Lebanon Valley College

Dr. Rachel Albert, assistant professor of psychology and director of LVC’s Baby Lab, was the keynote speaker for a Mile High Early Learning fundraising event in Denver, Colo., in March. Mile High Early Learning, an organization that provides early childhood programs for low income families, raised $162,000 during the event, which was attended by Denver’s mayor, Michael Hancock, and the state’s Lieutenant Governor, Dianne Primavera. Dr. Albert’s research-based approach to language development, which has been featured on NPR and in Scientific American, focuses on the powerful impact that engaged, responsive adults can have on children.

Dr. Sophia Lunt ’05, ACS chemistry, was recently interviewed by The Scientist for the article, “Sophia Lunt Traces the Effect of Metabolism on Cancer Metastasis.” Lunt, who earned her Ph.D. from Princeton University and did a post-doc at MIT, runs the Lunt Lab at Michigan State University where her research focuses on the role of metabolism in supporting cancer proliferation, heterogeneity, and metastasis.

Dave Shapiro, eSports director of operations, announced that LVC will add Call of Duty and Paladins to its competitive options for esports athletes this fall. The additions bring the total of games in which LVC student-athletes will compete to nine, including six not played competitively by many collegiate teams in the region. The College also competes nationally and internationally in Counter Strike (CS:GO), Fighting Games such as Super Smash Bros, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, and Smite.

Dr. Thomas Dompier, associate professor of athletic training, recently learned that he has been recognized as a National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Fellow, which is the highest distinction an athletic training researcher can receive, and that he was named a 2018 Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer (MDAT) by NATA, which is awarded only to the most distinguished scholars in the profession. Dompier joins recent winners from the University of Virginia, University of Michigan, and University of Connecticut. Be being named a NATA Fellow, Dompier joins an elite group of 61 NATA Fellows out of 45,000 professionals. He will receive the awards during the association’s annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nev., in June.

Simpatico Studios, founded and run by Jill Kidulic Whiskeyman ’07 and Steve Whisleyman ’09, both double majors in English and digital communications, was named a 2019 Best Branding Agency by DesignRush. Simpatico Studies, a B2B marketing agency and small business marketing agency specializing in brand identity design, web design and development, and integrated marketing communications, was also named fourth in the state among Best Logo Design Companies and fifth in Pennsylvania among Best Graphic Design and Print Design Companies. Brxton Kocher ’17 is senior account planner and producer at Simpatico.

Director of Creative Writing and Assistant Professor of English Holly M. Wendt presented “One Pilgrim’s Progress on the Camino de Santiago” at the 2019 Casper College Humanities Festival in Wyoming in February. The Camino de Santiago, the Way of Saint James, is an ancient pilgrimage route leading to Santiago de Compostela. Popularized in the Middle Ages, the Camino still attracts pilgrims for reasons both sacred and secular from all over the world. In their presentation, Wendt described the rich tapestry of history, art, and cultural exchange that underpins the Camino de Santiago and reflected on their personal experiences as pilgrim, scholar, and writer.

The Council of Independent Colleges announced that faculty of Lebanon Valley College were selected for a group of 26 member colleges and universities to form a new Consortium for Instructional Excellence and Career Guidance. The consortium will pilot new pedagogical techniques and discover how to connect what students learn in the classroom to career preparation. Faculty participants took part in the Association of College and University Educator’s online Course in Effective Teaching Practices with a Concentration in Career Guidance and Readiness.

Dr. Thomas Dompier, associate professor of athletic training, added it to his more than 100 publications with four pieces being including in recent issue of the Journal of Athletic Training.

Yeargin S.W., Dompier T.P., Casa D.J., Hirschhorn R.M., Kerr Z.Y. Epidemiology of Exertional Heat Illnesses in National Collegiate Athletic Association Athletes During the 2009–2010 Through 2014–2015 Academic Years. Journal of Athletic Training. 2019;54(1). doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-504-17.

Dompier T.P., Kucera K.L., Derzner J., Casa D.J., Register-Mihalik J., Guskiewicz K.M. Sudden Death, Near Death and Catastrophic Injury Reporting: A ‘Call to Action’ for Athletic Trainers. Journal of Athletic Training. 2018;53(11). doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-77-18

Simon J., Snyder Valier A.R., Kerr Z.Y., Djoko A., Marshall S.W., Dompier T.P. Changes in Patient-Reported Outcome Measures from the Time of Injury to Return to Play in Adolescent Athletes at Secondary Schools with an Athletic Trainer. Journal of Athletic Training. 2018;53(7). Doi:10.4085/1062-6050-553-15.

Grooms D.R, Simon J.E, Dalton S.L., Dompier T.P., Kerr Z.Y. High School Athletic Trainer Services for Knee Injuries. Journal of Athletic Training. 2018; 53(10). doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-48-17.

Dr. Thomas Dompier’s, associate professor of athletic training, op-ed “Unfair play: Insurance costs are making football, other sports, prohibitively expensive,” published on USA Today Feb. 6. USA Today previously published Dompier op-eds Aug. 27, 2018, “I’m donating my brain to science for the sake of football and facts. Really.”; and April 25, 2018, “Replacing youth tackle football with flag football might not make our children safer.”

Dr. Keith Veenhuizen, assistant professor of physics, is the lead author on an article published with colleagues from Lehigh University, Corning Incorporated, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The article, “Ferroelectric domain engineering of lithium niobate single crystal confined in glass,” was published on January 29 in the journal MRS Communications.  It also appeared in several on several other sites, including Space Today. The focus of the article was how lithium niobate single crystals, fabricated in glass using a laser, preserve their ferroelectric functionality within the confines of the surrounding glass.