Bulls Spirit is in Full Force During Homecoming Week

Homecoming 2004, also known as Superbull VIII, is in full-swing this week at USF systemwide. USF St. Petersburg's third celebration of Homecoming kicked-off Monday with the introduction of the homecoming court and the crowning of the Duke and Duchess. This year's Duke is Daniel Cole, management and finance senior, and the new Duchess is Shelby Graham, political science senior, both nominated by Student Government. The two other students on Homecoming Court are Kristie Martinez, nominated by Campus Crusade for Christ and Ashley Henderson, nominated by Law Society.

"I am so excited about homecoming this year because it's great to see many new students coming to events and continuing campus traditions like the boat building competition and riding the mechanical bull," said Diana MacDonald, Homecoming Chair and elementary education sophomore.

Throughout the week, USF St. Petersburg members will have the opportunity to participate in events both on this campus and at USF Tampa. The culmination of Homecoming 2004 is the Homecoming Game this Saturday, Oct. 16 at Raymond James Stadium when the Bulls play Army at 7 pm.

>> See: Homecoming Calendar of Events

USF’s Herd of Thunder to Play for Homecoming

Two special USF St. Petersburg groups will be welcomed to campus Thursday to celebrate Homecoming 2004. Retired faculty and staff and Pinellas County alumni are invited to campus Thursday, Oct. 14 to take part in Homecoming festivities.

Retired faculty and staff from USF St. Petersburg have been invited to a Homecoming Reception with Regional Chancellor Karen A. White and retired administrators Herm Brames and Winston Bridges. The event is on the waterfront at 4:30 pm.

Pinellas County alumni will also be on campus for an inaugural Homecoming Social, sponsored by the Pinellas County Alumni Chapter, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on the Harborside Lawn. 

The event will feature the Herd of Thunder Show Band and guests will have the chance to find out about the local alumni chapter while enjoying a night of entertainment, networking, spirits and hors d’oeuvres. This event is free and open to USF alumni.

For more information, contact Sue Bebernitz, coordinator of alumni programs at 3-4561 or sbebern@spadmin.usf.edu.

Miss Florida to Visit for Disability Awareness Week

Shauna Pender worked for five years to become Miss Florida, winning the title in 2003. But, two weeks into her reign as Miss Florida, Pender was heading to Miami for a fundraiser when a semitrailer truck toppled over her car. Now, the woman who championed people with disabilities is living that life.

Pender's lecture headlines USF St. Petersburg's first Disability Awareness Week Celebration Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 12:30 pm in Davis Hall 130. She will speak about her challenges since the accident and her commitment to those with disabilities. The event is free and open to the public.

Other Disability Awareness Week events:
Adopt a Wheelchair - Wheelchairs will be available Thursday, Oct. 21 from 10 am to 2 pm around campus for faculty, staff and students to try. This is a chance for campus members to experience the everyday challenges of wheelchair-bound students, said Barry McDowell, Disability and Volunteer Services Coordinator.

Movie: My Left Foot - The 1989 Academy Award winning film about a man who triumphs over impossible odds to achieve greatness will be shown throughout the week in the Multicultural Center, TER200. Call 553-4990 for showtimes.

For more information on these and other upcoming events for the first Disability Awareness Week Celebration, contact McDowell at 553-4990 or mcdowell@stpt.usf.edu.

Liu Applies Innovative Approach to Science Education

Pinellas County sixth graders will have the opportunity to solve real community issues by learning an analytical approach to earth science taught by a USF St. Petersburg professor.

After submitting a grant proposal in February to the University of California Berkeley, professor Chin-Tang Liu, PhD, learned that USF St. Petersburg would become a field test center for Issues in Earth Science, a program that uses issue-, inquiry- and performance-based approaches to teach sixth-grade earth science. This makes USF St. Petersburg the only field test center in Florida and one of only 10 in the country.

Currently, most students are taught science in a very traditional format, but Liu said he hopes this curriculum will provide a connection for students to relate scientific knowledge to their personal lives and give them the ability to solve real-world problems. For example, teachers who are lecturing on soil will take students to the school’s backyard to see why or why not plants can grow in this soil and environment. Students become active scientists, challenged to use a hands-on approach to discover how to enrich the soil to make plants grow.

>> Read more

>> See: Article in Oct. 10 Tampa Tribune

Durand's Textbook Best Seller with Colleges

More than a decade ago, V. Mark Durand, PhD, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and his colleague at Boston University, David Barlow, published the first edition of their groundbreaking textbook on Abnormal Psychology.  Since then, more than 330 schools worldwide have used their textbook in the classroom.

Durand and Barlow took a new approach by bringing together all schools of thought on mental illness, changing the way textbooks in the area are written.  Just recently released in its fourth edition, Abnormal Psychology is used all over the world, and has been translated in Spanish, French, and Hindi. 

A leading industry database places their book as the most widely adopted of all abnormal psychology textbooks, being used in one in four major research universities, including Harvard, Duke, Brown, UCLA and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Their text includes a conversational writing style, consistent pedagogical elements, integrated case studies, video clips of clients, and additional study tools, that according to the publisher, make this text the most complete learning resource available.

For more information on this text, please visit the publisher’s Web site, Thomson Wadsworth, at http://www.newtexts.com/newtexts/book.cfm?book_id=2080

Students Bring Columnist to Campus

After returning from the New Hampshire Primary last spring with the Road to the White House course taught by Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan, PhD, two USF St. Petersburg students said that they realized there was a tremendous lack of participation by young people in politics, and they wanted to do something about it.

Brandon Keith and Nicole McConnell started Young Democrats this fall with the “goal of helping our peers realize how important getting involved in the political process is,” Keith said. “Many of the decisions that are made in government directly effect young people.”

In just a few months, this new student organization has made an impact on campus by registering voters, inviting candidates to meet students, and inviting speakers, such as Howard Troxler, St. Petersburg Times columnist, to engage students in discussion.

“There are plenty of people locally that would be great to have on campus as guest speakers. Hopefully our organization will be able to offer students and faculty the chance to listen to the movers and shakers of our community.”

>> Read more

Series to Help You Become More Productive at Work

The second workshop of a unique two-part series by the College of Arts & Sciences at USF St. Petersburg will help individuals maximize their time and provide tips to become more productive in the campus workplace. More than time management workshops, this panel discussion will provide specific advice for maximizing creativity and productivity.

Topic:                Secrets Revealed: Successful Scholars Discuss Their

                         Personal Work Styles

Lecturers:         Hugh LaFollette, PhD, Marie and Leslie E. Cole Chair of Ethics

                         Ray Arsenault, PhD, Florida Studies professor

Date:                Friday, Oct. 15 at 3:30 pm

Location:          Florida Center for Teachers, Room 118

Discussion:       A panel discussion featuring successful scholars discussing their own techniques for productivity.  USF St. Petersburg faculty members will provide insight into how they motivate themselves and structure their time.  Participants will sample different work styles to find the most effective for them.

This series is free and open to the public. For more information or to register, please contact Debra Starr-Simms at 553-4156.

Georgia Tech Professor Discusses Environmental Policy

Bryan Norton, PhD, a professor of philosophy and public policy at Georgia Tech, visited campus Monday to discuss environmental policy, a lecture sponsored by the Cole Chair in Ethics.  During his lecture, he suggested that discussion about protecting the environment has been damaged by ideological battles between two differing schools of thought.

On one side, Norton said that some claim nature is here for human use, while others claim that nature has inherent value, independent of the ways humans use it. This disagreement has made environmental policy erratic, often wavering dramatically from administration to administration.

“We can avoid this problem once we understand that these are not our only options,” said Norton. “We can hold that the value of nature is its value for humans, as long as we also grant that humans value nature in diverse ways.”   For example, he said that people want to use nature for items such as food and lumber, but they also want to hike and see wildlife.  Plus, some see nature as having some mystical or spiritual value. Therefore he said, we cannot reject any of these values, but we should subject them to criticism and evaluation, possibly showing that the ways we use nature are incompatible with the long-term viability of the ecosystem.

Colloquium to Honor Biology Professor Deby Cassill

The Psychological Science Program's second colloquium, “The Evolution of Inequality and Love,” will recognize Deby Cassill, PhD, assistant professor for Environmental Science, Policy and Geography Program of Distinction, Oct. 28 from 11 am to noon.

Cassill, an animal behavior biologist, developed a conceptual model called ‘skew selection’ that explains human social behavior through research with fire ants.  Cassill’s colloquium will discuss the model and some of the behavioral mechanisms that maintain human inequality, such as greed, sharing and love.

“Contrary to popular belief, the model reveals that Nature is not perfect. Inequalities are at every level of biological organization, from genes to cells to organisms to societies,” said Cassill. However, her skew selection model reveals that inequality leads to a greater good over time. “Turns out, inequality is a beautiful thing.”

For more information on this and future colloquia, please visit the Psychological Science Program Web site at www.stpt.usf.edu/coas/psychology/index.htm.

Art Exhibit in Canada Features Campus Professor

USF St. Petersburg faculty member, Pegie Stark Adam, PhD, is displaying her artwork north of the U.S. border at a one-woman art exhibit in Ottawa, Canada.

The exhibit started Sept. 23 and will run through Nov. 30 at Axiom, a high-end Italian kitchen store located in a turn-of-the-century building in the historic district of downtown Ottawa that displays art exhibits.

The exhibit is a collection of pastels and oils that she completed during the last few years. Moved by the beauty of the Ottawa countryside, Stark, associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, said that she paints and draws landscapes outdoors based on scenes that inspire her in southern Ontario.

I Am USF St. Petersburg: Margaret Hewitt

As faculty, staff, students and alumni celebrate USF Homecoming, SuperBull VIII, Margaret Hewitt, PhD, will celebrate both as a faculty member and as an alumna. Plus, she could be busy this fall attending many homecomings – since she has five college degrees.

Hewitt earned a doctorate in elementary education and an education specialist degree in reading and language arts from USF. She also earned a sixth year degree in administration and supervision from the University of Georgia, a master’s in elementary education from Georgia State and a bachelor’s degree in English/speech, with a minor in secondary education, from Central Methodist College.

Known as “Dr. Margaret” to many, Hewitt, a College of Education faculty member, came to USF St. Petersburg from USF Tampa in 1986 to develop the Final Internship program and to teach reading.

The cornerstone of Hewitt’s research is the Homan/Hewitt Readability Formula, published in 1992 in the prestigious Journal of Educational Measurement with co-author Susan Homan. Their research showed that young test-takers often possessed the necessary knowledge to answer test questions correctly, but that the test verbiage itself was flawed, which resulted in students giving the wrong answer. Her landmark formula sought to correct this problem and improve the accuracy of test results.

>> Read more

Campus Beach Cleanup

The Keep Pinellas Beautiful Beach Cleanup is Saturday, Oct. 23. For more information or to volunteer, contact Barry McDowell at 553-4990 or mcdowell@stpt.usf.edu.

Help Animals at Annual Paws on Parade Pet Walk

This year USF St. Petersburg will continue its annual tradition of participating in the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal's Paws on Parade Pet Walk. Proceeds from the event benefit the local Pinellas County SPCA, which helps homeless and abused animals.

Festivities for the Paws on Parade Pet Walk begin Saturday, Oct. 23 at 8:30 am at North Shore Park in downtown St. Petersburg. If you would like to support the USF St. Petersburg Tiger Team, you can register to participate or make a donation.

For more information, contact co-captains Sudsy Tschiderer at 553-4842 or Barry McDowell at 553-4622.

>> See: Flier

Make a Difference at the Ronald McDonald House

USF St. Petersburg will volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House for dinner Oct. 26 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Volunteers are needed to help prepare and serve the families of children staying at All Children’s Hospital.

For more information, please contact Barry McDowell at 553-4622.

The USF Web Calendar of Events can advertise to campus-wide faculty, staff and to the general public. Events may include lectures, conferences, ceremonies, concerts, sporting events, scholarship events, fundraising events and exhibits. 

The best way to submit your event is to use the central news, events and announcements submission form located here: http://www.stpt.usf.edu/news/submissions.htm