Tag: faculty

These College of Arts and Sciences faculty members submitted Faculty Development Grant proposals in November, and following review by the Committee on Faculty Development and Grants, the CAS Dean made these awards for the 2011-12 fiscal year:

• Jason Davidson, Department of Political Science and International Affairs, ” ‘We Gotta Get out of this Place’: US. Allies’ Decisions to Withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
• Mindy Erchull, Department of Psychology, “Objectification, Sexualization, and Sexual Agency.”
• Jacqueline Gallagher, Department of Geography, Textbook on Field Methods in Mobile GIS and GPS.
• Debra Hydorn, Department of Mathematics, “Correcting for Error in GPS Postion to Improve the Linear Association Between Satellite and Field-Collected Measurements of Elevation.”
• Rosemary Jesionowski, Department of Art and Art History, “Proof of Experience.”
• Janusz Konieczny, Department of Mathematics, “Conjugacy in Semigroups.”
• Ben LaBreche, Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, “Samson Agonistes and the Critique of Liberalism.”
• Elizabeth Lewis, Department of Modern Foreign Languages, “Women and Charity in Spain, 1786-1939.”
• Leslie Martin, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, “Making Sense of Need: Organizational Constructions of Homelessness and Solutions.”
• Maya Mathur, Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, ” ‘Big Fish and Little Fish’: Comic Economics on the Jacobean Stage.”
• Keith Mellinger, Department of Mathematics, “Cap partitions of affine spaces.”
• Laura Mentore, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, “The Social Significance of Competitive ‘birdsport’ among Guyanese Men.”
• Marjorie Och, Department of Art and Art History, “Community and Friendship in the Letters and Portraits of Vittoria Colonna.”
• Jennifer Polack-Wahl, Department of Computer Science, “iPod for Education: Teaching Resource for the Future.”
• Sheshalatha Reddy, Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, “Two Chapters on Indian-English Periodical Literature.”
• Debra Steckler, Department of Psychology, “An Investigation of the Foundation of Arnett’s New Life Stage: Emerging Adulthood.”
• Abbie Tomba, Department of Biological Sciences, “Identification of Larval stages of trematodes (Family Opecoelidae) parasitizing freshwater snails (Family Pleuroceridae).”

Courtney Clayton, assistant professor in the College of Education’s Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction, has written a chapter in the book entitled “Teacher Preparation for Bilingual Student Populations”.  “This volume focuses on understanding the structural, substantive, and contextual elements of preparation programs, and provides transformative guidelines for creating Educar signature programs. Designed to improve the practice of teacher preparation by promoting dialogic conversations and applications of praxis in the preparation of bilingual/ESL teacher candidates, it emphasizes that exemplary teacher preparation requires transformative teacher educators.”

Clayton, C. & Brisk, M.E. (2011). It’s my responsibility! Teacher of bilingual learners in an English-immersion context. In B. Bustos Flores, R. Hernandez Sheets & E. Riojas Clark (Eds.). Teacher preparation for bilingual student populations: Educar para transformar. (pp. 182-187). New York, NY: Routledge.

James F. Gaines, professor of French, translated Alphonse Daudet’s short story “The Three Low Masses” from the original French, and the translation will be published by the Eerie Digest in February. The story, which first appeared in print in 1866 in “Letters From My Mill,” deals with the ghosts of a priest and his parishioners who, during the 17th century, yielded to the sin of gluttony on Christmas Eve and cheated the Lord of a Mass they were supposed to celebrate. In consequence, they were condemned to reappear each year to repeat the Mass until their penance was completed.

Holly H. Schiffrin, assistant professor of psychology, was interviewed by the “With Good Reason” public radio program about how lifestyle changes brought on by the recession might be better for one’s well-being.

Schiffrin told “With Good Reason” that one of the surest ways to find happiness doesn’t have to cost a nickel: spending time with friends and family. Schiffrin’s interview appeared during a broadcast called “You Got To Move” that aired the week beginning Saturday, January 1 and that is available online at http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2011/01/the-end-of-obesity.

Schiffrin specializes in child development, parenting practices, positive psychology, and research methods for psychology. She earned a Ph.D. and a master of science in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami and a bachelor of science in psychology from Mary Washington. She also received a master’s-level certificate in parent coaching from the Parent Coaching Institute at Seattle Pacific University.

“With Good Reason” is the only statewide public radio program in Virginia. It hosts scholars from Virginia’s public universities who discuss the latest in research, pressing social issues and the curious and whimsical. “With Good Reason” is produced for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in partnership with public radio stations in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Margaret A. Mi, professor in the College of Business’ Department of Management and Marketing, has received the O’Hara Leadership Award from the Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s (DMAW) Education Foundation. She was chosen for the recognition from a field of marketing faculty from Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. The award was presented at the association’s annual gala in December at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. The organization is the largest regional direct marketing association in the United States, according to its website. Its members include end-users, vendors, suppliers, agencies and educators in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas and central Virginia.

The award states that Mi has actively participated in the DMAW Educational Foundation’s Professors’ institute for more than twelve years. Mi created an e-commerce course, funded by a grant she received from the foundation, that was the first advertising-related course offered at UMW. She developed a prototype course for adoption by other colleges. For years, Mi drove a van of students to the foundation’s University Day.  Due to her encouragement, one of her students sought and received a scholarship from the foundation, which helped the student earn a master’s in marketing communications, leading the student to a job in direct marketing and to a Ph.D. program in order to teach direct marketing.

In addition, Mi presented a workshop on sports marketing at the American Institute of Higher Education’s fifth international conference recently in Orlando, Fla. Mi was one of two submissions selected to present workshops.  The workshop was an application exercise for educators interested in teaching a sports marketing course. Participants emulated a sports team, completing project components required of Mi’s UMW marketing students.  These components included developing and implementing marketing strategy and plan for a new team.  Teams used research data for Nashville, Tenn., which has no major league baseball team. Data included city demographics, transportation infrastructure, per capita income, venue (new or current), and parking possibilities.  Teams selected players and coaches and listed their salaries.  In addition, teams created team names, logos, colors, mascots, licensed and branded merchandise, ticket and merchandise pricing, special promotions with charities, sponsorships, venue-naming rights, public relations, and electronic media use.