This is an archived program. To view the program for the current year, please go to suu.edu/excellence/program.

2013 Archive

Festival of Excellence 2013 took place on April 9, 2013. The Festival kicked off with an Opening Session beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Centrum Arena. Throughout the day, faculty, students, and staff gathered to celebrate and present scholarly and creative work conducted throughout the institution.

The 2013 Program can be viewed on this page. You may download the detailed abstracts for more information on the individual presentations.


Opening Session 2013

April 9, 2013 - 9am – 10am

Opening Session: Rally for Excellence
Centrum Arena

Opening Remarks:
President Michael Benson & Provost Brad Cook

Faculty Keynote: Peter Sham, including a performance accompanied by Brad Carroll on the piano, and BFA Music Theatre Majors Tatem Credille and Tony Carter

Student Keynote: Dallan Wright

Special Guests: Thor, SUU Pep Squad, and The SUU Pep Band


Full 2013 Schedule

All Day Events | Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | Session 4

Opening Session Performance

Campus Location Presentation Title Presenter(s)
Centrum Arena Lend Me a Tenor Peter Sham

All Day Events

Campus Location Presentation Title Presenter(s)
CC Whitting
MFA Arts Administration Showcase
Sabrina Green Justin Jorgensen
ST Sterling Church
Creative Video Projects- Multiple Disciplines
Jon Smith
Library Garden Level
The Sky is an Open Vault: An Exhibit of Student Poetry
Creative Writing Students
CC Charles Hunter
10:15-12:15
From Combat to the Classroom: Working with Student Veterans 101
(Session Repeat at 1:30-3:30)
Aaron Ahern
Braithwaite Gallery
Bones, Muscles, & The Figure
Eric Brown
CC Whitting
Ceramic Art Discipline Exhibit
Susan Harris Ceramic's Students
CC Great Hall
5 Edge Centers' Display
Patrick Clarke
Braithwaite Gallery
Senior BFA Portfolio Show
Reece Summers
CC Redhill Rm
Cedar City Heritage Project
Education Students
MU Thorley
Jean-Baptiste Lully: Phaëton
Bohnen Stengel

Session 1 (10:15-11:15)

Campus Location Presentation Title Presenter(s)
ST Great Basin
Contributing Factors to a Successful Course Development Process
Karl Stevens
CN Room 229
From School to Pool
Clairissa Antczak
CC Yankee Meadows
The Last Backpack Generation
Deb Hill
CC Yankee Meadows
The Utah Shakespeare Festival: An Evolving Arts Leadership Partnership
William Byrnes
ST Cedar Breaks
The Fulbright Experience in Swaziland: A Small Country with Big Smiles
Jon Smith Anne Smith
ED 104
National Parks as Campus, Classroom and Laboratory
Matt Nickerson
CC Vermillion Cliffs
The Real 2012 in Maya Guatemala: Coping with Multiple Forms of Governance in a Violent Neoliberal World
James McDonald
CN Room 227
A Comparison of Student Performance: Traditional versus On-line in a Skills Based Computer Applications Course
Nathan Barker Laurie Harris, Connie Nyman
PE 101
To Live, to Die, or to Go Zombie: Teenage Anxiety in The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Kyle Bishop
ED 102
New Bedford's Civil War
Earl Mulderink
ST Cedar Breaks
Quantitatively Assessing Academic Rigor in Experiential Education: A Pilot Study in the Green River Area
Johnny MacLean
PE 120
Mathematical Models to Compare Factors Influencing Mammography Rates
Deanna Dillard
CN Room 229
Pacesetters Mini Adventures
Amanda Wilcock
CC Shooting Star
Engine Flow Research
Thad Morton
CN Room 229
Physical Activity Awareness: Do you really know how physically active you are?
Wade Nielson
BU 207 Computer Lab
Power Searching with Google
Michael Carmine Phil Roche
ED 104
Central/Southern Utah Visitor Profile
Emmett Steed Wayne Roberts, Briget Eastep
PE 101
DesignBuilBLUFF: Coyote Architecture on the Colora
John Murray
MC 116 Recital Hall
Making Order
Heather Childs
MC 116 Recital Hall
Camels
Cameo Coburn Brandi Nielson
PE 120
The Mathematics Behind a Math Puzzle
Nicole Roach
MC 116 Recital Hall
Drawn
Claire Julian
PE 120
Learning Statistical Patterns of Student Responses
Amberli Wilde
CC Vermillion Cliffs
Judicial Corruption and Drug Trafficking in Mexico
Gabriel Ferreyra
CC Shooting Star
Rubber Rabbitbrush Control with Various Herbicides and Two Different Application Techniques
Dean Winward
ST Great Basin
Instructor Responses to Academically Struggling Students
Christian Reiner
ED 102
Viracocha and the Volcano: The Archaeology of the Southern Vilcanota River Valley, Peru
Emily Dean
ST Theatre
"Ruin and Light": A Poetry Reading
Danielle Dubrasky
CN Room 227
Learning Nursing: Perspectives of Practicing Nurses
Donna Lister
CC Great Hall
Dream of Helen
Shauna Mendini Dr Keith Bradshaw, Kay Andersen
PE 121
Characterizing the Water Chemistry of Lake Quichipa
Joshua Dettamanti Tyler Erickson, Todd Memmott
PE 121
Right Hand Canyon and Canyon Park
Cynthi Harper Kezia Brown, Lizzy Butler, Choryn Sudin
PE 121
Essential Oils
RJ Corry
PE 128
What Color is Your Personality Test
Jericka Christensen Taylor Herd, Mikkell Griffin, Jacob Hanberg, Ruby Barton, Laruen Schwanz, Pfawnn Eskee
PE 128
Psychometric Qualities of the Alcohol Consumption
Taralyn Grahm Nicole Smith, Marte Samuelsen, Dallas Darnell, Stephen Burnham
PE 128
Reliability of a Short-Term Memory Test for Men and Women
Amy Wulfenstein Alyssa Spens, Ryan Cardenas, Rachel Hart
ST Starlight
Prey Preference in Wandering Garter Snakes (Thamnophis elegans vagrans)
Dillon Monroe
ST Starlight
Evaluating the Construct of Cultural Distance in Bicultural Mexican Americans
Garrett Strosser
ST Starlight
Hydration, Body Composition, Nutritional Intake and Grip Strength of High School Wrestlers
Beau Kunzler Henry Lopez, Cooper Field, Tyler Munns
ST Starlight
Reaching Struggling Readers with the ACCEPT Intervention
Kim Mendenhall
ST Starlight
A New, More Accurate Climate Map for Utah
Paul R Larson C. Frederick Lohgrengel II
ST Starlight
Go Outside
Chelsea Howells
ST Starlight
Feeding Strategies and Prey Preferences in Predacious Leeches
Heather Shumway Bonnie Bain
ST Starlight
Attitudes, Opinions, and Food Waste among 4th and 5th Grade Students on the New and Old School Lunch System
Rachelle Stanworth McKenzie Woolstenhulme
ST Starlight
Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors Toward Middle Easterners as Propagated by Mortality Salience
Grant Corser Steven Hyde
ST Starlight
The Effect of Casein Hydrolysate on Cancer Growth in Caenorhabditis Elegans After Being Exposed to Aflatoxin B1 In Vivo
Stephan Maman
ST Starlight
Evaluating Outgroup Membership and Moral Foundations Theory to Increase Awareness of Mexican Cartel Violence in Liberals and Conservatives
Garrett Strosser Alex Vittum-Jones, Joel Cardenas, Laurel Jefferies
ST Starlight
Spear Phishing,Yesterday,Today, and Tomorrow
Colton Steele Morgan Coutts, Chris Kelly
ST Starlight
Hackers Leading to Make Us Safe
Stephanie Sharp Quinn Parrish, Scott Tedrow
ST Starlight
Phosphatidylserine-Cu2+ Interactions Modeled Using Supported Lipid Bilayers
Micheal Trujillo Tyler Scholes
ST Starlight
Using Online Video Demonstrations in a Culinary Arts Class
Cynthia Wright
ST Starlight
Progress Towards The Synthesis of Novel 1; 8-Napthalimide Heterocycles
Spencer Nielson
ST Starlight
Synthesis of Novel Organic Molecules
Landon Haslem
ST Starlight
Google Power
David Lund
ST Starlight
International Students' Perceptions of Online Learning: Benefits and Challenges
Michiko Kobayashi

Session 2 (11:30-12:30)

Campus Location Presentation Title Presenter(s)
CC Great Hall
Pre-Mortality and Islam
Bradley Cook
CC Yankee Meadows
Full "STEAM" Ahead: An Early Childhood Experience with STEM (Plus Art)
Karen Houser
PE 120
A Question of Question
Robert Dubrorow
ED 102
Defining Quality in K-20 Instruction and Programs
Tony Pellegrini
CC Shooting Star
The Power of Professional Development: Why University Students should Utilize Career Resources Prior to Graduation
John Gally
ED 104
Connecting Brain Research to the Classroom
Michael McGarvey
ST Cedar Breaks
Decompositions of Lambda K_n using Stanton-Type Graphs
Derek Hein
CC Vermillion Cliffs
Protected Concerted Activity under the National Labor Relations Act and Employee use of Social Media: Policy and Practice Issues for Employers
Gerald Calvasina
CN Room 227
Institute of Policy Analysis Undergraduate Policy Research Panel
Ryan Yonk-Student Panel
PE 128
From Pink to Red Hot: Valuing the Scale of 21st Century Art Education
Deborah Snider
ED 102
Determinants of Service Quality in Higher Education
Said Bahi
PE 128
Lincoln and Bismarck: Nation-building in the Nineteenth Century
Larry Ping
ST Cedar Breaks
Differences in Data Collection and Destination: The Southern Utah Visitor Study Emmett Steed
Wayne Roberts
CC Yankee Meadows
The STEAM Effort
Shalini Kesar
ST Great Basin
Imperial Restoration? Barack Obama and American Foreign Policy
G Michael Stathis
ST Great Basin
Translatio Imperii, das Annolied and German Mythic History
James Harrison
MU Thorley
Harpsichords and the Baroque
Rashelle Jensen Stella Chiu, Jacob Lee
ED 104
A Psychosocial Model of Violent Behavior among Sports Spectators
Michael Ostrowsky
CN Room 229
Representations of the 2-S-Rings of D8 and Q8
Jacob Craig
ST Theatre
The Metonymical Function of Women in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
Valerie Owens Violet Wager, Jenifer Drew
MC 116 Recital Hall
Preparation for Spring
Emily O'Donnell
ST Theatre
A Walk on the Wild Side in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus
Jenifer Drew Valerie Ownes, Violet Wager
CC Vermillion Cliffs
American Fathers: A Cultural Perspective
David Shwalb
CN Room 229
The Logo Program, Inspi, and Fractals
Clay Harward
MC 116 Recital Hall
Y54
Susan Adams (Hamilton) Aubrey Boneck, Ryanne Cochran
ST Theatre
Depictions of Battering: Abuse and Abusers in Shakespeare’s Othello and Hamlet
Violet Wager Valerie Owens, Jenifer Drew
PE 120
Fire Retardants as an Environmental Risk Factor Contributing to Parkinson’s Disease
Micheal Barney Joseph Keeler, Matthew Weeg
CC Great Hall
Moneyball and The NBA
David Berri
PE 120
Stripping Supported Lipid Bilayers to Form Vesicles
Cameron Cooper Mason Valentine
CN Room 229
A Day in the Life of a Criminal Scene Investigator
Suzanne Turner
CC Shooting Star
SUU's IIC EDGE
Seth Ohms
MC 116 Recital Hall
Street Lights (by Cory Collard)
Abby Hall
PE 101
Sex vs Love
Chelsea Jones Crosby
PE 101
Their Eyes Were Watching God: An Introduction to Multicultural Studies
Abbie Gray-Pipes
PE 101
Black and White on the Map
Mal Crossley
PE 101
“Kill that Black Ape”: Atavism in Native Son
Sydney Roberts
MU Thorley
History of the Harpischord
Eric Freden
PE 121
Determination Of Chlorophyll in the Surface Water of Southern Utah
Landon Haslem David Jarvis, Joseph Phillips, Karli Ransdell
PE 121
Ascorbic Acid Concentration of Beverages Using HPLC
Cody Black Tonya Jensen, Andrew Alton, Tyler Scholes
PE 121
Determination of metals in the Surface Water of Coal Creek
Caleb Reece Micah Keeno, Kashea Hardinger
PE 121
Determination of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Cedar City
Bryan Long
ST Starlight
Examining Perceived Attitudes of Counseling between LDS Religious Leaders and Mental Health Therapists
G E Kawika
ST Starlight
Good Speaking Tips
Maryjo Chatelain
ST Starlight
Examining Aspects of Religiosity and Personality Traits Among LDS Individuals
Carrie Blackeye
ST Starlight
Breast in Show: A comparison of messaging styles regarding breastfeeding.
Megan Domgard Alisa Montano
ST Starlight
Developing Recipes That Reduce Overall Fat Content In Baked Desserts With Common Foods as Fat Substitutes
Samantha Hirschi Kylie Stringham, Kaylee Briggs
ST Starlight
Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Brian Grady Heather Peatross
ST Starlight
Study of A1c and Body Fat Among SUU Students, Staff and Faculty
Susie Peterson Alyssa Simon, Madison Wray, Jessica Brown, Sierra Gish, Emily Clendening
ST Starlight
Nematocyst Production in Well-Fed vs. Non-Well-Fed Anemones
Veronica Garcia
ST Starlight
Effect of Alcohol on Stress Level in Tadpoles
Jared Wenn Kevin Cannon, Betsy Bancroft
ST Starlight
The Effects of Diet on Macronutrient Preference in Crayfish
Madison Clark Kandace Hugentobler, Betsy Bancroft
ST Starlight
Innocent Freed From Prison
Alexis Bigelow
ST Starlight
Bone Density of AthletesVersus Non-Athletes
Cashaana Renfro Eric Carter, Dallin Whitney, Ryland Morill, Aubree Lyman, Robert Miguel

Session 3 (1:30-2:30)

Campus Location Presentation Title Presenter(s)
PE 121
Word Wizardry
J.S. Wayne
ST Ballroom
Parkour and A Prayer for Higashi Nihon: Two Newly Published Works Presented by the SUU Wind Symphony
Adam Lambert
PE 120
Valuable Tips for Helping Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders Succeed in the Classroom
Nichole Wangsgard
CC Shooting Star
Emotional Intelligence: A Means to Improve Your Coaching
Camille Thomas
ST Cedar Breaks
Making STEM Steamy and The Fire Circle
Peggy Wittwer Brian Ludlow
CN Room 227
Bread, A Common Cultural Thread for All Ages
Rea Gubler Artis Grady
CC Yankee Meadows
Tragedy Without Tears? Confronting the Contradictions in C.P. Snow's Gospel of Science
Bryce Christensen
ST Great Basin
Preservice School Teachers as Learners in a 3-D Virtual Space: Second Life
Mark Atkinson
ED 104
ArtsBridge:Teaching Science through the Arts at North Elementary
Jacqueline Trujillo Marissa Brown, Alex Wall
ED 104
ArtsBridge: Teaching Science through the Arts at North Elementary
Jessi Brinson Kelsey Hayes, Madisen Hayes
MC 116 Recital Hall
Watchmen
Rebecca Boizelle
CC Yankee Meadows
"Seeds Blowin' Up the Highway": Archetypes and Relevance in the Lyrics of Bruce Springsteen
Charles Cuthertson
PE 120
Direction of Tima Among Arabic and American Students: The Effect of Language Priming
Kodai Kusano
ED 104
Explaining Why NBA Franchises Move
Merly Cruz
PE 121
Medieval Swordsmanship: The German Tradition
Amanda Mills
PE 128
What's In A Name?
Corey Petersen
CN Room 229
Study a Competition Model in Math Biology
Amy Gifford
CN Room 229
Applications of Lagrange's Method in Economics
Brennon Bauer
ED 102
NepaliFemale Migrants in US Informal Economic Sectors: From Women’s Agency to Transnational Community-Building
Shobha Hamal Gurung
CN Room 229
Using the Lagrange's Method to Study the Shape of a Can
Qixiong Sun
CC Vermillion Cliffs
Faith Based Cultural Force at a Regional Public Institution: Faculty Socialization In A Shifting Community Context
Patrick Clarke
ST Great Basin
Engagement-Friendly Rank and Tenure Models
Steve Barney
CC Vermillion Cliffs
TEDx Summit in Doha, Qatar
Todd Petersen Matthew Nickerson
PE 101
Negotiation Wilderness: Striking a Balance Between Economic Growth and Conservation in Southern Utah
Amy McIff
ST Cedar Breaks
Outdoor Scholarship
Briget Eastep
ST Theatre
Wrath, Wrath, Wrath - Somebody Stop Me: A Reading
Shane Brant
PE 120
Assess This! The What and How of Assessing Psychology Department Goals and Student Learning Outcomes
Lynn White
MU Thorley
Hippolytus - A Study in Creative Theatre
Richard Bugg Natalie C Spangler, Zachary M Trotter
MC 116 Recital Hall
America, This is You
Camille Bahoravitch
PE 128
The Magic of Film
Shawn Domgaard
CN Room 227
Video Games in Academia
Joy Sterrantino
ST Theatre,
The Role of the Bastard in William Shakespeare's "King John"
Christopher Ritchie
MC 116 Recital Hall
Untouchable
Shayla Slaymaker
ED 102
Utah Library Association Paraprofessional Certificate
Linda Liebhardt
CC Shooting Star
Numerical Analysis for a Lotka-Volterra System Involving Diffusion Terms
Seth Armstrong
CC Great Hall
The Art and Life of Jimmie F. Jones
Jams M Aton
CC Great Hall
The Thunderbard Project: Applying the Liberal Arts at SUU
Michael Benson
ST Theatre
The Challenge on Becoming a Converted Christian Woman
Abbie Gray-Pipes Jared Komoroski, Christopher Richie
ST Theatre
Shakespeare
Jared Komoroski
ST Starlight
Preparing Teachers to Prepare ELLs (English Language Learners)
Angelia Cummings
ST Starlight
Gym Posters
Robert Dubrorow
ST Starlight
Effect of Therapeutic Touch on PTSD clients
Claudia Kreipl
ST Starlight
An Investigation of Current Social Engineering Issues and Solutions
Jay Kansagra Chris Kelly, Dezhi Wu
ST Starlight
Chemical Modification to Identify and Maximize the Anticancer Activity of Theaflavins from Black Tea
Nathan Werner Stephan Maman
ST Starlight
Teaching Multicultural Education Through Digital Storytelling
Sue Braden Gianna Lopresti, Billie Porter
ST Starlight
Migration of Lipids and Proteins in a Supported Lipid Bilayer
Rulon Corry
ST Starlight
A Little Service Goes A Long Way
Shanarra Johnson
ST Starlight
Virtual Labs: Experiencing Internet-Based 3D Spatial Training
Dezhi Wu
ST Starlight
Food Security at Southern Utah University
Gabrielle Gonzalez
ST Starlight
Hands-on Minds-on Computer Club (A North Elementary Computer Club extension)
Carin Miller
ST Starlight
The Calm Before the Storm: Mediation Before Due Process
KaeDee Jewkes
ST Starlight
Role of P.E. Teacher in Special Education and IEP's
Nate Creel
ST Starlight
Prepare for the Transition Now
McKenzie Black
ST Starlight
Securing the Physical from the Digital
Mikelyn Labrum Jared Close, Aaron Day
ST Starlight
Tips for a Great Presentation
Jennica Black
ST Starlight
Tips for a Great Interview
Kelli Livingston
ST Starlight
Ability of Wolf Spider’s (Lycosidae) to Assess Their Nutritional Needs and Deficiencies
Sarah Miller
ST Starlight
A Day in the Life of a Criminal Scene Investigator
Suzanne Turner
ST Starlight
Semisynthetic Preparation and Biological Evaluation of Theaflavin Derivatives from Black Tea
Stephan Maman
ST Starlight
Turkish Pycs
Heather Shumway Fredric Govedich

Session 4 (2:45-3:45)

Campus Location Presentation Title Presenter(s)
ST Theatre
Mikado: Photographs by Jeremias Paul
Jeremias Paul
MU Thorley
Lucky Penny
Robert Dubrorow
ED 104
The More the Merrier: Students Choose their Own Textbook
Matt Nickerson
ED 104
Making Glass Mosaics in Ravenna, Italy
Carrie Trenholm
CC Vermillion Cliffs
Athletics, Victory, and the Right to Rule in Ancient Greece
David Lunt
ST Cedar Breaks
Predestined for Greatness? An Econometrics Model of Personality Type and College GPA.
Jessica Lindow
CC Shooting Star
The Internet's Counterculture: A Hegemonic Antithesis
Shane Brant
ST Great Basin
Learning and Leading Together: Insight Dubai
Sarah Rose Webber
ST Cedar Breaks
Numerical Analysis of the Lotka-Volterra Predator-Prey Model
Russell Banks
CN Room 229
Patterning Supported Lipid Bilayers with Magnetic Tweezers
Travis Bulloch Tyler Argyle, Madeline Gleave
ST Theatre
Audioscape Storytelling
Todd Petersen
CN Room 229
Stripping of Supported Lipid Bilayers into Lipid Vesicles
Mason Valentine
ED 102
Rafting the Grand Canyon
Trevin Johnson
ST Cedar Breaks
Tropical Geometry
Brooke Seely Nicholas Wilding
ST Great Basin
Novel Therapeutics
Bruce Howard
CC Shooting Star
Effectiveness and Efficiency of Housing First Initiative
Nancy Guthrie
CN Room 227
Preventive Medicine, Nutrigenetics, Type 2 Diabetes, and the Analyses of DPP4 Gene Copy Number Variations Among Native Americans and Non-Hispanic Caucasians in Southern Utah
Austin Hyde Jeremy Arthur
CC Yankee Meadows
To “Corrupteth With Ydolles, and Stynkynge Sodometry”: Early Tudor Protestant Propaganda and the Theatre of John Bale
Jessica Tvordi
ED 102
How Student-Athletes Sell Them Selves
KC Smurthwaite
CC Vermillion Cliffs
The Republican Society of South Carolina and the Success of Transatlantic Republicanism, ca. 1793-95
Michelle Orihel
CC Yankee Meadows
"Original Practices" in Shakespearean Performance
Don Weingust Jessica Tvordi
MC 116 Recital Hall
Identity
Kelsey Hayes Crystal Vernon
MC 116 Recital Hall
Practice
Marissa Chavez Alissa Spendlove
MC 116 Recital Hall
Confrontation
Dalton Burr
PE 128
Implementing Fiscal and Educational Rationale for Implementing and Experiential Learning Model
Bart Reynolds
PE 120
Psychometric Validity of the Visual Preference Survey
Khloe Clawson Jenny Longmore, Maria Morita, Peggy Strickling
PE 121
Factors That Affect Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Using Technology Through a Comparison of U.S. and Japanese Practices
Kodai Kusano Sarah Frederiksen, LeAnne Jones
ST Starlight
Standing Together to Stop Bullying
Kassidy Jolley
ST Starlight
Least Restrictive Environment
Amanday Humphreys
ST Starlight
Finding the Chinks in Your Student's Emotional Armor: The Best Tips for Including EBD Students in the Regular Ed. Classroom
Valarie Larkin
ST Starlight
IEP vs. 504
Ali Butler
ST Starlight
Temple Grandin
Gabrielle Mirand
ST Starlight
Do You Hear What I Hear: How Assistive Technology Fosters Language and Communication Development in Vision and Hearing Impaired Students
Kaitlyn Steele
ST Starlight
RTI or MTSS: Either Way Students Struggling with Mathematics Succeed
Tonya Stratton
ST Starlight
RTI No More: How MTSS is Change the System of Education
Michael Nielson
ST Starlight
Are Students with Aspergers Syndrome a Threat to Society?
Melissa Porter Chelsie Fox
ST Starlight
Transition: Helping Students Find Their Path to Success
Nicole Washburn
ST Starlight
IEP: What You Need To Know
Sara Anderson
ST Starlight
Disruptive Innovations Are Transforming K-20 Education: Report on 2013 HigherEdTECH Summit
Tom Cunningham
ST Starlight
A FAPE For All
Amber Overson