2017-18 Faculty Accomplishments
(Listed in the order as received)
Summer 2017
Dr. David Murphy delivered the keynote address at the Trans-Disciplinary Workshop on Geo- and Biopolitics in Historical Perspective, held May 25-26 at St. John’s College (Oxford). The address was entitled “Spatial Thought and the Origins of Nazi Population Policy in Eastern Europe.” Dr. Murphy also provided an intervention for the workshop, “Retroactive Effects’: Friedrich Ratzel’s Spacial Dynamics and the Expansionist Impulse in Interwar Germany,” which will appear in a forthcoming special issue with the Journal of Historical Geography.
Dr. Elizabeth Imafuji was one of 17 faculty members from a broad range of disciplines selected to participate in a seminar on Ancient Greece in the Modern College Classroom entitled “The Verbal Art of Plato.” The seminar, co-sponsored by the CIC and the Center for Hellenic Studies, took place July 24-30, 2017, at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC.
Dr. Kevin Radaker offered his new World War I “Churchill” show several times over the summer, including three times for the High Plains Chautauqua in Greeley, Colorado. Dr. Radaker also offered his “Thoreau” at Granville, Ohio (May), Anderson, Indiana (July), and Fort Collins, Colorado (August).
Prof. Chris Hamlyn became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. In addition, Prof. Hamlyn completed his Graduate Certificate in College and University Teaching at Ball State University, and was awarded the Dr. James H. McElhinney Scholarship from the Department of Educational Studies.
Dr. Laura Stull’s research, “Explicit and implicit stigma of mental illness as predictors of the recovery attitudes of Assertive Community Treatment practitioners” was published in the Israel Journal of Psychiatry (2017, Vol. 1, 31-38). Dr. Stull points out that co-author, Haley Beer McConnell, is a 2014 AU graduate.
September 2017
Dr. Kevin Radaker performed his new World War I Churchill at the Amador Theatre in Pleasanton, California, on September 19. The presentation–part of “An Evening with” series–was scheduled to complement the local museum’s World War I exhibition and is a prestigious engagement in the San Francisco Bay area. Dr. Radaker has already been engaged to return to the area next June to present his Thoreau.
Prof. Jeff Siemon presented a session entitled “Adding OCLC numbers, ISSNs and ISBNs to the WorldShare Knowledge Base: enhancing discovery and delivery of electronic resources” at the OCLC WorldShare Management Services (WMS) Global Users Conference held September 26-29 in Dublin, Ohio.
Dr. Joani Brandon’s article, “In The Beginning… Orff Schulwerk Teacher Training in the United States” will be published in a special 50th anniversary commemorative issue of the American Orff Schulwerk Association journal, the Orff Echo (Spring 2018).
Dr. Heaven Fan (adjunct professor) was invited to serve on the Board of Directors of the USA International Harp Competition (USAIHC) – one of the most prestigious international music competitions in the world, and the only international harp competition held in the United States. It is also one of only seven international music competitions in the U.S. to belong to the World Federation of International Music Competitions.
October 2017
NASA’s Indiana Space Grant Consortium recently awarded grants to Dr. Josiah Kunz (“Beamline Architect” project) and Dr. Lee VanGroningen (“Research Experiences in Mathematics” project). INSGC also awarded scholarships to a record-setting 11 AU students — the most for any Indiana college/university!
Dr. Tammy Reedy-Strother presented “ ‘Whatever You Do, Don’t Send Us a Clergy Woman!’ The Impact of Resistance on Clergy Women” at the joint annual conference of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) and the Religious Research Association (RRA) held October 13-15 in Washington, DC.
Dr. Terry Truitt was presented the Chewning Award during the Christian Business Faculty Association’s annual conference in San Diego, California, Oct. 19-21. The award was established to perpetuate the passion and commitment of integrating personal faith and business as modeled by Dr. Richard C. Chewning, and the recipient is nominated for their manifestation of Christ-likeness in the practice of teaching or serving in business.
In a special performance honoring the bicentennial of Henry David Thoreau’s birth, Dr. Kevin Radaker presented his dramatic portrayal of Thoreau in Concord and Monson, Massachusetts, on October 21 and 22 respectively. Dr. Radaker then offered the same show at the University of Indianapolis on October 25.
Dr. Jason Parks presented “Reporting from the Neuropathic Ward: Eugene Jolas, Shell Shock, and The Malady of Language” as part of a panel entitled: Transatlantic Avant-Gardes and Counterculture. The panel was organized and chaired by Vladimire Feshchenko, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, and was part of the International Conference on Music, Avant-Gardes and Counterculture hosted by The University of Lisbon (School of Humanities) October 25-27.
Two faculty members presented at the Indiana College English Association (ICEA) annual conference held in Columbus, Indiana, on October 27. Prof. Cara Miller presented“Critical Pedagogy and the Role of Instructor Response” and Dr. Elizabeth Imafuji presented“Early Quaker Women’s Letters of Petition: Template for a Revolution.”
November 2017
Dr. Jim Scott, Dr. Diana Jones, and staff member Trent Palmer took 25 physical education and sport and recreational leadership majors to the IAHPERD State Conference November 2-3, where Dr. Jones along with five of the students presented a session entitled, “Feeling Fine and Fabulous about Fitness.” Additionally, Dr. Jones received the Indiana Dance Educator of the Year award. IAHPERD (Indiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance) is a professional education association for teachers, administrators, researchers, coaches, college students, and other professionals dedicated to the promotion of quality health, physical education, recreation, dance, and sport in public and private schools, colleges and universities, and community agencies in Indiana.
Dr. Anna Epperly completed her Ed.D. in Special Education with an Educational Administration and Supervision Cognate from Ball State University. Her dissertation was entitled, “Understanding the Role of Critical Incidents in Relation to Self-Efficacy During Course-Embedded Preservice Teacher Field Experiences: A Qualitative Study.”
Dr. Ray Sylvester successfully defended his dissertation on November 3, completing his Ph.D. with a focus in Brand Management from Brunel University (London). His 120,000-word thesis is entitled, “Brand You: Can a popular music artist be justifiably regarded as a brand?”
Dr. Laura Stull presented a session entitled “Mental Health Stigma: What Is It and How Do We Change It?” at SpeakUp: A Conference on the Church & Mental Health held November 8 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Dr. Heaven Fan (adjunct professor) was invited to perform a solo recital in the Fifth Mexico International Harp Competition and Festival held in Mexico City November 10-18.
Dr. Hyeon Joon Shin will present his research entitled “Agricultural Aid vs. Industrial Aid: A Sectoral Comparison of Aid Effectiveness in Poverty Reduction” at the 2017 Southern Economic Conference in Tampa, Florida, Nov. 19. The research paper was co-authored by Mark O’Brien, a 2015 AU graduate in the field of economics.
Prof. Kelsie Rodman and Dr. Doug Seelbach along with senior exercise science majors worked with the Madison County Sheriff’s Department to complete mandatory fitness testing on the officers.
Dr. Hyeon Joon Shin participated in a textbook review of “Public Finance and Public Policy, 5e” (written by Jonathan Gruber, Worth Publishers).
December 2017
Prof. Stefanie Leiter was elected to the Board of Directors of the United Way of Madison County and will be serving on the Community Connections sub-committee.
Dr. Jack Lugar just published the second book in his Katz Pajamas series entitled The Haunted House of Hashimoto (released December 27). This is a children’s chapter book series for grades two through four. The first book in the series, The Miss Kitty Mystery, was released in May.
January 2018
Prof. David Coolidge had the following three book reviews published in the January 2018 edition of the MTEA Journal (a publication of the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance): “How Musicals Work: And How To Write Your Own (Julian Woolford), “Beating Broadway: How to Create Stories for Musicals that Get Standing Ovations (Steve Cuden), and “The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows are Built (Jack Viertel). Cooledge attended the MTEA annual conference Jan. 5-7 in Orlando, Florida.
Dr. Lee Van Groningen took two students to the Joint Mathematics Meetings of the AMS (American Mathematical Society) and the MAA (Mathematical Association of America) held in Jan. 10-13 in San Diego, California, where the presented a poster based on their original research, “On the Creation of Rank Two Centrosymmetric Matrices.”
Dr. Maria Scott accepted an invitation to become a member of the editorial board of the Portuguese in the Americas book series at TAGUS Press (a partner of the University Press of New England—UPNE), housed at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Dr. Maria Scott designed and completed a national survey of Portuguese Americans in the U.S., analyzed the data, authored a survey report, and created a webinar with the survey results for The Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States (PALCUS).
Dr. Maria Scott announced two more books (Volumes 4 and 5) in the Interdisciplinary Studies in Diasporas series with Peter Lang Academic Publishers (co-editor with I. Blayer).
Dr. Maria Scott was co-executive editor of the “Interdisciplinary Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies,” Volume 5 (with I. Blayer, 2016) and Volume 6 Special Issue: Luso-France: Cultural Productions by and about the Portuguese and Luso-Descendants in France (guest editors M.F. Wagner and M. Koven, 2017).
February 2018
Prof. Tai Lipan has been invited to spend two weeks this summer as a teacher, artist in residence, and public lecturer at Mount Gretna School of Art, a prestigious “intensive program” for especially talented and motivated art students located in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Emmett Dulaney co-authored (with Rebecca Gunn, Oral Roberts University) a journal article entitled, “Situational Crisis Communication Theory and the Use of Apologies in Five High-Profile Food Poising Incidents” which was published in The Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences, Volume 20 (2017), pp. 13-33.
Dr. Richard Sowers conducted the Tennessee Ninth Grade Honor Choir in Nashville in November and the Virginia High School Honor Choir in Newport News in February.
Dr. Jeffrey Wright presented a paper titled, “Beauty as a Path to Spiritual Transformation” at the annual meeting of the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music held at the Southeastern Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, on Feb. 8.
Dr. Michael Frank was appointed as an advisory member of the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity, founded last year by Executive Order 17-11, “with the recognition that a cross-sector body of subject-matter experts is required to form an understanding of Indiana’s cyber risk profile, identify priorities, establish a strategic framework of Indiana’s cybersecurity initiatives, and leverage the body of talent to stay on the forefront of the cyber risk environment.” Dr. Frank serves with the Workforce Development Committee, the Strategic Resources Working Group, and other Council members in a collaborative effort to deliver a comprehensive strategy to Governor Holcomb by September.
Dr. Jason Parks presented a paper on Feb. 23 at the Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900 held at the University of Louisville. The paper titled “The Periodical as Psychological Refuge: Eugene Jolas, Shell Shock, and Transition (1927-1938)” was part of a panel on Personal and Literary Refuge sponsored by the Lawrence Durrell Society.
Dr. Jeff Trotter joined Stephanie Moran and Provost Marie Morris at the 2018 Indiana Campus Compact Service Engagement Summit held in Indianapolis on Feb. 27, where they presented on the topic, “First-Year Experience (FYE) Courses that Cross Divides.”
March 2018
Dr. Samantha Miller presented “John Chrysostom’s Demonology: A Synthesis for Stoics and Monks” and Dr. Nathan Willowby presented “Towards a Covenantal and Participatory Theology of Atonement at the American Academy of Religion’s Midwest Regional Meeting held at Ball State University March 2-3.
Dr. Kimberly Majeski wrote an article entitled “Never Bashful: Standing with my Foremothers” which was featured in Christians for Biblical Equality’s March 5 issue of Mutuality Magazine.
Dr. Joani Brandon will present a session on First Steps in Music and Orff Schulwerk at the Feierabend Association for Music Education’s Biennial Conference to be held July 20-22 in Chicago.
Dr. Alan Overstreet was selected by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion to participate in their workshop for Theological School Faculty Teaching Online. The competitive workshop includes a program in which theological school faculty design, build, implement, assess, and redesign an online or hybrid course to be taught in the 2018-19 academic year.
Dr. Nathan Willowby was selected as a 2018-19 Villanova Church Management Research Fellow. The fellowship entails research and publication of an article on the relationship of faith and finances that theological education has on congregational leadership approaches to missional giving.
April 2018
Dr. Samantha Miller, selected as the 2018 Harp Professor in Residence, presented “No Sympathy for the Devil: John Chrysostom Responds to Spiritual Warfare in the Global South” at the annual Harp Lecture held April 5 at AU.
Prof. Peter Elliott attended the College English Association’s conference held April 5-7 in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he chaired a panel on different contexts for teaching English. Elliott also shared his research presentation, “Examining Writing Center Procedures at Small Liberal Arts Institutions.” Prof. Elliott is grateful for the Faculty Development Committee’s support of the project.