Asghar Zomorrodian, Ph.D.

Due to his expertise in areas of public administration and management, Asghar Zomorrodian was appointed by The Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), to the 2010-11 Peer Review Committee for the Fulbright Specialist Program. With his selection, he joins the ranks of distinguished scholars and professionals worldwide who are leaders in the educational, political, and social lives of their countries. Dr. Zomorrodian has also been appointed as a member of the International Scientific Committee of Academic Public Administrative Studies Archive (APAS).  APAS is designated to collect, archive, and disseminate scientific papers focused on public administration.

In 2010, Dr. Zomorrodian acted as track chair for Emerging Trends in Management: Creativity and Innovation for the 17th Annual Conference of American Society of Business  & Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS).  Dr. Zomorrodian’s paper, Program Evaluation: Its Significance and Priority for Shaping and Modification of Public Policies: A Comparative Analysis, co-authored with Lucia Matei of Romania, was selected as the best paper by a track chair of the ASBBS.

Kyle Patrick Williams

Kyle Williams is currently serving as the AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) Leader for the Kentucky Campus Compact project at Northern Kentucky University, where he has integrated his Master’s research into his role. William’s research study, “Strengthening Citizenship through Service Learning in Kentucky Higher Education,” will poll student attitudes about citizenship and service learning and determine how programs designed to strengthen citizenship through service learning could be integrated into course curriculum. The population for the online study will be post-secondary students at member institutions of the Kentucky Campus Compact, which are colleges and universities seeking to connect with their surrounding communities. Williams hopes to propose a program design that can be replicated at other universities across the U.S. by AmeriCorps VISTA members.

Michael Horowitz

In preparation for his final document, Michael Horowitz is questioning the manner in which homes are being rated by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and other internationally-recognized green building certification systems. Can they truly be rating sustainable building and development practices when the size of the building in relation to the number of occupants does not seem to be a significant part of their calculations? Horowitz explains the problem, “Overall, size is one of the most significant contributing factors to the resource efficiency, and therefore the environmental impact of a home. In short, it is possible to save more energy by reductions in size, than by increases in the quality of energy efficient construction.” Horowitz will be using sustainability as a lens through which to view policy, leadership, design and management as they relate to green building. Through his research he intends to highlight how the current green building certification systems contains a socioeconomic bias towards larger homes with “nifty green features,” AKA "Green McMansions.” He plans to propose alternative ways of measurement that take sustainability into account.