Post University faculty and staff's recent impacts across industries

Our faculty and staff share a common cultural mission to engage with their education communities, share their insights with their peers, and be the best in their disciplines. Their efforts continue to lead them to make impacts across the education sector and other industries. We wanted to highlight some of their recent achievements over the past few months.

Awards

Ruby Parker, Director of Post University's
English Language Institute

• Ruby Parker, Ph.D., Director of our English Language Institute, won the Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award, the highest level of achievement in Toastmasters International. Her High Performance Leadership project, which is one of the final requirements for DTM, was coaching the New Fairfield High School Academic Decathlon team in speech and interview, taking them all the way to nationals where the team won first place in "Speech Showcase" and "Rookie Team of the Year."

• The collective research project entitled, "The Continuing Odyssey of Mobile Learning Apps: From A to B, and Now Beyond," by Academic Program Managers Peter Chepya and Katey Baruth, Ph.D. was recommended by reviewers as a candidate for a Sloan-C Effective Practice Award.

Appointments and promotions

• Linda Kobylarz, CSA and Honors Program Director, has been elected President of the Connecticut Career Counseling and Development Association (CCCDA). The association's membership includes career counselors and other career professionals from many settings, including colleges/universities, high schools, business, "one-stop" employment centers, Connecticut Department of Labor, and private practice.

Deron Grabel, Academic Program
Manager

• Academic Program Manager Art Mollengarden was recently elected to Yale-Elmseed Enterprise Fund's Board of Directors, and will work with the team on their strategic vision and overall marketing. The organization has helped New Haven entrepreneurs start and expand their local businesses since 2001. 

• Deron Grabel, Sport Management Academic Program Manager, has been appointed our athletic department's new Faculty Athletics Representative. 

Speaking engagements and presentations

• Peter Chepya and Katey Baruth's proposal, "Mobile Learning Apps: An Analysis of User Data," was accepted at this year's Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning in October.

• Linda Kobylarz was a program presenter at the Connecticut Counseling Association (CCA) annual conference in April. She is on the Governing Council for CCA.

Peter Chepya, Academic Program Manager

• Laura Scaviola, Assistant Director of Admissions; and Kara D'Angelos, Assistant Director of Admissions, presented a session entitled "Never Saying 'That's Not My Job:' Servicing Students at a Small University" at the annual New England Association of College Admission Counseling conference in Biddeford, Maine.

• Academic Program Manager Danielle Williams, Ph.D. provided expert testimony in a recent criminal case for the Danbury State's Attorney's Office. Her testimony contributed to a guilty verdict on all charges of sexual abuse. She is a consultant as an expert witness on the topic of child sexual abuse and trauma for the attorney's office.

Publications

• The Journal of Advertising Research published in its June 2012 issue an article by Caroline Wilcox-Ugurlu, Ph.D., Associate Marketing Professor. Her article is entitled "The High Stakes of Sweepstakes -- Too Much of a Good Thing Can De-motivate Digital Consumers."

Grants

• Art Professor John Rohlfing has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, for continued development of his craftwork. A total of 46 grants were awarded, but only nine received the top funding of $5,000.

Congratulations to all our faculty and staff who have continued to excel in their focus areas!