La Salle award
Pottsville native Thomas Blum, Ph.D., an associate professor of mathematics and computer science at La Salle University, Philadelphia, was named the recipient of the 2013 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teacher at the university's recent commencement ceremony.
The award, created through a grant from the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, has been awarded annually to a full-time faculty member since 1961. Faculty members and graduate and undergraduate students nominate professors, and the recipient is selected by a committee comprised of faculty, student body and administration representatives.
Blum, who has taught at La Salle since 1998, teaches physics and physics labs and computer science courses, including computing and problem solving, Java, database and management systems, visual basic programming, communication networks and cooperative processes, computer architecture and hardware and client support systems.
A Pottsville Area High School graduate, Blum graduated from La Salle in 1985, summa cum laude, with a degree in physics. He earned his master's and Ph.D. in physics at the University of Rochester. He completed post-doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Manchester in England and the University of Virginia.
Academy courses
Jason Jones, a teacher at Nativity BVM High School, was one of 24 teachers nationwide who attended the 20th annual session of the Maury Project Workshop offered by the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., from July 8 through 19.
The Maury Project is designed to give science teachers and science supervisors an in-depth study of various oceanographic and meteorological subjects including waves, tides, density and wind-driven oceanographic circulations and ocean-atmosphere interactions. It equips teachers with training and teaching materials that can be used in the classroom.
The teachers participated in lectures, tutorials, research cruises, hands-on laboratory exercises and field trips.
Space education
Trinity Academy, Shenandoah, teacher Michael Kowker, Frackville, recently joined teachers from around the world in June at the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program.
Honeywell announced 210 scholarships to teachers from 27 countries and 42 states to attend its simulated astronaut training and professional development program at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Kowker participated in 45 hours of professional development, as well as an intensive educator curriculum focused on space science and exploration. Each teacher underwent simulated astronaut training including high-performance jet simulation, scenario-based space mission, land and water survival training and interactive flight dynamics programs.
Cover girl
Happy, Healthy & Thriving is the cover story in the 2013 summer issue of Humana Active Outlook Magazine, a quarterly publication with a circulation of 2.1 million. It features author, speaker and columnist Ellen Wood, Questa, N.M., who teaches people how to grow younger.
The magazine editors look for someone to feature who can serve as a role model and example of healthy living past 50. Wood, who was born and raised in Pottsville, fit the bill.
Wood's parents were Nicholas and Anna Bilansky, who lived in the Yorkville section of Pottsville, and her classmates knew her as Eleanor Bilansky, a 1954 graduate of Pottsville High School.
Not long after watching her mother succumb to Alzheimer's, she noticed the early symptoms of the disease affecting her own cognition and memory. Wood turned her life around when, in 2004 at age 67, she decided to grow younger. She began to apply what she'd learned during years of study and training in mind/spirit dynamics, and started re-searching what science, medicine and esoteric traditions offered on healthy aging for the body as well. Soon an entire program evolved.
"These practices worked and are still working!" Wood said and offers herself as living proof. "I want everyone to realize it's possible to grow younger and live with joy, energy and vitality into their 80s, 90s and beyond. ⦠I'm just delighted to be a cover girl, and actually really thrilled that my message about growing younger is reaching a wider audience."
Wood's first book, "Think and Grow Young," won the Gold Nautilus Book Award in the audio book category. She is working with a literary agent and plans to have her second book, "Rejuvenate Your Life!", published next year.