EDMOND — Local students graduate SWOSU

A total of 163 students at Southwestern Oklahoma State University complete requirements for either associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degrees this summer on the Weatherford and Sayre campuses.

Students who complete their degrees include:

Joshua Fulgium of Edmond, A.S. in Wildland Firefighting and B.S. in Parks And Recreation; Kristi Ibarra of Edmond, B.S. in Nursing; Nitah Kinjah of Edmond, B.S. in Health Sciences; Marilyn Clark of Guthrie, B.S. in Nursing; Teresa Ezersky of Guthrie, M.ED. in Parks & Recreation Management.



Paty makes Dean’s List at Sam Houston State

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Zachary Paty, a senior kinesiology major from Edmond, was named to the Dean’s List at Sam Houston State University for the 2012 Spring semester. The Dean’s List is comprised of full-time undergraduate students who achieve a 3.5 grade point average or higher for the semester. The university is located in Huntsville, Texas.



Epperson wins grocers scholarship

Joe Epperson of Edmond recently won a $500 OK Grocers Scholarship for his academic and extracurricular activities. He attends the University of Oklahoma and is majoring in chemical engineering.

The Harding Charter Prep graduate was an AP scholar with distinction and earned 42 credit hours from AP classes. He was a National Merit semi-finalist, a three-year member of the debate team in high school, won the state regents scholarship, an OU scholarship and the Harding Alumni Association scholarship.

Epperson spent the summer of 2011 at Stanford, and went to Jordan two years ago with 4 Star Debate program.

Oklahoma Grocers Association is a member and partner in education with the Made in Oklahoma Coalition.



Dodd receives scholarships to OCU

Harley Dodd, a 2012 Deer Creek High School graduate, has been accepted to Oklahoma City University.

Dodd is 1/8 Choctaw and is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He received scholarships from OCU’s American Indian Scholarship Fund and from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Dodd was part of OCU’s “Mind the Gap” program this summer, which helps students to learn to build community relationships on campus and through community service, to enrich and to understand the value and diversity in their academic endeavors and to work toward the goal of becoming effective student leaders both on campus and in the public community.

Dodd plans to study Kinesiology at Oklahoma City University. He plans to apply for Physical Therapy school after completing the bachelors program.

He is the son of David and Monique Dodd of Edmond, and the grandson of Lawrence and Peggy Noel of Shawnee and Johnny and Carla Dodd of Guthrie.



Edmond resident graduates from Drexel University

Edmond resident Jonathan Slominski graduated from Drexel University's College of Engineering in Philadelphia, Penn., with a Master of Science in Software Engineering. More than 5,000 students received degrees from Drexel this year at the University’s 125th Commencement.



Nybeck to serve as RA at Heidelberg University

Heidelberg University student Karen Nybeck of Edmond has been selected to serve a leadership role in the Office of Residence Life as a resident assistant for the 2012-13 academic year.

Nybeck, a senior majoring in athletic training and biology, has joined a team of 30 students who will impact the growth and development of their peers by providing leadership and acting as role models to students they oversee in residence halls and housing complexes on Heidelberg's campus.

RAs also are responsible for designing and implementing programming within their halls around the theme of CHARACTER, short for culture/diversity, health, academic/professional, relationships, art/music, community service, targets, emotional and religious/spiritual.



OCCC adds variety to fitness schedule

Working to meet the fitness needs of students and the community, Oklahoma City Community College’s (OCCC) fall group exercise schedule is packed full of classes to suit everyone. From Shallow Water Aerobics to Aqua Zumba, Tiny Tot Ballet, to Yoga and Spin classes, take a look at the schedule and see which class fits you best. The new classes kicked off Tuesday. For more information on prices for this year’s fall fitness schedule, or to sign up, please contact the OCCC Recreation and Fitness department at 682-7860, or click www.occc.edu/rf/wellness-classes.html.



MERLOT recognizes UCO biology professor

University of Central Oklahoma Professor of Biology Jim Bidlack, Ph.D., was recently recognized by the Multimedia Educational Resource for Online Teaching (MERLOT) for his contributions as editor of the organization’s Biology Editorial Board with the MERLOT House Cup.           

The award acknowledges the level of contributions made to the MERLOT collection by one of their boards during an academic year. Contributions include materials triaged, individual peer reviews, composite peer reviews, member comments, and learning materials.  These reviewed materials are then made available to teachers throughout the world seeking reliable online resources.           

MERLOT officials said the accomplishment is particularly great given this is Bidlack’s first year as editor of the Biology Editorial Board and that all of the board members are also new

MERLOT is an international initiative that enables faculty to integrate technology into higher education. It is an online community of faculty and institutions collaborating to increase the quantity of high quality web-based, interactive teaching and learning materials. The MERLOT website is a free “gateway” for these web-based materials.

Finding web-based materials to incorporate into one’s course is just the first step for faculty; faculty must also decide if the materials are correct, effective teaching-learning tools, and easy to use. A continually growing collection of high quality online teaching and learning materials is realized through MERLOT’s peer review process facilitated through their editorial boards.

To learn more about MERLOT, visit www.merlot.org.