Assistant Professor of Music Elisabeth Small recently presented a session, “Shifting Strategies,” at the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) 2015  National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The presentation focused on organizing the shifting process for string teachers and students to develop a comfort zone for fluid and reliable shifting. Small also explored ways to achieve confidence in shifting by examining and coordinating listening skills, left-hand logistics, bow planning and timing.

ASTA, founded more than 65 years ago, is a membership association for the national string community with approximately 8,000 members.

Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Chris Barton recently presented in the Scholarship of Teaching Learning section at the 76^th Annual Meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists in Chattanooga.  His presentation, “Using DNA Barcoding to Supplement Classical Taxonomic Methods in an Undergraduate Curriculum,” focused on the use of DNA barcoding, a molecular assay that uses DNA sequencing as a means to characterize plant and animal specimens that are otherwise difficult to identify. He also highlighted ways this technique can be incorporated into undergraduate science courses and research programs.

The Association of Southeastern Biologists (ASB)is the largest scientific professional organization in the southeastern U. S. with approximately 1400 members from 220 academic and 60 non-academic institutions. ASB’s mission is to promote biology through research and education and is supported each spring with an annual meeting where faculty and students (both graduates and undergraduates) present research in a friendly and collegial environment.

Dean and Professor of the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences and Nursing Dr. Cathy Taylor was recently honored as one of Nashville Medical News’s 2015 Women to Watch. For the 10th year, Nashville Medical News has profiled a group of women in Middle Tennessee who are making a difference in the health care landscape of Nashville, Tennessee or beyond through their work as clinicians, public health officials, advocates, administrators, association executives or professionals.

Taylor has been working as the College of Health Sciences’s Dean since 2012, after serving as the assistant commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health’s Bureau of Health Service Administration, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University Nursing School of Nursing and the director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance Disease Management Program.

Dr. Taylor said she is grateful for the mentors and role models that have encouraged her throughout the career, and she greatly enjoys the opportunity to serve in a similar role for her students. “What an honor to be counted as part of this group of extraordinary women.  I am blessed to be able to do the work I love every day, surrounded by respected colleagues and exceptional students.”

For a full list of the 2015 Women to Watch honorees, click here.