Skeery Jones (front center) of Z100’s “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show” visits the Brave New Radio team on College Radio Day.

WPSC Radio nominated for best radio station in the nation; WPTV- 6 recognized in organization’s first-ever TV competition

The Intercollegiate Broadcasting Service has nominated William Paterson University’s radio station, WP 88.7 FM Brave New Radio, for the title of Best College Radio Station in the U.S. (among institutions with more than 10,000 students). Additionally, in its first year offering awards in the medium of video, IBS has nominated the University’s television station, WPTV-6, for several awards.

To read more stories about William Paterson, scroll down:

Hispanic Outlook in Higher Ed Reports on Health Sciences Technology in New University Hall
Professor Earns Fulbright Award to Research Use of English in Democratic Republic of Congo
Students from Three Majors Come Together for One Project in the Name of Health

Brave New Radio was named Best College Radio Station by IBS in both 2012 and 2013, and this marks the fourth time in five years that it is nominated for the same award. The station is also a finalist for four other IBS awards in various categories.

“It is a reflection of the pure passion and genuine talent of our students that we are nominated for best station in the nation for the fourth time in five years, winning twice already,” says Brave New Radio general manager Rob Quicke, professor of communication. “My sincere congratulations to all the students involved with our five nominations.”

Meanwhile, WPTV-6 is a contender in IBS’s inaugural TV competition, having been named a finalist in four categories.

“I think what distinguishes WP-TV shows is the fact that they are entirely student-produced, which means the participating students have a lot of breathing room to be as creative as they want to be in a self-motivated manner,” says Jamsheed Akrami, professor of communication and director of the television curriculum’s programming component. “Of course there is also faculty and staff involvement, but in a supportive, mentoring role.”

“These nominations are a testament to the efforts that faculty, staff and the administration made when the TV studios were redesigned and upgraded to industry standards in 2013,” adds Al Clarke, WPTV-6 television studio manager and adjunct professor of communication “We all look forward to continuing to support students who are able to successfully compete in the No. 1 media market in the country.”

William Paterson University’s nominations are as follows:

For WPSC RADIO
• Best College (more than 10,000 students)
-up against Central Washington University, Indiana University, Marshall University and Appalachian State University
• Best Specialty Music Show
-student Joel Carrasquillo for “Retro Night”
• Best Public Service Announcement
-student Joel Carrasquillo for “It’s on Us”
• Best Baseball/Softball Play-By-Play
students Joe Rea and Chris Turner-Demondo for WP softball coverage
• Best Sports Pre- or Post-Game Show
-students Mason Mills and Dylan Burns for the Rowan University post-game

For WPTV-6
• Best Sports Program
-students Mason Mills, Wyatt Kalb, Giuseppe Zarfino and Greg Blas for “WP Sports Desk”
• Best Sports Report
-students Wyatt Kalb, Dylan Burns, Justin McHugh, Chris Johnson and Dante Vocaturo on “WP Sports Desk”
• Best Talk Program
-students Jessica Guerriera and Laurel Smith for “The Roundabout” episode 23

(L to R) William Paterson University Board Vice Chair Anna Marie Mascolo, President Kathleen Waldron, Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, Senator Tom Kean Jr., and Dean Kenneth Wolf in the nursing pediatric simulation lab at William Paterson University’s new University Hall.

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Reports on Health Sciences Technology in William Paterson University’s New University Hall

Attending a vocational high school started Keyli Panduro’s passion for the medical profession. While in college, she became an EMT. Then she declared her major—nursing. “I wanted to deal more with patient care and have more connection with my patients as opposed to just curing them as a doctor would,” Panduro said.

With her EMT training, she chose to transfer to William Paterson University in New Jersey because the nursing program had diversity, a good reputation and technology.

“There’s a lot of technology already in the health care field,” Panduro said. “We have to stay on top of it.” As an EMT, she explained, there are cameras in the ambulance. A doctor can see patients’ faces and can treat them virtually. “With technology, if we treat patients faster, they can live longer.”

“With the high-tech training facilities and quality of professors at William Paterson’s nursing program, in five to 10 years, WP President Kathleen Waldron envisions more master’s degrees will be pursued and more qualified, diverse applicants and nurse practitioners will be
the norm.”

The 22-year-old Panduro couldn’t have timed her transfer to William Paterson more perfectly. Hands-on labs and state-of-the-art technology were about to enhance the already-reputable nursing program at a whole new level.

The program already had a strong foundation. About to celebrate its 50th anniversary in March, enrollment is at 500 students; more than 300 are undergraduates, 140 are in the master’s program and 22 students are earning their doctorate. More than 50 make up the nursing faculty.

In January 2016, the grand opening of the 80,000 square foot University Hall breathed new life to the nursing program. University Hall, a two-story, glass-filled building, complete with an atrium, and a Speech and Hearing Clinic for diagnostic and therapeutic services for the community, also relocated the Nel Bolger, RN Nursing Laboratory. It added two updated patient simulation laboratories and a control room to provide enhanced clinical training, three nursing basic skills labs and four additional nursing simulation labs.

“They’re very sophisticated,” said Kathleen Waldron, president of William Paterson University. “You would think you’re in a hospital room. Students would have to take turns learning how to handle patients. Now they get more lab time. They get more time before stepping into hospitals.”

Waldron explained that funding for the state-of-the-art building came from the New Jersey “Building Our Future” Bond Act. The university chipped in $10 million to the $30 million from the state. Not since 1988 had there been such a bold move for construction. The first priority had to go toward a science and health focus since that would also benefit those related professions in the state. It was a win-win for the university and the community at large. It seemed everyone was on board to make the project a reality.

“It took eighteen months to build, we finished on budget and six months ahead of schedule,” Waldron said. Even in the coldest of winters the construction crew worked to make this happen, so doors could open for the spring semester, she said.

More than 300 state and local officials attended the event. Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno addressed the crowd, saying, “We all know in New Jersey health care is going to be the top provider of jobs. What will happen in the building is not only going to serve the community through its clinics, but it’s going to help people all over this state in a way you can’t put a dollar value on.”

Dedicated to the health and sciences, such communication disorders and public health, as well as the nursing program, approximately 5,000 students use University Hall. The addition of all the state-of-the-art facilities has enhanced the caliber of learning, resources for teaching, quality of hands-on labs and academic standards.

Putting the Practical to Use: Simulation Labs

For 27 years, Vicki Coyle has taught in the nursing department at William Paterson. For years, she was a labor and delivery nurse and teaches critical thinking courses that test practical hands-on skills. “In a lab with a patient critical thinking is not a linear process. You can’t make assumptions. You take a problem, and with your nursing information ask, ‘What am I going to do about it? Is it relevant or is it irrelevant?’”

Students get theory classes, but in the labs, they put critical thinking and clinical judgment class concepts to the test as they go through guided simulations. In the simulation labs, Coyle said, they are split into small groups of seven to 10 students and will get to do a head-to-toe assessment of a mannequin laid out on the table.

Each student does rotations covering medication, documentation, vitals, pain, skills evaluation and more each time they come in. The mannequins, Coyle explained, can speak back with reactions as simple and quick as “Ouch” or a patient suffering complications or severe reactions to a procedure. Students can then adjust whatever they are doing to the “patient.”

“We are exposing them to cases they are going to see in hospital rooms and helping them develop critical thinking skills they’re going to need on a case-by-case basis.”

Panduro learns more every time she is in the lab. “The simulation labs help depict real life scenarios. We have mannequins and can insert IVs, take blood pressure, assess wounds, breathing, vital signs. They can answer our questions. Better to make our mistakes in the lab than in real life.”

From Simulation Labs to Future Success

With the high-tech training facilities and quality of professors at William Paterson’s nursing program, in five to 10 years, Waldron envisions more master’s degrees will be pursued and more qualified, diverse applicants and nurse practitioners will be the norm.

“There is such a demand on our student nurses, but our academic standards are high. I think we’re well prepared for the future.”

In addition, awareness of the trending student population can tap into future population needs.

“We have more male students, and more Hispanic male nursing students, which reflects the 26 percent Latino undergraduate population,” Waldron said.

Then student success will come down to a calling. Now in her last semester, Panduro seems committed to her chosen field. “It’s definitely been a grueling program but worth the sacrifice.” She feels more than prepared. And she sees well past being the first in her family to graduate from college.

Her long term goal is to become a flight trauma nurse—and now that will likely be a reality. “I’m leaving with an undergraduate degree and a career. I got the best of both worlds with my experience here.”

Professor in William Paterson University’s College of Education Earns Fulbright Scholar Award to Research the Use of English in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Kathleen Malu, William Paterson University professor of literacy and language in the Department of Secondary and Middle School Education, has received a Fulbright Scholar award to complete three months of research in London, United Kingdom. Malu’s research project is titled, “Shifting to English in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Exploring Language Policy and Practice Using Multiple Disciplines.”

Kathleen Malu, PhD, to spend three months gathering information at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies

Malu will be hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London between April 1 and June 30, 2017. SOAS is uniquely positioned to support this research project, Malu says, because of its recently launched Institute of World Languages and its Centenary Anniversary (2016-2017) research theme, “Global Voices.”

This marks Malu’s second Fulbright Scholar award; she was previously awarded funding for teaching and research in Rwanda from 2009 to 2010. There, she prepared English Language pre-service teachers at the National University of Rwanda’s Kigali Institute of Education. At that time Rwanda had changed its official international language from French to English at all levels of education and throughout society in 2009.

Similarly, though French is still the official language in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Congolese are increasingly seeking to learn English – confident this will offer a more effective global voice, Malu explains. Her Fulbright research will explore this unofficial shift in language, drawing upon the disciplines of sociolinguistics, anthropology and language education, as well as her previous teaching and research on language changes in Rwanda.

“The effects of the language policy change have been poorly documented,” the professor says. “This project offers an opportunity to examine the effects of a grassroots change in language use that may, or may not, become official language policy. It is extremely important that this study be conducted.”

While in London, Malu plans to explore, among other topics, whether a shift to English might give the Congolese a more effective global voice and whether elements of the DRC experience can be generalized and used by other countries to inform their education and language policies and practices. She will complete her research by means of a literature review at the SOAS library and the British Library, which attracts scholars worldwide due to its extensive, unique collection of journals and archives. She also plans to have academic conversations with SOAS faculty and participate in as many applicable SOAS Centenary events as possible.

Malu, who teaches courses in William Paterson University’s College of Education that focus on research in education, ESL and bilingual education, says she is eager to bring her forthcoming research findings back to campus.

“As the world becomes a global village, it is extremely important that there is mutual understanding within and across cultures, societies, and nations,” Malu says. “To promote mutual understanding, we must consider the interplay between language, culture and society. It is a great honor for me to receive this second award and I am grateful to the university for its support and encouragement.”

William Paterson University Students from Three Majors Come Together for One Project in the Name of Health

William Paterson University is putting its own spin on an education ideology commonly employed at medical schools. In a pilot program launched this semester, students in their respective courses in nursing, communication disorders and science and exercise science joined forces for an end-of-semester presentation of a multi-week project: developing an interprofessional comprehensive diagnosis and treatment plan for each of their case-study patients.

“We need to collaborate for that patient in the bed,” says Kem Louie, professor and graduate director of nursing and the driving force behind the University’s inter-professional pilot program. “Research shows, and from my nursing experience I know, that collaboration increases quality of care and improves patient outcomes. The more we can educate our students in this prior to them getting out, the more likely they’ll be to inculcate that value as practitioners.”

A William Paterson University student group presents its interprofessional diagnosis and treatment plan.

Interprofessional Collaborative Education (IPE) has become more prevalent in medical education over the past decade, falling in line with a global health movement toward team-based patient care. In IPE settings, professors and students in medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, pharmacy and public healt
h – among others – teach and learn together. In professional practice, a physician often serves as team captain, and in typical IPE settings, aspiring physicians serve in that role.

But Louie points out that nurse practitioners diagnose patients and manage th
eir care, just as a physician would. “Also, once the patient is out of the hospital, in rehab and ready to go
home, other specialists continue to manage that patient’s needs,” she explains. She is subsequently of of the mindset that IPE need not be physician-centered, and therefore, need not be relegated to colleges that house medical programs.

That concept was put to the test on Monday, November 28, when eight student groups of about five members each took the stage in th
e library auditorium. Each group presented its interprofessional diagnoses and treatment plans, as well as what members learned from one another in the process, for case-study patients who require various degrees of nursing, speech/language/cognitive therapy and physical rehabilitation.

Not only did the students learn more about the specialties of the other disciplines they were exposed to, but they also received helpful tips and lessons from their counterparts in applied health. Nursing students made fellow group members aware of medications that could reduce alertness during speech/language therapy or increase heart rate in physical therapy sessions. Aspiring speech language pathologists taught fellow group members that they shouldn’t assume stroke survivors understand all verbal directions and suggested visual aids for patients with aphasia.

Michael A. Figueroa, associate professor of kinesiology; Betty Kollia, professor of communication disorders and sciences; and Persephone Vargas, assistant professor of nursing, taught the courses that teamed up for the pilot program. The professors took turns meeting in their respective locations on campus to coordinate lessons and come up with case studies. They organized their groups of cross-major students through Blackboard, where members of each group could, in addition to meeting in person, learn to communicate and collaborate as a team and participate in online discussions related to their assignments.

“I was very impressed to see how all of the students worked together. I feel they all developed a mutual respect and appreciation for each other,” Figueroa says. “I think, often, when students are concentrated in a major, they feel like they are isolated, and when they go into the workforce and have to work with people from different fields, it can be challenging.”

“Their presentations were an exemplar as to what should be done during IPE meetings or rounds,” Vargas adds. Noting how nurse practitioners are expected to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to provide quality and holistic patient care, she says she was really excited about this project and its results.

Louie and the trio of professors who took part in the pilot program distributed pre- and post-project student questionnaires focusing on what participants wanted to learn, what they learned, and how the program could be improved. With that information, they will begin brainstorming ways to enhance the University’s IPE efforts going forward.

“Interprofessional teamwork is not something that necessarily comes naturally,” Kollia says. “While we teach students to work in teams within our professional areas, I believe we also need to train them to work in teams across professions and to learn how to synthesize varied information. Much work can be done on this aspect, including at our professional level. We are only beginning this exciting work.”

Ken Wolf, dean of the College of Science and Health, says he is more than happy about the University’s unique take on IPE and the benefits it affords students of applied health.

“Imagine in football if the quarterbacks only practiced with the quarterbacks, and the offensive linemen only practiced with the offensive linemen. How are they supposed to come together to play the game on Sunday,” Wolf asks. “Think of all the people you deal with when a patient is in the hospital – doctors, nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists … if you expect to have a coordinated game plan and good outcome, those people need to know how to work together.”