Academic Showcase

ACADEMIC SHOWCASE

9:00AM – 10:00AM 

9:00AM – The Mind of a Protester: A Psychological Exploration of the Need to Take a Stand (50-minute session)

Joel Lynch, Elaine Sharpe, Jonathan Skalski, Amy Martin

The recent protests by Colin Kaepernick have opened controversy and dialogue across the country. Panelists will use Kaepernick’s behaviors as a frame-of-reference to explore the mindset of the protester from different psychological perspectives. The mindset of those responding to Kaepernick’s protests also will be explored.

Fisher Chapel

9:00AM – Student-Faculty Research Presentations (50-minute session)

• • Photodynamic Inactivation with Metalloporphyrins Demonstrate Strong Bacterial Effects against Multiple-Drug Resistant Bacteria – Hailey Avery, Dr. Troy Skwor and Dr. Matthew Bork
  • Effect of Photodynamic Therapy on Cytokine Production and Bacterial Growth – Katarina Klenke, Dr. Troy Skwor and Dr. Matthew Bork
  • The Vietnam War’s Effect on Higher Education – Holly Lutmer and Dr. Jacob Hardesty
  • The Catilinarian Conspiracy:  Fact or Fiction? – Karoline Olson and Dr. Stephanie Quinn
  • Bartonella Prevalence in Small Mammal Population in Northern Illinois – Malcolm Engelbrecht and Dr. Sean Beckmann
  • Potential Reservoirs of Borrelia burgdorferi in a Northern Illinois Prairie Ecosystem – Rhonda Freund and Dr. Sean Beckmann
  • Prevalence of Granulocytic Ehrlichia among Prairie dependent Rodent Species in Northern Illinois –Mallorie Getzelman and Dr. Sean Beckmann
  • Survey of the Impact of Prairie Restoration on the Population of Zapus hudsonius – Nicholas Naber and Dr. Sean Beckmann
  • An Assessment of the Impact of Prairie Restoration on Microtus Species Now and Over Time – Casey Pettit and Dr. Sean Beckmann
  • Prevalence of Berrelia Burgdorferi among Rodent Species in Northern Illinois – Taggart Venegas and Dr. Sean Beckmann
  • Population Variation & Migration of the 13-lined Ground Squirrel (spermophilus tridecemilineatus) between Connected Prairie Patches – Brooke Welch and Dr. Sean Beckmann

Colman Library

9:00AM – Is Human Waste One of the Causes of our Growing Antibiotic Resistant Problem Here in Rockford? (50-minute session)

Troy Skwor

Our study analyzes the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacterial populations in chlorinated human wastewater and in the Rock River, as well as its potential to cause human disease.

Starr Science, 207

9:00AM – Religion and Violence: A View from Millennials (50-minute session)

Patricia Walters and Students

How are religion and violence really connected? What causes religious extremism? How do we confront religious violence? Millennials speak their minds.

Starr Science, 332

9:00AM – Shakespeare’s Sonnets and the Limits of Language (50-minute session)

Bill Gahan

Why compare thee to a summer’s day? How Shakespeare’s sonnets can help us think about love, life, and art.

Starr Science, 130

9:00AM – Chopsticks Marketing – A Study of a Business Relationship Lifecycle (25-minute session)

Ina Freeman

Primarily, this research examines the importance of business ethics and etiquettes in a business relationship lifecycle, and will involve respondents from both business and academia across 50 or more countries.

Starr Science, 201

9:30AM – Community Based Learning Opportunities (25-minute session)

Mary Weaks-Baxter, Pam Clark-Reidenbach, Ina Freeman

CBL is an essential component to affording students the experience of implementing their learnings while working in the community. This work often involves research to achieve the goal. The community benefits by becoming acquainted with potential employees. The school benefits by providing a service to the community. The many facets of CBLs as enacted in the PURI School of Business will be discussed.

Starr Science, 201

10:00AM – 11:00AM

10:00AM – 2016 Presidential Election Roundtable (50-minute session)

Robert Evans, Jules Gleicher, Ron Lee

Political Science Department faculty discuss the extraordinary presidential election of 2016, which has tested the boundaries of the party system and our constitutional politics.

Fisher Chapel

10:00AM – How do Immigrants Impact Labor Productivity in Host Countries? (50-minute session)

Roxana Idu

Immigrants’ participation in host economies has impacts through entrepreneurship, innovation, capital investment, and labor specialization. This session will overview empirical results from the economic literature and present new results.

Starr Science, 207

10:00AM – Killing Cancer with Light: Novel Alternative Treatments Against 2-D and 3-D Grown Human Tumor Cells  (50-minute session)

Brandon Leviskas, Troy Skwor, Matthew Bork

Our lab continues to develop novel photodynamic (visible light and a photosensitizer) treatments to combat different cancers providing a less toxic method than chemotherapy and radiation.

Starr Science, 201

10:00AM – 2 By 5, A Musical Revue by Kander and Ebb (50-minute session)

Performing Arts Students

This production, under the direction of Performing Arts department Professors Deborah Mogford, Timm Adams, and Amy Wright, is a compilation of popular musical theatre songs and dances from such smash hits as Chicago and Cabaret. 2 by 5 was performed by our students in Edinburgh, Scotland, in early August 2016 at the world renowned Festival Fringe.

Maddox Theatre, Clark Arts Center

10:00AM – Critical and Literary Theory: The Board Game (50-minute session)

English 342 Class

All are welcome to come and play with and/or observe this interactive Board Game that addresses the breadth and depth of critical and literary theory.

Colman Library

10:00AM – A Mentored APN Experience to Develop Interprofessional Role Competencies for Medical and Pharmacy Students (Poster; 50-minute session)

Laura Monahan

Miscommunication among healthcare providers contributes to 80% of serious medical errors, resulting in 210,000 deaths and losses of $12 billion annually. This evidence-based practice (EBP) project implements APN job-shadowing by paired medical and pharmacy students as a strategy to improve role awareness, knowledge of collaborative team functions, and enhanced practice communication.

Colman Library

10:00AM – Information Transcendence: Equipping People to Move Beyond Information Overload Towards Responsible Use, Evaluation, and Creation of Information (Poster; 50-minute session)

Kelly James, Joanna Bares, Andy Newgen

In a world that threatens information overload, hear how libraries and librarians face the challenge as they construct environments and frameworks to equip people to move beyond the limited role of information consumer towards responsible use, evaluation, and creation necessary for impactful citizenship.

Colman Library

10:00AM – Rockford College and World War II (Display; 50-minute session)

Mary Weaks-Baxter, Catherine Forslund

This display of Rockford College archival material from the World War II era gives a glimpse of the impact of the war on campus and ways students were engaged in war work.

Colman Library

10:00AM – CSR in Supply Chain Management: Turkish Airlines (25-minute session)

Egemen Deniz Bahar

Presentation of secondary research on the role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Turkish Airlines’ supply chain. As Turkey is an emerging nation and Turkish Airlines is a global business, CSR has an important role.

Starr Science, 332

10:00AM – Composing Audiences, Influences, and Classical Music (25-minute session)

Kyle Stedman

When do musical composers write for audiences, and when do they write for themselves? How do they incorporate or ignore music that came before them? And what does that have to do with composing in other media and genres?

Starr Science, 130

10:30AM – Roundtable Discussion: Designing Gender Studies Courses (25-minute session)

Sharon Bartlett, Stephanie Quinn

Professors Bartlett and Quinn will moderate a roundtable discussion on the design and teaching of gender studies courses.

Starr Science, 332

10:30AM – Poetry Reading: Dirt, Root, Silk (25-minute session)

Susan Porterfield

Professor Emerita Susan Azar Porterfield will be reading selections from her new collection of poetry, Dirt, Root, Silk.

Starr Science, 130

11:00AM – 11:50AM

11:00AM – The Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry (50-minute session)

John Burns, Matt Flamm, William Gahan, Stephanie Quinn

Four humanities faculty members will discuss the ancient and current question of how truth is known, and whether poetry or philosophy is the “truer” guide.

Fisher Chapel

11:00AM – Sparking Magic: Innovation in the Classroom to Foster Higher-Level Thinking (50-minute session)

Caleb Lewis, Brian Huels, Jeff Fahrenwald, Ina Freeman

A discussion, and examples, of the innovative methods faculty in the Puri School of Business use beyond the traditional lecture to engage students.

Starr Science, 207

11:00AM – Art and Life: Our Process of Creating (50-minute session)

Philip Soosloff, David Menard, Chris Sisson

The three faculty members of the Department of Art and Art History who teach Studio Art courses will each show examples of their artwork and discuss the process they employ to create art.

Art Gallery, Clark Arts Center

11:00AM – An Ab Initio Study of Physisorption of Carbon Dioxide on Metal-Organic Frameworks (25-minute session)

Alex Pixler, Bill Doria

An investigation of new materials that may be useful for absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere or from industrial or automotive exhaust.

Starr Science, 201

11:00AM – Discontinuous Development: Sudden Life-altering Change and Transformation (25-minute session)

Jonathan Skalski

This empirical research describes transformations that reach to the level of one’s personality and relate to deep and lasting change.

Starr Science, 332

11:00AM – Performing Blues: Experiencing Langston Hughes’s Poetic Paradox (25-minute session)

Michael Perry

An examination of the nature of Hughes’s blues performance, in particular the desired communion between self and God that resonates across the landscape of the blues.

Starr Science, 130

11:30AM – Multi-Level ESL Collaborative Projects: Lessons Learned (25-minute session)

Clare Alsharif

This presentation discusses lessons learned by ESL staff while completing four types of multi-level projects. It includes ideas and pointers for multi-level projects.

Starr Science 130

11:30AM – Killing Multiple-Drug Resistant Bacteria Star Wars-Style with Light in Seconds (25-minute session)

Matthew Bork, Troy Skwor

Using handheld light-emitting diodes as a visible-light source and a porphyrin chemical, this photodynamic treatment has been able to kill multi-drug resistant bacteria like MRSA in seconds.

Starr Science, 201

11:30AM – Moving Beyond Tolerance: The Phenomenology of Change beyond Negative Tolerating (25-minute session)

Jonathan Skalski

This empirical research describes experiences of shifting from negatively tolerating to a positive experience of that same person.

Starr Science, 332

Exhibits 

9:00AM – 11:00AM

• Celebrating Partnerships: Mapping a New Beginning for the Library Classroom

Library Team and Dan Loescher

The new role of the active academic library is rooted in collaboration and partnership. Join us for an open house to celebrate our partnership with Dan G. Loescher, former trustee, and honor his loan to Rockford University of select maps from his extensive historical map collection.

Colman Library

• Research: An Underpinning to the Visual Arts

Kelly James

Join us to view a selection of paintings by Kelly E. James and have a personal conversation with the artist about her work and how fundamental the research process is to her success as a visual artist.

Colman Library

• Letitia Quesenberry

small antidote 

Letitia Quesenberry uses subtlety and obscurity as tools of investigation, lenses through which she inspects themes of memory, perception, and representation. While her portfolio varies in approach and message, a unity of effect runs through her work. Quesenberry offers this thread of continuity, a cognitive emotional moment of rest and quiet, to consider the many ways that certainty is elusive and ambiguity is compelling.

Art Gallery, Clark Arts Center