Laura Hobgood-Oster, associate professor of religion, presented a paper entitled "The Emerging Blessings of Pets" for the Comparative Studies in Religion Section at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting in San Antonio. She also presented "Pentecostal Christianity and Environmental Toxins," based on research conducted with Kelly Sharp '04 at the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies meeting, also in San Antonio.

November 11, 2004

La Vonne I. Neal, associate professor, and Alicia L. Moore, assistant professor, in the Department of Education presented their research on the effects of culturally responsive teaching in urban schools at the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) Conference on Oct. 28, in Kansas City, Mo. Their presentation was titled "Methods Matter: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Urban Schools." Geneva Gay, professor of education at the University of Washington, Seattle, was a co-presenter.

La Vonne I. Neal, associate professor of education, was appointed by the U.S. Department of Defense to be a member of the Command and General Staff College Advisory Committee. The Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools to award the degree, Master of Military Art and Science. The nine-member committee advises the college regarding the institution's policies, programs and practices.

November 4, 2004

Michael Saenger's "Shakespeare through Performance" class performed Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" in the Ramshorn Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, selling out the theater on one of the two performances. Saenger, assistant professor of English, also secured a contract for his new book, "The Commodification of Textual Engagements in the English Renaissance," with Ashgate Press. The book explores the marketing of books in Shakespeare's London, and the ways in which those marketing techniques affected ideas of reading, authorship and social life. Additionally, Saenger's "Pericles and the Burlesque of Romance" was solicited and purchased for republication by the editor of "Volume 90 of Shakespearean Criticism."

A. J. Senchack, professor of international business, returned in September from a visiting professorship at the University of Otago in Auckland, New Zealand (June-September 2004), where he taught middle-management students in Otago's Executive M.B.A. Programme's international business finance module. This assignment also marked his second trip down under; he taught and performed research in the M.B.A. Programme at the University of Auckland in 1991. In addition to his teaching duties, Senchack also conducted research on New Zealand's landmark legislation, The Resource Management Act of 1991. This Act serves as the core of progressive legislation that provides a new approach to environmental stewardship by combining laws governing land, air, and water resources, by concentrating on the environmental effects of human activities and by promoting the sustainable management of natural and physical resources. For the curious, please see www.mfe.govt.nz/laws/rma/ for more information.