least half of the team’s competitions and be either a starter or sig-nificant contributor; earned a 3.3 cumulative

Hitting the Books: A Wise Play for the Owlsgrade point average and completed at least one academic year at their current institution.

Dur ing the fa l l semester, 178 student-athletes – the second highest total in school history – were also selected to the NE-10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Student-athletes must maintain a semester grade point average of 3.0 or higher to earn this honor.

In addition, Jackie Fede of the women’s soccer team and Paul Templeton of the men’s soccer team were also named Academic All-Americans by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) this fall.

“First and foremost, our student-athletes have maintained an individual commitment to academic excellence," says Director of Athletics Patricia Nicol. "Our coaches have identified and recruited student-athletes who

value the importance of an education, and are determined to obtain a degree while competing at a high level athletically.

“In addition, our academic support staff, both within the department and the cam-pus community, have played a vital role in ensuring that our student-athletes follow the appropriate path toward completing their degree requirements,” Nicol says.

Miguel Nesrala, who recently completed his senior season with the men’s swimming and diving squad, enjoyed a decorated career both academically and athletically. He was a five-time All-American, a 20-time NE-10 Conference champion and a five-time Metropolitan Conference champion.

He was also a three-time NE-10 Men’s Swimming and Diving All-Academic Team selection and as a sophomore, was named

the league’s Scholar-Athlete Sport Excel-lence Award winner – given to the top all-around student-athlete in each league- sponsored sport annually.

He is a business major eyeing a career in banking or finance after graduation.

Ashley Bell is winding down her career as an Owl this spring as a member of the women’s outdoor track and field team. She also has compiled an impressive list of athletic accolades over her career as a five-time NE-10 Conference champion. She earned a New England championship and is a five-time All-Region and four-time All-New England honoree.

She has also been honored in each of the past three years as an NE-10 Track and Field All-Academic selection. And Bell has been recognized by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Asso-ciation multiple times for her work in the classroom. :

Donna Lopiano, a pioneer of gender equity in sports, suggests ways to ensure equality between male and female athletic programs. Lopano, the keynote speaker at a recent forum at Southern to mark the 40th anniversary of the federal Title IX legislation, is an alumna of Southern and a former All-American athlete. She has

A team of business students has reason to celebrate after its tie for third place in a recent international competition sponsored by the American Marketing Association. Pictured are (standing from left): Peter Romas, Nicholas Gallicano, Marina Virgalla and Daniel Morales. Seated are (from left): Ellen Durnin, dean of the School of Business; Emily Burkhardt, Cassandra Cortese and Robert Forbus, faculty adviser.

All About Business Business Plan Competition – an event that included 23 teams from 13 schools.

• Petal Post –which includes studentsEric Gabianelli (team leader), Kaitlyn Moran and Kaitlin Franco – won the Best Personal Business award. The students developed a business plan that entails the manufacturing and distribution of a fence post topper that doubles as a flower pot. The team earned a $5,000 grant for its plan.

•HavenDocu-Services–whichincludesstudents Cari Tate (team leader), Mark Fields and Stanley Lamour – won two awards: Best Written Plan for a Venture Enter-prise and Best Social Enterprise. The plan involves developing a document storage and shredding business that would establish a partnership with Chapel Haven to provide employment for adults with autism. Each of the two awards carries with it a $500 grant.

Michael Okrent, an adjunct faculty member in the School of Business, served as faculty adviser for both teams.

two Southern teamS alSo competed in the aSSociation for operationS management Student Case Competi-tion – an event at which they analyzed an operations management/supply chain case and presented their recommendations to a

panel of judges. “As a lways , I am proud of our

students and their dedication to their pro-grams and their workforce preparation,” said Ellen Durnin, dean of the School of Business. :

A graduate of Kent State University, where he received his Master of Library and Information Science degree, chriStopher korenowSky has almost 18 years of public library experience gained through his work at the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Columbus, Ohio. From direct public services to administrative management positions, he played a strong role in helping to shape the Columbus Memorial Library from 1991 to 2009.

In 2010, the Columbus Memorial Library was awarded the top prize in the industry when it was named Library of the Year by Library Journal magazine. Korenowsky holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from The Ohio State University. In February 2009, he became the director of professional development for the Ohio Library Council, the statewide organization that advocates legally and educationally for all 251 public

testified before Congress and in more than 30 court cases regarding equity in athletics. The ‘Spring Event’ — which features a different sports topic each year — is coordinated annually by the Sports Management Program of the Recreation and Leisure Studies Department.

“When it comes to academics, there are few who equal Chris’ achievements,” Swartz says.

Jonathan Uhl, a chemistry major, has a 3.98 GPA. He plans to attend medical school this fall.

Uhl has earned the Dr. Harry O. Haakon-

sen Memorial Award in Chemistry (2011) and has been the vice president of the Chemistry Club. He has served as assistant medical director for Camp Abilities CT, a summer camp for blind and visually impaired youth. He has served as a certified nursing aide for Benchmark Assisted Living and is a self-employed math and science tutor, as well as

a self-employed private piano teacher. He also is a youth basketball coach in Beacon Falls. He was home schooled until ninth grade.

Gerald Lesley, chairman of the Chemistry Department, says that Uhl has earned grades of “A” or “A-plus” in each of his courses, except for a lone “A-minus.” “This is a rare feat in a program that should be recognized as one

libraries in the state of Ohio.In addition to leading library teams

through successful fund raising, building projects and budget-and-revenue generating initiatives, Korenowsky has extensive experi-ence in working with strategic messaging and branding initiatives in public libraries. :

of the most difficult disciplines at SCSU,” Lesley says.

“I nominated Jonathan for the Barnard Award without hesitation knowing that he has performed at a level beyond that of almost every student I have observed graduating from our program in the past 12 years,” Lesley adds. :

Christopher KorenowsKy

Southern’s business students competed in a variety of competitions this spring and have earned several noteworthy awards.

Sporting Equity

Antonio AcetoRobert AxtellJaye BaileyJames BarberChristine BarrettStanley BattleChristina BaumBetsy BeacomJudith BehlerMichael Ben-AvieTherese BennettDenise Bentley-DrobishJohn BergevinCorinne BlackmerJames BlakePeter BoppertLaura BowerSharon BradfordVincent BreslinChristine BroadbridgeDian Brown-AlbertAnthony BrunettiSandra BulmerRondell ButlerJudith BuzzellTerrell BynumGeorge CaffreySusan CalahanConrad CalandraEdward CalandroRichard CallahanDoreen Cammarata-GilhulyMary Pat CaputoSuzanne CarrollVincenzo CassellaThomas CelentanoMark CenevivaXiao ChengDavid ChevanSherryl ChinKaren ChristianCatherine ChristyNancy ChuctaShawna Cleary

William CohaneMarylou ConleyNicholas ConstantinopleGary CrakesHolly CrawfordBrad CrerarGregg CrerarKimberly CroneKaren CummingsThomas CummingsDiana DahlmanJohn DaPonteMargaret DasPamela DayRichard DeCesareRobert DeMezzoEmmett DennisDeborah DeSistoWilliam DiffleyPatrick DilgerGaetano DimiccoJulia DohertyGiovanni D’OnofrioJoseph DooleyThomas DorrRobert DrobishSuzanne DukeJerry DunkleeEllen DurninNicholas EdgingtonRobert EldridgeMeg ElliottScott EllisMarguerite FaddenWilliam FaraclasBonnie Farley-LucasAlyson FedakMarybeth FedeVincent FerrieJanelle FinchNicole FluhrDeborah FlynnEllen FrankKelley Frassinelli

DonnaJean FredeenBetsy GalianTerese GemmeRoss GingrichMarcia Smith GlasperAdam GoldbergFloyd GollnickKrystyna Gorniak-

KocikowskaCarolyn HarrisFrank HarrisMartin HartogJohn HillWilliam HochmanShirin HollisMargaret HudaJennifer HudsonPercy Huggins, Jr.Denise HunterKurt JagielowBethanne JohnsonMichelle JohnstonJordan JonesBarbara KaganElizabeth KeenanRaymond KelloggRobin KenefickMarianne KennedyPaula KennedyHak Joon KimRobert KirschRenee KnightMichael KobylanskiPhilanthi KoslowskiTimothy KraussKlay KruczekJames KusackFrank LaDoreDavid LakeLisa LancorCassandra LangSusan LarsonMichelle LawlerSusan Lawrence

Gloria LeeYi-Chun LinSamuel LopesChristopher LynnAnthony MalteseMichelle MannPhilip MarcheseDoris MarinoKatherine MarslandJames MazurRobert McEachernHollis MckennaPaul MckenzieKevin McNamaraSharon MisasiJoyce MooreGiacomo MordenteDiane MorgenthalerGary MorinMehdi MostaghimiBennie MurphyJoe MusanteJames MuttsErvin NelsonGerard NelsonVara NeverowDianne NewmanDeborah NewtonPatricia NicolRyan NobregaWanda OutingTracey OwersJiong Dong PangMary A. PapazianTimothy ParrishCynthia PattersonJacqueline PattonGregory PavezaBelinda PearmanDarnelle PerryPhilip PessinaPaul PetrieLaura PettieCarolynn Pettit

Christine PettoChristopher PiscitelliFrancesca PooleGeraldine PrinceSusan QuagliaroliTim QuillMonica RaffoneTina Marie ReLisa RebeschiTricia ReganRichard RiccardiPaula RiceLystra RichardsonAnna Rivera-AlfaroSalvatore RizzaLinda RobinsonMary RobinsonJohn RochetteMichael RogersNancy RonneHeather RoweJennifer RuggieroLee RyanMichael SampsonTheresa SandiferJanet SchneiderJessica ScibekStanley SeligaJoseph SelvaggioMichael SheaCindy Shea-LuzikRobert SheeleyBarbara ShillerWinnie ShyamEric Simms

Judith Sizensky-SearlesLouise Spear-SwerlingKen SpelkeDawn Stanton-HolmesBridget Stepeck-HoltBrigitte StilesCynthia StretchVillia StruykDaniel SwartzFrank TavaresSusan TisoAngela TodaroLawrence TomascakJaime TothPeter TroianoDavid VanceMichele VancourMerryalis VazquezDonald WalkerCarol WallaceJan WangAaron WashingtonMark WatersMegane WatkinsCarlton WatsonDeborah WeissColby WhelanPatricia WhelanMarvin WilsonRobert WorkmanKommaly XayasoneKathy YalofPhyllis YoungKevin ZiblukPatricia Zibluk

Faculty and Staff Honor Roll

Thank youto the

Faculty and Staffwho made

donations toSouthern Students

this year!

Your gifts have a real impact on student success at Southern!

www.SouthernCT.edu

SpeakerS continued from page 1.

Barnard continued from page 1.

8 SouthernLife • MAY 2012

SouthernFocusa photo essay By leon yaCher

Reconstructing KOSOVO

These photographs and accompanying text were contributed by Geography professor Leon Yacher, who traveled to Kosovo this spring.

In February 2008, Kosovo seceded from Serbia after several years of ethnic conflict. Most Kosovars are ethnic Albanians who practice Islam, and the religious practice of Islam greatly contributed to Serbia’s violent attempt to ethnically cleanse the region of Kosovo. NATO’s intervention in 1999 ended a year-long period when almost 1 million ethnic Albanians were displaced and many thousands killed. Violence returned in 2004 when ethnic Serbs were targeted. Intense negotiations among several European Union countries, Russia and the United States led to little progress; thus Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. While Serbia continues not to recognize Kosovo as a separate political unit, the United States recognized Kosovo’s independence the next day, one of nearly 90 of the world’s countries that now recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty.

In the city of Prizren, smaller privately-owned retail shops provide a variety of services that support the truck traffic headed to the nearby border with Albania.

Near the border in northern Kosovo, a reminder of how ethnic Serbians living in Kosovo feel about the country seceding.

Military troops from the European Union and NATO continually make their presence known in Kosovo.

Introduced in 1999, Resolution 1244 reminds ethnic Serbians that Belgrade, the Serbian capital, no longer has jurisdiction in Kosovo.

Though the majority of Kosovars are Muslim, the younger people seldom observe the tenets of Islam in their daily lives, while older people are more traditional in their belief system and dress.

The highway system in the country is being built at a rapid pace, with European-made cars re-placing the old automobiles.

While European cars can be spotted throughout the country, servicing methods still lag behind.

Small businesses, mostly in engineering and technology, are being created with support from the large Kosovo population residing in the European Union.

A variety of architectural types are surfacing in many areas.

Aid from other Muslim countries, particularly from the oil-rich Middle East, can be found in various parts of Kosovo.

As construction demand has increased, the number of sand and gravel companies has also grown.

The country’s physical landscape includes the Sharr moun-tain area, which makes for difficult driving, particularly during the winter months.

Construction projects of all kinds, including those of modern houses, play a major role in the reduction of farmland, particularly in areas where soil quality is good.

Pristina, a city of 200,000, is Kosovo’s capital, and construction projects can be found everywhere.