NDLTD ETD Awards - 2009 Winners
The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) consortium is pleased to announce this year's award winners. The awards recognize students who have written exemplary electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). These ETDs demonstrate new dimensions of scholarship being explored by individuals who have made significant contributions to the worldwide ETD movement.
The Awards Program includes several categories of appreciation. The Innovative ETD Award recognizes student efforts to transform the genre of the print dissertation through the use of innovative software to create cutting edge ETDs. Use of renderings, photos, video and other multimedia objects that are included in the electronic document were considered as part of the innovation of the work. The Innovative Learning through ETDs Award recognizes a student whose professional life has been enhanced by the ETD process. Finally, the ETD Leadership Award recognizes members of the university community whose leadership and vision has helped raise awareness of the benefits of ETDs, and whose efforts have improved graduate education through the use of ETDs. The awards will be presented at the ETD 2009 Symposium, to be held this year at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 10 – 13 June 2009. http://www.library.pitt.edu/etd2009/
ETD Award Winners
Innovative ETD
Raquel Gutierrez / “Life-Affirming Leadership: An Inquiry into the Culture of Social Justice.” Ph.D., Leadership and Change, Antioch University, 2008
URL: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1226609058
Lara Fackrell / “Equestrian communities: design features and development process.” Master of Landscape Architecture; Kansas State University, 2008
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2097/792
Kelly C. Barkhurst / “Design Taking Action: A holistic approach to design problem solving applied to disease education.” Master of Fine Arts, College of Creative Arts, West Virginia University, 2008
URL: https://eidr.wvu.edu/etd/documentdata.eTD?documentid=6003
Innovative Learning Through ETDs
Shirley Stewart Burns / Ph.D. History, West Virginia University
Shirley’s ETD, "Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities”, has allowed her to accomplish her goal of raising the public consciousness and discourse about mountain top removal. She was able to reach a world-wide audience almost instantaneously, resulting in publication of a book that is now in use in the K-12 and higher education curriculum. A press release about her success is available at http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/news/page/6644/. Her dissertation is available at http://hdl.handle.net/10450/4047
Jeffrey Cougler / Master of Fine Arts, Computer Graphics Design, Rochester Institute of Technology
Jeffrey’s thesis project, titled “ASL Finger Challenge, is an online interactive, instructional application for improving finger spelling reception when using American Sign Language. The significance of his work and its applicability to finger spelling in other languages was recognized and rewarded with a Fulbright Scholarship to Italy. From January through July 2007, Jeffrey conducted research in Rome, Italy, where he created an additional fingerspelling reception module using the Language of Italian Signs.
ETD Leadership
Thomas Dowling, Assistant Director, Library Systems, Client/Server, OhioLink, Columbus, OH, U.S.A.
Thomas has led the way in the adoption of electronic theses and dissertations in Ohio by creating and managing OhioLINK’s Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, a consortium of 88 universities and colleges. OhioLink serves as a model for digital library consortia networks, and is the first ETD consortium established in the world. The OhioLink Web site is available at http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/.
John H. Hagen, Manager, Institutional Repository Programs and Coordinator, Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Program at the West Virginia University (WVU) Libraries, Morgantown, WV, U.S.A.
Over the past decade, John’s commitment to ETDs at WVU has resulted in a program that serves as a model for many other universities. John has led regional and international workshops for the NDLTD, and he has hosted many visitors who come to WVU to learn about the ETD program. John has become recognized internationally for his ETD implementation and open access advocacy. More information about John is available at http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/theses/index_JH.htm.
April 13, 2009
Christine Jewell, NDLTD Board Member and Awards Committee Chair