Professional notes
Father William Baer, St. John Vianney College Seminary, will receive the annual Pope John Paul II Catholic Servant of the Third Millennium Award from the Catholic Servant newspaper at the 11th annual benefit for the publication on March 31. The award recognizes Baer's "dedication and diligent efforts toward vocations to the priesthood."
Dr. Stephen Brookfield, School of Education, is the author of chapters on "Ideological Formation and Oppositional Possibilities of Self-Directed Learning" and "Reclaiming Critical Thinking as Ideology Critique" in The Praeger Handbook of Education and Psychology, edited by J.L. Kincheloe and R.A. Horn (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007).
Robert Franklin, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, retired March 16 from the Star Tribune, where he had worked for nearly 40 years as a reporter, assistant city editor, city editor and state editor. Franklin was one of 24 newsroom employees who left the paper with its change in ownership. He also is a former Associated Press reporter and has taught one course each regular semester at St. Thomas since 1985.
Dr. Camille George and Dr. Jeff Jalkio, School of Engineering, were invited speakers at the 14th annual spring professional development seminar sponsored by the Minnesota section of the Society of Women Engineers. George's talk was titled "Engagement Opportunities for Sustainable Engineering: A Three-Year Global Reflection," and Jalkio's was titled "What the Liberal Arts and Engineering Can Learn from One Another."
Dr. Mel Gray, Finance Department, presented a paper, "The Economics of Norwegian Theater," at a session on empirical industrial organization at the annual meeting of the Midwest Economics Association recently in Minneapolis. He also chaired the session and served as a discussant in another, on industrial organization.
Dr. Michael Hennessey, School of Engineering, and Dr. Sameer Kumar, Opus College of business, are authors of a refereed journal article, "Integrated Graphical Game and Simulation-Type Problem-Based Learning in Kinematics," published in the International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education (Vol. 34, No. 3, Pages 220-232). The paper describes a mimimum-time optimization problem pertaining to sailing that was studied by students in a kinematics course. Hennessey also presented this work at a conference three years ago at Macalester College.
Dr. J. Thomas Ippoliti, Chemistry Department, was invited to give a talk, "A New ELISA Protocol," to R & D Systems. The new protocol was based in research performed by undergraduate students last summer directed by Ippoliti and Dr. Kathy Olson, Chemistry Department. Ippoliti presented synthesis of other new diagnostic molecules as well. The talk led to a new collaborative research project to begin this spring.
Dr. Meg Wilkes Karraker, Sociology and Criminal Justice Department, is the newest member of the American Sociological Association's Department Resource Group, a cadre of trained consultants to make departmental visits to assist with reviews, evaluations, curriculum building and program development.
Dr. Bruce Kramer, School of Education, has just published his first book, Leading Through the Quagmire: Ethical Foundations, Critical Methods and Practical Applications for School Leadership (Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2007). Co-written with Ernestine Enomoto of the University of Hawaii-Manoa, this book draws upon democratic ethics as a way to negotiate the ethical dilemmas of leadership. Take a closer look.
Dr. Buffy Smith, Sociology and Criminal Justice Department, is the author of an article, "Accessing Social Capital through the Academic Mentoring Process," published in Equity & Excellence in Education, Vol. 40, No. 1, pages 36-46.
