Category Archives: Faculty News

2013 Faculty and Staff Achievement Award Winners

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Myla Edmond| Leave a comment

CAS Faculty and Staff Achievement Awards logo

The College of Arts and Sciences is delighted to announce this year’s winners of the 2013 Faculty and Staff Achievement Awards. All honorees are extremely deserving for their dedication, innovation and wonderful ways that they serve WMU. They will be recognized on Thursday, March 21, at 3:30 p.m. in the Humanities Center. All are welcome to attend.

Staff Excellence Awards
Laura Decker, Department of English
Lauretta Eisenbach, Department of Anthropology
Andrew Phelps, Information Technology
Sue Simons, Department of Mathematics
Yumi Takahashi-Ede, CAS Advising Office
Kathy Wright, Department of Geosciences

Faculty Achievement Awards

Diversity and Inclusion Recognition Award
Dr. Mariam Konaté, Gender and Women’s Studies
Dr. Timothy Ready, Department of Sociology and Director of Lewis Walker Institute

Gender Scholar Award
Dr. Ann Miles, Department of Sociology

Global Engagement
Dr. Sisay Asefa, Department of Economics
Dr. Nora Berrah, Department of Physics
Dr. Mercedes Tasende, Department of Spanish

Professional and Community Service
Dr. Dwayne Channell, Department of Mathematics
Dr. Lisa DeChano-Cook, Department of Geography
Dr. Alan Kehew, Department of Geosciences

Research and Creative Activity
Dr. Steven Lipkin, School of Communication
Dr. Susan Pozo, Department of Economics
Dr. Allen Webb, Department of English

Teaching
Dr. Lynne Heasley, Environmental Studies Program and Department of History
Dr. Carla Koretsky, Department of Geosciences, Environmental Studies Program and Lee Honors College
Dr. Gwen Tarbox, Department of English

Posted in Faculty News, Staff Spotlight

One of the Year’s Most Notable Translations Published by WMU’s Jeffrey Angles

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Myla Edmond| Leave a comment

Jeffrey Angles, an associate professor of Japanese in the WMU Department of World Languages and Literatures and director of the Soga Japan Center, recently published Twelve Views from the Distance,  a translation of the memoirs of Mr. Mutsuo Takahashi, one of Japan’s most important contemporary poets and writers. World Literature Today named Angles’ work as one of the year’s 75 notable translations and it is also a finalist for the 2013 Lamba Literary Award in the Gay Memoir/Biography category.

Twelve Views from the Distance is the story of a boy in a poor, rural family in southwestern Japan living through the worst years of the Japanese empire, World War II, and the postwar era.  Angles commented that when he read Takahashi’s memoirs for the first time as a graduate student, they haunted him.  “Not only is the book populated by beautiful and tragic characters, the descriptions of life in the countryside are so rich and vivid that it feels like the scenes are unrolling right before the reader’s eyes.”

Angles is planning to bring Takahashi to WMU in September 2013 as part of a larger book tour to promote the new translation.  He said, “I am excited to bring such a dynamic and brilliant writer to Michigan.  I promise that readers who hear his stories of war, depravation, and self-discovery will find them utterly unforgettable.”

Read a short excerpt from Angles’ translation of Twelve Views from the Distance.

 

Posted in Faculty News, Globally Engaged

Core Math Tools Project Featured by the National Science Foundation

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Myla Edmond| Leave a comment
Christian Hirsch

Hirsch

The National Science Foundation is featuring a mathematics software design and development effort based at Western Michigan University. The Core Math Tools Project is a transformative tool that levels the playing field for all students by providing ready access to mathematical and statistical software. After almost 10 years of cycles of research, development and classroom testing, the effort is being featured as an NSF Highlight. Information regarding the software will be distributed to the media, other federal agencies, Congress and will be promoted in NSF publications and other outlets.

Dr. Christian Hirsch, WMU professor of mathematics and math curriculum innovator, is the principal investigator on the project. His former doctoral student, Dr. Brin Keller, associate professor at Michigan State University, coded the software and is the co-principal investigator. Other significant contributors to the design of Core Math Tools included WMU doctoral student, Nicole Fonger, and two WMU staff members of the Core-Plus Mathematics Project, James Laser and Beth Ritsema.

According to Hirsch the outcome of the work enables school districts to overcome long-standing financial constraints and provides equitable access to state-of-the art mathematics learning tools. Teachers and students can access the software in any location with internet access, including mathematics classrooms, school and local libraries, and in private homes. The software can be downloaded at no cost to a school or home computer and is self-updating whenever connected to the internet.

“The tools are already influencing the nature of mathematics teaching and learning and mathematics teacher preparation nationally,” Hirsch says. Core Math Tools is a suite of Java-based software tools that include general purpose tools—a spreadsheet, a computer algebra system (CAS), interactive (dynamic) geometry, data analysis, and simulation tools—together with more topic-focused Custom Apps and Advanced Apps for triangle congruence and similarity, data modeling, linear programming, 3D visualization, contour mapping, and more. Core Math Tools is unique in providing a single linked tool set that supports the full range of contemporary high school mathematics. The design promotes the important mathematical and scientific practice of selecting and strategically using software tools.

The project has produced a suite of interactive mathematical and statistical software tools that are now freely available at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics website. The free software and accompanying website content are designed to help high school teachers and their students meet the new Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

Core Math Tools

Students use Core Math Tools

Core Math Tools evolved from decades of ongoing mathematics education innovation at WMU. Hirsch and his multi-university team of mathematics curriculum specialists have been developing and refining a problem-based, inquiry-oriented mathematics curriculum, Core-Plus Mathematics, since 1992. Their goal has been to develop and support implementation of an international-caliber high school mathematics program that will meet the nation’s current and future needs. The four-year textbook series is published by McGraw-Hill Education.

The Core-Plus Mathematics Project was also funded by the NSF. It has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as an exemplary program and singled out by the Business Higher Ed Forum as “one that works and can make a difference in U.S. schools and can enhance U.S. competitiveness.”

Posted in Discovery Driven, Faculty News

Two faculty from College named Fulbright Scholars

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

Two WMU College of Arts and Sciences faculty members received prestigious Fulbright Program awards to work overseas during the 2011-12 academic year. WMU’s 2011-12 Fulbright grant recipients were awarded a combination of short- and long-term grants.

Dr. Bill Cobern (left) talking with students during his Fulbright travels to Turkey.

Dr. William W. Cobern, Distinguished University Professor of Science Education and Biological Sciences as well as director of the Mallinson Institute for Science Education, received a Fulbright Lecturing/Research award. Cobern spent five months in Turkey beginning September 2011. His research and teaching were about secular and religious issues with respect to the teaching of science. He also gave lectures on the experimental study of science teaching efficacy. While in Turkey, Cobern gave 14 public lectures on both topics at various Turkish universities.

 

 

 

Dr. Richard Gerson is a professor in the School of Communication.

Dr. Richard A. Gershon, professor and co-director of the telecommunications and information management program, received a Fulbright Specialist award. Gershon spent the 2011 fall semester at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. While there, he taught two accelerated courses, one for undergraduate students on media management and telecommunications and one for graduate students on digital media and innovation.

The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 and is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the federal government. Grant recipients are selected based on academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

Links:
School of Biological Sciences
Mallinson Institute for Science Education
School of Telecommunications and Information Management

Posted in Faculty News, Learner Centered

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Spanish professor chronicles 2010 Peruvian Nobel prize winner

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Deb| 1 Comment

Spanish professor Hedy Habra has just released "Flying Carpets."

by Katy TerBerg

The talent among the faculty and staff at WMU is one of the many things in which WMU takes great pride. This is especially the case with Spanish professor Hedy Habra, who recently published two books: “Flying Carpets,”  a collection of short stories (March Street Press), and “Mundos alternos y artísticos en Vargas Llosa” (Alternate and Artistic Worlds in Vargas Llosa) (forthcoming)  an academic book focusing on the novels of the Peruvian writer, Mario Vargas Llosa, a recipient of the 2010 Nobel prize.

“Flying Carpets” consists of 21 short stories that were inspired by her childhood in Egypt and Lebanon. According to the Press Release posted by the online literary journal, The SOP, “Flying Carpets” is the culmination of twenty years of work, and some of the stories “evoke the fascination with divination powers, a woman’s resistance to a controlling husband, and a nanny who relies on her imagination for survival.” Noted writer and critic, Stuart Dybek said about Flying Carpets: “It belongs to that rare tradition of books whose spells grow increasingly seductive with each new story.”

Habra’s second book, “Mundos alternos y artísticos en Vargas Llosa,” “explores the function of characters’ interiority and the way Vargas Llosa uses the linguistic sign to create images or to reproduce visual art (paintings, photographs) by means of the characters’ fantasies or musings, which, in turn, convert them into fictional authors and at times into producers of sort films,” said Habra.

Habra had three poems selected among ten winners of the Fourth Annual Nazim Hikmet Poetry Festival, named after the famed Turkish poet.  This year, the competition received over 700 poems from 250 poets across the globe.The poems were published in a chapbook.

Habra lived in Egypt, Lebanon, Greece and Belgium before moving to Kalamazoo, MI. She holds an M.F.A. and a Ph.D. in Spanish Literature from WMU and currently teaches Spanish. Her poetry, published in English, Spanish and French, has appeared in various journals and anthologies.

Links:

Department of Spanish

Professor Hedy Habra

The SOP press release

Posted in Discovery Driven, Faculty News, Globally Engaged, Learner Centered

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New bill allows autism diagnosis and treatment coverage

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment
by Helena Witzke

Behavior analysis students (Left to right) Brighid Fronapfel, Katie Kestner, Shawn Quigley and Kate La Londe. Seated is Lt. Gov. Brian Calley.

The WMU Department of Psychology is making headway in the field of autism research, and also helping people with autism get better treatment for less. Dr. Wayne Fuqua, chair of the Department of Psychology, was one researcher invited to attend the autism bill signing that took place in Lansing on April 18 at Governor Rick Snyder’s Lansing residence. The bill requires insurance companies to pay for autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and treatment for children up to age 18.

Alongside Dr. Fuqua at the signing was Ph.D. student Brighid Fronapfel, who recently became a board-certified behavior analyst. Kate Ladonde, Katie Kestner and Shawn P. Quigley from the graduate program also attended and watched Lt. Gov. Brian Calley sign the bill into law.

The day after the autism bill was approved, the WMU Board of Trustees approved Autism Specialization for students pursuing a master’s degree in special education. According to MLive, The new specialization will consist of 36 credit hours of course work related to the teaching of autistic children. The program, said Fuqua, should kick-start once renovations for The Great Lakes Center for Autism Treatment and Research are completed in July.

According to Scott Schrum, the CEO of Residential Opportunities Incorporated, or ROI, WMU and the Great Lakes Center for Autism Treatment and Research will collaborate. “We also want to have an opportunity to be able to offer their faculty and their doctoral students opportunities for research to help advance the fields of autism. We expect to be a center of excellence through our collaboration with WMU,” he said.

WMU continues to be rich in community resources and with the addition of  more research and support in the field of autism, the goal is to learn about the effects of autism and how to implement treatment methods to ensure a higher quality of life for everyone.

Links:

 

 

Posted in Faculty News, Learner Centered

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Jaimy Gordon’s “Lord of Misrule” in the spotlight again

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

By Katy TerBerg

Prize-winning author and WMU Professor of English Jaimy Gordon.

WMU has been fortunate enough to have great authors in its faculty and  students, and Professor of English, Jaimy Gordon, is setting the bar a little higher. Gordon published her third novel, “Lord of Misrule,” in 2010 to critical acclaim. Gordon’s novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2010 and was voted one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Month in November of 2010.

Most recently, Gordon has been selected as one of the longlist finalists for The Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman. According to the official website for the award, The Orange Prize, which is celebrating its 17th year, celebrates “excellence, originality, and accessibility in women’s writing throughout the world.”

The announcement coincides with International Women’s Day. The Orange Prize for Fiction shortlist will be announced on April 17, with readings occuring on May 29 and an awards ceremony on May 30.

“Lord of Misrule” is about “trying to figure out what the shape of your luck on Earth is and, one way or another, come to terms with that. It’s very much about courting that message from the gods that you were destined for something special, and most of the characters of the book have to settle for what they get,” said Gordon in an interview.

It is difficult to determine whether Gordon was destined for the award or if her hard work and dedication led her to the achievement, but it is clear that Gordon’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. As Gordon herself said, “You certainly expect your family, the future generations, to remember you or have some impression of you.”

We believe Gordon will continue to leave a lasting impression.

Links:

Department of English
About Jaimy Gordon
The Orange Prize for Fiction

 

Posted in Faculty News, Learner Centered

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German professor publishes second work of fiction

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

German professor Peter Blickle publishes his second novel, "Von einer Lieve zur andern".

WMU’s Dr. Peter Blickle, professor of foreign languages, is once again being recognized for his way with words. Blickle has received much acclaim for his second work of fiction, “Von einer Liebe zur andern” (“From Love to Love”).

Blickle, who teaches German at WMU and serves as an advisor for the German program, is the author of two scholarly books, “Heimat: A Critical Theory of the German Idea of Homeland” and “Maria Beig und die Kunst der scheinbarnen Kunstlosigkeit” (“Maria Berg and the Arts of Appearing Primitive)” as well as the novel “Blaulicht im Nebel” (“Ambulance in Fog”). He also translated Rosina Lippi’s novel, “Homestead,” into German.

The novel creates an unlikely relationship between a literature professor from Germany’s upper Swabia and an American-Jewish violinist. The relationship serves as a counterbalance to German history and gives his story “scenic images and rich metaphors of language often purposefully and eloquently mysterious in their tension and struggle.”

This novel has already received acclaim in Germany – most notably through a reading invitation, shortly after the novel was published. Dr. Blickle read from his novel on October 18, 2011 to a full house, a mesmerized audience in the medieval city of Pfullendorf in southern Germany.

The reading was organized by the Forum of the Sigmaringen Cultural Circle as part of its series on modern literature in the region. Several newspapers reviewed the presentation, reporting that Blickle “cast a spell over the audience” and that available copies of Dr. Blickle’s novel sold out quickly.

The author explains that his latest novel is about love and its various qualities. Soon, the reader also realizes it is a novel deeply rooted in German history and in the human soul, written in sentence fragments, prompting more questions than answers, in, as one reviewer notes, a sort of Hemingway approach.

Links:
Department of Foreign Languages
About Peter Blickle

 

 

 

Posted in Faculty News, Globally Engaged

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Maarten Vonhof awarded $180,000 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Grant

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

By Katy TerBerg

Dr. Maarten Vonhof, associate professor of biological sciences wants to know what’s causing “the worst wildlife health crisis in memory.” According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, it’s White Nose Syndrome (WNS) in North American bats, and Vonhof recently was awarded $180,000 to further his research on WNS.

WNS is a fungal disease which has killed millions of bats in eastern North America. Vonhof and his research team plan to test a new, biocompatible and inexpensive compound to aid in slowing the growth of the fungal infection. The compound, said Vonhof, is shown to “not have any harmful effects on the bats.”

Dr. Maarten VonHof associate professor of biological sciences.

So far, Arcadia National Park, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the states of Alaska and Kentucky have confirmed the existence of WNS, and additional reports in Liberty Park, Ohio, and the states of Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont and New Hampshire point to the need for a solution.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, White Nose Syndrome is “the worst wildlife health crisis in memory.”

Vonhof comes to the project with a long history of work focused on temperate and tropical bats and birds. He relates his findings on habitat use, dispersal, and social behavior to patterns of population differentiation at multiple spatial scales, ranging from local genetic variation to range-wide patterns of phylogeography.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is an organization dedicated to “conserving the nature of America,” and the conservation of wildlife animals, including bats, is included in their mission statement advocating conservation.
Links:
Dr. Vonhof’s profile.
WMU Department of Biological Sciences
U.S. Fish & Wildlife’s overview of White Nose Syndrome.

 

Posted in Discovery Driven, Faculty News

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Japanese professor represents WMU at Japan earthquake memorial

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

Dr. Jeffrey Angles

On March 11, 2011, a devastating earthquake struck northeastern Japan triggering a massive tsunami and the now infamous meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant. One year later, on March 27, 2012, the Consulate General of Japan in Detroit held a memorial service at the Michigan State Capital’s Rotunda to commemorate the lives that had been lost and to showcase recovery efforts in the devastated region of Japan.

Dr. Jeffrey Angles, the director of Western Michigan University’s Soga Japan Center and an associate professor of Japanese, appeared alongside the Consul General of Japan Kuninori Matsuda, the mayor of Lansing Virg Bernero, and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder at the memorial service.

The Consul General Kuninori Matsuda extended a special invitation to Angles, who was in Japan during the earthquake and lived through all the anxiety that followed, because over the last year Angles has translated and published numerous poems written by various poets about their experiences during and after the March 11 disasters. For his contribution to the memorial service, he read English translations of three poems.

The first, “Do Not Tremble,” was written by the feminist poet Toshiko Hirata during a time when the aftershocks were still rolling through northeastern Japan. The second, “Thoughts Before a Blackout,” which Angles originally composed in Japanese, was written during the rolling blackouts and frightening uncertainty that followed the aftermath of the disasters. The third, “Words,” was by Japan’s most popular poet, Shuntarō Tanikawa and optimistically describes the power of language and communication in helping to overcome the trauma of the disasters. The final poem appears in the newly published collection “March Was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown.”

The memorial service was attended by about two hundred people. Afterward, numerous people approached Angles to tell him how moved they were by the poems he read.

“One person told me that he especially appreciated them since the other speakers had emphasized the infrastructural and economic devastation of the disasters,” Angles said. “That listener told me he felt it was the poems that really gave the most dramatic, human face to what had happened. It was also wonderful to hear that ordinary Michigan residents, including elementary school students, had donated $268,000 to the Japanese Consulate’s office for the recovery efforts.”

“The 3/11 disasters seem to have changed the way that many Japanese people think about their own lives,” Angles said. “Many people lost their lives. It will probably be well over a decade before northeastern Japan has fully recovered.  Our thoughts are with the people of northeastern Japan as they rebuild.”

Posted in Faculty News, Globally Engaged

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