Communities in Schools of Rowan County accepting scholarship applications

Communities in Schools is offering a scholarship to a student graduating from a Rowan-Salisbury high school who is or has been enrolled in a Communities in Schools Rowan school for at least one year.

The recipient must demonstrate how the mission of Communities in Schools — “to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life” — helped them to reach graduation.

The scholarship is awarded in honor of Executive Director Vicky Slusser for her many years of service to students served by Communities in Schools.

At least one scholarship of $500 will be awarded to a 2019 graduate.

Applications and details are at www.cisrowan.org or in guidance offices at all Rowan-Salisbury high schools. The deadline to apply is April 19.

Catawba College psychology faculty and students attend Southeastern Psychology Association meeting

The Catawba College psychology department faculty and six students attended the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 20-23.

Students attending and presenting were Jaida Henderson of Creedmoor; Abigail Alger of Palmyra, Pennsylvania; Makenna Pate of China Grove; Malorie Ritchie of Salisbury; Rochelle Waldroop of Kannapolis; and Emily Fogleman of Liberty.

The faculty and students heard talks, attended workshops, visited posters, and took part in symposia.

Professor Sheila Brownlow, chairwoman of psychology, wrote several papers with her students, one of which included a Catawba College psychology faculty colleague, Amy Holmes. These papers included:

• “Do Job Types of Job Behaviors Prime Self- and Other Perceptions?” by Jaida Henderson, Sheila Brownlow, Sierra Thompson and Leslie Valle

• “How Social Status Influences Use of ‘Affect Language’ on Instagram” by Abigail Alger, Makenna Pate, Sheila Brownlow and Natalie Naturile

• “Negative Emotion and Bias as a Function of Small Spaces” by Malorie Ritchie, Sheila Brownlow and Marcia-Mariel Erhart

• “Can Space Constraints Influence Implicit Egotism Trough Name-Letter Matching?” by Emily Fogleman, Casey Day, Sophie Hirsch, Madison McFadden and Sheila Brownlow;

• “Music Study and Divergent Thinking” by Rochelle Waldroop, Sheila Brownlow, Margaret Morefield, Brian Peralta and Amy Holmes.

Catawba’s Erin Wood served as a panelist in a symposium on engaging teaching activities, while Jennifer Klebaur served on the program committee and presided at a poster session.

Brownlow served as a panelist during a session titled “So You Want to Be a Department Chair?” She also presided over two sessions.

Catawba College appoints Karen Gaskill as chair of accounting department

Catawba College’s Ketner School of Business has appointed Karen B. Gaskill as the department chairwoman of accounting, effective March 15. Gaskill, a 1992 magna cum laude graduate of Catawba’s accounting program, returned to the Ketner School in 2017 as an assistant professor of accounting.

“We are pleased to announce this appointment in the Ketner School of Business,” said Eric Hake, interim dean of the Ketner School. “Professor Gaskill’s engagement with local accounting firms and accounting alumni will help us continue to build connections for graduate programs, internships, and talent acquisition programs throughout the state.”

When Gaskill joined Catawba College as a full-time faculty member, she brought 25 years of experience as a certified public accountant. After earning her bachelor’s degree from Catawba, Gaskill went on to receive a master of science degree in accounting with an information systems concentration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

She is a doctor of business administration candidate at Jacksonville University.

Students at Catawba College elect SGA executive board

Catawba College students have elected their Student Government Association executive board for the 2019-20 academic year.

They include D. Reginald Pulley II of Baltimore, president; Sarah Grace Cuthbert of Arlington, Virginia, vice president; Emily Avalos of Rockwell, treasurer; and Cassie James of Robbins, secretary.

Catawba College to host honors meetings

Catawba College will host two honors meetings.

The North Carolina Honors Association annual meeting will be in the fall. Additionally, Catawba and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte will host the Southern Regional Honors Council conference in spring 2021 in Charlotte.

Catawba College honors student to speak at national conference

Catawba College honors student Taylor Cielo of Raleigh will present a panel submission, “First-Year Programs in Honors: What They Are and How They Work,” at the National Collegiate Honors Council’s 2019 annual conference.

Cielo’s submission was one of more than 850 proposals. Although Cielo has made presentations at the council’s Idea Exchange in Boston and presented it during the poster session in Atlanta in 2017, she is the first Catawba honors student whose panel proposal has been accepted for presentation at the annual conference. Cielo’s submission, co-written with two students from other institutions, competed for a limited number of presentation slots.

Cielo, a junior, is pursuing a major in English and a minor in history.

The conference will be held in New Orleans on Nov. 6-10.