Reference librarian Breanne Kirsch has published a new book.

Titled, “Games in Libraries: Essays on Using Play to Connect and Instruct,” the book is a collection essays discussing the importance of incorporating games in library services.

The book was published by McFarland and Company, Inc. in Jefferson, N.C.

Kirsch is the founder and current chair of the Game Making Interest Group within the Library and Information Technology Association of the American Library Association

The following are recent publications and scholarly pursuits by Greta G. Freeman, associate professor in the School of Education.

Recent publications:

Freeman, G. (2013). The implementation of character education and children’s literature to teach bullying and bullying prevention to preschool children: An action research project. Early Childhood Education Journal, 42(2), doi: 10.1007/s10643-013-0614-5 (online first September 2013).

Freeman, G. & Randolph, I. (2013). Leadership strategies for maintaining success in a rural school district. International Journal on Leadership and Learning, 1(1), 1-18. Retrieved from: https://ijll.synergiesprairies.ca/index.php/ijll/issue/current

Wash, P. D. & Freeman, G. G. (2013). BYOD – Engaging Students Using Their Own Devices. National Social Science Technology Journal, 3(1). Retrieved from https://nssa.us/tech_journal/volume_3-1/vol3-1_article8.htm

Scholarly pursuits

Freeman, G. (2013). The implementation of character education and children’s literature to teach bullying and bullying prevention to preschool children: An action research project. Early Childhood Education Journal, 42(2), doi: 10.1007/s10643-013-0614-5 (online first September 2013).

Wash, P. D. & Freeman, G. G. (2013). BYOD – Engaging Students Using Their Own Devices. National Social Science Technology Journal, 3(1). Retrieved from https://nssa.us/tech_journal/volume_3-1/vol3-1_article8.htm

Freeman, G. & Randolph, I. (2013). Leadership strategies for maintaining success in a rural school district. International Journal on Leadership and Learning, 1(1), 1-18. Retrieved from:  https://ijll.synergiesprairies.ca/index.php/ijll/issue/current

Freeman, G. G. & Wash, P. D. (2013). “You can lead students to the classroom and you can make them think: Ten brain-based strategies for college teaching and learning success. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 24(3), 99-120.

Freeman, G. G. & Wash, P., a peer-reviewed presentation “Undergraduate Teacher Education Students’ Fears: Research Results and Program Application” at the Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching, Greensboro, NC, February, 2013.

Freeman, G. a peer-reviewed presentation “Developing a School or Classroom Poetry Club” at the South Carolina Middle School Association Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC, March 2013.

Freeman, G., a peer-reviewed presentation “Research-Based Strategies and Children’s Literature for Dealing With Childhood Bullying” at the (ACEI) Association for Childhood Education International Global Summit/Conference, Washington, DC, March 2012.

Jim Charles, professor of English education, presented a paper titled “Lessons (Un)Learned: Teaching American Indian Literatures to Non-Indian Students” on Nov. 22 at the 2013 National Council of Teachers of English Convention in Boston, Mass.

Colleen O’Brien,  an assistant professor of Early American Literature at USC Upstate, is included among the November “Featured Scholars” on the USC Office of Research website.

O’Brien’s first book, “Race, Romance and Rebellion: Literature of the Americas in the Nineteenth Century,” was released Sept. 27.

The Office of Research seeks to support faculty excellence in research, creative activities and other scholarly pursuits across the University’s diverse schools, colleges and campuses.

Mary Lou Hightower, associate professor of art education in the department of Fine Arts and Communication Studies at USC Upstate, was re-elected to the Spartanburg School District Six Board of Trustees.

This is Hightower’s fourth term serving on the school board.

“It has been my pleasure to be able to serve on the school board for the past 12 years and I am thrilled to be able to work for the children of this great district again,” Hightower said. “As a retired teacher of 30 years with District Six and now an associate professor at USC Upstate, I feel that it is my duty to give back to the district that I had the privilege to teaching in during my career in the public schools.”

Leah Clevenger and Roy Kaplan, both assistant directors in Housing and Residential Life at USC Upstate, will be presenting in February at the Southeastern Association of Housing Officers in Louisville, Ky.

The two will present a program, “One Day of Fitness Can Inspire a Lifetime of Wellness:  Designing a Wellness Initiative for Resident Advisors.”

In this session, conference participants will hear how a wellness initiative was developed as part of the overall staff development plan for Resident Advisors at USC Upstate. The presentation will walk participants step by step through the creative process, the implementation of the six-week plan, the incentives and celebration, as well as the student assessment of the wellness initiative. When participants leave, they will have a framework for a six-week wellness initiative that they can customize for their institutions.

SEAHO includes schools from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Elements of Modern Algebra

A textbook authored by Dr. Linda (Gilbert) Saucier, a distinguished professor emerita of Mathematics and Computer Science at USC Upstate, will be released next month.

The eighth edition of “Elements of Modern Algebra” features a 2015 copyright date and USC Upstate is listed as the affiliation on the title page.

The book has a user-friendly format, that will help to provide tools needed to succeed in algebra and to move on to higher levels of mathematics.

Selena Blair was recently appointed as Secretary as the Southeastern Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel (SAEOPP).

SAEOPP is a regional professional organization comprised of TRIO and other College Access Employees from eight states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee — dedicated  to professional development and support and to the advocacy of the TRIO Movement.

Their mission is to promote and support equal educational opportunity and access to postsecondary education. Through professional development, networking, research and advocacy, SAEOPP provides TRIO personnel and others with the necessary skills and techniques to assure that the least advantaged have equal access to higher education.

Not only is Blair the only female officer, but this is the first time someone from our institution has ever held a leadership role in a TRIO organization.

Blair became the director of Opportunity Network, a TRIO Student Support Services program, at USC Upstate in August 2012.  Since that time, she has continued to demonstrate her passion for TRIO programs and commitment to her students by making presentations at national, regional, and state conferences as well as traveling to Capitol Hill to meet with legislators to discuss the impacts of sequestration on her students and develop policies to aid in the success of low-income, first generation college students and students with disabilities.

In early October, Blair had the privilege to co-facilitate the Opening Plenary Session entitled “Becoming a Politically Savvy Advocate” at the SC TRIO Fall Conference held in Columbia, SC.

A product of the TRIO programs herself, Blair is committed to personifying the phrase “TRIO Works.”

Dr. Charles Harrington, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of management in the George Dean Johnson, Jr. College of Business and Economics, will have an article, Customer Relationship Management and Intercollegiate Athletics:  Opportunities and Benefits for Smaller Institutions, published in the Spring 2014 volume of the Journal of Management and Organizational Studies.

English professor Thomas McConnell, College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded an artist residency at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska to continue work on a novel-in-progress titled “The Traveler’s Scroll.”

An excerpt from the manuscript won the Hackney National Short Story Competition earlier this year and appears in the Fall 2013 issue of the Birmingham Arts Journal.

Last month another work won second prize in the Porter Fleming Award for the Essay, an annual competition for Southeasterner writers.