Tag Archives: wmu

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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Graduate students honored for research and teaching

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

President Dunn congratulates honored graduate students at the Graduate Research and Creative Scholar and Graduate Teaching Effectiveness awards ceremony.

A total of 52 graduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences were honored by the university as winners of the Graduate Research and Creative Scholar and Graduate Teaching Effectiveness awards. Eleven students received further distinction as All-University Graduate Research and Creative Scholars, and were  honored as All-University recipients of the Graduate Teaching Effectiveness Awards.

Graduate Research and Creative Scholar Awards for 2011-12

All-University Scholars from the College of Arts and Sciences:

  • Michelle Barger, geosciences
  • Timothy Edwards, psychology
  • Isurika Fernando, chemistry
  • Dustin Hoffman, English
  • Taylor Paskin, biological sciences
  • Ryan Sibert, geosciences
  • Stephen Spates, communication
  • Anthony Squiers, political science
  • Lydia Walker, comparative religion

Department Scholars

  • Sara Bijani, history
  • Gerardo Bohorquez Gonzalez, Spanish
  • Caitlin Callahan, Mallinson Institute for Science Education
  • Mary Sajini Devadas, chemistry
  • Katherine Ellison, history
  • Leticia Espinoza, Spanish
  • Nicole Fonger, mathematics
  • Tamrat Gashaw, economics
  • David Johnson, English
  • Lucas Kanclerz, geography
  • Ian Kerr, anthropology
  • Maxwell Kirchhoff, political science
  • Scott Marley, physics
  • Christina Sheerin, psychology
  • Benjamin Slager, biological sciences
  • Michelle A. Suarez, interdisciplinary health sciences
  • Cynthia Visscher, sociology

Graduate Teaching Effectiveness Awards

All-University Graduate Teachers

  • Matthew Arsenault, political science
  • Skylar Bre’z, history and gender and women’s studies
  • Colleen Cullinan, psychology
  • Kevin Douglass, chemistry
  • Krystal Howard, English
  • Kathryn Kestner, psychology
  • Kate Rowbotham, Mallinson Institute for Science Education
  • Kristin Sovis, English

Department Graduate Teachers

  • Clara Adams, chemistry
  • David Barry, sociology
  • Emily Beard, communication
  • Erica D’Elia, anthropology
  • Holly DeVrou, Spanish
  • Racha El Kadiri, geosciences
  • Carolina Gonzalo Llera, Spanish
  • Alexandra Haase, biological sciences
  • Justin Hanig, economics
  • Kara Krebs, political science
  • Daniel Kueh, biological sciences
  • Bryan Phinezy, mathematics
  • Buddhi Rai, physics
  • Daniel Serfas, geography
  • Kelly Sparks, Mallinson Institute for Science Education
  • Kathryn Titus, geosciences
  • Scott Watson, comparative religion
  • Adam Wolfe, history

Posted in Learner Centered, Student Spotlight

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Public archaeology exhibits present local history

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

by Katy TerBerg

Artifacts like these are shown in the display at Waldo Library.

Historical and archeological findings from Fort St. Joseph in Niles, Mich., are the focus of a new display appearing at Waldo Library. The display was designed by Professor of Anthropology Michael S. Nassaney’s public archeology seminar class (ANTH 5000).

The display project showcases artifacts from historical events in and around the Fort, including archaeological findings, from beads to coins, and information on the fur trade and the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project. The display is a venue to bring a piece of Fort St. Joseph to the WMU community.

“The purpose of this project was to give visitors to Waldo Library the opportunity to learn about archaeology and its contributions to our understanding of the past,” said Nassaney.

The display includes findings and interpretations of life in the 18th century on the edge of the French Empire. The rich historical context of the displays, said Nassaney, is only one benefit of the presentations. “The project also provides student testimonies of the the benefits of working on such a collaborative project.”

Nassaney stresses the importance of the displays in helping unlock the past. “Students will be able to learn about the history of the region, appreciate the interactions among diverse populations such as the French and native peoples,” said Nassaney. “They too can become part of a team that works to recover evidence of a daily life along the banks of the St. Joseph River at a long lost, but not forgotten, French fort.”

Historical reenactors at the 2011 Fort St. Joseph annual open house.

The Fort St. Joseph project was established by WMU archaeologists, under Nassaney’s direction in 1998, in conjunction with the City of Niles, the Fort St. Joseph Museum, and Support the Fort.

An annual open house in August, brings an average 3,000 visitors to the Fort for tours, reenactments, authentic products, and visits to an archeaological dig site. “The Project is a long-term, multidisciplinary, community service learning initiative that explores the fur trade and colonialism in southwest Michigan,” said Nassaney.

Links:

Department of Anthropology

Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Project

Dr. Michael Nassaney

Posted in Globally Engaged, Learner Centered

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English alum Adam Pasen wins top playwriting prize

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

Ph.D. student Adam Pasen wins the Kennedy Center Ten-Minute Play Award.

by Katy TerBerg

Department of English Ph.D. candidate Adam Pasen is the latest recipient of  the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s Ten-Minute Play Award—thus putting another notch in his professional career belt.

“The Ten-Minute Play Award is given at the national level by the Kennedy Center each year to one play deemed the best in that submission period,” said Pasen.

The title of Pasen’s play is “Starf*cker.” The story takes place between two Hollywood hopefuls outside the mansion of an A-List star. “It is the exploration of the shallow and the profound and a deconstruction of the rom-com genre,” he said. “On a semiotics level it is also a rumination on the instability of labels and the imprecision with which they capture the soul of the person they attempt to describe.”

According to Pasen, the 10-minute play is rapidly growing in popularity and significance. “The 10-minutes are easily the most competitive in terms of sheer volume of entries,” he said.

To win, the play must be selected as one of six regional finalists in one of the eight regions (each region received about 100 plays) and then be chosen as one of two winning regional plays to advance. Of those 16 plays, four are chosen to receive readings at the Kennedy Center, and of those four, one is named the winner.

Pasen, who holds an M.A. in English and Rhetoric from Northwestern University,  is a 2012 Ph.D. graduate in English – Creative Writing with a focus in Playwriting. He recently presented his dissertation,  a play titled “Tea with Edie and Fitz,” to Drs. Steve Feffer, Jon Adams, Cynthia Klekar and Terry Williams.

He has published several plays, scenes, adaptations, and musicals across the United States. He  also is a prominent actor around Kalamazoo and in his hometown of Chicago.

Links:

Department of English
Adam Pasen
Kennedy Center

 

Posted in Learner Centered, Student Spotlight

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Psychology alum publishes book on blind rehab

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Deb| 1 Comment

The Sight Unseen by Robert V. Pajak

by Katy TerBerg

Robert V. Pajak, who graduated in 1979 with a B.S. in Social Psychology, is no stranger to the human condition and, in his new book, “The Sight Unseen: Chronicles of Lernia,” Pajak details the struggles of living with a major sight condition.

“Most of the book is about a guy’s eye condition and attending two colleges, accompanied by a female friend—and other little sub-stories leading from that main story.

It is meant to convey to the reader that discipline, morality and principles, as well as humor, can be applied to everyday living, and this can help overcome the ups and downs of life, resulting in a person becoming a meaningful and contributing member of society,” he said.

The story is semi-autobiographical, putting Pajak at the helm of the story. Like his titular character, Pajak suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, a condition in which the retina slowly deteriorates until it causes tunnel vision. However, Pajak reminds us that each case of retinitis pigmentosa is a bit different.

“Mine is different,” he said. “It’s as if someone splashed a can of
paint on the retina. If I walk with one eye open, there would be
ragged walls.”

The book is a commemoration of one of his favorite movies and
historical events, “The Titanic.” He also mentions the Boris Pasternak
novel, “Dr. Zhivago.”  These are both brought in to elevate the touching
double climax of the story.

Links:
Department of Psychology
Bay City MLive article on The Sight Unseen
The Sight Unseen

 

Posted in Alumni Activity, Learner Centered

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Creative writing alum debuts novel

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

English grad Jason Skipper hits the publishing trail with new book.

by Katy TerBerg

Texas native Jason Skipper, who received his Ph.D. in Creative Writing at WMU in 2005, has released his debut novel, “Hustle,” which chronicles the lives of three Texan men struggling to make up for their past, and somehow set course for the future.

Skipper earned his Master’s of Creative Writing at Miami University before heading north to Michigan to pursue his Ph.D. While at WMU, Skipper served as fiction editor for “Third Coast,” a national literary magazine published at WMU. His stories have earned him numerous literary awards from respected publishing companies, including Zoetrope: All-Story, Glimmer Train, and Crab Orchard Review. He currently teaches creative writing and literature at Pacific Lutheran University and lives in Tacoma, Wash.

His coming-of-age novel features an alcoholic ex-con grandfather; a philandering seafood salesman son; and a struggling musician grandson. Each were hustlers in different areas. Grandfather hustled for money, the son hustled  women, and the grandson has hustled for fame. They all are now hustling for redemption.

This multi-character, multi-layered story caught the attention of several authors, including Charles Baxter, Peter Orner, Stuart Dybek, and Jaimy Gordon, who gave “Hustle” a glowing review. Gordon referred to the book as “A Southern portrait of the artist as a young man, with marvelous characters that keep you savoring every scene.”

More information about the book and upcoming event information may be found on Skipper’s official website, http://www.jasonskipper.com.

Links:
Department of English

Posted in Alumni Activity

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Moustakis book shortlisted

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Deb| Leave a comment

Acclaimed author and Ph.D. alum Melinda Moustakis is shortlisted for the William Sayoran International Prize for Writing.

by Katy TerBerg

Alum Melinda Moustakis, who received her Ph.D. in Creative Writing from WMU in 2010, continues to rise in prominence as one of America’s most promising young writing talents. After much recognition during the winter and spring, now, her collection of short stories, “Bear Down, Bear North,” has made the shortlist of works of fiction being considered for Stanford University’s Fifth Annual William Saroyan International Prize for Writing (Saroyan Prize).

The awards, announced by Stanford University Libraries, encourage new or emerging writers, honor the Saroyan literary legacy of creativity and innovation, and recognize newly published works of both fiction and non-fiction. A $5,000 prize is awarded in both categories.

Saroyan, an American writer and playwright, is a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winner best known for his short, humorous stories of immigrant families and children in California. In 1944 he received the Academy Award for Best Writing Original Story for “The Human Comedy” and a Pulitzer Prize for his play “The Time of Your Life.” He is the only known author to win both a Pulitzer Prize and an Academy Award.

“Novels usually win this [award], but it’s still nice to have ‘Bear Down’ on the shortlist,” said Moustakis of her collection’s nomination.

Moustakis was named a Gwen Hodder for the 2012-2013 academic year. With her growing lists of accolades, we hope Moustakis will add the illustrious Saroyan award to her accomplishments.

Links:
Department of English
William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
Melissa Moustakis’ official website.

Posted in Alumni Activity, 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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My study abroad to Beijing taught me how to take care of my health

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

WMU alum Keara Hopkins recalls her experiences abroad in China.

By Katy TerBerg

Keara Hopkins went to China’s Beijing Language and Culture University to further her education in a global way, but while there, unexpectedly learned a life lesson.

“One of the best things I learned from my study abroad to China was how to take care of my health. While there, I lost somewhere between 30 and 50 pounds,” said WMU alum Keara Hopkins, who earned her Bachelor’s in Global and International Studies in 2011. Hopkins spent a year studying abroad in Beijing.

“When we think of Chinese medicine, the first thing that people think of is a man in a room filled with the smell of incense,” said Hopkins.

“In reality, I found myself in a smog-filled city. People walked around in masks if the smog was bad enough; other times the masks were used by cooks and hospital workers. They didn’t always look like plain hospital masks. Lots of times, they had Hello Kitty, or a popular Chinese cartoon character, Xi Yang Yang,” she said.

After some time in Beijing, Hopkins and her friends bought 10 sessions with a personal trainer at the on-campus gym. While the gym looked like any gym you would find in America, the trainer, Dave, was brutally honest, criticizing her weight and appearance without reservation.

 ”It’s important to understand that Dave wasn’t saying any of this to insult me or belittle me. To him, this was just another fact. No need for him to use any tact…bluntness is widely accepted in Chinese culture,” Hopkins explained.

In addition to Hopkins’ interest in fitness, she developed a fascination for acupuncture and visited a Chinese doctor who practiced Traditional Chinese medicine. “He thought I was extremely cold and needed not only acupuncture but another treatment that I called the fire-stick. I decided to try it for weight loss. He suggested for the best results, I come in three times a week for both treatments,” she said.

“With this adventure in health, I learned quite a bit,” said Hopkins. “I learned as much about health and fitness in that one year in China as I learned in my classes.”

Links:
WMU Study Abroad

Study Abroad in Japan

Beijing Language and Culture University

 

Posted in Globally Engaged, Meet the Students, Study Abroad

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