Lynn Guziec, assistant professor of chemistry, was the lead author on two chapters dealing with organic selenium chemistry in "Comprehensive Organic Functional Group Tranformations" (Elsevier). Frank Guziec, professor of chemistry, was a co-author on these works.

Bill O'Brien, associate professor of physics and chair of the department, will have his paper, "Deconstructing the Black Box Aspects of Computerized Physics Labs," published next month in the journal "The Physics Teacher." The paper examines some of the unintended negative pedagogical consequences associated with the widespread practice of introducing computers in first-year university science labs and reports successful strategies for overcoming these problems. The paper is an elaboration on work he presented to the ACS Workshop on Microcomputer Based Introductory Physics Laboratories held at SU in the summer of 2000, a workshop for which he was a co-organizer.

Todd K. Watson, associate director of systems & networks, recently co-authored an "Astronomer's Telegram" reporting observations of an outbursting black hole system. The outburst is caused by mass being transferred from a nearby orbiting star (like our sun) onto the black hole. The observations were done using the 2.1 meter telescope at McDonald observatory during the week of January 10th this year. The telegram can be viewed online at www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=389

January 20, 2005

Eric Selbin, professor of political science, presented a public lecture on Dec. 10 at Umeå University in Sweden entitled "Under The Eagle: U.S. Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean."

Cameron Sawyer, assistant professor of mathematics, was an invited speaker for the Special Session on Mathematics and Education Reform at the Joint National Math Meetings in Atlanta. She delivered a paper titled "Developing a Capstone for Pre-service Secondary Teachers: A PMET Initiative."

Therese Shelton, associate professor of mathematics and computer science, was a member of a panel discussion on "Using the Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (CUPM) Curriculum Guide 2004: Assessing and improving the program for the major in mathematics" at the Joint National Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta, Ga., in January. John Chapman, professor, attended the meetings. Anand Pardhanani, visiting assistant professor, presented "Numerical effects in the modeling and simulation of chemotaxis in biological reaction-diffusion systems" which was co-authored with two others from the University of Texas at Austin. Shelton participated in two minicourses: "Infusing Connections into core courses for future secondary teachers" and "Mathematical Finance."

Rick Denman and Therese Shelton, associate professors of mathematics and computer science, participated in "Assessing the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics." The second in a three-year program, the national workshop is administered by the Mathematical Association of America within the Professional Enhancement Program (PREP) and funded by the National Science Foundation. Institutions from around the country share their work on program assessment and study national guidelines.

Bob Snyder, professor of political science, will have his paper entitled "Hating America: Bin Laden as a Civilizational Revolutionary" included in Shahram Akbarzadeh's edited book "Islam and Globalization" (Routledge, 2005).

January 13, 2005

Edward L. Kain, professor of sociology and University Scholar, recently co-authored a new national report providing guidelines for the undergraduate sociology major. This report resulted from a three-year appointment to the American Sociological Association's Task Force on the Undergraduate Sociology Major. The Task Force was given the charge "to examine the undergraduate major in sociology, in a variety of institutional contexts, and make recommendations to ensure a quality undergraduate major." The resulting report, "Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major: Meeting the Challenge of Teaching Sociology in the Twenty-First Century," is the latest edition of a report first published in 1990. The new report was published in December. The report is co-authored by Kathleen McKinney, Carla B. Howery, Kerry J. Strand, Edward L. Kain and Catherine White Berheide.

Helene Meyers, professor of English, delivered a paper titled "Educating for a Jewish Gaze: Sandra Goldbacher's 'The Governess'" at the Modern Language Association's meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. As chair of the Jewish Cultural Studies group, she also presided at the session it sponsored on "Jews, Gender, and Popular Culture."

Alicia L. Moore, assistant professor of education, and La Vonne I. Neal, associate professor of education, were appointed by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) to be "Project Managers" for the "Teacher Workshop" during the ASALH 2005 Conference in Buffalo, N.Y. This conference will celebrate the 90th anniversary of ASALH, founded by Carter G. Woodson. The mission of ASALH is to promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history, and culture to the global community. Moore and Neal will design the workshop to include elementary and secondary teachers with an emphasis on preparing teachers to design and implement culturally responsive social studies lesson plans.

La Vonne I. Neal, associate professor of education, presented a Pre-conference workshop in November at the National Middle School Association Conference in Minneapolis, Minn. The workshop was titled, "Academic Empowerment and African American Middle School Learners." Teachers and administrators were presented with effective instructional strategies to empower African American students. Culturally responsive lesson plans designed by Southwestern pre-service teachers were presented during the workshop.

Sandi Kawecka Nenga, assistant professor of sociology, had an article published in the November issue of the journal "Childhood: A Global Journal of Child Research." The article, co-authored with Kathryn Gold Hadley (California State University, Sacramento), is titled "From Snow White to Digimon: Using Popular Media to Confront Confucian Values in Taiwanese Peer Cultures."

Michael Saenger, assistant professor of English, had a review of "Searching Shakespeare: Studies in Culture and Authority" by Derek Cohen (University of Toronto Press) accepted for publication by "Comitatus," a journal on Renaissance and Medieval literature.

Michael Saenger delivered a talk at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, entitled "The Commodification of Textual Engagements in the English Renaissance" in early December. The talk focused on some key ideas on the psychology of Renaissance book reading in Saenger's forthcoming book of the same title, under contract at Ashgate Press, and also tested ideas on Saenger's next book, which will address questions of translation and the English perception of France.

Kim Smith, assistant professor of art, had her article entitled "Real Style: Riegl and 20th c. Central European Art" published in the most recent issue of the academic journal "Centropa: A Journal of Central European Architecture and Related Arts" v. 5, n. 1 (January 2005).