Chapter News and Events

Phi Beta Delta scholars at Lamar University are deeply engaged in international research and creative activity, mentoring and interdisciplinary collaboration. Here is more about their recent work and also information about events and new membership.

If you are engaged in international scholarship or work with international students through mentorship, teaching or service, please join our chapter!

Spring 2023 Lunch & Learn: A Panel Presentation

Our Spring 2023 panelists are esteemed members of the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice. On Thursday, February 16, they will present a panel entitled "Talking About Race and Gender in an Increasing Pluralistic Society." The panel will take place at 12:00pm in Room 702 of Gray Library.

Chiung-Fang Chang, Ph.D

Dr. Chang is an Associate Professor and Program Director of Sociology at Lamar University and our 2011 University Merit Scholar. She has served as an Associate Editor for International Journal for Sociological Research since 2008. She is widely published as a scholar in her research areas: population studies in China, intermarriage and assimilation among minority populations, racial identity, and fertility behavior of minority women. Currently, she is working on a methodology book and a cross-cultural study on fertility behavior among minority and new immigrants in China and Taiwan.

Stuart A. Wright, Ph.D.

Dr. Wright is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Social Work & Criminal Justice at Lamary. He is a former NIMH Research Fellow at Yale, Rockefeller Foundation Scholar-in-Residence in Bellagio, Italy, and Visiting Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Oslo, Norway. He has authored over sixty publications. His most recent book is The Demise of Religion: How Religions End, Die or Dissipate (with Michael Stausberg and Carole Cusack, Bloomsbury Academic Publishers, 2020).

Ginger Gummelt, Ph.D., LCSW

Dr. Gummelt is the Program Director and an Associate Professor of Social Work at Lamar University. She has more than twenty years of clinical experience working with children, adolescents, and families. She serves on the boards of several local and regional human service organizations and as lead researcher for the National Campaign to Stop Violence’s local initiative of Do the Write Thing. Dr. Gummelt has authored many publications and her research focuses on vulnerabilities and resiliency among at-risk populations.

Fall 2022 Lunch and Learn with
Phi Beta Delta Faculty

Our Fall 2022 Lunch and Learn presentation will feature several of the chapter's illustrious researchers, artists, teachers, and board members. Each will discuss their recent scholarship and travel, and we are thrilled for the campus community to have an opportunity to hear about their fascinating and important work.

The chapter is providing light refreshments, and attendees are welcome to bring in their lunch. We can't wait to see all of you and catch up!

Rezvan Khoshlessan, Ed.D.

CTLE Coordinator

"How to Build Global Connections"

Millicent Musyoka, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Deaf Studies/Deaf Ed

"Untold Resiliency Stories of U.S. Immigrant Mothers with Deaf Children"

Sanaz Alasti, Ph.D.

Director
Center for Death Penalty Studies
Assoc. Professor, Criminal Justice

"Death Penalty for Women in Iran"

Stefan Andrei, Ph.D.

Professor of Computer Science

"Considerations on a new class of scheduling algorithms for non-preemptive independent tasks on a multi-processor platform"

Rebecca Ard Boone, Ph.D.
Chair and Professor of History
"Real Lives in the Eighteenth Century"

Kurt Dyrhaug, MFA
Professor of Art and Design
"10 Weeks of research in Deutschland. Alles ist gut!"

Beta Xi Presenters at 36th Annual International Conference

2022 Theme: Collaborative Resilience: Recreating Global Pathways

How to Build Global Connections
Rezvan Khoshlessan, Lamar University

Dr. Khoshlessan found that people join and get involved in relief and development of global issues while seeking mutual interests. In education, global connections lead to learning through gaining new insights, discovering unrevealed aspects and recognizing seemingly unrelated connections. The experience gained through this process is phenomenal and educators MUST increase empathy. This interaction leads to serendipitous learning and the connection brings in new experiences.

Untold Resiliency Stories of U.S. Immigrant Mothers with Deaf Children
Millicent Musyoka, Lamar University Rajmonda Krasniqi, Lamar University

Dr. Musyoka and her student, Ms. Rajmonda Krasniqi, who immigrated to the U.S. from the Republic of Kosovo as a Deaf child, presented their study of immigrant mothers with children with disabilities, particularly Deaf children. The research adopted the lens of Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005) and the intersectionality framework (Crenshaw, 1989). It demonstrated how US immigrant mothers with D/hh children's resilience is a collaborative resilience that involves service providers.

***Remember that our organizations pays for chapter-level registration at the annual conference, so if you are an active member of Beta Xi Chapter, please consider submitting a CFP for 2023. That information is coming soon from the national organization.

Spring 2022 Lunch and Learn with Dr. Mustapha Jourdini

Wednesday, March 23, 2022, 12-1:30pm, Gray Library Room 702

Dr. Mustapha Jourdini, director of International Student Programs and Services, presented the Spring 2022 Lunch and Learn Lecture hosted by Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars. His topic, "Untold Stories of International Students in the U.S.," shed light on economic and other contributions international students make to the U.S. and the world and on the challenges they encounter when they arrive, and he shared his own journey as an international student, scholar and administrator. Light refreshments were served. Faculty, staff and students were welcome, and we were excited to see you there, fresh from Spring Break!

Fall 2021 Lunch and Learn with Dr. Lilian Felipe

Friday, December 3, 2021, 12-1pm, Gray Library Room 702

Dr. Lilian Felipe, assistant professor of audiology in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, presented the Fall 2021 Lunch and Learn Lecture hosted by Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars. During her presentation, she shared advice and encouragement for researchers interested in international research collaboration based on her own experiences as an international researcher. Light refreshments were served. Faculty, staff and students are welcome, and we were excited to see you there, fresh from Spring Break!