How can an adventure book empower children and make them safer? “A spoonful of adventure makes the psychology go down,” according to author Dr. Molly Barrow, a practicing psychotherapist. Barrow uses exciting adventure books to embed subtle positive messages about building self-esteem. “High self-esteem is psychological armor for children.” Dr. Barrow's new fiction book for children, Malia and Teacup: Awesome African Adventure, illustrates complicated problem-solving and demonstrates how to “stay safe by staying strong.” The Malia and Teacup series encourages high self-esteem, positive thinking and healthy self-image.
When
Matthew’s father tells him a chimerical tale of a legendary money tree,
Matthew decides to venture out into the woods in search of the money
tree and the adventure begins. Join Matthew on his entertaining quest
in which, above all, he learns the true meaning of happiness.
Walden University is now offering a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision. The degree counseling professionals with the skills and experience they need to assume leadership positions in clinical, community, nonprofit, academic or research settings.
Aligned with national standards for counselor education and reflecting Walden’s mission of social change, the program helps mental health professionals:
Advance their career in clinical, community, academic, or research settings.
Conduct effective counseling-related program evaluations.
Gain clinical and related experience to enhance their professional development by participating in both a doctoral practicum and internship.
Develop counseling expertise in a relevant area, including forensic mental health counseling and crisis counseling.
Design, implement, and analyze individual research related to the counseling profession.
“Whether counseling professionals want to advance their clinical counseling supervision skills or pursue a career in academia or research, Walden’s Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision can provide them with the skills and knowledge they need to implement change in their communities and organizations,” says Dr. Carl J. Sheperis, program director for Walden’s Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision. “As the demand for doctorate-level counseling professionals increases in the coming years, this program can help students expand their career opportunities and become true leaders in the profession.”
Students can choose from the General Program or five specializations to develop expertise in a focused, highly relevant area. The General Program allows students to choose two elective courses in their area of interest with the option of applying those electives to complete a specialization:
For some students, science education begins and ends in high school. For others, however, it's a course of study that knows no beginning or end.
For 2008 West Virginia Teacher of the Year Eric Kincaid, science was something that was part of his earliest days, even if he didn't use that word for it. “I was always collecting specimens in middle school,” says Kincaid, a biology teacher at Morgantown High School in Morgantown, West Virginia. “'Specimens' is what my mother called them. I'd come home with little bugs and rocks and stuff like that in my pocket.”
Early on, this helped him see that education was something larger than just what happened at school. Learning could clearly take place anywhere, at anytime—something Kincaid says he learned from his grandfather who, although he had to drop out of school at age 13 to work, continued to educate himself. “He read everything he could and learned everything he could,” says Kincaid, noting his admiration. “His knowledge really blows me away even though he only has an eighth grade education.”
In his classes, Kincaid tries to help students see that education isn't always about a scholastic context. He works to show them that scientists are doing research outside of the classroom walls all the time. What's more, they're often doing research that looks a lot like the genetic work he does with his AP kids—analyzing DNA, trying to diagnose genetic disorders, and even manipulating the genome.
“I like finding new articles or videos, because the kids really like getting those news stories. I like showing the kids what the potential is. A couple of times I've found things that were published the day I showed it to them, so they can see it's not just coming from their text books—this is information that is coming up all the time,” he says. “I also want to try to get kids to get the information on their own—to teach them how to use the tools that we have that will allow them to get information, and remember it, and use it, and apply it. If I can do that, then I'm pretty happy, because the amount of information we're getting now is amazing. There is no way you can actually remember it all. If we can give them the tools to get information on their own, then they have a better chance of being successful.”
Of course, there's also the learning that goes on for students after they leave his class—that's the kind of learning that may end up taking students much deeper into science than their teacher will ever go. For Kincaid, a student who can outdo him is a dream come true.
One of his favorite memories of teaching involves a very reserved pupil who had just lost her father and didn't seem engaged in class. “It was amazing what her academic ability was, but she was very quiet—never said a whole lot,” he says. “That was just as I was starting to try to teach genes and different genome studies, and she ended up taking what I taught her and going into that research on her own.”
Today, that shy, reserved student is working on a combined M.D./Ph.D. at Harvard University. “She is doing cancer research—she wanted to fight the cancer that killed her dad,” says Kincaid. And now, she's the one offering words of encouragement: “She writes, 'Keep up those genomic studies, keep looking at those techniques and all that, because that's what enabled me to get ahead,'” he says. “That's why I'm here now.”
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Dr. Reza Hamzaee, a faculty member in the School of Management, co-published “Critical Thinking: A Foundation for a Better Learning and an Effective Teaching: A Systemic Approach” (Global Business & Economics Anthology, Vol. 1, 2009) and published “An Assessment of Global Economic Recession With a Focus on Iranian Economy” (Journal of Accountancy, Vol. 12, 2009).
Molly Hillig, a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) student, will be serving as a nurse at the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia. She will educate Americans coming to Bolivia about health concerns and provide education and medical care to Americans living in and near the embassy.
Joseph L. Ricca, a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) student, is now superintendent of East Hanover schools, East Hanover, N.J. He formerly served as the principal of East Hanover Middle School.
Kenneth R. Williams, a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences student, was awarded fourth place in the 2009 General William E. DePuy Writing Competition, sponsored by the United States Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for his article “The Noncommissioned Officer as Moral Exemplar.” His article will appear in the September/October issue of Military Review. Williams has served as an active duty Army chaplain for 15 years and is currently assigned as the brigade chaplain, 14th Military Police Brigade, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He was recently selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel.
Please join us for the latest session of Walden University’s online Career Lecture Series on Thursday, November 19, at 2 p.m. Eastern. The topic, “Building Blocks of Starting a Nonprofit Organization,” is presented by Dr. Gary Kelsey, a faculty member in Walden’s School of Public Policy and Administration.
Reservations are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and space is limited, so register today. This event is brought to you by the Office of Alumni Relations andCareer Services Center.
About the Speaker Dr. Gary Kelsey has 32 years of experience in the nonprofit, government, and education sectors. As an organizational development consultant, Dr. Kelsey has provided nonprofit board development, program development, strategic planning, fundraising, collaboration, team-building, qualitative research, and other organizational development assistance and training to more than 250 nonprofit, philanthropic, education, and government organizations. Dr. Kelsey is a faculty member at Walden University, the University of St. Thomas, and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. He holds a B.A. in social work from St. Cloud State University, an M.A. in human and health services administration from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, and a Doctorate of Education in leadership from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.
Today’s regulatory environment is enough to make a data manager’s head spin. From legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to credit card processing security standards, data managers now face a dizzying array of regulations regarding what types of data must be stored and for how long.
But that’s not all. Thanks to a December 2006 amendment to the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to encompass digital information, U.S. courts are now empowered to order companies to produce the right data in record time. Because e-discovery allows everything from e-mail to PowerPoint presentations to be called into evidence, companies must be prepared to preserve and sift through mounds of electronic data at breakneck speed or face possible legal penalties.
In response to such challenges, many data managers are upping the ante by purchasing vast amounts of data storage hardware. Research firm IDC reports the total amount of disk storage shipped in 2008 grew 40.5% over the previous year. According to research firm Forrester Research, 40% of enterprises said they plan to spend more on storage hardware in the coming year, with another 46% saying their spending on storage will be level. What’s more, Forrester estimates storage capacity requirements are growing at a rate of between 15% and 25% per year.
In addition to scrambling for the necessary hardware, many companies are adopting solutions that promise to help them better analyze, archive, manage, protect, and purge their data to meet long-term management goals.
Taking inventory Take, for example, Vivisimo and its Velocity Search Platform. This data analysis software provides companies with easy access to information and content without having to rethink the way in which content is produced and stored. Using proprietary conceptual search technology, Velocity helps companies easily determine what information currently resides on a databases, how employees use and access this information, and how best to store this data on a long-term basis.
Setting data aside Once companies have taken proper inventory of their data, the next step is deploying a data archiving tool. Data archiving works by removing and archiving master data from a database and storing it on a variety of storage mediums for future access.
After all, says Brian Babineau, a senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Massachusetts, “If data is being transacted upon on a regular basis, trying to figure out how you’re going to store that data, where you’re going to keep it, and how long you’re going to keep it is nearly impossible.”
Fortunately, by systematically extracting data from a primary environment, data archiving technology lets data managers store only the information needed to meet regulatory requirements while improving the performance and availability of critical systems.
Managing resources Another approach data managers are taking to sorting out their data is through the use of storage resource management (SRM) technology. Tool suites such as the IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center help companies better manage their storage system capacity by centralizing, simplifying, and automating storage tasks. What’s more, not only can SRM tools better provision storage to optimize the use of existing storage resources, but they can also forecast future storage needs to prevent outages. For example, an SRM tool can automatically notify a data manager that storage capacity has reached its maximum threshold and that it’s time to acquire more capacity before disaster strikes.
Preventing leakages Similarly, data-leak prevention products are helping companies keep better tabs on their data. Firewalls and encryption may keep hackers at bay, but a data-leak protection solution from vendors such as RSA, the security division of EMC, can serve as an early warning system that notifies data managers when employees are about to send out sensitive or classified corporate data. It’s a policy-based approach to data protection that, according to Greg Schulz, founder of StorageIO Group, a storage consultancy, helps data managers “monitor their networks, systems, and applications for vulnerabilities that will automatically set off an alarm when critical data is about to be leaked.”
New trends Getting a better handle on data storage is also leading many companies to hot trends such as cloud computing and virtualization. Virtualization, for instance, pools storage from multiple devices into a single storage mechanism that can be managed centrally, enabling one computer to do the work of several machines. “The more tools that a company has to move data between physical devices, the better off they are,” says Babineau, highlighting the flexibility provided by virtualization.
The downside, warns Schulz, is that virtualization can introduce more issues. “With virtualization and cloud computing, all you’re doing is moving data around. That data still has to be stored and protected somewhere. You can protect it in the cloud, but guess what, you’ve just introduced another point of vulnerability.” Internal checks and balances Hot technologies aside, if data managers plan to cope with the regulatory requirements governing data storage today, then they must take a long, hard look at their internal policies and procedures. “Don’t make the mistake of assuming that your data and information are secure as long as they’re in your company,” says Schulz. “The headline news is always about a [storage] tape containing a million names getting released. But how about the 12,000 laptops that are lost or forgotten every month at Los Angeles airport—and the data on those [computers].”
For this reason, Schulz recommends that data managers establish and enforce stringent policies related to company-issued USB thumb drives, laptops, iPhones—any portable device that can transport confidential information and risk exposing a company to security breaches and legal liabilities.
“Policies are essential,” says Schulz. “Too often, we try to throw technology at the problem rather than create a policy or approach.”
Babineau agrees. He says that many companies make the mistake of leveraging technology to store too much data. For example, the Radicati Group estimates that the average corporate email user sends and receives a total of 84 messages per day and that the average size of a message without an attachment is about 22 KB. That can add up to a ton of non-mission critical data—and ever-expanding storage capacity needs. However, with the right data retention polices in place, a company can regularly purge its data while still sticking to the letter of the law.
“The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allow you to expire content,” says Babineau. “You just can’t do it on a one-off basis. You actually have to have some consistent rules and policies to do it.”
Today’s data managers are facing stringent storage requirements at a time when companies are being deluged with everything from Word documents and email to business-processing applications and data-devouring digital content. In the end, overcoming these long-term data management challenges comes down to striking just the right balance between cutting-edge technology and internal policies.
To support research that leads to real-world solutions, Walden
University awarded four faculty members and six faculty teams the 2009 Faculty Research Initiative Grant,
totaling $139,500. With the goal of supporting excellence in scholarly
work, the grant program helps fund select faculty research projects
that are deemed exceptional in merit. The grants provide seed money for
the development of faculty research agendas.
Walden University congratulates the following individuals and research teams for their standout projects:
Assessing a Predictive Modeling Technique for Proactive Patient Management of Diabetes
Principal Investigator: Dr. Howard B. Schechtner, School of Management Co-Principal Investigator: Mr. Nithyanandam Mathiyazhagan, School of Management Grant Amount: $15,000 Project Abstract: Diabetes affects nearly 25 million Americans and is estimated to cost approximately $125 billion annually. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. The human cost can be measured in terms of hospitalizations, drug costs, amputations, blindness, nerve damage, pain management and other health problems. The societal cost is in the trillions of dollars and is stressing a health care system whose costs are soaring. This study will create and assess predictive models for patients to proactively treat their blood sugar levels. It is difficult for patients to predict blood sugar as current technology gives them only a momentary reading without indicating whether levels are rising or falling. If insulin boluses are injected when sugars are high but actually falling, a serious hypoglycemic event requiring hospitalization could transpire. The model will take into account a number of variables such as insulin dose, blood sugar level, food intake (grams of carbohydrates), calories consumed, food timing, physical activity, type of activity, duration of activity, time of day, day of week and historical blood sugar readings. These explicit and tacit knowledge variables will guide the creation of the predictive model. The goal of the research is to tighten the control of blood sugar range which typically means reducing the running average of blood sugar level readings and reducing high and low readings. The theoretical basis for the study rests with Nonaka and Takeuchi’s Spiral Process Theory of Knowledge which will guide the creation of the model. This knowledge-based, technology-leveraged approach has the goal of greater adherence to self-controlled diabetes management through tacit and explicit knowledge conversion and internalization.
Formative Research to Identify Barriers to Completing Prenatal Care Services in HIV-Positive Communities in Rural South India
Principal Investigator: Dr. Vishnu-Priya Sneller, College of Health Sciences Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Raghu Korripati, School of Management Grant Amount: $20,000 Project Abstract: The study proposes to use qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the prenatal services available to women in rural India. In collaboration with a local non-government agency that provides HIV prevention services in three different settings in Andhra-Pradesh. Participants will be residents from communities where HIV is known to be present. Participating communities will be identified by locating HIV-positive women who were lost to follow-up during the third trimester of pregnancy and missed an opportunity to prevent perinatal transmission of HIV. The project proposes to use qualitative and quantitative methods to identify barriers to prenatal care and health status of HIV-positive women who were lost to follow-up. Qualitative methods will use focus groups and non-structured interviews. The quantitative method will use structured interviews. Focus groups composed of women 16 years and older and couples from these communities will inform the development of communication messages and print material promoting prenatal care. Focus groups will also be used to develop the questionnaire, which will be used for individual interviews. Women 16 years and older from these communities will participate voluntarily in the structured individual interviews. Univariate and logistic regression models will be used to describe the barriers to prenatal care and risk for HIV infections in these communities.
About the Faculty Research Initiative Grant The Faculty Research Initiative Grant program is open to all faculty who have been employed by Walden for a minimum of six months. Grant funds can be used to support pilot research projects and small-scale research studies, and to supplement new areas of investigation that are spin-off studies or sub-studies of larger ongoing research projects.
This novel, Janet Cunningham’s first, describes the lives of three
women who face life challenges and move through them to greater
happiness. Everyone has events in life that jolt their emotions and
well-being. How we handle these occurrences determines whether we
“spiral upward,” growing through the experience into greater joy and
fulfillment, or “spiral downward” into sadness, anger or hopelessness.
This book is filled with valuable information and insight into
relationships, weight management and feminine intuitive nature.
Both teachers and students can benefit from mentors, but the challenge lies in how to find or become one, because the very nature of mentors is rooted in an organic process.
When seeking a mentor, having a specific project or idea you need guidance with can be helpful. Scott Key, a lawyer and an instructor at Mercer University, says mentors have been very important for his professional development. “In school, mentors were key professors whose counsel I sought for writing suggestions, vocational discernment and practical advice,” he said.
By the time Ethel Jameson walked into Meredith Gardner’s life, Jameson had already retired from the teaching profession. But that did not mean she was done educating.
Jameson, who was Gardner’s nanny and later French tutor, eventually became Gardner’s mentor. “She personified so many values that I learned at a young age. She got bumped up from a tutor to a mentor. Little did I know that she would be setting the stage for me to learn what it was like to have a mentor and the consequences of such a privilege.”
Gardner, decades after Jameson became her mentor, found herself using the experience in her professional life. She started the Future Manager’s Program at the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City. When it comes to mentors, the key distinction is between formality and informality, says Gardner.
“From the mentor point of view, I recommend that the mentors choose to participate,” adds Gardner. “Even if there are fewer than you hope for or expect, the people who show up want to be there, making their impact even stronger and memorable.”
Gardner learned that lesson the hard way with the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s program, in which they assigned mentors to mentees. “We ended up assigning people through having a formal program. The learning was that most people were too busy to give quality time.”
During the process, Gardner also has learned there are important qualities that mentors should posses. Whether looking for a mentor or trying to become one, it is important to be honest. “There is an openness and vulnerability that develops on both sides. When the relationship is developed with skill, the unfolding is miraculous,” she says. “There is no blame or retaliation.”
Persistence is another key. “Being a mentor means being the demonstration of the ability to break through frustrations to convert reality into dreams. It’s a ‘stick-to-it-ivness’ that just won’t go away.”
Other actions Gardner stresses are listening with undivided attention, giving judgment-free respect and honoring the responsibilities of the mentor role, such as showing up at scheduled meetings.
And, of course, there is always the function of inspiration. Gardner says when the mentor inspires someone, there is an energy surge in the mentee. “A new unimagined life course is set in motion, smashing preconceived notions,” she says. “This allows for a movement forward and might not happen without the encouragement of the mentor.”
Perhaps the best thing about the mentor system is it can start a chain reaction: The mentees often become mentors. Decades after Jameson entered her life, Gardner is a mentor to two younger women.
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“It was something I always wanted to do...I decided that it would be easier to make a difference teaching kids like me [with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder and other learning challenges]...I like this even better because I can help even more kids.” —Greg Johnson, a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) student, discussing his motivation for getting involved in special education in an Aug. 1, 2009, article in the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, Lockport, N.Y.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to serve with the men and women of the 106th Rescue Wing and their families during this time of war for our nation and state. Their service and sacrifice went far beyond what was expected, and I will always remember what they did so ‘that others may live.’” —Michael Canders, a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences graduate, on leaving command of the 106th Rescue Wing to assume command of an overseas Air Expeditionary Group, in a press release from the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
“I realized that my success was up to me...There is a chance of minimizing the effects of drug addiction in Baltimore, but it will take a strong community effort that involves law enforcement, educators, medical professionals, legislators and community residents.” —Michael Murrell, a Ph.D. in Public Health student, in an article on Examiner.com.
“...[W]e can learn so much from the younger set. We have to stop dictating and start listening...The most important message is to avoid stereotyping and to embrace the gifts each generation has to offer.” —Geneva Craig, a 2004 Ph.D. in Health Services graduate, in an article on generational differences in nursing published in Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Dome.
“There [are] a lot of great things happening in education, and there’s a lot that still could get better...I was having to teach kids to read faster and put words into blanks, but that is teaching kids to take tests, not learn.” —Malinda Daniel, a Ph.D. in Education graduate, discussing her new book, Fallacy or Truth: The State of American Education Today (Highway, 2009), in an Aug. 31 article in The Lawrence Journal-World, Lawrence, Kan.
When Tania Harman was a child, education was not a priority—for her parents. But that didn’t stop her from gravitating toward everything having to do with learning. “I loved school. From the time I was in kindergarten, I told everyone I was going to grow up and be a teacher,” she says. “School was a place where I felt safe and at ease. It was something I was good at.”
Her parents just didn’t get it. Neither one had graduated high school and discouraged her from going to college, even refusing to fill out financial aid forms. Says Harman: “They thought it was a waste of time and money—they thought I thought I was better than everyone else.”
Today, as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Warren Primary Center in South Bend, Indiana, Harman works tirelessly to make sure that her students feel encouraged to excel—both by their teachers and by their parents. Support, she believes is something that ESL students need more than most kids. “These are kids who suddenly were taken out of everything they knew and loved and brought to a whole new country,” she says. “They have vastly different needs.”
Harman began her career in the late 1980s as a general education teacher at the elementary level, but when her district went through a restructuring in 2003, two-thirds of the area’s teachers had to change jobs. During the transition period, she applied to teach first grade and ended up being handed an ESL slot. “I immediately loved it,” she says. She amped up her skills by returning to school to add an ESL endorsement to her license, and then started studying Spanish in order to facilitate easier conversation with parents. All of these steps are in line with her belief that constant self-improvement and continuing education are musts for teachers. “You cannot stay in your classroom and isolate yourself from your colleagues,” she says.
Harman’s career at Walden is just another way in which she feels she can work to ensure that she’s giving all she can to her students—and to their families. She’s constantly impressed with the devotion of ESL students’ families to their children’s education and how their interest impacts students’ performances. “Their families are so appreciative of everything I do, and overall very supportive,” she says. “I actually get to spend my day teaching, not disciplining, because these are families that have placed different expectations on their children.”
For Harman, a good education means teaching kids’ families as well: In her role as an ESL teacher, she has worked with some parents to help them become citizens. Her own parents were never encouraged to see the value of schooling—Harman wants to make sure her students have families that are better aware of the fact that a good education is invaluable, especially when injecting a child into a new culture. “A teacher can’t do it alone. There has to be a partnership with the family. You have to make connections in the community to support what you’re doing in the classroom. We all need to work together to support student learning,” she says. Her approach is working: Last year, almost every one of her students graduated from bilingual classes into general education classes. Says Harman: “I’m kind of working myself out of a job!
Erikson Daniel Conkling, a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration student, has begun a faculty professor of social and behavioral sciences position at the Logansport, Ind., campus of Ivy Tech Community College.
Todd Daniel, a Ph.D. in Psychology student, was awarded the 2009 Best Student Poster Presentation for his poster, "On Thin Ice: Listening to Methamphetamine Users in the Ozarks," at the Walden University summer residency held at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Dr. Bernice Kennedy, a faculty member in the College of Health Sciences, published “Psychosocial Model: Racism as a Predictor of Adherence and Compliance to Treatment and Health Outcomes Among African Americans” (Journal of Theory Construction & Testing, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2009).
Dr. Jason Seacat, a faculty member in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, co-published two articles: “Dental Students Treating Patients Living With HIV/AIDS: The Influence of Attitudes and HIV Knowledge” (Journal of Dental Education, Vol. 73, Issue 4, 2009) and “Stereotype Threat and the Exercise/Dietary Health Intentions of Overweight Women” (Journal of Health Psychology, May 2009).
Dr. Jeff Snodgrass, a faculty member in the College of Health Sciences, co-published “Faculty Perceptions of Occupational Therapy Program Directors' Leadership Styles and Outcomes of Leadership” in the Journal of Allied Health (Vol. 37, 2008).
Many Americans think of parks and rainforest when they think of Costa Rica—an exotic vacation destination with scuba diving and hiking. But not too long ago, the only creatures hiking through a large swath of northwest Costa Rica were farmers and cows.
Originally wooded with dry forest, cloud forest, and rain forest, by the 1960s and ‘70s, most of the land had become dry savanna. But from one couple's initiative and a many private donations, 500 miles of savanna has been restored into national parkland.
Restoration minimalism Dan Janzen, the field biologist, who, along with his wife, fellow field biologist, Winnie Hallwachs, pioneered the effort to restore the land, said the most important thing they needed to do to restore the land was to buy it.
“We don't plant any trees,” Janzen says, “wind and animals bring the seeds. We don't plant anything. What you have to do is stop anybody or anything from stopping animals.”
Of course, the reality is somewhat more complex. The Area de Conservacion Guanacaste has a staff of 150 people and an operating budget of about $1.5 million. Among other projects, the staff fights fires, researches wildlife, educates students in the surrounding areas about biology, and yes, in some areas, even plants some trees.
But Janzen says all that is practically beside the point. “Biologically, restoration is a breeze,” he says. “If you're willing to let a large area restore itself, that will happen.
“The real world is that every square foot out there is owned by someone,” Janzen says, and they're using it for something. If you want to use it for something else, for instance, if you want to let the forest grow back, you just buy the land.
William Allen documented the restoration process in his book Green Phoenix: Restoring the Tropical Forests of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. “The restoration effort was incredibly successful,” says Allen. “There’s been nothing like it anywhere, as far as I’ve been able to learn by talking with a wide range of leading and lesser tropical ecologists who know this world.”
Janzen says in another 100 years, the average observer would never know there had been anything but forest on the land. (He says it'll take about 500 years for the true balance to be restored.)
He raised most of the money to buy the land through private donations—although he worked with the Costa Rican government, and the park continues to be run in cooperation with the government. But he says whether you raise money through tax dollars or private investment or winning the lottery is irrelevant.
A wider look A more important question might be whether this model—large-scale buy back of degraded landscapes for the purpose of restoration—can be repeated successfully elsewhere.
One of the elements that made Janzen's plan for restoration possible was that undisturbed parts of the forest remained. Janzen says almost all the old species still existed in pockets on the land. Perhaps equally crucial, Janzen was able to buy a large enough amount of land to allow the natural process of succession to restart.
Allen says Janzen was helped by the fact that “in the 1980s the farm economy, especially for cattle production, was experiencing a major economic downturn, and many folks were glad to sell off and get out. For many of them, the restoration project’s interest in buying their land was a godsend. The restoration project was fortunate to have such an economic scenario make the land relatively available.”
But in other places, agriculture is still profitable, or the land has been used for other reasons, like building people's homes. Those owners might not be so interested in selling—or the price might be too high no matter how many people click on the donation button.
This, says Rob French, is largely the case in the Florida Everglades. What was once a “river of grass”—a wetland that covered much of south Florida—now contains cities, roads, sugar plantations, and farms.
In order to make the swampy land ready for development, the army corps of engineers built canals, dykes and levees, and engineered the water to flow where they wanted, when they wanted. French, an environmental engineer who has spent much of his 30-plus-year career in Florida, says he “thinks it is virtually an impossible task now to go back and restore the Everglades.” He says the best shot is to try to fix some of the damage. For instance, the water quality in Everglades estuaries has been deteriorating, because of the way the water flow has been controlled. During the rainy season, water is stored in Lake Okeechobee until it reaches a certain level, at which point water is released toward the ocean. But the stored water is freshwater, and when a large amount blasts through the brackish estuaries (a mix of salt and freshwater), it changes the salt content of the estuaries. It essentially kills everything in there, says French.
A solution along the lines of the Guanacaste restoration project would be for someone to buy up all the land and destroy all the levees, dykes, and canals to restore water flow to its natural state.
Restoration buy-back in Florida In some places, this is exactly what the Everglades restoration project, funded through a joint agreement with the federal government and the state of Florida, is doing.
Randy Smith, media relations specialist for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), gives an example: Picuyune Strand, in southwest Florida, a 55,000 acre tract bought by developers in the 1950s and ‘60s that was going to be a city. The owners went bankrupt, Smith says, but before they did, they put in roads and dug canals. Smith says, “the state of Florida bought that and we have been very successful in filing in one of the canals, and removing roads and the handful of houses that were there. And in the areas where we've gone in and filled up the canal, the sheet flow of water has gone back to a normal state.”
Engineering restoration But Fred Sklar, the director of the SFWMD's Everglades division says, “we often find that it's very hard to just let nature take its course.” For instance, he says, thanks to invasive species like the Brazilian pepper, the ecology is changing. Invasive plants and animals crowd out the ones that lived there naturally—and that can have consequences all the way up the food chain, when animals can no longer find as much of what they’re used to eating. “Right now nature is having a hard time, and it's on a trajectory that often it means we have to go in and do something actively.”
So to improve water quality in the estuaries, the SFWMD is engineering a new system of storage and release that would vent the water in a more natural cycle, rather than in bursts. Their approach has its critics. Stuart Pimm, a conservation ecologist at Duke University says that, with the billions of tax dollars being spent—current estimates hover around $10–12 billion—they could absolutely do more.
Pimm says real restoration requires restoring the natural flow, not building ever more complex systems to manage the water in new ways. He calls the restoration at Guanacaste “spectacular” but says, “what's happening in Everglades is really a very, very different kind of event.”
Ultimately, SFWMD's Sklar says, “I think the idea that we are just engineering restoration rather than allowing nature to take its course is something that we struggle with everyday. We always are trying to create an environment where we can let nature take its course.”
Once associated only with cavities and simple weight gain, sugar is now linked to a host of devastating health conditions including cancer, epilepsy, dementia, hypoglycemia and obesity. In Suicide by Sugar, sugar addiction expert Dr. Nancy Appleton and health writer G. N. Jacobs not only expose the exorbitant levels of sugar we ingest but also document the connection between our current health crisis and our collective sweet tooth. Suicide by Sugar begins with the story of Dr. Appleton’s battle with her own sugar addiction. Next, the authors examine all the frightening (and unknown) things that can go wrong when people consume too much sugar, from increased susceptibility to disease to imbalanced body chemistry. They go on to discuss the various ways scientists measure sugar’s impact on blood glucose and explain why these statistics cannot be solely relied on when choosing foods. The authors provide shocking information about the amount of sugar found in many popular foods and beverages and an in-depth discussion of the ailments now associated with excessive sugar consumption. Finally, Dr. Appleton’s easy-to-follow, effective lifestyle plan—complete with recipes—guides you in eliminating sugar from your life.
John E. Cech, a Ph.D. in Education student, published “Dual Enrollment, Multiple Paths and Diverse Students: A Look at Options for Enhancing Entry Into Postsecondary Education” in the Spring 2009 issue of The Montana Professor.
Dr. Ron Hirschbein, a faculty member in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, published “Nuclear Strategists in Wonderland” in Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy (Wiley, 2010).
Dr. Ronald P. Hudak, a faculty member in the College of Health Sciences, co-published “The U.S. Army Wounded Warrior Program (AW2): A Case Study in Designing a Nonmedical Case Management Program for Severely Wounded, Injured, and Ill Service Members and Their Families” in the June 2009 issue of Military Medicine.
Sonya Jackson, a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) student, was selected as interim school superintendent of Hernando County Schools, Hernando County, Fla.
Raymond Marbury, a Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.) student, was hired as a management analyst in the Internal Revenue Service Chief Counsel's Office. In addition, he is serving as an adjunct professor at Shenandoah University, Winchester, Va.
Dr. Darlington Mgbeke, a faculty member in the Center for Undergraduate Studies, published “The Dynamics of Inept Administrative Leadership In Nigeria Public Sector: A Guide To Civic Engagement” (International Culture Journal, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2009).
Dr. Cheryl Parker, a faculty member in the College of Health Sciences, co-published “Moving Along: Using Mobility Technology to Improve Pharmacist Workflow in the PICU Rounding Process” in the fall 2008 issue of The Journal of Healthcare Information Managementand “Mobile Device Improves Documentation Workflow and Nurse Satisfaction” in the summer 2008 issue of CARING Newsletter.
Walden University’s new Education Specialist (Ed.S.) in Educational Leadership and Administration (Principal Preparation) program is designed to enable educators to advance their careers while developing the knowledge, skills, and experience to become a licensed principal or administrator in P–12 schools.
Offered through Walden’s Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership, this unique scholar-practitioner post-master’s degree program, grounded in current research, provides students with opportunities to respond to authentic case studies, participate in school leadership experiences, work side by side with principal mentors, and develop the ability to impact social change.
“Walden’s Ed.S. in Educational Leadership and Administration program is preparing the next generation of P–12 school administrators and principals to truly impact the future success of our nation’s education system,” said Dr. Kate Steffens, dean of Walden’s Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership. “Graduates of the program will be equipped to promote the success of every student and guide other professionals in the pursuit of excellence in education.”
There's an Italian proverb that reflects the life philosophy of longtime educator Cathy Marziali: La famiglia è la patria del cuore—family is the homeland of the heart. In Marziali's case, however, "family" doesn't just mean her husband and two children: It's a word that encompasses all the small people who've entered her classroom in the last two decades.
"It's always important to me to build a sense of community. When school starts, I tell my kids and their families, 'When you walk into this classroom, we treat each other like family. We're here to help each other,’" says Marziali. Her mothering, tender approach to working with kids is only part of the reason that she was named the 2008 Teacher of the Year representing the Department of Defense Education Activity.
The idea of becoming a teacher first occurred to Marziali when she was just eight years old—it was largely thanks to a teacher she'd had who was extra maternal. "My third grade teacher was wonderful," she recalls. "She was the kind of teacher who gives you those warm feelings. She built the kind of relationships that are so important in a classroom when you want to get kids to learn. I wanted to be just like her."
After graduating with a degree in psychology and then spending some post college years in Italy (where she met her husband), Marziali returned home to Hanford, California, and answered an ad placed by a local school. When they found out she spoke Italian, they told her to take classes to get credentialed and asked her to work with Spanish-speaking elementary school children in order to help transition them into mainstream English classrooms. She didn't speak any Spanish, but by semester's end she knew enough to do conferences without a translator. "The kids taught me," she says.
Most of what she's learned about teaching has been ascertained on the job. "My teaching was all through games and song. Little kids, they're sponges," she says. Her experience as a mother has also informed her work in the classroom. "A lot of teaching foreign language comes from what parents do automatically. Just look at someone talking to a baby. You say, 'Oh, look. Look at the ball. See how it bounces.' That stuff comes to us naturally, I think."
Marziali has worked extensively in bilingual classrooms. In 2004, she moved to Italy to teach Spanish and Italian to English-speaking children of American military personnel stationed there. This year, she moved again—this time to Germany, where she is working as an assistant principal at an American Department of Defense school.
At Walden University, Marziali is studying educational technology. She believes that educators shouldn't malign technological advances. "There are these rules about not having your cell phone at school or taking your iPod out of your bag, but if these are things that kids are using, then why should we confiscate them? We need to find ways to integrate them into the curriculum," she says.
For several years, she's been teaching a computer program that is most often seen in business meetings: PowerPoint. Even with this, there is a family element: At the end of last year, Marziali had her first graders give PowerPoint slideshows about their lives and their families at an assembly with their parents—in Italian, no less.
At the end of his presentation, one shy boy started crying. "I couldn't figure out why he was so upset, so I went over to see him, and he said he was crying because he was gonna miss me," Marziali recalls. The moment turned into a group hug.
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To support research that leads to real-world solutions, Walden University awarded four faculty members and six faculty teams the 2009 Faculty Research Initiative Grant, totaling $139,500. This year’s grants support research projects ranging from determining the predictors of prejudice to identifying prenatal-care barriers in rural south Indian HIV-positive communities. With the goal of supporting excellence in scholarly work, the grant program helps fund select faculty research projects that are deemed exceptional in merit. The grants provide seed money for the development of faculty research agendas.
Walden University congratulates the following individuals and research teams for their standout projects: Utilization of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Title I, Part A Stimulus Funds: Translations of Federal, State and District Policy to Action
Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Phyllis Durden, The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Paula Dawidowicz, The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership Grant Amount: $18,000 Project Abstract: It is unclear how local districts interpret local guidelines for the use of federal funding and, as a result, the impact those funds have on students’ performance and/or school climate. With the introduction of the short-term, nonrenewable American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Policy, and economic stimulus funds for Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), understanding the factors impacting interpretation of these initiatives, their implementation and their ultimate educational impact becomes particularly important to ensure the funds’ impacts are maximized. The purpose of the proposed research is to conduct a multiple case study of the implementation process of those stimulus funds allocated for school improvement in terms of the selections made for utilization of funds. The independent variables are the school improvement initiatives funded by the ARRA Title I, Part A funds. The intervening variables are the socioeconomic level (as measured by the Free and Reduced Price Lunch percentage) and the cultural attitudes in the locations. The dependent variables are student achievement and school climate. Data sources will include several annual government reports and archived data, surveys and interviews. Analysis will be accomplished through use of both SPSS and NVivo software and will include ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis of quantitative data and open coding and axial coding to identify themes and patterns in qualitative data, as well as integration of quantitative and qualitative data, to draw overall conclusions. Through this research, greater understanding of the funding to implementation process, intervening factors and potential results of short-term funding in Title I, Part A programs can develop and, as a result, refinement of policy and process can occur. Evaluating the Impact of Community Leadership: Researching Leadership Development Outcomes
Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Janice Garfield, The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Kurt Schoch, The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership Grant Amount: $18,500 Project Abstract: Community-based leadership development projects exist in many communities, small and large, across the United States and in other countries. Recent literature, such as the 2002 report of research sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation, attempted to discern the impact of community-based leadership development programs. Sogunro’s (1997) study of a leadership development program in Alberta, Canada showed increases in leadership knowledge and behavior for participants in a rural leadership education program, based on responses from recent and long-term graduates. The purpose of this research is to expand on previous work and compare and contrast three existing leadership development initiatives (Leadership New Haven [Conn.], Leadership Johnson County [Ind.] and Leadership Lynchburg [Va.]) to identify key factors in their success and overall impact. This project also expands the related research presented at the Walden University Poster Session conducted at the January 2009 residency and faculty meeting titled “Evaluating the Impact of Community Leadership.”
This multiple case-study research will use elements of the CIPP (Context Input Process Product) model of program evaluation, while using the structure and core values of the Baldrige National Quality Program (BNQP) as a conceptual framework. Sources of data will include interviews (with leadership development program participants, planners and stakeholders), observations of program activities, and document review (program materials, needs assessments, educational materials and program evaluations). This approach combines Yin’s concepts of using case studies in evaluation research for both explanation of “presumed causal links” and description of “an intervention and the real-life context in which it” occurs. Data analysis will include description, development of categories and naturalistic generalizations to identify and compare causal links.
The aim of this research is to expand the scope of existing community leadership development program evaluation, focusing on the impact of such programs regionally and globally. With the current economic concerns and expanding global markets, even small markets (towns, counties) are becoming concerned about adopting a global perspective. This affects the sustainability of local economies, as they strive to be competitive in a larger, more global economy.
Examining Resilience Factors for a Transsexual Woman of Mexican Heritage
Principal Investigator: Dr. Stacee Reicherzer, School of Counseling and Social Service Grant Amount: $9,000 Project Abstract: This single case study will examine resilience factors in the life of a transsexual woman of Mexican ethnic origin who works as a drag performer in an urban area of south Texas. The study’s aim will be to explore real-world examples of marginalization, social opprobrium, strength and resiliency for the purpose of improving community-based intervention and prevention efforts that address suicidality for transgender women of color. Data will be collected through personal interviews with the participant, direct and indirect observations of her drag performances and a review of the artifacts of her life that reveal her story of resilience. Results will be analyzed using NVivo 8 through the use of two case study methods: direct interpretation, in which a single event is reviewed numerous times for the purpose of understanding its importance; and categorical aggregation, in which numbers of specific occurrences are recorded and analyzed. Findings from this research would assist the development of better counseling and human services for the transgender community, potentially resulting in a reduction in transgender suicide rates through the use of evidence-based interventions.
“While a number of accounting programs delve immediately into creating and manipulating accounting tools, we wanted to give our students a broader business perspective,” said William Schulz, Ph.D., interim associate dean of the School of Management. “Our learning approach gives students a stronger foundation in understanding the many issues facing professionals in accounting, including the ethical implications of decision-making.”
Through the B.S. in Accounting, students can:
Gain a deeper understanding of the role of accounting and the importance of learning how to influence financial strategy, as well as the context behind the use of accounting tools such as financial statements
Strengthen their decision-making and problem-solving skills as they relate to interpreting business and accounting information
Become proficient in many of today’s most popular accounting software programs through hands-on case studies and team projects
Build on previous business and accounting experience with best practices in accounting functions, based on the most recent publication and codification of standards by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
Gregory Parker '09, who earned a Master of Public Administration degree and is a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration, was re-elected to the Comal County Commissioners Court (Texas) in November 2008. In September 2008, he was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications, where he leads the state's initiative for Next Generation 9-1-1.
Susan Sonnier '07, who earned an M.S. degree in Nursing, published a chapter in the textbook Disaster Nursing: A Handbook for Practice (Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2009), titled “Communicating in a Disaster." She also wrote two appendices for the textbook. Sonnier also was recently voted Nurse of the Year at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster, Texas.
Dr. Ellen Stoltz '01, who earned a Ph.D. in Education, recently completed two consecutive three-year terms as a commissioner for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Dr. Stoltz is the director of Special Education Instructional Support Services for Hartford Public Schools in Connecticut.
Gloria Brown Brooks '04, who earned an M.S. in Education and is now a student in the Ed.D. (Doctor of Education) program, was named a Teacher of the Year for 2008 by the San Benito County (Calif.) Office of Education. She is also the Thinkfinity presenter for the county’s Office of Education.
Vicky Panasuk '03, who earned an M.S. in Education, has been named principal at Jefferson Elementary School in Glendive, Mont.
Dr. Mario O. Barrett III '07, who earned a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences, wrote Leading from the Inside Out: Using the Barrett Leadership Model to Achieve Sustainable Happiness by Creating and Pursuing the Fulfillment of Your Life. (Dog Ear Publishing, 2008). The book has appeared regularly in the Top 10 of Buy.com's bestsellers for personal happiness books.
Dr. Dennis E. Morrow '92, who earned a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences, was recently named chair of the Business Department at Herzing University's Atlanta campus.
Dr. Ntiedo J. Umoren '00, who earned a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences, has been appointed the director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Development at the University of Uyo in Nigeria, where he is a faculty member.
Walden University is an accredited institution that for nearly 40 years has provided an engaging learning experience for working professionals. Our mission has attracted a community of extraordinary alumni, students and faculty, all sharing a common desire to make a positive social impact—to make a difference.
Click here or call (877) 847-5032 to request information or join the Walden community.
