Warren Rochelle, Professor of English, recently reviewed Fred Chappell’s latest novel, A Shadow All of Light, for the North Carolina Literary Review. That review, titled “Light and Dark, Dark, and Light,” appears in NCLR Online 26 (2017): 62-63.
Kraus to Collaborate on Music Program at Kentlands March 5
On Sunday, March 5, at 3:30 p.m., Adjunct Professor of Piano Andrew Kraus will collaborate with soprano Monica Harwood and saxophonist Noah Getz in An Afternoon of Drama in Song, a program of viscerally moving and socially relevant works at the Kentlands Mansion in Gaithersburg, Maryland. On the program are:
- Black Water, by Jeremy Beck: A slightly veiled fictional account adapted by Beck from the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates of the events around the death of Mary Jo Kopechne told in flashbacks as she is dying.
- I Never Saw Another Butterfly, by Elwood Derr: A song cycle for soprano voice, alto sax and piano based on poems by Jewish children incarcerated, gassed and incinerated in the Nazi ghetto for Jews in Terezin, Czechoslovakia.
More details and tickets can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-afternoon-of-drama-in-song-tickets-30706214113.
A preview of Dark Water can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSvXkzCrRf0
Farnsworth Lectures on Presidential Elections at Osgood Center
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently delivered a lecture titled “Politics, Media and the American Political System” as the keynote address of the Presidential Inauguration Seminar at the Osgood Center for International Studies in Washington.
Wilson Publishes Paper on Military Sexual Trauma
Laura Wilson, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science, published a paper last month on the frequency of military sexual trauma. The paper, titled “The Prevalence of Military Sexual Trauma: A Meta-Analysis,” was published in a peer-reviewed journal called Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. Wilson conducted a meta-analysis and found that 15.7 percent of military personnel and veterans report experiencing military sexual trauma during their service. She also found that women are at substantially greater risk of military sexual trauma, with 38.4 percent of women reporting military sexual trauma compared to 3.9 percent of men. Ultimately, the findings suggest that military sexual trauma may be a more pervasive problem, among both men and women in the military, than previously recognized. Wilson conducted this project as part of her 2016-2017 Faculty Research Grant.
Business Students Present Paper at Society for Personality and Social Psychology Meeting
Business majors Sara Armor and Kenneth Vukmanic presented the paper, “Should we live in the moment? Plan to anticipate the event,” at the 2017 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas (January 19-21). The paper was co-authored with Dr. Kashef Majid, assistant professor in the College of Business.
Davidson Publishes Article on Contemporary Foreign Policy
Jason W. Davidson, professor of political science and international affairs, has published an article titled “It has always been ‘America first’: Why Trump is different” in Aspenia Online.
Buster-Williams Named Asst. Director, Strategic Enrollment Management Program
Kimberley Buster-Williams has been named assistant director of the Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Endorsement Program offered through the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers (AACRAO), a volunteer position. She also has been named vice president of enrollment management at UMW.
Dasgupta Presents at South Asian Literary Association Conference
Shumona Dasgupta, assistant professor of English, presented the paper “Beyond the Postcolonial: Post-national Longing in Ritwick Ghatak’s Partition Cinema” on Jan. 3, 2017, at the 17th Annual Conference of the South Asian Literary Association in Philadelphia.
Fallon Presents at Linguistics Conference
Associate Professor of Linguistics Paul D. Fallon
Associate Professor of Linguistics Paul D. Fallon presented the paper “Lexical Innovation in Cushitic: Fictitious Family or Fragile Unity?” at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), Austin, TX, on Jan. 6, 2017. Using the strict criteria of Orel & Stolbova applied to Christopher Ehret’s reconstruction of Proto-Cushitic, he found that shared lexical innovation alone cannot be used as a diagnostic of Cushitic languages.
Mathematics Faculty Participate in Joint Mathematics Meetings
Eight members of the Department of Mathematics presented at the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta in January. The JMM is the largest mathematics conference in the country, with registrations this year exceeding 6,000 participants. Highlights of the meeting include:
- Randall Helmstutler, chair and associate professor, presented the talk “Generalized dihedral groups in non-commutative cryptographic protocols,” based on research conducted with former student Chris Lloyd. Dr. Helmstutler also participated in a day-long workshop for mathematics department chairs.
- Professor Debra Hydorn presented the talk “Small Teaching” in the MAA session on discrete mathematics in the undergraduate curriculum. Dr. Hydorn also exhibited two pieces in the Mathematical Art Exhibition and participated in several committee meetings.
- Associate professor Leo Lee gave the presentation “DDM for SPDE” in the AMS contributed paper session on numerical analysis and computer science.
- Professor Larry Lehman gave two talks on his research in number theory, “A Continued Fraction Algorithm for Quadratic Numbers, Forms, and Ideals” and “A Formula for the Number of Solutions of an Arbitrary Quadratic Congruence.”
- Lecturer Jennifer Magee presented the talk “Cryptology for first-year students” in the MAA session on cryptology for undergraduates, providing an overview of the department’s unique FSEM course in the field.
- Professor Keith Mellinger delivered “The ingredients for a successful liberal arts course in quantitative reasoning,” a talk addressing the department’s innovative approach to a recently developed course offering, Math 120: Quantitative Reasoning for the Sciences.
- Professor Marie Sheckels presented “Enhancing Quantitative Reasoning and Skills through Exploring Scientific Applications” in the session Innovative Strategies to Inspire and Prepare Potential STEM Majors.
- Professor Suzanne Sumner gave the talk “Environmental Applications: Introduction to Mathematical Modeling” in the session Meaningful Modeling in the First Two Years of College.