Monday,
August 27, 2007
Volume 19, Issue 128

Newsletter Archive

1.8.07
1.15.07
1.22.07
1.29.07
2.5.07
2.12.07
2.19.07
2.26.07
3.5.07
3.12.07
3.19.07
3.26.07
4.2.07
4.9.07
4.16.07
4.23.07
4.30.07
5.7.07

FROM THE COLLEGE

Spring 2007 Faculty Promotions

In the College of Arts and Sciences, James J. Burwinkel, Jeffrey D. Gfeller, and Darrin M. Speegle were promoted to the rank of professor. The faculty members promoted to the rank of associate professor include B. Bentley Anderson, Jeral B. Becker, Jonathan S. Fisher, Scott R. Harris, Joseph E. Heathcott, Ana Iltis, Devin D. Johnston, James A. Kelhoffer, Thomas R. Martin, M. Dyan McGuire, Clyde P. Ragland, Mark E. Ruff, Norman A. White, and Lupei Zhu.

Fulbright Scholarship

Professors, please invite your better students to apply for a Fulbright scholarship for graduate study abroad. Deadline on this campus: October 1, 2007.

These are all-expenses paid scholarships for one year of study in any one of more than 100 countries. All fields qualify. The application procedure is fairly simple. But you must see Dr. J. R. Leguey-Feilleux (Fitzgerald Hall 217 -- call 977-3033 for an afternoon appointment.)

Applicants must be U.S. citizens and have a bachelor's degree in hand before the start of the scholarship (August graduates would qualify) -- applicants will apply as seniors. A 3.5 GPA or better is usually necessary. Graduate students may apply so long as they have not yet received a Ph.D. Post-doctoral candidates qualify for a different Fulbright program. For more information, see:

www.fulbrightonline.org

It is preferable to consult this website before seeing Dr. Leguey-Feilleux.

The Office of the Provost & The Reinert Center for Teaching Excellence Presents:

How to Create an Effective Course Syllabus for Successful Course Management

Tuesday, August 21, 2007
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Boileau Hall

Light refreshments available from CRAVE

Shawn Nordell, Ph.D., Biology; Faculty Fellow for the Reinert Center for Teaching Excellence

Paaige Turner, Ph.D., Communication; Chair of the Undergraduate Initiatives Committee and the Ad hoc Committee on Classroom Civility

Tom Valone, Ph.D., Biology; Chair of the Curriculum Committee for the College of Arts and Sciences

All current, new, and adjunct faculty are invited to bring their syllabi and discuss strategies for creating a course syllabus that clearly presents to students the critical information on course policy. The workshop will present best practices for the following topics:

• Basic Structure of Syllabi
• Contact information and Availability
• Course Philosophy
• Attendance Policy
• Assessment Tools for Learning Objectives
• Grading Criteria for Course Requirements
• Classroom Conduct and Student Conduct

http://cte.slu.edu/
syllabus_seminar_registration.
html

For additional information, please contact CTE at 977-3944 or cte@slu.edu

.

ACADEMIC NEWS

Faculty Publications, Presentations, Awards

American Studies
Elizabeth Schroeder, PhD Candidate in the Department of
American Studies, presented a paper titled "Jet Magazine's
Beauty of the Week Column: Racial Documentary Style," at the
annual meeting of the National Women's Studies Assocation,
St. Charles, Illinois, June 28-July 1, 2007.

History
Dr. James Hitchcock read a paper titled "Law and Religion" at the University of Wisconsin (Madison).

Mathematics and Computer Science
Dr. Greg Marks gave a talk titled "Properties of skew
generalized power series rings" at the International Conference on
Rings and Things at Ohio University, Zanesville, on June 15, 2007. (The title of the conference, which concerns a branch of mathematics known as ring theory, is an allusion to Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," II. i. 323.)

Modern and Classical Languages
Dr. Jean-Louis Pautrot presented a lecture on "Jazz in France" to the Société Française of Saint Louis, the oldest French cultural association in Saint Louis, on Friday May 4 and Dr. Pautrot gave a paper on "'Transmettre ce qui fut oublié':/Villa Amalia/ ou l'exception romanesque de Pascal Quignard" at the XXth and XXIst Century French & Francophone Studies Colloquium, held at Texas A&M last March 2007.

Dr. Evelyn Meyer, Assistant Professor of German, authored "The German Tradition: (Mis)Readings of Don Quixote"; Eds. Kimberly E. Contag & James A. Grabowska, which was published in Cross-Disciplinary Essays on Don Quixote. The Minnesota Conference Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Its Publication, The Edwin Mellen Press. 2007. 7-18.

Dr. Mauricio Souza Crespo (Associate Professor of Spanish) taught a graduate theory seminar on "Literature and Mass Media" at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz, Bolivia. The seminar dealt with contemporary approaches to the subject matter (mostly Jameson, Zizek, and postcolonial theory) and was part of an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional graduate program.

Dr. Oscar López, Associate Professor of Spanish, was one of 13 national writers invited to speak about modern short stories in Medellín-Colombia: at Caja de Compensación familiar (COMFAMA) auditorium to deliver a paper titled "Cuento: re-cuento, des-cuento" in August 2007. Dr. López presented "Cien años de soledad: y el Boom: una revisión de la critica" at the Conferences Room of the Comunication College in the Universidad de Antioquia in August 2007.
This was the inaugural lecture in the Doctoral and Master Degree Program on Columbian Literature.

Dr. Reinhard Andress (Professor of German) conducted a workshop in April in Quito, Ecuador on "Filmeinsatz, Filmanalyse, Strategien im Deutschunterricht" for the Asociación Ecuatoriana de Professores de Alemán. Dr. Andress also gave presentations on "The Brazilian Exile Experience from the Perspective of Arnold van Gennep's Rites du passage" and "Multidisciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity" at the Pontifícia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in Quito. In May he spoke on "Marte Brill - su vida como inspiración literaria" at the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in São Paulo, Brazil. In June, Dr. Andress gave a paper on "Karl Lieblich: ein Stuttgarter Sohn zwischen Deutschland und Brasilien" in the Municipal Library in Stuttgart, Germany.

Philosophy
Mike Rota Ph.D Alumnus of Saint Louis University will receive the
Young Scholar's Award at the upcoming American Catholic
Philosophical Association Meeting. Mike was given the award
based upon a paper that he wrote for Peter Van Inwagen while
participating in our exchange program with the University of Notre Dame. Mike received his doctorate from Saint Louis University in 2006 and has a tenure track position at the University of St. Thomas and has just finished a one-year post doc at Harvard University.

Physics
Dr. Potvin published the last two articles of
his multi-part series on the physics of parachute inflation:"Momentum-Impulse Balance and Parachute Inflation:
Fixed-Point Drops "; Journal of Aircraft, 44, No. 3, pp.
1026-1029, 2007.

"Momentum-Impulse Balance and Parachute Inflation:
Rocket-Propelled Payloads"; Journal of Aircraft, 44, No. 3,
pp. 1039-1042, 2007.

Dr. Potvin has also returned from the 19th AIAA Aerodynamic
Decelerator Systems Conference where he presented the
following papers:

"Three-Stage Model for Slider-Reefed Parafoil Inflation";
AIAA paper 2007-2501; with G. Peek;

"Semi-Numerical Derivation of the Opening Shock Factor and
Inflation Time for Slider-Reefed Parafoils"; AIAA paper
2007-2508; with B. Hurst and G. Peek;

"Testing Without Load Cells - Can Opening Shock Be Estimated
From Video Data Only?"; AIAA paper 2007-2551; with G. Peek;

"Comparative DSSA Study of Payload-Container Dynamics Prior
to, During and After Parachute Inflation"; AIAA paper
2007-2564; with R. Charles and K. Desabrais;

The conference took place in Williamsburg, VA, May 21-24,
2007.

Political Science
Dr. Timothy Lomperis authored "Dispelling the Ghost: Iraq as the Vietnam War We Cannot Afford to Lose" which was published in the Winter 2006 issue of The Journal of Conflict Studies.

Psychology
The following were presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association's annual conference in Chicago:

Dr. Eddie Clark and graduate students Karen Wilson,
Dan Weidler, and undergraduates Maurice Endsley
and Anne Warner presented "No guilt, no cheating:
Exploring predictors of attitudes toward infidelity."

Graduate student Karen Wilson moderated the
session on "Close Relationships and Belonging."

Graduate student Brent Mattingly and
SLU Psychology alumnus Mark Stambush (now a
faculty member at Muskingum College) presented
"The effect of responsibility on weight loss
attributions."

Graduate students Stephanie Afful, Accalia Kusto, and Brent Mattingly presented "Occupational schemas:
How do students perceive professors across three disciplines?"

Dr. Clark co-authored a chapter titled "African American church members' definitions of religiosity, spirituality, and faith" that appeared in the edited text Religion and Psychology: New Research.

Dr. Eddie Clark co-authored an article titled "Expansion and validation of the spiritual locus of control scale: Factor analysis and predictive validity" that appeared in the Journal of Health Psychology.

Community Outreach, Partnerships, Media Events

External Funding, Research Productivity