Lawrence Today magazine, Summer 2009
Helen Boyd Kramer, lecturer in gender studies, presented talks at the Bodies of Knowledge Conference (University of South Carolina), the SEXPO Conference (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), The Transgender Liberty Conference (Philadelphia), and the LGBT Blogger Initiative (Washington. D.C.). Her “Mea Culpa” was published in the anthology “Queer + Catholic” (Evans, Amie & Trebor Healey, eds.) while Global City Review published her “Cat of Nine Tale.” She was interviewed on Air America Radio (5/14/09) and was featured as an Honored Finalist in the A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Gift of Freedom Award.
Paul Cohen, professor of history and Patricia Hamar Boldt Professorof Liberal Studies, published a review of Paul Mazgaj’s “Imagining Fascism: The Cultural Politics of the French Young Right, 1930–1945”(Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2007) in The Journal of Modern History (March 2009). He also delivered a paper entitled “Cowboys Die Hard: ’Real Men’ and Businessmen in a Reagan Era Blockbuster” at the National Popular Culture & American Culture Association Conference in New Orleans (April 2009).
Scott Corry, assistant professor of mathematics, delivered the colloquium talk, “Galois Theory and Rational Points on Curves,” at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.
Stefan Debbert, assistant professor of chemistry, supervised three undergraduate research projects during the school year, dealing with supramolecular synthesis (Bradley Hoh ’10), copper-catalyzed macrocyclization (Nathen Kontny ’10), and the synthesis of cobalt-alkyne-polyamine conjugates for the treatment of cancer (Meareg Amare ’11). He also wrote grant proposals to the National Science Foundation to fund a new nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer for use across the chemistry and biochemistry curricula and to the Research Corporation to fund his research group’s work on the improvement of organometallic anticancer drugs.
Bart De Stasio ’82, professor of biology, published a chapter titled “Temperature as a driving factor in aquatic ecosystems” in the Encyclopedia of Inland Waters along with former student Tim Golemgeski ’07. He also presented the paper “Increased net primary production in Green Bay, Lake Michigan following invasion by dreissenid mussels” at the Ecological Society of America meeting in Milwaukee. He received a grant from the Thord-Gray Memorial Fund of the American-Scandinavian Foundation in support of his sabbatical research at Stockholm University, Sweden investigating feeding dynamics and toxic algae in the Baltic Sea.
Beth De Stasio ’83, professor of biology and Raymond H. Herzog Professor of Science, taught at the London Centre and then pursued full-time research on neuronal gene expression at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, with funding from the Fulbright Foundation. She gave an invited talk at a conference in Helsinki, Finland. Prior research resulted in “Reinventing the Ames Test as an Quantitative Lab that Connects Classical and Molecular Genetic Concepts,” published in the journal Genetics. It describes Nathan Goodson-Gregg’s (class of 2011) summer research project in De Stasio’s lab that was supported by a curricular development grant from the Lawrence Office of the Provost. Another paper, “Curricular responses to ’electronically tethered’ students: Individualized learning across the curriculum,” co-authored with Lawrence professors Ansfield, Cohen and Spurgin, will appear in the fall issue of Liberal Education.
Peter J. Gilbert, director of the Seeley G. Mudd Library and associate professor, was on the planning committee for, and presented a program at, “Cultivating Quality Collaboration,” a NITLE Instructional Innovation Fund-funded workshop held July 24-26 2008 at Lake Forest College. He was part of a panel, “Discussing Leadership: An Open Forum with Library Directors” at the Wisconsin Library Association Annual conference in November 2008. He was part of a panel, “Cultivating Quality Collaboration,” at the EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference in March 2009. He presented “The College Library at the Turn of the (20th) Century,” April 16, 2009, at Lawrence University.
Peter S. Glick, professor of psychology and Henry Merritt Wriston Professor of the Social Sciences, was elected president of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. The Harvard Business Review recognized his research with Susan Fiske and Amy Cuddy on fundamental dimensions of social perception as a “breakthrough idea for 2009.” Over the past year, Glick co-authored articles in the British Journal of Social Psychology, Psychological Inquiry, and Psychology of Women Quarterly; gave invited talks at Yale, Cornell, and Rice Universities; and testified as an expert witness in a sex discrimination suit on behalf of Sagun Tuli, a spinal neurosurgeon who received a $1.6 million verdict.
Bruce Hetzler, professor of psychology, published “Baclofen does not counteract the acute effects of ethanol on flash-evoked potentials in Long-Evans rats,” in the International Journal of Neuroscience (with Janie Ondracek ’05 and Elizabeth Becker ’05).
Joy Jordan, associate professor of statistics, attended a November ACM-Teagle workshop on metacognition and student learning. After the conference, she became Lawrence’s representative in the Teagle-funded ACM Collegium Group that continues work on metacognition. She will do classroom research on metacognition during the 2009–10 academic year and report her results at an ACM-Teagle conference in fall 2010.
Catherine Kautsky, professor of music, performed a series of recitals, including a radio and television taping, with violinist Erica Kiesewetter, concertmaster of the American Symphony Orchestra this winter. In spring, she performed and taught in Nanjing, China. She was invited to give masterclasses in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as in Jerusalem, Israel.
Carol Lawton, professor of art history and Ottilia Buerger Professor of Classical Studies, published “Attic Votive Reliefs and the Peloponnesian War,” in “The Timeless and the Temporal: the Impact of the Peloponnesian War on Athenian Art,” Cambridge University Press. She lectured on “Women and Ritual in Attic Votive Reliefs” at The Feminine and the Sacred in Ancient Athens, an international conference held in New York in May. In the spring, she collaborated with students on an exhibition of ancient coins in the Wriston Art Center. She has received a Kress Foundation grant for her work this summer on the votive reliefs from the excavations of the Athenian Agora.
Andrew Mast, assistant professor of music and director of bands, had an article, “The Rediscovered Gems of Vincent Persichetti,” published in The Instrumentalist magazine. The Lawrence University Wind Ensemble, which he directs, won the Classical Ensemble division of DownBeat magazine’s Student Music Awards. This category contains classical ensembles of all types from colleges and universities across the country (see page 18).
David McGlynn, assistant professor of English, published a story collection, “The End of the Straight and Narrow,” in October. An excerpt from his book contributed to McGlynn’s successful application for an artist fellowship from the Wisconsin Arts Board. He also published several essays from his in-progress collection of creative essays. “Hydrophobia” appeared in The Missouri Review and won the Council for Wisconsin Writers Short Nonfiction Award. “Onomastics” and “Skin” are forthcoming in Southwest Review and “Wanders in Zion” will appear in The Literary Review. The collection’s title essay, “Rough Water” was selected for the 2009 Best American Sports Writing anthology.
Chantal Norrgard, Lawrence postdoctoral fellow of history, published “From Berries to Orchards: Tracing the History of Berrying and Economic Transformation among Lake Superior Ojibwe,” in American Indian Quarterly. She presented the following papers: “Removal, Resistance, and Remembrance: Ojibwe Responses to Sandy Lake,” at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Conference in Minneapolis; “Remembering the Lumber Years: Ojibwe Perspectives of the Logging Industry at Bad River, 1936–1942,” at the Organization for American Historians Conference in Seattle and “Beyond Folklore: Historical Writing and Treaty Rights Activism in the Bad River WPA,” at the American Society for Ethnohistory Conference in Eugene, Ore.
Peter Peregrine, professor of anthropology, became president of the Society for Anthropological Sciences and was appointed to the editorial board of the American Anthropologist. He published a book chapter, “Social Death and Resurrection in the Western Great Lakes,” in “Slavery in Ancient Societies,” edited by Cathy Cameron, and a co-edited book, “Ancient Human Migrations: A Multidisciplinary Approach,” with Ilia Peiros and Marcus Feldman. He also participated in workshops at the Amerind Foundation and the Santa Fe Institute, both focused on comparative approaches to understanding ancient societies
Jerald Podair, professor of history and Robert S. French Professor of American Studies, had his book “Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer,” a biography of the noted civil rights leader, published by Rowman & Littlefield. He also published reviews in the Journal of American History, the American Historical Review, and The Historian. He was elected a Fellow of the New York Academy of History, in recognition of his “demonstrated record of accomplishment in New York history.” Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle named Podair to the Wisconsin Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He delivered the Annual Malcolm Lester Lecture in History at Davidson College, Davidson, N.C., entitled “Why Biography Matters.”
Keith Powell, lecturer of Freshman Studies, was active as a performer on the French horn this spring. He performed with the Water City Chamber Orchestra in Oshkosh, Wis., the rock band Vic Ferrari, the Oshkosh Chamber Singers, and with the Fox Valley Symphony for the opera production of “Carmen” at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. He completed the composition “Jazz Suite for Horn Octet & Tuba,” which he conducted on May 31 with the Lawrence Horn Ensemble and professor Jim DeCorsey.
Monica Rico, associate professor of history, co-organized and presented on a panel entitled, “Opening the Visual West: Images and History in the Digital Age” at the annual meeting of the Western History Association. She was elected to the board of directors of the Outagamie County Historical Society and published several book reviews. She also presented a workshop for K-12 teachers as a participant in the Wisconsin Academy for the Study of American History program at UW-Green Bay.
Martyn Smith, assistant professor of religious studies, published an article, “Pyramids in the Medieval Landscape: Perceptions and Narratives,” in the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. He received a summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities that will enable him to travel to Cairo over the summer and continue work on an online translation of the medieval historian al-Maqrizi’s book known as the “Khitat.” In addition he published two book reviews on early Islam in the International Journal of Middle East Studies.
Asha Srinivasan, assistant professor of music, was named winner of the Flute/Cello Commissioning Circle’s national call for scores. A consortium of four duos in the United States and Canada will perform the commissioned composition this fall. Her composition for flute and electronics, “Bapu,” was accepted for performance at the International Computer Music Conference in Montreal this August. Also in August, her piece, “Alone, Dancing,” will be performed at the National Flute Convention in New York City. During the 2008–09 academic year, several of her compositions were performed at various festivals and conferences nationwide.
Julia Stringfellow, archivist/reference librarian and assistant professor, presented a paper titled “Outreach Projects that Provide Community Support for Lone Arrangers” at the annual Midwest Archives Conference in May 2009. She also wrote an article titled “The Founding of Lawrence University” that will appear in the Summer 2009 issue of Voyageur magazine. Stringfellow served as co-chair of the Historic Homes Tours Committee for Hearthstone Historic House Museum in October 2008. She continues to conduct oral history interviews with Lawrence alumni and emeriti faculty for Lawrence’s oral history program.
Fred Sturm ’73, Kimberly-Clark Professor of Music and director of jazz studies, conducted the All-Northwest High School Jazz Ensemble, Maine and South Dakota All-State Jazz Bands, and appeared as visiting composer at Butler University and Northern Michigan University. The Boston Pops, for which Sturm serves as artistic director, and San Diego Symphony performed the “Baseball Music Project.” New works include “At Sea” (for Ingrid Jensen), “Que Pasa, Kielbasa?” (for Nick Keelan), “Ascending,” “Street Music,” “A Hymn for Her” and “The Great Northern Express.” He organized community outreach programs and the Dance to Beat Cancer for the American Cancer Society.
Timothy X. Troy ’85, professor of theatre arts and J. Thomas and Julie Esch Hurvis Professor of Theatre and Drama, directed the world premiere production of the opera, “The Sparks Fly Upward,” by Kathy Lesser Mansfield. “The Sparks Fly Upward” is a musical drama that follows three German families in Berlin, two Jewish and one Christian, through the Holocaust. Between 1938 and the end of the war in 1945, the Jewish families, with the assistance of the Christian family, struggled to outlast Hitler (http://thesparksflyupward.org). Troy also served as a reader/evaluator for Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s Young Playwright’s Festival — a new play development program for Milwaukee area high school students.
Jane Parish Yang, associate professor of Chinese, presented “Heavenly Providence and Earthly Initiative in ’Exposing Anomalies South of the Mountains’: Chinese Language Narratives of the Strange from 15th century Vietnam,” at the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, on October 10, 2008, at St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges, Northfield, Minn. She also presented “Leaving Home: Foreshadowing, Echo, and Sideshadowing in Wang Wenxing’s Jia Bian [Family Catastrophe]” at the Art of Chinese Narrative Language: International Workshop on Wang Wen-hsing’s Life and Works, at the University of Calgary, Feb. 19–21, 2009. She participated in a closed invitational workshop with modernist writer Wang Wen-hsing.
