Charles B. Degenstein Distinguished Professor of Communications James D. Sodt received the 1997 Susquehanna University Award for Teaching. Sodt, who joined the faculty in 1991, earned his doctorate from Syracuse University. He had more than a decade of industry experience with AT&T in areas ranging from strategic planning and marketing to account management and product development in international communications services. He has played a key role in the development of the public relations program at Susquehanna, and has also led the development of a new program in corporate communications. He has been the director of the University's Honors Program for the past four years.
Associate Professor of Biology Tom Peeler, left, works with summer research student Thane McCann '97. |
Associate Professor of Biology Thomas Peeler received the 1997 Horn Award for outstanding scholarship and service to the University. Peeler came to Susquehanna in 1990 following doctoral and postdoctoral studies in cell and molecular biology at Duke University. He continues research work at the Sigfried and Janet Weis Research Center of the PennState Geisinger Medical Center in Danville and is currently conducting a three-year research program funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has also worked with faculty colleagues to initiate a Partner-in-Research Program to support summer opportunities for faculty-student collaborative research.
Assistant Professor of Political Science Brooke Harlowe and Associate Professor and Head of Education Pat Nelson secured a competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop and implement the University's "Focus" Program. The initiative will build on the success of "Focus: Ecuador," an interdisciplinary sequence that combines studies in political science, environmental science and modern languages with winter-break travel/study abroad. Grant funds will provide for curricular development, faculty travel to potential project sites, and program evaluation for three regional components: "Focus: Andean Region," coordinated by Associate Professor of Spanish Leona Martin, "Focus: Caribbean," by Assistant Professor of French Adam John, and "Focus: South Africa," by Assistant Professor of History Dwayne Williams.
Martin and colleagues Assistant Professor of Spanish Wanda Cordero-Ponce, Director of Multicultural Affairs Leslie Perkins and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Laurie Crumpacker have been instrumental in continuing Susquehanna's outreach programs to the Latino population in central Pennsylvania. A community dialog, "Between Two Worlds and Beyond," partially supported by a grant from the American Association of Colleges and Universities, culminated a yearlong series of gatherings designed in collaboration with local schools, libraries, and social agencies. The initiative will enter its third year in October 1997, with "Con Una Voz/With One Voice," a community forum, arts festival and a gala dinner-dance on the Susquehanna campus.
Chaplain to the University, the Reverend Mark Wm. Radecke meets with students Michele Whitley '98 and Jake Waybright '98. |
The Rev. Mark William Radecke, former senior pastor of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Roanoke, Va., was named chaplain to Susquehanna University. A graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, he is completing the requirements for the master of sacred theology degree at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. He has also served as an adjunct professor of religion at Roanoke College and president of the board of directors of Lutheran Family Services of Virginia. He succeeds the Rev. Christopher Thomforde who became president of Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. The Rev. Dr. E. Raymond Shaheen '37, special assistant to the president, served as interim chaplain.
Science faculty have had a successful year securing outside funding for research and curricular initiatives. Assistant Professor of Biology Dave Richard received a $106,000 Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his research on hormones in regulating reproductive development of fruitflies. Noel Watkins '97 and Jennifer Jones '99 have assisted in the project.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Katherine Miller received a $100,560 AREA grant from the NIH Eye Institute to support a study of the enzyme lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase. The enzyme affects the build-up of cholesterol in arteries and is a factor in several genetic diseases.
Professors Robert Nylund and Neil Potter and Assistant Professor Chris Janzen of the chemistry department secured a National Science Foundation's Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement grant to purchase a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The spectrometer will be used to incorporate new technology throughout the chemistry curriculum.
Associate Professor of History Linda McMillin was selected from applicants nationwide to participate in the 1997 Institute on Medieval Women sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The summer session at Rice University focused on mystical and other writings by medieval religious women. McMillin continues collaborative work and team teaching with Assistant Professor of English Karen Mura. They took students to present papers at the Plymouth State Medieval Conference in Plymouth, N.H., for the third year.
Associate Professor of Economics Antonin Rusek presented papers on "Economic Growth in CEFTA Countries" and "Financial Openness and Economic Policy" at the 43rd International Atlantic Economic Conference in London in March. He also attended the NATO Economics Colloquium in Brussels. Rusek and Alan R. Warehime Distinguished Professor of Management William Ward participated in "Russia's Future as a World Power," the 8th Annual Strategy Conference hosted by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. Ward also served as faculty member in residence for the second year of the Sigmund Weis School of Business Fall Semester-in-London program for junior business majors.
An essay by Professor of English Gary Fincke, "A Punishment Seminar," is a finalist for a 1997 Pushcart Prize for outstanding work published by small presses in the preceding year. The essay appeared in Shenandoah. Another Fincke essay, "The Pagoda Sightlines," originally published in The Literary Review, was selected as a finalist for the 1996 edition of Best American Essays. Fincke is director of the University's Writers' Institute, which sponsors an annual Visiting Writer Series, a summer writing workshop for high school students, and the The Apprentice Writer, an annual publication featuring outstanding samples of writing by high school students.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy Jeff Whitman had a new book, The Power and Value of Philosophical Skepticism, published by Rowman and Littlefield. Whitman has also become a member of the Bioethics and Review Committee at Penn State Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
Assistant Professor of Music David Mattingly's new edition of piano music by the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, The Szymanowski Collection, was published in April by Universal Edition of Vienna. He was also the featured artist at the Autunnale Festival of Contemporary Music in Bergen, Norway, performing solo piano works by American composers in addition to his own composition, "Tor."
Associate Professor of Marketing Paul Dion was recognized as one of the top researchers in the field of industrial marketing in a November 1996 review conducted by the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing. His recent articles include "Women in the Business-to-Business Salesforce: Some Performance Factors," in Industrial Marketing Management, and "A Life-Cycle Approach to Marketing Financial Products and Services," in the Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings.
Visiting Assistant Professor in Communications and Theatre Arts Deborah Jean Templin received a 1996 Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre. Awarded by the Performing Arts League of Philadelphia, the award recognized Templin as Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Kay Goodman in a Philadelphia Area Repertory Theatre production of Night Club Confidential. Templin was stage director for several student theatrical productions at the University.
The Sigmund Weis School of Business women's mentor program recently celebrated its sixth year under the direction of Associate Professor of Management Mary Cianni. |
Associate Professor of Management Mary Cianni's co-authored article, "Job Training Experiences of Black and White Women, 1970-1991," has been selected as the featured article for an upcoming edition of the Human Resource Development Quarterly. Another co-authored article, "Individual Growth and Team Enhancement: Moving Toward a New Model of Career Development," appeared in the February-April issue of Academy of Management Executive magazine. Cianni is also director of the Sigmund Weis School of Business Women's Mentor Program, which recently celebrated its sixth year anniversary.
Assistant Professor of History Dwayne Williams and Susquehanna students Adaarema Sparks '99 and Jon Clark '98 presented a week-long campus symposium, "Breaking the Barriers," commemorating the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's becoming the first African-American to play major league baseball. Williams and Sparks also co-authored and presented a paper, "Big Ben: Hoops, Hope, and Identity in Chicago's African American Community" at an international symposium on the role of sports in society in Memphis, Tenn., in November.