Category: Professional Notes

With the help of UMW faculty, graduate students and alumni, the 2010 statewide conference of the Virginia Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages was a success. This year’s TESOL conference, held at UMW’s Stafford campus Oct. 2, drew about 200 practicing teachers from across Virginia.

Mary Gendernalik-Cooper, College of Education dean, (left) gave the welcome address, and Jo Tyler, professor of linguistics and education, served as one of the conference coordinators. Master of Education students, alumni and faculty, including Jane Huffman, associate professor of education; Patricia Reynolds, instructor of education; and John St.Clair, director of distance and blended learning, provided on-site assistance.

The conference theme was “Rekindling Our Joy of Language Teaching.” More than two dozen presenters led workshops and served on discussion panels. As the keynote speaker, bestselling author Richard Lederer addressed the topic “A Joy Ride Through the English Language.”

Mehdi Aminrazavi, professor of philosophy and religion, has recently published Islamic Philosophy: An Online Text Book for Colleges.

“This text book provides the reader with a comprehensive and thorough discussion of the Islamic philosophical tradition from historical and thematic perspectives,” said Aminrazavi. “This work offers a survey of the development of Islamic philosophy (Falsafah-Hikmah) in different periods and schools of thought.” Various themes and debates among philosophers concerning such topics as ontology, epistemology, metaphysics, eschatology, ethics, and political philosophy are among the issues discussed.

This book will be used in the master’s program at Middlesex University and the Islamic College for Advanced Studies, both located in London, and will be used for their online Islamic philosophy courses in 2010 through 2011. The book is available only in electronic format. For more information, visit  www.mdx.ac.uk or www.islamic-college.ac.uk.

In addition, Aminrazavi’s book An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia was selected as one of the superior books in the field of humanities for the International Department of Tehran’s 23rd International Book Fair.  Aminrazavi,  who is director of the Middle Eastern Studies program and co-director of the Leidecker Center for Asian Studies,  accepted the honor at a special ceremony in Tehran in May.

Debra Schleef is participating in a panel discussion, “Nuestra Tierra, Nuestro Hogar: Latinos in Virginia” at the University of Richmond, Library of Virginia Lecture Hall, Thursday, September 30, 6-7 p.m. The discussion will focus on the experiences of recent Hispanic immigrants to Virginia and the opportunities and challenges they face.

Schleef, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, is coauthor, along with H. B. Cavalcanti, of “Latinos in Dixie: Class and Assimilation in Richmond, Virginia.”

A reception and entertainment follow the panel discussion.

James Harding is a recipient of a 2010-2011 DAAD Visiting Professorship in the Institut für Theaterwissenschaft at the Freie Universität Berlin. The DAAD is the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (the German Academic Exchange Service) and is financed by the German Government. Harding, a professor of English, linguistics and communication will spend a year in Berlin teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on the history of American experimental theatre.

Jennifer A. Polack-Wahl, Professor of Computer Science, and Jacob Bowman, junior Computer Science Student, iPhone/iTouch app Short Vowel Mahjong is now free on iTunes.  In the last three days 109 downloads have occurred.  The downloads have primarily been in the United States but they included Australia,  Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, France, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Korea, UK, and Spain.

This app was made specifically at the request of Heather Howe a Kindergarten and First Grade teacher at Hartwood Elementary. Heather wanted a game that would reinforce short vowel recognition.  Jacob and Jennifer A. Polack-Wahl brainstormed a variety of ideas and decided on a Mahjong style game.  The list of words we used was approved by Heather and included approximately seven different words in each vowel (a, e, i, o, and u).

The app is for anyone who wants to help their children or students to reinforce short vowel sounds or start short vowel recognition.   You do need either an iTouch or iPhone with IOS 4.0 to play the game.  We want to find out how to make it better so we can aid elementary education, we are in it for the kids.

Continue to check out http://hartwood.umwblogs.org/ for more games in education.  Our ice cream Math game is our next to be submitted to the app store.