Faculty Highlights

Klotz completed her doctorate in social psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and served as a faculty member at UNC, Rutgers University and the University of Florida before joining the Susquehanna faculty in 1990. Her current research addresses interpersonal communication, and she has a distinguished record of publication and collaborations with students. She has also served as the faculty advisor for the Psychology Club and Psi Chi, the national psychology honor society.

Whitman, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, completed his doctorate in philosophy at Brown University in 1991. He served on the faculty at West Point and Mount Saint Mary College before coming to Susquehanna in 1995. He specializes in the theory of knowledge and applied ethics and has recently become a member of the Bioethics and Review Committee at PennState Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. His latest book, The Power and Value of Philosophical Skepticism, was published this year by Rowman and Littlefield.

Professor Donald Housley has been appointed Charles B. Degenstein Professor in History. The chair is one of several professorships at Susquehanna endowed through the generosity of retired Weis Market executive Degenstein. Housley earned a B.A. from Houghton College, an M.A. from the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. from Penn State University. The appointment recognizes his outstanding contribution as a teacher and historian in the 31 years since he joined the faculty as an instructor in 1967. He also served as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences from 1985 until 1993 when he returned to full-time teaching. He is the University archivist and is conducting research for a new history of Susquehanna. The appointment includes an annual stipend to be used for research, professional travel and other forms of professional development.

Associate Professor of Modern Languages Leona Martin and Assistant Professor of Modern Languages Wanda Cordero-Ponce collaborated with students, colleagues and community members to present the third annual campus Latino conference, "Con Una Voz -- With One Voice," in October 1997. They also coordinated "Reconstructing the Past, Reaching for the Future," an oral history project for area Latino high school students. Participants recorded histories of their families and others to discover the Latino community's origins and individual immigration experiences. The Aid Association for Lutherans has awarded grants to support the oral history project and a fourth Latino conference in 1998-99.

William A. Ward, Alan R. Warehime professor of business administration, served as one of two civilian distinguished visiting professors at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point during the 1997-98 academic year. The academy honored Ward with a distinguished public service medal, the military academy's top civilian award. The award recognized his professional expertise, dedication to duty, and desire for excellence as an instructor to cadets, a mentor to faculty, and advisor to senior management in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. A widely recognized scholar, Ward specializes in international business and strategy and has done extensive research on Japan, China and Russia.

Assistant Professor of Communications Catherine Hastings participated in C-SPAN's Winter 1998 Seminar for Professors. Designed for faculty from diverse disciplines including political science, journalism, speech, communications and public policy, the seminar focused on creative ways to use C-SPAN's public affairs programming in the college classroom and in research.

Assistant Professor of History George Wei is initiating development of a new emphasis in Asian Studies at Susquehanna.

Assistant Professor of History George Wei recently had his book, Sino-American Economic Relations, 1944-49, published by Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. A specialist in East Asian history and United States-China relations, Wei joined the faculty in 1997 and is initiating development of a new emphasis in Asian Studies at Susquehanna. He has attended several recent conferences including the China Consortium meeting at Valparaiso University, "Chinese Minorities and Borderland Archives and Modern Chinese Historiography" at the University of Maryland in College Park, and "The Nanking 1937 Conference" at Princeton University.

Associate Professor of Economics Antonin Rusek has had an active year of publishing and presentations, including two papers, "Czech Economic Crisis: Policy's Revenge" and "Public Policy and Economic Growth" at the 45th International Atlantic Economic Conference in Rome in March. He also directed the macroeconomic section of the conference on Economic Growth and Restructuring in the Czech Republic, sponsored by the Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic, where he presented a paper, "Medium Term Perspectives of the Czech Economy." His opinion pieces on NATO expansion have appeared in numerous newspapers, including The Journal of Commerce.

Sidra Ezrahi, an internationally recognized scholar of Jewish literature and the Holocaust, joined the Susquehanna faculty as a visiting professor of literature for the spring 1998 semester. The noted lecturer, educator and author holds an M.A. and Ph.D from Brandeis University. She is an associate professor at both Hebrew University's Institute of Contemporary Jewry and Rothberg School for Overseas Students and has also served recently in visiting positions at Princeton and Duke universities. At Susquehanna, Ezrahi taught two courses and presented a public lecture on the influence that the exile and subsequent homecoming of the Jewish people had on Jewish literature. Her stay helped lay groundwork for a proposed emphasis in Jewish Studies at the University. Assistant Professor of English Laurence Roth, Assistant Professor of History Gabriel Finder and Assistant Professor of Religion Karla Bombach are taking an active role in the initiative with assistance from University Chaplain Mark Wm. Radecke and Rabbi David L. Silverman, lecturer in religion and rabbi at Temple Beth El in Sunbury.

Assistant Professor of Music Valerie Martin conducts a private lesson with Lauren Urquhart '99.

The Susquehanna Symphonic Band, under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands Valerie Martin performed at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) Conference in Erie in April. In February the band hosted the University's Sixth Annual Honors Band Festival featuring 148 student musicians from 78 schools and eight different states. Martin conducted the Honors Wind Ensemble and Assistant Professor of Music Peter Dennee conducted the Honors Symphonic Band. Dennee presented three papers in the spring of 1998 at the biennial convention of the Music Educators National Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., and at state conferences in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Professor of English and director of the University Writers' Institute Gary Fincke has served as both a mentor and a model for students in the University's new writing major. During the past year, he published 56 poems, four short stories and five essays. He also produced a bi-weekly series of columns in The Daily Item, many of which have been syndicated nationally through the Scripps-Howard News Service. He received the 1997 Rose Lefcowitz Prize for poetry and two of his pieces have also been chosen for both the 1997 Best American Essays and the Pushcart Prize annual.

Associate Professor of Psychology Tom Martin is the University's new acting dean of arts and sciences.

Associate Professor of Psychology Thomas Martin has been appointed acting dean of the School of Arts and Sciences to fill a vacancy left by former Dean Laurie Crumpacker, who has assumed the position of dean of arts and sciences at Wheelock College in Boston. Martin, who earned a B.S. from Eastern Mennonite College and the M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska, joined the faculty in 1987. A licensed clinical psychologist, he supervises the practicum program for psychology majors. He has been an active researcher and has recently collaborated with faculty at Yaroslavl State University to develop a Russian-language version for the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, an American standardized personality test.

Associate Professor of Biology Thomas Peeler has been awarded a three-year, $104,000 research grant by the National Institutes of Health. The grant will fund Peeler's studies on how blood pressure affects the heart. Peeler is the coordinator of the University's Summer Research Partners Program which employs Susquehanna students as research assistants. He has conducted cardiac cell research for the past seven years in collaboration with Dr. Ken Baker of Geisinger Medical Center's Weis Center for Research.

Assistant Professor of Music Nina Tober performed as soprano soloist with the professional early music consort Voces Novae et Antique, singing music of Michael Haydn, William Billings and Johannes Herbst in April at the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. She joined the consort again in June to perform another series of concerts as soloist in Charles Ives' "The Celestial Country."