Education
Give Ear: Communication disorders professor Richard W. Harris received the Frank R. Kleffner Lifetime Clinical Career Award from the Utah Speech and Hearing Foundation. Positive Behavior: This fall the McKay School will release Positive Behavior Support in Secondary Schools: A Practical Guide, a new book authored by four BYU faculty.
Engineering and Technology
Water for Tanzania: A team of BYU engineers developed a human-powered water drill that can dig 150 to 250 feet deep for a fraction of the cost of other drills. They installed the drill in Tanzania. Solid Spruce: Collin J. Barker’s (’11) Comb Back Windsor Chair placed first at the Association of Woodworking Furnishings and Suppliers’ National Fresh Wood Competition.
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Museum of Merit: The Museum of Peoples and Cultures received an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History for its student-produced exhibit Beneath Your Feet: Discovering the Archaeology of Utah Valley.
Fine Arts and Communications
Donald Peterson
Gracie Awards: Six broadcast journalism students won Gracie Awards for best feature, best hard-news stories, outstanding anchor, outstanding sports host, and more. Master of Bands: Director of bands Donald L. Peterson (BM ’76) was inducted into the American Bandmaster’s Association. Cow Tetris: Comms professor Christopher Cutri (BA ’95) and his students played off a popular Japanese human-tetris game show to create a Wendy’s commercial. Their work won a Gold ADDY. TMA Chair: Amy Peterson Jensen (BA ’90) is now chair of the Theatre and Media Arts Department after former chair Rodger D. Sorensen’s (BA ’72) transition to associate dean.
Humanities
New Chair: David P. Laraway (BA ’92) is now chair of the Spanish and Portuguese Department. Film Book: Continuum published philosophy professor Dennis J. Packard’s (PhD ’02) book The Film Novelist. Minor Detail: The English Department now offers a writing and rhetoric minor featuring three new courses.
Kennedy Center
Cultural Elective: BYU’s nationally recognized Intercultural Outreach course (IAS 353) is now an approved general-education global awareness elective, meaning students from any major may register for it.
Law School
Amicus Supreme: BYU’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies was invited to file an amicus brief for a U.S. Supreme Court case that, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, many consider to be one of the most important religious-freedom cases to come before the court in decades. Best Paper: Law librarians David L. Armond (BA ’91) and Shawn G. Nevers (BA ’02) took first in the open division of the American Association of Law Libraries’ Call for Papers.
Life Sciences
Bio Chair: Laura Clarke Bridgewater (BS ’89) is now chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology. Grass to Corn: Biology professor Clinton J. Whipple (BS ’00) was lead author of a study published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Plus about a mutant gene that may have transformed a wild grass into corn.
Marriott School
Ranked No. 15: Forbes ranked BYU’s MBA program 15th for return on investment. New Peery Director: Finance professor Hal B. Heaton (BS ’75) replaced another finance professor, Ned C. Hill, as faculty director of the H. Taylor Peery Institute of Financial Services.
Nursing
Myrtie Fulton
Myrtie Award: Ira A. and Mary Lou Fulton set up the new Myrtie Fulton Endowed Mentorship Award, a $5,000 student-mentoring award for nursing faculty. The award is named in honor of Ira’s mother. New Fellows:Associate dean Patricia Kay Ravert (BS ’75) is now a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Professor Sabrina D. Jarvis (MS ’90) is now a fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Nuke Timer: Statistics professor C. Shane Reese (BS ’94) published an article in Technometrics on using statistical analysis to determine the uncertainty of aging U.S. nuclear weapons. Treating Colon Cancer:Chemistry professor Matt A. Peterson developed a modified nucleoside that may have potential for treating colon cancer. His research was published in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
Religious Education
WWII Saints: Under the Gun, a new book by associate professor Roger P. Minert (BA ’77), tells the true stories of Latter-day Saints in West Germany and Austria during World War II.
