Acta

Highlights of faculty and staff activities

Yacub Addy, music, and his Ghanaian performing group Odadaa! performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at Columbia University in May. Their event was part of a symposium on jazz drumming sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Catherine Anderson-Hanley, psychology, Sarah Meshberg ’02, and Melissa Marsh ’02 won the “best scientific poster” award for their display on “choice-enhancing intervention” for nursing-home residents, presented before the Society of Behavioral Medicine in Salt Lake City, Utah.

John Anzalone, French, is the author of an article on Jean Renoir in Peripheries, selections from a recent annual colloquium of the Society for Nineteenth-Century French Studies, published by Delaware University Press.

Catherine Berheide, sociology, and Michael Marx, English, have been named Carnegie Scholars for 2003-04. They and twenty-four other professors from around the country will participate in the Carnegie Foundation’s Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, focusing on new methods, and critical review, of pedagogy.

Beau Breslin, government, and David Karp, sociology, are co-authors of “Debating Death: Critical Issues in Capital Punishment,” in Critical Issues in Crime and Justice, 2nd ed., published by Sage.

William Brown, biology (emeritus), discussed “Power Plant Defeated by Rattlesnake” at the annual Ramapo River Watershed Conference at Ramapo College in New Jersey.

John Danison, information technology and art, has left Skidmore for a media job at Albany Academy. His Skidmore tenure began in the Center for Information Technology Services in 1987, and within five years he was also teaching computer animation in the art program.

Jennifer Delton, history, is the author of “Before the White Negro: Sin and Salvation in Sinclair Lewis’s Kingsblood Royal,” in American Literary History, vol. 15, no. 2.

Ross Professor Terry Diggory, English, delivered a paper titled “‘The Canvas Invites Writing’: Marjorie Welish on Cy Twombly” at a session on experimental poets and the visual arts during an American Literature Association symposium in Long Beach, Calif.

Alfredo DiMauro, facilities services, co-presented a session on “Integrating Multiple Goals in a New Music Building” at the mid-Atlantic regional conference of the Society for College and University Planning in Washington, D.C.

In March Roy Ginsberg, government, gave a number of lectures on European foreign policy, the E.U., the U.S., and the Middle East at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.

Catherine Golden, English, has an article included in Approaches to Teaching Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and “Herland,” published by the Modern Language Association.

Kenan Professor Penny Jolly, art history, has an article on “earrings and ‘the other’” in Flemish art in Encountering Medieval Dress and Textiles: Object, Text, and Image, published by Palgrave. In the fall Jolly becomes director of Skidmore’s art-history program.

Ruth Andrea Levinson, education, and Gerald Erchak, anthropology, are co-authors of “The Impact of Cultural Context on Brazilian Adolescent Sexual Practices,” accepted for publication in the journal Adolescence.

Michael Mudrovic, Spanish, wrote “A Single Thread of Meaning: Esperanza Ortega’s Hilo Solo,” published in Romance Quarterly, vol. 49, 2002.

Virginia Murphy-Berman, psychology, wrote the chapter titled “Globalization in Cross-Cultural Perspective” in Globalization and Children, published by Plenum.

Loretta Parsons, biology, has retired after thirty years as a teaching associate. Along with classroom and laboratory teaching in Skidmore’s former nursing program and in biology specialties from molecular to plant to animal to human, she also served as the biology department’s safety officer, career-day and quiz organizer, and microscope maintainer.

Rajagopal Parthasarathy, English, has seven poems in the spring 2003 issue of Modern Poetry in Translation (London).

Margaret Pearson, history, had her paper “Behind Social Structure: The Earliest Meanings of Yin and Yang” accepted for presentation at the International Convention of Asia Scholars in Singapore this August.

Lisa Pleban, athletics (basketball), is the co-author of “Speedball: The Oldest New Game Around” in the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, 74(3). In April she spoke to New York State legislators about the value of Title IX protections for women’s varsity sports.

Viviana Rangil, Spanish, wrote two articles: “Stereotypes But…: Gender Roles in Contemporary Latin Cinema,” in Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, vol. 30, winter 2002; and “Selena: Two Complementary Cinematographic Interpretations,” in Music, Popular Culture, Identities, published by Rodopi.

Lawrence Ries, liberal studies, has retired. An English scholar, he came to Skidmore’s UWW in 1979 and soon became the coordinator of its prison education program; he later directed UWW. He also helped spearhead the establishment of Skidmore’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program and in 1992 became its first director. In phased retirement during recent years, he taught in the undergrad liberal-studies program.

Patricia Rubio, Spanish, has an article in Memorial de una escritura: aproximaciones a la obra de Majorie Agosín, edited by Emma Sepúlveda and published in Chile by Cuarto Propio.

Virginia Scavuzzo, HEOP, has left the college after fifteen years. As secretary and administrative assistant in HEOP, she helped hundreds of students navigate admissions, financial aid, advising, and other issues.

Linda Simon, English, has had an essay on patients’ evaluations of nineteenth-century medicine accepted for publication in Alizes/Trade Winds, the journal of the Université de la Réunion (France).

Shirley Smith, Italian, along with Alison Coladarci ’03 and former Skidmore professor Richard Bonanno, presented papers and videos for the American Association of Italian Studies at Georgetown University. Their topic was “Video-Making and Literature.”

Sheldon Solomon, psychology, was a technical consultant and is featured in the new documentary film Flight from Death, which won the Audience Choice Award for best documentary at the 2003 Beverly Hills Film Festival.

Judith Walker, health services, has retired. In her twenty-eight years as a nurse at Skidmore, she cared for countless students and employees. Now she looks forward to travel, volunteering, and part-time work at Saratoga Hospital.