Hiram College Awarded $99,061 from the Ohio Board of Regents for Science in the Schoolyard

Hiram College’s Department of Education and Center for Science Education have partnered with the Windham Exempted Village School District, Warren City Schools, and Crestwood Local Schools to recruit teachers for a second year of Science in the Schoolyard.

 

This program will serve 25 PreK-5 teachers from the above-mentioned districts, as well as other districts in surrounding counties. The program, consisting of a two-week summer institute, one-week summer enrichment field test, and reflection, assessment and leadership Saturday workshops, will provide teachers professional development in science content knowledge. The program will host five returning teachers as lead teachers and two pre-service teacher candidates from Hiram College.

 

The Ohio Board of Regents announced this week that they will provide $99,061 for Science in the Schoolyard, a substantial portion of the total program cost of $133,403.

“Early childhood and elementary teachers are often left out of science professional development offered by colleges and universities when in fact, research supports the importance of this age in developing lifelong positive dispositions toward science and nature,” said Dr. Roxanne Sorrick, assistant professor of education at Hiram College. “We are excited that we will be able to impact and empower 25 more teachers this coming year.”

 

Jane Preston Rose, Dean of the Weekend College and Office of Graduate Studies, praised the Ohio Board of Regents for supporting the summer program. “Our summer courses for professional educators have attracted teachers from throughout Northeast Ohio to Hiram’s campus for intensive workshops across many disciplines. Science in the Schoolyard was among our most popular last year, thanks in part to support from the Board of Regents,” Rose said.

 

Interested teachers will be able to register online for Science in the Schoolyard or any of the other summer graduate courses when the 2008 schedule becomes available in the spring.

Chamberlain/Hopkins Symposium on Alcohol and Culture will be held February 28-29

State Senator Timothy Grendell, sponsor of legislation to enact stricter penalties regarding drunken driving, will keynote the symposium that was created after the tragic deaths of Grace Chamberlain and Andy Hopkins.

 

Ohio Senator Timothy Grendell, who co-sponsored legislation to enact stricter penalties on drunk drivers, will present the keynote speech at the Chamberlain/Hopkins Symposium on Alcohol and Culture at Hiram College on Thursday, February 28 at 12:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom.

 

Grendell was elected to the State House of Representatives in 2000. While there, he served on key House committees including the Criminal Justice, Civil and Commercial Law, and Judiciary Committees. Mr. Grendell was re-elected to the House in 2002, and elected to his current position as a State Senator in 2004. He serves as the chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary-Criminal Justice Committee.

 

Grendell co-sponsored Senate Bill No. 17, developed to enact stricter penalties regarding impaired vehicle operation. Specifically, it targets repeat offenders by enforcing compliance with federal penalties, amends wrongful entrustment issues, closes the loophole for test refusal by lengthening administrative penalty, and puts together a register of repeat offenders. This bill was developed as a direct result of the accident in March, 2006 that killed Hiram College students Grace Chamberlain and Andy Hopkins and severely injured Evan DaSilva. Their auto was struck near Burton, Ohio, by an admittedly intoxicated James L. Cline. Cline had 11 prior drunken driving convictions. He received the maximum sentence of 38 years in prison.

 

On February 29, the Chamberlain/Hopkins Symposium will feature the most realistic drunk driving simulation in the world. The national “Save a Life” tour stops in Hiram for the second day of the symposium. The drunken driving simulation provides a state-of-the-art, interactive driving experience that simulates driving under the influence of alcohol. Participants experience this while sober to recognize the influence of alcohol on driving skills.

 

The Hiram College community organized the annual Chamberlain/Hopkins Symposium to explore issues of alcohol in American culture.

Hiram senior Lisa Beebe was sole undergraduate presenter at the Music in Dialogue conference

Beebe presented her research in French music at a conference for master’s and doctoral students.

 

Hiram senior Lisa Beebe, a French and music major from North Olmsted, Ohio, presented her paper “La Pape, Antechrist de Rome: Chansons Spirituelles and the French Reformation” on February 8, 2008, at the Music in Dialogue conference. The conference is held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and surveys current research in the fields of music theory, ethnomusicology, and historical musicology. Her discussion concerned Hugenot political and social songs during the sixteenth century.

 

“It was my first conference and I was very nervous,” said Beebe. Beyond the initial anxiety of presenting at a national conference for the first time, Beebe described the valuable lessons she learned through sharing research with expert researchers in the field. “It made me really excited to continue my education and to keep exploring not only my own interests, but the work of others,” she said.

 

Beebe’s research interests are baroque and Renaissance French music, which she cultivated at Hiram through an interdisciplinary study of both French and music. She plans to teach English in France after she graduates in May, and wants to eventually pursue a graduate degree in musicology or ethnomusicology. Beebe is a 2004 graduate of North Olmsted High School.

Crain’s Cleveland Business Names Hiram Grad as a Rising Star

Dr. Floun’say Caver was named to the 2007 Forty Under 40 list by Crain’s Cleveland Business. The list recognizes forty up-and-coming business leaders in Northeast Ohio. Caver is the manager of budgets for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority where he manages the its $270 million operating budget.

 

Caver’s feature and video is available online at the Crain’s Cleveland Business website.

 

Caver, a graduate of Shaw High School in Cleveland, earned his bachelor’s degree in management from Hiram College in 1998. He completed his master’s degree in urban planning at Cleveland State University, and his Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Igniting Streams of Learning Received $275,984 from the Ohio Board of Regents

This week Hiram College received its second grant for 2008 from the Ohio Board of Regents. Chancellor Eric Fungerhut announced STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] and Foreign Language Academies Awards that included $275,984 for “Igniting Streams of Learning in Science,” a collaboration among Hiram College, Kent State University, and the University of Akron.

 

Hiram biology professor Denny Taylor is the lead partner in “Igniting Streams of Learning.” The summer academy engages high school students and their teachers from nine school districts on the Cuyahoga Watershed who use biomonitoring protocols developed by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The premise of the program is that effective science education should model real science by immersing students and their teachers in all aspects of doing science. This includes designing and carrying out scientific investigations that have a direct impact on the environment.

 

“The Regents STEM and Foreign Language Academies align with Governor Strickland’s Turnaround Ohio Plan,” Fingerhut said. “The state has dedicated significant funds to STEM education and the academies will help Ohioans fully participate in today’s global economy.”

 

“Igniting Streams of Learning” was first offered in the summer of 2007.

 

Earlier this month, the Regents awarded Hiram College $99,061 for a separate summer program for teachers called “Science in the Schoolyard.”