Open Access for All: Uniting a University Community

Open Access is not just the distribution of journal articles and scholarly information that’s free of barriers. It’s an issue of income inequality, paywalls, supplemental course material, and research impact beyond the university. Open Access has not been thoroughly discussed throughout all members of the university. This project takes a look at the conversations going on at the university levels through the perspectives of students, teaching faculty, and library faculty. Through this research, it became apparent that the value of Open Access advocacy is multifaceted, interdisciplinary and benefits from advocacy across all levels of the university. This essay is broken up into two sections. The first is a collection of talking points, used for advocacy across audiences, while the second is an analysis of those points using scholarly articles. These advocacy points are to be used to facilitate conversation throughout members of the university to promote Open Access policy

Nuclear fusion during yeast mating occurs by a three-step pathway

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mating culminates in nuclear fusion to produce a diploid zygote. Two models for nuclear fusion have been proposed: a one-step model in which the outer and inner nuclear membranes and the spindle pole bodies (SPBs) fuse simultaneously and a three-step model in which the three events occur separately. To differentiate between these models, we used electron tomography and time-lapse light microscopy of early stage wild-type zygotes. We observe two distinct SPBs in ∼80% of zygotes that contain fused nuclei, whereas we only see fused or partially fused SPBs in zygotes in which the site of nuclear envelope (NE) fusion is already dilated. This demonstrates that SPB fusion occurs after NE fusion. Time-lapse microscopy of zygotes containing fluorescent protein tags that localize to either the NE lumen or the nucleoplasm demonstrates that outer membrane fusion precedes inner membrane fusion. We conclude that nuclear fusion occurs by a three-step pathway

Development of a resource guide to help patients receive appropriate care

After 10 years researching physician wrongdoing (i.e., sexual violations, improper prescribing, and unnecessary procedures), we developed a resource guide to help patients receive appropriate care and respond to inappropriate care. We gathered evaluative patient feedback, engaged physicians, and disseminated the guide. It is available at beforeyourvisit.org

Report of 2018-2019 Open Educational Resources & Affordable Course Materials Task Force

The University Academic Senate charged the OER/ACM Task Force to: Explore current GVSU practices involving course material decisions. Recommend strategies to recognize existing OER/ACM use by GVSU faculty. Recommend strategies to increase use of existing OER/ACM services and support. Recommend new initiatives or support to increase OER/ACM adoption by GVSU faculty. This report fulfills these charges, providing information on the context of textbook usage at GVSU and delivering recommendations and possibilities for expanded OER/ACM support

Assessing an Academic Library Mentoring Program

Considering the importance of mentoring not only for early career librarians but for librarians throughout their career, this presentation provides insights about the University of North Texas Libraries' mentoring program goals and detail analysis of assessment and evaluation methods

Assessing the Success of a Mentoring Program for Academic Librarians

Presentation for the 2018 Library Assessment Conference. This presentation describes the assessment of a mentoring program at an academic library

Mixed-Methods Assessment of a Mentoring Program

This article describes how a large academic library's continuous cycle of mixed-methods assessment contributes to the success of their mentoring program. Assessment instruments include the Mentoring Competencies Assessment, the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, a satisfaction survey and a focus group

Effects of personal characteristics on serum CA125, mesothelin, and HE4 levels in healthy postmenopausal women at high-risk for ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if serum levels of candidate ovarian cancer biomarkers vary with individual characteristics of healthy women who are likely candidates for an ovarian cancer screening program. METHODS: We analyzed serum CA125, mesothelin, and HE4 levels in a sample of 155 healthy postmenopausal women at increased risk for developing ovarian cancer based on personal and family cancer history. Information on reproductive, family and medical histories, lifestyle factors, and anthropometry was collected by self-report. Twenty-two factors were examined using univariate and multiple linear regression models for the three biomarker levels. RESULTS: In the multivariate models, CA125 levels were significantly higher in women who had used talcum powder (P = 0.02) and were lower in women who were parous (P = 0.05). Mesothelin levels were significantly higher in older women (P = 0.01) and lower in heavier women (P = 0.03). HE4 levels were higher in older women (P = 0.001) and in women who began menstruating at an older age (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: CA125, mesothelin, and HE4 levels in healthy, postmenopausal women at increased risk for ovarian cancer are significantly associated with a few ovarian cancer risk factors. Since the effects of these personal characteristics on these serum markers are not large, their incorporation in screening algorithms may be unnecessary. This is true especially if a longitudinal algorithm is used because the marker level at the previous screen reflects personal characteristics such as age, body mass index, and age of menarche. Understanding the influence of personal factors on levels of novel early detection markers in healthy, unaffected women may have clinical utility in interpreting biomarker levels