Faculty Focus
Charles Ault, professor of education, and Jennifer Yruegas JD ’96, patent attorney with Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Portland, coordinated 200 volunteer judges at the Northwest Science Exposition for high school and middle school students at Portland State University in March.
Kellar Autumn, assistant professor of biology, had his research on geckos featured in the textbook Biology: Understanding Life (Raven and Johnson, 2001). In December 2000, New Scientist showcased his work in the article “Sticking Power.”
Barbara Balko, associate professor of chemistry, and Kathleen Clarkson ’01 published an article, “The Effect of Doping With Ti(IV) and Sn(IV) on Oxygen Reduction at Hematite Electrodes,” in the February issue of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society. The Lewis & Clark College John S. Rogers Summer Science Program helped fund the research.
Donald Balmer, department chair and U. G. Dubach Professor of Political Science, spoke on “Social Security: Past, Present and Future” at the Portland City Club last October. Cable television and radio stations aired his talk.
Debra Beers, lecturer in art and program head of drawing, showcased her oil portraits at Portland’s Mark Woolley Gallery last December and January. Her exhibition portrayed the multifaceted persona of one individual, an area homeless man named Bill.
Brian Blum, professor of law, published the second edition of Contracts, Examples and Explanation (Aspen Law and Business, 2001). He wrote the book specifically for students in their first year of contract law classes. It consists of explanatory text, sets of factual and hypothetical cases, and detailed answers.
Gabrielle Brewer-Wallin, visiting assistant professor of theatre, received an honorable mention Garland Award for best director for a theater production, La Bête. Backstage West, the main trade magazine for theater, presents the annual awards.
Michael Broide, associate professor of physics, lectured on “The Physics of Water” at Portland State University in February. His talk focused on how the unusual physical and chemical properties of water provide opportunities and constraints for the design and function of plants and animals. Broide is on a yearlong sabbatical at PSU to investigate the control of calcium transport in muscle cells using a novel single-channel technique.
Edward Brunet, Henry J. Casey Professor of Law, completed the second edition of Summary Judgment, Federal Law and Practice (Westgroup, 2000). The book, coauthored by two Northwestern University faculty members, is the only single-volume work on the law of summary disposition of civil cases. In November, Brunet delivered a paper on the “Use of Arbitration Clauses in CEO Contracts” at Georgetown University Law Center.
Helena Carlson, professor emerita of psychology, received a $5,000 Action Grant for Experienced Scholars from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Carlson will use the funds to continue her work with Irish Travellers, a nomadic ethnic group that lives on the fringes of society in Ireland and is subject to discrimination. Carlson was also named coeditor, along with Paul Toro, of a special edition of the Journal of Social Issues. The special edition will cover research done outside the United States and Canada.
Sharon Chinn, director of Educational Career and Licensing Services, copresented two clinics at the 52nd annual Joint Conference of the Northwest Association for Employment in Education, Oregon School Personnel Association and Washington School Personnel Association in November 2000. The sessions were “K-12/High Education: A Model for Collaboration” and “Oregon Licensure Update.”
Chana Cox, senior lecturer in humanities, wrote a play, “Pharaoh King of Egypt,” which was performed between March 31 and April 3. The play was sponsored by Augustana Lutheran Church, Judaic Institute, and other Christian and Jewish congregations.
Anne Dawid, associate professor of English, published book reviews on Madison Smartt Bell’s Master of the Crossroads for The Oregonian, on two short-story collections for Ruminator Review and on a novel for Women’s Review of Books.
Greg Fredricks, professor of mathematics, presented a paper, “Copulas With Fractal Supports,” at the annual national meeting of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America in New Orleans in January.
John Fritzman, assistant professor of philosophy, presented a paper, titled “‘Why I Hardly Read Althusser’: Reading Habermas Hardly Reading Althusser,” at the Northwest Conference on Philosophy at Pacific University last November. He also published “Overcoming Capitalism: Lyotard’s Pessimism and Rorty’s Prophecy” as a chapter in an anthology, titled Lyotard: Just Education, edited by Pradeep A. Dhillon and Paul Standish (Routledge, 2000). In addition, Fritzman and Wendy Lynn Clark ’01 received a faculty/student collaborative research stipend. They co-authored “Reducing Spirit to Substance: Dove on Hegel’s Method” and presented the paper at the Mid-South Philosophy Conference at the University of Memphis in February.
William Funk, professor of law, is the editor of Administrative and Regulatory Law News, the American Bar Association’s quarterly newsletter that is distributed to 6,000 members of the administrative law and regulatory practice section of the America Bar Association and also to law libraries and the legal databases Westlaw and Lexis/Nexis.
Joann Geddes, instructor and director of the Institute for the Study of American Language and Culture, gave the keynote address, titled “Collaboration, Cooper-ation and Inquiry in Professional Development,” at the English as a Foreign Language Conference in Cairo, Egypt. She also participated in the Symposium on English Language Testing and Assessment. While in Egypt, Geddes presented seminars on pedagogy and professional development for the faculties of education and language teaching at universities in upper Egypt, Alexandria, Heliopolis and Cairo.
Martin Hart-Landsberg, professor of economics, coauthored Development, Crisis, and Class Struggle: Learning From Japan and East Asia (St. Martin’s Press, 2000) along with Paul Burkett, who teaches economics at Indiana State University. The book explores capitalism and noncapitalist development alternatives for workers and communities.
Ruth Hubbard, Mary Stuart Rogers Professor of Education, and Andra Makler, associate professor of education and department chair, published the textbook Teaching for Justice in the Social Studies Classroom (Heinemann, 2000). They share their personal experiences, thoughts and strategies for teaching justice in the social studies classroom. Seventeen other veteran and novice teachers, many of them Lewis & Clark faculty and alumni, wrote chapters for the book. Each chapter is based on real-world problems and describes the process of creating an effective curriculum.
William Kinsella, assistant professor of communication, won the 1999-2000 Outstanding Article Award of the National Communication Association’s Organizational Communication Division for “Discourse, Power, and Knowledge in the Management of Big Science” last November. The association honored him with the award at its annual conference in Seattle, where he presented another paper, titled “Nuclear Communication: A Theoretical Framework and Two Case Studies.” Kinsella’s review of The Atomic West, edited by B. Hevly and J. M. Findlay, was published in The Quarterly Journal of Speech last November. Kinsella also organized and chaired a session at a conference, Communication: The Engaged Discipline. Stakeholders from the Department of Energy’s Hanford Nuclear Reservation and communication researchers discussed communication issues related to the Hanford site.
The Rev. Zuigaku Kodachi, professor emeritus of Japanese language and literature, received the 2000 Citizens Award for international volunteer from the city of Iwaki in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. He received the award for establishing ties between the sister cities of Milwaukie and Iwaki. Toonippo Daily Newspaper in Iwaki published a related article and photograph in its Nov. 4, 2000, issue. This is the third award Kodachi has received for his international activities.
Allen Koshewa, assistant professor of education, was voted coeditor of the National Council of Teachers of English journal, Talking Points, for a three-year period beginning in the fall.
Arthur LaFrance, professor of law, successfully defended residents of Newport who opposed a contract Pacific Communities Health District signed with Providence Health Systems, a Catholic, health-care group governed by edicts that restrict procedures such as abortion, vasectomy and assisted suicide. The case upholds the constitutionally guaranteed separation of church and state. LaFrance also published a casebook-series textbook, Bioethics: Health Care, Human Rights and the Law (Matthew Bender, 1999).
Matthew Levinger, associate professor of history, published Enlightened Nationalism: The Transformation of Prussian Political Culture, 1806-1848 (Oxford University Press, 2000). The book provides the first synthesis in English of Prussian political culture from the Napoleonic era to the Revolution of 1848. It challenges the notion that Prussia lagged behind Western Europe in its political development.
Jens Mache, assistant professor of computer science, presented a poster, “Evaluating a Parallel File System for PC Clusters,” at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society’s International Conference on Cluster Computing in Chemnitz, Germany, last November. His coauthors include Robert Broadhurst ’00 and students Joshua Bower-Cooley ’01, Jennifer Cranfill ’01 and Clark Kirkman IV ’01. Mache also presented the published abstract “Harnessing the Power of Networked PCs to Speed-up Computer Graphics” at the 59th annual meeting of the Oregon Academy of Science at the University of Portland in February. Bower-Cooley is coauthor of the abstract.
Robert Miller, assistant professor of law, published a chapter, “Introduction to American Indian Law,” in a book on environmental law in Brazil. He also worked with Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, Rep. Elizabeth Furse and Northwest tribal leaders to plan and launch the Institute for Tribal Governance. Miller is one of the institute’s instructors who provide training in federal Indian law for tribal governmental leaders from around the nation.
Joanne Mulcahy, visiting assistant professor in the College, who teaches in the Gender Studies Program and the Northwest Writing Institute, published her book, Birth and Rebirth on an Alaskan Island: The Life of an Alutiiq Healer (University of Georgia Press, 2001). She also published “Weave and Mend,” an essay on women in Northern Ireland, in Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies last December. Mulcahy and Ann Staley, acting director of the Northwest Writing Institute, are conducting writing classes for women inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary under a Northwest Writing Institute program, funded by a grant from the Rene Bloch Foundation. The Oregon Council for the Humanities, as part of its Chataqua series, provides additional funding for the program.
Nancy Nagel, associate professor of education, was selected to serve a three-year term on the consulting editor’s panel for Young Children, the journal of the National Association of the Education of Young Children.
Roger Nelsen, professor of mathematics, published his third book, Proofs Without Words II: More Exercises in Visual Thinking (Mathematical Association of America, 2000). In January, he presented a paper, “Heron’s Formula via Proofs Without Words,” at the annual national meeting of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America in New Orleans.
Sarah Nevue, director of development at Lewis & Clark Law School, was appointed to serve on the board of directors at the Children’s Museum in Portland.
Reinhard Pauly, professor emeritus of music, served as general editor of a book, Alma Rosé: Vienna to Auschwitz (Amadeus Press, 2000). Several German and Austrian publishers are bidding for translation rights to this book about a woman violinist who was forced to form an orchestra of women inmates in a concentration camp. Pauly translated the comments of American pianist and harpsichordist Igor Kipnis into German for a series of classical compositions and for a recording by Schubert on two compact discs that will be marketed internationally. For one of the Schubert piano pieces, Pauly recorded a recitation in German to be synchronized with the piano part. In addition, he published an article about early opera in Portland in the winter issue of the Oregon Historical Society’s Spectator.
Lynn Reer, visiting assistant professor of education, discussed English as a second language and bilingual education issues at the City Club of Portland Issue Committee Meeting on education and human development in March.
William Rottschaefer, professor of philosophy, recently published “The Scientific Naturalization of Ethics,” an abstract in Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association. The paper can be read online.Rottschaefer also published “The Transfiguration of Human Identity and Values: Some Reflections on E. O. Wilson’s Consilient Enlightenment Catechism,” a chapter in Exploring E. O. Wilson’s Consilience, edited by William P. Frost (College Press, 2000), and “What Can History Tell Us About Founding Ethics on Biology?” in Biology and Philosophy. Rottschaefer’s recent presentations include “The Scientific Naturalization of Ethics” at the biennial meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association in Vancouver, British Columbia, and at the Northwest Conference on Philosophy at Pacific University; “The Reasons We Share” at the Northwest Conference on Philosophy at Pacific University; and “The Acquisition of Conscience and Developmental Systems Theory” at the annual meeting of the Oregon Academy of Science at the University of Portland.
Vern Rutsala, professor of English, published poems in Poetry, River City, The Seattle Review, Free Lunch and Crab Orchard Review. He also published poems in anthologies, including Urban Nature: Poems About Wildlife in the City (Milkweed Editions, 2000) and The Best of the Prose Poem (White Pine Press, 2000).
Elizabeth Safran, assistant professor of geological science, is a coinvestigator, along with Robert S. Anderson of the University of California at Santa Cruz, on a project funded by a National Science Foundation grant. The project is “A Geomorphic Framework for Interpreting Continental Interior Mountain Belt Exhumation: The Laramide Example.”
Donna Turkish Seifer, instructor in Russian, recently gave a presentation on “Russia 2001: The Paradoxical Land of the Firebird” for the Oregon Council for the Humanities Chatauqua Lecture series in Corvallis and Portland.
Greg Smith, associate professor of education, published Ecological Education in Action: On Weaving Education, Culture, and the Environment (State University of New York Press, 1999). He coedited the volume with Dilafruz Williams, professor of education at Portland State University.
Nicholas Smith, James F. Miller Professor of Humanities, professor of philosophy and department chair, cowrote The Philosophy of Socrates (Westview Press, 2000), along with Thomas Brickhouse, professor of philosophy at Lynchburg College. The book is a comprehensive introduction to the life and thought of Socrates. Smith also coedited Reason and Religion in Socratic Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2000), along with Paul Woodruff, Thompson Professor in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.
Herschel Snodgrass, professor of physics, published a paper, “On the Use of Correlations to Determine the Motions and Properties of Mesoscale Magnetic Features in the Solar Photosphere,” in Astrophysical Journal. He coauthored the paper with Adam Smith ’99.
Ted Vogel, senior lecturer in art and program head of ceramics, is exhibiting his work at Rock Creek Gallery at Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus, through April 26.
Zaher Wahab, professor of education, who served as a Fulbright scholar in Kazakhstan last spring, was invited to return to the city of Almaty by the Fulbright organization, Kazakh Ministry of Higher Education and the U.S. Embassy. He will teach, advise and conduct research at Kazakh State University and Kazakh Institute of International Relations during spring semester.
Valerie White, associate dean of the graduate school, recently taught a course at the Institut Superieur d’Agriculture in Lille, France. The course she designed was part of ISA’s winter intercultural communication program, Ethnicity and Interethnic Group Communication.
