Rominna Villasenor Interview

2010 interview with writer, performer, visual artist Rominna Villasenor by Jamelle Apolina

Legislating Preemption

Federal preemption is perhaps the most important public law issueof the day. The stakes in preemption cases are enormous, as preemption determines whether the federal government or the statescontrol regulatory policy in a host of politically controversial contexts. Congress clearly has primary constitutional authority insetting federal preemption policy, but, for numerous political and practical reasons, cannot be solely responsible for its implementation.Determining which organ of the federal government is best at implementing preemption policy has therefore become the central preoccupation of the academic literature. While this comparative institutional analysis is certainly important in allocating preemptionpolicy-making business, it has elided a very important issue: Congress has an interest not only in what substantive preemption policy should be, but also in who should be primarily responsible for implementing it. In other words, there is a strategic delegation choiceto be made by Congress for which current institutional choice approaches to preemption do not fully account. This Article addresses the delegation issue by providing a framework for how Congress should be “legislating preemption.” It identifies two previously overlooked challenges posed by delegating preemption implementation responsibility to the federal courts instead of to federal agencies. First, Congress has only weak policing tools when it delegates to federal courts, and therefore has little opportunity to correct the judiciary when it strays from Congress’s preemption policy preferences. Second, in its preemption jurisprudence, the Supreme Court has adopted what this Article terms a Centralization Default, which leads it to generally disfavor anti-preemption arguments when Congress does not provide clear instructions to the contrary. The Article then proposes that Congress respond to these challenges by drafting broad standards and creating favorable legislative history when preemption policy coincides with the Centralization Default. By contrast, Congress should draft clear rules when it wants to overcome the Centralization Default. After developing the “legislating preemption” framework, the Article uses the Dodd-Frank Act’s national bank preemption provisions to illustrate what happens when Congress does not apply the framework. As the Article shows, Congress’s failure to account for its weak post-delegation policing tools or the Centralization Default will likely lead to more federal preemption than Congress intended

Principals as Facilitators of Professional Development with Teachers as Adult Learners

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of teachers receiving professional development designed to enhance teacher’s understanding and instructional use of curriculum from principals in an elementary school setting. Further, this mixed methods study examined competencies of principals in creating the conditions for learning in professional development designed to enhance teachers understanding and instructional use of curriculum by answering the following questions: How do Elementary school principals understand and apply the principles of adult learning in professional development designed to enhance elementary teachers’ understanding and instructional use of curriculum? What is the experience of elementary teachers receiving professional development, designed to enhance teachers’ understanding and instructional use of curriculum, from principals in an elementary school setting? What is the experience of the elementary teachers’ change after receiving professional development, designed to enhance teachers’ understanding and instructional use of curriculum, from principals in an elementary school setting? The participants for this study consisted of two primary groups, (1) elementary public school teachers and (2) elementary public school principals. To satisfy the quantitative portion of this study, participants completed a demographic questionnaire and the Modified Instructional Perspectives Inventory (MIPI). Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. To satisfy the qualitative portion of this study, a sub-sample inclusive of 8 teachers and 4 principals were identified to participate in one semi-structured interview per participant. In addition, principals completed one observation. Analysis of the quantitative data revealed that principals are perceived as average as it relates to their understanding and application of adult learning principles in professional development designed to enhance teachers’ understanding and use of curriculum. Further a line-by-line analysis of the qualitative data identified five primary themes as they relate to principals as facilitators of curriculum related professional development and adult learning principles. The themes include: (a) principal’s leadership qualities, (b) planning and implementing professional development, (c) climate, (d) instructional activities and strategies, and (e) accountability measures

Fishing and Fish Consumption Patterns in the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Population

The Gullah/Geechee (G/G) people are descendants of West African slaves who remained in seclusion on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida until the end of the Civil War in 1865. In addition to retaining their unique cultural language, they also remain largely a fishing subsistence population. Decades of urban development have reduced the G/G population\u27s access to traditional fishing locations and have increased exposures to environmental contaminants in some bodies of water that are frequently fished by the G/G. Approximately 98.4% of SC rivers and streams and 77.6% of lakes have been assessed for aquatic use support (including consumption safety) regarding impacts of Hg to water bodies; and 100% of bays and estuaries have been assessed for aquatic life use support. Fish advisories have been placed on 63 of the water bodies that serve as dietary fish sources in Beaufort, Charleston, and Colleton counties (the study area), but it is currently unclear whether these fish species are the most commonly consumed, in large quantities by the Gullah population. This study explored fishing and fish consumption patterns, how these patterns influenced methylmercury (MeHg) exposure levels, and the awareness of fish advisories in the South Carolina G/G population. The study also tested the null hypothesis that there was no statistical difference between the estimated exposures to MeHg in the African American (AA) Sea Island population and the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey MeHg exposures reported for the general U.S. population. This study was the first to explore motivations for fishing and fish consumption choices of the G/G and AA Sea Island population. This body of work provides insight into fishing and fish consumption patterns, levels of awareness regarding fish consumption advisories, and estimated exposures to MeHg in the G/G population that add to the knowledge on fishing subsistence patterns in this population. Since confusion between fish advisories and fishing regulations was consistent, particularly in rural areas, education is needed to better inform G/G and AA Sea Island communities about fish and seafood that could potentially expose them to elevated levels of MeHg. Providing clear and culturally tailored health messages regarding existing fish advisories will allow the population to make informed choices about fish consumption that will minimize potential exposures to MeHg. Health messages should clearly delineate the scope of fishing regulations from fish consumption advisories. A G/G/AA mercury risk model was developed to guide fish consumption patterns in the SC Sea Islands

2010 AAPP Monograph Series: African American Professors Program

The African American Professors Program (AAPP) at the University of South Carolina is proud to publish the tenth edition of its annual monograph series. The program recognizes the significance of offering its scholars a venue to engage actively in research and to publish papers related thereto. Parallel with the publication of their refereed manuscripts is the opportunity to gain visibility among scholars throughout institutions in international settings. Scholars who have contributed papers for this monograph are to be commended for recognizing the value of including this responsibility within their academic milieu. Writing across disciplines adds to the intellectual diversity of these papers. From neophytes, relatively speaking, to an array of very experienced individuals, the chapters have been researched and comprehensively written. Founded in 1997 through the Department of Educational Leadership and Policies in the College of Education, AAPP was designed to address the under-representation of African American professors on college and university campuses. Its mission is to expand the pool of these professors in critical academic and research areas. Sponsored by the University of South Carolina, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the South Carolina General Assembly, the program recruits doctoral students for disciplines in which African Americans currently are underrepresented among faculty in higher education. The continuation of this monograph series is seen as responding to a window of opportunity to be sensitive to an academic expectation of graduates as they pursue career placement and, at the same time, one that allows for the dissemination of products of scholarship to a broader community. The importance of this monograph series has been voiced by one of our 2002 AAPP graduates, Dr. Shundele LaTjuan Dogan, formerly an Administrative Fellow at Harvard University, a Program Officer for the Southern Education Foundation, and a Program Officer for the Arthur M. Blank Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia. She is currently a Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs Manager for IBM-International Business Machines in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Dogan wrote: One thing in particular that I want to thank you for is having the African American Professors Program scholars publish articles for the monograph. I have to admit that writing the articles seemed like extra work at the time. However, in my recent interview process, organizations have asked me for samples of my writing. Including an article from a published monograph helped to make my portfolio much more impressive. You were \u27right on target\u27 in having us do the monograph series. (AAPP 2003 Monograph, p. x) The African American Professors Program continues its tradition as a promoter of scholarship in higher education as evidenced through the inspiration from this group of interdisciplinary manuscripts. I hope that you will accept these published papers as serving an invaluable contribution to your own professional and career development. John McFadden, Ph.D. The Benjamin Elijah Mays Distinguished Professor Emeritus Director, African American Professors Program University of South Carolinahttps://scholarcommons.sc.edu/mcfadden_monographs/1001/thumbnail.jp

Image-guided Placement of Magnetic Neuroparticles as a Potential High-Resolution Brain-Machine Interface

We are developing methods of noninvasively delivering magnetic neuroparticles™ via intranasal administration followed by image-guided magnetic propulsion to selected locations in the brain. Once placed, the particles can activate neurons via vibrational motion or magnetoelectric stimulation. Similar particles might be used to read out neuronal electrical pulses via spintronic or liquid-crystal magnetic interactions, for fast bidirectional brain-machine interface. We have shown that particles containing liquid crystals can be read out with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using embedded magnetic nanoparticles and that the signal is visible even for voltages comparable to physiological characteristics. Such particles can be moved within the brain (e.g., across midline) without causing changes to neurological firing

Improving ecosystem health in highly altered river basins: a generalized framework and its application to the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin

Continued large-scale public investment in declining ecosystems depends on demonstrations of “success”. While the public conception of “success” often focuses on restoration to a pre-disturbance condition, the scientific community is more likely to measure success in terms of improved ecosystem health. Using a combination of literature review, workshops and expert solicitation we propose a generalized framework to improve ecosystem health in highly altered river basins by reducing ecosystem stressors, enhancing ecosystem processes and increasing ecosystem resilience. We illustrate the use of this framework in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) of the central United States (U.S.), by (i) identifying key stressors related to human activities, and (ii) creating a conceptual ecosystem model relating those stressors to effects on ecosystem structure and processes. As a result of our analysis, we identify a set of landscape-level indicators of ecosystem health, emphasizing leading indicators of stressor removal (e.g., reduced anthropogenic nutrient inputs), increased ecosystem function (e.g., increased water storage in the landscape) and increased resilience (e.g., changes in the percentage of perennial vegetative cover). We suggest that by including these indicators, along with lagging indicators such as direct measurements of water quality, stakeholders will be better able to assess the effectiveness of management actions. For example, if both leading and lagging indicators show improvement over time, then management actions are on track to attain desired ecosystem condition. If, however, leading indicators are not improving or even declining, then fundamental challenges to ecosystem health remain to be addressed and failure to address these will ultimately lead to declines in lagging indicators such as water quality. Although our model and indicators are specific to the MARB, we believe that the generalized framework and the process of model and indicator development will be valuable in an array of altered river basins

Interview with Nathan

Nathan, active member of the Air Force Reserve, is interviewed by JCCC student Jamelle Blunt about his experience as an American Indian in the military