News
Couple creates scholarship to honor legacy of longtime chemistry professor
11/16/21
Jay-lin Jane-Topel, MS ’78, and her husband, David Topel, have established a new endowed scholarship to honor the life of a beloved Texas Woman's chemistry professor.
The Dr. James Johnson Scholarship Endowment in Chemistry has been created to honor the memory of the longtime educator. Johnson attended the University of Minnesota for his undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemistry and received his doctoral degree in organic chemistry from the University of Missouri. He taught for more than 40 years in higher education, retiring as professor of organic chemistry at Texas Woman's in May 2019. He passed away July 5, 2019.
Dr. Jonathan Olsen discusses Angela Merkel's impact on a united Germany with AICGS
10/21/21
"As Germany’s first Chancellor from the former GDR, how has she bridged the gaps between east and west and furthered unification in a country that was divided for forty years?" the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) at Johns Hopkins University asked in a recent retrospective of Merkel's tenure and legacy as Chancellor.
"Angela Merkel’s contribution to German unity is ambiguous," Dr. Jonathan Olsen, professor and chair of the TWU Department of Social Sciences and Historical Studies, said. "On the one hand, as the first (and so far only) chancellor from the east, her symbolic stature is unquestionable, as is her role in advocating policies that have closed some of the economic, political, and social gaps between the east and west. On the other hand, considerable differences—from wages and wealth to social and political attitudes—have stubbornly persisted between the two halves of Germany.
Ratonia Runnels featured in Scientific American's 'Social Capital in Black Communities is Often Overlooked'
10/20/21
“'As a young student, I learned early on that social work was a secular field and that people who have a strong faith background almost have to be prepared to tuck it in their pocket,' says Ratonia Runnels, an assistant professor of social work at Texas Woman’s University, who nonetheless studies how religion might be integrated into social work.
In 2011 Runnels published a study looking at how Black survivors of Hurricane Katrina used spirituality and religion to cope."
Dr. Lisa Rosen talks bullying risk factors, prevention in WalletHub's "Ask the Experts"
10/18/21
"When thinking about cyberbullying, it is important to remember that parenting is just one factor in a larger constellation of influences and that it might not always be possible to protect children from bullying," Associate Professor and Undergraduate Psychology Program Director Lisa H. Rosen, PhD, said in a recent edition of WalletHub's "Ask the Experts" series. "Cyberbullying is especially tricky for parents because children might go to great lengths to hide experiences of cyber victimization, especially if they fear parents may take away the technology they so crave when they learn about cyber victimization experiences."
ESFL major Alexandra Welker awarded EWL scholarship, mentoring
10/18/21
Undergraduate English major Alexandra Welker was recently awarded a $1,000 STAR scholarship by Empowering Women as Leaders (EWL). The scholarship includes mentorship opportunities through the EWL member network.