Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 17 January 26, 1995 - Achievers

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Achievers

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 17 - January 26, 1995

John Cairns , university distinguished professor of environmental biology, started 1995 with the publication of three books in January: The Handbook of Ecotoxicology (with G. Allen Burton, David J. Hoffman, and Barnett A. Rattner), the Second Edition of Rehabilitating Damaged Ecosystems , and Ecological Toxicity Testing (with B.R. Niederlehner). All three books were published by Lewis Publishers Inc., one of the three leading publishers of environmental books. Cairns also was asked to provide input to the President's Council on Sustainable Development, established by President Bill Clinton to develop a vision of what a sustainable United States will look like some 50 years from now and to define an overall goal of sustainable development, or development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Robert Denton , head of communication studies, presented a paper on "The 1994 Congressional Elections: Realignment or Dealignment?" at the Virginia Political Science Association meeting.

Andrea Holland of the English department published a poem, "Last Day As Friends: Two Scenes with Erika," in the fall issue of Marquee .

Simone Poirier- Bures of the English department has had her short story "Blue Coat" published in an anthology of short stories, poems, and essays called Bless Me, Father: Stories of Catholic Childhood . Her story "Ten" was published in the anthology about growing up in two cultures, Two Worlds Walking .

Thomas H. Ollendick , professor of psychology, was installed as the new president of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT) at its 28th annual convention in San Diego. He recently was named one of the nation's best mental- health experts in the child and adolescent area. AABT is a not- for- profit organization of professionals and students concerned with the application of the behavioral and cognitive sciences to gain a better understanding of human behavior and develop interventions that enhance the condition of human lives. The behavioral therapies are proven, research- based forms of therapy that are goal- oriented, usually short term, and often drug free.

Joe Eska of the English department has had his article about translating Gaulish inscriptions published in Celtic Studies .

Jeff Mann of the English department has had four poems and an essay published in Kestrel . The poems are "Graveyard Maples After Sleet," " Weeds," "Another Droning Dismissal," and "Lunar Eclipse." The essay is "Absences."

The Virginia Tech Society of Physics Students has been designated an Outstanding SPS Chapter for 1993- 94. Criteria for the award included chapter activities and membership, outstanding chapter projects, outside guest lectures and SPS- related tours, student papers presented at SPS and other scientific meetings, student attendance at and participation in SPS zone or regional meetings, and the hosting of an SPS zone or regional meeting.

Lawrence S. Grossman , associate professor of geography, had his article "British Aid and Windwards Bananas: The Case of St. Vincent and the Grenadines," published in Social and Economic Studies .

Damian Rubino , instructor of foreign languages and literatures, presented "Galdosian Metafiction and the Poetics of the Nineteenth Century Novel" at the sixth Biennial Northeast Regional Meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University.

Katherine Soniat of the English department read for the Poetry Society of Virginia at The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. She also gave a poetry reading and conducted a workshop at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton.

Paul Heilker of the English department read two papers at conferences: "Grammar B: An/Other Look" at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Convention in Baltimore and "Critical Thinking, the Thesis/Support Form, and the Essay" at the Midwest Modern Language Association Convention in Chicago.

Johann Norstedt of the English department presented a paper on "Marie Powers: Gian- Carlo Menotti's Irish- American Medium" at the American Conference for Irish Studies Mid- Atlantic Region meeting at Immaculata College.

Clifton Bryant , professor of sociology and one of the nation's foremost authorities on crime and deviant behavior, gave a talk on "The Gun and American Culture" at Fanfare, A Celebration of the Arts and Humanities at Southeastern Louisiana University.

Judith L. Shrum, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures, was a panelist in a forum to discuss the state of proficiency- oriented language instruction in Virginia at the Foreign Language Association of Virginia meeting. She also presented a workshop on Teaching Listening Comprehension Using the Interactive Model at the meeting. She is the coauthor (with Eileen Glisan of Indiana University of Pennsylvania) of Teacher's Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction . She also was nominated to the board of directors of the Northeast Conference for Teaching Foreign Languages. Shrum also presented a workshop on Teaching French and Spanish in Carroll County K- 5 schools.

Members of the sociology department presented papers at the meeting of the XIIIth World Congress of Sociology in Bielefeld, Germany: Ellsworth Fuhrman , "Toward a Postmodern Sociology of Knowledge;" Toni Calasanti , "Women's Retirement in Poland in Connection with Economic Restructuring"; Jill Kiecolt , "The Importance of a Critical Event for Self- Change"; Dale Wimberley (coauthor with Ruan Hoe), "Income Strategies of Rural Chinese Households: A Preliminary Analysis"; and Clifton D. Bryant , "Gun Fun: Firearms in American Leisure Activities." Bryant also chaired two sessions, one on leisure, deviance, and violence, and one on leisure and sexuality.

Bradley Hertel of the sociology department presented a paper on "Brahmin and non- Brahmin Priests and Temporal and Spatial Axes of Hindu Cosmology" at the 13th European Conference of Modern Asian Studies in Toulouse, France. Some 300 scholars from Europe, the United States, Australia, and India participated.

Carol Bailey of the sociology department presented a workshop on Feminist Pedagogy at the Nordic Forum in Finland, using head phones for simultaneous translation for the 16,000 women attending. Bailey was one of only two people from the United States who attended.

Michael Hughes of the sociology department taught a one- week course in creativity and the arts at WICE, a leisure- studies institute in the Netherlands.

Peggy de Wolf of the sociology department, in collaboration with Donald Shoemaker and Robert Turner , administered a survey to 150 high- school students in Delft, the Netherlands, in a study exploring the relationship between elective time use and measures of psychological well being.

Randy Crockett

and Wayne Donald , both team leaders for the administrative systems initiative, Project ENABLE, presented a pre- conference seminar on "Using Teams to Introduce Change" at the annual CAUSE national conference. CAUSE is the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. The conference was held in late November in Orlando, Fla. Donald also presented a paper titled "Partnering Within The Institution and Beyond" for the regular conference program.

Edward F.D. Spencer , director of residence and dining programs and associate professor of education, was the 1993-94 recipient of the Dr. Henri Stegmeier Faculty Advisor Award from Sigma Chi Fraternity. Spencer, who also won the award in 1988-89, is the first two-time winner. He received a $500 grant and had his name engraved on a permanent plaque on display at the fraternity's international headquarters in Evanston, Ill.

Spencer also has been appointed to the leadership training board of Sigma Chi.