Five Northwestern Faculty Receive Grants to Enhance Classroom Instruction

Northwestern State University has received $306,022 from the Board of Regents Support Fund for five projects to enhance classroom instruction.

Receiving funding were Scott Burrell, “The Creation of a Theatre and Dance Performance Laboratory in the Northwestern State University Theatre and Dance Program,” $32,000; Michael Cundall, “Art History and Pedagogy,” $58,100; J. Mark Thompson, “Enhancement of Instrumental Course Offerings through the Acquisition of Musical Instruments,” $88,987; Daniel Withey, “Laboratory Equipment for BMET Concentration,” $86,925 and Zafer Hatahet, “DNA Bar coding of Plants in Louisiana,” $40,000.

According to Priscilla Kilcrease, director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, eight of the nine proposals submitted by NSU faculty for this round of grants were “highly recommended” by out-of-state consultants who evaluated each proposal. For the first time, three “highly recommended” proposals were not funded due to a $10 million reduction in the Board of Regents Support Fund.

The Theatre and Dance Performance Laboratory will be created in the Loft Theatre on the second floor of the old wing of the A.A. Fredericks Center for Creative and Performing Arts. The grant will allow the Theatre and Dance program to make the Loft Theatre into a more versatile space that can be used for acting and dancing. Improvements including soundproofing and improved lighting will be made.

Cundall’s grant will create three smart classrooms in Morrison Hall, increasing the ability of faculty to usefully present a variety of visual and audio materials to their classes. The increased effectiveness of the presentations would allow students to more readily access and work with the materials.

The grant to enhance instrumental course offerings will allow the university to better instruct music education students. Enrollment in the program has increased in recent years and the program lacked instruments to fully support classroom needs. Many of the instruments in the program were also past their expected lifespan. The grant will help NSU address a priority concern of its accrediting agency in music.

Withey’s grant will provide Northwestern with lab equipment for classes in digital signal processing and biomedical instrumentation within its biomedical engineering technology concentration. The grant will fund lab stations serving both courses equipped with test and measurement instruments needed for students to become viable technologists in the biomedical engineering technology field.

Under the grant obtained by Hatahet, Northwestern will enhance the curricula of several courses by introducing molecular biology applications in the fields of botany, plant taxonomy and ecology. The Department of Biological Sciences will use the relatively new method of DNA bar coding to identify plant species in Louisiana, working initially at Hodges Gardens. The information obtained will be used to demonstrate and cement information taught in lecture courses regarding natural selection, plant habitats, competition between species in the same ecosystem, phylogenetics and evolution.