Dr. Mara Merlino and Dr. Tierra Freeman of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, presented a paper at the 69th Annual General Meeting of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, which was held Aug. 20 – Aug. 25 in Philadelphia. The paper, titled "Validity, Reliability, and Accuracy in Forensic Signature Identification," discussed their national study of forensic document examination. This study, which is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice, is currently underway at Kentucky State University. The study will use state-of-the-art eye-tracking technology to investigate how forensic document examiners and lay people extract information from signature specimens.
Dr. Helen Smith of the Division of Literature, Languages and Philosophy, has had an article accepted for publication in the forthcoming 26th Volume of The Kentucky Philological Review. Her article, “Speech, Metamorphosis and Misogyny in the Medieval French Lay of Melion,” examines this tale of transformation of one of King Arthur’s knights into a wolf, and argues that the tale can be read allegorically as a critique of medieval stereotypes about women.
Dr. George W. Shields, Professor of Philosophy in the Division of Literature, Languages, and Philosophy, has been invited to contribute a feature article entitled "Whitehead and Analytic Philosophy of Mind" for inclusion in a forthcoming Special Focus Issue of the journal Process Studies devoted to the topic, "Whitehead and Contemporary Analytic Philosophy." The invitation comes from the Special Focus invited editors Ludwig Jaskolla (Philosophy and Physics, University of Munich) and Franz Riffert (Philosophy, University of Salzburg). Dr. Shields' most recent book entitled Process and Analysis: Whitehead, Hartshorne, and the Analytic Tradition was closely related to the Special Focus topic. Process Studies is the peer-reviewed journal of the Center for Process Studies affiliated with the Claremont Graduate Schools. Dr. Shields has served on its International Advisory Board since 2006.
The Regional Coordinator of the KSU's Regional Center for the Kentucky Center (KCM) for Mathematics supported approximately 40 out of the 110 Math Intervention Teachers (MITs) funded through the Math Achievement Grant last year. The outreach activities include intensive, long-term training and support for the teaching and learning of early numeracy skills and knowledge. During the year-long training, new MITs were supported through in-person school visits, weekly hour-long online meetings, and three collegial group meetings. One of the most effective on-going projects that began last year is the Kentucky Numeracy Project (KNP), which entails a free, dynamic, sortable KNP Intervention Guide incorporating proven numeracy development strategies for formative assessment and differentiated instruction in alignment with Rtl and the new Common Core State Standards. To accompany the roll out of this document, KCM provided a series of free, online professional development Webinars to any Kentucky teacher who enrolled. This coming year KCM will offer in-person KNP workshops throughout the state.
A USDA Capacity Building Grant Integrated Teaching and Research proposal entitled: "Development of a Baccalaureate Degree Program in Agriculture, Food, and Environment and Supporting Research Opportunities at Kentucky State University" by Kirk W. Pomper, Michael Bomford, John D. Sedlacek, George Antonious, Avinash Tope, Kenneth Andries, James Tidwell, and Harold R. Benson was funded for $600,000. This grant will serve as a starting point for the development of an undergraduate degree program in the new College of Agriculture, Food Science and Sustainable systems through the creation of a B.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment option areas of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Aquaculture Systems.
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