Bill Ojala, College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) chemistry program, presented along with other CAS and School of Engineering students at faculty at a University of Minnesota – Twin Cities research symposium in August. Ojala also presented a lecture, “Everything Solid-State in Three Weeks: CHEM296 in January Term 2018,” and a poster, “Intramolecular Geometry and Intermolecular Interactions of the CNO Group of Crystalline Benzonitrile Oxides: A Comparison with Phenyl Cyanates, Phenyl Isocyanates, and Phenyl Azides,” at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, held July 20-24 in Toronto. Co-authors of the poster were Ojala group members and St. Thomas students Jaya Dhami, Kiersten Idzorek, Ryan Johnson and Kaitlyn Van Auken.
Cynthia Sarver, Changemaking for the Common Good, Center for the Common Good, received a Collaboration Fund Grant from Ashoka U that will support her work in fall 2018 at the University of Northampton, U.K., another Ashoka U Changemaker Campus. The grant focuses on “changemaker attributes,” or the qualities individuals need to successfully engage in changemaking. The project’s aim is to study the evolution of Northampton’s Changemaker Campus ecosystem vis-à-vis changemaker attributes in order to provide a road map for constructing a St. Thomas-specific set of changemaker attributes with campus stakeholders in spring 2019.
David Kelley of the College of Arts and Sciences’ geography and environmental studies programs received the organization's Distinguished Educator Award at the 2018 Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Annual Conference held in Duluth, Minnesota, Oct. 3-5.
David Kelley and Paul Lorah, College of Arts and Sciences geography and environmental studies programs, attended the 2018 GIS/LIS Consortium Annual Conference, Oct. 4-5, in Duluth, Minnesota, with seven students. Senior Alice Ready received a second place award and $600 in the undergraduate student research competition for her research: "Analyzing Spatial Patterns of Controlled Burns using UAVs." Kelley, who serves on the consortium’s scholarship committee, served as judge for the graduate student research competition.
David C. Williard of the College of Arts and Sciences’ history program was voted by the Aquinas Scholars members as the 2017-2018 Honors Professor of the Year. He is one of 19 professors to receive that honor since its inception in 1993.
Jeni McDermott of the College of Arts and Sciences biology program attended a short course in August at the University of California, Berkeley's Sagehen Creek Field Station titled, "Geomorphic & Ecological Fundamentals of River & Stream Restoration." The short course brought together academics and industry professionals from across the U.S. and the world (Mexico, Turkey) to learn techniques and pitfalls regarding river restoration.
Jessica P. Hodge, College of Arts and Sciences sociology and criminal justices program, had a peer-reviewed journal article published titled, “Examining the blue line in the rainbow: The interactions and perceptions of law enforcement among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities" in Police Practice and Research: An International Journal.
Jill Manske of the College of Arts and Sciences biology program has been appointed to the Subcommittee on Masters and Undergraduate Degrees in Global Health for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH). CUGH is an organization of over 170 academic institutions and other organizations from around the world engaged in addressing global health challenges.
Joseph Brom, College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry professor emeritus, has published an article in the September 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education titled "Orbital Configuration: Terms, States, and Configuration State Functions."
Ray MacKenzie, College of Arts and Sciences English program, has published a new translation of Alphonse de Lamartine’s 1849 novel, Graziella (University of Minnesota Press). The book includes an extensive introduction and notes, as well as an appendix.
Robert J. Werner, emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences geography program, wrote a successful grant proposal to the Central Electric Cooperative in South Dakota for radon mitigation in the volunteer center of Dacotah Tipis Habitat for Humanity on the Crow Creek Reservation. Together with Philip Isenberg of Olivet Congregational Church in St. Paul, Bob and Philip also succeeded in fundraising $50,000 for Habitat for Humanity. Werner also wrote a successful grant proposal to the Benedictine Foundation of Watertown, South Dakota, for $3,000 to fund a furnace for a family on the Crow Creek Reservation in Fort Thompson.
Tim Lewis, College of Arts and Sciences biology program, has been named an 18-19 Presidential Fellow by the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA). Dr. Lewis was announced as St. Thomas’ first senior international officer and associate vice provost for global learning and strategy in February 2017. His role was created to address internationalization goals set forth in St. Thomas 2020: Living Our Mission, Expanding Our Horizon.
Will Cavert, College of Arts and Sciences history program, in May read from his award-winning book The Smoke of London: Energy and Environment in the Early Modern City at Common Good Books in St. Paul. In August his article was published: William M. Cavert, "London and England's Early Modernity: A Review of Recent Scholarship," History Compass 16:8 (August 2018). On Oct. 17 he served as an invited panelist speaking to doctoral students on "Turning a Dissertation into a Book" at an international conference in Munich, hosted by the Deutsches Museum and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society.
