News and Events
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Lori Ardovino, Music, has had her work, “From a Crack in the Wall,” published by Potenza Music. A song cycle for clarinet and soprano, this work was premiered in February by Ardovino and Melanie Williams in Seaside, Fla.
Robert Barone, History, accompanied UM students to Troy University-Dothan for the Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference on March 3. Steffany Sorensen, social science and English major, presented a paper titled “Hildegard of Bingen: Sexuality, Virginity, and the Feminine Divine.” Sorensen’s paper earned the conference’s Exceptional Merit Award.
Charlotte Daughhetee (Counseling), Shawne Sisk (Marriage and Family Counseling student) and Stephanie Puleo (Counseling) presented at the American Counseling Association Conference in San Francisco March 24. The topic of their presentation was “A Program for Training Teachers to Assist With School Disaster Debriefing.” Following school crisis/disaster events, it is important that students have an opportunity to debrief in order to mitigate long-term negative effects of crisis and trauma. Teachers have close relationships with children and can provide a sense of emotional stability during times of crisis. Additionally, by having teachers conduct debriefings, the school counselor and other mental-health professionals are freed up to provide services to students who exhibit more-severe trauma reactions. This program was developed to train teachers in crisis debriefing.
University of Montevallo TRIO staff (Sharon Gilbert, Mary Jo Buff, Denise Myers, Tracy Payne and Tonya Giddens) recently attended and presented at the Southeastern Regional TRIO Association (SAEOPP) conference in Jacksonville, Fla. During a special Super Sunday event prior to the beginning of the conference, Payne (McNair) presented the session “Graduate School 501: How to Prepare Your Students for Graduate School Success” and Buff (Upward Bound) presented a session titled “Scholarship Tips for Pre-College Programs.” Payne also facilitated a “Best Practices” round-table session, as well as a “Hot Topics” session for McNair Programs. During the conference, Buff presented “New Ways to Efficiently Use Student Data for Measurable Gains and Perpetual Student Growth as Mandated by Recent TRIO Department of Education Grant Competitions.” Gilbert (Upward Bound) and Giddens (McNair) were recognized for completing the two-year Emerging Leaders Institute. Gilbert and Myers were recognized for 20 and 15 years of service to TRIO programs, respectively. In addition, the Alabama TRIO association (AAEOPP) held its first state meeting under the leadership of President Payne since she took office in April 2011. Gilbert also serves on the state executive board as the treasurer.
Scott Stephens, Art, has an exhibition of his work, “Nature Viewed,” on display at the Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art, Piedmont College, Demorest, Ga. Stephens presented a gallery talk for the show March 22. The show will be open through March 31.