Sharon Shanks
Planetarium
Lecturer
Ward Beecher Planetarium
Youngstown
State University |
Executive Editor
Planetarian
Professional Journal of the International
Planetarium Society
June 2006 - present
|
E-mail:
slshanks -at - ysu.edu or
sharon.shanks -at-
gmail.com
Education
Youngstown State University, BA in English, June 1978
Magna Cum Laude
Additional Education
Youngstown State University
Graduate education workshops in Force and Motion by Inquiry (99),
Teaching
Electricity & Magnetism (98), Teaching Optics (97)
Ball State University - Graduate course on Planetarium
Operations,
summer 1998 and summer 2006
University of Chicago Center for Cosmological Physics -
Short
Course on Origin and Structure in the Universe, September 2003
Digital Institute, Spitz Inc., August 2006
Grants
NASA Ideas Grant, $49,000, to produce the planetarium
program A Briefer History of Time: From the Big Bang to the Big Mac,
2006
Youngstown Community Foundation, $2,000 on behalf of the
Mahoning Cultural Collaborative, to print and distribute a field trip
guide, 2006
Memberships
Great Lakes Planetarium Association
Mid-Atlantic Planetarium Society
International Planetarium Society
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
National Science Teachers Association
Awards/Honors
JPL
Solar System Ambassador - May 1999 - present
YSU Distinguished Service Award, 2000 and 2005
Included in the book Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final
Frontier
by Laura S. Woodmansee, Apogee Books, 2003
Named a Fellow of the Great Lakes Planetarium Association, 2007
Publications: Other
"Retying the Thread Between Astronomy and Mythology" at 33rd annual
conference of the Great Lakes Planetarium Association, Cleveland,
October
1997; published in conference proceedings
"Around the Universe" column for the Kidzette section in
Mahoning
Valley Parent, 1994 - 2006
"The Cosmos" - weekly astronomy
column
in the Youngstown
Vindicator, January 1996 - January 2002
"The
Star Lady" - weekly astronomy column in the
Morning Journal,
2002 - 2005
Presentations
“From Hubble to Hubble” at QUEST, YSU, April 1998
“Using the Planetarium as a Teaching Tool,” fall meeting of the Ohio
Section-American Association of Physics Teachers, YSU, October
1998
"Walter Haas' New Waterford" and "Solar System Exploration Update"
at the annual conference of the Association of Lunar and Planetary
Observers,
Boardman, August 2003
"When Facilities Collaborate, EPO Wins" at the Astronomical Society of
the Pacific's national conference Engaging the EPO Community: Best
Bractices, New Approaches, Baltimore, September 2006
Workshops Presented
Teaching Space, NEOEA Workshop, October 2003
Star School, National Association for Interpretation, March 2008
University/Community Professional
Service
Astronomy instructor for Honors Institute (formerly Governor’s
Institute),
1998-2007
Member, Mahoning Cultural Collaborative
