Gary Richards, associate professor of English and Chair of the Department of English, Linguistics and Communication, was featured in a story about Juliette Wells, a professor and expert on Jane Austen, coming to UMW on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The story can be accessed here.
John Broome Helps Launch Ed Journal
John P. Broome, assistant professor and program director of preK-12, middle and secondary education in the College of Education, is a founding editorial board member of the Journal of Montessori Research, housed at the University of Kansas.
The journal is the official research publication of the American Montessori Society (AMS).
“The American Montessori Society (AMS) is the foremost advocate for quality Montessori education, an innovative, child-centered approach to learning. AMS sets the high professional standards that inform Montessori education as practiced in AMS-accredited schools and taught in AMS-affiliated teacher education programs” (About AMS).
Dr. Broome’s dissertation work, at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, explored adolescent civic engagement practices at a Montessori middle school. His Montessori research as been published in the Journal for Social Studies Research and presented at the premiere conferences for Montessori and experiential learning, including the International Montessori Congress hosted by Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) and International Assembly (IA) of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS).
Chiang Publishes Article, Presents at ICMP
Yuan-Jen Chiang, professor of mathematics, had a research article “Exponentially Harmonic Maps and Their Properties” published in Mathematische Nachrichten by Wiley-VCH in Europe.
She presented “Some Properties of f-biharmonic Maps” at the 2015 International Congress on Mathematical Physics in Santiago, Chile. She also presented “Transversally f-biharmonic Maps between Foliated Riemannian Manifolds” at the Lehigh University Geometry and Topology Conference.
Foss Invited to Join Editorial Board
Professor of English Chris Foss recently accepted an invitation to join the editorial board of Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies (Liverpool University Press/Project MUSE). The journal is one of the two most important venues for scholarly work in the interdisciplinary field of disability studies (together with Disability Studies Quarterly), and it is the key periodical (as its name might imply) for work in literary and cultural disability studies in particular. Its editorial board consists of 50 internationally recognized cultural disability scholars.
Farnsworth Publishes Research Article
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently published an article entitled, “Virginia Voters and Decentralized Governmental Power: Federal Frustration and State Satisfaction?” The article appeared in the current issue of the Virginia Social Science Journal, a refereed scholarly journal.
Larus Participates in Workshop on Taiwan Election
Elizabeth Larus, professor of political science and international affairs, delivered comments on the key drivers of Taiwan’s 2016 elections to U.S. Department of State foreign service officers and government analysts at the Summer Working Group “2016 and Beyond: Impact of Taiwan’s Presidential and Legislative Elections on Taiwan, Cross-Strait Relations, and US-Taiwan Relations,” in McLean, Va. on Sept. 18.
Al-Tikriti Co-Publishes 16th Century Diplomatic Correspondence
Professor of History and American Studies Nabil Al-Tikriti published conference proceedings entitled “The 1502-1504 Correspondence between Şehzade Korkud and the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem” in the Italian peer-reviewed journal, “Mediterranea – ricerche storiche.”
The journal is supported by the International Association of Maritime Studies (IAMS) and Piri Reis University and published conference proceedings this past summer from the Second International Congress of Eurasian Maritime Studies, which Al-Tikriti participated in at Venice in 2013. Al-Tikriti‘s contribution appears in the third part of the volume, which can be accessed here:
The article abstract is as follows: “When the 1499-1502 Ottoman-Venetian war ended, Bayezid II’s son, Şehzade Korkud, was granted the task of managing relations with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Between 1502 and 1504, the two parties exchanged many missives. Their English translations are published here, together with the translations of other documents written by the Knights about their negotiations with Korkud.”
The entire journal volume can be accessed here: http://www.storiamediterranea.it/portfolio/agosto-2015/.
Srivastava Receives Second Fulbright Specialist Award
Mukesh Srivastava, associate professor of management information systems in the College of Business, has been awarded a second Fulbright Specialist grant in less than four years.
Srivastava spent October 2011 in Tunisia as part of a Fulbright Specialist grant for 2011-12, where he developed a graduate program in management and information technology for the Tunis Business School at Tunis University.
“Indeed, it was an honor and delight to be selected to serve twice as a Fulbright Specialist to promote linkages between U.S. scholars and professionals and their counterparts at host institutions overseas, engaging in short-term collaborative projects at eligible institutions in over 140 countries worldwide,” said Srivastava.
He was recently selected for a second Fulbright grant in the spring of 2015. During the month of June, he visited FPT University in Vietnam. FPT School of Business originated from the Hanoi School of Business, Vietnam National University and has a 20 year history. It was the first business school in Vietnam to introduce an American-style MBA program in the country. Srivastava worked with instructors of FPT School of Business to design Doctor of Business Administration program along with detailed educational materials, course implementation plans and research focus. He conducted seminars on Emerging Technologies with regards to future platforms and services, and conducted a training needs analysis at corporations.” 
“I was full of excitement while visiting FPT University, FPT Research Institute and FPT Corporation for designing Doctor of Business Administration course to be implemented by the university, and disseminating my contemporary emerging technology based knowledge via a series of seminars,” Srivastava said of his achievement during his Fulbright Specialist assignment in Vietnam.
Subramanian Publishes Article in Women’s Heath
Sushma Subramanian, journalist and assistant professor of English, recently published “A Shock to the Senses” in the October issue of Women’s Health. The article explores how we can can protect our senses in light of constant media overstimulation.
Student Success Coordinator to Star in Independent Film
Brian Strecker, student success coordinator for Academic and Career Services, will play a role in an independent film set to hit theaters this fall called “The North Star.”
The film describes two slaves who escape from a Virginia plantation in the mid 1800s. Strecker plays a store owner named Jeremiah Daniels who is involved in two pivotal scenes in the film.
The film was shown in Wilmington, Del. on Friday, Sept. 18, and in the Philadelphia area on Saturday, Sept. 19. It is set to appear in limited theaters in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami later this fall.
Strecker has previously acted in a short film and a full-length film, both dealing with the Civil War. He started acting and auditioning for roles in 1994, but only pursues acting part-time.
According to Strecker, the film deals with slavery, a difficult subject to watch. However, Strecker hopes that the film will drive viewers to action in breaking racial barriers that exist today.
“I…hope that viewers are provoked to reflect that many stories of oppression have existed in world history, and are still a reality today. While the faces, circumstances, and severity of experiences will vary, perhaps what all of these experiences share in common is the struggle to enjoy the freedom to live together in peace and dignity,” Strecker said.