Senior Art + Design Exhibition Switches to Online Format

The Ashland University Coburn Gallery will again host the Senior Art + Design Exhibition, though the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated moving the show to an online format.

The exhibition, featuring artworks created by graduating seniors in the Department of Art and Design, will open April 30 via the Gallery’s Facebook page.

This year’s virtual exhibition will run through May 9 and includes graphic design, illustration, sculpture, digital art, painting and video.

Senior Art + Design Exhibiting artists include Halle Sanford, Michael Wolfrum, Rachel Brooks, Allie Hamilton, Robby Young, Graydon Flynn, Jackson Bay and Sophi Cudworth.

Read more at news.ashland.edu

CAS Sweeps Excellence in Scholarship

The winner of this year's Ashland University Excellence in Scholarship Award is Dr. Craig Hovey, Professor of Religion.

The two semi-finalists are Dr. Chris Chartier, Associate Professor of Psychology, and Dr. John Moser, Professor of History.

The award, which consists of a medal to be worn with regalia and a $3,000 honorarium, recognizes AU faculty who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship. All AU faculty who have completed their third-year review (with the exception of past recipients and Trustees’ Distinguished Professors) may be nominated for the award.

To qualify, a faculty member’s scholarship must be demonstrated by outstanding scholarly contributions, including scholarly written work, creative work and other scholarly distinctions.

Hovey, who also is the director of the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, joined the faculty in 2009 and teaches courses in Christian theology and ethics, including the religion courses Exploring the Bible, Exploring Christian Ethics, Faith and Society, Exploring Christian Theology, Taking Human Life, Political Theology and Seminar in Christian Theology.

Chartier, who also is the founder and director of the Psychological Science Accelerator, came to AU in 2013. He teaches courses in General Psychology I, Research Methods, Advanced Research Methods and Social Psychology and has been published in research journals such as Science, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. His research interests include tacit coordination and pro-social behavior.

Moser chairs the Master of American History and Government program. He joined AU in 2001 and teaches courses on modern European, American and East Asian history, including Western Civilization to 1500, Western Civilization since 1500, Renaissance and Reformation, Age of Revolution and Reaction, 20th Century Europe, Modern East Asia, and World War II . Moser has published several books and numerous works on subjects ranging from comic books to Japanese foreign policy.

Randall-Griffiths Named 2020 Taylor Award Recipient

Ashland University’s Dr. Deleasa Randall-Griffiths, professor of communication studies and director of the online of communications studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the recipient of AU’s 2020 Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award.

AU Provost, Dr. Amiel Jarstfer, explains the honor of receiving this award is an outstanding accomplishment as the nominees are recognized by one's colleagues for effective teaching.

Dr. Randall-Griffiths was nominated by her colleague of more than 25 years, Dr. Daniel O'Rourke, who praised her work saying, "From the first time I observed Dr. Randall-Griffiths in the classroom, I knew that she was a passionate advocate for the art of Communication who most effectively shares her message with students. I have learned much from Dr. Randall-Griffiths as a colleague, co-author, and friend. Over the years, I have “stolen” numerous ideas from her lessons... (she) lives to teach. She teaches in the classroom, her office, online, in the community, the state, and, recently, she has added a national component to her educational work."

Elaborating on her passion for the classroom, O'Rourke states, "Dr. Randall-Griffiths actually listens to her students. Teaching is an interactive conversation for Dr. Randall-Griffiths. In her classes, students become co-authors in the lesson plan. No two classes are exactly alike because each collection of students create a new dynamic in the classroom."

"In recent years, Dr. Randall-Griffiths has significantly expanded the scope of her classroom," as O'Rourke explains her ability to adapt and develop programs for the future. "She has successfully created and grown the online teaching program for the Department of Communication. To her credit, Dr. Randall-Griffiths has not only developed ten courses for both the 7-week and 12-week corrections format, but she has taught the courses, recruited top scholars/teachers in the field to teach for Ashland Online, and trained those faculty in the successful methods of online instruction."

Dr. Randall-Griffiths also works tirelessly outside of the AU classrooom as a lay leader in her church, as one of driving forces in the two-decade success of Ashland Chautauqua which has been recognized at the local and state level for its contribution to civic life in Ohio, by blending her intellectual curiosity and performance studies background into programs being offered across the country celebrating the centennial of the Women's Right to Vote, as well as being recognized by the Ohio Communication Association with their "Innovative Teaching Award."

Dr. Randall-Griffiths will be recognized publicly for her award at the Academic Honors Convocation in the fall of 2020 when she will acknowledge her honor with a brief speech on the theme of engaged teaching and learning in higher education.

The Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award, first presented in 1997, was endowed by former Jeromesville residents the late Edward and Louaine Taylor as a way of supporting high quality teaching at Ashland University. The Taylor Teaching Award Committee, whose purpose is to select the award recipient, reviews submitted materials of faculty members who are nominated by students, faculty or department chairs.

All full-time faculty with a minimum of three years of teaching experience at AU are eligible for the award. Recipients of the award cannot repeat for three years and no faculty member may win the award more than twice. The recipients receive a medal to be worn with academic regalia and a stipend.

Bateman Case Study Team

Each year, the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) hosts the Bateman Case Study Competition, which provides college students across the country the opportunity to gain experience planning a comprehensive public relations campaign with a real-life client.

Five AU public relations students participated as part of campaign team CountAUIn in this years competition. The campaign was dedicated to assisting the U.S. Census Bureau by working to ensure college students and other select publics understand the importance of completing the Census and how and when that is done.

The first public every Bateman team was tasked with understanding and reaching was undergraduate students at their academic institution. The second public, Ashland County Amish and Old Order Mennonite residents, were selected after careful research of the Ashland community. Team members conducted primary and secondary research to understand what these populations knew and did not know about the census and how to best reach each population with key messaging strategies.

Full story at ashlandcomstudies.blogspot.com

URCA Cancelled

Due to the unfortunate and inappropriate Zoombombing that we experienced this morning during Oral Session I, the URCA Symposium has been cancelled for today. We have been informed by Information Technology that there is no way to guarantee that we can prevent this from happening again. The URCA Symposium Committee will be meeting this afternoon to discuss the best way to accomplish this.

I sincerely apologize for not being able to recognize the amazing research and creative activities that our students have done throughout the year in our virtual symposium. I wish to thank them for their willingness to convert their presentations to the virtual format.

Dr. Swanson

URCA 2020 Zooming Live on 4/15

Ashland University’s College of Arts and Sciences is going virtual for the eleventh annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) Symposium which will feature 41 presentations and exhibitions given by 75 students and alumni representing 27 programs in the College of Arts and Sciences. The April 15 symposium will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. and is free and open to the public through various Zoom meetings which are listed on the schedule at ashlandurca.blogspot.com.

According to Dr. Christopher Swanson, URCA Symposium Committee Chair, "Based on the positive response to alumni presentations in the past couple of years, this year will again offer research presentations by two arts and sciences alumni, Paul Dyczkowski and Dr. David Werner. Their presentations will be featured at the first Oral Session from 9 - 10:15 a.m."

Paul Dyczkowski (2013) was raised by an artist who is also a factory worker which guided him into seeing the art behind the machine, and into sensing a grander architecture and architect behind the daily rumblings of our lives. After studying English, Creative Writing, and philosophy at AU, art and especially reading and writing remain critical to both his day-to-day life and career. Now employed by a technology company that prides itself on problem-solving and for supplying makers, thinkers, and repairers with whatever type of hardware they need, poetry remains integral to who he is. Written and verbal communication is imperative where he works, and quickly identifying what type of problem is at hand and fixing it as smoothly as possible is of paramount importance. Having studied what may get hidden or lost in words helps his career, and also drives his personal life. In his presentation "Speak to the Rushing Water: I Am - Reflections in Poems," Paul will share a few poems that revolve around his thankfulness and awe in looking at this world that we can constantly change with all the tools at our disposal, tools both physical and otherwise.

Dr. David Werner (2001) graduated with a double major in biology and chemistry. Following graduation, he continued onto his graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine specializing in neuropharmacology, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He is currently a tenured associate professor and Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at Binghamton University, State University of New York, where his lab focuses on intrinsic and extrinsic developmental factors related to substance use disorders, primarily alcohol. His presentation "The (Not So) Good, Bad, and Ugly: Adolescent Alcohol Exposure" will give an overview of our current state of understanding of adolescent alcohol use vulnerability, its relationship to alcohol use disorder later in life, and novel translationally relevant preclinical interventional conduits.

A complete presentation schedule with online links and abstract booklet can be accessed at ashlandurca.blogspot.com.

URCA 2020 Going Virtual

Stay Tuned! Rumor has it that the 2020 URCA Stymposium is still happening #VirtualResearch #VirtualCreativity #CantStopUs