West Chester U. tops for student voter engagement
WEST CHESTER » More gold for the Golden Rams! Students at West Chester University have again exceeded the national average, this time, by heading to the polls and earning a Gold Seal for their voter participation in midterm elections.
A national study reported 79% of WCU’s eligible student voters had registered to vote, and of those eligible, 56% voted in the 2018 midterm elections, showing a nearly 30% increase since the 2014 midterms. WCU students’ voting rate of 43.8% is 4.7 percentage points above the national rate of 39.1%. The national nonpartisan initiative ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge awards Gold Seals to institutions for achieving a student voting rate between 40% and 49%.
Data was gathered by the non-partisan National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education.
“West Chester University is thrilled that our level of student voter engagement is above the national average,” said Judy Kawamoto, WCU Assistant Vice President for Student Development. “We strive to create a culture of civic engagement and active citizenship on our campus, and this recognition is a reflection of the hard work by our Service-Learning and
Volunteer Programs staff.”
Widener honors faculty for excellence
CHESTER — Widener University honored top faculty members in the areas of teaching innovation, research, civic engagement and institutional leadership at its annual Faculty Awards banquet on Oct. 23.
“Widener faculty members are respected leaders in their fields who are intensely committed to the success of their students,” said Provost Andrew A. Workman. “The faculty recognized at the awards banquet represent our university’s commitment to innovative teaching, civic engagement, cutting-edge research, and shared governance. They truly are leaders on and off campus.” The honorees included: School of Engineering Professor Mark A. Nicosia, of Chadds Ford, who was named Distinguished University Professor. Nicosia
will serve as a distinguished professor for three years. Nicosia excels as an instructor, researcher, and campus leader. In the classroom, he engages his students through an approachable and ‘hands-on’ philosophy of teaching. His research focuses on swallowing disorders, and this work has led to Nicosia joining the board of the International Dysphagia Research Society. He has been an engaged academic citizen at many levels within the institution, most recently as Widener’s faculty chair;
College of Arts & Sciences Associate Professor Alexis Nagengast, of Garnet Valley, received the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. Nagengast is a model teacher-scholar who has integrated superior teaching with productive research. She uses highimpact educational practices at all course/lab levels. Since arriving at Widener in 2006, Nagengast has worked with 36 undergraduate research students who have delivered more than 100 oral and poster presentations at Widener and at various national conferences. Among Nagengast’s peer-reviewed publications, there are 20 students listed as co-authors;
College of Arts & Sciences Associate Professor Bretton T. Alvaré, of Horsham, received the Faculty Award for Civic Engagement. Alvaré has incorporated participatory action research across the anthropology curriculum. The model is
scaffolded through four years of classes involving field work in Chester, Pennsylvania as well as in Trinidad and Tobago. Because of Alvaré’s commitment to civic engagement, more than 380 students have completed over 6,800 hours of community service with dozens of organizations;
School of Engineering Associate Professor Anita Singh, of Media, Pennsylvania received the Outstanding Researcher Award. Singh focuses on advancing the field of biomedical engineering through a better understanding of injury mechanisms of nervous system injuries. Her projects also investigate interventions using bioengineering scaffolds, rehabilitation therapies such as passive (bike) and active (treadmill) training in spinal cord injury animals, and hypothermia post neonatal brachial plexus injury. She mentors and includes students in her research, which has led to co-authored publications and one of her students winning the “Best Undergraduate Research Award” at the 2016 Biomedical Engineering Society Conference;
College of Arts & Sciences Professor Janine M. Utell, of Philadelphia, received the Faculty Institutional Leadership Award. Utell has focused her career on helping students and faculty develop the skills and dispositions needed for meaningful lives and work. Within the humanities department, she has served as the chair of English and Creative Writing, growing the region’s only research program in textual scholarship, working on a concentration in the digital humanities, and developing a 4+1 program with Rosemont
College graduate programs; and The Fitz Dixon Innovation in Teaching Award is given to an individual or group who have designed, implemented and assessed an innovative or experimental teaching and learning project. The honor was shared by College of Arts & Sciences Professors Stephen R. Madigosky, of Westtown, and Beatriz Urraca, of Wallingford.
Madigosky and Urraca have developed Coffee Culture and the Environment in Costa Rica as an interdisciplinary course that exposes students to sustainable development through an intercultural collaboration with partners in Costa Rica. The course explores how coffee is entangled with social, environmental, and economic issues, and how those involved in its production might best use resources in the face of evolving economies and global climate change.