Assistant Professor of Communication Elizabeth Johnson-Young presented research at the CDC’s National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media, in Atlanta. The research presented, “Pediatric Residents’ Comfort, Confidence, and Communication in Relation to Anticipatory Guidance about Firearms,” was completed with researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The work investigates how and why pediatricians decide to counsel patients and their parents on firearms and firearm safety during well visits. This counseling is encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics, but a large portion of pediatricians do not include this in their well visits or they rely on handouts given during visits. The investigation found that training, confidence in ability, and comfort in discussions influence decisions and that female pediatricians are less likely to indicate confidence and comfort in these discussions, even though they indicate these as more important than male pediatricians. This is a first step in a larger work with the aim to develop programming and training for both pediatricians and patients in opening dialogue regarding firearms and firearm safety surrounding children and teens.
Julia DeLancey Publishes New Archival Research
This summer saw the publication of a new article by Professor of Art History Julia DeLancey. The article, entitled “Celebrating citizenship: Titian’s portrait of the color seller Alvise Gradignan della Scala and social status in early modern Venice,” looks at the portrait of della Scala—now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden—by the sixteenth-century Venetian painter, Tiziano Vecellio, more commonly known as Titian. Using new archival discoveries made mainly in the Archivio di Stato in Venice, the article places Titian’s portrait of his colleague and supplier into the larger social and artistic context of Renaissance Venice and presents new information about color sellers and their place in Venetian social hierarchy.
DeLancey, Julia A. “Celebrating citizenship: Titian’s portrait of the color seller Alvise Gradignan della Scala and social status in early modern Venice.” Studi Veneziani n.s. 76 (2017): 15 – 60.
Hirshberg Participates in International Research Institute in Japan
Dan Hirshberg, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Associate Director of the Leidecker Center for Asian Studies, and Director of the Contemplative Studies program, participated in the Mind & Life Institute’s first International Research Institute in Kyoto, Japan as a Senior Investigator.
Held at Myoshin-ji, a fourteenth-century Zen monastery, the Institute drew scholars, scientists, professionals, and contemplatives from eleven countries. Its theme was “Contemplative Practice in Context: Culture, History and Science,” exploring meditation in a broadly interdisciplinary, genuinely collaborative, and deeply enriching dialog.
For three decades, the Mind & Life Institute has catalyzed pioneering research and thoughtful interdisciplinary dialogue at the intersection of Buddhist thought, other contemplative wisdom traditions, and the modern Western sciences. Ultimately, their goal is to alleviate human suffering and foster individual and societal flourishing.
Angie White Presents Twice at SAA
Digital Resources Librarian Angie White presented at the Society of American Archivist’s annual conference in August. She presented at the Users Group meeting for Preservica, the digital preservation software used by UMW Libraries, and also at a midweek automation and transparency in digital preservation session. In the latter session, White discussed the implementation experience of UMW’s Special Collections and University Archives Digital Collections, including the migration process, user interface customization, and future goals.
Crow-Dolby Highlighted in White House Quarterly
An article that appears in the most recent issue of the White House History Quarterly takes a deep dive into 1909 when Charles Lang Freer commissioned American artist Gari Melchers to paint President Theodore Roosevelt’s portrait. The author puts puts the event into a broader context and cites education and communications manager Michelle Crow-Dolby’s blog post “Painting a President” for details that provide important insight into the artist’s experience, according to Gari Mechlers Home and Studio’s Blog.
Mellinger Named to CCI Blueprint Advisory Council
Keith Mellinger, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named to the CCI Blueprint Advisory Council, a group of diverse stakeholders in the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, which recently held its first meeting.
CCI is working to develop Virginia into a global leader in cybersecurity and address the critical shortage in the cyber workforce. For more information, visit https://vt.edu/cci-blueprint/advisory-council.html.
President Paino Appointed to NCAA Division III Advisory Group
President Troy Paino has been appointed to the NCAA Division III Chancellors/Presidents Advisory Group.
Paino is among 23 presidents and chancellors from across the U.S. who will advise the Division III Presidents Council, the highest governing body in the division.
The Council establishes and directs the general policy of the Division, while also establishing Division III’s strategic plan. It can make recommendations to the Board of Governors on matters related to Division III, such as championships, and may approve how the Division spends its money.
Paino’s term runs through the close of the January 2021 NCAA Convention.
Lorentzen Publishes Article on Dickens and Education
Associate Professor of English Eric G. Lorentzen published an article in Dickens Studies Annual on Dickens and education entitled “This Schoolroom is a Nation: Subverting the Catechistic Method in Dickens.”
The catechistic method was a popular form of the rote memorization pedagogy which dominated Victorian schools, and sought to keep at-risk learners content with their marginalized social positions. In fact, this educational praxis became so popular that its tactics were embraced by many figures desiring social power beyond the schoolroom, a point upon which Dickens dwells at considerable length throughout his texts. This essay surveys a few varieties of catechistic primers that were designed for these disciplinary functions, and examines some of the more infamous ways catechism was utilized in early nineteenth-century British literature.
Subsequently, the essay scrutinizes the almost overwhelming number of instances of the catechistic method in Dickens’s novels to demonstrate both his critique of this question and answer power dynamic, and the ways in which his characters deploy, evade, co-opt, and subvert the ideological directives of catechism, as they strive for their own liberation and agency. By recognizing the evolution of Dickens’s critique of catechistic method, both in and beyond the arena of the Victorian classroom, Lorentzen argues that we can much better appreciate the extent of the novelist’s cautionary tales about the ways in which education functioned as a normalizing force of social control.
Farnsworth Delivers Research Paper on Political Humor
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently delivered a research paper entitled, “Dominating Late Night: Political Humor and the Donald Trump Presidency,” at the American Political Science Association Pre-Conference in Political Communication in Boston.
Richardson’s Weekly Column Appears in FLS
Lynne Richardson: Adding Benefits during the Strong Economy? (The Free Lance-Star)
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