Shepherd University Story Archives - Page 8 of 19 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Shepherd University Professor Appointed To State Science Council

Jason Best, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Shepherd University since 1997, has been appointed to the West Virginia Science and Research Council.

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Shepherd University

The council is part of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and helps to attract research funds and infrastructure towards the state’s scientific institutions.

“I was both honored and humbled that the work I’ve been doing in the sciences over the past 25 years was recognized as such that it was considered valuable,” Best said. “To be able to bring my voice as a representative, not only of Shepherd University, but of the work that we’ve been doing across the (Eastern) Panhandle, I think is a high honor.”

Much of Best’s research at Shepherd involves the structure of the universe, galaxy evolution, and the history of astronomy. His appointment to the council will allow him to create more opportunities for research and promote science education in West Virginia.

“The council’s mission is significant because discovery has no roadmap,” Best said. “To be able to support those who are engaging with these ideas benefits all of us. It benefits the state, benefits the country, benefits the world.”

Best’s work as a professor involves overseeing the school’s observatory and teaching astronomy, physics, and physical science. He is also the university’s Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Academic Strategic Partnerships.

His appointment to the council is for a four-year term.

Shepherd University Upward Bound Program Receives $1.5 Million Grant

Shepherd University’s Upward Bound program will continue with new federal funding from a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

This is one of ten such programs across West Virginia that helps income eligible high school students gain the academic skills to prepare for a college education.

“I think the program is important because there is a need for it,” said Cynthia Copney, director of the university’s TRIO programs. “In the state of West Virginia, we provide the community that the high schools are in with an educated workforce. We believe education is the way out of poverty and to get to where we want to be in life.”

TRIO programs are federal student services that help those who are disadvantaged. Upward Bound is one of the oldest of these programs, created as a result of 1965’s Higher Education Act.

The grant ensures funding for the program for the next five years, after the original five-year grant from 2017 recently expired.

Assistant program director Joselin Fuentes says Upward Bound helps first-generation students know what to expect.

“First generation income eligible students, they don’t develop a sense of belonging,” Fuentes said. “But through our program, they get to experience college before even coming to college, as high schoolers.”

This comes after a total of $3.4 million was also awarded to six West Virginia colleges before last month’s Upward Bound funding deadline. This includes a previous $298,000 award to Shepherd University, as well as awards to West Virginia University, Salem University, Marshall University, Concord University, and Davis & Elkins College.

Those interested in learning more can visit the program’s website.

Shepherd University Aims To Help Teachers With National Writing Project

Shepherd University is one of the latest schools to be designated as a member of the National Writing Project.

It helps teachers support their students’ writing education through events including professional development institutes and writing retreats that help educators at all grade levels.

The project is a federally funded program with 170 sites nationwide.

Shepherd University is the third school in West Virginia to be involved with the program, joining both WVU and Marshall. A release says part of the reason the university is adopting the project is to help teachers with literacy education in a more interconnected, post-COVID world.

The university plans to kick off their membership by hosting a professional development institute for teachers in the area June 6-15. There is a $100 registration fee and those attending can earn up to six continuing education credit hours. Local teachers can sign up at the school’s National Writing Project webpage.

Shepherd University’s Contemporary Theater Debuts Original Motown Musical

Shepherd University’s contemporary theater department is celebrating Black music by premiering an original musical on campus featuring arrangements of classic Motown hits. The show was directed and written by kb saine, director of the school’s contemporary theater studies program.

The musical, titled “Motown: Music from the Motor City,” takes Black music from the 60s and sets it against the backdrop of the civil rights movement. saine says she wants to give social and cultural context to the Motown music scene.

“By lifting up the Black voices in the story of the people who made the music, it does allow us to serve everyone, and it does allow for a sense of equity that we’ve been able to extend to our students and to our community members as well,” said saine.

Also involved as the production’s music director is the dean of the university’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Rob Tudor. As music director, Tudor wants to explore what makes the sound of Motown so universally loved.

“Why has it lasted as long as it has? Why is it still popular?” Tudor said. “I went to a wedding in January… and a few people were dancing, but the moment they put on Motown music, the whole room jumped up on the floor and started dancing because it was music for everybody.”

Both Tudor and saine are excited to contribute to the Eastern Panhandle’s artistic tradition.

“I often refer to [Shepherdstown] as sort of the cultural hub of the area,” said Tudor. “There’s a lot going on, not just in Shepherdstown, but around us, as well.”

“There’s a great music scene, there’s a great theater scene, and it’s professionally and community driven,” saine added. “And there’s an audience for the arts that really appreciates it.”

The show premieres Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Shepherd University’s Marinoff Theater. It will also run Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 4:00 p.m.

Shepherd University Art Exhibit Highlights Black Women

An art exhibit featuring artworks of Black women from different walks of life came to Shepherd University earlier this week.

An art exhibit featuring artworks of Black women from different walks of life came to Shepherd University earlier this week.The exhibit, titled “Physical and Spiritual Bodies,” features nine paintings of Black figures who were influential in different fields. Each painting represents an element of nature that the subject personifies. Painter Chiquita Howard-Bostic says she connects these elements to the personal and cultural ties of Black women.

“This creates a deconstruction of the depressed depictions of Black women, because then people who deem themselves as being powerful, can walk through these same shoes, and they can align themselves positively with Black women,” Howard-Bostic said.

The subjects depicted include important Black figures like environmental activist Wangari Maathai and NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, a West Virginia native. The elements involved in the exhibit include water, air, fire, earth, and the void. For example, Maathai is depicted in association with the earth because of her conservation efforts.

For Howard-Bostic, the art exhibit is also a way to highlight Black women in predominantly white spaces. As the university’s Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity, she is the first African American woman to serve on the school’s executive leadership team. She says it is important for people of all walks of life to have a sense of belonging and identifiable role models.

“I would like these women to be accepted as powerful women that are able to excel in arts, culture, history, all the different disciplines,” Howard-Bostic said. “I need to show Shepherd students and Shepherd faculty members that there are amazing and powerful and successful and talented Black women in all of the fields of study.”

The exhibit will be shown at Shepherd University’s Scarborough Library through April 16.

Shepherd University Expands Wellness Center With Laser Pain Treatment

Shepherd University officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday for the expansion of a pain clinic at the school.

The clinic uses a process called photobiomodulation, or PBM. It uses laser light therapy to reduce pain from degenerative diseases.

A PBM bed is included in the university’s Wellness Center expansion and will be used to help those in and around the school’s community. The school received $500,000 through the state’s federal COVID relief funds for the clinic’s expansion.

“The application could be for young and old, healthy and sick,” said James Carroll, CEO of THOR Photomedicine. His company manufactures PBM beds.

“We know with athletes that it’s very good; if you pretreat before training, you have less fatigue, you have less muscle soreness due to less inflammation,” Carroll said. “But then if you’re older, and you have degenerative diseases like osteoarthritis – that’s an inflammatory joint disease – it would reduce the inflammation and therefore they’ll have less pain.”

Praveen Arany is the interim director for Shepherd’s PBM Center for Excellence. He says the process is similar to exercising or taking supplements, helping build resistance against long-term health issues.

“It’s a non-drug, non-interventional, non-invasive procedure; it’s just like treatment,” said Arany. “The advantage of that is there are no known side effects. And more importantly, it works on the wellness or the resilience of the people (being treated).”

Shepherd University officials cutting a ribbon to celebrate the expansion of the school’s PBM facility

The university plans to use the technology to research PBM’s effect on long COVID fatigue and opioid addiction.

Wellness Center director Jennifer Flora says she sees this as a starting point for even more expansion.

“When this building was developed, we labeled it a Wellness Center with hopes to offer additional wellness services – and we do on a very small scale,” Flora said. “It’s really rewarding to actually have an additional wellness service to really live up to our name.”

The Shepherd University Wellness Center is offering three free sessions to the general public starting Wednesday.