News about awards and events from around the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
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TWITTERAround the College: April
News from Geological Sciences
News of Students
Department of Geological Sciences seniors Chelsea Fenn and Bud Davis were selected as two of the 40 interns in the 2012 Cooperative Summer Geosciences Internship Program co-sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. Selection was made based on their outstanding field camp performance at UF in 2011. Established in 1965, this is one of the longest continuously running science internship programs in the country.
Davis will work in Lakewood, CO analyzing core from Great Sand Dunes National Park. Differences in the physical, magnetic, and biotic properties will be studied to gain understanding of the area's geology. Fenn declined the USGS internship, instead choosing to intern with Denver-based petroleum company Enerplus. She will study the Turner sandstone in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming by doing field work, mapping, and describing cores to better understand the formations' marine depositional setting. The goal is to identify areas where oil and natural gas might be produced and correlate well logs for these areas.
News from Anthropology and African American Studies
NSF-Funded Symposium on Racism & Sexism in Women's Careers in Academia
Dr. Faye V. Harrison was invited to participate in a March 28-29, 2012 symposium on strategies for success in women's academic careers at Texas A&M University (TAMU). With funding from the National Science Foundation and other sources, the Department of Anthropology hosted "Strategies for Success for Women in Anthropology," whose organizers and targeted audience included faculty in both Africana Studies and Women's Studies. The symposium, the highlight of the department's Women's Week activities, featured four nationally renowned women scholars, who represented each of anthropology's major subfields. Dr. Harrison was selected to speak from the perspective of sociocultural anthropology. The four speakers were asked to address how gender, race, and ethnicity along with the selected focus of their research had affected their career development. Most of the speakers had never publicly divulged "personal" information about their careers. The most senior scholar, who claimed not to have expertise in gender analysis, captivated the auditorium with her no-holds barred presentation on women in science and her own personal experience as a student and later as a professional researcher.
Dr. Harrison's lecture, "Decolonizing Anthropology from the Outside Within," was informed by her track record of scholarly writings on epistemological hierarchies, the history and politics of knowledge, and the decolonization of anthropology. Her lecture-which balanced the personal, professional, and theoretical-was well-received and stimulated a lively discussion that continued informally over the two-day period. In the second day's panel discussion on "Promoting Climate Change in Departments," she presented on the common misconceptions and anxieties about racism, affirmative action, and compensatory justice. She also zoomed in on some of the subtle and not-so-subtle forms that academic racism commonly assumes-including the micro-aggressions documented in studies based on multi-methodological research designs that combine empirical and experiential evidence. She drew on a chapter she contributed to Racism in the Academy: The New Millennium (Audrey Smedley and Janis Hutchinson, eds.), which will be available as an e-book from the American Anthropological Association later in the spring. As the organizers requested, she also addressed her own experiences with intersections of racism and sexism in academia along with strategies she has deployed for survival and success over the course of her career.
After returning home from Texas, Dr. Harrison received thoughtful "debriefing" messages from the organizers and a fellow participant. The latter wrote the following to her: "What an INCREDIBLY powerful critique you left us with yesterday morning. I am stunned by your brilliance as a thinker and theoretician... We will all be citing you on this in our classes!!!... Thank you so very much... for the incredible work you do and have done. You are an inspiration."
News from Religion
- The Center for Latin American Studies has received a $400,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to develop an interdisciplinary program on immigration, religion, and social change. Funds from the grant will be used to develop effective models of intervention, exchange, and outreach, deploying the resources of the University of Florida to address the urgent needs of immigrant communities in the U.S. South. Congratulations to Project co-directors Manuel Vasquez (Religion) and Philip Williams (Center for Latin American Studies) and Co-PIs, Maria Coady (Education) and Jeanne-Marie Stacciarini (Nursing)!
News of Faculty
- Professor Whitney Sanford received an FEO Award for Summer 2012 for her project "Being the Change: What Gandhi Has Taught Contemporary Intentional Communities about Food, Non-violence, and Social Justice." This fieldwork-based project explores how members of four intentional communities (Dancing Rabbit, LA Ecovillage, New Hope Catholic Workers Farm, and the Possibility Alliance) and urban affiliates (Shade Tree Collective and Cherith Brook Catholic Worker) understand and enact Mohandas K. Gandhi's social thought in response to contemporary social and agrarian failures in North America. Congratulations Dr. Sanford!
- Professor Mario Poceski has a newly-published chapter in an edited volume: "Chinese Buddhism," in Randall Nadeau, ed., The Blackwell Companion to Chinese Religions (Oxford: Blackwell, 2012): 197-218.
- Professor Vasudha Narayanan did an onsite review of Religious Studies at the University of Arizona last week.
- Professor Manual Vasquez published a co-authored article entitled "A congregação multicultural e a migração brasileira para os Estados Unidos: Reflexões a partir de uma igreja em Atlanta" in Revista Eclesiástica Brasileira, one of the top scholarly journals in religious studies in Brazil.
- Professor Bron Taylor's article, "Wilderness, Spirituality and Biodiversity in North America: Tracing an Environmental History from Occidental Roots to Earth Day," will appear in Wilderness Mythologies: Wilderness in the History of Religions, ed. Laura Feldt (Berlin: De Gruyter); accepted and now in production, it is slated for publication Winter/Spring 2013. A pre-copy edited version is online (comments welcome) at http://www.brontaylor.com/environmental_articles/pdf/Taylor--Wilderness2Biodiversity.pdf
News of Students
- Religion Majors Jaime Drucker and Caroline Reed were elected to Phi Beta Kappa this March. Congratulations!
- Jordan Kassabaum (undergraduate religion major) has been awarded a University Scholars award of $1,750. The University Scholars program will allow Jordan to conduct research on the modern "quest" for the historical Jesus, concentrating on the title "Son of Man" as it is used in both Jewish and Christian literature of the Greco-Roman period. Jordan will be mentored by Professor Jim Mueller. Congratulations, Jordan!
- PhD candidate Caleb Simmons received a language fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies for Summer 2012 and the 2012-2013 Academic Year to study Kannada in Mysore, Karnataka in India. Congratulations, Caleb!
- Krista Schumacher (undergraduate religion major) has been awarded a University Scholars award of $1,750. The University Scholars program will allow Krista to conduct research on religion in the military, particularly studying military chaplains. Krista will be mentored by Professor Anna Peterson. Congratulations, Krista!
March
News from Religion
News of Students
- PhD candidate Bridgette O'Brien McGoldrick, who is also working as an upper school Humanities teacher at the Annie Wright School, is one of two teachers in the nation selected to be a William and Virginia Banks Cannady Visiting Teacher to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in South Africa in August, 2012. The Cannady fellowship competition, open to teachers at US girls' schools across the nation, was conceived to bring to the Winfrey Academy excellent American teachers who will advance the mission of the Academy and forge ongoing international connections among girls and teachers at schools throughout the world. Congratulations, Bridgette!
- PhD candidate Caleb Simmons's essay, "The Graphic Goddess: Mahisasuramardini in the Modern Art World," has been chosen to be reprinted in Modern Art Asia's two-year anniversary issue. Congratulations, Caleb!
News from Geological Sciences
News of Faculty
- Associate Professor Joe Meert gave two invited talks on "The (Paleo) Geography of Evolution: Making sense of changing geography and changing continents." The first presentation was January 31 at the 49th Annual Florida Regional Junior Science, Engineering, and Humanities Symposium at the Reitz Union and the second was February 11 at Broward Community College's 8th Annual Darwin Day.
News of Students
- A group of undergraduate students including Trevor Cole, Sarah Widlansky, Janelle Bauer, Alia Lesnek, Chelsea Fenn and Jerome Sepulchre volunteered at Newberry Elementary School during the school's Science Fair Showcase on February 22. During five 30 minute presentations, the group introduced rocks, minerals and fossils to about 100 elementary students.
- During two sessions in January, undergraduate students Trevor Cole and Matthew Celestino taught members of the Trinity Church-based Boy Scout troop about geology. The lessons included erosion, rock types, identifying minerals and their use in industry and fossil species found in Gainesville creeks.
February
News from Religion
News of Faculty
- Professor Terje Østebø published the article (co-authored with Jörg Haustein): "EPRDF's Revolutionary Democracy and Religious Plurality: Islam and Christianity in Post-Derg Ethiopia" in Journal of East African Studies, 5, 2, 2011.
- Professor Mario Poceski received an invitation to serve as a discussant at the 4th Shen Yen Foundation International Conference, held in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 1st – 4th. He is also planning to spend a few days after the conference at Dharma Drum Mountain, a monastic community in the northern part of Taiwan.
- Professor Anna Peterson has been named as an Elizabeth Wood Dunlevie Honors Term Professor for the academic year 2012–13 by the University Honors Program. She will teach an honors course on "Animals and Society" in fall 2012. Congratulations, Dr. Peterson!
- Professor Whitney Sanford was selected as a curator for the "Lexicon of Sustainability" Pop-Up Art show. This collection of prints is designed to prompt discussion around food, justice, and sustainability. The Lexicon of Sustainability will first be shown in conjunction with Cinema Verde, Gainesville's environmental film festival, at Villa East, 301 N. Main Street, from February 24th–March 2nd. It will also be installed on campus during UF's Earth Day Festivities on April 6th. The prints will be housed in Library West and available for checkout.
- Professor Robin Wright's manuscript "Indigenous Religious Traditions of the World" has been accepted for publication in a new encyclopedia Religions of the World, edited by Augsburg Press. Robin Wright's manuscript, "Mythscapes and their meanings in the Northwest Amazon," has been accepted for publication in a new volume "Ensaios sobre o Multiculturalismo: Literatura, Cultura e Direitos de indígenas em época de globalização," edited by Maria Sylvia Cintra Martins.
News of Students
- PhD candidate Hilit Surowitz has been offered a tenure-track position in the Department of Religion at Wake Forest University. Congratulations, Hilit!
- Robin Globus (PhD Candidate, Religion and Nature) has been selected as a finalist for a 2012 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. This year, there were more than 550 national applicants for this prestigious fellowship. As of this week, the top 10% have been chosen as finalists, with 21 soon to be selected to receive this award. Congratulations Robin!
January
News from Astronomy
News of Faculty
- The Helen B. Warner Prize for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy by an early-career scientist has been awarded to Eric B. Ford “for his theoretical and computational research in the field of extrasolar planets, including ground-breaking work on the dynamical evolution of planetary systems and planet formation.” Ford‘s work has established the importance of mutual gravitational interactions within exoplanet systems and has aided the efficient design of new exoplanet searches.
