• The U.S. Department of Education awarded $196,168 to Bill Ogletree, head of the communication sciences and disorders department, to recruit and train students pursuing master’s degrees in speech-language pathology to work with people who have severe disabilities. Ogletree also received a $15,000 grant from The Ohio State University Research Foundation to examine regional dialect variation and sound change over time. The goal is to develop an explanation of why vowel sounds change from one generation to the next.

• Wake Forest University School of Medicine awarded $38,479 to WCU to support efforts to prevent alcohol-related consequences on campus.

• The National Park Service awarded $24,750 to Cheryl Johnston, assistant professor of anthropology and sociology, to analyze and document human remains from the museum collection of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ohio. Johnston will develop a detailed report, database and photographs as part of the park’s compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

• The National Park Service awarded $20,179 to Thomas Martin, associate professor of biology, and WCU graduate student Sheree Ferrell, a certified taxonomist, for analysis of aquatic insect samples collected from high-elevation streams in the Noland Creek watershed of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Martin also received $10,000 from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to determine the genetic origin of approximately 100 brook trout populations in North Carolina.

• The Marketing Association for Rehabilitation Centers awarded $15,000 to Inhyuck “Steve” Ha, assistant professor of economics, to study how rehabilitation programs contribute to the economy of Western North Carolina.

• Barbara St. John, assistant professor of nursing, received $7,452 – the third year of funding from a five-year grant – to enable Western Carolina to continue a collaborative project with Duke and Fayetteville State universities focused on developing strategies that can be adopted nationally to better prepare students for the challenges of providing health care with 21st-century technology. The project, titled “Technology Integration Program for Nursing Education and Practice,” is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For more information, contact Wanda G. Ashe, grants manager, at 227-7212 or ashe@wcu.edu.

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Last Modified: Friday, Oct. 17, 2008