Professional Notes: March 2019

Trent Brager, Education and Social Sciences librarian, has been accepted for the 2019 Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL-2), held June 1-9 at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. His research proposal focuses on curriculum mapping as a means to effectively target and streamline library instruction for students in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology. IRDL is a partnership among the Loyola Marymount University William H. Hannon Library, the San José State University School of Information, and the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium. This project is made possible in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The entire cost of the Institute, including airfare and housing, is covered by the grant.

Paul Gavrilyuk, College of Arts and Sciences Aquinas Chair in Theology and Philosophy, organized the largest gathering of Orthodox Christian scholars in modern history. He delivered a presidential address at this conference, which was held in Romania in January 2019. He has also published a number of books and papers, including Cateheză şi Catehumenat în primele veacuri ale Bisericii, translated by Paula Ilaş and Daniela Bahrim and published by Iaşi: Doxologia in 2018; a Romanian translation of A History of the Catechumenate in the Early Church (Parsi: Cerf, 2008); “The Problem of Evil: Ancient Answers and Modern Discontents” in International Journal of Orthodox Theology, 9:4 (2018), 9-31. He peer reviewed “Divine Judgment in Pavel Florensky and Sergius Bulgakov” in International Journal of Orthodox Theology, 9:3 (2018), 9-31. He also peer reviewed pages 160-178 in “The Training for Dying and Death: A New Reading of Bulgakov’s Sophiology” in Christian Dying: Witnesses from the Tradition, edited by Matthew Levering and George Kalantzis and published by Wipf & Stock Publishers.

Michael Hollerich, College of Arts and Sciences theology program, published “Scripture and a Christian Empire,” pages 473-491 of The Oxford Handbook on Early Christian Biblical Interpretation, edited by Paul M. Blowers and Peter Martens and published by Oxford.

Matthew Kim, College of Arts and Sciences economics program, presented his research, co-authored with Sarah Hamersma, Syracuse University, "Does Early Food Insecurity Impede the Educational Access Needed to Become Food Secure?" at the Human Capital Research Collaborative, University of Minnesota, on Dec. 11, 2018.

Robert Koerpel, College of Arts and Sciences theology program, published his new book Maurice Blondel: Transforming Catholic Tradition.

David Landry, College of Arts and Sciences theology program, along with John Martens, published Inquiry into the New Testaments: Ancient Context to Contemporary Significance.

Amy Levad, College of Arts and Science theology program, published an article, “Repairing the Breach: Faith-Based Community Organizing to Dismantle Mass Incarceration.”

John Martens, College of Arts and Sciences theology program, published “Why Was Jesus Single?”, pages 181-202, in the volume The Single Life in the Roman and Later Roman World, edited by Sabine Huebner and Christian Laes and published by Cambridge University Press.

Mark Neuzil, College of Arts and Sciences, Communication and Journalism, was a featured speaker at the global conference, Writing for Change: Environmental Journalism Then and Now, sponsored by the Rachel Carson Center at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, in January 2019.

William Ojala, College of Arts and Sciences, Chemistry Department, is the author of a paper, “Intramolecular Geometry and Intermolecular Interactions of the CNO Group of Crystalline Benzonitrile Oxides:  A Comparison with Phenyl Cyanates, Phenyl Isocyanates, and Phenyl Azides,” accepted for publication by CrystEngComm, a journal dedicated to crystal engineering and solid-state chemistry published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.  The paper describes an Ojala research group project focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the self-assembly of reactive organic molecules to form crystalline solids.  Co-authors of the paper are Ojala group members and St. Thomas students Jaya Dhami, Kiersten Idzorek, Ryan Johnson, and Kaitlyn Van Auken.

Mary Rose O’Reilley, College of Arts and Sciences, professor emerita of English, published her debut novel, Bright Morning Stars, which won the Brighthorse Book Prize for fiction. With hints of the ghostly and gothic, this lyrical novel is notable for its ardor and dark, healing wit.

Jack Pugaczewski,graduate of the University of St. Thomas Graduate Program in Software, was awarded as the 2018 MEF Distinguished Fellow for his 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and numerous leadership positions.

Tyler Schipper, College of Arts and Sciences economics program, was invited to present his research on informality to a meeting of competition regulators in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The meeting, sponsored by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Inter-American Development Bank, included delegations from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Schipper spoke on the prevalence of informal firms in developing countries, and the policy complexities that they create for regulation authorities.

Gerald Schlabach, College of Arts and Sciences theology program, published an online article, “A ‘Manual’ for Escaping Our Vicious Cycles: The Political Relevance of Enemy-Love” in Modern Theology.

Heather Shirey, College of Arts and Sciences art history program, was named a finalist for the College Art Association’s prestigious Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award. Shirey contributed an essay, “What Does the Baiana Really Have?: The Baiana and Afro-Brazilian Identity” to the nominated exhibition catalogue, Axé Bahia: The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis.

Christopher Thompson, co-director of the Murphy Institute and professor of moral theology, presented a talk entitled “Reinvigorating Catholic Advocacy Through Integral Ecology” at the Integral Ecology Workshop at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C., in November 2018. His presentation explored the concept of integral ecology as both a representation of the natural law and to explore its possibilities as a repackaging of Catholic social teaching.

Herb Tousley, Opus College of Business director of real estate, is also the director of the Shenehon Center for Real Estate. Tousley publishes the Minneapolis/St. Paul Residential Real Estate Index, a monthly report on the Twin Cities housing market, and the Minnesota Commercial Real Estate Survey, a semiannual forward-looking sentiment survey of local industry leaders. These projects have led St. Thomas to be named the sixth-best real estate program in the United States.

Lisa Waldner, College of Arts and Sciences sociology and criminal justice program and associate dean, co-authored a textbook, Power, Politics, and Society: An Introduction to Political Sociology. This was published in February 2019. Waldner is also the author, with Betty A. Dobratz, Iowa State University, of the book chapter, “Rapport, Respect, and Dissonance: Studying the White Power Movement in the United States” in Researching Far Right Movements: Ethics, Methodologies, and Qualitative Inquiries, published by Routledge.

Christian Washburn, professor of dogmatic theology, delivered a paper entitled, “Fruitful Married Love” at a meeting of the national Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue held at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, in October 2018. In November 2018, he gave a talk entitled “Dogma as a Guide for Choosing Good and Avoiding Evil,” at the University Club of St. Paul.

Robert Werner, College of Arts and Sciences geography and environmental studies program, received the following grants: In October 2018, a proposal for $10,000 was funded from the Bush Foundation Event Sponsorship program to support the Dakota 38 + 2 horseback ride from the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota. In July 2018, together with Philip Isenberg of Olivet Congregational Church in St. Paul, Werner wrote a successful proposal for $7,500 to the HRK Foundation for Habitat for Humanity at Crow Creek.

Paul Wojda, College of Arts and Sciences theology program, published “Repair Work: Rethinking the Separation of Academic Moral Theologians and Catholic Health Care Ethicists,” which appeared as the lead essay in the Journal of Moral Theology, Vol. 8, No. 1 in January 2019, a volume dedicated to issues in the Catholic Health ministry.

Father Kevin Zilverberg, assistant professor of sacred scripture, co-edited the book, Approaches to Greek and Latin Language, Literature and History: Kατὰ σχολήν, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.