Debra Allen, Assistant Professor, Education, presented Math Classroom Challenges for All Middle Grades and Secondary Students in November 2017 at the Exceptional Children’s Conference, Louisville, Ky.

Larry Boehm, Professor, Psychology, presented the paper Subjective Happiness and Meaning in Life as Mediators of the Mindfulness-life Satisfaction Relationship at the 29th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science in Boston, Mass. Professor Boehm also presented three papers at the Mid-America Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference, Evansville, Ind.: Effects of Tanning on Attractiveness and Self-esteem in collaboration with Crouch, B., & Lea, C. (2017); Interactions Between Mindfulness, Stress, and Academic Achievement in collaboration with Brooks, T. (2017); and How Emotional Intelligence Affect Employee Burnout in collaboration with Rauf, A., & Landis, S., (2017).

Angela Crawford, Assistant Professor, Business Administration, presented 10 Steps to Igniting Employee Passion during two breakout sessions in October 2017 at the John DiJulius Customer Experience Conference. This research on igniting employee passion is based on her consulting work and academic research. In November 2017, Professor Crawford partnered with Dr. John D. Rudnick, Jr. (TMC) and Dr. McGuire from Miami University at the 37th Original Lilly Conference on College, to submit a proposal for a presentation and panel discussion based on curriculum innovations business scholar-practitioners can bring to the classroom entitled Scholar-Practitioners Bridging the Skills Gap Through Innovative Curriculum Redesign.

Florence Dwyer, Associate Professor and Chair of the Foreign Languages department, received the prestigious award of the Palmes Académiques (French Academic Palms) by the French Minister of Education in August 2017 for her work completed for the French Art Discovery Midwest Network Franco-American project. She also participated in the September 2017 KWLA Conference (Kentucky World Language Association) in Louisville presenting the work completed during her sabbatical project in fall 2016. The session was entitled: French Art Discovery Midwest Network: A Creative Project for French Students to Discover French Artwork in Midwest Museums. To see the results of this project, visit tmcky.us/dwyer.

Christine Griffiths, Assistant Professor, Athletic Training, is on the planning committee for the Northern Kentucky Athletic Training Research Night to be held in April 2018. Under her guidance, three graduate athletic training students are preparing research to present that evening. Additionally, TMC was invited to host the Kentucky Athletic Trainers Society Young Professionals Meeting on campus in March giving students another opportunity to present their research.

Dick Hague, Writer in Residence, English, received the first place award in Cincinnati’s 2017 Books by the Banks Literary Festival prose competition. The title of Hague’s piece is The Art of Creative Non-Fiction. This makes two years in a row that TMC writers have been in the spotlight — last year’s first place award went to Professor Sherry Cook Stanforth. The Festival features authors from all over the region.

Chris Lorentz, Professor, Biological Sciences, reports that Thomas More College was one of 11 environmental nonprofit organizations in Kentucky and Ohio to receive grant money from Duke Energy. The grant to TMC was the largest awarded in Kentucky and helps cover the costs of providing instruction for K-12 students and the general public on water protection and conservation. The slide show on all the winners can be viewed at tmcky.us/DUKEgrant. Dr. Lorentz also served as a source for an Enquirer Media article which covered the Ohio River fertilizer spill in December 2017. Read the article at tmcky.us/lorentz.

Christy Petroze, Associate Professor and Chair of the Education department, continues to work extensively as the TMC representative to CEEDAR (Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform) in Kentucky. Other Kentucky CEEDAR partners include the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board, the Kentucky Department of Education, and education faculty from the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville. The focus of their work is to improve the quality of educator preparation by ensuring that all teachers are skilled in high-leverage practices (HLPs) and the delivery of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for all students. The full article may be viewed at tmcky.us/petroze.

Malcolm Robinson, Professor and Chair of the Economics department, gave two public presentations in 2017 entitled Taxes, the Budget and Policy Priorities Tax Day Rally and was the keynote speaker at the 2017 Tax Day Rally held on Fountain Square in Cincinnati, Ohio. To see his address, visit tmcky.us/robinson. In May 2017, Professor Robinson presented a work shop entitled Game Theory for Government Communicators at the Kentucky Government Communicators Association Convention (KGCA) in Lexington, Ky.

Kate Rowekamp, Adjunct Professor, Art, participated in several shows in March 2018 with artwork on display in Art For Peace & Justice at Mount St. Joseph University, Pressing Entomology at the Bluegrass Printmakers Co-Op in Lexington, Ky., and at the 2nd Annual International Miniature Printmaking Exhibition held in Dubai.

John D. Rudnick, Jr., Professor, Business Administration, presented Leverage the Universality, Diversity, and Practicality of Lean Six Sigma: Considerations for Business and Higher Education at the annual International Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (ACBSP) Conference in Toronto (November 2017).  At this same conference, Dr. Rudnick also served on an international discussion panel for two topics – “Is economic nationalism consistent with the needs of healthcare delivery in the US”; and “Is moral cosmopolitanism compatible with economic nationalism?” In December, Dr. Rudnick’s article Servant Leadership: A Model Well-suited for Healthcare was published in Kentucky Medical News.

Sherry Cook Stanforth, Professor, English, and Director of the Creative Writing Vision Program, partnered the CWVP with The Cincinnati Arts Association, the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition and ArtsWave to create a SchoolTime stage performance, Express Appalachia: Journey and Identity. This interactive production featured local expressions of music, dance, folklore, poetry and storytelling. The show took place at the Cincinnati Aronoff Center’s Jarson Kaplan theater in February and was created, directed, and produced by Professor Stanforth.

Rebecca Tacy, Associate Professor, Nursing, has been a part of Promotoras Education for the last three years as a volunteer educator for lay health promoters in the Hispanic community. This program is sponsored by Area Health Education Center (AHEC) of Northern Kentucky. Professor Tacy also participates in the Explorer’s Program (AHEC, St. Elizabeth Healthcare) with the presentation entitled Why I Work in the Emergency Department. This program includes a demonstration and tour for high school students.

Reverend Gerald E. Twaddell, Professor, Philosophy, received the honor of being invested as a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in October 2017. The photo above (Fr. Twaddell far right), includes the new Knights and Dames with His Eminence American Cardinal Prelate Raymond Leo Burke who presided over the ceremony. Members accepted into the Order must live a life commensurate with the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church and are nominated by their bishop. Covington Bishop Most Rev. Roger J. Foys appears on the left.

Barbara Zahler, Professor, Education, celebrates being involved in the Ohio Kentucky Indiana (OKI) Children’s Literature Conference, which celebrated 20 years in 2017, since 2006. The conference has been hosted on the TMC campus for over 10 years with a goal of bringing quality authors, illustrators, and presenters to the tri-state area for the benefit of teachers, librarians, educators, and others serving youth.