The students and their programs are:

• Joanna Howard – apparel marketing. Joanna plans to move to New York City to start a career in the fashion industry. She was an intern with Fashion Connection there last summer. A member of Kappa Omicron Nu honorary and the Apparel Marketing and Design Alliance, she was co-chair of the Apparel & Textiles symposium this spring. She is from Gardner.

• Becca Law Ayon – interior design. Becca has been an interior design intern at Hirsch Bedner Associates in San Francisco and a space planning intern for Perkins+Will working at GTM Sportswear in Manhattan. She served as president of the K-State chapter of American Society of Interior Designers and received several scholarships. Becca, a graduate of Wamego High School, plans to work with Perkins+Will, a nationally architectural firm.

• Logan Hartpence – communication sciences and disorders. Logan plans to pursue a doctorate in audiology at the University of Kansas. He has a cumulative GPA is 4.0 and has received numerous scholarships. He received Outstand Tutor in 2009 from Douglass Tutoring and is vice president of the K-State Student Speech Language Hearing Association. He is from Eudora.

• April Bonilla – family studies and human services on Salina Campus. April is certified as a nursing assistant and a dental assistant and worked as patient coordinator at Salina Pediatric Care. She has received academic honors at K-State and volunteers with League of United Latin American Citizens. She hopes to work with families in Salina build foundations to help them attain their goals and hopes.

• Michelle Hirsch – family studies and human services. Michelle was Human Ecology Council president and attended the honors leadership boot camp in Washington D.C. Her volunteer work includes United Way, Eisenhower Presidential Museum, Boys & Girls Club and Meadowlark Nursing Home where she played the piano and discussed music memories with residents. From Abilene, she plans to become a clinical family therapist.

• Shawna Peters – family studies and human services. Shawna minored in American Ethnic Studies and Nonprofit Leadership Studies. She received the Anderson Senior Award from the Alumni Association and the 2012 Pat Bosco Outstanding Graduating Senior Award. She studied abroad in rural Mexico where she worked with families affected by migration. She has interned with Zawadi Fund International and Gallery for Peace and Justice. During Alternative Spring Breaks she rebuilt communities after tornadoes and hurricanes. She plans to apply to the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas. She is from Timken, Ks.

• Stephany Moore – dietetics coordinated program. Last year Stephany earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and human nutrition. She did her dietetics internship at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City which included a clinical rotation at Children’s Mercy Hospital. For her community practicum, she created low-cost toys for a Platte County Daycare Providers workshop. She is from Overland Park.

• Tiffany Brax – dietetics didactic program. Tiffany graduates with degrees in dietetics and public health nutrition. She interned at St. Mary’s Food Bank. She is a Foundations Scholar and member of two honor societies. Community service work includes a mission trip to Botswana, Africa, Flint Hills Bread Basket and a Kansas City homeless shelter. She is from Washington, Kansas.

• Kale Hamm – hotel and restaurant management. Kale was a Human Ecology ambassador and an open house chair. He worked with the annual Travel and Dining Auction and with the student Hospitality Management Society. A transfer from Crowley County Community College, he has interned at Palmer Gulch Resorts in South Dakota and at Piping Rock Country Club in New York where he has a job awaiting him upon graduation. Kale is from Waverly.

• Kaitlin Christensen – athletic training. Katie has served as president of the campus Student Athletic Trainers Association, the Kansas group’s leadership council and the council for District 5 that includes 7 states. She organized the state’s first student athletic training conference last year. She has received several scholarships and worked with K-State’s football, women’s basketball and women’s tennis teams as well as with injured soldiers at Fort Riley. From Plano, Tex., she plans to go to graduate school.

• Brooke Johanna Cull – nutrition and kinesiology. Brooke has received numerous scholarships and awards and works as a certified nursing assistant at Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community and an undergraduate teaching assistant. She was on the cadaver dissection team and was published in Prairie Lights Magazine. From Oakland, Nebraska, Brooke plans to be a physician assistant.

• Alison Meyer – nutritional sciences. Alison is headed to dental school at Craighton University. She has been a college ambassador and undergraduate teaching assistant. The recipient of numerous scholarships, she studied abroad at the University of Salamanca in Spain. Her minor is Spanish. Alison is from West Des Moines, Iowa.

• Katie George – public health nutrition. Katie received the Undergraduate Cancer Research Award and several scholarships. She has worked in anatomy and physiology research, was an undergraduate teaching assistant and was on the cadaver dissection team. Volunteer work includes Meadowlark Hills and Mercy Regional Hospital. Katie is also getting a degree in dietetics. She is from Clyde.

• Janet Peak Holden – family and consumer sciences education. Janet will teach at Council Grove High School next year. She chaired the FACS interest group for several years and was an intern last summer for the Tornado Relief Trauma Unit where she counseled children. She is from Scammon.

• Mollie Wallace – general human ecology. Molly also studied non-profit leadership and communications to prepare her for a career with non-profit children’s organizations. Mollie has volunteered with Flint Hills Breadbasket, Up ‘Til Dawn, and Champions are Readers that addresses the importance of literacy for Youth. She is from Overland Park.

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Those earning summa cum laude honors graduate with a cumulative grade point average of 3.95 or higher during their academic career grade at K-State.

Students are Jessica Bocquin, dietetics; Tiffany Brax, dietetics/public health nutrition; JuliAnne Chisholm, athletic training; Brooke Cull, nutrition/kinesiology; Katie George, dietetics/public health nutrition; Annell Harmon, early childhood education; Logan Hartpence, communication sciences and disorders; Robert Klug, nutrition science; Xi Luo, hotel and restaurant management; Annelise Masters, communications sciences and disorders; Alison Meyer, nutritional sciences; Allison Morris, family studies and human services; Maria Mussi, dietetics; Kelley Nelson, public health nutrition; Colleen O’Brien, dietetics; Virginia Robinson, interior design; Beth Schneider, communication sciences and disorders; and Melissa Schwabauer, athletic training.

Graduating magna cum laude, with as 3.805 to 3.949 K-State academic average, are:

Breanna Axe, family studies and human services; Erica Blackford, communications sciences and disorders; Melanie Delimont, communication sciences and disorders; Emily Eugster, family studies and human services; Teran Frick, early childhood education; Ashley Green, hotel and restaurant management; Lauren Hand, nutritional sciences; Tricia Forbes–Hollenbach, dietetics; Diana Maki, family studies and human services; Clareen O’Connor, family studies and human services; Breanne Rushing, family services and human services; Alexandrea Schaible, apparel marketing; Nicole Stenzel, apparel marketing; and Emily VanWoerkom, family studies and human services.

Students earning a K-State cumulative grade point average of 3.750 to 3.849 and graduating cum laude are:

Alice Arensdorf, dietetics; Hanna Bieberle, dietetics; Brandon Blount, athletic training; Kelsie Brandt, nutritional sciences; Jillian Carl, interior design; Megan Denison, family studies and human services; Chelsie Green, communication sciences and disorders; Tara Haffener, communication sciences and disorders; Tara Killingsworth, apparel marketing; Jennifer Larsen, hotel and restaurant management; Mitchell Loeb, public health nutrition; Kiara Ohle, family studies and human services; Megan Patchen, interior design; Natalie Pederson, athletic training; Sarah Reade, dietetics; Alexandria Rupp, apparel marketing; Sydney Smolecki, family studies and human services; Judith Swarts, family studies and human services; and Holly Williams, family studies and human services.

Students receiving Honors Program Completion Certificates are Sara Devine, Teran Frick, Sarah Kesler, Annelise Masters and Mitchell Loeb.

A reception and viewing of honors projects will begin at 3:30 p.m. in Room 112 of the Leadership Studies Building. Award presentations start at 4 p.m. in 114 McVay Town Hall in the same building.

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•  Joyce Baptist and Elaine Johannes, both in family studies and human services, for “Military Children: Resilience in the Face of Parental Military Deployment.”

• Jared Durtschi, family studies and human services, for “Military Couples as First-Time Parents: Understanding and Predicting Romantic Relationship Quality Trajectories.”

• Richard Rosenkranz in human nutrition, Sara Rosenkranz in human nutrition and David Dzewaltowski in kinesiology, for “Evaluation of a Home-based Health Coaching Program to Prevent Childhood Obesity in the Community.”

• Amber Vennum, family studies and human services, for “Evaluating the Impact of School-based Family Therapy on Student and Family Outcomes.”

“These faculty members and their projects represent the breadth and depth of our mission – to improve the human condition. Their topics are especially relevant to society today,” Moxley said.

The competitive grants are awarded annually.

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Promoted to full professor are Delores Chambers, human nutrition, and Weiqun “George” Wang, human nutrition.

Earning tenure and promotion to associate professor are: Joyce Baptist, family studies and human services, and Chihyung Ok, hospitality management and dietetics.

Throughout the university, 22 faculty members were promoted to the rank of full professor, one faculty member to the rank of clinical professor, 46 faculty members to the rank of associate professor, and one faculty member to the rank of clinical associate professor. The promotions and tenure go into effect at the start of the university’s 2013 fiscal year on July 1.

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Kelley Nelson has been selected as student commencement speaker for the May 12. She will graduate with a degree in public health nutrition.

About 350 students will receive Bachelor of Science degrees at the 4:15 p.m. event in Bramblage Coliseum.

Nelson, who is from Manhattan, was chosen to represent her fellow graduates based on public speaking skills, academic achievement, activities and professional potential. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Blue Key Senior Honorary and she received the cancer research award and is a Putnam Scholar. Nelson also volunteers at the Flint Hills Community Clinic. She has been accepted to optometry school.

Levis has received the college’s Partner Award given to an alumnus who helped forge a strong corporate partnership with the College to enhance student and faculty research, internships, and other educational opportunities. A native of Greece, Levis earned his Ph.D. in food science with an emphasis in sensory analysis in 1998. He promoted internships at General Mills for sensory analysis students and each year returns to campus to conduct a class lecture and meet with students to discuss industrial opportunities and challenges.

DVDs of the ceremonies may be ordered through the K-State Student Union Bookstore at 800-KSU-CATS or 785-532-6583.

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Sherry Haar receives the Faculty Research Excellence Award

Dr Haar, associate professor in the Department of Apparel, Textiles and Interior Design, is being honored or her work in natural dye and sustainable design.

The award recognizes superior accomplishment in scholarship, including research and creative activities.

“My work falls under practice-based research because the development and making of the creative works are guided by intentional methods with specific research purposes,” Haar wrote. Her efforts “contribute to new knowledge that is shaping the work of colleagues and students,” added department head Barbara Anderson.

Juried exhibitions in France, Canada and the United States, presentations, academic publications, awards for research and artistic designs and two patents for functional apparel make up part of Haar’s vita. She has mentored graduate and undergraduate students who have received scholarships and been selected for juried exhibitions.

She was juror for the 2012 Beijing Institute of Fashion Design and Technology/ITAA Research Exhibition and has served as associate editor of Clothing and Textiles Research Journal.

Haar has been published in such journals as Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Fiberarts and Printmaking Today. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a PhD in apparel product design and analysis from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Junehee Kwon also received a Faculty Research Excellence Award

Junehee Kwon

Dr. Kwon, associate professor in the Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics, is being recognized for superior accomplishment in scholarship, including research and creative activities, in the field of food safety in foodservice systems. She is engaged in integrated research projects that include both research and extension/outreach components and is actively involved in four food safety research grant projects currently. She has published extensively.

Part of a team that has received nearly $2.8 million in grants in five years, Kwon is a proponent of multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary teams.

Kwon works with graduate students and is on the research leadership team for the new Center for Excellence for Food Safety Research in Child Nutrition Programs. In addition she has served on several college and university committees related to research, grant writing and graduate education.

The registered dietitian received a bachelor’s degree in food science and human nutrition from Seoul National University in South Korea, and master’s and PhD degrees from the Iowa State University.

Debra M. Sellers has been awarded the Faculty Extension Excellence Award

Deb Sellers

Dr. Sellers, associate professor in the School of Family Studies and Human Services, was selected for her work with The Assistive Technology Program that responds to the needs of an aging population by providing a new direction in educational programming related to adaptive living.

This award is presented to an extension faculty member who has developed a program with a significant theme that has benefited the people of Kansas.

Seller’s work integrates traditional and modern instructive methods to support individuals with physical or cognitive challenges due to aging, illness or disability. Sellers contributed to three components of the program: Fashion an Easier Lifestyle with Assistive Technology, The LiveAbility House and SageStories. The LiveAbility House includes a virtual demonstration home built using universal design features.

She has published and presented widely on the program.

Sellers received her bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Florida and a PhD from Kansas State University. She has been a member of the faculty senate and received the Katey Walker Extension Development Fund award in 2011 and in 2008. She has twice been honored for contributions to the state extension Adult Development and Aging Program.

Joy M. Kozar receives the Dawley-Scholar Award for Faculty Excellence in Student Development

Joy Kozar

Dr.  Kozar, associate professor in the Department of Apparel, Textiles and Interior Design, believes “education requires an eager participation by both the instructor and the student.” Through active participation and engagement, students can gain a deeper understanding and perspective of the course material, she said. “Further, by interacting with their peers, students also learn the valuable importance of respecting others’ beliefs and opinions.”

The award recognizes outstanding achievement resulting in the personal/professional/educational growth of students. Recipients challenge students to reach their full potential.

During study tours Kozar leads to New York and Dallas, students visit many apparel and textile firms operating within the global textile complex, and they interact with professionals, including apparel textile graduates.

“I am driven to impart on students the motivation to be proactive and accountable throughout life,” she said. Kozar works with graduate students on their thesis and project work and advises undergraduates.

She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in apparel and textile marketing from Kansas State University. While working on her undergraduate education, she also completed a minor in business administration. Kozar graduated with a Ph.D. in textiles and clothing from Iowa State University where she received a minor in gerontology as part of her scholarship focus on older consumers. She has published in Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, Journal of Fashion Marketing & Management and other outlets.

Tonatiuh Melgarejo is recipient of the Myers-Alford Outstanding Teaching Award

Tona Melgarejo

Dr. Melgarejo, associate professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, believes “passion for teaching is the single most important component of effective teaching.” He added that teaching cannot exist without mentoring. “Teaching is an instinct, a passionate art, and the cornerstone of a sacred relationship between a student and a teacher.”

The award is presented annual to a College of Human Ecology faculty member who demonstrates outstanding ability in teaching undergraduate and graduate students and in providing valuable information to colleagues, peers and other practitioners in the field.

Melgarejo teaches Life Span Nutrition, Advanced Macronutrient Metabolism and a graduate seminar in human nutrition.

He completed a doctor of veterinary medicine from the University of Mexico, a Ph.D. in comparative gastroenterology from Purdue University and a residence in internal medicine from the University of Pennsylvania.

In his research Melgarejo searches the animal world for secret weapons to help battle deadly human diseases. He has been awarded a patent for an antimicrobial peptide that he isolated, cloned and reproduced synthetically, paving the way for a new, natural antibiotic. His most recent work has been with wild carnivores in Africa and Mexico.

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The university is in the first semester of a partnership between its athletic training education program and nearby Fort Riley. The partnership gives students a new kind of experience in a military setting as they work with soldiers in seven battalions in the 4th Brigade.

The partnership involves five athletic training undergraduate students: Mariana Redden, senior; Breanna Hamilton, sophomore; Drew Mueller, junior; Mackenzie Smith, senior; and Katie Christensen, senior.

First undergraduate program

Although a few universities have similar military athletic training programs with graduate students, K-State’s program is the first of its kind for undergraduate students. Morgan Campbell, instructor of athletic training and a certified athletic trainer, helped to develop the military program framework during the fall semester. The partnership was established through the Institute for the Health and Security of Military Families and the leadership of Briana Nelson Goff, professor and director of the institute, and Shawna Jordan, assistant professor and director of the athletic training education program.

While most athletic training undergraduate students work with a university or high school sports team for several semesters, Campbell wanted to help create a program that lets students apply their classroom learning to a different type of athletic training experience.

“I am a huge believer of athletic trainers working in new and exciting settings,” said Campbell, a 2005 athletic training graduate. “We’re venturing out to a new setting where we can be useful to people.”

Supervision switch

The military setting is different from the athletic setting, Campbell said, because each athletic team has its own certified athletic trainer. The students work and learn under this athletic trainer. But when working with the military, the athletic training students are supervised by medics, physician assistants and physical therapists.

“It’s a lot of real-life experience, especially for the athletic training students who are graduating and preparing for their national certification exam,” Campbell said. “It helps to re-emphasize the skills that we have taught them. They have to learn to trust themselves, which builds their confidence.”

Three of the undergraduates in the program — Redden, Smith and Christensen — travel to Fort Riley each morning and help injured soldiers with a physical training program that is suited to their injuries. The other two students — Hamilton and Mueller — help with physical therapy education and exercise clinics.

During their time at Fort Riley, the students assist with sick call in the early morning. They perform initial interviews with injured soldiers and divide them into groups based on injuries. Soldiers with lower body injuries are placed in a physical training group that focuses on upper body training and vice versa. Students then help medics run the soldiers’ workouts by correcting form or modifying workouts to make them more challenging.

Students work one-on-one with soldiers

“The students are working one-on-one with the soldiers who are doing the workouts,” Campbell said. “It is also their responsibility to progress the workout every three weeks so that it is not the same for too long and that it fits the needs specific to that battalion.”

For example, members of an infantry battalion need to be able to run for long periods of time while soldiers in an artillery battalion need to be able to lift heavy objects.

For students Christensen and Redden, the daily morning workouts give them the opportunity to apply their athletic training skills in a different professional setting. Both students graduate in May and will soon take their national certification exams.

Christensen works with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment. She has developed workout routines for soldiers and has helped with orthopedic evaluation of injuries.

“That’s been really helpful because I have seen our doctors and certified athletic trainers do the evaluation for sports teams, but now I am able to actually apply what I know,” said Christensen, who has previously worked with the university’s football, women’s tennis and women’s basketball teams. “It has been a great experience for me.”

Most work with K-State athletes

Redden has worked with the rowing, track and field, and cross country teams at K-State  as well as Manhattan High School athletic teams. Her work with three battalions — 4-1 Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 701st Brigade Support Battalion and 1st Engineer Battalion — provides a chance to explore her interest in working as an athletic trainer with soldiers.

“This has been a great real-world setting,” Redden said. “By working with 4th Brigade, I’m more of a medical professional and it provides hands-on testing of my skills and knowledge.”

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Edgar Chambers IV

Edgar Chambers IV, distinguished professor and director of the Sensory Analysis Center, has been selected to chair the group that will develop a set of standards for the International Standards Organization’s Technical Committee on Sensory and Consumer Evaluation. The group met recently in Toulouse, France.

Chambers will lead development of an international standard for advertising claims substantiation based on sensory and consumer data. His group represents more than 50 countries around the world.

The center, which has satellite locations at K-State Olathe and in Bangkok, Thailand, is part of the department of human nutrition in the College of Human Ecology.

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They are undergraduate and graduate students who have demonstrated integrity, high standards of scholarship and the promise of future achievement. Undergraduate students must have completed 45 semester hours and have a minimum grade point average of at least 3.5. Graduate students must have completed 15 semester hours of graduate work and have a minimum grade point average of 3.7.

New members of Kappa Omicron Nu include:

Haley Jones, senior in family studies and human services; Rachel Bloom, master’s student in gerontology; Kathleen Phillips, junior in family studies and human services; Anna Baughan, sophomore in communication studies and disorders; Jordan DeTar Newbert, sophomore in interior design; Logan Barefoot, junior in family studies and human services; Sarah Hemmen, junior in early childhood education;

Jana Miller, junior in family studies and human services and communication sciences and disorders; Jamie Engelken, junior in personal financial planning; Alicia Williams, senior in communication sciences and disorders; Rachel Kennedy, senior in dietetics; Melissa Richardson, sophomore in fashion design; and Leona Murphy, master’s student in early childhood education; Nicole Specht, senior in dietetics;

LeaAnne Diederich, junior in family studies and human services and pre-occupational therapy; Alyssa Miller, junior in dietetics; Lexi Peterson, junior in communication sciences and disorders; Samuel Honey, junior in family studies and human services; Tonya Ricklefs, doctoral student in family studies; Hillary L’Ecuyer, sophomore in interior design; Chelsea Mitchell, sophomore in early childhood education;

Emily Groves, sophomore in communication sciences and disorders; Brittany Claassen, sophomore in apparel marketing; Traci Bolin, senior in dietetics; Lacy Gatz, sophomore in family studies and human services; Lauren Nutt, sophomore in apparel and textiles design; Allison O’Rourke, sophomore in communication sciences and disorders; Caroline Swanson, junior in communication sciences and disorders;

Rachel Swenson, sophomore in family studies and human services; Marvel Alder, master’s student in family financial planning; Katherine Meyer, master’s student in personal financial planning; and Yvonne Roehr, senior in dietetics; Ann Vosbeek, sophomore in dietetics; Nicole Schmalz, senior in dietetics; and Jessica Perrault, senior in dietetics; Melanie Newkirk, master’s student in dietetics; Christine Rogers, sophomore in dietetics;

Kalyn Siade, master’s student in merchandising; Victor Ricciardi, graduate student in family financial planning; Erin King, senior in dietetics; Jaclyn Scheidhauer, junior in family studies and human services; Carson O’Connor, sophomore in family studies and human services; and Christine Morse, senior in dietetics; Cindy Patierno, senior in dietetics; Amy Menzie, master’s student in dietetics;

Julie Cumbie, doctoral student in personal financial planning; Kristen Brunkow, sophomore in family studies and human services; Margaret Young, senior in dietetics; Shirley Robinson, sophomore in family studies and human services; and Kristina Garza, senior in family studies and human services.

From university communications and marketing

The 24-page publication features Jeannie Sneed, new head of the Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics, and the new Center of Excellence for Food Safety Research in Child Nutrition Programs.

Other headliners are:

• “Veteran staffers are connectors, reconnectors in departments” featuring Janet Finney, Connie Fechter and Gina Jackson,

• International student travelers and major donor Janice Hamilton,

• CHE first college with presence on both Salina and Olathe campuses,

• And more.

“Focus helps us connect with alumni and friends as we showcase the strength, vitality and progressiveness of the College of Human Ecology. We make great contributions to the campus, national and global communities and the magazine helps take those stories right into their homes,” said Virginia Moxley, dean.

“We also use this opportunity to show them what an important role they play in the college.”

Read it online here.

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