Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 18 January 25, 1996 - Achievers

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Achievers

Spectrum Volume 18 Issue 18 - January 25, 1996

Andrew Cohill, director, and Andrea Kavanaugh, director of research, of the Blacksburg Electronic Village, are principal investigators on a grant titled "Building Community in Rural America: A Replicable Model for Networking" awarded from the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP) of the National Telecommunications and Information Adminstration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce. A copy of the project narrative is posted at: http://www.bev.net/project/research/NTIA-95.html.

The Virginia Tech Police Department has been granted national accreditation by the CALEA.

John M. Carroll, professor of computer science and psychology and head of computer science, hosted a workshop at the Donaldson-Brown Hotel and Conference Center on new developments of the minimalist approach to designing documentation and training. The workshop was sponsored by the Society for Technical Communication and included representatives from Hewlett-Packard Co., the University of Delaware, the University of Glasgow, the University of Washington, Comtech Services Inc., Miami University-Ohio, The George Washington University, the University of Twente-The Netherlands, Depaul University, Redish & Associates Inc., Tec-Ed Inc., and Brigham Young University. Faith McCreary , a graduate student in Industrial and Systems Engineering, also participated. The minimalist approach was originally described in Carroll's 1990 book The Nurnberg Funnel .

Carroll gave the opening keynote talk at the annual conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of the Ergonomics Society of Australia. His talk was titled "Design History as a Tool."

Richard C. Rich, professor and chair of political science, recently made two invited presentations at national conferences. He addressed the Environmental Communication section of the National Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication on the subject of "Who Should Decide What Risks are Acceptable." He spoke to the National Conference on Protecting the Public in Chemical Emergencies on "Improving Public Response to Shelter-In-Place Orders."

Heather Hall, laboratory specialist for the chemistry department, was named the Outstanding Scientific Materials Manager of the Year by the National Association of Scientific Materials Managers (NAOSMM). The award was presented at the 22nd annual meeting of NAOSMM in Chicago. NAOSMM members are from universities and industry across the United States and Canada.

Bernice Hausman, assistant professor of English, has had her book Changing Sex: Transsexualism, Technology, and the Idea of Gender published by Duke University Press.

Kent Holliday, associate professor of music, won first prize at the New Music Delaware Festival of Contemporary Music with his composition Four Evocations for solo piano. The prize was $500 and a performance of the composition at the 1996 New Music Delaware Festival in March 1996. The regional competition was open to all composers living or working in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, and Virginia.

Donald J. Shoemaker of the sociology department was an invited speaker and participant at a conference on international juvenile crime and juvenile rights sponsored by the United Nations and organized by the State of Kuwait. The focus was on the Gulf Coast of Arabia and other countries of the Middle East, and Shoemaker's paper was "Sociological Approaches to an Understanding of Youth Deviance/Delinquency Causation." His talk was covered in several Kuwait newspapers, and he was interviewed for The Arab Times. Shoemaker also delivered a paper, co-authored with Ricardo Zarco of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, at the annual meetings of the American Society of Criminology. The paper was on "Student Organizations as Conflict Gangs, University of the Philippines, Diliman." Shoemaker also presented a paper, co-authored by James D. Unnever of Radford University, on "Disparities in Educational Resources and Rates of Juvenile Arrests: A Test of Classical Strain Theory" at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association in Washington, D.C.

Justo C. Ulloa , professor of Spanish, is co-author with L.A. Ulloa of Radford University of the third edition of Graded Spanish Reader, Primera Etapa , published by D.C. Heath & Co. Adopted by major universities and colleges throughout the United States and Canada, this text offers a rich variety of genres, sequenced in order of increasing difficulty, and introduces beginning- and intermediate-level students to the works of key Spanish and Latin American literary figures. The Ulloas' fifth edition of Graded Spanish Reader, Segunda Etapa is forthcoming from Heath.

Stephen K. White of the political science department gave an invited lecture at Harvard University titled "Weak Ontology and Liberal Political Reflection." His edited volume , Cambridge Companion to Habermas, was published by Cambridge University Press. He also organized a section of 18 panels in political theory for the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in Chicago.

Judith Shrum of the foreign languages and literatures department has had published Enlaces, the second edition of her intermediate college Spanish textbook. She also gave a presentation of a paper on "Using the Interactive Model to Teach Listening Comprehension" at the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages annual meeting. Shrum is on the board of directors of the Northeast Conference on Language.

Kenneth Rystrom of the communication studies department presented a paper titled "Suffrage for Freedmen: The Specter of Dred Scott" at a Symposium on the Antebellum Press, the Civil War and Free Expression at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Linda Arnold, associate professor of history, recently completed a guide to the 1456 volume of the Mexican Military Court Archive. She also presented an invited paper on "Corporate Society, Corruption: Resisting Subordination and the Abuse of Power" at a special University of Chicago conference on Corruption and Society in Mexico.

Mark V. Barrow Jr., assistant professor of history, was one of four scholars invited to lead sessions for the Dibner Institute Seminar on the History of Biology held at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. The general topic of the week-long seminar was "Ecology and Conservation Biology," and Barrow presented his research and guided discussion on the history of wildlife conservation in the United States prior to World War II. He also presented a paper, "Alternate Visions: Scientific Ornithologists and the Rise of Birdwatching in the United States," at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society in Minneapolis, Minn.

Frederic J. Baumgartner, professor of history, has had his book, France in the Sixteenth Century, published by St. Martin's Press in hard cover and paperback editions. It is a comprehensive study of French history during the "long sixteenth century," from 1484 to 1614. Baumgartner also served recently as a commentator for a session at the annual meeting of the Western Society for French History held at Las Vegas.

Beverly Bunch-Lyons, assistant professor of history, prepared a scholarly review of historical interpretive issues relating to the Underground Railroad in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky for the American History Workshop, to be used by museum planners. Bunch-Lyons also presented a paper at the Oral History Association meeting in Milwaukee, Wis., titled, "Migration and Maintaining Family Ties: Cincinnati's African-American Women Speak."

Tom Howard, associate professor of history, served as chair and commentator for a session on "Commercial Internationalism Reconsidered" at the annual meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, United States Naval Academy. Howard also presented a paper on "Franklin Roosevelt, the Caribbean, and the Creation of the Third World" at the International Conference on Franklin D. Roosevelt After 50 Years: The Politics and Culture of the 1930s and 1940s, held at Louisiana State University.

Peter Wallenstein of the history department recently published "The Right To Marry: Loving v. Virginia," in the OAH Magazine of History and "Race, Marriage, and the Law of Freedom: Alabama and Virginia, 1860s-1960s," in the Chicago-Kent Law Review. He also published "Incendiaries All: Southern Politics and the Harpers Ferry Raid" in His Soul Goes Marching On: Responses to John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid, edited by Paul Finkelman (University Press of Virginia, 1995).

Peter W. Kipp, director of operating services for the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center, has been elected a district director for the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association (VHTA) and will chair the association's education committee. Kipp, who is also a member of the faculty in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management in the College of Human Resources at the university, has more than 39 years experience in the hospitality industry, including nine years as head of DBHCC. He is a Certified Hospitality Administrator (CHA), Certified Hospitality Sales Professional (CHSP), and a Certified Hospitality Sales Executive (CHSE), all top professional designations.

The College of Arts and Sciences Staff Association (CASSA) held its annual project to help needy families in the area. This year four families were chosen-one each from Montgomery, Floyd, Giles, and Pulaski counties. Through the cooperation of staff, as well as faculty, CASSA's Project Committee collected $2,916 and several gift items. The money was then divided between the four families and was used to purchase gift certificates from Food Lion, WalMart and utility payments.

Carl Pfeiffer, a professor in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, has had two articles related to his biological research associated with the Space Shuttle program published in professional journals.

"Cytopathologic observations of the lung of adult newts ( Cynops pyrrhogaster ) on-board the Space Shuttle, Columbia, during the Second International Microgravity Laboratory experiments" and "Ultrastructural cytology of the primitive lung of the newt, Cynops pyrrhogaster " were both published in the Journal of Submicroscopic Cytology and Pathology.

L. Leon Geyer of the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics presented a series of seminars at foreign universities recently. In Canada, he presented "Property Rights-Rights Without Duties?" to the faculty of law at the University of New Brunswick; and "Impact of Government Regulation on Land Value" during the Viscount Bennet Seminar at University of New Brunswick. In Australia, he presented "Property Rights-A Method to Derail the Environmental Movement" at the environmental law conference at the University of Adelaide; and "American Property Rights Movement" at Law Faculty, University of Melbourne. In New Zealand, he presented "Property Rights, a Takings Analysis" at Victoria University. He recently presented a paper on "Risk Sharing Down on the Farm, A Comparison of Farmer Bankruptcy and Insolvency Statutes," at the Anglo-American Agricultural Law Symposium at Oxford, England.

Geyer was elected to the board of directors of the American Agricultural Law Association recently.

Jesse Richardson, a graduate student in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, presented a paper on "Maximizing Tax Benefits to Farmers and Ranchers Implementing Conservation and Environmental Plans" at the annual meeting of the American Agricultural Law Association in Kansas City, Mo.

Tamim Younos , research scientist in Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) presented a paper titled "Seasonal Impact of a Dairy Loafing Lot on Stream Water Quality" at the Conserv 96 conference held Jan. 4-8 in Orlando, Fla. The published paper in the conference proceedings is co-authored by Eldridge Collins and Blake Ross , both of BSE. The national conference was sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Water Resources Association, and American Water Works Association.

Michael J. Sporakowski

, professor of family and child development, had his article, "Assessment and Diagnosis in Marriage and Family Counseling," published in the Journal of Counseling and Development. . He has also had two assessment reviews printed in the 12th Mental Measurements Yearbook (1995) published by the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The reviews were of "The Golombok Rust Inventory of Marital State" and "The Problem Experiences Checklist."

Professor E. Thomas Garman of the Department of Housing, Interior Design, and Resource Management, was named a distinguished fellow of the American Council on Consumer Interests at the organization's 41st annual conference. The award honors those who have made significant contributions to ACCI over a long period of time and who are widely recognized as leaders in the consumer field.

Ruth H. Lytton

, associate professor in the Department of Housing, Interior Design, and Resource Management, named the Mary Ellen Edmondson Financial Educator of the Year by the Association of Financial Counseling and Planning Educators.

Rosemary Blieszner

, professor of family and child development, had her article "Friendship processes and well-being in the later years of life: Implications for interventions" published in the Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry . She co-authored the article, "Aging Well with Friends and Family," which is published in Aging Well in Contemporary Society , a special issue of American Behavioral Scientist

Professor Ann A. Hertzler of human nutrition and foods and Robert B. Frary , head of Testing and Measurement, presented "Family Factors and Fat Consumption of College Students" at the American Dietetic Association meeting. Hertzler also presented "Kids, Kitchens, and Klean-Up" at the meeting.

Doctoral Candidates Phyllis A. Greenberg and Karen L. Wilcox of family and child development presented a roundtable discussion on "Tapestry of Pedagogy: Weaving Feminism into Introductory Family Studies Courses" at the National Council for Family Relations. Greenberg also presented a roundtable on "Careers in Gerontology."

Associate Professor Sandra Stith , family and child development program director at the Virginia Tech Northern Virginia Graduate Center in Falls Church, is the co-editor, with Murray Straus, of Understanding Partner Violence: Prevalence, Causes, Consequences, and Solutions , which is published by the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR).

Several family and child development faculty members and students from the Virginia Tech Northern Virginia Graduate Center in Falls Church made presentations at the National Council on Family Relations annual conference. Associate Professor and Program Director Sandra Stith made two presentations: "From Student to Professional: Skills and Strategies for Long-Term Success" and "Getting Started Publishing." Assistant Professor Karen Rosen presented the paper, "A Qualitative Study of Battered Women: Vulnerabilities, Protective Factors, and Resiliencies." Rosen and master's student Susan Snell made a poster presentation on "Families with Children with Special Needs: A Qualitative Study on the Process of Coping."

Stith and Assistant Professor Karen Rosen , family and child development program director at the Virginia Tech Northern Virginia Graduate Center in Falls Church, had their article "Women Terminating Abusive Relationships: A Qualitative Study" published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships .

Rosen is the newly elected vice president for the Northern Region of the Virginia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.