(May 16, 2012)
College, professors receive Board of Regents funding
SHREVEPORT, LA — All four Centenary proposals sent to the Louisiana Board of Regents Undergraduate Enhancement Program have been funded for the 2012-13 academic year. Dr. Greg Butcher, Dr. Kenneth Aizawa, Dr. Mark Goadrich, and Dr. Michelle Glaros submitted the successful proposals.
Dr. Greg Butcher sought funding to enhance Centenary's neurobiology curriculum. The proposed activities use molecular techniques to engage students in discovery through independent research.
"The funds will help me further integrate techniques in molecular biology into the neuroscience labs," said Butcher, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience. "One piece of equipment I plan to purchase with the award will allow my students to complete a certain protein analysis in 30 minutes rather the three hours it currently takes, allowing students to develop, conduct, and analyze an experiment in a single lab session."
Philosophy students and participants in Santé, Centenary's living and learning community focused on health, will now have the ability to use iPads for active and interactive learning. Dr. Aizawa, Professor of Philosophy, pursued funding so that students could engage in active reading of e-texts for courses and facilitate field work at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Health Clinic.
Dr. Goadrich, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, requested funds from the Board of Regents to enhance the computer science program. With the Board of Regents assistance, he will look into acquiring Sifteo Cubes, Android phones and tablets, and Arduino microcontrollers.
"Our computer science program is currently piloting the use of Android smartphones in the context of data structures and algorithms course with great success," said Goadrich. "We are eager to expand these opportunities and create more in-depth upper-level experiences. Through exploring simple physical computing devices, our students will directly see tangible results of their programming efforts and build pathways between their computer science studies and other disciplines."
Filmmaking at Centenary will closely match industry standards in curriculum and resources due to a proposal submitted by Dr. Glaros, Associate Professor of Art. She requested state-of-the-art, high definition, file-based digital production and post-production equipment.
The Louisiana Board of Regents Undergraduate Enhancement funds help develop the infrastructure of academic, research, or agricultural units and promote the state's economic development.