Fresno State traffic operations officers Mervin Roman and Rick Reyes received awards of merit from the California College & University Police Chiefs Association gave Awards of Merit to Fresno State traffic operations officers Mervin Roman and Rick Reyes for vigilance that led to the arrest of four suspected burglars before they could strike cars on campus. Their actions prevented thefts and got a stolen car back to its owner. More...

Larry G. Riley (Biology) received $10,000 from California Sea Grant to research the role of glucose in regulating a stomach hormone that plays a role in growth of tilapa, a fish whose popularity is growing with seafood lovers. The research could make farming tilapia cheaper as consumer demand for the fish outstrips the sustainable yield of wild tilapia.

Barlow Der Mugrdechian (Armenian Studies) organized and participated in an international conference on "The Armenian Bible: Celebrating the 1600th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Armenian Bible and the Translation of the Bible into Armenian." The event in Burbank was held under the auspices of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America. Der Mugrdechian presented a paper on "The Bible and Armenian Culture." Der Mugrdechian also presented a three-part course, "From Armenia to California: The Odyssey of the Fresno Armenians," for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, culminating with a walk through the historic Armenian Town section of downtown Fresno.

Publications

Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi (Africana and American Indian Studies) published his third book, “African Families at the Turn of the 21st Century” (Praeger).  Coedited with Baffour Takyi, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Akron, “African Families” examines family dynamics from a historical perspective. It provides critical analysis on the interplay of indigenous, Arabic/Islamic and European/Christian cultures for several years on the African continent. The book adds to the limited scholarship on the centrality of Africa in the global war on terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, poverty, drugs, illegal immigration, racial/ethnic conflicts and infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

George B. Kauffman (Chemistry, emeritus) passed a milestone with “Pierre Curie (1859-1906): A Retrospective View on the Centenary of His Death," written with Jean-Pierre Adloff of  Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. The article, published in The Chemical Educator, was Kauffman’s 2,000th, not including his 17 books. Kauffman’s other recent publications were: "Switzerland was first [World's first democracy]," The Fresno Bee, March 23; "Chemistry: Foundations and Applications," CHEM 13 NEWS, March; "Humphry Davy: Life Beyond the Lamp," “Modern Nuclear Chemistry,” “American Chemical Society Directory of Graduate Research 2005” and "Ida Noddack (1896-1978): Personal Recollections On the Occasion of 80th Anniversary of the Discovery of Rhenium" (with Adloff), all in The Chemical Educator on April 1; and  "Valley Voices: Digging into Earth Day's annual events," The Fresno Bee, April 15.

Presentations

Marcie Morrison (Madden Library) presented “How to Use a Leadership Board to Build a Library” at the Academic Library Advancement and Development Network international conference in Las Vegas. She also discussed “The Madden Library as a Regional Resource” in a presentation to the Fresno Compact, a coalition of business, community and school leaders dedicated to improving achievement levels of children.