Academe welcomes news from WSU faculty and staff about research, teaching and service activities. This column recognizes grants, honors, awards, presentations and publications, new appointments, new faculty, sabbaticals, retirements and deaths of our current and former colleagues.

Raymond Flores, assistant professor, curriculum and instruction, co-authored "Toward Individualized Online Learning: The Design and Development of an Adaptive Web Based Learning Environment" in the Journal of Interactive Learning Research. He also co-authored "Modality and Cueing in Multimedia Learning: Examining Cognitive and Perceptual Explanations for the Modality Effect" in Computers in Human Behavior.

Alicia Huckstadt, professor and director of graduate programs, School of Nursing, has been selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She will be inducted this June as a 2012 Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

Sharon Iorio, dean, College of Education, has been invited to speak about the Wichita Teacher Quality Partnership at the Great Teachers for Our City Schools National Summit, hosted by Metropolitan College of Denver in April.

Randy Johnson, mental health consumer initiatives project manager, Center for Community Support and Research, has been appointed by Gov. Sam Brownback to serve on the 20-member KanCare Advisory Council. Johnson will represent mental health care Medicaid consumers.

Gayla Lohfink, assistant professor, curriculum and instruction, was lead author of two recent publications: "A distance-delivered teacher education program for rural culturally and linguistically diverse teacher candidates" in The Rural Educator and "Growing effective CLD teachers for today's classrooms of CLD children" in Action in Teacher Education.

Michael Rogers, chair, professor and research director, Center for Physical Activity and Aging, was appointed to the editorial board for the European Journal of Sports and Exercise Sciences. He is also on the editorial boards of Aging Health and the American College of Sports Medicine's Health and Fitness Journal, and serves as editor-in-chief of Active Aging Today and associate editor in charge of the section on aging for the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine.

Michael Rogers, along with collaborators from across the WSU campus and community partners, was awarded a WSU Multidisciplinary Research Project Award for a study titled "Translating the Falling LinKS Toolkit for use with Home Instead Senior Care." This study will create a training program for care providers to implement their fall prevention toolkit in the homes of older adults.

Marlo Schommer-Aikins, professor, counseling, educational and school psychology, presented "iWin2: Developing a culture of professional use of technology in the on-ground classroom" at the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences in Las Vegas, Nev.

Xiao-Ming Sun, associate professor, communication sciences and disorders, has published "Ear-canal pressure variations versus negative middle-ear pressure: Comparison using distortion product otoacoustic emission measurement in humans" in Ear and Hearing, a top-three out of 41 journals in otolaryngology ranked by Journal Citation Reports in the past decade. This and another article he authored in 2009 marked Wichita State's return in this journal after a two-year absence.

Anh Tran, associate professor, curriculum and instruction, published "Asian-American Students and Academic Achievement Motivation" in the fall 2011 issue of The Kansas Teacher Education Advocate.

SABBATICALS FOR FY 2013
Sue Abdinnour, professor, FREDS, spring 2013: To prepare gathered research data on enterprise resouce planning and supply chain management leading to manuscript writing and journal publication

Ted Adler, associate professor, School of Art and Design, spring 2013: To conduct research on the design, construction and firing of wood burning kilns, involving travel to a variety of sites leading to student recruitment opportunities and eventual construction of a wood fired kiln at WSU for further faculty and student research

Elaine Bernstorf, professor, School of Music, spring 2013: (1) to document history of WSU speech/hearing preschool program (teacher/clinician components) and develop web-based training modules; (2) work with Finnish colleague on comparing U.S./Finnish music and literacy programs to establish best practices for music education training

Barbara Chaparro, associate professor, psychology, fall 2012: To submit papers on human-computer interaction research and establish eye tracking research plan for website and mobile device usage

Helen Hundley, assistant professor, history, fall 2012: To complete long-term publishing-writing project based on previous research trip to Siberia and Mongolia with support from a residential grant in Washington, D.C.

Ariel Loftus, associate professor, history, academic year 2012-2013: To create sourcebook of translated documents based on previous research of ancient Greek women's funerary monuments

Kathleen Perez, associate professor, sociology, fall 2012: To complete research project studying female survivors of clergy sexual abuse, prepare a series of articles for publication and develop program content to assist survivors

Khawaja A. Saeed, associate professor, FREDS, spring 2013: To conduct research evaluating the usage of mobile banking services

Kerry Wilks, associate professor, MCLL, spring 2013: To complete critical edition of 17th century Spanish play manuscript and publish an article related to literary themes within the manuscript

James A. Wolff, professor, management, spring 2013: To research and develop instructional material to enhance the educational experience of students

William Woods, professor, English, academic year 2012-13: To complete book in progress; thesis: that films with medieval settings often reflect contemporary sensibilities and culture

IN MEMORIAM
Dorothy S. Froning, 97, professor emeritus, former chair, romance languages (Spanish), died March 9. Funeral services have been held. She was preceded in death by her first husband, John Gardner, and second husband Harold Froning; parents Henry H. and Annette M. Ferguson Schneider; and brother, Robert Curtis Schneider. She is survived by her two nephews, Robert (Marilyn) Schneider of Topeka, Kan., and Marc (Gina) Schneider of Naperville, Ill.; great-nephews, Scott (Erin) Schneider of Topeka and Greg Schneider of Naperville; and great-nieces, Darci Schneider of Naperville and Rebecca Schneider of Topeka. A memorial has been established with College Hill United Methodist Church, 2930 E. 1st, Wichita, KS 67214.

Rushworth M. Kidder, 67, former WSU English instructor; journalist for The Christian Science Monitor; founder of the Institute for Global Ethics; book author, died March 5 in Naples, Fla. He is survived by his wife, Anne Elizabeth Davidson Kidder, and two daughters, Abby Kidder of Boston, Mass., and Sgt. Heather Kidder of Miami, Fla.

Sheryl Riney, 52, WSU leadership consultant, died March 3 in Wichita. Services have been held. She is preceded in death by her father, James Amos Conde. She is survived by her husband, Doug Riney; son, D. Paul Riney Jr.; mother, Olivette Conde; sister Patricia (Ron) Ross; brother, Amos J. Conde Jr. (Mary); nephew, Aaron Ross (Amei) and great nieces, Nina and Vivianne. A memorial has been set up at Intrust Bank for a Student Education Fund for D. Paul Riney Jr.