Taiwo Ande, assistant provost for institutional analysis and effectiveness, presented a paper titled “TALC: A Leadership Development Model for Foreign-Born African Academic Leaders in American Institution of Higher Education” at the 2011 Annual American Educational Research Association meeting that took place April 7 – 12 in New Orleans.
Andrew Dolby & Deborah O’Dell
Research and Creativity Day was a special occasion for Mr. Larry Valade of Stafford County. He met with students to learn about their research on “Enzyme immunoassay detection of heat shock proteins in the Tufted Titmouse: A new tool for evaluating chronic stress in birds.” Mr. Valade, a huge supporter of UMW, donated the 20 acre property upon which the research was conducted to be used as a small nature preserve and study area for UMW’s biology program. The land is in an easement that prevents any future development. Valade, and his late wife Thyra, made the gift to UMW based on their love of nature, devotion to bird watching, and support for higher education. In addition to the land donation, Mr. Valade and his family established a Foundation account in his wife’s name to support the project with those donations being used to purchase laboratory equipment and supplies.
The students and their mentors are joined by Mr. Larry Valade in this photo during Research and Creativity Day. Left to right: Dr. Deborah O’Dell, Katherine Morris, Mr. Valade, Ellen Bikowski, Louis Kartoudi and Dr. Andrew Dolby
Marcel Rotter
Marcel Rotter, ass
ociate professor of German, presented his paper “Are you 100 percent American? German-Americans as target of U.S. propaganda in World War I” at the annual Symposium of the Society for German-American Studies at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del.
Cate Brewer
Cate Brewer, visiting assistant professor in Theatre and Dance, will perform in the Edward Albee Festival at Arena Stage on the 15th and 16th of April.
Jeffrey W. McClurken
Jeff McClurken, chair and associate professor of history and American studies, had the article “Teaching and Learning with Omeka: Discomfort, Play, and Creating Public, Online, Digital Collections” published in the collection “Learning through Digital Media: Experiments in Technology and Pedagogy.”
The essay was released in electronic form at http://learningthroughdigitalmedia.net. In addition, it was issued in published form by The New School as part of Mobility Shifts, a project supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
The article, which discusses the value of discomfort and open-source tools in teaching digital history, features a number of digital history projects by UMW students.
Read the article in its entirety.
Chris Kilmartin
Chad Murphy
Chad Murphy, assistant professor of political science and faculty sponsor for the UMW district mapping team, will speak to the Fredericksburg PC Users Group on April 14 about the Virginia Redistricting Competition that helps educate students about the process of redistricting. He will speak about the importance of institutions and redistricting on the quality of competition, the history of computers and redistricting, and student participation in the Virginia redistricting competition. Read more at http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/042011/04112011/618339.
Andrew Dolby and Deborah O’Dell
Andrew Dolby, associate professor of biological sciences, recently presented a research poster titled “Enzyme immunoassay detection of heat shock proteins to quantify the chronic stress response in birds” at a joint meeting of the Association of Field Ornithologists, the Wilson Ornithological Society and the Cooper Ornithological Society. The poster was co-authored by Deborah O’Dell, associate professor of biological sciences, and several undergraduate research students who are participating in the project. The meeting was held in March and sponsored by the University of Nebraska.
Claudia Emerson
Claudia Emerson, English professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, will be inducted into the prestigious Fellowship of Southern Writers during its biennial meeting to be held during the April 14-16 Conference on Southern Literature.
Emerson will be welcomed into the fellowship alongside 11 other distinguished writers including Harper Lee, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller “To Kill a Mockingbird.” As part of Emerson’s induction, she will participate in a panel discussion of revision as an element of the writing process during the conference in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Emerson won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for “Late Wife.” She has written five books of poetry, with a sixth forthcoming. A former Virginia poet laureate who joined the UMW faculty in 1998, she holds the Arrington distinguished chair of poetry at Mary Washington. Emerson received the Donald Justice Award for poetry from the fellowship in 2009.
A highly selective organization that seeks to recognize and encourage literature in the South, the fellowship was founded in 1987 by a group of predominantly male writers that included James Dickey, John Hope Franklin, Walker Percy, Elizabeth Spencer, Robert Penn Warren and Eudora Welty.
New fellows are nominated by current members and elected by majority vote. Fellows are writers of fiction, poetry, drama, criticism and history. Most members have been fiction writers because of the powerhouse world of Southern fiction writing. However, Emerson said that is slowly changing. “As a female poet, it was harder to get in,” she said.
Members aren’t separated by their style of writing, so new ones are judged against all other Southern writers and editors, regardless of genre, Emerson said. “I’m very excited to see fellow writers and colleagues who are already in it and who are being inducted into it now,” Emerson said. “They don’t limit to creative writers necessarily.”
To be considered for membership, a writer must have been born and raised or have resided for a significant part of his or her life in the South, or have written works that in character and spirit embody aspects of the Southern experience.
Emerson said members also include historians, editors, biographers and critics, which is a unique trait for the fellowship. “It’s sort of a broader consideration of what it is to be a ‘writer’,” she said. “I’m excited and honored and always interested in being a part of something that’s trying to promote good writing.”
Emerson also is excited about attending the conference, where she will interact with many writers whom she admires. “I imagine there will be a couple of good parties where you can put on your party dress and meet people you’ve admired forever,” she said.
The fellowship holds its biennial meetings during the Chattanooga Arts & Education Council Conference on Southern Literature in Chattanooga, where the fellowship’s archives are held at the University of Tennessee Lupton Library. At their meeting, the fellows elect new members, bestow awards on established and emerging writers, and deliver readings and lectures.
Alan Heffner
Heffner’s strategic management class worked with the board of Cobblestone Children’s Museum to fine-tune its business plan. The museum’s first traveling exhibit, “Amazing Magnets” will be on display at next weekend’s Multicultural Fair. The Free Lance Star reported on the museum at http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/032011/03282011/614961/index_html?page=1