Christopher Baxter, Facilities Scheduling, received the Outstanding Individual Achievement Award from the Association of Collegiate Conference and Event Directors-International at its annual conference April 14-16 in Orlando, Fla. Baxter was honored for his work on the Hospitality Committee for the 2002 ACCED-I annual meeting, volunteering his time to coordinate the official Web site of the Hospitality Committee.
Dr. Rebecca Bilek, Chemistry Department, presented a research seminar,"Methane emission between rice cultivars using d13C measurements and inhibition of methanogenesis," in the Department of Soil, Water and Climate April 21 at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Stephen Brookfield, School of Education, was among the keynote speakers for "Building an Inclusive Model for Integrating Learning and Work," an international conference on practice-oriented education April 10-12 at Northeastern University in Boston.
Dr. Joe Fitzharris, History Department, attended the Society for Military History meetings May 1-4 in Knoxville, Tenn. He reported on the society's program at the 2002 Northern Great Plains History Conference in Minneapolis and announced the schedule of sessions for the 2003 conference to be held Oct. 1-4 in Fargo, N.D. As the SMH member of the NGPHC board of governors, Fitzharris reports to the vice president of SMH. He is responsible for organizing the conference sessions and events sponsored by SMH and has issued the call for papers for the 2004 conference Oct. 27-30 in Bismark, S.D.
Joe Keeley, a senior entrepreneurship major, was awarded first place at the 2003 Minnesota Collegiate Entrepreneur Awards April 28 at St. Cloud State University. The award recognizes Minnesota undergraduates who own or run businesses. Keeley will advance to regional competition later this spring.
Dr. John Martens, Theology Department, is the author of a new book, The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television (J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc.
Larry McDonough, School of Law, also is a jazz pianist. On Friday, May 9, he'll celebrate the release of his second solo piano CD, "Tuscarora: Short Stories for Jazz Piano," with a CD release party and benefit at the Dakota, Bandana Square, St. Paul. There's a $10 cover charge. The new CD contains original music as well as arrangements of jazz, popular, religious and historical music in different times, signatures and harmonies. The CD and party are dedicated to the memory of Sen. Paul and Sheila Wellstone, their daughter Marcia Wellstone Magnuson, Mary McEvoy, Tom Lapic and William McLaughlin, who died in an Oct. 25, 2002, plane crash, and benefit Wellstone Action, a tax-exempt organization formed to carry on their work. For more about McDonough, visit his Web site.
Dr. Pamela Nice, Faculty Development Center, reports that her documentary, "Letters From Cairo," was shown at the annual international conference of the American Research Center in Egypt April 25.
Dr. Nick Nissley, Organization Learning and Development Department, has for three years served on the board of directors of Springboard for the Arts, a nonprofit service organization. Its mission is to provide affordable management information, consulting and training services for independent artists and Upper Midwest cultural organizations.
Nissley and his colleague, Dr. Steve Taylor of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, have been invited to present their video, "Me and My Dad: (Moving) Pictures on the Nature and Meaning of Work (in Progress)," at the Workshop on Aesthetics, Arts and Management sponsored by the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management in July in Nice, France. The video is an experimental approach (aesthetic reflection) on the role fathers play in shaping individual work identity and images of work.
Sociology students Jillian Berg, Valerie Clark, Rachel Fournelle and Julie Hatler presented their research at the annual meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society recently in Chicago. Their topics were varied and interesting:
Berg found that perpetrators of hate crimes are more likely to target gays and lesbians who are intoxicated and are more "out." Clark discovered that Caucasian women had the highest levels of AIDS knowledge and African-American women had the lowest. Fournelle's research showed that, even when controlling for students' GPAs, those who were working on a project with Ascension Parish and started their work early in the semester did better than students who didn't work in the community until later. Hatler learned that social activists develop their values early in life and then get connected to others like themselves through informal social networks.
All four students worked with Sociology Department members: Berg and Clark worked as co-authors with Dr. Lisa Waldner. Fournelle worked in a Partnership in Learning project with Dr. Meg Wilkes Karraker. Hatler worked with Dr. Ellen Kennedy in an independent study.
Undergraduate students participating in Chemistry Department research presented papers at the Winchell Undergraduate Research Symposium, which was held during the 71st annual meeting of the Minnesota Academy of Science April 25-26 at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus. Students, their advisers and projects included:
- Mark Ulrich (Dr. Rebecca Bilek, adviser), a talk on "Development of Methods for Investigation of Methane Precursors in Flooded Rice-Growing Plots"
- Gregg Schieffer (Dr. Tony Borgerding, adviser), a poster, "Comparing the Selectivity of the Aromatic Selective Laser Ionization Detector With a Photoionization Detector for Analysis of VOCs"
- Melissa Jone, Jonathan Maurer and Tyler Vanadurongvan (Dr. Tony Borgerding, adviser), a poster, "Exploration of Chromatographic Resolution Due to the Effect of Injection Pulse Duration"
- Emily Rolfes (Dr. J. Thomas Ippoliti, adviser), a talk, "Synthesis of a New Spiroindolinobenzopyran Photochromic Polymer"
- Bryan Piras (Dr. Thomas Marsh, adviser), a poster, "Self-Assembly and Streptavidin Decoration of Biotinylated G-Wires"
- Brooke Christensen (Dr. William Ojala, adviser), a poster, "The Structure and Solid-State Phase Transition Behavior of 3,40Bis(4-Chlorophenyl)Furoxan"
Serving as a judge in the symposium's Physical Sciences Section was Dr. Lynn Hartshorn, Chemistry Department.
Dr. Martin Warren, English Department, is the author of a newly published book, Asceticism in the Christian Transformation of Self in Margery Kempe, William Thorpe, and John Rogers (Edwin Mellen Press). The book explores the tensions between self-determination (the desire to be individually perfect) and the claims of community. Beginning in the desert in the early centuries of Christianity, the book focuses on medieval European Catholicism, considers innovatory aspects of Lollardy and Calvinism, and ends with the 17th-century figure of John Rogers.
