Catholic Mission
2009-10 Academic Year
Annmarie I. George, associate professor, Gannon fine arts program, became a member of the Erie Philharmonic Orchestra's Board of Governors and Mayor Joseph Sinnott's Roundtable on the Arts. She is serving as president of the Gannon University Faculty Senate for the 2009-10 Academic Year.
Kimberly A. Cavanagh, DHSc, PA-C, assistant professor/clinical coordinator, Gannon University physician assistant program, recently presented a lecture titled, “Anticoagulation in Cardiology” at the 34th Annual Pennsylvania Society of Physician Assistants Annual CME Conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. 4-7, 2009. She also presented a poster titled, “Development of the Program Framework for a School-Based Asthma Education Program for Children in Kindergarten through Grade Five” at the conference. 
Cavanagh and Cathy Gillespie, DHSc, PA-C, associate professor, Gannon University physician assistant program, presented a Heart Sounds Workshop at the same conference.
Cavanagh also received a Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) degree from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently. Her primary research focus was the development of a school-based asthma education program for children with asthma.
In addition, she worked on a case study on Chiari I Malformations that was included in the October 2008 issue of ADVANCE for Physician Assistants, an industry journal. Chiari I Malformations are a congenital brain malformation that people typically are born with. The malformations may produce symptoms including headaches and impairing the patient’s ability to walk.
Cavanagh has participated in a webcast interview for ADVANCE, titled "Write What You Know: A Chat with PA Kim Cavanagh," which is available for download on their Web site. To listen, click HERE and scroll down to the seventh listing.
Thomas B. Hassett, director of international admissions at Gannon, recently led a workshop for the Jordanian community at the AMIDEAST office in Amman. His workshop discussed the use of the essay in the college admission process. America-Mideast Educational and Training Services Inc. (AMIDEAST) is a private, non-profit organization that strengthens mutual understanding and cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa.
Duane “Rick” Prokop, Ph.D., director of Graduate Programs and associate director of the Dahlkemper School of Business Administration at Gannon University, recently accepted a two-year appointment to the position of chairman of the Erie City Mission board of directors. The Erie City Mission is a Christian social outreach center established in 1911 and has several programs to serve the local community. Under Dr. Prokop’s leadership, the Erie City Mission appointed a new executive director and is in the process of planning and constructing a new building to meet the increasing demand for the organization’s expanding services.
Five Gannon biology students, mentored by two Gannon faculty, recently received honors at the Regional Science Consortium’s 5th Annual Research Symposium held at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center.Senior Meaghan Ropski received the award for best student oral presentation for work performed with another undergraduate, Brian Wojtkielewicz, on invasive dreissenid mussels (zebra mussels and closely related quagga mussels). The work was conducted with Gregory M. Andraso, Ph.D., associate professor of biology at Gannon, and provides insight into how round gobies (an invasive species of fish that prey on dreissenid mussels) may affect dreissenid populations in the Great Lakes.
Senior Tom Russo received the award for best student poster presentation for work conducted with fellow seniors Sean Fouse and Krista Mershimer on antibiotic resistant bacteria in water, quagga mussels and fish from Lake Erie. They were mentored by Troy A.Skwor, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at Gannon, and Dr. Andraso. Their work highlights the prevalence of antibiotic resistant strains within Lake Erie.
Ultimately, these studies will help us understand how antibiotic resistance spreads through the ecosystem of Lake Erie. Funding for both studies was provided by the Gannon University Department of Biology. The University’s research vessel, Environaut, was instrumental in the work.
Elisa M. Konieczko, Ph.D, ’84, associate professor of biology and director of the Biotechnology Program, along with senior biology major Matt Ruston, recently received a national Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society research grant to help support an ongoing research project at Gannon University.
The project, “Effect of Growth in Exogenous Hormones on the Localization of Relaxin and Estrogen Receptors in Primary Keratinocytes,” examines the effect of growth of keratinocytes in the presence or absence of the two peptide hormones relaxin and estrogen and is a collaborative project with Dr. Justine Schober and Tim Cooney of Hamot Medical Center in Erie.
Johnson Olanrewaju, Ph.D., PI, assistant professor in Gannon’s Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, in collaboration with TM Industrial Supply Inc. in Erie, has been awarded $53, 201 by The Ben Franklin Technology Center—Translational Research Energy Program for syngas (hydrogen) production from glycerin. Glycerin is a by-product of biofuel production. According to the U.S. National Biodiesel Board, about 450 million gallons of glycerin was produced in 2007, and the number is projected to increase to about 1 billion gallons within a few years.
Consequently, the supply of glycerin greatly exceeds demand by pharmaceutical and personal care products and other sectors. Market demand expansion is hampered by the presence of various organic and inorganic impurities in glycerin obtained from different sources. Olanrewaju’s project is designed to build and test a lab-scale plasma arc gasification reactor, operating at high temperature and atmospheric pressure to gasify glycerin in order to produce hydrogen. Plasma gasification process is fast, efficient, and most importantly, scalable.
Julie Hartmann, M.Ed., instructor and academic coordinator of clinical education for the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Gannon, was recently named co-chair for the Erie County Chapter of the Twilight Wish Foundation. The Twilight Wish Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that grants wishes for the elderly.
“The geriatric population has had an enormous impact on my life, and I feel strongly about giving back to those people who have influenced me the most,” Hartmann said. “I have spent the greater portion of my career as a physical therapist working with the elderly in a variety of settings. I am responsible for teaching the Foundations in Geriatrics course for the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Gannon, and in 2007 I received certification as a geriatric specialist through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Many elderly individuals I have met have taught me more than any textbook, lecture or conference could ever provide.”
Hartmann is assisted as co-chair by Brad Gleason, a 1990 graduate of Gannon.
Karla Mullenax Wludyga, director of public relations and communications and special assistant to the president, was recently named to the Board of Trustees for the Flagship Niagara League. The Flagship Niagara League is a 501(c)3, non-profit educational associate organization of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), chartered to facilitate citizen participation and operation of the Flagship Niagara and its homeport, Erie Maritime Museum.
She was also recently named a member of the Erie Regional Advisory Board of EconomicsPennsylvania, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging an understanding of economic concepts through education.
Sara A. Lichtenwalter, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work and field placement coordinator for Gannon’s Social Work Program, was recently honored by Erie Homes for Children and Adults (EHCA). Lichtenwalter and the University received Community Recognition Awards for an in-depth analysis of EHCA’s Project First Step/Doula, which serves low-income women with disabilities and high-risk pregnancies.
Lichtenwalter prepared a report on the Doula program's last seven years' of outcomes. During the period she evaluated, Doula services achieved a 97 percent healthy infant birth rate; reduced Cesarean deliveries by more than 41 percent; and reduced the rate of pre-term births (low-weight infants) by more than 57 percent.
In the acknowledgements of her report, Lichtenwalter noted that her work was made possible by community-based research funding provided by Gannon’s Office of Service-Learning. She also credited the work of Molly Ciscell, a 2009 social work graduate, who "contributed her time and skill."
Charles A. Bennett, assistant professor of finance and director of Gannon’s Center for Economic Education in the Dahlkemper School of Business, recently collaborated with 4LTR Press (a division of Cengage Publishers) on a new text to be used in intermediate macroeconomics courses. The textbooks are designed to have low initial prices, be visually dynamic and address many student concerns about textbooks on the market today.
Bennett previously collaborated with 4LTR Press on the ECON series, which are now in the second edition. The series includes two texts: one for principles of microeconomics and one for principles of macroeconomics.
In May 2009, he was also nominated and approved to serve another two-year term on the board of directors of Advantage Credit Counseling Service, Inc and Consumer Credit Counseling Service.
Bennett has been a board member for several years and attends the quarterly board meetings in Pittsburgh. In addition, he also serves on the Technology and Education Committees of the non-profit organization that has been successfully assisting consumers with wise debt management programs and education since 1968.
Berwyn Moore
, associate professor of English at Gannon University, has been named the first ever Poet Laureate for Erie County. The official announcement was made during a Sept. 9 press conference at the Raymond M. Blasco Memorial Library. In addition to being named Poet Laureate, Moore will receive a $10,000 grant to fund a project; she plans to compile an anthology of poems and art by Erie County residents.Moore, an accomplished poet, has had her works published widely in national journals and in two books. Her many honors include a second-place award in a national poetry contest sponsored by The Pinch, a prestigious literary journal published by the University of Memphis. In addition to her faculty position at Gannon, Moore serves as advisor to the Totem, Gannon’s student-produced literary-art journal, and has coordinated Gannon’s annual poetry contests and oversees the English Department’s annual Awards Night.
Troy A. Skwor, Ph.D., assistant professor, biology, spent the summer in the rural
He also had two manuscripts chosen for publication recently. The first study, “Role of Secreted Conjunctival Mucosal Cytokine and Chemokine Proteins in Different Stages of Trachomatous Disease,” was published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the first open-access journal devoted to the world’s most neglected tropical diseases. It includes peer-reviewed research on all scientific, medical and public-health aspects of such diseases and is published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS).
Skwor’s second study, “Identification of Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Inflammatory Genes as Risk Factors Associated with Trachomatous Trichiasis,” was published in PLoS One. Both studies discussed the ocular disease trachoma and identified proteins in an effort to shed light on future vaccine targets.
In addition to his teaching duties at Gannon, Skwor serves as a visiting scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute.
Kimberly A. Cavanagh, assistant professor/clinical coordinator,
She also worked on a case study on Chiari I Malformations that was included in the October 2008 issue of ADVANCE for Physician Assistants, an industry journal.
Chiari I Malformations are a congenital brain malformation that people typically are born with. The malformations may produce symptoms including headaches and impairing the patient’s ability to walk.
The case study focused on a six-year-old boy who had this condition but did not exhibit any symptoms. And it was discovered during an MRI. The purpose of the case study was to educate primary care PAs on Chiari I Malformations and their symptoms, evaluation, and common treatments.
In addition, Cavanagh participated in a webcast interview for ADVANCE, titled "Write What You Know: A Chat with PA Kim Cavanagh," which is available for download on their Web site. To listen, click HERE and scroll down to the seventh listing.
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