Dr. Jackson Pitts, Dr. Zeng, publish book chapter
Dr. Mary Jackson Pitts, Radio/Television, and Dr. Lily Zeng, Radio/Television, recently had a chapter published in the book "The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry," (J.A. Hendricks, ed.; Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.) The book was published in June 2010. Their chapter, "Media Management: The Changing Industry and Adaptability," examines how those in the media industry must examine the past in order to keep up with future demands from media audiences. The co-authors explore changes from a mass audience to niche audiences and what these changes mean to managers in the media industry. Special attention is paid to the need for content diversity, ways to deal with cost reductions, and the need to repurpose content for multi-platform delivery.

Professors create software to translate text messages
Dr. Paula Ruby and Dr. Ralph Ruby, Jr., both in the College of Business, along with Justin Smith of information technology in the Trumann School District, have developed a software program, the Ruby Translator©, that converts text messages into full words or full words into text messages. The Ruby Translator is presently a program for the Windows® platform, soon to be available on the iPhone, iPad, Droid, and Mac platforms. This software allows students the opportunity to take notes using text messaging shorthand, which can then be translated into full text and then saved to Microsoft Word for studying later. The Ruby Translator is the first and only program to translate multiple text words at once with the ability to save to a word processing software program. The program is also multilingual; it can translate in any language for which there is an electronic dictionary, and the program contains the largest list of chat acronyms and text message jargon.For further information, contact Dr. Ralph Ruby, Jr. at (870) 819-1770, or visit the website at www.rubytranslator.com. Check the entire release at http://ASUnews.astate.edu/newspage.htm.

Dr. Engelken presents two papers at annual conference
Dr. Robert Engelken, Electrical Engineering, recently made two presentations at the 2010 annual conference and exhibition of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) in Louisville, Ky., with supporting full-length papers for each, which were published in the proceedings of the conference. Papers/presentations were “Participation of Undergraduates in Engineering Research: Evolving Paradigms over Three Decades of Change”, and “The ‘Rescuer from Afar’ Syndrome: Cautions for the New Engineering Educator, or Things Aren’t Always as They Seem.”

Bailey, Creibaum make presentation at library conference
Jeff Bailey, Interim Library Dean, and Linda Creibaum, Acquisitions Librarian, recently presented “Developing a Library Allocation Formula” at the American Library Association national conference in Washington, DC. The presentation demonstrated the creation of a spreadsheet-based library collection development formula to allocate funds for library resources to academic departments or programs. The session guided attendees through the process of creating an allocation formula similar to the one used at ASU, providing tools attendees could use to develop a formula for use at their own libraries. Central to the formula are several weighted factors, including the number of degrees awarded, semester credit hour production, graduate enrollment, and the average costs of books and journals in each discipline. During the program Bailey and Creibaum explained how the basic formula can be individualized for use in a variety of libraries to help better manage their financial resources.

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