Students, faculty, and recent graduates of the Psychology Department captured many of the undergraduate research awards at the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) annual meeting in Austin April 13-15. First place in the Undergraduate Research Competition went to Emily Taylor, Mark Morrow and Richard Osbaldiston for “Size matters: Perception of nutrition through serving sizes.” Southwestern students also won four of 10 cash awards given for the best abstracts submitted to the Psi Chi program.  These research groups are Christine Chalmers, Samantha Borrego, Candace Tribble and Jacqueline Muir-Broaddus for “Autism and executive functions: The effect of motivational/attentional accomodations;” Sarah Gomillion for “Explaining changes in voting preference over time in university students;” Carlee McConnell and Elissa Lewis for “Prejudice and partisanship: The connection between racial and political attitudes;” and Mary Beth Pinnell, Molly Peterson and Bryan Neighbors for “Internal and external factors associated with sexual risk-taking in college students.”  In addition, Jessica DeFilippo, Elissa Lewis and Bryan Neighbors presented “Gender specificity in parental and romantic attachment;” Elissa Lewis, Mary Ann Erwin-Hartley ’04, Jessica DeFelippo and Bryan Neighbors presented “Loves me not: Current parental attachment and personality dysfunction.” Richard Osbaldiston chaired the Society for Applied Multivariate Research Workshop “Introduction to meta-analysis.” 

April 14 , 2006

M. Cristina Alcalde, assistant professor of anthropology, had her article “Why Would You Marry a Serrana? Women’s Experiences of Identity-Based Violence in the Intimacy of their Homes in Lima” accepted for publication. The article will appear in the Spring 2007 issue of the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology.  

Laura Senio Blair, assistant professor of Spanish, will have her article titled “Betwixt and Between: Finding Home Again in Chilean Returnee Literature” published in the fall issue of The Latin Americanist. A draft of this paper was part of the Brown Working Paper Series.

William Dick, adjunct music instructor, presented sessions at two state conventions:  Texas and Tennessee, and at three national conventions:  The Midwest Band and Orchestra Convention in Chicago, the American String Teachers Association in Kansas City and the Suzuki of the Americas Association in Minneapolis. He also was appointed to the editorial board of the American String Teacher Journal.

Alisa Gaunder, assistant professor of political science, and Lissa Terrel ’06, political science and Spanish double major, presented a paper based on their Mundy research titled “How Female Politicians Overcome Party Constraints in the Japanese Diet: The Cases of Doi Takako, Fukushima Mizuho and Moriyama Mayumi” at the Association for Asian Studies Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., on April 7. 

Adrienne Inglis, adjunct flute instructor, recorded with her Latin American folk music group, Chaski, on the soundtrack to the IMAX® film “Ride Around the World.”  Due to be released in June 2006, the film explores a thriving global culture that has helped shape Western civilization for a thousand years. The film transports viewers to Morocco, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Patagonia, Texas and Canada, to ride with exotic horse-and-cattle peoples in an active, educational giant screen experience.  Inglis was recorded playing twelve different flutes:  flute, alto flute, bass flute, piccolo, zampoñas, semi-toyas, toyos, quena, quenacho, moseño, Baroque flute and penny whistle.

Edward L. Kain, professor of sociology and University scholar, is co-author of a new publication from the American Sociological Association, Models and Best Practices for Joint Sociology-Anthropology Departments.  It is co-authored with Theodore C. Wagenaar of Miami University and Carla B. Howery of the American Sociological Association. View the publication at www.asanet.org.

Aaron Prevots, assistant professor of French, began work on an Associated Colleges of the South-Mellon Teaching with Technology Fellowship titled “Teaching French through Songs and Singing.” For the project, which will focus on making songs available online in ways that enhance teaching and learning, Prevots recorded eight new titles, including the original compositions “Une vieille bonne femme” and “Qu'est-ce que tu aimes, Madeleine?” All material will appear on a Web site accessible to faculty at ACS schools. The project follows up in part on an ACS Summer 2005 Teaching and Learning Workshop Fellowship at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.

Mary Visser, professor of art, was invited to give a paper on the future of three-dimensional art at the Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum at California State University, San Bernardino, Calif. Her presentation accompanied the opening for the exhibition of The International Rapid Prototyping Sculpture exhibition, a show of three-dimensional works created by 20 international artists using new computer technology. The exhibit will be on display at the museum through May 13. Visser's presention was titled “Looking at the Future of Three Dimensional Art.” Visser also was elected to serve on the board of the Sculpture Network of Texas, Inc. as secretary/treasurer for the 2006-08 term.

April 6 , 2006

Eileen Cleere, associate professor of English, was recently awarded a C.P. Snow Fellowship from the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at UT-Austin. The fellowship is designated for scholars working on the interdisciplinary connections between literature and science. It was given to Cleere to encourage her work on sanitary reform and its impact on Victorian aesthetic philosophy.

Melissa A. Johnson, associate professor of anthropology and environmental studies, presented “Conservation in a Creolized World: Ambiguities and Ambivalences of ‘Protecting Nature’ in Belize” at the XXVI International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association March 15-18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Maria Kruger, internship coordinator, was selected as the Southwest Association of Colleges and Employers scholarship recipient. The (SWACE) offers a scholarship to one eligible college member each year to attend the prestigious National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Management Leadership Institute.  She will be the third Southwestern Career Services staff member to receive the SWACE scholarship in the past six years. 

Mary Grace Neville, assistant professor of business, serves as a faculty adviser to the Business as an Agent of World Benefit project housed at Case Western Reserve University. This month, Neville was invited to launch a “teacher's corner” segment of the B.A.W.B. monthly newsletter. The essay combines her perspectives on business as an integral and embedded form of social organization. She draws on stories from her recent visit to Poland which was funded through the Samuel Taylor Foundation.  Read the newsletter.

Eric Selbin, professor of political science, served as a discussant for a panel titled “Human Rights as Motivation and Justification in Intervention and Peace-Building” at the recent International Studies Association meeting. At the same meeting, Selbin chaired the annual meeting of Rowman & Littlefield’s “New Millennium Books in International Studies” series he co-edits with Professor Deborah Gerner of Kansas. The most recent book in the series is Thomas Weiss and Peter Hoffman’s “Sword & Salve: Confronting New Wars and Humanitarian Crises.”