Category: Professional Notes

Jangwoon “Leo” Lee, assistant professor of mathematics, presented the talk “Mathematical Analysis of Models” at the US-Korea Conference on Science, Technology, and Entrepreneurship in Seattle in August. Lee also presented the poster “On Solving a Boundary Control Problem Using the Domain Decomposition Method” at the conference. In addition, he refereed a journal paper published in Mathematics and Computers in Simulation. He had the article “Finite Element Approximations of Stochastic Optimal Control Problems Constrained by Stochastic Elliptic PDEs” accepted for publication in the Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications.

Keith Mellinger, associate professor and chair of mathematics, and a colleague from Virginia Tech, were presented the Carl B. Allendoerfer Award at the annual meeting of the Mathematical Association of America in Pittsburgh in August. The award recognizes outstanding expository articles in mathematics. Mellinger was honored for the article, “Kirkman’s  Schoolgirls Wearing Hats and Walking Through Fields of Numbers,” that appeared in the February 2009 edition of Mathematics Magazine. Read about the award and see the article at http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/22/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1355.

In addition, Mellinger published two papers, “Classes of Permutation Arrays in Finite Projective Spaces” in the International Journal of Information and Coding Theory, and “On the Number of k-gons in Finite Projective Planes” in Note di Matematica. In addition, Dr. Mellinger gave several talks, “On Blocking Semiovals Containing Conics” at the Discrete Mathematics Seminar at the University of Delaware; “Kirkman’s Schoolgirls Wearing Hats and Walking through Fields of Numbers” at a departmental colloquium at California State University, Fresno; “Coding, Cryptography and Conics: Using What They Know to Introduce Research” at a faculty seminar at CSU Fresno; and “Applying the Stuff We Like: Blocking Semiovals and Cryptology” at a discrete mathematics seminar at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Allyson P. Moerman, associate vice president for finance and controller, has been elected to serve as vice president for FOCUS (Fiscal Officers of Colleges and Universities – State Supported) for 2011. FOCUS was formed in 1982 to bring together the controller, bursar/treasurer and information specialists from state-supported institutions of higher education in Virginia to promote information sharing in order to improve fiscal management.

Gail Stevens is retiring after more than ten years of service to UMW. A farewell celebration will be held in her honor Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 3:00-4:30 at Student Services Foyer, Lee Hall. During her career, Gail also served Virginia by working at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Department of Health. As an Administrative Assistant, Gail facilitates student withdrawals, cancellations, leave of absences and graduation applications.

Mindy J. Erchull, assistant professor of psychology, received the 2010 Mary Roth Walsh Teaching the Psychology of Women Award at the American Psychological Association (APA) convention in San Diego, Calif., in August. The award, sponsored by the Society for the Psychology of Women, recognizes a young faculty member who employs innovative methods to address issues of diversity in teaching the psychology of women. Read the news release at http://www.umw.edu/news/?a=1929. At the APA meeting, Erchull copresented the poster “Whose Orgasm Is It Anyway? Faux Orgasms and Women’s Sexual Subjectivity.” In addition, Erchull and Miriam Liss, associate professor of psychology, presented the poster “Empowerment through Sexualization? The Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale in Feminists” at the meeting.

Liss and Erchull, with a former student, presented the poster “Young Adults’ Ideal and Actual Expectations for Self and Partner Life Trajectories” at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science in Boston in May. Also, Liss and Erchull, with three former students, had two papers published in Psychology of Women Quarterly:  “Men Want Equality, but Women Don’t Expect It: Young Adults’ Expectations for Participation in Household and Childcare Chores” and “Well…She Wants It More: Perceptions of Social Norms about Desire for Marriage and Children and Anticipated Chore Participation.”