A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Professor of French Scott Powers
In June 2019, Professor of French Scott Powers assumed the presidency of the Association for Canadian and Quebecois Literatures. After completing a two-year term as Francophone Vice-President, Powers will lead the executive committee in all affairs related to the ALCQ for the next two years, including the organization of its annual conference and the awarding of the annual literary award, the Prix Gabrielle Roy.
Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History Dr. Nabil Al-Tikriti (3rd from left) recently served as an election monitor for the Kazakhstan presidential elections.
Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History Dr. Nabil Al-Tikriti served as an election monitor for the Kazakhstan presidential elections on 4-12 June. Joining 29 other Americans in the U.S. delegation of some 300+ observers total, Al-Tikriti worked as an OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) STO (Short Term Observer) in 8-9 rural villages and the main town in the somewhat remote steppe region around Capaev, in Western Kazakhstan province. His observation partner was a Polish human rights activist, based in Prague. For more information on these Kazakhstan elections, and OSCE’s support of these elections, please see:
https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/kazakhstan/418187
In the course of his visit, Al-Tikriti also spent two days in Uralsk, an oil exploration base in Western Kazakhstan, and two days in the capital Nur Sultan (Astane), where observers carried out preliminary briefings.While in Nur Sultan, he visited Nazarbayev University, the country’s premier higher education facility.
Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History Dr. Nabil Al-Tikriti (2nd from right), recently served as an election monitor for the Kazakhstan presidential elections. Al-Tikriti worked as an OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) STO (Short Term Observer) in 8-9 rural villages and the main town in the somewhat remote steppe region around Capaev.
Kazakhstan’s ruling party, Nur Otan, had nominated Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as its candidate for a snap presidential vote after he was backed by the country’s founding leader, President Nursultan Nazarbayev, following his resignation in March 2019. In the election itself, state election officials awarded Tokayev 70% of the vote, in line with exit polls announced by state media one hour after polls closed.
This is the 14th OSCE-monitored election Al-Tikriti has observed since 1997.
Associate Professor of Political Science Rosalyn Cooperman
Associate Professor of Political Science Rosalyn Cooperman co-authored an article titled “Group Commitment Among U.S. Party Factions: A Perspective From Democratic and Republican National Convention Delegates” that was published in American Politics Research.
In her role as board member for the non-profit organization Stop Street Harassment (SSH), Britnae Purdy, Project Coordinator in the Office of Title IX, has contributed to a joint national study by SSH, UCSD Center on Gender Equity and Health (GEH), RALIANCE, CALCASA and Promundo.
The study, titled “Measuring #Metoo: A National Study on Sexual Harassment and Assault” includes findings that:
The release of this study came at the end of April’s national observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and serves as a follow-up study to the February 2018 report “The Facts Behind the #MeToo Movement: A National Study on Sexual Harassment and Assault.”
Professor of English Warren Rochelle
Professor of English Warren Rochelle was interviewed by Meaww.com for an article titled “Book adaptations are taking over the small screen, including ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, ‘His Dark Materials’, ‘Good Omens’ and more.” Rochelle delved into the differences between the movie and television series “His Dark Materials,” which will be released by BBC and HBO later this year. “That there is a series being released, and not another movie, is a good start for learning from the mistakes in the 2007 film,” Rochelle said. “Pullman’s world is complex and layered and dense and a series allows for this to be really explored.”
Professor of Psychology Holly Schiffrin
Professor of Psychology Holly Schiffrin was quoted in a Yahoo.com article titled “Science Suggests Parents are Taking Parenting Too Far.”
In the article, Shiffrin says, “When I was in college there was no parental involvement unless there was some kind of crisis. It’s just a really different level of involvement now. Parents are giving kids feedback on their papers, or emailing or calling me and other faculty members. It’s not every student, but it’s shocking that it happens at all.”
“Intensive parenting really stresses the parent out,” Schiffrin continues. “The research is looking like it’s not beneficial for kids to do everything for them because they don’t become self-sufficient and that is correlated with higher rates of depression and anxiety at the college level.”
College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson
Read the latest column in The Free Lance-Star written by Lynne Richardson, Dean of the College of Business, titled Make a graceful exit.
YOU ARE in a job that you like, but certainly don’t love. You’ve been a good employee for a couple of years. Your performance evaluations have been good.
Then you get a new boss. It seems like you can do nothing right for this guy. It’s almost like he wants you to be a mind reader. “Where’s the report I asked for?” He’s never asked you for the report.
“Why didn’t you tell me about X,” he asks. And you did, prior to him asking. It goes on and on.
A message from UMW Provost Nina Mikhalevsky:
Associate Director of UMW’s Center for Teaching and Associate Professor of Education Victoria Russell
Dr. Victoria Russell has accepted the position of Associate Director of UMW’s Center for Teaching. Victoria is an Associate Professor in the College of Education and former Program Director in Special Education. She received her Ed.D. from George Washington University in Special Education (2005), Master’s degrees in both History (1995) and Curriculum & Instruction (1996) from the College of William and Mary and a B.A. in History from Loyola University New Orleans (1993).
Victoria brings a wealth of professional development experience to this position. She has over 20 years of teaching experience in both K-12 and university settings and was a special education teacher in Maryland public schools. She specializes in inclusive practices and assessment and has had considerable experience thinking through accessible curriculum design and teaching these practices to future teachers. Victoria will be starting in this new position on June 25.
Senior Associate Registrar Kevin Caffrey will be performing a short set of music on Saturday night June 22nd at the Hurley Convergence Center as part of the Dance Matrix & Company’s 3rd Annual Performing Arts Festival. The festival is a 2-day event featuring a wide range of individual artists & groups scheduled to perform and teach community workshops. For more event information and artist profiles go to http://www.dancematrixcompany.com/. For more information on Caffrey’s music and his most recent projects, go to http://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/KevinCaffrey.
Professor of French Scott Powers
Professor of French Scott Powers presented his current research on the role of animals in contemporary feminist Quebecois fiction at the annual conference of the ACQL: The Association for Canadian and Quebecois Literatures. The title of his paper was “L’éco-poétique d’Audrée Wilhelmy: le devenir-animal de la femme dans Le corps des bêtes.”