Six students graduated from East Stroudsburg University (ESU) of Pennsylvania’s extended learning program in Philadelphia, Pa. Each received a bachelor of science degree in public health through the degree completion program that allows students to complete coursework through two years of evening and weekend studies. The six newest graduates join 12 alumni who graduated in December 2012. Commencement ceremonies were held on the ESU campus in East Stroudsburg on May 18, 2013.

Receiving a B.S. in public health were Russell Whaley of Upper Darby, Pa.; Marsha Clarke-Ford of Drexel Hill, Pa.; Tyra Condé of Philadelphia, Pa.;  Melissa Aliulis of Philadelphia, Pa.;  Shauntay Murray of Philadelphia, Pa.;  and Gina Patania of Audubon, Pa.

The public health bachelor’s degree completion program, for those with an associate degree or equivalent college credits, features a course schedule that is convenient for busy adults. There are five eight-week sessions throughout the year to help students with prior credits earn the degree within two years. Students can take up to 30 credits per year over three semesters each year. Class meets two evenings per week, 6 – 9 p.m., and on Saturday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Multi-University site in Center City Philadelphia – 701 Market Street. The multi-disciplinary program offers two concentrations in health services administration or community health and consists of coursework within the ESU departments of health studies, business management and political science.

This degree provides the educational foundation for careers in health services administration, delivery, and policy. Graduates could work in health care delivery settings (hospitals, clinics, home health agencies); public health settings (county and state health departments or community–based organizations); in other allied health settings (nursing homes) or in the insurance segment (insurance companies and HMOs). This degree also prepares students for a master’s degree in public health which is also offered through ESU in Philadelphia.

Students in the public health program have the opportunity to complete internships with major health care facilities in Philadelphia. Student internship sites include government agencies; federal, state and local health departments; medical centers, hospitals and other health care institutions; community coalitions and health improvement programs and work site wellness and health promotion programs for employees.

Credits earned from other institutions and programs are easily transferred into the ESU public health degree program. Academic advisers work with students to prepare individual transfer credit evaluations to determine what coursework is needed to finish a degree.

ESU will also launch the Master in Public Health program in the fall. This hybrid program will be offered in a combination of face to face, online and video conference formats.  

Condé said obtaining the B.S. in public health was an incredible experience.

“My experience at ESU has impacted my life in many ways,” she said. “I have gained a higher education and a way to further my career. ESU staff and my fellow classmates were my support system through many obstacles which occurred while attending ESU. My classmates and I leaned on one another and gained a closeness that I cherish. I will encourage and support anyone who wishes to further his or her education.”

“The Public Health program has prepared me with discipline and a more professional character,” said Clarke-Ford. “Because I was able to learn the dynamics of the public health care systems, I am more marketable and getting the respect I always wanted in the corporate world. I was able to get promoted twice by my employer because of the structures that I have learned and the way that the professors prepared me.”  

For more information about the bachelor of sciences degree in public health, the master in public health program in the fall and the ESU extended learning program, please contact Millie Román-Buday, assistant director of admission for extended learning, at 610-419-2516 or by email at mroman@esu.edu

Natiello, who graduated from ESU in 2012 with a bachelor of arts in communication studies, applied for the Institute based on his interest in a career in politics.

“I applied to the Hope Institute 2013 because I want to pursue a career in political communications and help the right candidates convey their message to the public in the most honest and understandable way possible,” said Natiello. “The United States government is the best equipped force to enact positive change on a large scale, and it is important that voters truly understand which candidate best reflects their values.”

 “Attending the Hope Institute 2013 will be an invaluable experience for me because I will have firsthand experience learning from some of the most skilled political figures in the world. My goal is to use the knowledge and connections I gain from the Hope Institute to improve my research into the field of political communications and give back to the community as my career continues to unfold.”       

Kimberly S. Adams, Ph.D., an ESU associate professor of political science, says Natiello’s selection as one of the participants in the Hope Institute is a high honor. According to Dr. Adams, the aim of this initiative is to create a class of young, talented staffers who can work their way up in the Democratic Party.

“The campaign training offered to young professionals through party organizations such as the DNC, is second to none,” said Dr. Adams. “The participants will get on the ground training from Washington’s seasoned and highly successful political consultants. Steven’s selection to this program is a cause for celebration and will benefit him immensely as he pursues a career in managing campaigns and elections.”

Adams has first-hand knowledge of the benefit of such programs.

“As a former participant of DNC campaign trainings, I can attest to the quality of the presentations, the networking opportunities and the individual exposure that comes with such participation. The information gleaned from the sessions on polling, fundraising, voter outreach, and messaging helped me to better understand the dynamics of campaign work and to become a more productive and informed campaign staffer, and I hope the same is true for Steven.” 

Natiello is currently writing his thesis on the relationship between social media use and political participation and is completing an internship as the media and web manager for Country Club of the Poconos Municipal Golf Course. During the summer he works in ESU Enrollment Services, archiving and indexing documents. During the academic year he works as a graduate assistant in both the ESU Department of Academic Enrichment and Learning and the Department of Political Science. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. and career in political communications when he graduates in December 2013.

For more information about the political science degree programs at ESU contact Dr. Adams at 570-422-3924 or by email at ksadams@esu.edu, or visit www.esu.edu/pols.

ESU will offer several courses that may be taken for credit by current ESU students and that are also open to the general public at an affordable cost. Among these are a Tai Chi course beginning on July 20 and a history course beginning July 23 that will bring the history of the Lehigh Valley alive through field trips and lectures at historic locales. 

Beginning this July and continuing through the end of August, ESU’s Lehigh Valley Center will also host a short-lecture series featuring professors from the Business Management, Health and History departments. Each brief lecture will be followed by refreshments and an informal round table discussion hosted, weather-permitting, on the Lehigh Valley Center’s patio. These events are open to the general public at no cost.

In addition, as part of historic Bethlehem’s continuing ArtWalk series, ESU’s Lehigh Valley Center will host a Kids’ Corner on its front patio on June 29, July 27 and August 31 from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.  Kids’ Corner will feature pottery painting, drawing contests, and interactive performances by the Pennsylvania Youth Theater. To learn more about these and other upcoming events that are open to the public, visit our home page at esu.edu/lehighvalley and click on “Events.” 

Meeting spaces within ESU’s Lehigh Valley Center are also available for community, business, or organization events to use at a nominal cost.   Whether it’s a small board meeting or a large conference, each room in the Lehigh Valley Center space features state-of-the-art equipment designed to meet the needs of our students and our guests: some of the amenities include smart podiums, dual-projector screens for video and computer presentations, video-conferencing abilities, and a computer lab with 35 work stations. 

To learn about undergraduate and graduate degree completion programs at the facility, visit  ESU’s Lehigh Valley Center for a free information session on any Monday evening between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.

For more information about ESU’s Lehigh Valley Center or to schedule space for your event, please contact Tom O’Connor, ESU-Lehigh Valley site coordinator, at 610-419-0412 or toconnor4@esu.edu.  Visit www.esu.edu/lehighvalley for summer event and course information.

Frank La Macchia, who is paraplegic, demonstrates Magee Rehabilitation Hospital’s Ekso exoskeleton with the help of Magee staff members. Photo credit: Magee Rehabilitation Hospital

East Stroudsburg University Psychology Professor Jyh-Hann Chang, Ph.D., is helping organize workshops in which people with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities learn how to design smartphone apps, with the help of past and present students. The workshops are run by Project ENABLE, which was created through a grant sponsored by the National Science Foundation in conjunction with New Mexico State University and ESU to give people with mobility disabilities exposure to computer technology and its career possibilities.

Dr. Chang, who is tetraplegic, said Project ENABLE demonstrates how technology can level the playing field for people with disabilities seeking work. 

“I’m a strong advocate of science and technology as a way to work around these issues,” said Dr. Chang, a clinical psychologist who helps oversee the program.

Project ENABLE has also conducted workshops that teach participants how to do some basic computer programming and how to program LEGO robots to perform activities. 

 “The U.S. has a shortage of people entering into computer science fields,” said Kim Roselli, Project ENABLE coordinator at ESU. “At the same time, people with mobility disabilities often have a tough time finding jobs. Those who realize they have the aptitude for computer science can be a good fit because they can easily adapt to the work.”

Chang and Roselli are not the only ESU connections to Project ENABLE.  The organization also employs the talents of ESU psychology majors Joseph Fresco, from New Hope, Pa., and Shaquil Roberts from Philadelphia, who helped to organize the workshops and work with participants.

The workshops, which will take place June 13-15 at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital at 1513 Race Street in downtown Philadelphia, will also include a demonstration of a wearable robotic Ekso exoskeleton that allows disabled people to walk.

At the June 13 workshop, Frank La Macchia, who is paraplegic and works in the IT Department of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will don Magee’s Ekso exoskeleton to show more than two dozen workshop participants how it can be used to help those with mobility disabilities.

“He’s been such a great role model to the participants,” said Roselli, who has a master’s degree in instructional technology from ESU. 

Many of the participants are former patients of Magee, which has been an important partner in Project ENABLE. The rehabilitation hospital was chosen to host the workshops for its accessibility to a large population of people with disabilities and its excellent reputation in the field of rehabilitation.

“We were thrilled because for us it was another resource for individuals who have had spinal cord injuries,” said Vilma Mazziol, a vocational counselor at Magee.

Project Enable is the brainchild of Jeanine Cook, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New MexicoStateUniversity. Cook and Chang have worked jointly on this program since its inception. 

For more information about Project ENABLE, please contact Kim Roselli at 570-236-4591.

Kimberly S. Adams, Ph.D., an associate professor of political science at ESU, chaired several panels and delivered a presentation titled “The Utility and Evolving Role of the Congressional Black Caucus: What’s at Stake,” in France, in April. The presentation was given during the Euro-American Conference for Academic Disciplines in Paris. Dr. Adams said the presentation introduced to an international audience, the purpose of special-interest caucuses in the U.S. Congress and examined the history and evolving role of one of the oldest and most active special-interest groups on Capitol Hill—the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Adams said that through the use of elite interviews with members of the CBC, the presentation explored issues championed by the Caucus over the last four decades and addressed the continued utility of the organization.

The Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology (PSO) will bestow the Earl Poole Award, which recognizes individuals for significant contributions to the knowledge, study and understanding of bird life of Pennsylvania, to Terry Master, Ph.D., professor in the ESU Department of Biological Sciences. The award was given to Dr. Master for his active ornithological research program that focuses on wading bird foraging ecology and the ecology and behavior of riparian songbirds in hemlock dominated habitats. His research work has involved the mentoring of numerous undergraduate and 25 graduate students in the Avian Ecology and Behavior Lab at ESU over the last 23 years. Many of the students have gone on to doctoral programs at various universities and jobs with federal, state and private conservation organizations. Master has recently co-edited a book titled “Avian Ecology and Conservation: A Pennsylvania Focus with National Implications,” published by the Pennsylvania Academy of Science, and he has over 20 other peer-reviewed publications, many as co-author with his undergraduate and graduate students. He received the award at the annual PSO meeting in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 2013.

In recognition of her expertise and ongoing research using children’s literature with positive portrayals of characters with disabilities, Heather Garrison, Ph.D., associate professor of special education and rehabilitation at ESU, was invited by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Division on Developmental Disabilities to serve on the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award review committee and helped select the most recent award recipients. According to the CEC, this award recognizes authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality fictional and biographical books for children, intermediate readers, and young adults that appropriately portray individuals with developmental disabilities. Dr. Garrison’s personal collection includes over 1,300 children’s and young adult books with characters with disabilities, ranging from the 1800s to 2013. It is one of the largest collections in the world. Dr. Garrison is also an ESU alumna (1995, 1998).

In January, Garrison was invited to present to the Northwest Jersey Reading Council and share her vast collection of children’s books featuring characters with disabilities. She was invited to present at the Student Pennsylvania State Education Association (SPSEA) conference at ESU in February to discuss children’s books with positive portrayals of diverse characters. The SPSEA is a pre-professional association dedicated to advancing leadership skills and professional development among future educators across the Commonwealth. Garrison was invited again this year to speak about children’s disability literature at the annual Healthy Child, Whole Child conference, in March, for the Monroe County Association for the Education of Young Children. In honor of the NEA’s Read Across America Day, and in celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday in March, the SPSEA invited Garrison to read Dr. Seuss books, alongside a few of his costumed characters, at a community event on campus.

Garrison co-chaired ESU’s National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) institutional accreditation report which required extensive collaboration and data collection and analysis across programs and departments to showcase the excellence of ESU’s pre-service teacher preparation programs. Dr. Garrison is proud to teach the first disability studies course at ESU, as part of the newly revised rehabilitative and human services major, in the fall 2013 semester. She co-advises the Sigma Pi Epsilon Delta honor society for students majoring in special education and rehabilitation and also serves on numerous committees across campus related to assessment, pre-service teacher education and certification, and university advancement. Garrison is also active in the community by serving on Pocono Medical Center’s Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) Community Advisory Board and by sponsoring annual scholarships at ESU and local high schools. In May, she presented strategies for reading to infants and toddlers to NFP’s clients and their young children.

Garrison’s contributions have been recognized by the authors of three textbooks, including “Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality,” 4th edition, by Gargiulo; “The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood Education,” 7th edition, by Allen and Cowdery; and “Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference,” 6th edition, by Reutzel and Cooter. Garrison also created instructor and/or student instructional resources, for online and/or traditional delivery, to accompany 15 additional Pearson teacher education textbooks between January 2012 and April 2013. She also reviewed content for new editions of diversity textbooks for Routledge and Wadsworth/Cengage Publishers. In 2012, Garrison redesigned Pearson’s extensive online children’s and young adult literature database into search categories that reflect trends and themes found in modern children’s literature, including characters with disabilities, LGBT characters, English language learners, international characters, and multicultural themes. She also added 500 recently published books with diversity topics and/or recent award winners to the database.

Elaine Shuey, Ph.D., professor, ESU Department of Speech-Language Pathology; Stephanie A. Kleese, currently a graduate student in speech-language pathology who has an undergrad degree from ESU; and Devin J. Loney, a graduate of the speech-language pathology graduate program, presented a paper titled “Vocal Nodules in an Adolescent with PDD-NOS” at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association in Atlanta, Georgia in November. This is the annual national convention for speech-language pathologists and audiologists.

Ann Millett, assistant professor of speech-language pathology, has received 2012 Chapter Adviser Honors from the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSHLA). NSSHLA is the student branch of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the professional organization for speech- language pathologists and audiologists. There are 319 chapters of NSSHLA located across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Greece, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Only one adviser is chosen each year to receive this honor. Millet was nominated by ESU’s NSSHLA chapter president and was recognized at the annual ASHA convention in Atlanta in November 2012. Since Millett has been ESU’s NSSHLA adviser, the chapter has grown from 15 active members to over 60. The chapter has participated in numerous campus and community activities. It has been particularly supportive of Operation Smile, an international organization dedicated to providing cleft lip and palate surgeries for children from third world countries. In the last year, the group raised enough funds to pay for seven surgeries.