News and Events

B-W People: Winter/Spring 2012

The 2012 Alpha Sigma Lambda Faculty Excellence Awards honored full-time professor, Debra Janas Hecker (Education), and adjunct professor, Maureen DeVito (Business Administration). Adult and non-traditional students made online nominations for faculty who have made a difference. The awards were presented at the Adult & Continuing Education Spring Awards & Scholarship Banquet on April 21, 2012.

A student of Dr. Janas spoke highly of her, saying, “It is clear she not only cares about her students’ academic achievements but she also cares for her students’ complete wellbeing." The student also spoke of how Dr. Janas’s door is always open and she presents the course work in a way that keeps her students motivated.

For Professor DeVito, one student said that during an illness and hospitalization, “We had multiple phone conferences where she interactively taught me over the phone…the care and concern she displayed for my illness really made me feel as if there ARE some teachers out there who still truly care about the students."

In addition, Diana Evans, an Office Manager at B-W East in Beachwood, was awarded the Makes a Difference Staff Award, which honors those who "value B-W and help make it a positive experience for others." Her nominator applauded Diana for going above and beyond her position. "Diana knew that I was struggling a bit in my CSC class, and she whole-heartedly offered to tutor me... because of her kindness, patience, and loving heart, I received total points on my assignment."

Victoria Bussert (music theatre) traveled to Denmark in the fall to direct the country's debut of AVENUE Q. Now the show has been nominated for the Arets Reumert -- the Danish equivalent of the Tony Award -- for Best Musical Production of the Year.  The awards will be presented April 29.
 
Phil Bessler (business) congratulates the B-W team of Amanda Mass '12 (Marketing/Accounting Major) and Jimmy Basar '12 (Physics Major/Math Minor) for not only winning the 2012 B-W ideaLabs competition that he oversees on campus, but for placing 2nd out of 10 teams in the regional competition at Hiram College in March. The students were encouraged by the judges to launch their business, evenplayingfield.com as soon as possible. They are pictured right holding a second place award check of $3,000.

Elise Geither (learning specialist)  had her latest chapbook, Monologues for Poets, published by NightBallet Press, earning this praise, “Elise Geither's Voice is strong and consistent throughout, and her images will burn themselves into your retinas and into your hearts.”

A B-W MBA team participated in the ACG (Association for Corporate Growth) Cup. The B-W team charted a path forward for a private company in a business case scenario related to a potential acquisition/divestment. Team members made decisions based upon the stated business interests of the company and determining the comparative valuations of the options available. The team was given one week to prepare for the presentation to a group of Cleveland Chapter ACG board members at the Union Club in January.

Harry J. Bury (business administration) will talk about his ideas and how we can put them to work on May 5, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at Agape Campus Community/St. Alban's, 2555 Euclid Heights Boulevard, Cleveland Heights. The event will begin with a brief reception at 6:30 p.m. Free-will donations will be used to help cover the costs of the 2012 annual Cleveland Peace Show. In February, Bury, was honored by the government of Vietnam for his anti-war activities during the Vietnam War. The 81-year-old lifelong peace activist once chained himself to the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) during the war to protest U.S. military intervention.

Lisa Gallagher (Conservatory of Music) has been elected Vice President Elect of the American Music Therapy Association for the 2012-2013 term.

Darlene Michitsch (art) won an award presented by the Division of Distance Learning of the Association for Educational Technology & Communications.

Barbara Palmer (political science) spoke at the State Capitol in Columbus, Ohio, as the keynote speaker at the League of Women Voters of Ohio Annual State House Day.  Her talk, entitled, "Unintended Consequences:  Incumbency, Redistricting, and the Success of Women Candidates," explored why the integration of women into Congress has been so slow.

B-W People: Fall 2011

Ron Baker (business) published an e-book on employee fraud, "Are Your Employees Stealing From You."

Swagata Banik (public health) received a two-year R21 award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse for "Project SHAKTI: Stigma reduction, Health care provider Awareness and Knowledge Enhancement." Swagata's expertise is in health disparities, specifically with HIV/AIDS and the stigma attached to it. His project will include a multinational component through India as well as opportunities for our students to become engaged in research.

Victoria Bussert (music theatre) and JR Bruno '09 (choreographer) both are featured on Playbill.com. They are working in Denmark to stage the country's premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q. Performances will play October 13 through November 13 at the Fredericia Theater, two hours outside of Copenhagen. Also, three current Baldwin-Wallace College students will be performing in CABARET in downtown Cleveland in September and October: Andrea Leach, Bailey Moulse and Shannon O'Boyle.

Pierre David (business) co-authored the book "International Logistics" (third edition) with Richard Stewart of the University of Wisconsin-Superior. The book was published in Chinese this summer and had also been translated in Portuguese.

Paul Jacklitch (art) won the Guru Award at the Photoshop World Conference & Expo, with his vast knowledge of Photoshop and photography along with his ability to create.

 Rachel E. Boaz (history) presented a paper "Something of an Irony: Jews, Anti-Semites, and Racial Analyses of Blood in Weimar Germany" in Berlin, Germany. She also presented a paper this past spring, "'Contagious Blood' in German Fiction and Early Blood Science" at the University of Maryland. Rachel's book "In Search of the 'Aryan Blood': Serology in Interwar and National Socialist Germany is to be published this fall.

Linda Bluso (business administration) was honored by the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio as a Woman of Influence. 

James Harmon (education) was named editor of the NAPDS Journal School-University Partnerships and co-authored the article, "Extending the Conversation: Seeing Our City, Students, and School: Using Photography to Engage Diverse Youth with Our English Classes," which was published in NCTE's English Education, Vol. 43, No. 4, July 2011.

Kevin Jacques (economics) was quoted in multiple articles published in American Banker. He was also interviewed by TV19 and WTAM1100 about the stock market, quoted in SNL Financial News regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission, and appeared on China International Radio discussing the S&P's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. He also debated the debt limit on Ideastream, and in an NPR broadcast out of Washington, D.C.

Denise Kohn (English) co-authored an article with B-W student, Maggie Campbell, as part of a FSCS project. The article has been accepted for publication in the literary journal The Explicator. The title of the article is "The Captive Female as Biblical Hero: Rowlandson, Rhetoric, and the Psalms," and it provides a close analysis of Mary Rowlandson's use of two biblical citations in her 1682 captivity narrative.

B-W's Lake Erie Model United Nations (LEIMUN) team won the "best small delegation" award; over 13 schools participated in this year LEIMUN conference. The delegation was constituted by the following students: RaeAnne Pina, Emily Householder, Sundous Eddeb, Jenna Perry, Scott Simmerer, and Maria Kyrkos. Three additional B-W students participated as staff members of the LEIMUN conference. These students are Matthew Kuzsnir, Max Schaefer, and Sam Lewis.

Richard Little (math & computer science) received his "50-Year Member" pin from the Mathematics Association of America MathFest in Lexington, Kentucky. During the fest he served as a judge at one of the student presentation sessions.

George Pope (flutist and Conservatory instructor) was featured in the article "A Professor's Life, An Interview with George Pope" in the November issue of Flute Talk magazine.

Barbara Sposet (Education) was inducted into the Brooklyn High School of Fame in the area of 'Contributions to the School District.' Barbara retired in 2000 from the school district after teaching grades 7-12 for 32 years. While at Brooklyn High School, she served as department chairman of foreign languages and English as well as the newspaper (32 years) and yearbook (16 years), founded the Foreign Language Honorary, implemented student travel, was district grant writer and public relations spokesperson, district community service director, and the first teaching doctorate. Barbara was recently tenured and promoted to full professor and has been at B-W since 2005.

Kay Strong (economics) co-authored the articles, "The Future as a Ubiquitous Learning Opportunity" and "Case Study: Futurizing the K-12 Teaching Practice." She also presented the paper: "Scenario Development and Strategic Planning" at the 17th Annual International Symposium on Society & Resource Management, as well as the paper "Stretching the 'Future' in FPSPI" at 2011 International Competition for Future Problem-Solvers. In June, Kay hosted a pilot-Futures Camp for Future Problem Solvers Program International.

Mary Toale (communication arts & sciences) was nominated and is running for the office of Vice President Elect-Select (2011) of the Eastern Communication Association. If elected, Toale will ascend to the First Vice President Elect (in 2012), then the First Vice President (in 2013), and finally to the office of President (in 2014) of this regional communication association

B-W People: Summer 2011