They move slowly, with a blank stare, shuffling into your home. Before you download the Center for Disease Control’s zombie preparedness guide, relax. They’re not there to eat your brains. They’re just your college students, home for fall break and desperate to recuperate after their midterm exams.
Knowing how to handle a difficult boss can mean the difference between being happy and successful at work, and dreading every morning’s alarm clock. With National Boss’ Day just around the corner on October 17, 2011, the best present you can give yourself and your supervisor is a great working relationship. Evelyn Williams, a professor and associate vice president of leadership development at Wake Forest University Schools of Business has five tips to get you started.
Scary masks, ghostly décor and haunted houses are enough to spook many adults this time of year, so imagine how frightening Halloween can be for children. To avoid unnecessary shrieks of terror, try to experience Halloween through the eyes of your child, suggests Deborah Best, a child psychology expert and professor of psychology at Wake Forest University (www.wfu.edu).
Wake Forest University undergrad traces “I Have a Dream” back to King's high school speech.
Your Friday night status update from a local pub will have much greater significance with the unveiling of Facebook Timeline, says Dr. Ananda Mitra, social media expert and Chair of the Communication Department at Wake Forest University.
According to the Federal Reserve, economic growth remains slow and signs point to continuing weakness. Unemployment rates remain elevated, and household spending has been increasing at only a modest pace. While this may affect your household budgeting, it could also work in your favor. Charles Lankau, a business professor and expert in negotiation at Wake Forest University, says in this economy, consumers should be assertive when shopping for just about everything.
If you heard about a recent study claiming one in 25 executive leaders meet the criteria for a psychopathic personality and thought: “That sounds like MY boss,” you might be wondering what to do about it. Evelyn Williams, associate vice president of leadership development/professor of practice at Wake Forest University Schools of Business says knowing your boss’s work style could be the key to succeeding.
As corporate and nonprofit recruiters prepare to storm college campuses this fall, applicants need new ways to distinguish themselves in an increasingly challenging job market. Viewing the world through the lens of sustainability and demonstrating practical experience with a “greener resume” can make a difference when applying for jobs, says Dedee DeLongpré Johnston, Director of Sustainability at Wake Forest University.
The pressure for peak performance and an on-call-24/7 mentality in the professional world continue to increase. How can today’s college students prepare for the expectations of tomorrow’s workforce without burning out before earning their bachelors’ degrees? Counselors and career advisors have teamed up to develop the following tips to help students deal with job-related stress before their admirable work ethic becomes an unhealthy work obsession.
From teasing on the bus to hitting on the playground to spreading rumors through social media, the start of school can mean the beginning of bullying for some children. Wake Forest University Professor of Counseling Donna Henderson offers her top 12 tips for parents to prevent their children from becoming bullies or victims.
For some children, the excitement of starting or going back to school turns to fear at the bus stop or classroom door. Separation anxiety is a real condition for many children and their parents on the first day of school, says Samuel T. Gladding, professor of counseling at Wake Forest University and author of the book “Family Therapy.”
Five tips to turn your summer internship into a future job offer
As a Professor of Practice in Finance and Economics at Wake Forest University, Dr. Sherry Jarrell’s expertise is in valuing enterprises and strategies. She is an accomplished public speaker, award-winning teacher and frequent commentator on issues relating to law, business, economics and finance on local television and radio. She is also the co-author of Driving Shareholder Value: Value-Building Techniques for Creating Shareholder Wealth, published by McGraw Hill. More information is available at www.SherryJarrell.com.
David Coates, Ph.D., holds the Worrell Chair of Anglo-American Studies, Department of Political Science at Wake Forest University (N.C.). He previously held personal chairs at the universities of Leeds and Manchester in the U.K. He has written extensively on labor politics, contemporary political economy, and U.S. public policy. He is the author of several books, including Making the Progressive Case, Answering Back, The Labour Party and the Struggle for Socialism and Models of Capitalism: Growth and Stagnation in the World Economy (translated into Chinese and South Korean). More information is available at www.davidcoates.net.
Depending on the amount and age of the stored blood used, there is evidence that transfusion can lead to complications including infection, organ failure and death. New research from found that these complications are likely due to red blood cell breakdown during storage, implying that transfused blood may need to be stored in a different way.
Using a crystal ball to protect homeland security might seem far-fetched, but researchers at Wake Forest University and Fisk University have partnered to develop crystals that can be used to detect nuclear threats, radioactive material or chemical bombs more accurately and affordably.
As back-to-school season approaches, the rising cost of college tuition and high unemployment for new grads raise questions about the payoff of a liberal arts degree. Wake Forest University takes these concerns very seriously and is addressing them to achieve concrete results – bringing in nationally renowned talent to develop students’ leadership skills from the first time they step on campus through its Office of Personal and Career Development.
If intelligence agencies could have accurately predicted the events of 9/11, imagine how world history would have changed. A new model for crowdsourcing predictions called Aggregative Contingent Estimation System (ACES) is transforming the way future events are forecast – combining the collective knowledge of many individual opinions in a unique way that improves accuracy beyond what any one person or small group of experts could provide.
Did we really celebrate our independence this week, or has the ongoing financial crisis put the American dream of independence beyond the reach of many of our nation’s citizens? That’s the question author David Coates is asking in his new book, Making the Progressive Case: Toward a Stronger U.S. Economy.
Night or day, many images — not just the ones adults typically think of as frightening — can be disturbing to young children, says Wake Forest University communication professor Marina Krcmar, whose research includes studies related to children and television viewing.
New research published in the journal Pediatrics shows that the television viewing habits of young children, aged three to five, can affect their sleep patterns. What can parents do to protect their little ones? Wake Forest University communication professor Marina Krcmar, whose research includes studies related to children and television viewing, says parents need to know that many images— not just the ones adults typically think of as frightening — can be disturbing to young children.
Can we really celebrate our independence this 4th of July, or has the ongoing financial crisis put the American dream of independence beyond the reach of many of our nation’s citizens? That’s the question author David Coates is asking in his new book, Making the Progressive Case: Toward a Stronger U.S. Economy.
When imagining your dream vacation, you might not picture your mother-in-law sitting beside you on the beach. But, taking a vacation with the in-laws can be just the ticket for building stronger relationships with extended family, says Wake Forest University Professor of Counseling Samuel T. Gladding.
New research shows that gastric bypass significantly reduces the inflammation associated with diseases including cancer and diabetes – more proof of the overall health benefits of such surgery beyond weight loss. “We’re amassing evidence that weight loss is a very important part of changing the way the body’s systems work in people with high-risk diseases like diabetes and heart disease,” said Gary D. Miller, an associate professor at Wake Forest University and chief investigator on the study.
“Eat your vegetables, get good grades and stay away from drugs.” To many women, this sounds like standard advice from Dad. Nationally renowned expert on father-daughter relationships Dr. Linda Nielsen, professor of adolescent & educational psychology at Wake Forest University and author of the book “Between Fathers & Daughters: Enriching and Rebuilding your Adult Relationship,” says fathers have more important lessons to offer their daughters than they might realize.
Each year more than 200,000 people with morbid obesity undergo gastric bypass surgery, but research shows that more than half of patients regain at least 20 percent of the weight lost. Even celebrities find it difficult to keep the pounds off after gastric bypass. TV personality Al Roker and singer Carnie Wilson both have detailed their battle with weight gain after surgery; Wilson’s struggle has lasted for years.
Leaving behind “Leave it to Beaver” as a family model has helped men become better dads, said Andrew Smiler, an assistant professor of psychology at Wake Forest University who studies men and masculinity. Several decades of encouraging equality have paved the way for the changing role of fathers.
What do you give the dad who has everything? The inspiration to change to world. Three fathers are using the unique combination of research, passion and love for their own children to improve the lives of others.
As the nation's electrical power grid becomes more interconnected through the Internet -- from the nuclear power plant in California to transmission lines in Texas to the microwave in your kitchen -- the chances of cyber attacks increase as well. Errin Fulp, a professor of computer science at Wake Forest University, is training an army of "digital ants" to turn loose into the power grid to seek out computer viruses trying to wreak havoc on the system.
For job seekers who dream of joining a startup company hoping it will become the next Starbucks or Google, Polly Black, director of the Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship at Wake Forest University, shares the top five things to consider before joining a new business venture.
“This is the beginning of a new day. The importance of the individual voice has been heightened,” says Wake Forest University social media expert and professor of communication Ananda Mitra. It began when Sohaib Athar in Pakistan unwittingly live-tweeted the Bin Laden raid hours prior to the news breaking on social networking sites.
Switching from rigid, linear textbooks to technology such as iPads alone won’t boost student performance – so a team of researchers has turned the classroom upside down, allowing students to tailor each course to their own learning style.
Forty years after Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970, simple strategies to combine sustainable principles and everyday decision-making can remain elusive. “Sustainable living is not a one-size-fits-all set of items on a list that can be marked as ‘done,’ which can be challenging in a checklist society,” says Wake Forest’s sustainability director Dedee DeLongpré Johnston.
A new polymer-based solar-thermal device is the first to generate power from both heat and visible sunlight – an advance that could shave the cost of heating a home by as much as 40 percent.
Using a monitor that fits inside a football helmet, researchers at the Center for Injury Biomechanics are collecting data that measure the severity, location and angle of every hit to the head a football player receives during practice and games. That data could help helmet manufacturers develop safer products and increase information available to physicians, said Joel Stitzel, Director of the WFU arm of the center, a joint program of Virginia Tech and Wake Forest University.
When it comes to inequities concerning race and college sports, you can talk about changing rules, paying players for their work or otherwise distributing the earnings of athletic departments. But in the end, the most important thing institutions can do to reform the intercollegiate sports system is provide its players – even the at-risk ones – with a useful education.
With the click of a mouse, it is possible to connect with anyone, anywhere in the world. In a matter of seconds, you can see them, speak to them, and share a document to make simultaneous contributions. Forward-thinking university professors have been using these online tools to enhance students’ learning for years, but the stories of transformative learning experiences have been isolated to individual classes, project teams, or academic departments.
On April Fools’ Day, Cindy Gendrich’s students may have an advantage when planning practical jokes. In the theater professor’s first-year seminar, “Why Do People Laugh?” they have serious discussions about what causes giggles and guffaws. Practical jokes are not a guaranteed way to generate laughter, Gendrich said. “Lots of theorists have observed that compassion is the enemy of humor—from the Greeks to Henri Bergson.
As millions of viewers tune in to March Madness this month, an increasingly vocal group of experts is calling attention to the growing divide between the big business of NCAA sports and the well-being of student athletes who are generating record revenues for their universities.
In Libya, the strategy of military intervention could spark a humanitarian crisis, says Associate Professor of Political Science Sarah Lischer. Author of "Dangerous Sanctuaries: Refugee Crises, Civil War, and the Dilemmas of Humanitarian Aid," Lischer studies refugees, humanitarian aid, civil war, and African politics.
As the number of non-English speakers seeking healthcare in the United States continues to grow, so does the need for medical interpreters who can serve as a liaison between patients and their doctors. The demand for medical interpreters increased even more this year when new standards went into effect requiring healthcare organizations to provide an interpreter to patients who speak limited English.
The devastation from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan has filled television screens this week, presenting images that are difficult to watch, but hard to turn away from. If it’s hard enough for adults to comprehend the scale of destruction, should parents reach for the remote control when their children are in the room? Not necessarily, says psychology professor Deborah L. Best, who notes that it’s going to be nearly impossible for parents to shield their children from the news.
As he struggled for decades with a depression that often left him despondent, Eric Wilson never thought to get a second opinion. Wilson, best-selling author of the new book “The Mercy of Eternity: A Memoir of Depression and Grace,” had to muster everything in him to seek a second opinion for his mental illness.
Cuban dissidents and Cuban-American leaders have started to ask why Cubans haven’t followed the lead of oppressed populations in Egypt and Tunisia in overthrowing long-entrenched regimes. Wake Forest University Associate Professor of Political Science Peter Siavelis said he doesn’t expect to see demonstrations for democracy in the streets of Havana anytime soon.
Consumers used to looking for clothing on sale may have to find value somewhere other than the price tag. “The chickens are coming home to roost,” says Sheri Bridges, associate professor of marketing at Wake Forest University. “Sooner or later higher costs of raw materials and manufacturing have to be passed along to consumers. Otherwise, the company won’t be able to invest in our future happiness by developing the newer, better products we all want.”
Winter’s chill, dark days, devoid of sunshine can send the best of us spiraling into a bad case of the blues. This time of year is especially difficult for Eric G. Wilson, author of “The Mercy of Eternity: A Memoir of Depression and Grace.” Ever since his teen years, he has spent winters quarantining himself, trying to stay warm and sinking deeper into depression.
From swashbuckling, sensitive pirates to sexy, self-sacrificing vampires, romance novels and many other forms of popular culture emphasize the power of love to make all things turn out right, in the end. “Given its prominence and power in pop culture today, we should consider how romance may be a religion for some people,” says Lynn Neal, associate professor of religion.
Improving sustainability practices is a growing trend in businesses and organizations, with 62 percent of companies in 2009 reporting they had empowered internal teams to create eco-friendly workplaces. “It’s become part of our jobs to take time to think creatively about sustainability,” says Dedee DeLongpré Johnston, director of sustainability at Wake Forest.
As families get ready to watch the Super Bowl this weekend, what else will they see besides touchdowns and field goals? Ads promoting alcohol and other products geared toward an older audience. Christy Buchanan, professor of psychology at Wake Forest University and an expert on parent-child relations advises parents how to handle commercial breaks that challenge family values.
Mobility is linked to overall health in older adults, but there has been no standard, easy way to measure it. To solve the problem, two professors developed the Mobility Assessment Tool (MAT). It uses the iPad and video animation to assess physical mobility. The researchers envision physicians eventually using the results of the MAT to give “activity prescriptions.”
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right