In the News
Heather McCreery ’90 Named Board Chair The Sterling College Board of Trustees elected alumna Heather McCreery ’90 to serve as the new Chair of the Board. Tim O’Brien was also elected to continue his service as Vice Chair. These decisions were made during the winter board meeting held February 9-11. Their terms as chair and vice chair began in May, following the spring board meeting.
only does she have the leadership skills to lead the board, but she has a deep historical understanding and love for the institution. Her work experience will be a strong advantage for the College,” said Board of Trustees Chairman Tony Thompson ’69. Thompson has served as the chair since 2008 and will remain a member of the board.
McCreery was first appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2002. She has served on the finance and investment committee during her tenure on the board. Tim O’Brien of Newport Beach, Calif., has served on the executive committee, student life committee and most recently joined the finance and investment committee of the board. He joined the board in 2006.
Dr. William McCreery, Heather’s grandfather, was the fourth president of Sterling College from 1946-1973. McCreery Hall, a female dormitory on campus named after the Dr. McCreery, commemorates his service to the College.
“Heather McCreery will be a great chairwoman of the board. Not
Faculty Updates Assistant Professor of Music Laura Bateman received her Doctor of Arts degree in voice performance from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on December 9, 2011. She was also presented with the Dean’s Citation of Excellence for her outstanding academic achievement and active participation in the university’s program. Bateman directs the Sterling College Concert Choir, teaches music history, class piano, aural skills, voice class, and gives private voice lessons. Doug Boardman, assistant professor of history, published his article titled “Kansas Press Coverage of the Pancho Villa Raid on Columbus, New Mexico, March 9, 1916” in the International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. Dr. Jonathan Conard, assistant professor of biology, was published in the BioOne Online Journal for his research on elk in Kansas. His article “Foraging Ecology of Elk (Cervus elaphus) in a Tallgrass Prairie” was published in March 2012 and explores the diet of elk in Kansas. Conard also conducted research on the transfer of Chronic Wasting Disease in deer, a disease that is equivalent to mad cow disease but it is not transferable to humans. With the help of students and fac14 | STERLING MAGAZINE
Heather McCreery is married to Scott Carter ’88, who served as director of advancement at Sterling from 2008-2009. They currently reside in Estes Park, Colo.
ulty at Sterling College and Kansas State University, deer were tagged with tracking devices to study their movements and social groupings. To learn more about the results of their study, visit the February 2012 video archive on the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism website. Dr. Arn Froese, professor of psychology, was recognized in College Student Journal for his research on how much information students miss by using cell phones in the classroom. While several studies have explored cell phone use as a distraction, Froese’s is the first documented study that directly relates texting dialogue with the texting performer’s loss of information in a classroom setting. His study showed students who were in texting conversations missed approximately 27% of the presented content. Dr. Wai-Foong Hong, associate professor of biology, presented her research on wheat growth in drought conditions at the 144th Annual Meeting of the Kansas Academy of Sciences on March 30-31 at Wichita State University. Hong analyzed crop data from Reno and Rice Counties from the years 2007-2011 and compared it to the numbers from 1933-1935, during the Dust Bowl. The data concluded that water capacity of the soil was not a factor of wheat yields. Instead, it was the variety of wheat that determined which crop would produce the
biggest yield. In 2011, the wheat variety Armour proved to produce the highest yield in adverse growing conditions. Assistant Professor of Exercise Science Pete Manely represented Sterling College at Gatorade corporate headquarters in Chicago during a conference on the new Gatorade products. Manely visited with professors and staff from over 60 NCAA Division I schools, including the major Bowl Championship Series universities that use Gatorade; he was the only NAIA athletic trainer invited. Later that week, Manely traveled to the Inaugural Cheer Safety Symposium in Orlando, Fla., hosted by USA Cheer and the American Sports Medicine Institute. This was the first comprehensive safety symposium dedicated to cheerleading conditioning, injury prevention, safety awareness and epidemiology. Manely worked as an expert answering questions from medical professionals, athletic trainers and cheer coaches. Assistant Professor of Art Daniel Swartz completed a set of illustrations for four books in the newly released Explore curriculum series for grades 4-6 in the Wesleyan Church. The curriculum is a joint project between the Wesleyan Church’s spiritual formation department and Wesleyan Publishing House that focuses on a variety of spiritual themes with a global emphasis.