TEDxAdelphiUniversity Announces Speaker Line-up for 2016 Event

The inaugural TEDxAdelphiUniversity organized by the staff from the Center for Health Innovation, will gather 100 of the most impassioned TEDx enthusiasts for a day of networking and dialogue on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Adelphi University Performing Arts Center Concert Hall, Westermann Stage at 1 South Avenue, Garden City, NY. The independently organized event, licensed by TED, will feature a stellar line-up of nine speakers and TED Talks videos under the theme of “What if…”

“TEDx promotes ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ and we’re proud to present this inaugural TEDx event featuring talks around the concept of ‘What if…,’” said Elizabeth Gross Cohn, Ph.D., R.N., executive director of the Adelphi University Center for Health Innovation (CHI). Presenters will collectively suggest ways we can improve ourselves, our communities, and our society.”
Speakers at TEDxAdelphiUniversity include:

• Christine M. Riordan, Ph.D. of Garden City, NY, is president at Adelphi University and an award-winning educator and internationally recognized expert in leadership development, diversity and inclusion, and team performance. Dr. Riordan has been interviewed by and written articles for many top newspapers and media outlets. She will dare you to be extraordinary and share her thoughts on the three things extraordinary people have in common: passion, courage and resilience.
• Bernadine Y. Waller, LMHC, M.A. ’10 of Garden City, NY, is an adjunct professor and doctoral candidate at the Adelphi University School of Social Work whose trauma-informed work as a clinician inspires her research. Ms. Waller completed her graduate study at the Adelphi University Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies and will speak about intimate partner violence against women of color and how our responses could save a woman’s life. 
• Deborah Serani, Psy.D. of Smithtown, NY, is a Adelphi University Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies alumna and adjunct professor, award-winning author, go-to expert on psychological issues, with research interests in depression and trauma. Dr. Serani will talk about her personal and professional experiences living with depression to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness and ways to address this problem.
• Rabbi Glenn Jacob D.D. of Oceanside, NY, is one of the interfaith chaplains and Hillel director at Adelphi University whose background includes civil rights advocate on issues of church and state, reproductive rights, hate group monitoring and funding for public education. Rabbi Jacob will explain how people can create God beliefs without compromising their knowledge bases or their life experiences.
• Francine Conway, Ph.D. ’99 of Garden City, NY, is a clinical psychologist, professor and chair of undergraduate psychology at the Adelphi University Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies. Dr. Conway will discuss the importance of cultivating compassion for the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) child—from moral indictment to empathy, as well as her personal experience with her son’s struggles.
• Anthony Zenkus, LMSW of Huntington, NY, is an activist on income inequality, director of education at The Safe Center and adjunct professor at the Adelphi University School of Social Work. Mr. Zenkus works on eliminating wealth inequality to bring us less disease and violence and more cooperation, peace and creativity.
• Jennifer Krol ’17 of Neponsit, NY, is currently an English major and plans to further her education, pursuing a master’s in childhood education at Adelphi University. Ms. Krol notes if we de-normalized rape culture, but normalized talking about it, sexual violence would take a step closer to no longer being an epidemic.
• Madeline Dressner ’13, M.A. ’14 of Great Neck, NY, is an elementary teacher in Great Neck Public Schools and Adelphi University alumna with a B.A. in psychology and M.A. in childhood education with an advanced certificate in students with disabilities. The basis of Ms. Dressner’s talk will cover a project she created for her third graders during her student teaching called Apps for a Cause, which showed students technology as a tool for building advocacy and educating others about social justice issues around the world.
• Robert Goldfarb, Ph.D. of New York, NY, is a speech-language pathologist and professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the Adelphi University Ruth S. Ammon School of Education. Dr. Goldfarb will talk about his experience of suffering a series of strokes and how to do the hard work needed to maximize recovery. 

Space is extremely limited. To enter the ticket lottery, please go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NHXMW5L. The event will also be streamed live. Ticket lottery winners will be notified by March 28, 2016, with tickets priced at $20 for general admission and $10 for students.  Lunch is included in the event and audience members are strongly encouraged to stay the entire program.  
Follow TEDxAdelphiUniversity at https://twitter.com/TEDxAdelphiU and on Facebook at https://facebook.com/TEDxAdelphiU.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today’s leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED’s annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.
TED’s open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a “wish,” or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED or Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted.

About Adelphi: A modern university with deep roots 

Adelphi University is a nationally ranked, doctoral research university offering exceptional liberal arts and sciences programs and professional training with particular strength in its Core Four—AU Arts and Humanities, AU STEM and Social Sciences, AU Professions, and AU Health and Wellness.
Founded in Brooklyn in 1896, Adelphi was one of the first coeducational institutions of higher education in New York State and is Long Island’s oldest private coeducational university. Today Adelphi serves nearly 7,500 students from 38 states and 46 countries at its beautiful main campus in Garden City, New York—just 23 miles from New York City’s cultural and internship opportunities—and at dynamic learning hubs around the state (New York City, the Hudson Valley and across Long Island) and online.
More than 100,000 Adelphi graduates have gained the skills, knowledge and exposure to thrive as professionals and active citizens in an interconnected and fast-paced global society, making their mark on the University and the world beyond.
Our history, location and commitment to student success and academic excellence define the Adelphi Advantage.

Celebrity Chef Jet Tila Cooks for Adelphi Students

Adelphi students thronged the University Center cafeteria on Wednesday, March 9, 2016, to sample the cuisine prepared for them by celebrity chef Jet Tila, known for his appearances on the Food Network shows Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen and Iron Chef America. Tila came to Adelphi to kick off National Nutrition Month and show students how delicious balanced meals can be. 

On hand to help Tila serve the popular Asian-themed dishes were Adelphi President Christine M. Riordan and Timothy Burton, Adelphi’s senior vice president and treasurer. 

Catch the Fios1 News video.

Understanding Applied Regression Statistics in Physical Activity and Health Research: Columbia University EPIC Program, June 15-19, 2015

Adelphi’s CHI Summer Scholar Paul Rukavina, PhD, Associate Professor  & Coordinator of Physical Education Non-Certification Programs in the Department of Exercise Science, Health Studies, Physical Education, and Sport Management in the Ruth S. Ammon School of Education, Adelphi University.

This course was an introduction to the basics of regression analysis commonly used in the areas of physical activity and health promotion research. Sheila Vaidya, the instructor, systematically covered correlation, simple and multiple regression models, omnibus and partial F-Test, interpretation of interaction terms and using dummy coding for categorical variables. Last, we explored regression diagnostics and model type selection. The coursed described the theory and underlying assumptions of linear regression models. All of the classes were lecture-based and occurred at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

I used the knowledge that I gained from the applied regression analysis class in a recent research project with colleagues Drs. Christy Greenleaf, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Jody Langdon, Georgia Southern University. We investigated the psychosocial predictors of obesity bias in pre-allied health and exercise science professionals, which includes the internationalization of general and athletic body ideals, perceived media pressure and information, and achievement goal orientations. 

We theorized pre-allied health and exercise science students had internalized attitudes from socialization in sport and exercise, and that these attitudes might predict attitudes toward overweight and obese individuals. The results indicated that the pre-allied health professionals were explicitly biased toward overweight and obese people, had internalized an athletic ideal (ideal body is toned for women, and athletically muscular for men), and had a high task orientation (improving oneself in sports) and ego orientation (comparison of oneself to others in sports).

Regression analyses produced some results as well. Internalization of the athletic body type predicted several aspects of obesity bias. In other words, those who held athletic body ideals were likely to be explicitly biased toward overweight and obese individuals. Also, task orientation negatively predicted character disparagement of overweight and obese. Those who had a tendency toward viewing one’s success as improving (using oneself as referent for success) tended not to hold stereotypes that disparaged the character of overweight and obese.

The results are important for those that prepare pre-allied health and exercise science professionals. If students’ attitudes go unchecked, these attitudes may negatively manifest when working with clients who lack athletic bodies or are overweight, such as overly blaming them for their condition and not providing the same attention or treatment as others who have more athletic body shapes and sizes.

It is important for professors to situate knowledge of overweight and obesity in a social ecological framework. Professors should emphasize that the determinants of body shape and size go beyond personal lifestyle choices and behavior; body shape and size are influenced by biology and genetics, social and physical environment, opportunities for health care, and policy making. Instead of assuming a client is lazy or lack will power, a client may be larger partly because of their genetics or lack of access to health foods, physical activity facilities, or health care.

The results of this study will be published in an upcoming issue of Advances of Physiology Education.

Fresh Air at Adelphi University

Today, March 9 is No Smoking Day. In honor of this day, the Center for Health Innovation supports the Adelphi University Fresh Air Campaign, which aims to provide a healthy school and work environment for all.

Smoking (including cigars, e-cigarettes, hookah pens, e-hookahs, vaping pens, vape pipes, as well as any and all similar products) on the Garden City campus will be permitted only at four designated sites that will be clearly marked. No smoking will be allowed while traveling on walkways or traveling to or from sites where smoking is permitted.

Since September 2015, there have been four designated sites on campus where smoking will be permitted. Beginning August 31, 2016, there will be three permanent sites where smoking will be permitted.

Designated smoking areas for 2015-2016:        

1. Northeast corner of Levermore Hall near South Avenue and small parking area
2. Southern end of Eddy Hall
3. Southwest corner of Alumni House
4. North of Woodruff Hall and on the far eastern end of parking lot

For more information, see the Fresh Air Campaign website or the No Smoking Day website.