Around the College
This article was originally published in the December 2004 / January 2005 issue of CLASnotes.
Mills
Appointed to National Advisory Council
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson has appointed Sociology Professor Terry Mills to the National Advisory Council on Aging. His appointment begins on January 1 and continues until 2008. As one of 18 members on the council, Mills will advise the secretary and the directors of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging on matters relating to the conduct and support of biomedical, social, and behavioral research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to the aging process. The council meets at least three times each year in Washington, DC.
At UF, Mills serves as the CLAS associate dean for minority affairs and director of the Office for Academic Support and Institutional Services. His research examines how physical health, functional disability and demographic and socioeconomic factors influence the levels of depressive symptoms among older adults.
Faculty Honored with International Educator Awards
At the third annual UF Internationalization Seminar on November 15, President
Bernie Machen awarded an International Educator of the
Year Award to Amie Kreppel, associate professor of political
science and director of the Center for European Studies. This is the first
year the award has been given, and it recognizes outstanding senior and
junior-level scholars making significant contributions to the internationalization
of the UF campus and curriculum.
Each college was allowed to nominate one or two candidates, depending on its size, and all nominees were recognized during the award ceremony, including the other candidates from CLAS, Zoology Professor Karen Bjorndal, and Chemistry Professor Randy Duran, the Honors Program’s nominee. A campus-wide selection committee organized by the UF International Center chose the top two overall winners—Kreppel, at the junior level, and College of Education professor Thomas Oakland at the senior level. Kreppel was awarded a plaque and a $5,000 prize.
Department News
Anthropology
H. Russell Bernard attended the International Federation of Science Editors (IFSE) meeting in Merida, Mexico in October. The group meets every two years and brings together science editors from across the world to discuss new technologies in publishing and how to improve scientific communication in developing nations. Bernard created a panel of social scientists for the meeting, the first time since its founding that IFSE has invited social scientists to participate.
Chemistry
James Winefordner was recently named a fellow of the Society of Applied Spectroscopy, one of the first to receive this honor. He has also received the Strock Award from the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies, given by the New England Section of the Society of Applied Spectroscopy in recognition of a selected publication of substantive research. In March, Winefordner will receive the Maurice Hasler Award at the Pittsburgh Conference, an annual conference on analytical chemistry and spectroscopy.
Classics
Jennifer Rea gave an invited talk titled, “Aratus and Augustus: Astrology in the Age of Saturn,” at the Varietates Lectionum: Approaches to Roman Religion conference at the University of Mississippi on October 23.
Criminology, Law and Society
Paul Magnarella presented the paper “Reconciling the US with a Fugitive Black Panther in Africa” at the annual meeting of the Association of Third World Studies in October at Mercer University. He has been legally representing Black Panther Pete O’Neal, a fugitive living in Africa, in Federal Court since 1997. Magnarella also recently published “Internationally Protected Human Rights: Fact or Fiction?” in the journal Human Rights and Human Welfare.
Alex R. Piquero has been appointed to the editorial boards of eight journals including, Criminology, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice, Justice Quarterly, Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Crime & Delinquency, and Youth & Society.
Dean’s Office
Margaret Fields has been named to the Association of Psychological Type’s Board of Directors as director of education. The group is an international membership organization which promotes the practical application and ethical use of psychological type by linking members and others interested in type with opportunities for continuous learning, sharing experience and creating understanding and knowledge through research.
English
Ron Carpenter received the 2004 Douglas Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award at the National Communication Association’s annual convention recently in Chicago. The award recognizes Carpenter’s multiple publications and presentations around a rhetorical topic or theme that have demonstrated intellectual creativity, perseverance and impact on academic communities. Douglas Ehninger is a former UF speech professor who moved to the University of Iowa. When Carpenter came to UF in 1971, he was hired into Ehninger’s former position.
Debora Greger and William Logan have been honored by Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana with the Corrington Award for Literary Excellence. As the 15th and 16th recipients of the award, named in memory of Centenary alumnus John William Corrington, the two received bronze medals designed by renowned sculptor Clyde Connell at a ceremony on November 9, during which they read from their works.
The award also carries a special feature—a book by each winner is incorporated into all sections of the fall first-year experience courses at Centenary. More than 300 students and faculty at the university are reading Logan’s Night Battles and Greger’s Desert Fathers, Uranium Daughters.
Germanic and Slavic Studies
Franz Futterknecht, Will Hasty, and Christina Overstreet gave a panel presentation at the national meeting of the American Association of Teachers of German titled “Approaches to Linguistic and Cultural Competence in the Hypermedia Environment” on November 20 in Chicago.
Graduate students Aneka Meier and Sven-Ole Anderson each presented papers at the recent Southeast Atlantic Modern Language Association conference in Roanoke, Virginia in November. Meier delivered a paper titled “Second Culture Acquisition and Cutting-Edge Technology.” Andersen’s paper was titled “Between Book and Computer: Divergent Positions on Teaching Methodologies and Possible Benefits.”
Jewish Studies
English Professor Judith
Page will serve as interim director of the Center for Jewish
Studies starting on January 1. Page came to UF in 2000 and received
a Skirball Fellowship to spend the spring 2003 semester in England
at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. The center’s
new permanent director, Jack Kugelmass, will assume
duties on July 1, 2005. Known for his studies of Jewish communities
in America and Eastern Europe, Kugelmass formerly was the Irving
and Miriam Lowe Professor of Holocaust and Modern Jewish Studies
and Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Arizona State University.
Political Science Professor Ken Wald has served
as director since 1999 and will spend a sabbatical as a visiting
fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International
Affairs before returning to full-time teaching and research at UF.
Mathematics
Gerard Emch presented a lecture titled “Quantum Statistical Mechanics” at the Foundations of Physics Handbook Workshop, held at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh in late October. In early November, he also presented two talks on special philosophy of physics, “Not What Models Are, But What Models Do” and “Spontaneous Symmetry Breakdown in Statistical Mechanics” at Princeton University.
Romance Languages and Literatures
Sylvie Blum-Reid (French) presented a paper on “Linda Le: Cuisine rutilante/cordons bleus expatriees” at the annual Pacific and Modern Language Association conference at Reed College in Portland, Oregon on November 5.
Bernadette Cailler (French) chaired a session and presented a paper, “Kebir M. Ammi et Augustinus Afer: A propos de terres plurielles, de cultures composites, et de pensées de l’Un,” at the joint annual meetings of the African Studies Association and the Canadian Association for African Studies in New Orleans on November 11-14.
Charles Perrone (Portuguese) was the guest speaker at Santa Fe Community College’s Internationalizing the Curriculum workshop on November 30. The second annual workshop was designed for faculty to collaborate with Perrone to enhance global awareness.
David Pharies (Spanish) presented an invited paper, “Zur Typologie der Suffixentstehung im Spanischen,” at the October 19th meeting of the Vienna Linguistics Society. On October 21, he presented “Redacción de una nueva edición de un diccionario bilingüe” at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.
Photos:
Jane Dominguez (Mills, Kreppel)