AUM Weekly 12-1-15: Kimbrough to share transfer success; Ring establishes endowed scholarship

Warhawk Spotlight: Kimbrough to share transfer success at AUM at national conference

A Student Centered Experience: Max Kimbrough, an AUM senior, is one of five students selected nationwide for the Transfer Student Ambassador Program. Kimbrough will share his positive experience making AUM home and will bring back leading practices that AUM can implement that will further help transfer students fit in and succeed.
Read the full story on Kimbrough.

Alumna establishes scholarship for future teachers

Dr. Judy Ring, an AUM alumna, recently established the Judith Webb Ring Endowed Scholarship in the Auburn University at Montgomery College of Education. The scholarship is for students who have a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and who desire to become a teacher.

Ring, a 1979 graduate who earned a master’s in education in counseling, served as a classroom teacher for 19 years, teaching first, third, fifth and sixth grade. She also directed the Title I tutorial program at Jim Allen Elementary School in Cantonment, Fla., for two years. After leaving the classroom, she worked as a guidance counselor, finishing her career in 2009 at Choctawhatchee High School as director of student services.

Ring remains active in her semi-retirement, overseeing businesses, working with charities, and traveling to visit her children and eight grandchildren.

“It has been an honor to work with Dr. Ring as she established this endowment. Her commitment to education and to students is inspiring,” said Marilyn Ray, AUM’s associate vice chancellor for the Office of Advancement.

Evans publishes article in the ‘College Language Association Journal’

Dr. Bob Evans, professor in the Department of English and Philosophy, is the author of a newly published article titled “Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and the Advantages of Pluralist Close Reading.” The article appears in the latest issue of the College Language Association Journal — a special issue on Angelou edited by Cheryl Wall.

Pre-Social Work, Sociology students help create personal hygiene kits

AUM Pre-Social Work and Sociology majors recently joined a group of volunteers sewing, cutting, ironing, and serging for Days for Girls International — Team Montgomery.

The students and volunteers sewed liners and drawstring bags that are components for personal hygiene kits to be distributed to girls in under-resourced countries. Many of the girls who will receive these kits might otherwise drop out of school when their menstrual cycle starts because they lack access to supplies.

Last year, two volunteers made 100 liners over a few months, but this year, Team Montgomery, in collaboration with AUM students and Dr. Denise Davis-Maye, associate professor of pre-social work, completed 400 items over a few weeks and will ship them to the national Days for Girls office in December.

Farrow meets Russian ambassador

Dr. Lee Farrow, professor of history and director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, recently attended an event at the Russian ambassador’s residence in Washington D.C. Farrow was invited because of her book, Alexis in America: A Russian Duke’s Grand Tour, 1871-1872, which she presented as a gift to the ambassador.

Bourke, Tharpe share research on social media for practice communities at Kappa Delta Pi conference

Dr. Nicholas Bourke and Michelle Tharpe, professors in the College of Education, recently presented a paper at Kappa Delta Pi’s international conference, where AUM Professor Emeritus Dr. Morgan Simpson, Pi Pi chapter historian, also was in attendance. The presentation by Bourke and Tharpe, “Developing Communities of Practice Through a Class Facebook Page,” which took place in Orlando, Fla., shared the results of their research on the use of social media in college courses as a way to enhance communities of practice.

AUM’s chapter, Pi Pi, was formed in 1983, and the biennial conference, or convocation, is one of KDP’s longest-standing traditions. The event features workshops, idea exchanges, keynote speakers, and networking opportunities for teachers, teacher educators, education leaders, and policy makers.

Also present at the conference were AUM’s Pi Pi chapter officers — President Katie Camp and Vice President April Rowland — who participated in workshops and leadership training sessions. Both officers networked with other KDP chapters, which provided insights on how to positively build AUM’s KDP chapter. They also learned new ways to build relationships and partnerships within our community to promote KDP community service events and fundraisers. Camp and Rowland look forward to implementing the innovative ideas gained from their participation in the convocation as they plan chapter goals and initiatives for upcoming semesters.

Simmons’ essay to be published at Festschrift for Vatican preacher

“Time, History, and Eternity in the Theophany of Eusebius of Caesarea,” an essay by Dr. Michael B. Simmons, distinguished research professor in the Department of History and World Languages and Cultures, is at the press (Beauchesne) in Paris, France, and will be published early next year in a Festschrift honoring the 80th birthday of Prof. Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the Vatican Household under the last three popes. A team of scholars from the United States and Europe contributed essays to the book.

In his essay, Simmons argues that both Greco-Roman cyclical views and Judeo-Christian linear concepts influenced Eusebius’ understanding of time, nuanced by ideas like periodization, progressive epochs, and divine causation. Prophetic revelation played an important role in time and history and is conceived as either proclamation of future events that happen by divine decree or as a foreknowledge of the consequences of human actions. Because Eusebius perceived God to be above and beyond time and history, there can be discovered a distinctly “hyper-meaning” in human events undergirded by a divine plan, purpose, and providence which reaches its existential apex in eternity.

UNIV program celebrates holiday cuisine, traditions around world

UNIV recently hosted a cultural event where students experienced holiday cuisine and traditions from many different cultures.

Attendees learned about Omisoka, the Japanese New Year, as well as how families in Mexico celebrate “Feliz Navidad,” when children take turns striking a piñata with a stick in hopes of receiving the goodies inside.

The celebration also featured Morocco, where Eid Al-Fitr is the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast, and the Philippines, where men and women wear polka dots and adorn their tables with round food — circles that symbolize good fortune and riches — on New Year’s Eve,The event also taught about Hanukkah in Israel, and the French “Joyeux Noell.”

Attendees also feasted on homemade shortbread from Scotland, learned about Kwanzaa, an ethnic celebration of African heritage, and, to honor a well-known tradition in the United States, students made Christmas cards to give to families hosted by the Salvation Army.

UNIV and the Warhawk Academic Success Center wish everyone a wondrous holiday season!