Download http://www.etsu.edu/univrela/accentarchives/2014/07_June_27.pdf

VOLUME 62
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NUMBER 13
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JUNE 27, 2014
ROTC continues to excel, from the mountains to the desert
Lt. Col. Daniel Bishop, outgoing chair
of ETSU’s Department of Military Science,
says, “The cadets of ETSU’s Army ROTC
program and the Battalion’s affiliate program
at The University of Virginia’s College at
Wise really showed their prowess at national
events this year.”
The fall semester brought the first
victory of the year as the Eddie Reed
Ranger Company repeated as Tennessee
State Champions at the 7th Brigade Ranger
Challenge competition. An overall fifth
place finish among all programs across
Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and
Michigan secured the Buc Battalion’s place
among the elite programs in 7th Brigade, and
Bishop says “the 7th Brigade is considered
the most competitive brigade in the country.”
After winter break, the pace increased
significantly with cadets training and
competing in seven different states over the
course of the spring semester.
February brought a trip to Fort Benning,
Ga., for the U.S. Army Small Arms
Marksmanship competition. Training
u ETSU’s Bataan Memorial March team included (left-right) Zachary Skipworth, Jackson Scott,
Andrew Thomas, Matthew Hagy and David Lilly.
alongside and competing with the best
marksmen in the world, the Battalion teams
from ETSU and UVA-Wise placed second
and third respectively in the ROTC Rifle
competition. Bishop notes, “Shooting
at targets up to 500 yards away, with no
advanced optics, even while battling the
wind and snow, the cadets excelled.”
Later in the winter, a trip to Indiana
Continued on page 2 >>>
ETSU inaugurates
M.S. in digital marketing
The College of Business and Technology
will begin a new master of science in digital
marketing program in the fall semester.
The degree will focus on the field of
marketing in the digital environment.
Coursework will be current, relevant and
completely online.
The program coordinator, Dr. Kelly
Price-Rhea, says, “With the growing, ever-changing, fast-paced online atmosphere,
marketing has significantly changed and
will continue to do so. To meet these needs,
the degree will encompass a cutting-edge,
innovative curriculum and learning environment aimed toward producing dynamic,
knowledgeable graduates who are prepared
Continued on page 3 >>>
u ETSU President Dr. Brian Noland took Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (right),
Rep. Tony Shipley (left) and Rep. Matthew Hill (not pictured) on a tour of campus Thursday,
June 26.
ROTC successes
Continued from page 1
ETSU Accent, for and about university activities
and employees, is published the Office of
University Relations. News items for upcoming
issues should be forwarded to Jennifer Hill,
assistant director, Box 70717, 300 Burgin E.
Dossett Hall, telephone 439-5693, email hill@
etsu.edu.
Contributing writers this issue:
Carol Fox
Jennifer Hill
Fred Sauceman
Joe Smith
Mike White
Photographs by ETSU Photographic Services
Ron Campbell
Jim Sledge
Larry Smith
Charlie Warden
East Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of
Regents institution. The TBR is the nation’s sixth largest
higher education system, governing 45 post-secondary
educational institutions. The TBR system includes six
universities, 13 two-year colleges and 26 technology
centers, providing programs to over 180,000 students
in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties.
Accreditation
Commission on Colleges of the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
East Tennessee State University is accredited by the
Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate, masters,
specialist, and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission
on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia
30033-4097, or call 404-679-4500, or Web site: www.
sacscoc.org with any questions regarding the accreditation of East Tennessee State University.
ETSU is a Tobacco-Free Campus. All use of tobacco is
limited to private vehicles only.
ETSU makes available to prospective students and
employees the ETSU Security Information Report.
This annual report includes campus crime statistics
for the three most recent calendar years and various
campus policies concerning law enforcement, the
reporting of criminal activity, and crime prevention
programs. The ETSU Security Information Report
is available upon request from ETSU, Department of
Public Safety, Box 70646, Johnson City, TN 376141702. The report can be accessed on the Internet at:
http://www.etsu.edu/dps/security_report.asp.
TBR #220-001-13 — East Tennessee State University is
an AA/EEO employer and does not discriminate on the
basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or
age in its program and activities. The following person
has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the
non-discrimination policies: Special Assistant to the
President for Equity and Diversity/Affirmative Action
Director, ETSU, Box 70734, Johnson City, TN 37614,
(423) 439-4211.
University presented an opportunity for
six of the senior cadets to train with the
German Army, with all six awarded the
German Armed Forces Badge for Military
Proficiency.
Cadets interested in unarmed and armed
drill and ceremony make up the ETSU
Pershing Rifles. “Our cadets worked hard
to gain admission and recognition from
the national Pershing Rifle Society,” notes
Bishop, “and were honored to be invited in
March to the society’s national convention to
be inducted into this very prestigious body.”
While programs are not permitted
to compete in their first year, ETSU’s
color guard was selected to present the
National Colors as part of the convention
opening ceremonies. Cadets from the Buc
Battalion made an immediate impression,
with two selected for national leadership
positions. Cadet Jonathan Shackelford of
Johnson City was selected to serve as a
Regimental Commander responsible for
all Pershing Rifles organizations across a
seven-state region encompassing much of
the southern United States. Also, Cadet
Zachary Schuette, another Johnson City
native, was selected as the national Cadet
Command Sergeant Major.
During the spring, the Battalion
participated in the Bataan Memorial March
for the first time. Teams from ETSU
and UVA-Wise, along with 6,200 other
individuals, competed in the harsh desert
environment at New Mexico’s White Sands
Missile Range. Marching in uniform with
a 35-pound pack, cadets completed a full
marathon in the heavy military division.
The ETSU team finished in 10th place
overall with the team from Wise finishing
well within the top half of all programs in
25th place.
On the same March weekend, several
two- man cadet teams traveled to Cincinnati
to compete in the Cadet Best Ranger
Competition. Bishop is proud of his cadets.
He says, “Buc Battalion Cadets performed
exceptionally, with two teams in the top 10,
bringing home the first place championship
trophy along with a sixth place finish.”
The final competition of the season took
place in Gatlinburg at the Mountain Man
Page 2 | ETSU Accent | June 27, 2014
Memorial March. Bishop explains, “This
competition is important to us, because,
compared to the others, this one is in our own
backyard, where we face traditional rivals.”
Last year, the Battalion sent one team
and finished in fourth place. This year,
the Battalion sent six teams with 30 cadets
participating in a grueling half-marathon
through the mountains with a 35-pound
pack. Teams made up of cadets from both
campuses competed, with three teams
finishing in the top 10. Setting a new course
record, the Battalion’s top team regained
its championship title from two years ago,
while two additional teams finished fourth
and eighth place.
Cadets of the Buc Battalion will be
spread across the world for the next several
months. Cadets will travel overseas to
Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Thailand
as part of the Army’s Cultural Understanding
and Language Program (CULP); will attend
Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, Ky.;
and send 30 cadets for training at Fort
Knox, Ky. A number of rising seniors
will be assigned to operational units for
several weeks to shadow 2nd lieutenants at
Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Lewis, Wash.; Fort
Jackson, S.C.; and in Germany.
As Bishop prepares to hand the reins to
Lt. Col. Glen Howie, the new professor of
Military Science, and looks back on his final
year at ETSU, he reflects on his two years
here, saying, “For the second year in a row,
the Corps of Cadets reached levels not seen
in several decades. The program is in a
position to commission 20 or more officers,
likely starting next year, between the ETSU
and UVA-Wise campuses. These numbers
will be the new norm for the program and
are well above the goal of commissioning
15 officers per year, which is the Army’s
definition of a viable program.
“The ETSU ROTC program continues to
build on more than six decades of tradition
in leadership development and will take
pride in seeing cadets graduate from these
great institutions, ready to take their place
alongside a very long line of exceptional
young men and women from the region
who will lead the Army and the nation into
the future.”
Nursing faculty member retires from military after 26 years
Sue Reed will be the first to tell you that she doesn’t like being
in the spotlight, and she admits there are some stories from her past
that not many people know about.
She dropped out of high school at the age of 17. She became a
widow when she was 23.
Seven months after her husband died, she was told that her threeyear-old son had leukemia.
She shares those stories, but only at times when the situation
is right.
But what you will hear Sue talk about often is her love for her
students at ETSU and her love for the patients and her colleagues
at the Johnson City Community Health Center (JCCHC).
And, her love for her country.
With a husband, two children, and dreams of going to graduate
school, Reed decided to enlist in the U.S. Army at the age of 33.
What followed was a distinguished career that earned her numerous
military decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal, five
Army Commendations, six Army Achievement Medals, and the
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. She was mobilized four
times and was activated during Operation Desert Storm in 1990.
Last month, Reed retired from the military following 26 years
of service.
“Twenty-six years, two months, and 17 days,” she said.
Reed will stay on at the university after being appointed director
of special populations for the JCCHC, where she will oversee care
for migrant workers, the homeless, individuals living in public
housing settings and other underserved populations. She will also
see public housing residents at the Johnson City Public Housing
Partners for Health Clinic within the Keystone Community on a
weekly basis.
Read her story by clicking here.
Pharmacy professor makes cover of national magazine
A professor at the Bill
Gatton College of Pharmacy
has been featured in back-toback issues of the magazine
Pharmacy Today, a publication
of the American Pharmacists
Association.
In the April issue, Sarah
Melton was the subject of the
magazine’s “Provider Status
Profile.” For the May issue,
she was featured in the cover
story, “Moving Mountains:
Managing Patients with
Psychiatric Disorders,” and
a color photograph, taken by
ETSU’s Larry Smith, graces the magazine’s cover.
In that story, writer Sonya Collins describes how Melton, an
associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, has “built
her career around caring for patients with mental illness and opioid
addiction in the Appalachian region of Virginia and Tennessee.”
Melton is a psychiatric pharmacist, a career path she chose after
she did a rotation in psychiatry while working on her doctorate in
pharmacy at the Medical College of Virginia. She has been boardcertified in the field since 1996 and says she was one of the first in
the country. Now, she estimates, she is among some 700 psychiatric
pharmacists nationwide.
A native of Riner, Va., Melton has seen, firsthand, the effects of
the extremely high rates of prescription drug abuse and overdose
in Appalachia, and she has dedicated a career to fighting those
Page 3 | ETSU Accent | June 27, 2014
conditions. She splits her time between a clinic called HighPower in
Lebanon, Va., and ETSU’s Johnson City Community Health Center,
a new and one-of-a-kind operation run by nurse practitioners.
The May Pharmacy Today article describes a referral system
Melton developed, whereby nurses who identify mental health needs
in patients refer them to Melton. She meets with each patient for an
hour and then schedules a 30-minute follow-up, all the while staying
in close communication with the nurse practitioner to manage the
patient’s medications. In addition, Melton works with a counselor
who does psychotherapy, often alleviating the need for more costly
visits with a psychiatrist.
Click here to read more.
Digital marketing
Continued from page 1
for the future of digital marketing.
“The program is not only innovative,” Price-Rhea notes, “but
also challenging and purposeful. Graduates of the program will have
the skills employers are looking for to fill digital marketing jobs.”
She adds, “We are looking for dynamic, energetic, creative
students who are able to think critically. And, because of the
online delivery of the program, professionals and students can
advance their education while still working and managing everyday life.”
Among the course topics will be social media, search marketing, Web analytics, online metrics, digital marketing strategy,
online consumer behavior and digital marketing research.
Carter Railroad Museum
June Heritage Day
The George L. Carter Railroad Museum
will hold its June Heritage Day tomorrow
(June 28) from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. for both the
public and special guests invited from the
East Tennessee & Western North Carolina
Railroad (ET&WNCRR) Historical Society.
The day’s emphasis will be on the
Tweetsie model railway layout, as well as
historical equipment from the Southern
Railway.
Geoff Stunkard, coordinator of the
museum’s Heritage Days program, says,
“June has traditionally been the month for
our ‘Song of the South: Southern Railway
Remembered’ event. Since this line also ran
through Johnson City and interchanged with
the Tweetsie, we will feature both railways.”
Members of the Mountain Empire Model
Railroaders (MEMRR) club and the George
L. Carter Chapter of the National Railway
Historical Society coordinate the program.
The June event is held in conjunction
with the 2014 ET&WNCRR convention
going on today through Sunday (June 29)
at the Carnegie Hotel. The event has never
been held in Johnson City, but the society
chose the location this year since the
ET&WNC Railroad, known affectionately
as “Tweetsie,” had its offices and base of
operation in the city.
The Carter Railroad Museum is open in
the Campus Center Building every Saturday
from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Admission is free,
but donations are welcomed. For more
information, contact museum director Dr.
Fred Alsop at 439-6838 or [email protected].
These concerts, sponsored by the Dr.
James A. Ross Family, will be held in
conjunction with ETSU’s Summer Piano
Camp, with proceeds providing scholarship
assistance for qualified students attending
the camp.
On Sunday, July 13, Dr. Frank Chiou will
play works by Beethoven, Brahms, Griffes
and Barber. Chiou is a professor of music
and head of piano and music theory at Ohio
Wesleyan University. His research interests
include music analysis and its application
to performance and teaching, the music
of Brahms and Rachmaninoff, and music
in film.
The second concert in the series on
Tuesday, July 15, will feature Esther
Park along with Chiou and ETSU faculty
member Dr. Chih-Long Hu. The program
will include solo and two-piano works by
Mozart, Liszt and Prokofiev.
Park, a native of Pusan, Korea, has
performed in recitals and with orchestras
across the United States, as well as in Asia
and Europe. In 2013, she won the Jose Roca
International Competition and the Russian
International Music Competition.
Both concerts begin at 7 p.m. in Mathes
Hall. General admission tickets are $15 per
concert or $25 for both; tickets for students
and seniors are $10 per concert. These will
be available at the door or in advance by
calling the ETSU Department of Music at
439-4276.
Blue and Gold at Blue Plum
Ross Scholarship
Benefit concerts
Two nationally and internationally
known pianists will perform in the seventh
annual LaFaye Vickers Ross Scholarship
Benefit Concert Series at ETSU next
month.
Page 4 | ETSU Accent | June 27, 2014
u ETSU sponsored the Jazz Stage at
Johnson City’s recent Blue Plum
Festival, with ETSU musicians
and ensembles (pictured above is
Greyscale) frequenting the stage
throughout the weekend. Patrons also
enjoyed sitting back and listening to
tales at the ETSU Storytelling stage.
Hultman joins The Boxcars
ETSU junior Gary Hultman has become the newest member of
acclaimed bluegrass band The Boxcars.
The 20-year-old dobro player from Birchdale, Minn., is majoring
in bluegrass, old time and country music at ETSU, where he has
played in the Bluegrass Pride Band and received a Benny Sims
Memorial Scholarship. Before coming to ETSU, he performed with
his family’s band, Sloughgrass.
“I am so excited for this opportunity that I have been given,”
Hultman said. “This band is my favorite to listen to, and the guys
are all my heroes and role models. I am honored to be joining this
band. It’s like a dream come true!”
As a student, Hultman caught the attention of ETSU faculty
member and The Boxcars mandolin player Adam Steffey.
“Although he is young in age, Gary has talent beyond his
years,” Steffey said in a press release from the band. “He has the
great ability to play what each song needs – never overplaying or
showboating, always sensitive to the song and the dynamics that
it requires. This is a rare quality in a young player but it seems to
come quite naturally to Gary.”
Hultman’s addition to The Boxcars comes following the
departure of John Bowman, who will now focus his energies on a
solo singing and preaching ministry.
Hultman’s first appearance with the band came yesterday (June
26) in the Watermelon Wednesdays concert series in West Whately,
Mass. In addition to playing dobro, he now shares lead and harmony
vocals.
Most recently, The Boxcars won the International Bluegrass
Music Association’s 2013 Instrumental Group of the Year Award,
with Steffey earning IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year honors
for the 10th time. The group’s album, “It’s Just a Road,” was
nominated for Best Bluegrass Album in the 56th Grammy Awards
earlier this year.
Page 5 | ETSU Accent | June 27, 2014
Gaines to perform at DWTTS
During his football career, Teddy Gaines’ athletic skills
helped him become a standout defensive back at DobynsBennett High School, a
national champion at the
University of Tennessee,
and ultimately an NFL
player.
Now he’s hoping some
of those talents help him
survive Saturday night
(June 28).
Gaines will be one
of 10 local celebrities to
compete this weekend
in the sixth annual
Dancing with the TriCities Stars charity event,
which raises funds for
the SteppenStone Youth
Treatment Center located
in Limestone. The event will be held Saturday evening at the
MeadowView Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport.
“Honestly, I have to say ballroom dancing is a lot harder than
playing defensive back,” said Gaines, who has spent the last
several months learning two different dance routines. “I found the
preparation a lot like football practice in terms of the repetition, but I
just hope when Saturday comes, I look like I know what I’m doing.
I sure have a lot of respect now for ballroom dancers.”
Gaines will be dancing with Kim Adler, who, along with her
husband Mike, are professional ballroom competitors. In fact, Mike
founded SteppenStone Youth Treatment Centers and the couple has
used their love of dancing to create one of the area’s most anticipated
charity events.
ETSU fans interested in attending the Dancing with the Tri-Cities
Stars can purchase tickets by calling 257-7512. For more on this
story, visit ETSUBucs.com.
Friends of Choir established
The choral program in the Department of Music is looking for
some friends.
A new Friends of Choir organization was formed recently to
support the ETSU choral program, which includes the Chorale,
the Women’s Choir, the BucsWorth Men’s Choir and the vocal jazz
ensemble Greyscale.
Sponsorship funds provided by the Friends of Choir will
help cover the costs of national and international tours and other
activities. First on the agenda is a trip by the ETSU Chorale to
Washington, D.C., in January 2015, with stops for performances at
high schools and churches along the way.
Continued on page 6 >>>
Continued from page 5
“The choirs are recognized for their outstanding music
throughout the country and around the world,” said Dr. Matthew
Potterton, director of choral and vocal activities in the Department
of Music. He noted that this visibility has come partly through past
concert tours.
“Recruitment is so important for sustained growth in our
program,” he continued, recalling how he chose the college he would
attend for his undergraduate degree in music while listening to its
choir when it visited his high school. “By bringing the incredible
talent of our students to a larger audience, I am sure we will gain
many students from this trip. I hope to continue to tour each year
so that ETSU is heard around the nation.”
Potterton said that while previous tours have been funded with
support from various donors, regular contributions by members of
the new Friends of Choir organization will allow the program to
plan further in advance.
Friends’ names will be listed in the programs for choir
performances during the seasons in which they contribute.
For more information, contact Potterton at potterton@etsu.
edu; Dr. Alan Stevens, associate director of choral activities, at
[email protected]; or the Department of Music at 439-4270.
ETSU to host international
mathematics conference
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics is organizing and
will host the 12th International Permutation Patterns Conference
July 7-11.
Since 2003, this conference has been held annually in such
places as France, Scotland, Italy, Iceland, Canada, New Zealand
and the United States.
Approximately 80 participants from at least 10 countries are
expected to attend this year’s conference, which is funded by a
$22,000 National Science Foundation grant with additional support
from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Office of the Dean and the
Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Sponsored Programs.
The focus of the conference is permutation patterns, which are
a way to locate and count small patterns that occur within larger
schemes, according to Dr. Anant Godbole, ETSU professor of
mathematics. Permutation patterns have applications in molecular
biology, computer science algorithms and board games.
Keynote speakers are Dr. Carla Savage of North Carolina State
University and Dr. Sergey Kitaev of the University of Strathclyde
in Glasgow, Scotland.
During their time at ETSU, conference participants will enjoy
excursions to Roan Mountain for hiking and Asheville, N.C., to
visit Biltmore Estate.
Researchers to survey health providers about NAS
The incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) – a
series of withdrawal symptoms that can occur in a newborn who
was exposed to addictive illegal or prescription drugs while in the
mother’s womb – is on the rise in Tennessee, ETSU researchers say.
Page 6 | ETSU Accent | June 27, 2014
“It has become an epidemic across the state,” says Dr. Ivy Click,
an assistant professor of family medicine in the James H. Quillen
College of Medicine. “We’re talking about a tenfold increase in the
Volunteer State over the past decade, and here in the eastern region,
the numbers are higher than anywhere else in the state.”
Click and Dr. Nick Hagemeier from the Bill Gatton College of
Pharmacy are now leading a study that aims to better understand
the knowledge, beliefs and practices of health care providers and
pharmacists regarding NAS. The one-y¬ear study is funded by the
Tennessee Department of Health.
As part of the study, Hagemeier and Click will initiate surveys
with four groups of individuals – community pharmacists, pain
clinic directors, rural family medicine physicians and health care
providers who prescribe the medication Suboxone®, which is used
to help treat opiate addiction.
“Our ultimate goal is to know which interventions are best when
it comes to educating providers about NAS,” said Hagemeier, an
assistant professor of pharmacy practice. “We will also pilot test
an educational outreach program about NAS that will be led by a
physician for cohorts of primary care physicians and Suboxone®
prescribers.
The researchers say that statistically, babies who are born with
NAS endure longer hospital stays and are at risk for developmental
delay as well as other health concerns. The average health care cost
associated with a child born with NAS is approximately $66,000.
For this new project, the researchers will collaborate with the
Appalachian Research Network (AppNET), which is comprised of
several rural primary care practices in East Tennessee and Southwest
Virginia. Click serves as research director for AppNET.
Clinics ink agreement with UnitedHealthcare
The Johnson City Community Health Center (JCCHC) and other
centers managed by the ETSU College of Nursing have entered into
an agreement with UnitedHealthcare.
Through this new agreement, patients with UnitedHealthcare
and Medicare Advantage will have access to services at the center,
as well as services at the Johnson City Downtown Day Center, the
Keystone Community’s Partners in Health Clinic, the Mountain
City Extended Hours Health Center and the Hancock County School
Based Health Centers in Sneedville.
ETSU has one of the largest networks of nurse-managed clinics
in the nation. The College of Nursing opened its first clinic in 1990
and today provides nearly 30,000 primary care and outreach visits
to underserved patients across Northeast Tennessee.
The JCCHC is located on Century Lane across from Johnson
City Medical Center and is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. and
8 a.m.-noon on Saturday. Other insurance plans are also accepted
by these clinics. To schedule an appointment at JCCHC, call 9262500. Information about other clinics is available at www.etsu.edu/
nursing/practice/sites/default.aspx.