Professional Activities at Keene State College

KEENE, N.H. 5/29/03 - These are among accomplishments by Keene State College faculty and staff members this spring.

Beverly J. Ferrucci, professor of mathematics, contributed a chapter,”The Mathematics of Origami for Preservice Elementary School Teachers,” to Origami3, published recently by A.K. Peters. The book discusses the implications and applications of mathematics of origami.

Sander Lee, professor of philosophy, presented “The Films of Woody Allen: A Philosophical Approach” to the American Association of University Women luncheon, held in Keene in February. In March, he presented the paper “Issues of Justice in War Crime Trials” at a conference on “Historical Justice in International Perspective,” sponsored by the German Historical Institute and the Woodrow Wilson International Center, in Washington, D.C. He has also been named a Fellow of the Eighth Annual Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization, which will take place this summer at Northwestern University.

Joan Roelofs, professor of political science, recently had her book _Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism _published by State University of New York Press.

William Pardus, professor emeritus of music, premiered his new composition for concert band, The Mills of New England (A Symphonic Portrait), at the Music Educators National Convention (Eastern Division) in Providence, R.I., in March.

David Price, associate professor of history and literature, had his article “Thoughts of Destruction and Annihilation in Thomas Bernhard” published in the spring 2003 edition of the Journal of English and Germanic Philology.

Klaus J. Bayr, professor of geography, was a collaborator in a research presentation at the Global Glacier Recession Workshop, sponsored by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, in Boulder, Colo. In his talk, “Accuracy Assessment of Measuring Glacier Changes from Space at a Variety of Temporal and Spatial Scales,” Bayr discussed the limitations and errors in studying glacier terminus and area changes from space, utilizing examples from Alaska, Iceland, and Austria. He also received a new grant from NASA to continue work investigating the winter snow conditions in Keene. The purpose of this work is to provide ‘ground truthing’ for the Terra satellite on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System. Originally there were three sites for obtaining information about the snow conditions in the U.S.A. Now Keene is the only site that provides NASA with this data.

Phyllis Benay, director of the Center for Writing, Mark Long, assistant professor of English, and Kirsti Sandy, assistant professor of English, presented the session “Grassroots Movements Do Work: Transforming Faculty Attitudes about Writing at a Small Public, Liberal Arts College” at the annual Conference on College Composition and Communication in New York City in March.

Matthew Crocker, assistant professor of history, presented his paper “The Louisiana Purchase and the Expansion of Slavery” at Loyola University in New Orleans on March 20, as an invited guest lecturer in the 2003 Biever Guest Lecturer Series. This year the series has focused on the Louisiana Purchase, as 2003 is its bicenntential.

Jerry Jasinksi, professor of chemistry, and coauthors Jason Bianchini, class of 2003, and Juan Cueva, class of 2002, had their paper “Spectral and Structural Studies of the Copper (II) Complexes of 3,4-Hexane-dione Bis(3-azacyclothio-semicarbazones)” published in Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem, 269, 202-206 (2003).

Christopher Cusack, assistant professor of geography, had his article “A Tale of Two Cities: Development Challenges in Boston and Dublin” published in the spring 2003 edition of Proteus: A Journal of Ideas.

JoBeth Mullens, associate professor in geography and environmental studies, published the article “Overcoming the Nation’s Best Landscaped Sewer: Recreators’ Perceptions of the Connecticut River.” The article appeared in the February issue of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association.

Geography department faculty members and students participated in the Association of American Geographers’ Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans March 4-8. Christopher Cusack, assistant professor, co-presented the paper “Sociability by Design: Assessing Three Generations of Planning Visions” with George Pomeroy of Shippensburg University. JoBeth Mullens presented the paper “River Restoration in New England: A Comparison of State Dam Removal Policies.”

The work of Craig Stockwell, adjunct faculty member in the art department, is included in an exhibition, Visions and Revisions: Works on Paper 1960 to the Present, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Stockwell’s work, “Nine Drawings from 9/11,” was purchased by the museum last summer. The drawings were first shown in the KSC faculty show at the Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery last year. The exhibition runs through September.

Dan Carr, designer and typographer in the art department, recently had his work published in a new book, Language, Culture, Type: International Type Design in the Age of Unicode. Dan also won an award for his Archaic Greek typeface “Parmenides,” which was part of an international exhibition at the United Nations in January.

Daniel L. Patterson, associate professor of theatre, was one of three judges for the finals of the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition at the Region VIII Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, held at Utah State University in February.

Jan Youga, professor of English, had her essay”Part of a Noble - and Dying - Breed” published in the May issue of The English Journal. The essay concerned the challenge of preparing new teachers to face the increasingly violent public school environment.

Tom Bassarear, professor of education, recently had his book Math Explorations with Quilts published by Dale Seymour Publications.

Patrick Eggleston, professor of biology, Richard Jardine, assistant professor of mathematics, Stephen Stepenuck, professor of chemistry, and Benjamin Wise, associate professor of biology, co-authored the paper “The Effect of Various Environmental Factors on the Population Structure of Diatoms from the Ashuelot River,” which was presented at the Northeast Algal Symposium meeting at Skidmore College in New York in April.