A look at what’s going on in the field of education.

Snider appointed to boards of directors

Dr. James Henry Snider has begun serving as a member of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority and the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corp. boards of directors. His appointment was made by Gov. Ernie Fletcher shortly before leaving office.

KHEAA is a public corporation and governmental agency established in 1966 to improve students’ access to higher education. KHEAA administers several financial aid programs and disseminates information about higher education opportunities.

The Kentucky General Assembly created KHESLC, known as The Student Loan People, in 1978 as an independent municipal corporation to make, finance, service and collect educational loans. Its mission is to promote higher education opportunities by providing the lowest cost loan programs and related services in Kentucky and now throughout the country.

Snider is also serving his second term as an appointee on the Kentucky Community Crisis Response Board. The KCCRB is the lead disaster behavioral health agency for the state and provides disaster behavioral health services. It provides teams of trained police, fire, EMS, mental health, clergy and others to offer psychological first aid to victims of crises and disaster and to first responders.

Snider, of Franklin, serves as senior school counselor at Springfield High School, is president of the Simpson County Historical Society and chairman of the Simpson County Republican Party. He is a Western Kentucky University graduate and started his teaching career in Warren County.

Engineering program receives research grant

For the third time in four years, Western Kentucky University’s mechanical engineering program has received a grant from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers to support a student research project.

ASHRAE awarded a grant of $3,500 to Kevin Schmaltz, associate professor in WKU’s Department of Engineering, to support a 2008-09 student team that will analyze, design and construct a prototype system to cool a residential building using a simple water spray system on the roof.

The WKU mechanical engineering program received ASHRAE grants in 2005 and 2006. The 2005 grant resulted in an air flow test system that is being used for industrial projects, while the 2006 grant was used to build a centrifugal pump demonstration system used in mechanical engineering classes.

The most recent grant will help the program’s ongoing research into novel energy systems. The mechanical engineering program is collaborating with WKU’s Agriculture Department on projects to capture energy from decomposing leaves to heat a greenhouse and also to convert used cooking oil from campus cafeterias to biodiesel for use at the WKU farm.

WKU student takes 1st in photo contest

A Western Kentucky University student has won the second photojournalism competition in the 2007-08 Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Phillip Andrews, a junior from Annandale, Va., placed first in the News and Sports category. Andrews and WKU’s School of Journalism and Broadcasting received matching $2,000 awards. Andrews will submit additional photos for the semifinal round of judging in May.

After two of three photo contests, WKU is in fourth place behind Missouri, Florida and San Francisco State. WKU has won the Hearst Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition 16 times in the past 18 years. Final winners will be announced in April.

Three other WKU students also have placed in the top 20 in photojournalism and writing competitions in the 48th annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Mandy McConaha, a senior from Williamsburg, Ind., placed 12th in the News and Sports photo competition. In the in-depth writing contest, Corey Paul, a Bowling Green junior, tied for 15th place and Dunja Zdero, a Louisville sophomore, tied for 18th.

WKU’s School of Journalism and Broadcasting has finished in the top four overall nationally in the Hearst competition for nine consecutive years, including No. 1 finishes in 2005, 2001 and 2000.

19 Western students on ‘Who’s Who’ list

The 2008 “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges” includes 19 Western Kentucky University students.

The following students were selected based on academic achievement, community service, leadership in extracurricular activities and potential for continued success:

Dina Bessette, an accounting major from Bowling Green; Amberly Kay Bush, a music education major from Bowling Green; Clinton Bradley Conrad, a corporate and organizational communication major from Falmouth; Lance Coulter, an economics major from Bardstown; Erin Fulkerson, an accounting major from Lexington; Elizabeth Hennessy, an accounting major from Henderson; Taylor Jones, a business major from Midway; Piper Lindsey, a physical education major from Glasgow; Bronson Murphy, a music education major from Bowling Green; Diane DeRosa-Reynolds, a sales marketing major from Union; Natalie Riley, a music performance major from Bowling Green; Jessica Shoulders, an accounting major from Franklin; Shelby Smith, a psychology major from Bowling Green; Larisa E. Chavarria-Smith, a graphic design major from Bowling Green; Kelly Stinson, an advertising major from Jeffersonville, Ind.; James Napier Stites, a music education major from Bowling Green; Brittany Michelle West, a communication disorders major from Owensboro; Megan Wheat, a music education major from Scottsville; and Sarah White, a communication studies major from Louisville.

Interfraternity Council gets excellence award

Western Kentucky University’s Interfraternity Council received the Fraternal Excellence Award at the Southeastern Interfraternity Conference in Atlanta.

The award, which was presented Feb. 16, recognizes interfraternity councils that excel in IFC management, chapter services, judicial processes, leadership development, legal concerns, philanthropy and community service, publications, public relations, recruitment, scholarship and academic achievement and social programming.

WKU’s IFC was one of four that received the Fraternal Excellence Award in the southeastern region.

Western staff, students visit China

Researchers and graduate students from Western Kentucky University’s Hoffman Environmental Research Institute visited China during the second half of January to organize and conduct a karst field methods workshop and to conduct field mapping in Yunnan Province.

The China Environmental Health Project, a multi-year program of WKU’s Hoffman Institute, is funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the ENVIRON Foundation.

The China project is part of the Hoffman Institute’s global technology transfer initiative and is, in part, designed to assist other countries in developing their GIS capabilities.

The 2008 karst field methods workshop took place from Jan. 12-16 at Southwest University, Beibei, Chongqing. The workshop was followed by a nine-day field session that included hydrologic karst inventory, field mapping, and water/soil sampling on the remote East Mountain plateau in Mengzi County, Yunnan Province.

WKU participants included Patricia Kambesis, assistant director of the Hoffman Institute; Erin Lynch, geoscience graduate student from Arlington, Va.; and Andrea Croskrey, a geoscience master’s graduate from Blakesburg, Iowa, with affiliated student researchers from partner universities including Duncan Collis, Alan Cressler, Matt Oliphant, Nancy Pistole and Charley Savvas.