A Texas Wesleyan University - Office of Communications Publication

August 30, 2006 

In Memorium

Mrs. Sylvia Hyde, wife of Brodie Hyde, former chair of the Texas Wesleyan Board of Trustees, passed away suddenly on August 28. The memorial service for Sylvia will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, August 31, at the First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth (800 W. 5th Street). Her obituary may be viewed online through the Star-Telegram website here. If you have any questions, contact the President's Office at (817) 531-4401.

Benz Named STAR Fellow

Dr. Bruce Benz, associate professor of biology at Texas Wesleyan, has been named a STAR fellow with The Texas Center for Health Disparities (Texas EXPORT Center), developed by UNT Health Science Center. The STAR fellowship program (Steps Toward Academic Research) was developed by researchers at the health science center to help address health disparities.

    The fellowship, designed for emerging biomedical scientists at minority-serving institutions to learn how to study health disparities, is a mentorship program. Fellows are provided with collaborative training with faculty members from the health science center and other institutions directed toward fostering health disparities research initiatives.

Ten faculty members from around the country were chosen for the inaugural class. Fellows are

allowed to keep their current faculty appointments while participating in the year-long fellowship.

     Fellows will learn about the epidemiology and biostatistics of health disparity, research design, computer technology, community assessment, human subjects research, compliance with Institutional Review Boards, scientific communications, grant writing, health policy and survey research, and they will participate in a simulated research grant review process.

     This August, Wesleyan’s first group of counseling students completed their graduation requirements, becoming the first group to graduate from our program. The graduates are Elliott Connie, Tiffany Derrick, Margret Fields, Matthew Jackson, Christina Jones, Rosie Lara, Shamira Ramos, Yarob Salem, and Mathew Trammell. A few of these students are beginning doctoral degrees in the fall at nearby universities.

     In addition, Texas Wesleyan’s graduate counseling program is pleased to announce that we will have approximately 100 graduate counseling students beginning fall 2006, tripling our size in the past two years! We thank everyone for their hard work and support as the program has grown.

Psychology Department Welcomes Two New Faculty

The Psychology Department is pleased to introduce two new tenure-track faculty members to the Texas Wesleyan community: Dr. Jay C. Brown and Ms. Dana P. Gresky.

    Brown comes to us from Missouri State University, where he served as an assistant professor of psychology. Brown is an experimental psychologist with specializations in judgment & choice, and quantitative methods. He received his doctorate of philosophy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is actively involved in research on self control and decision making. This fall he is teaching Experimental Research Methods, History and Systems of Psychology, Cognition & Memory, and Abnormal Psychology. Jay and his wife, Eun-Jung (EJ) have made a home in North Fort Worth, where their six-year old son and two-year old daughter keep them plenty busy.

      This fall, Gresky will receive her doctorate of philosophy from Texas Christian University. She is also an experimental psychologist with a specialization is social psychology. Gresky’s research interests are in stereotype threat and sports psychology. She comes to us with vast teaching experience. This fall she is teaching General Psychology, Infant & Child Development, Social Psychology, and Drugs, Alcohol & Human Behavior. In her spare time, Gresky enjoys weight training and spending time with her husband, Aaron “Goldberg” Gresky, BS '00.