Reach OutEngageTransform
A Newsletter from University Outreach and Engagement
October 2021
 
Join us next month for two special programs in Engaged Scholarship!
“COMMUNITY ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP: 
HOW TO CREATE, DEFINE, AND PUBLISH”

Tuesday, November 2, 2021
11:30 a.m. - 1:50 p.m.


Location: Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center, Room 151
(lunch provided)

 
Presenter:
Diane Doberneck, Ph.D.
Director for Faculty and Professional Development
Office of Public Engagement and Scholarship
Michigan State University
 
Sponsored by the Office of University Outreach and Engagement in collaboration with the Office of the Provost and the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center (TLPDC)

TTU Faculty, staff, and graduate students interested in integrating community engagement into their teaching, research and scholarship are invited to attend a special workshop presentation by Dr. Diane Doberneck, a foremost expert on community engaged scholarship. The workshop will focus on ways of conceptualizing, designing, implementing, and publishing community-engaged scholarship with examples from within and across disciplines. Discussion topics include:
  • Situating engaged scholarship in the broader scholarly context
  • Differentiating between engaged scholarship and conventional research
  • Developing different types of publishable manuscripts
  • Finding appropriate venues for publishing
To register, visit https://ttu.elementlms.com/all-events/, log-in with your e-raider, and click on the workshop title under "All Events." For more information, contact the Office of University Outreach and Engagement at universityoutreach@ttu.edu
 
TTU CHAIR ACADEMY
 
“RECOGNIZING ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP IN REAPPOINTMENT, TENURE, AND PROMOTION"
 
Monday, November 1; 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 
Location: TLPDC Room 153 (lunch provided)*
or via zoom: 
https://zoom.us/j/98466810210

Presenter:
Diane Doberneck, Ph.D.
Director for Faculty and Professional Development
Office of Public Engagement and Scholarship
Michigan State University
 
Sponsored by the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center (TLPDC) in collaboration with the Office of University Outreach and Engagement
 
This Chair Academy session, led by Dr. Diane Doberneck, will provide concepts of engaged scholarship and share strategies for recognizing engaged scholarship in faculty reappointment, promotion, and tenure processes. Attendees will understand the primary characteristics of engaged scholarship including its disciplinary nuances, become familiar with associated scholarly expectations, and discuss ways of evaluating and measuring faculty engagement work.

*Please plan to arrive a few minutes early to get your lunch and enjoy conversations before Dr. Doberneck begins promptly at 12:00.
 
Introducing Dr. Diane Doberneck 
Diane Doberneck, Ph.D., is the director for Faculty and Professional Development in the Office for Public Engagement and Scholarship at Michigan State University. She provides leadership for University Outreach and Engagement education programs, coordinates the MSU Graduate Certification in Community Engagement, and conducts research about community-engaged scholarship. Doberneck’s research interests include outreach and engagement in the promotion and tenure process; faculty integration of outreach and engagement across their teaching, research, service, and administration responsibilities; graduate student and faculty pathways to community-engaged careers; international community engagement, including community sustainability; and effective strategies for professional development about community-engaged scholarship.

Informed by this research, Doberneck creates and supports a continuum of professional development opportunities for undergraduates, graduate and professional students, academic staff, tenure track faculty, and community practitioners. Recent professional development programming includes Community-Engaged Scholarship Write-Ins; Community-Engaged Scholarship Writing Retreat; Summer Intensive on Community-Engaged Scholarship; Sea Grant Community-Engaged Research Institute; and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources-Wildlife Division Community Engagement Certificate. Doberneck also consults with colleges and universities on reappointment, promotion, and tenure policies and professional development for community-engaged scholarship.
 
The Results from the 2020 TTU Faculty and Staff Outreach and Engagement Assessment are in!
Each year, Texas Tech gathers data about its faculty and staff outreach and engagement activities. The results help the institution establish progress towards its strategic goal to "transform lives and communities through strategic outreach and engaged scholarship" (TTU Strategic Plan 2020-2025: A Foundation for the Next Century). Faculty and staff were invited to submit information about any outreach and engagement projects and activities they conducted between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 either via the Raiders Engaged instrument or their Digital Measures accounts. In spite of COVID-19 having had a significant impact on the university's day-to-day operations, research, and instructional activities, the Calendar Year 2020 assessment results reflected a continued commitment by faculty, staff, and students to engage with communities.

2020 RESULTS
A total of 229 Texas Tech Faculty and staff members submitted information on 542 outreach and engagement projects/activities. Overall, a total of 863 TTU faculty and staff were involved in these projects/activities according to the respondents, the highest number coming from the College of Engineering (174) followed by the College of Human Sciences (150), and the College of Arts and Sciences (96).  
Areas Impacted by TTU Outreach & Engagement:
Projects and activities involved a total of 708 community partners from non-profit organizations, government agencies, business and industry, Pre-K-12 schools, other two- or four-year colleges, community organizations, civic groups, and others. Internally, projects involved 254 cross-disciplinary collaborations.

The three primary forms of engagement faculty and staff were involved in were: Public Programs, Events, and Resources (17.86%), Credit Courses and Programs (16.87%), and Research and Creative Activity (11.32%). The following map highlights the number of projects impacting various regions in Texas. Other states with the highest number of projects included New Mexico (77), Louisiana (63), and Kansas (62). 
REGIONAL IMPACTS IN TEXAS
 
TTU Outreach and Engagement Spotlights
Discoveries to Impact Celebration! 
Birgit Green, Asst. Vice Provost for University Outreach and Engagement,  with Fernando Valle and Irma Almager at the American Windmill Museum.
On September 19th, the Center for the Integration of STEM Education & Research (CISER) in partnership with TrUE, the Innovation Hub, and University Outreach and Engagement hosted a Discoveries to Impact 2021 Celebration Dinner at the American Windmill Museum. The evening celebrated TTU faculty, student, and alumni success in research, engagement, innovation, and business start-ups.  The 2021 Discoveries to Impact (DTI) Conference was hosted virtually in the Spring, and the live event provided an opportunity to recognize individuals and accomplishments of the past year.  Among those recognized were the 2021 Recipients of the President’s Engaged Scholarship Awards sponsored by University Outreach and Engagement, the Office of the Provost, and the Office of the President.
Fernando Valle and Irma Almager speak about their eight-year partnership with over a dozen Texas school districts to build a pipeline of highly effective, diverse school leaders.
Present at the celebration were College of Education faculty members Dr. Fernando Valle, Interim Chair and Professor of Educational Psychology and Leadership; and Dr. Irma Almager, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology and Leadership. Their “University-to-District Partnership in Leadership Preparation” received the 2021 President’s Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Award. 
Simon Williams, Matt Roe, and Karin Ardon-Dryer discuss their roles in the West Texas 3D Covid-19 Consortium project and the impact it has had on Lubbock and surrounding communities.
Also in attendance were Dr. Simon Williams, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the TTUHSC; Matt Roe, Assistant Vice President for Environmental Health and Safety at TTU; and Dr. Karin Ardon-Dryer, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science at TTU. They represented the team of the “West Texas 3D Covid-19 Consortium: Community Engagement to Combat a Global Pandemic” project which also received the President’s Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Award.  

To find out more about these and other winners of the 2021 President's Engaged Scholarship Awards, visit https://www.depts.ttu.edu/provost/outreach-engagement/faculty/all-awards/index.php.  Also be on the look-out for announcements regarding the 2022 awards cycle later this year. 

 
 
Raiders Who Code
 
The College Connect Office in the Division of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion hosted the Raiders Who Code Summer Camp for sixth through eighth grade students this summer. With the support of a grant from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) aimed at fostering interest in STEM related careers, the camp was offered at no charge to students who identify as low socio-economic or attend a title one school, are foster youth, or have a learning disability.
“The camps were specifically focused on Lubbock youth who do not usually have access to this type of program, with a priority placed on underserved populations, such as those with special needs, underrepresented minorities, and children in foster care," said Dr. Daniel Kelly, Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction at the College of Education. “Because these populations frequently do not have the means to participate in high-quality extracurricular STEM programs, these camps were free of charge.”
 
The camp was offered in two sessions, the first being a residential camp where students were housed on campus from June 6-10. The second was held as a day camp from June 21-25. A total of 75 campers spent five days participating in practical hands-on activities designed to provide them with real world experience in coding and programing languages. They also gained practical experience working with programs in mobile and web applications, 3D printing, robotics, and game design. One camper stated, “I got to learn how to use Raspberry Pi and code in different languages!”

“The Texas Workforce Commission served as a powerful ally in piquing interest and inspiring today’s students to pursue careers and fields of study in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics,” said Delia Holder, Director of College Connect and former STEM Program Manager at the College of Engineering. “Raiders Who Code camps addressed the crucial need for diversity in STEM fields... empowering students and creating avenues for future success."
 
Raiders Who Code was made possible by the partnership of the following individuals: Dr. Daniel Kay and Dr. Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, Dept. of Human Development and Family Sciences; Dr. Ashley Gonzalez, Delila Holder, and Ariana Hernandez, Div. of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Dr. Birgit Green and Sam Sumner, University Outreach and Engagement. TTU graduate and undergraduate students served as counselors, teachers, and mentors. 
 
To learn more about the camps and resources offered by College Connect, please visit their website at College Connect and be sure to click on the video below to see this year's camp!
 
 

Texas Tech Mathematicians Use Time Scale Approach To Cancer Treatment

Texas Tech University mathematicians, including Casey Mills, a doctoral candidate, and Raegan Higgins, associate professor of mathematics, are using a mathematical approach to modeling the treatment of prostate cancer, a disease that will likely affect one in six men in the United States.

Patients who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer typically undergo intermittent androgen deprivation therapy prior to starting radiation or when surgery or radiation are not an option. Mills said these patients undergo cancer treatment for a few months, then go without treatment for a few months. 

“They alternate between periods of on-treatment and off-treatment, and those periods last several months,” Mills said. “We've created a new approach using something called time scales, which are able to combine discrete and continuous time very well.”

A discrete variable is countable in a finite amount of time, but a continuous variable will continue on forever.

"Most clinical models currently use strictly continuous time frames", Mills said. Because of the change between on- and off-treatment intervals, she and her advisor wanted to see if it was possible to combine the continuous and discrete to create a new model.

“What we're doing introduces the fact that you can model both the continuous time and discrete time. We want to more realistically reflect the break of switching from on-treatment to off-treatment to on-treatment to off-treatment, without just assuming that it's always continuous time,” Higgins said. “The benefit of this intermittent therapy is it gives patients a better quality of life. They're not getting so much treatment at once. The doctors can see if the treatment is working and adjust accordingly.”

In using data from six patients whose treatment intervals best fit their mathematical formulas, the Texas Tech mathematicians said they accomplished their goal of building a solid foundational model.

 
Texas Tech University Part of High-Impact Weather Research Cooperative

On June 15, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced it has selected Texas Tech to be part of its new Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CISHIWRO). CISHIWRO is funded by the five-year, $200 million NOAA grant.

Texas Tech is one of five institutions comprising CISHIWRO. The University of Oklahoma is hosting the cooperative with Howard University, Pennsylvania State University and the State University of New York at Albany also contributing. Each institution will receive various amounts of the $200 million.


“All these institutions are recognized for excellence in the field of atmospheric science, and this cooperative institute represents a formal path by which collaborative, high-impact research can be carried out to further the mission of NOAA to protect life and property from severe weather hazards,” said Christopher Weiss, a professor of atmospheric science and Texas Tech's lead investigator in CISHIWRO.

The goal of the research is to improve the fundamental understanding of severe weather hazards and develop techniques and products that can more effectively communicate these threats to the general population, Weiss said.

“Ultimately, these efforts will save lives and mitigate the damage done to property,” he explained.

 
Sowell Center Releases Video Series on Youth Mental Health and Intellectual Disability 

Texas Tech University's Virginia Murray Sowell Center for Research and Education in Sensory Disabilities has released a video series providing educators, parents and related service personnel with information related to student mental health and special education.

The library of 13 videos, which is free and publicly available, focuses on helping students who have a dual diagnosis of an intellectual and developmental disability (I/DD) and a mental health condition. Topics include an overview of dual diagnosis, the impact of mental health on academic achievement and best practices for working with a student with a dual diagnosis.

“Youth with dual diagnosis and their families are often misunderstood and denied the specialized support they need,” said Devender Banda, a professor of special education at Texas Tech. “This series of videos features valuable tips and perspectives from a variety of sources, including parents, educators, counselors, psychologists and other experts. We hope this will be a useful resource for families and school personnel to better understand and help students who have dual diagnosis.”

The video series is a part of Project TEDD: Training Educators in Dual Diagnosis, an initiative to address a state need for K-12 educators who specialize in teaching students who have a dual diagnosis.

Over five years, the project will provide 400 Texas special educators with access to free "train-the-trainer" workshops, which will prepare them to equip other educators with necessary skills for recognizing, understanding and working with individuals with dual diagnosis. Each of the 400 teachers who receive the initial training will be expected to train at least five additional educators, totaling 2,000 or more across Texas.

 
Community Event!
 
 
206 23rd St, Lubbock, Tx 79404
Oct. 16, 4:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. & Oct. 17, 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Lubbock's inaugural celebration of NXNE Arts Festival will take place on October 16-17, 2021. NXNE is a community arts event based on Pittsburgh's famous Art All Night. The event focuses on community engagement through the arts and the belief that art and artists lay the foundation for upcoming, vibrant communities. The festival is open to all, and anyone can submit one work of art. In addition to visual arts, poetry and performance arts are welcome! The festival has free admission and there is no fee for artists.  
 
For information about the festival and how to submit art/performances visit the NXNE website at https://nxneartfestival.org/

 
This is a pet friendly event and animal services will be available for a free chip clinic as well as dog adoptions! 
 

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Oct 18, 2021