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COM Outlook . Spring 2014
NSU
OVERVIEW
Dental Medicine Dean
Elected as Delegate to National
Science Organization
Linda Niessen, D.M.D., M.P.H.,
M.P.P.
, dean of the College of Den-
tal Medicine, was recently elected as
a council delegate representing the
Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences
Section of the American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) for a three-year term.
The AAAS, which is an interna-
tional nonprofit organization dedicated
to advancing science for the benefit of all people, seeks to advance sci-
ence, engineering, and innovation throughout the world and publishes
the journal
Science
. The council considers matters relating to disciplinary
section business and the organizational bylaws.
“It is truly an honor to be appointed to represent the field of dentistry
and Nova Southeastern University in this major scientific organization,”
said Dr. Niessen. “I look forward to working with my peers from through-
out the country to advance our profession and support research and dis-
coveries that will ultimately benefit patients throughout the globe.”
Kamryn Blackwood Named
Miss New Mexico USA
NSU senior
Kamryn Blackwood
, a standout student and player on
the university’s tennis team, was named Miss New Mexico USA and will
compete in the 2014 Miss USA Pageant, which is slated to be nationally
broadcast on NBC on June 16. Blackwood was also selected as Miss
Congeniality by her peers. In 2013, Blackwood spent the summer in
Kenya with the organization Houses for Hope, where she helped build
houses, churches, and schools.
This accomplishment was years in the making and started at home
while watching the pageant with her father before her junior season. “It
looked fun, and I thought it was something I could do,” said Blackwood.
“My father urged me to think about it when I went back to school and
see if it’s something I really wanted. When I came back home, I decided
it was something I wanted to do. When we started, I immediately fell in
love with it.”
NSU’s Chief Information Officer
Named as one the Country’s
Top 100 in the Field
Tom West, M.B.A.
, was recently
named as one of this country’s top
100 chief information officers (CIOs)
by IDG Enterprise. West, who serves
as NSU’s vice president of information
technology, joins others from across
the country in being recognized in the
Premier 100 Awards Program.
The Premier 100 Awards Program
honors those CIOs who explore new
and innovative ways to incorporate technology to drive business results.
West was honored as someone whose work has had a positive effect
on NSU. In his role, he provides the university with the technological re-
sources to support teaching, learning, and research.
“Providing an information technology foundation for a large and com-
plex university like Nova Southeastern University can be a very daunting
task indeed,” said NSU President George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D. “Tom has
provided a clear vision that has helped meet NSU’s goal of providing
state-of-the-art technology for its students, faculty, and staff. He’s very
deserving of this recognition.”
