FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 29, 2014

For more information:
Dustin Crutchfield
Public Relations Department
Glenville State College
(304) 462-6394
Dustin.Crutchfield@glenville.edu

GLENVILLE, WV - The winners of the fourth annual Glenville State College Pioneer Showcase Creative Arts and Research Forum have been announced. The showcase took place on Tuesday, April 22nd and is a competition that allows full-time GSC students an opportunity to present research and creative arts abstracts in a formal setting. The judges are made up of GSC faculty.

"More than thirty-five presentations by many more students were given at the Pioneer Showcase. The papers, posters, and performances speak to the degree of intellectual diversity at Glenville State College. Each student presenter and researcher deserves recognition for their attempts to challenge themselves by undertaking the difficult task of researching a topic, formulating a unifying idea, and articulating it through a presentation or a poster," said GSC Assistant Professor of English Dr. Sallie Anglin who is also a member of the Pioneer Showcase planning committee.

This year's showcase featured two concurrent sessions and a third that focused on diversity. First, second, and third place awards were given for projects in each of the three sessions.

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First place for the first session went to senior Adam Wilson. Wilson is a natural resource management major from Weston (Lewis County), West Virginia. His research project, conducted with GSC Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. David O'Dell, was entitled 'Transport of Glutaraldehyde in Packed and Undisturbed Soil Columns.' The first place award in the second session went to Chris Rhodes. Rhodes is a history and political science major from Gassaway (Braxton County), West Virginia. His project was titled 'A Darker Night? An Examination of Over Translation and its Potential to Affect How an Author’s Perception is Presented to the Reader.' The first place award for the third session went to students in GSC Assistant Professor of Music Lloyd Bone's Tuba & Euphonium Ensemble. Their presentation focused on 'Composing a Multicultural Operetta' and included a performance component.

Second place for the first session went to senior Randy Smith. Smith is a biology major from Grantsville (Calhoun County), West Virginia. His presentation was titled 'Determining if AHR Regulates Histone 3 Methylation in Breast Cancer Cells Using Immunoblot Analysis.' Second place for the second session went to junior Stefanie Gladders. Gladders is an English education (5-adult) major from British Columbia, Canada. Her research project was titled 'Using Things Fall Apart to Study the Effects of Colonization.' The second place award for the third session went to members of GSC Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Alan Daniel's Learning and Memory course. Their presentation was titled 'Generality and Role of Learning in Gender Differences in Spatial Ability.'

Third place award for the first session went to senior duo Emily Ramezan and Morgan Scarpellini. Ramezan is from Glenville (Gilmer County), West Virginia and Scarpellini is from Hamlin (Lincoln County), West Virginia. Both are biology majors. Their research project, conducted with GSC Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Sara Sawyer, was titled 'The Effects of Water Temperature on Early Response Gene, c-Jun, in the sea anemone, Aiptasia pallida.' The third place award for the second session went to junior Judith Urbanic. Urbanic is a psychology and biology major from Chloe (Calhoun County), West Virginia. Her researched project was titled 'How to Tell if Your Honey Bee is Depressed.' Award recipients from both sessions received $25. The third place award for the third session went to students in GSC Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Ross Conover and Dr. Sawyer's Plant Physiology classes. Their presentation focused on 'Medicinal Plants of the World.'

Separate awards were also given by Glenville State College Provost and Senior Vice President Dr. John Peek that focused on the diversity symposium portion of the Pioneer Showcase. "These presentations showed the key elements that we were looking for including depth of research and a skilled delivery," said Peek.

The diversity symposium was sponsored, in part, by a Diversity for Equity Grant that was received from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. Projects in the diversity symposium were required to: satisfy one graded assignment of a credit-bearing course, include a clear and concise abstract, incorporate readings, data collection, or lab work not covered in class, and come with the recommendation of the course instructor as well as that of the appropriate department chair.

First place went to students in Conover and Sawyer's Plant Physiology courses presented on 'Medicinal Plants of the World.' Second place honoree was senior natural resource management major Michael Singleton of Gassaway (Braxton County), West Virginia. Singleton's research, conducted with GSC Associate Professor of Forestry Dr. Rico Gazal, was titled 'A Comparative Study of Isolated Populations of Tree-of-Heaven.' Third place went to students in GSC Assistant Professor of Art Mr. Chris Cosner's Intermediate Art and Design class. Their presentation focused on 'Market Position, Brand Position, Strengths and Weaknesses.'

For more information about the GSC Pioneer Showcase, contact Gazal at Rico.Gazal@glenville.edu or (304) 462-6372.