Ralph Ciancio, professor emeritus of English, gave a presentation titled “Nabokov and the Educated Imagination” Nov. 29 to students, faculty, and friends of Wagner College.

David Domozych, professor of biology, completed a one-week mini-course titled “Microinjection techniques in cell biology” during the summer at the Marine Biology Labs, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The comprehensive course dealt with micromanipulation, microinjection, and patch clamping of single cells.

Glenn Egelman, director of Health Services, has received the American Medical Association’s Physician’s Recognition Award (PRA) for a three-year period (2001 through 2004). The award recognizes physicians who voluntarily continue to expand their knowledge and improve their skills through education. Of the 700,000 practicing physicians who are eligible, about 60,000 receive PRA certificates each year. Awards are given for one, two, or three years to physicians who have accepted education as a basic responsibility of the profession of medicine.

Michael Ennis-McMillan, assistant professor of anthropology, was awarded a visiting research fellowship from the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California at San Diego, for the 2001-02 academic year. While in residence at the center, he is working on a book project on community-based water management and environmental health in Mexico.
   Ennis-McMillan presented a paper, “La Vida del Pueblo: Women’s Water Management during Mexico’s Economic Crisis of the 1990s” at the conference “Rethinking Social Science Research on the Developing World in the 21st Century.” Sponsored by the International Predissertation Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, the conference took place June 7-10, 2001, in Park City, Utah.

Francisco J. Gonzalez, associate professor of philosophy, presented two invited papers in Italy over the Thanksgiving break. At the Universita degli Studi in Milan he presented a paper titled “Why Plato Had No Theory of Forms” and at the University of Pavia he presented a paper titled “Why Heidegger Found Plato’s Dialectic an ‘Embarrassment’.” Both papers will be published in Italian translation.
   For the meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy Oct. 4-6 at Goucher College, Gonzalez delivered a paper titled “Why Heidegger’s Hermeneutics is not a ‘Dia-hermeneutics’.”
   During the summer he delivered a paper titled “Conversing about Virtue Everyday: Socratic Communication as End, Not Means,” at a meeting of the International Association for Greek Philosophy Aug. 19-25 in Rhodes, Greece.
   Last spring Gonzalez delivered comments on the topic of “Logos and the Essence of Technology” for the 35th annual North-American Heidegger Conference May 11-13 at Fordham University.

Anthony Holland, associate professor of music, was a guest conductor for the 2001 Area 10 New York School Music Association All-State Area Orchestra in a November concert at Hudson High School attended by more than 700 people.

Karl Mihalek, sergeant in Campus Safety, and Priscilla Barry, officer, were honored earlier this year by Saratoga Springs officials for their pubic safety work. Mihalek, a Saratoga Springs Police Department retiree, was recognized by Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Curley with an Exceptional Service Award. Barry, a Saratoga Springs firefighter who works part-time at Skidmore, was one of several department members recognized for their efforts in saving two people from a plane crash in 1998. The recognition day was sponsored by the city council.

Jack Ling, director of diversity and affirmative action, has given the following presentations:
   Nov. 30, at Four Winds, Saratoga Springs, “A Systems Approach to the Understanding of Intergenerational Conflict Around Identity in Families of Asian, Latin Cultural Heritage.” The presentation illustrated how failure to resolve certain conflicts between family members of different cultural roots may be located in the very way the family system maintains equilibrium, balance, or apparent stability. The program demonstrated the hidden costs of adaption and assimilation in the U.S. and offered several strategic and paradoxical ways of promoting communication and change in families locked in habitual conflicts.
   Oct. 20, American Council on Education Conference in Cincinnati, a session titled “Race Case Study: Promoting Racial Inclusion,” based on Skidmore's 1998 selection as . as one of 50 institutions chosen to spearhead President Clinton's campus-community dialogue on race. The presentation described the social barriers, interpersonal challenges, and personal successes experienced by members of three cultural-change organizations -- the local chapter of the NAACP, Saratogians for Equality and Against Discrimination, and the local Coalition on Race, a new multiracial organization of residents, business leaders, and other professionals. Ling highlighted both the failures and successful strategies used by the change agents.
   Oct. 12, Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston College, a workshop titled “Asian-American Identity and Experience Within a Black-White Paradigm.” The focus was the teaching of interdisciplinary Asian-American studies courses in an educational and social environment that has and still considers race and culture matters in terms of a black-and-white paradigm. Ling examined the specific challenges and pedagogical strategies related to the teaching of Asian-American identity development and politics.

Bernard Possidente, professor of biology, presented a paper titled “Genetic Variation Among Inbred Mouse Strains for Circadian Activity Rhythm Period” in July at the Behavior Genetics Society Meetings in Cambridge, England. Co-presenters were Jennifer Wishnow, Susan Kurr, and Felicia Gomez, all Class of ’02.

Jeff Segrave, professor of exercise science and chair, Department of Exercise Science, Dance, and Athletics, gave a lecture, “Toward a (Cosmo)politics of the Winter Olympic Games” Dec. 6 at the University of Utah as part of that institution's 2001-02 lecture series on the History and Culture of the Olympic Games. The series is co-sponsored by the university, The Salt Lake Tribune, the Utah Humanities Council, the Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation, and the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation.

Mason Stokes, assistant professor of English, delivered a paper at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University, where he is currently a Fellow. His presentation was titled “Straight, No Chaser: Harlem, Heterosexuality, and the 1920s.”

John J. Thomas, professor of geology, attended a Dec. 7 luncheon in Albany, where he was honored for his “long and outstanding service” to the New York Conference of the American Association of University Professors (NYSC-AAUP). Thomas joined the conference in 1968 and has served on the executive committee, as the treasurer, and on several committees. He continues as a member of the conference's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Conference President Frank Higman presented Thomas with a gift and a resolution of recognition passed at the fall meeting of the NYSC-AAUP.
   Thomas and Kimberly A. Marsella of Skidmore’s Geosciences Department attended the annual meetings of the Geological Society of America Nov. 5 in Boston. Marsella gave a talk titled “Increasing Student Engagement in Geomorphology Through the Use of the World Wide Web,” describing how she used the web to enhance her teaching in GE 304, Geomorphology, last spring. Thomas talked on “Strategies for Involving Students in a Large Introductory Course,” describing lecture techniques that he has developed with the help of Teaching Associates Karin Kirk ’90 and Marsella. His alumnae/i who attended the presentation commented that they were “time-warped” back to GE 101. Additionally Karin Kirk ’90 and Meredith Higbie ’01 presented papers on their recent research.

Susan Zappen, associate college librarian for collections, moderated the Capital District Library Council's Coordinated Collection Development Committee Autumn 2001 program, “Solutions to Serials Problems: Where Are We? Where Are We Going?” Nov. 20. On Oct. 31, she presented a paper, “Serials Management: The Good News,” at the 2001 annual Charleston Conference.

Publications & Compositions

David Domozych, professor of biology, published a paper titled “Composition and synthesis of the pectin and protein components of the cell wall of Closterium acerosum (Chlorophyta)” in the “Cell and Molecular Biology Section” of the Journal of Phycology, Vol. 37, 2001. Co-authors are Skidmore graduates Ariella Baylson and Brian Stevens, both Class of ’00.

Michael C. Ennis-McMillan, assistant professor of anthropology, published “Suffering from Water: Social Origins of Bodily Distress in a Mexican Community” in Medical Anthropology Quarterly: An International Journal for the Analysis of Health, Vol. 15, No. 3, September 2001. The journal is a publication of the Society for Medical Anthropology, a section of the American Anthropological Association.

Denise Evert, assistant professor of psychology, published a research study titled “Selective attentional processing and the right hemisphere: Effects of aging and alcoholism,” in the current issue of Neuropsychology, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2001.

Barry Goldensohn, professor of English, is the author of “Post Mortem as Angels,” a poem to appear in The Poet’s Portable Workshop, to be published in 2003 by Harcourt College Publishers/Heinle & Heinle Publishing.

Francisco Gonzalez, associate professor of philosophy, is the author of an article, “Socrates on Loving One’s Own: A Traditional Conception of Philia Radically Transformed,” appearing in Classical Philology 95 (2000).

Anthony Holland, associate professor of music, collaborated on the original music soundtrack for “Mr. Dreyfuss Goes to Washington,” a docudrama starring Richard Dreyfuss that aired Nov. 26 on the History Channel. Holland’s collaborator was Michael Kamen, a five-time Grammy Award-winning composer.

Bernard Possidente, professor of biology, contributed an article, “Genetic Mapping: I Map, Therefore I Am” to the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery catalog for the exhibition “The World According to the Most Exact and Recent Observations: Mapping Art and Science,” edited by Susan Bender and Ian Berry and published this year by Skidmore.
   In addition, Possidente and Augustus Lumia, associate professor emeritus of psychology, have had three papers accepted describing neurobiological aspects of a rat animal model for anabolic steroid abuse. The papers report on research funded by the National Institutes of Health to develop a rat animal model for neuorobiological effects of anabolic steroid abuse. Citations are as follows:
“Effects of Withdrawal from AAS on Hormonal and Behavioral Variables,” in press, Physiology & Behavior, 2002 (co-author is M.Y. McGinnis);
“Physical Provocation Potentiates Aggression in Rats Receiving Anabolic Androgenic Steroids,” in press, Hormones and Behaivor, 2002 (co-authors are M.Y. McGinnis and M.E. Breuer, Skidmore Class of '98); and
“Aggression in male rats receiving anabolic steroids: Effects of Social and Environmental Provocation” in press, Hormones and Behavior, 2002 (co-authors are M.Y. McGinnis and M.E. Breuer).

Jay Rogoff has had his second full-length book of poetry, How We Came to Stand on That Shore, accepted by River City Publishing for publication late in 2002.
   He has also had several poems published recently, including “Still Life” in The Southern Review, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Winter 2001); “Flopping the Negative” in Rattapallax, No. 5 (Spring 2001); “Captivity in Spring” in Partisan Review, Vol. 68, No. 2 (Spring 2001); “The Ark” in The Southern Review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Summer 2001); and “The Hildesheim Doors” in The Progressive, Vol. 65, No. 12 (December 2001). Other poems accepted for publication include “Adagio,” “Chaconne,” “Serenade,” “Sonnambula,” and “Translated” by Ballet Review, “Death in Waiting” by The Comstock Review, “The Glass of Fashion and the Mold of Form” by The Paris Review, and “Mennonites by the Sea” by The Southern Review.
   Rogoff's essay-review “Two Poets' Poets,” on Lifelines: Selected Poems 1950-1999 by Philip Booth and The Flashboat: Poems Collected and Reclaimed by Jane Cooper, appeared in Shenandoah, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Spring 2001). His essay on Kenneth Branagh’s film of Hamlet, “A Little Touch of Larry in the Night,” appeared in The Mississippi Review’s special Hamlet issue, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Summer 2001), and was singled out in a Chronicle of Higher Education on-line feature about that issue.

Susan Zappen, associate college librarian for collections, is the author of “Portals: More than Journals and Databases Survey Questions and Responses” in The 2000 Charleston Proceedings: Is Bigger Better?, edited by Rosann Bazirjian and Vicky Speck and published by Against the Grain Press.

This is the last issue of Intercom for the fall semester. Publication will resume in January 2002. See you in the new year!

Skidmore Intercom
Skidmore College
815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518.580.5000
intercom@skidmore.edu