Professional Notes

Professional notes

Anne Bartel and Dr. Lucy Payne, School of Education (Teacher Education   Department), together with Dr. Nancy Desmond of Hamline University and Dr. Cathy Wick of Minnesota State University-Mankato, presented “Understanding Standards: What’s Your Method in Methods?” Oct. 19 at the fall conference of the Minnesota Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Also representing St. Thomas at the conference were Dr. Melissa Loe, Dr. Jeff McLean and Dr. Lisa Rezac, College of Arts and Sciences (Mathematics Department), and students Eyerusalem Woldegebreal, John Engstrom, May Vang, Amber Picone, Sarah Helfert, Andrea LaVallie, Fiona Lodge, Josh Smokovitz, Brionna Meisner, Allison Young, Anna Dunning, Ashley Perron, Ashley Tuttle, Bethany Pederson, Claire Berchem, Emily van Acker, Jennifer Cloud, Kim Aune, Laura Thornton, Linnea Dahlin, Maggie Crowley, Melissa Marcellus, Renee Husman, Sarah Lind and Stephanie DeGonda.

Father James Burns, College of Applied Professional Studies (Graduate School of Professional Psychology), presented “Facing Adversity, Hearts Full of Hope: Psychological and Emotional Issues of Roman Catholic Clergy” last month at the Presbyteral Convocation of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. In November he will present “ Historical Context of Parish Transitions in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston,” “Adult Parishioners Telling Their Stories” and “ Clergy Resilience and Burnout in the Face of Adversity” at the Religious Research Association/Society for the Scientific Study of Religion joint annual conference in Tampa, Fla. In February/March 2008 he will present “Health and Resilience in Roman Catholic Clergy Facing Trauma” and “Helping Clergy Achieve Healthy Psychological Integration” at the American Psychological Association Division 36 annual midyear research conference on religion and spirituality in Columbia, Md. Burns has also been accepted as a candidate for diplomate status in counseling psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and for behavioral medicine by the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine, Counseling and Psychotherapy. Additionally, he was requested to study psychological and emotional issues related to clergy by the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Cleveland, Ohio, and Tucson, Ariz.; the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America; the New England Conference of the Church of the Nazarene and of the United Methodist Church; and the Paulist Fathers of New England.

Dr. Bruce Gleason , College of Arts and Science (Music Education Department), is the author of an article, “Mounted Musicians of the Union Army in the Civil War,” published in the October edition of North and South: The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society. This article first appeared in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education and has been condensed and popularized for North and South.

Dr. Ameeta Jaiswal-Dale , Opus College of Business (Finance Department) and Dr. Gordon Bodnar of the Johns Hopkins University have teamed up with Dr. Costanza Consolandi and Dr. Giampaolo Gabbi from the University of Siena, Italy, to conduct a survey of Italian firms, “Financial Risk Management and the Use of Derivative Instruments by Italian Non-Financial Firms.” The team plans to publish the survey results by the end of summer next year. The survey's authors first studied U.S. firms and their survey was implemented at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Its results have been published in Financial Management (winter 1996 and 1998 issues) and are useful to academics and practitioners. They have been cited widely in Barrons, Business Week, Financial Times, The Economist, Forbes and the Washington Post. German and Dutch firms also have been surveyed.

Dr. Pamela Nice, Center for Faculty Development, was interviewed on the Arab cultural television program “ Bel Ahdan” about the controversial book Desiring Arabs.

Dr. Meg Wilkes Karraker, College of Arts and Sciences (Sociology and Criminal Justice Department), and student Lisa Brimmer attended the annual meetings of Sociologists of Minnesota this month at the University of Minnesota.