College of Arts, Sciences, and Education
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Dear CASE alumni, faculty, staff and students,
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Futurist thinker Alvin Toffler once said, "If you don’t have a strategy, you will be part of somebody else’s strategy." With this wise insight in mind, our team has been diligently working since the start of the fall semester to draft a new strategic plan for the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education. I’m pleased to report that we are making significant progress and aim to complete this important work by the end of the year.
Throughout this process, we’ve been fortunate to draw on the insights gathered from a survey completed by 191 faculty, staff and students. This feedback was invaluable and was thoughtfully analyzed by a dedicated team of graduate students in psychology, who are playing an essential role in our efforts. On behalf of the CASE Strategic Plan Task Force, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone involved.
I encourage you to explore this month’s newsletter to stay informed about the latest developments in your college.
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Raheemat Rafiu, (pictured above) Ph.D. candidate in chemistry, defended her dissertation titled “Metal-Free Photoredox Catalysis for the S-Trifluoromethylation of Thiols” on Oct. 18, 2024. Her advisor was Dr. Chariklia Sotiriou-Leventis, chair and professor of chemistry.
During the summer between their sophomore and junior years, Air Force ROTC cadets participate in field training, which consists of two-week encampments held at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. While at field training this year, cadets competed in various physical, academic, and skills exercises while being evaluated on leadership potential. Ranked against all other detachments in the Northwest Region, Missouri S&T’s detachment 442 “Flying Miners” scored in the top third overall and ranked first in academics. Additionally, S&T’s nine cadets graduating this fiscal year recently received their career field selections; one cadet received their third choice, one received their second choice, and the remaining seven all received their first choice including two pilots, two combat systems officers, one air battle manager and one space force guardian.
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Dr. Ann Schlotzhauer, assistant professor of psychological science, earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology, English and Spanish from the University of Tulsa. She then went on to earn her master’s degree and Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from the University of Central Florida, where she was awarded both UCF’s Presidential Doctoral Fellowship and Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Completion Fellowship.
Schlotzhauer’s research focuses on the experiences of precarious workers and diverse populations through the lens of occupational health psychology. In essence, she is interested in understanding how work experiences related to health and wellbeing differ between workers and the individual, organizational and societal implications of such differences. Schlotzhauer’s work has been published in outlets such as Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Occupational Health Science and Journal of Management.
Schlotzhauer has taught industrial and organizational psychology and social psychology at the undergraduate level. She is currently teaching applied psychological data analysis in S&T’s master’s degree program and looks forward to teaching a graduate-level course on occupational health and safety in the spring.
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Staff feature: Lyndsey Elliott
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Lyndsey Elliott joined the university’s Child Development Center (CDC) in the spring of 2021. With a foundation as a certified early childhood teacher, Elliott brings a passion for delivering childcare within a licensed educational setting. Outside of her role at the CDC, she enjoys spending time with her children, participating in community events and diving into historical literature.
“The Child Development Center has created an invaluable resource for our community, one that no other center in the area has been able to offer,” says Elliott, reflecting on the CDC’s impact. “Our biggest achievement has been prioritizing enrollment for university faculty, staff, students, and families eligible for subsidy services. Thanks to the continued support from our private donors, we can offer tuition assistance programs that make quality preschool education affordable for at-risk children. It’s been an honor to witness the remarkable growth in our classrooms over the past few years and this is just the beginning.”
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Faculty Leadership Council update
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The CASE Dean’s Faculty Leadership Council consists of faculty from the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education departments. This council serves as an advisory group to the college dean and meets regularly regarding academic and student matters. Additionally, the council has developed the criteria and nomination process for the following awards for CASE faculty: Innovative Teaching, Research, Department Citizen, Community Outreach, Student Impact, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. For more information about the Dean’s Faculty Leadership Council, see here.
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Dr. Mehrzad Boroujerdi, CASE dean and professor of history and political science, published an article titled “Iran's 2024 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections: An Analysis,” Freedom of Though Journal.
Dr. Michael Bruening, professor of history and political science, published “The Predestination Debate from Jerome Bolsec to Peter Baro” in Calivn, Exile, and Religious Refugees: Papers of the Thirteenth International Congress on Calvin Research edited by Arnold Huijgen and Karin Maag (Gottingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2024).
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English and technical communication professors Drs. Ryan Cheek, Carleigh Davis, and Rachel Schneider received a $144,720 grant from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) for a project (above) titled “The Zine Lab: PIT-Engaged Communication for Gender Justice.”
Dr. Richard Dawes, adjunct professor of chemistry, received a $159,068 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project titled, “Methods for the Construction of Multiple Coupled Potential Energy Surfaces with Applications to Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics.”
Dr. Shane Epting, associate professor of philosophy, published an article titled “Weak Anthropocentrism’s Future” in Environmental Ethics. He gave a keynote lecture at the Political Philosophy of the City workshop at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. Epting also participated in an author-meets-critics panel over his recent book, Meaning in the Metropolis: Towards an Urban Existentialism, at the Philosophy of the City Research Group’s annual conference in Madrid.
Dr. Beth Kania-Gosche, chair and professor of education, received a $69,300 grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a project titled “Developing an Educator Workforce that Expands Yearly (DEWEY).” She also received a second grant ($18,058) from the same department for a project titled “Missouri S&T Child Development Center Enhancement Grant.”
Dr. Alanna Krolikowski, associate professor of history and political science, was quoted in an article on BNN Bloomberg on China’s space program.
Dr. Symeon Mystakidis, assistant professor of physics, published an article titled "Stability and Dynamics of Nonlinear Excitations in a Two-Dimensional Droplet-Bearing Environment" with his postdoctoral researcher, George Bougas, in the APS Physical Review A journal. He also published an article titled "Quantum many-body scars from unstable periodic orbits" in Physical Review B in collaboration with collaborators from Harvard University.
Dr. Vahe Permzadian, assistant professor of psychological science, presented a talk titled “The Effect of Assessment Format on Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis” at the annual conference of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology in Louisville, Kentucky, held Oct. 10-12.
Dr. Alexey Yamilov, professor of physics, published an article on "Multiregion Light Control in Diffusive Media via Wavefront Shaping" in Physical Review Letters.
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The support of our donors is essential to the advancement of our college. Your contributions are crucial in addressing our diverse needs — from helping students overcome challenges to supporting faculty development initiatives. Your generosity greatly enhances the quality of the education and opportunities we offer.
If you are interested in joining alumni in supporting the college, contact, Michelle Shults, senior development officer for CASE, at shultsm@mst.edu or call 573-341-4380.
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Disclaimer: CASE does not endorse the viewpoints presented in the essays featured in this section of the newsletter. We share these essays purely as "food for thought" and encourage our informed audience to independently evaluate and form their own opinions on the topics discussed.
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College of Arts, Sciences, and Education
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Missouri University of Science and Technology
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