April 30, 2008

Kudos to All!

Awards and accomplishments of OWU faculty and staff members…

Kelly Adamson ’00, associate chaplain for mission and vocation, became certified through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops by way of the Catholic Campus Ministry (CCMA), a professional association for Catholic campus ministers. Certification measures a person’s compliance with CCMA’s competency-based Standards for Campus Ministers. Through a process of self-evaluation, reflection, prayer, and peer assessment, the campus minister demonstrates his or her competency in personal, theological, and professional areas. Moreover, the campus minister is expected to demonstrate his or her acceptance of CCMA’s Code of Ethics. CCMA’s standards and procedures for certifying Catholic campus ministers are approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Commission on Certification and Accreditation.

Julian J. Arribas, assistant professor of modern foreign languages, edited the first critical, variorum edition of El pastor de Filida, by Luis Galvez Montalvo (Madrid, 1582). This recently published edition resolves all prior textual problems and offers a definitive text upon which critics and scholars may base their studies. The exhaustive critical apparatus and abundant footnotes facilitate the interpretation of this pastoral romance, one of the pastoral genre’s most important contributions to the development of 16th-century Spanish narrative. The importance of El pastor de Filida was recognized long ago. Cervantes pays tribute to it in the famous inspection of Don Quijote’s library, and it was praised as well by poets and scholars such as Lope de Vega, Vicente Espinel, Pedro Lainez, Lopez Maldonado, Tamayo de Vargas, and Nicolas Antonio.

Harry P. Bahrick, research professor of psychology, Lynda K. Hall, psychology professor, and L. DaCosta published an article entitled “Fifty years of memory of college grades: accuracy and distortions,” in the journal Emotion. 8, 13-22.

Jed Burtt, professor of zoology, recently co-authored a paper scheduled for release in May with Dutch colleagues: J. Reneerkens, M.A. Versteegh,* A.M. Schneider,* T. Piersma, and E.H. Burtt, Jr., 2008. “Seasonally changing preen wax composition: Red Knots flexible defense against feather degrading bacteria? Auk 125: (in press).

* Maaike Versteegh did her master’s research in Dr. Burtt’s lab during the fall of 2004 and now is a doctoral candidate at the University of Gronigen in the Netherlands. Amy Schneider graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 2005 and now is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado.

Gene Castelli, resident district manager, Chartwells @ Ohio Wesleyan, recently achieved certification as a Food Management Professional (FMP) through the National Restaurant Association.

Xiaoming Chen, associate professor of history, has published his book From the May Fourth Movement to Communist Revolution: Guo Moruo and the Chinese Path to Communism, State University of New York Press, July 2007.

Amy Downing, associate professor of zoology, (Downing) and co-authors K. DeVanna and C.N. Rubeck-Shurtz (student co-authors), L. Tuhela, and H. Grunkemeyer will have their paper “Community and ecosystem responses to a pulsed pesticide disturbance in freshwater ecosystems” published in Ecotoxicology. In press, online version available.

Erin Flynn, assistant professor of philosophy, has recently written “Identity and Difference in Hegel’s Model of Ethical Normativity,” in Identity and Difference: Studies in Hegel’s Logic, Philosophy of Spirit, and Politics, P.T. Grier, ed., State University of New York Press, 2007.

James Franklin, assistant professor of politics and government, wrote an article entitled “Shame on You: The Impact of Human Rights Criticism on Political Repression in Latin America,” published in International Studies Quarterly in March 2008. Dr. Franklin also has written a second article entitled “Contentious Challenges and Government Responses in Latin America,” that was recently accepted for publication in Political Research Quarterly.

John A. Gatz, professor of zoology, published “Homing ability of displaced stream-dwelling green sunfish.” Journal of Freshwater Ecology, Vol. 22 (3): 403-409, Sept. 2007; “The use of floating overhead cover by warmwater stream fishes.” Hydrobiologia, Vol. 600(1): 307-310.

Robert J. Gitter, professor of economics, and his son, Patrick B. Reagan, co-authored “The Impact of Gaming Facilities on the Income and Employment of American Indians,” for Economics Letters, June 2007. Dr. Gitter explains that gaming increased income among tribal members in all areas and increased employment in rural areas.

Gretchen Hirsch, writer, university communications office, wrote the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Difficult Conversations, released in 2007 by Penguin Group (Alpha Books). The book is about the elements of conversation, how conversations go bad, and what to do about it.

Sean Kay, professor of politics and government and chair of the International Studies program, has been primarily engaged in a new research project funded by and Ohio Wesleyan TEW grant; his research studies the relationship between education and national security. As part of the project , during the summer 2007, Dr. Kay served as a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and conducted interviews at the United States Air Force Academy, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and the University of California-Berkeley. He also conducted archival research at the Eisenhower Library. Dr. Kay continued to give public commentary on his research on counterinsurgency and the war in Afghanistan. In November 2007, he and Lt. Gen. Andrew B. Leslie, current commander of the Canadian army, appeared as panelists at the 53rd General Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association. During the same month, Dr. Kay was a featured speaker at a conference on Afghanistan held at the Munk Center at the University of Toronto. His presentation resulted in media interviews with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Reuters, Voice of America, Agence France Presse¸ and several appearances on the British Broadcasting Corporation and Open Line with Fred Andrle. In March 2008, Dr. Kay chaired and served as a discussant on a panel on counterinsurgency at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association in San Francisco. He also gave local talks on the role of education and national security at Chagrin Falls High School (Cleveland) and the war in Iraq at Bexley High School (Columbus). Dr. Kay also served as a member of the Ohio Wesleyan Presidential Search Committee that recommended the hiring of Rockwell Jones in late 2007, and in 2008, he was appointed by the Delaware City Council as a member of the City of Delaware Charter Review Commission. Since August 2007, Dr. Kay has been working, on his private time, as a volunteer foreign policy expert on NATO, Europe, and Afghanistan issues, advising the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama. With all that said, Dr. Kay continues to say that the highlight of his year was going with his family to as many OWU men’s and women’s basketball games as possible.

Donald Lateiner, professor of humanities-classics, published the following articles: “Contest (AGON) in Thucydides,” in J. Marincola, ed. The Blackwell’s Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography (Oxford 2007) 336-41; “Mothers in Ovid’s Metamorphoses,” Helios 33.2 (2006) 189-201; “Oracles, Religion and Politics in Herodotus’ Histories,” appendix O in R. Strassler, ed. The Landmark Histories of Herodotus (Pantheon 2007) 810-15. In addition, Dr. Lateiner received an OWU TEW grant to present a paper on “Gendered Spaces in Heliodoros’ Aithiopika and Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri” at the Fourth International Conference on the Ancient Novel, Lisbon, 22 July 2008.

James G. Peoples, professor of sociology-anthropology, has published the eighth edition of Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. The textbook is used in cultural anthropology courses taught around the country. Dr. Peoples also has written a chapter in the book Cultural Anthropology, published in Chinese, 2008. The book is used to instruct anthropology students in China about anthropology in western Europe and North America. Dr. Peoples recently was invited to give a presentation about OWU’s collection of Asian art at the annual meeting of ASIANetwork in San Antonio. Ohio Wesleyan was one of two universities invited to present, and OWU’s collection is considered to be among the most significant of 27 colleges whose collections have been reviewed. OWU had earlier received a grant administered by ASIANetwork from the Henry Luce Foundation, to have OWU’s collections of Asian art evaluated. The evaluator, Patricia Graham, found there to be important items, including works of 20th century Japanese women artists. A book outlining results of the evaluation will be published, but click on www.ideasproject.org/collections/coll_as.html to view the Web site containing OWU’s collection. (Scroll down to the search box and enter “Ohio Wesleyan University.”)

Patricio F. Plazolles, program officer in the Woltemade Center, attended and helped sponsor OWU’s Ohio Canadian Studies Roundtable 2008; attended the Redding Symposium, “Changing Landscapes: Climate, Culture and Sovereignity in the Canadian North,” January 2008; and attended the Ohio Canadian Business Dinner, Research in Motion, Ltd. in November 2007. He also wrote an article for ACONTESER, a cultural-business Peruvian magazine, “From the Third … to the First World,” ed. Dimesa S.A. AnoX – No 18 II semester 2007, October 2007.

Timothy Roden, professor of music, has published the following: Ed. “Orchestral Lieder (1815-1890).”  Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2007; “ThomsonNOW for Wright’s ‘Listening to Music’ and “Listening to Western Music.’” Belmont, CA: Thompson/Schirmer, 2007 (on-line study tools); “Instructor’s Resources for Wright’s ‘Listening to Music’ and “Listening to Western Music.’” Belmont, CA: Thompson/Schirmer, 2007. (CD-ROM publication)

– Pam Besel