Bond, Poland Honored with Awards

Fairmont State University recently honored Sharon Bond and Dr. Jeffrey Poland with Faculty Recognition Awards.

The awards were presented during a reception Thursday, March 29, in the Ruth Ann Musick Library. The Faculty Development Committee selects outstanding faculty members each year to receive the Faculty Recognition Awards. The winners are selected because of their clear commitment to continuing development in their fields and service to their community.

"In recognizing these two faculty members, we celebrate commitment to the art of teaching and a passion for learning," said Dr. Daniel Bradley, FSU President. "As educators, we are dedicated to making sure our students learn and grow. At the same time, we are constantly searching for ways to continue our own learning and growth "“ as individuals, as scholars and as teachers."

Sharon Bond

Sharon Bond graduated from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. After moving to Nashville, Tenn., she received a master's degree in Psychology from Tennessee State University. A move to Mississippi meant another degree, a Master's in Nursing. Seeking to escape the mosquitoes in the Mississippi Delta, she attended the University of Alabama in Birmingham, where she has completed course work for a Doctor of Nursing Science.

Bond has been employed at FSU since 1994. Until 2004, she taught in the Associate Degree Program, teaching a variety of courses including Medical-Surgical Nursing, LPN Transition, Psychiatric Nursing and Trends in Nursing. In 2004 she was invited to join Mary Meighen in the Baccalaureate Program in Nursing. In the fall semester of 2006, having received a grant, she and three other professors, Carolyn Crisplip-Tacy, Pam Huggins and Ann Shaver, presented a course titled "Obesity: A Nation at Risk."

The emphasis of Bond's research has been in the area of body image. Her master's thesis in nursing focused on the effect of touch on the body image of the new ostomate client. The focus of research for the doctoral dissertation was her other passion, geriatrics, and was titled, "The Meaning of Body Image to the Well Elderly Woman." Her findings demonstrated that older women like themselves far more than the public might expect. It was obvious that the body no longer had significance to them as a cultural object but had become an integral part of their very positive self-concept.

She has been married to Dr. Martin Bond for 42 years. They live in Fairmont with one cat and two dogs. The Bonds met while attending a dance at the University of New Mexico and continue to "trip the light fantastic" as often as possible.

Dr. Jeffrey Poland

Dr. Jeffrey Poland is Professor of Music, Music Department Coordinator and Director of Choral Activities at FSU. He joined the faculty in 1988 following 11 years teaching high school choral music in Ohio, New York and New Jersey. Poland conducts the Fairmont State Collegiate Singers and Chamber Choir, teaches studio voice and voice class, choral methods and beginning and advanced conducting. He served the School of Fine Arts as Acting Chair during the 1996 fall semester. He has served 14 years in the Faculty Senate, on the Senate Executive Committee for seven years, and was elected Senate Vice-President for four years. He has been appointed to various other school and university committees.

In February 2000, Poland founded an auditioned community choir, The Marion Chorale. Since that time, the semi-professional Chorale has performed numerous concerts in Marion County and has demonstrated a high level of musical accomplishment, both in repertoire and performance. The Chorale has been invited twice to perform for state conventions of the West Virginia chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. Poland was also the Director of Music at the First United Methodist Church in Fairmont for 10 years.

Poland is a Past President of the West Virginia Choral Directors Association,
1997-99, and is currently the President-Elect for another two-year term. During the 1998-99 academic year, he was honored to serve the American Choral Directors Association as International Choirs Coordinator for the national convention in Chicago. He has hosted and adjudicated auditions for the WVACDA All-State High School Chamber Choir since the choir was founded. Poland has published articles in the WVACDA Choral Edition, the national ACDA Choral Journal and the American Choral Review. His professional memberships include the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, College Music Society and the honoraries Omicron Delta Kappa and Pi Kappa Lambda.

Poland received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Baldwin-Wallace College, a Master of Music in choral conducting from The Ohio State University and a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He held graduate assistantships in both masters and doctoral degree programs, working with Maurice Casey, Elmer Thomas, John Leman and Earl Rivers. He conducted the University of Cincinnati Women’s Chorus for two years and served as assistant conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus, the resident choir of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Poland has done additional choral study in performances at Westminster Choir College and the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshops in New York City conducted by the late Robert Shaw.

Poland lives in Fairmont with his wife Alison, who is an elementary school music teacher in Marion County. They have three grown children currently living in Virginia, Michigan and Florida.