Professional Notes

Professional notes

Dr. William Banfield, Endowed Chair in Humanities and Fine Arts, is the author of a new book, Black Notes: Essays of a Musician Writing in a Post-Album Age (Scarecrow Press, November 2004). Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., chair of Harvard's African American Studies Department, calls it a "must read" and "a book from which to learn and by which to teach." Banfield will talk about the book at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, at Barnes & Noble Booksellers' Highland Park store, 2080 Ford Parkway, St. Paul. He's also profiled in an article, "With All Strings Attached: Composer William C. Banfield Notes the Clash of Artistry and Commerce While Weaving Together a World of Music," in the Dec. 16 issue of Black Issues in Higher Education, Vol. 21, No. 22, pages 24-27 (click here to read it online).

Dr. Mitchell Kusy, Organization Learning and Development, was a visiting professor at Henley Management College in London in early December. Henley has the largest distance-learning MBA program in the world. Kusy lectured to several MBA and doctoral classes regarding his latest research on leadership errors. In addition, he also consulted with faculty on the most effective ways to deliver virtual learning to graduate students – modeling benchmarked standards for success through demonstration, dialogue and best practices. He also gave a presentation to Henley Management College's distance-learning MBA class in Stockholm. While in Sweden, he worked with college leaders to determine potential ways of partnership.

Joe Landsberger, Information Resources and Technologies, was an invited presenter and mentor for 65 learning-support professionals at the Winter Institute Jan. 3-7 at the University of Texas-Austin. The institute is dedicated to feature and promote best practices in support of students in higher education through learning and academic support centers.

Larry McDonough, School of Law, and his quartet, gave a free holiday show in December at the Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant in Minneapolis.

Jan Malcheski, Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library, is the author of a recent article, "Assessing Library Performance in a New Landscape, or 'How did We Do Today?'" in Theological Education, Vol. 40, No. 1, pages 113-126. The issue focused on "New Directions for the Timeless Quest – Theological Libraries in an Era of Change."

Jane Shriver, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center, recently served on the Indexing of Bibliographic Records Working Group of the MINITEX/Minnesota State Library Standards Review Task Force. The group revised and expanded the standards for indexing in online library catalogs throughout the state.

Dr. Rick Smith, Quantitative Methods and Computer Science Department, served as moderator of a session, "Innovative Design," at the 20th annual Computer Security Applications Conference in December in Tucson, Ariz.

Dr. Fred Zimmerman, School of Engineering, gave a talk, "The Importance of Manufacturing to Minnesota's Economy," at the Dec. 15 meeting of the East Minneapolis Exchange Club. On Jan. 5, he was the keynote speaker at the 2005 kickoff meeting of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers; he spoke on "The Status of World Manufacturing in 2005."