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Vol. 3, No. 6 - January 27, 2004
Faculty-Staff Activities Four Skidmore student recruitment publications have received Accolade awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II. "The Skidmore Mind: An Owner's Manual" was voted a gold award, silver awards were voted for the new college view book and recruitment poster ("Creative Thought Matters"), and a bronze award was voted for the admissions postcard series, a collection of seven edgy postcards designed to build awareness. The work has been a collaborative effort involving Mary Lou Bates, dean of admissions and financial aid; Gerry Schorin, director of strategic communications; Peter MacDonald, publications director; and Mary Parliman, senior graphics designer; working closely with Mark Edwards & Co. The awards will be presented at the CASE District II annual conference Feb. 7-10 in Philadelphia. Terry Diggory, Ross Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and chair, Department of English, attended the annual convention of the Modern Language Association Dec. 27-30 in San Diego, where he participated in a panel titled "The Robinson Jeffers Canon: Jeffers and the Canon." Michael C. Ennis-McMillan, assistant professor of anthropology, presented a paper titled " 'I'm More Native than You': Negotiating Identity and Cargo Service on the Outskirts of Mexico City" in the session "Beyond Indio and Mestizo: Alternative Conceptualizations of Sameness and Difference in Mexico" at the 102nd annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association Nov. 20, 2003, in Chicago. Deb Hall, assistant professor of art, attended the Center for Educational Technology (CET) workshop on Multimedia Narratives Jan. 7-9 in Middlebury, Vt. (with campus colleague Crystal Moore, assistant professor of social work), sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The CET explores and facilitates innovative and effective uses of technology in teaching and learning, both at Middlebury and at selected liberal arts colleges across the country. Mary Kathryn Jablonski, assistant the to the director of the Schick Art Gallery, read from her own poetry and led a discussion of Featherstone by Kirsty Gunn at the Jan. 21 session of the Saratoga Public Library's Writers on Reading program. Jablonski is director of the Saratoga Poetry Zone, a forum for those interested in writing, reading, and listening to poetry. Poetry Zone meetings are held on the second Sunday of each month at the Saratoga Public Library, 49 Henry St. Jeffrey Segrave, professor of exercise science and athletic director, gave the keynote address, "Perspectives on the Development of Sport Literature and Narrativity" at the seminar on Nordic Narratives in Sport and Physical Culture: Tansdisciplinary Perspectives Jan. 16-17 sponsored by the Center for Idraet, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark; and the Danish Cultural Ministry's Committee for Sport Research. Robert Shorb, director, Student Aid and Family Finance, presented an "Update on the 2004-05 FAFSA and PROFILE Applications" as the opening session of the regional Student Financial Aid Workshop for School Counselors Nov. 19 at Hudson Valley Community College. The workshop was sponsored by the New York State Financial Aid Administrators Association (NYSFAAA) and various banks in the capital district. On Oct. 15, he presented two sessions on the "Hot Topic of the Day: The College Cost Crisis" at the NYSFAAA conference in Saratoga Springs. Linda Simon, professor of English, gave an invited paper titled "Wild Facts: Lives in Context," at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division convention Dec. 28 in Washington, D.C. Paul H.L. Walter, professor emeritus of chemistry, helped arrange a recent conference in Malta that brought together Israelis, Iranians, and Arabs from throughout the Middle East and included six Nobel laureates. All Middle Eastern nations except Iraq and Syria were represented at the session, which was the first time such a gathering was held. Said Walter, "While the science was there, we hoped that the informal communications would allow these chemists to see each other as human beings and perhaps be less willing to kill each other. The results exceeded our imagination. At dinner they sat together and discussed family, politics, and peace, along with science." Sponsoring organizations were the American Chemical Society, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). Publications & Exhibitions Terry Diggory, Ross Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and chair, Department of English, has published two reviews: "Making His Own Days," a review of Digressions on Some Poems by Frank O'Hara, by Joe LeSuer, published in American Book Review, Vol. 25, No. 2, January-February 2004; and "Hyper O'Hara," a review of Hyperscapes in the Poetry of Frank O'Hara: Difference/Homosexuality/Topography, by Hazel Smith, appearing in Jacket 22 (May 2003), online. Catherine J. Golden, professor of English, has published her fifth book, titled Images of the Woman Reader in Victorian British and American Fiction, University Press of Florida, 2003. Deb Hall, assistant professor of art, has an Iris print, Messengers, included in a juried exhibition titled 14th National Computer Art Invitational at Eastern Washington University through March 15. The topic of the art work is instant messaging. Karen Kellogg, visiting assistant professor and associate director of environmental studies, has had a paper, "Ultraviolet reflectivity and mate choice in a group of Lake Malawi Rock Dwelling Fishes (Cichlidae)" accepted for publication in the Journal of Fish Biology. The paper is co-authored with colleagues from Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Massachusetts, and contributes to the growing body of literature on the importance of ultraviolet vision and its role in animal communication. Karin B. Kirk '90, former teaching associate in geology, and John J. Thomas, emeritus professor of geology, published "The Lifestyle Project," an article in the Journal of Geoscience Education. The article describes the Lifestyle Project that Kirk designed and implemented for GE 101 Physical Geology. The project became a part of the course and was designed to make students think about how their style of living impacts the environment. Students were encouraged to adopt a lifestyle that would have minimal environmental impact. The project has subsequently been extended to ES 105 Field Studies in Environmental Science and has been taught by Judy Halstead and Steve Frey, associate professors of chemistry, and Kim Marsella, teaching associate in geosciences. One reviewer of the paper said, "this type of article should serve as a model for an entire issue of the journal."
Margo Mensing, associate professor of art, has two solo exhibitions currently at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. A Sense of Security, at the university's Residential College Art Gallery through March 20, features four large-scale murals made entirely from circles punched from security envelopes. The murals are titled Eiffel Tower (10'8" by 6'8"), Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant (6'8" by 12'), Sydney Opera House (6' by 13'), and Mt. Rushmore (5'4" by 8'). In her artist's statement, Mensing explains, "Security (safety) envelopes veil discreet information. Phone bills, bank statements, Social Security statements, automatic paycheck deposits come in company logos, stripes, and squiggles-repeat designs on the insides envelopes. Few people notice these marks as they rip open the envelope to expose a payment notice or the latest nudge in their net worth. The envelopes head for the recycle bin or trash. Saved, these envelopes reveal a shed cocoon of financial dealings, a diary of sorts.... All the pieces in A Sense of Security are punched circles from hundreds of security envelops. I punched the circles in Sydney Opera House from my envelopes. In succeeding works, I depend on contributions not only for an increase in volume, but also for greater diversity in envelope color and design. Also I am intrigued by the imagined narratives I draw from these empty envelopes as I construct the drawings." She notes that although common in many countries now, "security envelopes mark this historical moment. Within a decade or two they may be almost obsolete." Mary Zeiss Stange, associate professor of women's studies and religion, has been named to the board of contributors of USA Today, the country's largest-circulation newspaper.
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