January 31, 2017
Ursuline College announces its 2017 Faculty Lecture Series, exploring what sediment and ice cores reveal about global climate, the interactions between hospice workers and teens, and the effect of service learning on cultural competency. The lectures are all free and open to the public.
Ice Cores and Global Climate
On Feb. 7, at noon in the Little Theater, Assistant Professor Jenise Snyder, Ph.D., presents “Our Ever Changing Climate: What Sediment and Ice can Tell us about our Past and Future.” For well over a century, scientists have been removing and investigating cores drilled from beneath the seafloor and ice-covered regions. Dr. Snyder will cover what we can (and cannot) learn from these cores and how this information relates to past, present, and future climate. She will share her experiences visiting our national core repositories, processing cores, and meeting with climate experts.
Dr. Snyder teaches undergraduate courses in biology, ecology, and environmental science in Ursuline’s Biology Department. She is an aquatic ecologist, specializing in understanding the impact of human-mediated nutrients on plant and soil communities. To augment her research and expand climate-related exercises in her classes, she recently attended intensive courses held at the National Ice Core Laboratory and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Marine Core Repository. Her goals are to use these experiences to promote and enhance climate literacy for all.
Hospice Clinicians and Adolescents
On March 2 at noon in the Little Theater, Assistant Professor Murray Mayo, Ph.D., will present “Interactions between Hospice Clinicians and Adolescents with a Parent in Hospice.” She will discuss her descriptive qualitative study that includes data from 45 interviews with teens who were dealing with the impending or recent loss of a parent.
Dr. Mayo co-authored a paper on this topic last year in the Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing and the story was picked up by the Reuters news agency and distributed internationally. She teaches in the graduate program of The Breen School of Nursing at Ursuline. In addition to teaching nursing for 30 years, her work includes longstanding experience in the hospice and palliative care environment. Dr. Mayo has also worked as a group facilitator for the American Cancer Society and the Sacred Art of Living Society.
Service Learning and Cultural Competence
On April 3, at noon in Dauby Hall, Room 201, Assistant Professor Katherine Jackson, Ph.D., will speak on “Developing Multicultural Competence through Service.” Dr. Jackson, who teaches in Ursuline’s Counseling and Art Therapy master’s degree program and runs the service learning initiative, has led group service learning trips across the US and abroad.
Dr. Jackson looks at whether providing service for those less fortunate helps students learn and grow as culturally competent clinicians. This question is the focus of research being conducted in the Counseling and Art therapy program with students attending the service learning program. This lecture will demonstrate positive outcomes and considerations in developing student awareness in biases, thoughts and perceptions about people who are different from them. Dr. Jackson maintains a clinical mental health practice in Beachwood, where she sees a variety of clients.
