Lawrence Today magazine, Summer 2006
The
Board of Trustees has approved the granting of tenure and promotion to the
rank of associate professor to four faculty members, two of whom are alumnae. (Pictured,
from left: Bonnie Koestner, ’72, Matthew Ansfield, Mark W. Frazier, Karen Leigh-Post,
’79)
Matthew Ansfield (psychology) is a social psychologist with interests in nonverbal
behavior, deception and deception detection, and mental control of thought
and action. His current research, funded by a National Institutes of Health
research grant, focuses on the paradox of “positive” facial expressions
in response to anxiety-provoking events — why people sometimes smile
or even laugh when they are scared or under stress.
In 2004, he was selected
by students to receive two teaching awards, “Professor of the Month” from
the Lambda Sigma honorary society and the Mrs. H. K. Babcock Award, which honors
an individual who, “through involvement and interaction with students,
has made a positive impact on the campus community.”
Ansfield received
the B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Ph.D.
from the University of Virginia.
Mark W. Frazier (government) joined the Lawrence faculty in 2001 when a grant
from the Henry Luce Foundation made possible the creation of a new position
in East Asian political economy. Recently named to the 2005-07 Public Intellectuals
Program of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, he was
a Fulbright Research Fellow in 2004-05, studying pension reform in China, and
also is co-recipient of a grant from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
The author of The Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace: State, Revolution,
and Labor Management (Cambridge University, 2002), he holds a B.A. from Princeton
University, an M.A. from the University of Washington, and the Ph.D. from the
University of California, Berkeley, and teaches comparative and international
political economy, Chinese politics, and international relations.
Bonnie Koestner, ’72 (voice), is a graduate of the Lawrence Conservatory
and holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
with further study at the Università per Stranieri in Perugia, Italy.
She has served as opera pianist and coach at a number of different venues,
including the Florida Grand Opera, and also was the head opera coach at the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music for 16 years, as well as chorus master
and head of music staff for Florida Grand Opera in Miami. She developed the
Nevada Opera Studio, an education and outreach program. Each summer, she is
chorus master, pianist, and coach for Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y.,
and she regularly serves as rehearsal pianist for the Palm Beach Opera. She
also performs art song recitals with members of the Young American Artists
Program.
Karen Leigh-Post, ’79 (voice), returned to Lawrence as a member of the
faculty in 1996. In addition to her Lawrence B.Mus., she holds an M.Mus. from
the University of Arizona and the doctorate in musical arts from Rutgers University.
Among her teachers was Shirlee Emmons, ’44, D.F.A. ’00.
A mezzo-soprano,
she made her operatic debut with the Minnesota Opera and has since performed
throughout Europe and the United States. An active recitalist and concert soloist,
she has been heard on several broadcasts of the Public Broadcasting System,
and she made her theatrical debut playing the role of Maria Callas in an Attic
Theatre production of Terrence McNally’s Master Class. In 2005,
she published American
Art Song for the Sacred Service, an anthology of songs,
with an accompanying
CD.