Associate Dean and Professor of English Tom Stroik found his scholarly work in linguistics the focus of a conference on “Exploring Crash Proof Grammars” at Carson-Newman College, February 29- March 2, 2008. He presented a plenary address to those assembled.

Family Studies Associate Professor Debbie Smith, in The New York Times addressed the changing nature of familial obligations to ‘stay connected’ as air travel has become more complicated and costly while the Internet provides a ready alternative to visiting in person. The article appeared Sunday, December 23, 2007.

Geosciences Assistant Professor Molly Davies article is cited as among top 10 articles most downloaded from the website of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society in the two year period between December 2005 and November 2007. The article, co-authored with Nicole DeMotto, is titled: A GIS Analysis of the Relationship between Criminal Offenses and Parks in Kansas City, Kansas. It appeared in 2006.

History Professor Marian Forman-Brunnel will serve second term as a Distinguished Lecturer under the auspices of the Organization of American Historians. Her current term expires in May of 2008 and she has been asked to take a second three-year term in recognition of her successful contributions to that organization.

Felicia Hardison Londré, Curators’ Professor of Theatre, had three books published during the calendar year 2007. Published in January, The Enchanted Years of the Stage: Kansas City at the Crossroads of American Theater, 1870-1930 (University of Missouri Press), was recognized in the Kansas City Star as one of the “Top 5 in 2007: Theater” (23 December 2007), as well as one of the 100 Noteworthy Books of 2007 (18 November 2007). November brought publication of the Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Modernism (with James Fisher, Scarecrow Press), and in December came her play Duse and D’Annunzio published in book form in a Korean translation by UMKC alum Sujin Kang, with a new introductory essay by Londré in English.

Felicia Londré also gave three lectures at the University of Hawaii in April, a paper at the Association Française des Etudes Américaines in May, nightly ShowTalks at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in July, the Kimball Lecture in October, and already has three invited lecture engagements on the Shakespeare authorship in April and June 2008.

The Fall 2007 UMRB awards in the College were:

Henry Frankel, Professor, Department of Philosophy, “The Continental Drift Controversy—completion of a 3-volume work for Cambridge University Press.”

Viviana Grieco, Assistant Professor, Department of History, “On the King’s Power and His Subjects’ Money:  Political Culture.”

Donald Priour, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, “Detecting and Characterizing Magnetic Nano-clusters in Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors:  A Theoretical Study.”

Melisa Rempfer, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, “Real World Functional Assessments in People with Serious Mental Illness.”
 

FACULTY RESEARCH GRANTS

Gayle Levy, Associate Professor of French, was awarded an FRG for her project, “Switching Sides: Hélie de Saint Marc’s Voyages.”

Ekaterina Kadnikova, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, was awarded an FRG for her project, “Enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of core-shell Nanoparticles.”

Pellom McDaniels, Assistant Professor of History and American Studies, was awarded an FRG for his project, “The Black Prince:  Isaac Murphy and the Ideology of Respectability.”

Dana Tulodziecki, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, was awarded an FRG for her project, “An examination of John Snow’s reasoning concerning the nature and transmission of cholera.”

Jeffrey Rydberg-Cox, Associate Professor of English, was awarded an FRG for his project, “Finding Needles in a Field of Haystacks:  An Odyssey in  the Digital Pacific.”

G. Ross Stephens, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, was awarded an EFRG for his project, “A Statistical Model of the Federal/State/Local Tax Structure.”