Communication and Journalism professor Bernard Armada teaches class on the steps of O'Shaughness-Frey Library.

Professional Notes: Oct. 31

Bob Werner, Emeritus, College of Arts and Sciences, Geography and Environmental Studies, wrote a successful proposal to the Home Depot Foundation to repair the roofs and siding of two Native American veterans on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Bill Ojala, College of Arts and Sciences, Chemistry program, submitted a paper to the Crystal Growth and Design journal, a publication of the American Chemical Society, that has been accepted for publication. In his undergraduate research lab at St. Thomas, he and his students investigate the structures and solid-state reactivity of organic compounds. The work Ojala describes in his paper was part of his ongoing investigation into whether molecules that are chemically different but that nevertheless have similar sizes and shapes might be arranged in similar molecular patterns in their respective crystals.

Catherine Marrs Fuchsel, School of Social Work, had an article published in the Journal of Family Violence. This was also presented at the 2019 Latino Social Work Organization Conference at the University of Illinois in Chicago on September 26, 2019. Title of Manuscript: Marrs Fuchsel, C. (2019), "Sí, Yo Puedo (Yes, I Can) Curriculum and Empowerment Program for Immigrant Latina Women in Group Settings: Utilization of the Program at a Police Department." Journal of Family Violence, 1-13.

David Kelley, College of Arts and Sciences, Geography and Environmental Studies, attended the 2019 GIS/LIS Consortium annual conference, Oct. 3-4, in St. Cloud, MN, with four undergraduate students. Senior Vincent DeSerto received a second place award and $600 in the undergraduate student research competition for his research: "Detecting photovoltaic solar panels in Santa Barbara, California using high spatial resolution spectroscopic imagery." Kelley, who serves on the consortium’s Scholarship committee, served as judge for the graduate student research competition and presented a talk: "DEMs, DSMs, and Orthomosaics from Drone Data using ArcGIS Pro."

Hans Gustafson, Director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning in the College of Arts and Sciences, recently published "The Silent Witness of Intuition: Pansacramentality, Interreligious Encounter, and a Fractal Interpretation of Religious Diversity," in New Paths for Interreligious Theology: Perry Schmidt-Leukel's Fractal Interpretation of Religious Diversity, edited by Alan Race and Paul Knitter (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2019), 66-84.

John Wendt, Professor Emeritus, Ethics and Business Law, is the author of a note entitled, "Wrestling with Referees: Halter v. Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association" that was recently published in "Legal Issues in High School Athletics."

Kanishka Chowdhury, College of Arts and Sciences, American Culture and Difference program, recently released a book, Human Rights Discourse in the Post-9/11 Age. This book offers a materialist critique of mainstream human rights discourse in the period following 9/11, examining literary works, critical histories, international declarations, government statutes, NGO manifestos, and a documentary film.

Mark Neuzil, College of Arts and Sciences, Emerging Media program, wrote about the importance of observation in environmental journalism for the Rachel Carson Center at Maximilian University in Munich, Germany.

Shersten Johnson, College of Arts and Sciences, Music program, published “Embodied Rhythm and Musical Impact of Ritualized Violence in 20th-century Opera,” in the Oxford Handbook on Music and the Body, ed. S. Gilman and Y. Kim (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019).