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College of Arts & Sciences eNewsletter

Author: nblood

College Highlights, October 2017

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Here are some highlights from October 2017:

Aerospace Studies (AFROTC)

Art

Chemistry

Communication Studies

Economics

Eisenhower Circle Awards

English

Geography

Geology

Journalism and Mass Communication

Modern Languages

Music, Theatre and Dance

Psychological Sciences

Physics

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Aerospace Studies (AFROTC)

Eleven students and two instructors from the Department of Aerospace Studies traveled to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, Sept. 16 to attend the United States Air Force Marathon and visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

During the trip, students and faculty had the opportunity to tour a local innovation firm that is a part of the Wright Brothers Institute, participate in marathon activities and attend a barbecue with local Air Force and community leaders. Department Head Lt. Col. Heath Duncan and students John Nachtigall and Kendall Tindall competed in the 10K race and Assistant Professor Maj. Brad Caywood competed in the half-marathon. The students gained invaluable exposure to career options, networking and leadership opportunities within the Air Force and the technology sector throughout the trip. This event is organized and supported each year by retired Lt. Col. Joe Lask, a K-State and Dept. of Aerospace Studies alumnus living in the Dayton area.

The department also finished in the top spot on campus for departmental rankings based on activity for the 2017 K-State Movement Challenge. With an average daily step count of 18,492, Aerospace Studies beat out the Budget Office and County Agents NE Sector who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Lt. Col. Heath Duncan, department head, Maj. Brad Caywood, assistant professor, and Mary Jo McHugh, office specialist, comprised the three-person department team. McHugh finished 4th overall for the university individual step count with an average of 33,170 daily steps.

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Art

The art department started using Twitter and Instagram as a recruiting tool this fall. They have received encouraging and favorable feedback from other departments and K-State at large. They were asked by K-State’s Division of Communications and Marketing to do a “takeover” of the K-State Snapchat account on Oct. 23, as well as a Facebook Live stream of a student doing a ceramics wheel throwing project on Nov. 3. The department’s handle for Twitter is @kstateartdept and their Instagram is @kstateart. One of the department’s posted photos is featured at right.

Professor Nancy Morrow’s solo exhibition “In Care of …” at the Gorecki Gallery in the St. Benedicta Arts Center at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University ran from Aug. 8 to Oct. 20. Per the exhibit description, “In Care of…” invites the viewer to reflect on the transformative journey that happens when providing care to and being called upon to speak for another. The works on paper evoke imagery of assistive products associated with health care, nurturing and protection as points of departure, allowing the artist a responsive dialogue as their maker. Through repetitive, sequential and ceaseless actions they become stand-ins or vehicles in which to contemplate time, humility, altruism, and responsibility. The frailty of paper and the layers of transparencies used within the works suggest the instability of shifting form in space and time. Where do personhood and selflessness lay? Assimilation with another can be depleting or redefining, can bring a sense of loss or authentic realization. Click here for more information.

Associate Professor Mervi Pakaste gave a visiting artist presentation titled “Mapping Meaning: Works by Mervi Pakaste” at the University of Arkansas Forth Smith on Sept. 7. Her solo exhibition of the same name was displayed in the university’s Windgate Gallery from Aug. 1 through Sept. 15. Pakaste also conducted a letterpress workshop at the university. Click here to read more about Pakaste’s visit to Arkansas.

Associate Professor Jason Scuilla exhibited new electrolytic etchings in Venice this summer during the 2017 Venice Biennale. The Venice Biennale is one of the most famous and prestigious cultural events in the world. It stands at the forefront of research and promotion of new contemporary art trends, exhibitions, and research, attracting more than 500,000 visitors each year.

To coincide with the Biennale, commercial galleries and museums throughout Venice feature internationally recognized art and artists. Scuilla was invited by Galleria Latteria Moderna to exhibit “Scuilla Sestieri,” a solo exhibition of new electrolytic etchings, as one of its 2017 Venice Biennale Printmaking Exhibitions. Scuilla is pictured above (right) at the Galleria Latteria Moderna with Gallery Director Mario Teleri Biason (left). The artwork was based on research done while in residence on fellowship at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice. Each print was hand drawn and etched using a unique electro-chemical process Scuilla is developing at Kansas State University through a federally funded National Endowment of the Arts grant. The exhibition brought increased international awareness to this innovative, interdisciplinary K-State Arts and Sciences collaboration taking place between Scuilla’s print studios and Stefan Bossmann’s chemistry labs.

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Chemistry

Christer Aakeroy, university distinguished professor of chemistry, was awarded the 73rd Midwest Award from the American Chemical Society. The award was established in 1944 to publicly recognize outstanding achievements in chemistry in the Midwest Region of the American Chemical Society, and is conferred annually on a scientist who has made meritorious contributions to the advancement of pure or applied chemistry, chemical education, and the profession of chemistry. The award was presented on Oct. 19 at the Midwest Regional American Chemical Society Meeting on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence. Aakeroy is being recognized specifically for his significant contributions in the field of crystal engineering — growing crystals “by design.” He and his coworkers have been remarkably productive in this area, publishing more than 160 manuscripts related to crystal engineering to date, and attracting numerous invitations to present on his research across the globe. They also have received substantial funding from federal agencies and from the chemical industry. In addition to his reseach activities, Aakeroy is also well known as an outstanding lecturer in the freshman chemistry program.

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Communication Studies

Sarah Riforgiate published “Identity Work and Tensions in Organizational Internships: A Comparative Analysis” in the Western Journal of Communication. This paper examines an increasingly popular yet underexplored form of organizational employment: internships. Drawing on interviews with 40 interns, this study explores the communicative tensions they faced and how two different groups of interns, satisfied versus dissatisfied, reported their responses to these tensions. Data revealed three key tensions that distinguished the two groups:  identity work based on being an inexperienced student worker versus a competent employee, a focus on present versus future, and a preference for close versus distant supervision. The article discusses the implications of using different approaches to manage these tensions on identity work.

Greg Paul published “Beliefs about Victim-Offender Conferences: Factors Influencing Victim-Offender Engagement” in Conflict Resolution Quarterly. Victim-offender conferences provide victims an opportunity to pursue their justice goals while talking directly with their offender. Although research on victims’ conference participation willingness is growing, it has tended to neglect the influence of context factors. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, the study reported in this article elicited beliefs about justice goals, emotions, perceived support, and external control beliefs related to intent to participate in a victim-offender conference. Analysis indicated that beliefs about justice goals, anticipated emotions, social support, and behavior control influence conference participation willingness. The article identifies implications for research and practice regarding restorative justice and conference participation.

Natalie Pennington, associate professor, was a guest lecturer on Oct. 5 for the University Of South Carolina Upstate Fall Communication Studies Lecture Series where she presented “Political-Interpersonal Conflict In-Person and Online – What happens to our interpersonal relationships when forced with political disagreements online and in person?”  Pennington’s research offers answers to this through attention to the spillover effects of social media within interpersonal relationships as they relate to political conversation.

 

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Economics

As part of a workshop on trade and development at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, Associate Professor Peri da Silva presented “Value-Added Exports and U.S. Local Labor Markets: Does China Really Matter?” co-authored with Leilei Shen. The workshop took place on Sept. 12. The focus of the presented paper is the direct contribution of the Chinese economy to changes in U.S. labor market outcomes.

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Eisenhower Circle Awards

This year’s outstanding alumni for the Kansas State University College of Arts and Sciences include Kevin Rabas, poet laureate of Kansas; Dave Roth, a Broadway percussionist; and Summer Lewis, co-founder of the international development firm True Roots.

The three awardees received recognition from the college at the eighth annual Eisenhower Circle Celebration on Oct. 19.

The Eisenhower Circle Celebration, established in 2010, is a special event hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding alumni, student scholarship winners, and donors. Each year one of the college’s scholarship recipients is invited to speak at the celebration. This year’s speaker was Victor Valdez-Herrera, a junior in economics from Dodge City.

Rabas and Roth received Alumni Merit Awards, which recognize alumni who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in one or more of the following areas: distinguished service, discovery, public engagement, arts and humanities, or entrepreneurship.

Rabas, who received a Master of Arts in English from Kansas State University in 1998, was named the poet laureate of Kansas in April and is chair of Emporia State University’s English, modern languages and journalism department. He has written nine books, including “Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano,” a Kansas Notable Book and Nelson Poetry Book Award winner. Rabas’ plays have been produced across Kansas and in North Carolina and San Diego. His most recent poetry collection, “Songs for My Father: Poems & Stories,” was published by Meadowlark in 2016.

Roth received a Bachelor of Music in applied music from Kansas State University in 1989. He is a freelance percussionist in New York City and has been performing and teaching for 25 years. He has appeared in more than 200 cities worldwide, including the North American and Asian tour of “West Side Story,” the national tour of “Mamma Mia!” and the national tour and European tour of “Smokey Joe’s Cafe.” Roth is active in the Broadway musical theater scene and is currently performing in the revival of “Cats!”

Lewis graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, sociology and women’s studies. She will receive the college’s Young Alumni Award, which recognizes alumni who have excelled in their professions and provided service, especially humanitarian services, to their communities in the early part of their career. Lewis is an international development consultant and educator with more than 15 years’ experience in the coffee value chain, fair trade, gender equity, and peace and conflict resolution. As the co-founder of True Roots, a consulting firm specializing in social responsibility initiatives in the global south, Lewis provides the tools and guidance for donors and nonprofit organizations to carry out community development projects. She also teaches online courses for Kansas State University’s gender, women, and sexuality studies department. Formerly of Manhattan, she currently lives in Oaxaca, Mexico.

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English

Professor Han Yu published her new book “Communicating Genetics: Visualizations and Representations.” Yu’s research offers strategies to help researchers and writers better communicate scientific research for the general public.

Alumnus Kevin Rabas (MA ’98) was selected for an Arts and Sciences Alumni Merit Award.

Assistant Professor Traci Brimhall had her poem “Fledging” selected as the Poem-of-the-Day for Sept. 26, 2017 by the Academy of American Poets .

University Distinguished Professor Phil Nel has been receiving media coverage for his recent book “Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books” (Oxford, 2017), which is now in its third printing. He has been interviewed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, the New York Times, and the Boston Globe, among other media outlets.

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Geography

The Kansas State University Beta Psi Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), the International Geographical Honor Society, was recently named an Honor Chapter, one of only three chapters (out of 130 worldwide) to be so designated. In order to be recognized as an Honor Chapter, a chapter must increase the number of inductees over a period of several years, provide substantial leadership to promote the discipline of geography at its home university, and sponsor frequent activities among the local chapter members. Since 2013, the Beta Psi Chapter at Kansas State University has been recognized four times as an honor chapter. John A. Harrington, Jr. is the faculty sponsor of the Beta Psi Chapter.

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Geology

Karin Goldberg and Pamela Kempton participated in the Sparks for Change Institute, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Geoscience Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity (GOLD) funded program aimed at increasing diversity and broadening participation within the geosciences. The institute, hosted by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, took place Sept. 18-20. Among other activities, the workshop fostered the development of a logic plan to increase the participation of under-represented minorities in the geosciences. The representatives of the Department of Geology at K-State focused on actions directed at the recruitment of Hispanics as an opportunity to increase diversity and simultaneously address an issue of decreasing enrollments at the undergraduate level.

Geology faculty Abdelmoneam Raef and Matthew Totten and their students Andrew Vohs and Aria Linares, reported unprecedented utilization of complex-trace seismic data attributes as a hydrocarbon indicator in the subsurface carbonate rocks of the Viola Formation in Kansas. The research findings were published in Pure and Applied Geophysics in September. This work represents a significant step forward in coupling seismic reflection data attributes modeling and analysis with sedimentary petrography and petrophysical rock properties in order to understand seismic response of hydrocarbon pay zones.

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Journalism and Mass Communication

Barbara DeSanto, public relations specialist and associate director of graduate studies in the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, gave a public lecture in Ackert Hall on Sept. 19. DeSanto shared communication science’s most important principles to illustrate how facts and information can help any science practitioners become outstanding public speakers. Seminar participants had the opportunity to practice these new communication science skills. The talk was presented for students participating in the capstone course of the natural resources and environmental science secondary major and was open to the general public as part of the Natural Resources and Environmental Science Seminar Series. Undergraduate students interested in natural resources, environmental science, and sustainability issues were especially encouraged to attend. The full talk can be viewed here.

Bonnie Bressers presented the co-authored paper “Civically Engaged Youth: ‘Doing that Volunteering Stuff’ in rural Kansas” at the 18th Annual Conference of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium held in Birmingham, Alabama, Sept. 25-27. Co-authored by Sam Mwangi, Steve Smethers, David Kaye and Levi Smith, the paper continued researchers’ examination of the The Kiowa County (KS) Media Center’s mission to provide a high-tech portal for community news and information content generated by the residents of Kiowa County. The community’s propensity to participate has been uncertain since the Media Center’s founding in 2012, but the current research suggested that secondary-school students were willing contributors. Furthermore, the student-volunteers at the Media Center were significantly more likely to believe they would engage in other aspects of civic life than their secondary-school peers who volunteered with community programs other than the Media Center.

Kimetris Baltrip was selected to receive funding to attend the McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute at the CBS 2 Broadcast Center in Chicago, Sept. 5-7.The institute, which was titled “Police and Deadly Force: Finding Stories in the Data,” was attended by about 40 accomplished journalists and journalism educators who learned about ongoing research and social science research methods that are helping newsrooms cover racial disparities in U.S. policing.
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Tom Hallaq received a 2017 Videographer Award for “Slow and Low: The Story of the Kansas Ag Pilot.” As written in his award letter: “The goal of the Videographer Awards is to identify and recognize the artisans who excel in the scope of their own environment. Winners range from network news operations to local cable access…from large production companies to freelancers…from international advertising agencies to student producers. There were about 1,400 entries from throughout the United States and 13 other countries in the Videographer Awards 2017 competition.” Hallaq’s work was judged to be “deserving of industry-wide recognition.” View “Slow and Low” on Vimeo.

JMC students Rafael Garcia and Braxton Jones were selected to attend the 2017 International Radio and Television Society (IRTS) Multicultural Career Workshop in New York City. The conference, which is in its 33rd year, presents an opportunity for multicultural students to network with representatives of major media companies. Recruiters who attend the workshop come from some of the industry’s most popular media companies, including BET, CBS HBO, MTV and Time Inc. In addition to networking, the conference provides students with greater insight on how they can embark on a career in advertising, digital media, marketing, production or sales.

Garcia, a junior from Emporia, Kansas, and the current editor-in-chief of the Kansas State Collegian, seeks to become a feature writer, while Jones, a senior from Wichita, Kansas, desires to launch a career in sports broadcasting. Both students are majors in the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications. This is Jones’ second time attending the IRTS worskhop and Garcia’s first.

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Modern Languages

German faculty and graduate students attended the Kansas Association of Teachers of German (KATG) annual meeting, Deutsches Wochenende, in Olathe. With a 30+ year history, KATG’s annual meeting is one of the oldest continuous immersion experiences for German teachers in the United States. This year, assistant professor Janice McGregor was appointed president of the organization and graduate student Natacha Mally was elected KATG treasurer. Associate professor Necia Chronister gave a workshop on teaching integration in the German language classroom.

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Music, Theatre and Dance

Frederick Burrack, Ruth Gurgel, Phil Payne, Jeffrey Ward, and undergraduate researchers Stephanie Goering, Logan Caywood, Alicia Jackson, Shelby Goss, Elias Gillespie, Ryan Dillon, and Talia Falcon presented at the Symposium for Music Teacher Education: Imagining Possible Futures in Minneapolis in September. Read more about their research topics here.

Slawomir Dobrzanski, professor of music, presented a lecture on the 19th-century Polish influences on American piano music at the International Interdisciplinary Conference “Poles and Polish Diaspora in North America,” which was Sept. 21-22 at the Emigration Museum — Muzeum Emigracji — in Gdynia, Poland.

Amy Rosine, associate professor of music, and collaborator Sandra Mosteller, who perform as Sorores Duo and have been selected as a semi-finalist for the American Prize in Chamber Music Performance. The American Prize is a series of new, non-profit national competitions in the performing arts providing cash awards, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition for the best recorded performances by ensembles and individuals each year in the United States at the professional, college/university, church, community and secondary school levels. Administered by Hat City Music Theater, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Danbury, Connecticut, The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually.

Anna Marie Wytko, associate professor of saxophone, recently served as featured American saxophonist-in-residence at the fourth International Saxophone Festival Sf Montevideo, Uruguay. Wytko performed as soloist and recitalist, in addition to conducting teaching workshops for students from around the world.

Frederick Burrack, professor of music and director of assessment, is one of 15 people selected to participate on the Knowledge Development Task Force. This task force, organized by the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education, will meet monthly for two years with a mission to advance the body of knowledge devoted to assessing and improving student learning in higher education. The goals of the task force include expanding key strategies of knowledge development; initiating a database of learning identifiers at all levels of higher education; creating a bibliography of the top 100 articles on the concept of knowledge development in each decade from 1970 on identifying centrality of changes over time; and identifying problems that could be solved in the next decade in relation to assessment leadership, student learning and faculty development.

John Ashburn, Ph.D. Candidate in Curriculum and Instruction (Music Education cognate), has been offered and accepted a saxophone position with the United States Marine Band upon completion of his doctoral work. John is a student of Anna Marie Wytko.

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Psychological Sciences

Michael Young, head of Psychological Sciences, was elected to the Executive Board of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology (COGDOP). COGDOP is a national organization comprised of department heads and chairs of psychology departments that have Masters or Ph.D. programs. Young has benefited from COGDOP’s new chair training and his regular attendance at their annual meeting, and he wanted to pay those benefits forward to future generations of psychology department leaders.

Jin Lee, assistant professor, received a $47,502 sub-award as part of a $1.5M Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFG) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). His project is titled “Stress and violence in fire-based EMS responders.”

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Physics

Eleanor Sayre, associate professor of physics, is the university’s 2017-2018 Fulbright scholar to the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Sayre is researching why undergraduates pursue science-related careers and how they develop their professional identity as scientists.Sayre is the recipient of National Science Foundation’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education grants for two current projects: one studying PhysPort, an online professional development tool used by physics professors, and another, the Mathematization project, which studies how upper-division physics students use math across multiple courses. She has been the principal investigator for five NSF awards and several Physics Education Research Topical Group awards. She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. Read more about Sayre’s research here.

Two Kansas State University faculty members are among four recipients of one of the state’s most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence, the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards. Vara Prasad, professor of agronomy, is the recipient of the Irvin E. Youngberg Award in Applied Sciences, and Bharat Ratra, university distinguished professor of physics, is the recipient of the Olin K. Petefish Award in Basic Sciences.

Ratra is known for his work on dynamical dark energy and on the quantum-mechanical generation of energy density and magnetic field fluctuations during inflation. His current research focuses on developing and testing cosmological models for the large-scale matter and radiation distributions in the universe. A primary research goal is to test Einstein’s general relativity on extremely large spatial and temporal scales, in addition to determining the geometry and contents of the universe and how large-scale structure in the universe was formed.

In 1988, Ratra, with Jim Peebles of Princeton University, proposed the first dynamical dark energy scalar field model. Dark energy is responsible for causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. With advances in observational astronomy, new data may become available over the next decade that might establish the Ratra-Peebles mechanism as the best description of dark energy. Ratra also proposed the first inflation model that can generate, from quantum fluctuations, a large-enough primordial cosmological magnetic field to be able to explain observed galactic magnetic fields.

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Sociology, Anthropoloy, and Social Work

Kevin Steinmetz, criminologist on faculty within the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, coauthored “Technocrime and Criminological Theory” with Matt Nobles. Cybercrime, computer crime, Internet crime, and technosecurity have been of increasing concern to citizens, corporations, and governments since their emergence in the 1980s. Addressing both the conventional and radical theories underlying this emerging criminological trend, including feminist theory, social learning theory, and postmodernism, this text paves the way for those who seek to tackle the most pertinent areas in technocrime. Technocrime and Criminological Theory challenges readers to confront the conflicts, gaps, and questions faced by both scholars and practitioners in the field. This book serves as an ideal primer for scholars beginning to study technocrime or as a companion for graduate level courses in technocrime or deviance studies. The volume is set for release in 2018.

Arthur Durband, associate professor of anthropology, co-authored a chapter (with Australian colleague Colin Pardoe) titled “Tooth Ablation along the Murray River in Southeastern Australia” in “A World View of Bioculturally Modified Teeth,” a forthcoming book from the University Press of Florida.

K-State archaeology faculty and six undergraduate anthropology students recently participated in the 75th annual meeting of the Plains Anthropological Society Oct. 4-7 in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Brad Logan, research associate professor, presented “An Unquixotic Quest: Excavation of the Quixote Site (14JF420), a Late Woodland Occupation in the Delaware River Drainage, Northeastern Kansas.” His presentation summarized fieldwork and initial findings from the June 2017 Kansas Archaeological Training Program, a cooperative endeavor of the Kansas Historical Society, Kansas Anthropological Society, Logan on behalf of Kansas State University and public participants.

Professor Lauren W. Ritterbush and Jakob Hanschu, junior in anthropology and geography, discussed “Researching and Preserving Burial Mounds: An Investigation in the Flint Hills” to update present knowledge gained about prehistoric mortuary features through the 2016 Kansas Archaeological Field School. Twelve K-State anthropology students participated in this research while gaining valuable training in professional archaeological data collection techniques and mortuary site preservation. Hanschu also presented a poster of undergraduate research titled “Quantifying the Qualitative: Locating Burial Mounds in North-Central Kansas.” Through his independent research project, Hanschu used geographic information system software to map locations of recorded prehistoric mortuary features in north-central Kansas, then analyzed their distribution relative to topographic and hydrologic features in order to identify spatial patterns useful for modeling areas of high potential for past burial activities. A pedestrian archaeological survey was used to test the predictive nature of the proposed models. Through identification of these features, protection is enhanced as required under the state of Kansas Unmarked Burial Sites Preservation Act.

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College Highlights, September 2017

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Here are some highlights from September 2017:

Art

Biology

English

Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Geography

Johnson Cancer Research Center

Modern Languages

Physics

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Art

Daniel Warner was honored as a “poster master” for his contributions to the field. His feature interview is available at posterposter.org, the design community’s central hub for the poster format. Eighteen other international designers  currently share this honor including Stephan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, Pablo Kunst, and Peter Bankov.

Assistant Professor Rebecca Bahlmann (Rebecca Hackemann) will be a speaker and round table conversation co-chair at The Society for Photographic Education’s West Conference (TahoeLab) in November, together with California new media artist Matt Garcia and California photographer Daniel Mirer. Her topic will be “Between Art and the Practicalities of Media Education.” Hackemann’s artwork was also recently featured in the Foley Gallery, (“Digital versus Analog“) in New York, the Center for Fine Art Photography, (“Black and White” curated by Ann Jastaab) in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California.

Associate Professor Erin Wiersma will be showing work in the Viewing Room Gallery at the Robichon Gallery in Denver. The work is a series of complex, monochromatic abstractions utilizing densely layered acrylic and graphite on paper.

Assistant Professor Nick Geankoplis recently published an essay about teaching, creating, and living in Beijing. The article appears in the July/August edition of Studio Potter Magazine.

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Biology

Dr. Alice Boyle was elected a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society based on exceptional and sustained contributions to ornithology and service to the community.

Boyle’s core research interests lie in understanding ecological and evolutionary aspects of bird movement strategies. Her work on the altitudinal migration of tropical birds provides one of the few comprehensive assessments of the drivers of alternative migration strategies in wild bird populations.

The American Ornithological Society is the largest society devoted to the study of birds in the western hemisphere.

Dr. Boyle has also been invited as a plenary speaker for the upcoming joint meeting of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation, and the International Partners in Flight meeting to be held in San José Costa Rica, November 2017.

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English

University Distinguished Professor Philip Nel published the advice article “Resolutions for a New Academic Year” in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Undergraduate and graduate student tutors and faculty tutors from the Writing Center shared their research at the Greater Kansas City Writing Center’s Project Annual Conference at JCCC on August 26. Presenters included:

    • Catherine Williams (MA ’18), Christopher Remple, and Jamie Teixeira (MA ’18) presented “Stop, Collaborate, and Listen: Recognizing Effective Strategies for Multi-Lingual and Generation 1.5 Learners in Kansas Writing Centers”
    • Matthew Champagne (BA ’18) presented “Enacting Safe Space in the Writing Center”
    • Jessica Cotter (BA ’18, Education and English Minor), Kristin Feezor (BA ’18, Education and English), Margaret Lang (BA ’18, Physics and English Minor), and Emily Moore (BA ’18, English and Journalism) presented “Ciphers in the Center: Decoding Specialized Writing Language”

Professor Joe Sutliff Sanders won a research grant from The University of Florida to conduct research in children’s literature at the George A. Smathers Libraries in Summer 2018.

Assistant Professor Tosha Sampson-Choma is the new Book Review Editor for the College Language Association Journal.

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Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Assistant Professor Valerie Padilla Carroll published two works on U.S. back-to-the-land movements and women’s domestic labor. In “Fables of Empowerment: Myrtle Mae Borsodi and Back-to-the-land Housewifery in the Early Twentieth Century” published in the June 2017 issue of the Journal of American Culture, Padilla Carroll explores how early back-to-the-land proponent Myrtle Mae Borsodi attempted to write women into the back-to-the-land political project by merging patriarchal gender expectations with feminist empowerment rhetoric in more than 30 articles in magazines, newspapers and trade publications during the 1920s and 1930s. Padilla Carroll’s second publication, “Writing Women into Back-to-the-Land: Feminism, Appropriation, and Identity in the 1970s Magazine Country Women” appears in the book, “Women and Nature? Beyond Dualism in Gender, Body, and Environment” (Douglas A. Vakoch and Sam Mickey, eds.; Routledge, 2017). In this chapter, Padilla Carroll looks at the ways that racism and a hierarchical human/nature binary remained unchallenged in the feminist back-to-the-land publication “Country Women,” a reader-contributed newsletter that explored feminist issues alongside do-it-yourself articles for the modern back-to-the-land farmer.

Assistant Professor Harlan Weaver published “Animal Affect” in the MacMillan Interdisciplinary Handbook Gender: Animals, which was officially published in July 2017. Weaver analyzes scholarship in the field, and contends that affective relationships between humans and animals produce gender. He defines affect as bodily movements and intensities that reshape bodies, related to emotion but rooted in sensations that precede definitive emotional states. Affect is shown to be key to the ethics of human/animal relationships, as various theorists argue for an ethics of vulnerability rooted in compassion, sharing suffering, witnessing, and embodied empathy. The chapter concludes by arguing that the development of an affective ethics regarding human/nonhuman animal relationships, a project critical to challenging human exceptionalism, must incorporate in its analysis attention to the ways that affective relationships between humans and nonhuman animals both produce and change experiences of gender, race, sexuality, nation, species, breed, and more.

Visiting Assistant Professor Angela Towne presented a lecture titled Sexual Anatomy for Trans Masculine People: Foundational Knowledge for Empowered Decision-Making at the 2017 Philadelphia Trans Health Conference. In order to empower trans masculine people to make informed choices regarding medical transition, this talk addressed foundational knowledge about sexual anatomy using non-binary language. Then, building on ground level knowledge, audience members learned about anatomical changes that could occur during hormonal and surgical gender confirmation.

 

K-State alum Dani Leon (Journalism and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies) interviewed Interim Department Head Angela Hubler in a WIBW story on rape culture at K-State. Hubler and GWSS graduate student Gabi Hull also spoke to KSNT reporter Austin Barnes about Betsy DeVos’ plan to roll back Title IX protections for survivors of sexual assault.

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Geography

Jida Wang, assistant professor, and colleagues published “Little Impact of the Three Gorges Dam on Recent Decadal Lake Decline Across China’s Yangtze Plain” in Water Resources Research 53: 3854-3877. The paper has received substantial press coverage in local and regional newspapers as well as national and international scientific outlets. Because of his recent work, Wang was invited by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (French National Space Agency) to present at the “Lakes and Climate: The Role of Remote Sensing” workshop in Toulouse, France this summer. Wang’s research involves the use of satellite imagery to inventory global freshwater resources.

 

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Johnson Cancer Research Center

The 4th Annual K-State Fighting for a Cure Day is Oct. 14.

Show your pride in K-State cancer research with a Fighting for a Cure shirt, and wear it to the home football game that day.

Enjoy the K-State Marching Band’s halftime salute (see their 2016 “Beat Cancer” formation) and cheer on the ‘Cats with us at the College of Arts and Sciences Tailgate Party in Cat Town.

Join K-State Football’s first lady Sharon Snyder and the Snyder family, Emmy Award-winning actor and K-State alum Eric Stonestreet, former K-State and Kansas City Chiefs football player Kevin Lockett, K-State President and First Lady Richard & Mary Jo Myers, Band Director Frank Tracz and many others in celebrating the university’s fight against cancer and honoring its cancer survivors and researchers.

All shirt proceeds support cancer research and education programs at K-State. Learn more and buy shirts.

The Rob Regier Memorial Golf Tournament will be Fri., Oct. 20, at Colbert Hills. This tournament honors Rob Regier, a 1988 K-State pre-dentistry alum who died of cancer at age 26. It is hosted by Rob’s family, of Overland Park. It’s a 4-person scramble and includes prizes and a steak dinner. The tournament has raised more than $293,000 for K-State cancer research and education. Learn more here.

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Modern Languages

Las guionistas: A Biligual Anthology of Mexican Women  Screenwriters, an anthology edited by Modern Languages faculty members María Teresa DePaoli and Laura Kanost was recently published by Arizona State University Press.

 

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Physics

Physics doctoral student Adam Summers was recently invited by Department of Defense (DoD) Director of Basic Research Dr. Robin Staffin to serve as a featured speaker at the inaugural Science, Technology, and Innovation Exchange (STIx) event. The event was held in Arlington, Virginia on Aug.24-25 and showcased the impacts made by extensive science and technology investments, outcomes, and innovations from across the U.S. Defense enterprise. It allowed scientists and researchers to share ideas about DoD-sponsored science and its implications to improving national security.

Summers’ talk “The Extreme Edge of Ultrafast Optical Science” discussed his current work to produce new technology in optical laser science. He featured examples of how he is measuring the evolution of plasmas formed by exploding nanoparticles and the generation of some of the most intense broadband pulses created in the long wavelength infrared regime. Read more and see the recording of his presentation here.

Associate Professor Eleanor Sayre received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation for her research project on PhysPort, an online professional development tool used by physics professors internationally. Sayre’s project, in collaboration with the American Association of Physics Teachers, investigates the effect PhysPort has on the practice of teaching physics. Kansas State University and the association jointly designed the tool to support physics faculty in using research-based teaching and assessment methods through expert recommendations, teaching method guides, assessment resources and online workshops. Read more about Sayre’s research and grant here.

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Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work

L. Susan Williams, Edward L.W. Green, William Chernoff, and Kelli Grant recently conducted research at Hutchinson Correctional Facility to measure perceptions of prison climate among staff and inmates,which is currently a critical issue in Kansas prisons. The research will continue with other facilities. Dr. Green, a K-State alum, flew in from Chicago as a consultant. Drs. Williams and Green‘s research will appear in the 2018 Handbook of Corrections in the United States, to be released in December 2017. Their contribution is “When Women Are Captive: Penal Culture Within Women’s Prisons.”

Dr. Nadia Shapkina presented the paper “Mobilizing and Depoliticizing: Social Movements Theory and Global Anti-trafficking Movement” at an annual international conference on human trafficking at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, September 7-9.

Chardie L. Baird and Ethan Bernick presented “How Does Gender Inequality in STEM Fields Happen? Academics’ Narratives about the Process of the Male-Domination of STEM Fields” at the Society for the Study of Social Problems in Montreal.

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College Highlights, Summer 2017

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. As we prepare for another great school year, take a look at some of our highlights from summer 2017:

Biology

Chapman Center for Rural Studies

English

Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Geography

Geology

Health Professions

Journalism and Mass Communications

Music, Theatre and Dance

Psychological Sciences

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Biology

Zhilong Yang and his lab members have been actively presenting their work at national meeting and seminars. Four members of Yang’s lab attended the American Society for Virology Annual Meeting between June 24 and June 28 held in Madison, Wisconsin. Yang served as the convener of the Poxvirus II Workshop, while Chen Peng, a research sssociate, and Pragyesh Dhungel, a graduate student, each gave an oral presentation at the meeting. Anil Pant also presented a poster at this meeting. Yang also gave three invited seminars in July: the College of Life Sciences at Nankai University, the TEDA Institute of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology at Nankai University, and the Institute of Biophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Pictured: The Yang Lab at the 2017 Annual Meeting of American Society for Virology in Madison. From left: Chen Peng, unidentified, Anil Pant,  Pragyesh Dhungel, Zhilong Yang

Ruth Welti, University Distinguished Professor of Biology, is beginning a three-year term on the Publications Committee of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), a nonprofit scientific and educational society with more than 12,000 members. She is currently in her second five-year term as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, one of three publications of ASBMB.

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Chapman Center for Rural Studies

The Chapman Center for Rural Studies is now an interdisciplinary undergraduate research center within the K-State College of Arts and Sciences. The center had previously been housed within the college’s Department of History.

The college will form a transitional committee to explore ways in which the center can foster creative partnerships, particularly in the digital humanities. The Chapman Center currently provides undergraduates with hands-on training in professional skills such as accessioning, digital preservation and film editing.

“The Chapman Center is such a valuable resource and information hub for K-State students and our Flint Hills community,” said Arts and Sciences Dean Amit Chakrabarti. “We are glad to support its ongoing interdisciplinary work with our college and beyond.”

Center Director Bonnie Lynn-Sherow said that though the center’s organizational connection has shifted, “what will not change is the center’s focus on undergraduate research in rural studies and our commitment to off-campus engagement with rural communities.”

The center recently received a $2,000 gift from the Kansas Association of the Future Farmers of America in recognition of the work undergraduate student researchers at the center are doing about rural life in Kansas.

As part of this work, Katherine Sundgren, a junior in history, is digitally preserving a collection, including newspaper clippings, that documents the history of the FFA back to 1928 in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the organization.

Chapman Center director Bonnie Lynn-Sherow, associate professor of history, was first made aware of the collection in the spring and decided that it was the perfect project for a summer intern.

“The history of the FFA is integral to both the history of Kansas agriculture and Kansas State University,” Lynn-Sherow said. “The collection highlights the work of young adults dedicated to agricultural leadership and whose stories feel simultaneously foreign and intimate to our current student interns.” Read more about this project here.

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English

University Distinguished Professor Phil Nel presented a talk at Google on his forthcoming book “Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books”.

Faculty, current graduate students, and graduate alumni gathered in Tampa in June to present at the 2017 Children’s Literature Association Conference. Pictured at right are Amy Harris Aber (MA ’11), Corinne Matthews (MA ’17), University Distinguished Professor Philip Nel, Sara Austin (MA ’12), Emily Midkiff (MA ’12), Associate Professor and Department Head Karin Westman, Mandy Moore (MA ’18), Becca Rowe (MA ’16), Associate Professor Joe Sutliff Sanders, and Ashley Christ (MA ’16). Emily Mattingly (MA ’07) and Taraneh Matloob (MA ’11) also presented but are not pictured.

Steffi Dippold contributed to the online journal Common-Place as one of 13 emerging early American scholars introducing a pre-1800, open-access online text. Read her essay, “‘If I had ye gift of tongue’: The Obsession with Keys in the Seventeenth Century” here.

Fifteen young writers joined Associate Professor Katy Karlin and recent graduate students Kira Frank (MA ’17), Kirsten Hermreck (MA ’17), Brian McCarty (MA ’14), and Dylan Pyles (MA ’17) for the 4th annual Young Writers’ Workshop, June 26-30, at the Beach Museum of Art. Read about all five days of the workshop at the K-State Young Writers Workshop blog.

Continue reading “College Highlights, Summer 2017”

College Highlights April/May 2017

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Take a look at some of our highlights from April/May 2017, including a special section on university-level awards:

Awards

American Ethnic Studies

Art

Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics

Dean’s Office

Economics

English

Geography

Geology

History

Johnson Cancer Research Center

Modern Languages

Political Science

Psychological Sciences

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Statistics

Awards

Faculty, professional staff, and students in the college received numerous awards from K-State.

Big Twelve Faculty Fellowship

The Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Award was created to stimulate scholarly activities in the areas of teaching, research and service. A mentoring and networking component was added to facilitate the establishment of contacts and networks for new faculty with outstanding individuals in their disciplines at other Big 12 universities. The program offers faculty the opportunity to participate in cross-mentoring among universities, develop working relationships and exchange ideas with others.

  • Cydney Alexis, assistant professor of English and director of the Writing Center. Alexis observed and was mentored by Cheryl Ball, associate professor of digital publishing studies at West Virginia University. Alexis also observed WVU’s Eberly Writing Studio to compare the structure, hiring and training practices, and resource utilization of a writing center outside of K-State. Alexis plans to integrate the pedagogical and technological tools she learned about in her courses at K-State.

 

  • Carla Martinez Machain and Sam Bell, assistant professor of political science and associate professor of political science, respectively. Martinez Machain and Bell are using their joint fellowship to collaborate with assistant professors of political science Olga Chyzh and Mark Neiman at Iowa State University. They are examining the logic behind the placement of international military deployments in response to the military deployment placements of global competitors. They found that states may respond to the deployment of troops by a rival state by either competing for influence in the same region or by trying to maintain their own, separate, sphere of influence. Martinez Machain and Bell plan to continue expanding on this project in future work.

 

  • Alissandra Stoyan, assistant professor of political science. Stoyan collaborated with Farida Jalalzai, associate professor of political science and Hannah Atkins endowed chair at Oklahoma State University, in research analyzing women’s presidential campaigns in Latin America. Stoyan and Jalalzai’s research focused on successful and unsuccessful women’s presidential candidacies, and analyzed factors that possibly affected their electoral success, including individual traits like political party, personal and professional experiences, and family ties, as well as system-level institutional characteristics like the quality of democracy in the candidate’s country. Stoyan and Jalalzai just presented the working paper of this research at the Latin American Studies Association’s International Congress in Lima, Peru.

Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award

The Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Distinguished Graduate Faculty Awards are an opportunity to showcase faculty members who excel in teaching, research and the mentoring of students. The Commerce Bancshares Foundation and the William T. Kemper Foundation support these awards to help the university honor its exceptional graduate faculty.

  • Zongzhu Lin, professor of mathematics. Lin researches representation theory of algebraic groups, quantum groups and Lie algebras, a branch of pure mathematics with deep connections to mathematical physics and quantum computing. A Kansas State University faculty member since 1993, Lin’s research has been supported by numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency. He was a member of Mathematical Science Research Institute and served as program director at the National Science Foundation from 2008-2011. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society, serving on the society’s Human Rights Committee. He has supervised and co-advised 10 doctoral students in mathematics at K-State.

Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Presidential Student Award for Distinguished Services in Enhancing Multiculturalism

The Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Presidential Student Award for Distinguished Services in Enhancing Multiculturalism was established in spring 1997 to recognize outstanding individual contributions to diversity enhancement within the student sector.

  • Yubisela Toledo, Bachelor’s candidate in biology and pre-optometry. Through her involvement with diverse groups on campus, including Circle K, and Developing Scholars, the Hispanic American Leadership Organization (HALO) Toledo has worked to enhance and expand multiculturalism at Kansas State University. She is also a resident assistant for Jardine Apartments, an Edgerely-Franklin Urban Scholar, and a member of Dr. Stefan Bossmans’ laboratory. Toledo was also recently recognized with a Robinson Family Multicultural Leadership Award from the K-State Alumni Association.

Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award

For nearly two decades, Commerce Bank and William T. Kemper Foundation have partnered with Kansas State University to promote and support excellence in undergraduate teaching. These recipients are committed to having a positive effect on students.

  • Sabri Ciftci, associate professor of political science and Michael W. Suleiman chair. Ciftci hopes to increase students’ understanding of how the Middle East is relevant to everyday life in the U.S. and how it has contributed to human civilization worldwide. He is the founder of the Middle East Speaker Series and has recently organized the Public Opinion, Gender and Conflict in the Middle East Conference. He teaches Middle East Politics, Comparative Politics, Advanced Research Methods and Political Islam, which he is revising through a Curriculum Development Grant from the Global Religion Research Initiative. Ciftci has received the College of Arts and Sciences’ William L. Stamey Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and he was appointed the Michael W. Suleiman chair in Arab and Arab-American studies in the College of Arts and Sciences in 2015. He participates in the Muslim Student Association, the Egyptian Student Association and other international student organizations at Kansas State University.

Presidential Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching recognize compassion, dedication and creativity in undergraduate teaching.

  • Ashley Rhodes, teaching associate professor of biology. Rhodes enjoys discovering the best ways to help undergraduates understand and use new information. She teaches Structure and Function of the Human Body and Physiology of Adaptations. She specializes in multimedia development in undergraduate physiology courses and the effects of instructional media on learners with little prior subject knowledge. She has received the Commerce Bank Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching, the K-State Panhellenic Professor of the Month, National Residence Hall Honorary University and Regional Faculty of the Month, Mortar Board National Honor Society Outstanding Faculty Member Award, Haymaker Teaching Excellence Award and the William L. Stamey Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.

 

  • Craig Spencer, associate professor of mathematics. Spencer appreciates the hardworking and positive attitudes of K-State undergraduates and especially enjoys teaching topics that are completely new to them. He has taught 10 different courses in his nine years at the university, and is currently teaching Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers and Analytic Geometry and Calculus I. He is a co-principal investigator for math education grants from the Kansas State Department of Education and the Kansas Board of Regents. He was the principal investigator for three grants from the National Security Agency. He has received the William L. Stamey Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award and an Open Textbook Initiative Award.

Continue reading “College Highlights April/May 2017”

College Highlights, March 2017

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Take a look at some of our highlights from March 2017:

Following a national search, Kansas State University has named Amit Chakrabarti as its new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Since February 2016, Chakrabarti has served as interim dean of the university’s largest college with 24 departments, and a broad array of majors, secondary majors and minors spanning many disciplines. He succeeds Peter Dorhout, who is now vice president for research at K-State. Prior to the interim position, Chakrabarti was the head of the department of physics and the William and Joan Porter chair in physics. He will report directly to the university’s provost and senior vice president and serve on the Academic Council of Deans.


American Ethnic Studies

Art

Biology

Communication Studies

Economics

English

Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Geology

History

Journalism and Mass Communications

Modern Languages

Political Science

Psychological Sciences

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

American Ethnic Studies

Shireen Roshanravan, associate professor of American ethnic studies, was awarded the Jane Addams Prize for her paper, “Asian-American Visibility and the Coalitional Imperative,” presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, March 17, in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Jane Addams Prize is awarded annually by the society’s program committee for the best paper presented at the meeting on issues in feminist thought as they occur in American philosophies, including their intersections with race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability and age. Roshanravan’s paper argues that the current “Asians for Black Lives” mobilizations demonstrate what she calls the “coalitional imperative” of Asian-American feminist visibility in their spectacular exhibits of cross-racial solidarity. Roshanravan presented her paper as part of a panel on Asian-American feminist theory and praxis with Tamsin Kimoto, Emory University, and Erika Brown, Villanova University.

Norma A. Valenzuela, American ethnic studies faculty member, presented “Mestiza Consciousness a la MeXicana in Ultima and Agueda Martinez: Bridging and Legitimizing Querencia in the Borderlands” at the Southwest Council of Latin American Studies Conference, March 9-12, in Campeche, Mexico.

Valenzuela’s work explores “querencia” — translated to “sense and love of place” — by examining the intersectionality of race, gender, class and nation as sites of contestation in the life of two major nuevomexicana protagonists: Ultima, a fictional character, and Agueda Martinez, a Chimayo weaver. Valenzuela uses their experiences to bridge and legitimize her own positionality within the Borderlands, specifically connecting rural/urban New Mexico and northern Mexico. The work discusses how Valenzuela’s experiences enabled her to examine how she, as a transnational MeXicana, exists, inhabits and navigates a middle space within the Borderlands. Click here to read more about Valenzuela’s research.

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Art

Senior art student Patricia Melton was featured on KSNT news showcasing her interactive digital/experimental media project about cicadas. “Patricia did a great job of demoing, describing and contextualizing the work, which is crucial in our field,” said Carlos Castellanos, assistant professor of art and co-director of the Digital/Experimental Media Lab. Click here to watch the full news story.

Carlos Castellanos has been awarded a Research Design + Creation Fellowship at the Universidad de Caldas in Manizales, Colombia as part of the 23rd International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA2017).

The research will focus on the use of sound to investigate the bioelectric and behavioral patterns of microorganisms. Castellanos will take up residency at the university and will work with students to design and build a hybrid biological-electronic system wherein variations in electrical potential from an array of microbial fuel cells are translated into rhythmic, amplitude and frequency modulations in modular electronic and software-based sound synthesizers. The research combines renewable energy technology, machine learning, sound and and public engagement and will culminate in a public demonstration and exhibition/performance during the week of the festival (June 11-18).

Jason Scuilla, associate professor of art and area coordinator of printmaking, presented “Venting about Ventilation, Ranting about Renovation” at the Southern Graphics International Printmaking Conference March 15-19.

Scuilla’s presentation described how he designed and managed a total renovation of the Kansas State Printmaking facilities from 2012-2015, including discussion of challenges that arise when working with university facilities, administration, engineers, and vendors. “We now utilize some of the safest, most innovative industrial ventilation available,” Scuilla said.

 

Professor of Art Geraldine Craig presented the lecture “Hmong Paj ntaub: Linguistic Consciousness and Transnational Influences” at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Craig’s research focuses on the intersections and relationships between textile history, theory/criticism, curatorial work and studio practice.

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Biology

Assistant Professor Alice Boyle was invited to speak on the topic “Evaluating alternative hypotheses explaining animal movement strategies” at an international conference on Animal Movement Ecology organized by Anders Hedenström (Lund University, Sweden), and Ran Nathan (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel).The conference was convened by the Gordon Research Conferences and held in Ventura, California March 19-24.

Vaithish Velazhahan, junior in microbiology, biochemistry and pre-medicine, was named a 2017 Goldwater scholar.
Established by Congress in 1986 to honor Sen. Barry M. Goldwater from Arizona, the scholarship is awarded to nearly 300 college students across the country every year. Awardees receive up to $7,500 annually for college-related expenses.

Velazhahan is working with Kathrin Schrick, associate professor of biology, to research how dietary flavonoids in plants inhibit some human cancers. He also is researching the genetic factors that caused land plant evolution. Velazhahan is one of five students who represented Kansas State University at the Undergraduate Research Day at the Kansas Capitol in addition to multiple meetings and symposia. In addition to the Goldwater Scholarship, his awards and honors include the K-State Academic Honors Scholarship, National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Mentoring in Ecological Genomics Scholarship, National Institutes of Health Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Scholarship, Johnson Cancer Center cancer research award, and an Asian and Pacific Islander American/United Health Foundation Scholarship.

Chen Peng, Postdoctoral researcher working under Zhilong Yang, won a K-INBRE postdoctoral award. K-INBRE Post-doctoral awards are one-year mentored awards to support outstanding postdocs in initiating research projects or transitioning from the post-doctoral position to early investigator status.

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Communication Studies

The Kansas State University Forensics Team started their month competing at the American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET) at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. After back to back finishes at 27th in the country, this year’s team placed 14th in team sweepstakes. The team’s effort was aided by a national championship by junior, Logan Stacer. Logan’s championship in Informative Speaking is the team’s first national championship since 2011.

This year’s AFA capped off an exceptionally successful regular season for the Wildcats. After placing in the top three in team sweeps at nearly every tournament during the season, K-State qualified 12 individuals in 38 events. Juniors Kristen Egger, Michelle Briggs, and Logan Stacer, as well as sophomore Macy Davis led the team by all qualifying five individual events. The team hopes to build off their rapid rise in the rankings as senior Kerri Leinmiller-Renick is the only graduating member of the team.

Jakki Forester, graduate student in communication studies, presented her research about drag culture, including both drag kings and drag queens, in central Kansas throughout the months of February and March. The specific focus of Forester’s research is how drag queens in central Kansas/the Flint Hills region use their positions as civic leaders both in and out of the queer community to promote social justice and positive social change.

Forester first presented at the Midwest Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in mid-February. The 5th annual Gender and Sexualities in Kansas Conference at Wichita State University on March 3 was Forester’s next research presentation.The Gender and Sexualities in Kansas Conference highlights original gender and/or sexuality related research and scholarship across multiple disciplines from colleges and universities in Kansas. Finally, Forester presented at the No Limits Conference at the University of Nebraska–Kearney on March 10.

Assistant Professor Timothy Shaffer, who is also the Assistant Director of the Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy, is among the authors in a collection of essays recently issued by the Kettering Foundation Press entitled “Beyond Politics as Usual: Paths for Engaging College Students in Politics.” The book sets out to describe innovative courses, practices, and approaches faculty and staff at institutions of higher learning and other nonprofits currently employ to teach students new ways to think about, and practice, politics. Shaffer’s chapter focuses on his inclusion of the study of democratic practice and theory in his small-group discussion methods class on campus.

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Economics

Tennecia Dacass, graduate student in the Department of Economics, was recently accepted to attend the Summer Dissertation Proposal Writing Workshop offered by Howard University’s Center on Race and Wealth and the Institute for Research on Poverty. Dacass is one of only 12 students nationwide accepted to the workshop, which will be held at Howard University in Washington D.C.

The pre-proposal doctoral students who attend this will interact with faculty from Howard as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison to prepare a draft dissertation proposal based on topics surrounding poverty and inequality. Upon completion of the workshop, Dacass will present a completed dissertation proposal to her fellow workshop participants and faculty mentors.

Dacass is the President of the Women in Economics Club at K-State. Her past areas of research include unemployment, crime, and economic development in the Caribbean region.

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English

Karin Westman received K-State’s 2017 Presidential Award for Outstanding Department Head. This annual award recognizes a department head who displays proactive and positive leadership qualities, fosters a positive environment, integrates strategic planning, empowers department members, and is innovative in regard to new programs.

Joe Sutliff Sanders received the 2017 Article Award from the Children’s Literature Association for “‘Almost Astronauts’ and the Pursuit of Reliability in Children’s Nonfiction,” published in the international quarterly journal “Children’s Literature in Education.” The award recognizes the best article on children’s literature published in 2015.

Dylan Pyles (MA ’17) received an honorable mention for the AWP Intro Journals Project Award in Nonfiction for his essay “Every Convenience for the Most Discriminating: Excelsior Springs, MO, According to Its Hotels.”

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Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Senior majors in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies presented at several Midwestern conferences in March.

On March 3, students presented at the 4th Annual Gender and Sexuality in Kansas Conference, held at Wichita State University: Tara Terwilliger; “The Trouble with Tomi: Problematic Rhetoric on Social Media”; Ty Dowdy, “Exploitation of the Chronically Ill and Disabled: Effects of Pharmaceutical Dependence on Single Mothers”; Gabrielle Hull, “The Cycle of Violence Continued by the State”; Haley Kottler and Sara Kuborn, “The Sexuality Education I Wish I Had: Perspectives of College Women”. (Pictured, from left: Ty Dowdy, Tara Terwilliger, Gabrielle Hull)

On March 10, students presented at No Limits, held at the University of Nebraska-Kearney: Sabrina Flowers, “Black Women: The Expectations and Reality of the Workplace”; Jenna Roberts, “Pretty Little Phobias: Naturalizing Fear of Transgender Individuals and Mental Illness”; Riley Katz, “Modes of Masculinity: Finding One’s Trans Masculine Self in Feminism”; Haley Kottler and Sara Kuborn, “The Sexuality Education I Wish I Had: Perspectives of College Women”.

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Geology

Victoria Fitzgerald, a graduate student in geology, received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSFGRFP). Fitzgerald won the award for her proposed research using optically stimulated luminescence dating to understand the evolution of Lake Bonneville and its implications for Holocene climate change. The award includes a 12-month stipend for 2017-2018 totaling $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance that covers the cost of tuition and fees for each of the three years she chooses to utilize the fellowship funding.

Department Head, Pamela Kempton, was ecstatic when she heard the news. “Victoria is immensely deserving of this award,” said Department Head Pamela Kempton. “She worked incredibly hard on the proposal and that effort has been recognized at a national level. We are all so proud of her. This is a great achievement for her and for our department.”

The fellowship will allow Victoria to expand on her research ambitions, including attending more national and international conferences. “I think this will push Victoria to a higher research level,” said Joel Spencer, Fitzgerald’s major professor. “She already has immense drive, initiative, and work ethic, but I think this award will help her realize her already ambitious graduate research goals.”

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History

David Graff, professor of History at K-State, has been named the university’s Richard A. and Greta Bauer Pickett Chair for Exceptional Faculty. A prominent military historian specializing in medieval China, Graff “has been a prolific scholar whose expertise has earned him a stellar international reputation,” said Michael Krysko, associate professor and chair of the History Department.

Graff serves as the Interim Director of the Institute for Military History and the Associate Director of the Security Studies program, an interdisciplinary partnership with the Department of Political Science aimed at students interested in national security, international affairs, world politics, and transnational problems. He also teaches undergraduate coursework in both pre-modern and modern Asian history, and developed the History Department’s East Asian Studies minor. Graff received the College of Arts and Sciences’ William L. Stamey Teaching Award in 2015.

“We are pleased to announce Professor Graff’s recognition with this endowed chair,” said Amit Chakrabarti, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Professor Graff exemplifies the type of faculty talent we strive to recruit and retain in our college and at K-State. His record of accomplishment and tireless commitment to excellence in teaching and program administration make him a great asset to our university.”

The Bauer Pickett Chair was previously held by military historian David Stone.

Graff received his Ph.D. in East Asian Studies from Princeton University in 1995 and came to Kansas State University in 1998 after holding temporary teaching positions at Southern Methodist University and Bowdoin College and spending a year as a visiting scholar at Harvard University. His research focuses on Chinese military history, especially that of the Tang dynasty (618-907).

Assistant Professor Phil Tiemeyer was awarded a five-month teaching and research Fulbright Fellowship based in Belgrade, Serbia. The teaching will be done at the University of Belgrade‘s Centre for the Study of the United States of America. Tiemeyer’s research will involve study of JAT Yugoslav Airways during the Cold War as part of his new book project: “Aerial Ambassadors: National Airlines and US Power in the Jet Age.” He’ll be diving into the Archives of Yugoslavia, as well as archives of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Serbian Museum of Aviation, and collecting oral histories with former JAT flight attendants and pilots.

Doctoral student Tim Gresham won the best graduate student paper award at this year’s Missouri Valley History conference, March 2-4, in Omaha, Nebraska. Tim presented “Today Mr. Packer is hailed as the Holiest of Holies’: Memory and the Meat Packer’s Capture of the Kansas Livestock Association in the Interwar Period.”

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Journalism and Mass Communications

Assistant Professor Tom Hallaq‘s documentary “Slow and Low” premiered March 1 in the Hemisphere Room of Hale Library. Using a small crew of select students, Hallaq produced and directed the film, which took nearly two years to produce. It featured Dr. David Vail (formerly of K-State Libraries), Mike Pierce of Textron Aviation, and ag pilots Robert Grace, Steve Gross and Beth Aeschliman. The premiere was sponsored by the Kansas Agricultural Aviation Association while the documentary received financial support from an Academic Excellence grant through the K-State Provost’s Office. The film will air on Kansas Public Television stations KTWU (Topeka) and KPTS (Wichita) later this spring. It is also being marketed to other national cable television networks.

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Modern Languages

Chunxue Jin and Ryan Kenny, students in the Japanese Language Program directed by Kumiko Nakamura, were invited to present their speeches as finalists at the 31st annual Japanese Language Speech Contest held at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago.

In his speech titled “We can understand anything, if we talk,” Kenny shared an experience of discrimination that he encountered in Japan while he was studying abroad last year. He further maintained that it is important for us to establish a culture where we can discuss anything including taboo topics with open minds to truly understand each other. Jin talked about issues caused by irresponsible pet owners and what we need to consider before welcoming a new pet into the family. Their performance impressed the recently appointed Consul General Naoki Ito, as well as the judges. (Pictured, from left: Ryan Kenny, Naoki Ito, Chunxue Jin)

Jin received the Bonjinsha Award in Category 3 (college and above), and Kenny received the Sister City Osaka Award (Second place in the overall competition), for which he was awarded a free round trip ticket to Japan. He plans to spend two weeks with a Japanese host family in Osaka this coming May.

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Political Science

Professor Laurie Johnson gave a talk titled “Why Our Democracy Needs Thucydides” at Mercer University on March 28 as part of The McDonald Center for America’s Founding Principles Elliot Conference on Great Books and Ideas. The conference invited a number of noted scholars from across the nation to discuss Thucydides’ current relevance.

Jeff Pickering, professor and department head, was invited to be a presenter on a panel titled “Consequences of Military Intervention since 1945: Experiences, Lessons, Questions” organized by the Berlin Center for Cold War Studies and the Volkswagen Foundation. The conference will be held in Hannover, Germany in May.

Pickering and Carla Martinez Machain, associate professor, were invited to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to participate in a workshop on “Lethal Aid and Human Security: Exploring the Impact of Transnational Flows of Military Assistance to Fragile States.” Sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation and the International Studies Association, the workshop will bring together academics and practitioners in late June.

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Psychological Sciences

Jordann Brandner, a graduate student in the Psychological Sciences department received a research fellowship award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The award supports graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) or STEM education. Brandner was named one of the 2,000 recipients from over 13,000 applications for her research project studying the tendency of heterosexual men to perceive a woman’s friendliness as sexual interest. Brandner aims to determine if this behavior is more of a bias to perceive a woman as flirting or if this is more of an issue of decreased ability to read and recognize the cues a woman is sending.

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Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work

Don Kurtz, associate professor of social work co-published “The Gender in Stories: How War Stories and Police Narratives Shape Masculine Police Culture” in the journal Women and Criminal Justice with Lindsey Upton, assistant professor of sociology at Tennessee Tech. The paper examines storytelling and narrative development in police culture related to gendered aspects of policing. Officer statements indicate that women are frequently viewed through a gendered lens and that police storytelling appears an important context for understanding police culture. The types of stories explored in this paper: flow of action, war stories, and gender narratives, provide a context for understanding the (re)production of masculinity in policing. The authors have an additional paper with revise and resubmit status at another criminology journal that also explores police narratives and the unique context of stories within police culture.

Harald E.L. Prins
, university distinguished professor of anthropology, published a chapter in the 2017 Metropolitan Museum of Art volume Irving Penn: Centennial. Titled “Ethnographic Portraits, 1967-71,” his chapter concerns this world-famous 20th-century artist’s iconic photographs of indigenous peoples in Benin, Sahara and Papua New Guinea. The book is published in conjunction with the exhibit’s opening at the MET. Prins also published a review essay on “The North American Journals of Prince Maximilian of Wied” (1830s Upper Missouri) in the journal Ethnohistory.

Archaeology faculty and students with the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work represented K-State at the 39th Annual Flint Hills Archaeological Conference in Arkansas City March 23-25. Professor Lauren W. Ritterbush and coauthors Jakob Hanschu (undergraduate in Anthropology and Geography) and Brad Logan (Research Associate Professor) presented “Archaeological Evaluation of a Prehistoric Mound in Riley County, Kansas”. This research is based on initial data recovery completed as part of the 2016 Kansas Archaeological Field School. This program provides students with hands-on training as part of a regional archaeological research project.

Ethan Bernick, Sabri Ciftci, and Chardie Baird won the Jewell Limar Prestage Best Paper Award for “How Cultural Beliefs About Women’s Role in the World Shape Women’s Civic Engagement.” This award was established in 1999 and is presented at the Southwestern Political Science Association Annual Meeting for the best paper on the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, and political behavior with a monetary prize.

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College Highlights, February 2017

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Take a look at some of our highlights from February 2017:

Art

Chemistry

Communication Studies

Economics

English

Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Geography

Geology

Journalism and Mass Communications

Modern Languages

Music, Theatre, and Dance

Philosophy

Political Science

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Art

Assistant Professor Shreepad Joglekar’s two national solo exhibitions opened in January 2017. “Towards An Outer Place” opened in the James May Gallery in Algoma, Wisconsin and “Heterotopia” opened in the Bertha VB Lederer Gallery at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Geneseo, New York. These exhibitions included works from two projects that Joglekar has developed in the past three years. One of the projects, called Landscapes For Fun, focuses on off road vehicle parks in Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The images in this project are made in the tradition of 19th century survey photography. The other project, called Non Places of Intelligence, explores the simulated environments used in military and law-enforcement training at Fort Riley post.

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Chemistry

Tuyen Nguyen, doctoral student in chemistry, hopes a new method she is developing may treat bone cancer faster than chemotherapy. It also could partner with MRI scanning to diagnose cancer more effectively. Nguyen said she has synthesized nanoparticles, which are a million times smaller than a tennis ball, to sniff out villainous cancer and attack bone tumors head-on. Additionally, the nanoparticles light up cancer in MRIs to streamline diagnosis.

“It’s exciting that this research could someday help chemotherapy patients in the fight against cancer,” said Nguyen, whose research is conducted in and supported by the Nanotechnology Innovation Center of Kansas State, or NICKS. Read the full story here.

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Communication Studies

Sarah Riforgiate, associate professor of communication studies, traveled to Norman, Oklahoma, Feb. 24 to be the keynote speaker at the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Communication Showcase Seminar. Riforgiate gave the keynote address “The Intersection of Paid Work and Private Life” about her ongoing research on domestic labor issues and the division of labor in the home. Later in the seminar, she gave a talk to students and faculty on navigating the process of promotion and tenure in academia.

Natalie Pennington, assistant professor of communication studies, recently published research that provides insight into the perception of social support provided by social networking sites when a loved one has passed away. Pennington’s article, titled “Tie Strength and Time: Mourning on Social Networking Sites,” was published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. 

In the article, Pennington argues that two factors influence how supportive we can find the presence of social media: time spent online and how close we were to the deceased. The quantitative analysis, conducted in spring 2016 at K-State, suggests that those who use social media more find it more helpful as they process grief. For college students in particular, Pennington argues, having access to a site like Facebook can be useful when dealing with grief. Her research argues that having a place online to turn to long after the funeral can serve a crucial role for support.

The study also revealed an interesting relationship when it came to close relationships: while those who were closed to the deceased found support from the page, they were also more likely to want the page removed from Facebook.

“This really points to the complexity of maintaining relationships online,” Pennington noted. “Coupled with my past research on this topic, I get the impression that individuals really feel a push and pull about grieving so publicly and the access other members of the deceased’s network have to the site.”

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Economics

Assistant Professor Ross Milton received a Faculty Enhancement Award from the College of Arts and Sciences for his project titled “School Infrastructure Spending: Intra-District Allocation and Academic Outcomes.”

Professor of Economics Dan Kuester wrote an article for Wallethub.com, along with other economists and autors in related disciplines about the topic “Will Mexico Pay for the Wall?” Many of these articles are cited on CNBC or U.S. News and World Report, Kuester said.

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English

Assistant Professor Steffi Dippold and undergraduate students Hunter Nelson (BA ‘19), Sarah Peterson (BA ‘17), Malorie Wagner (BA ‘18), and Cheyenne White (BA ‘18) presented “Reading Kansas: Finding Early America in Local Special Collections” at the 10th Biennial Conference of the Society of Early Americanists in Tulsa. Their joint presentation shared the process and results from the digital humanities project “Reading Kansas: Hidden Histories of Midwestern Book Culture” completed as part of the Honors seminar course ENGL 399 “The Power of the Page: Books That Made Us” (Fall 2016). Peterson, Wagner, and White received Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Travel awards to attend the conference and present their work.
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Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

GWSS graduate certificate student Noelle Lynn Blood was awarded a top paper prize in the Popular Culture Interest Group at the Central States Communication Association Conference in Minneapolis. Blood’s paper, titled “A Barbie for Every Body? The Barbie Fashionistas as a Simulacrum of Real Beauty,” is an intersectional feminist critique of the newer doll line. Continue reading “College Highlights, February 2017”

College Highlights, January 2017

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Take a look at some of our highlights from January 2017:

American Ethnic Studies

Biology

Communication Studies

Economics

Geography

Geology

Journalism and Mass Communications

Modern Languages

Music, Theatre, and Dance

Physics

Psychological Sciences

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Statistics

American Ethnic Studies

Yolanda Broyles-González, department head of American Ethnic Studies, has published the first academic treatment of singer Jenni Rivera as part of a cultural studies anthology titled “De Aztlan al Rio de la Plata,” edited by Sergio M. Martinez.

The anthology’s title marks its transnational focus: “Aztlan” is a Nahuatl Aztec designation for North America, while “Rio de la Plata” designates South America. Mexican American singer Jenni Rivera enjoyed a singular hemispheric popularity across national borders. When Rivera died in a plane crash on Dec. 9, 2012, Mexican-Americans lost their greatest living song idol, while the world in general lost one of the most eloquent and engaged advocates for women of color.

In her article, Broyles-González traces the emergence of Rivera from a Long Beach, California barrio to a stardom, which gave voice to the most disenfranchised sectors of society. Her voice performed a powerful history from the fringe, which modeled empowerment for women, most especially immigrant Mexican women. Click here to read more.

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Biology

Rollie J. Clem, professor of biology, has been awarded the Joan S. Hunt Distinguished Mentoring Award by the Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Program, or K-INBRE.

Candidates for the award must be faculty members at one of 10 participating Kansas and Oklahoma universities with demonstrated success in their field and must have mentored a substantial number of junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, or graduate or undergraduate students. The award was established in 2012 to recognize someone with demonstrated commitment to fostering the intellectual, creative, scholarly and professional growth of mentees. The award’s namesake, Joan S. Hunt, is professor emeritus of anatomy and cell biology at the University of Kansas Medical Center and the original principal investigator of K-INBRE. Read the full story here.

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Communication Studies

Two Communication Studies students were awarded Arts and Sciences Research Travel Scholarships to attend the Central States Communication Association (CSCA) Conference. Brett Sitts, an undergraduate, and Lindsey Milburn, a graduate student, will both travel to Minneapolis later this spring for the conference.

Sitts and Paige Wiley, another undergraduate student, both had papers accepted to the CSCA Undergraduate Honors Research Conference (UHRC) and will present their papers as part of a competitive panel.

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Economics

Dan Kuester gave a presentation on creating personal connections in the classroom as part of the GTA Professional Development Series sponsored by the Faculty Exchange for Teaching Excellence (FETE). This series features faculty lectures for graduate students who are interested in receiving certification in teaching techniques.

“This is the second consecutive year I was asked to give one of the talks and I was happy to do so,” Kuester said. “I spoke about ways to make the classroom environment less intimidating for students.”

Amanda Gaulke presented “Stopping Out of College: The Role of Credit Constraints” at the Western Economic Association International Conference in Santiago, Chile as part of a Contemporary Economic Policy: Public Policy and Inequality Series Session arranged by Indiana University.

 

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Geography

Dr. Francesco OrsiAssistant Professor Francesco Orsi published a correspondence piece titled “Environment: Progressive Taxes for Sustainability” in the international journal Nature. The correspondence suggests levying progressive taxes on goods that are particularly detrimental to the environment as a method of achieving a more sustainable society. Orsi is a recognized authority on the use and preservation of green space and sustainable transportation.

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Geology

Mattheow Totten and Abdelmoneam Raef and their student Keithan Martin published an article in the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering on studying the petroleum system of the subsurface Hugoton embayment basin of western Kansas.

The study focuses on improving the understanding of the orientation, geometry, and spatial distribution of ooid shoal complexes in Kearny County, Kansas. Integration of multiple datasets and advanced Artificial Neural Networks analysis resulted in the development of a well-calibrated predictive tool for classifying specific rock characteristics (lithological facies) based on geophysical well-logs.

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Journalism and Mass Communications

Safiya Woodard, senior in mass communications at K-State, won the grand prize in the 2016 Biotech University reporting contest, a $2,500 academic scholarship. Woodard’s winning entry was a video documentary, “The Evolution of Biotechnology in Agriculture.” Click here to read more.

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Modern Languages

Laura Kanost, associate professor of Spanish, led a group of eight Spanish students on a two-week study abroad program in Costa Rica blending cultural and linguistic immersion, leadership, and multidisciplinary research. The students, who represent four different colleges at K-State, lived with host families in a rural community, engaged in a service-learning project, and participated in a variety of excursions and mini-classes. Pictured, from left to right: Natalie Wolf, sophomore, Arts and Sciences Open Option; Jacklyn Dawson, freshman, Business Administration; Katlyn Krause, junior, Geography; Anne Recker, senior, Animal Sciences and Industry; Christine Laflin, sophomore, Architectural Engineering; Shea Roy, senior, Kinesiology; Cassidy Frost, senior, Biochemistry; Kaylee Aherns, freshman, Arts and Sciences Open Option; Amy Hein, senior, Spanish and Marketing; Laura Kanost, associate professor of Spanish.
Continue reading “College Highlights, January 2017”

College Highlights, December 2016

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Take a look at some of our highlights from December 2016:

Art

Biology

Chemistry

Economics

English

Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Journalism and Mass Communication

Mathematics

Military Science

Modern Languages

Music, Theatre, and Dance

Political Science

Psychological Sciences

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Statistics

Art

The National Endowment for the Arts has given K-State a $20,000 Art Works grant to support “Transforming Printmaking through Chemical Innovation,” a collaborative project to transfer safer, sustainable technology from the electronics and biotech industries into fine art printmaking.

Jason Scuilla, associate professor of art, will collaborate with Stefan Bossmann, professor of chemistry, to lead a team of artists, scientists and students to research, develop and refine electrochemical etching processes and green biosolvents, empowering artists to create prints in a safer and more effective manner. Read the full story here.
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Biology

Zhilong Yang, assistant professor of biology, published an article titled “Ribosome Profiling Reveals Translational Upregulation of Cellular Oxidative Phosphorylation mRNAs During Vaccinia Virus-induced Host Shutoff” in the Journal of Virology. Read the article abstract and scientific importance here.
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Chemistry

A Kansas State University chemist has earned a National Science Foundation CAREER award of more than $700,000 to develop a more efficient and safer way of etching semiconductor nanocrystals. Her work could lead to more energy-efficient lighting and greener technology.

The Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, Program is the NSF’s most prestigious awards program in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.

Emily McLaurin, assistant professor of chemistry, will use the award for her project “Microwave-Assisted Ionic Liquid Etching of Colloidal III-V Semiconductor Nanocrystals.” Read more about McLaurin’s work here.
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Economics

Amanda Gaulke, assistant professor of economics, was awarded a $4,498 University Small Research Grant for her project “The Effect of Post-Baccalaureate Certificates on Job Search: Results from a Correspondence Study.” University Small Research Grants are seed grants to support small research projects, scholarly activity, and other creative efforts, awarded each fall and spring by the Office of the Vice President for Research through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

 

For the paper “Cooperation in WTO’s Tariff Waters?”, Peri da Silva, associate professor of economics at Kansas State University, and co-authors from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the University of Geneva examined the relationship between tariffs, which are the taxes countries charge each other on classes of imports or exports, and market power — a measure of countries’ abilities to influence the price of goods on the world stage. Large developed nations like the U.S. have much more market power than smaller or developing nations. The paper will be published in the prestigious Journal of Political Economy. Read more about this research here.
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English

Three faculty in English received teaching awards from the College of Arts and Sciences: Traci Brimhall received an inaugural Ron Gaches Undergraduate Teaching Award, Tanya Gonzalez received the 2016 William L. Stamey Award for Undergraduate Advising, and Anne Phillips received the inaugural Ron Gaches Lifetime Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Philip Nel received the Balfour Jeffrey Award in Humanities and Social Sciences, one of the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards. The awards recognize the exceptional long-term research accomplishments of faculty at Kansas Board of Regents universities. Read more about the awards here.

Dan Hoyt
won the inaugural Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction for his novel “This Book Is Not For You.” Read more about the book and award here.
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Continue reading “College Highlights, December 2016”

College Highlights, November 2016

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Take a look at some of our highlights from November 2016:

Communication Studies

Economics

Geography

Johnson Cancer Research Center

Journalism and Mass Communication

Music, Theatre and Dance

Political Science

Psychological Sciences

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Communication Studies

Emily Ruder, a master’s student in Communication Studies, presented a debut emily-ruderpaper at the 102nd National Communication Association conference in Philadelphia, Nov. 10 – 13. Ruder’s research project, “Father/Daughter Communication and Leadership,” focused on the extent to which fathers are leadership role models for their daughters. The paper was ranked one of the top four papers in the Master’s Education Division at the conference. This was Emily’s first national conference.
Miranda Klugesherz, a second-year master’s student in Communication Studies, received the George J. Mitchell Scholarship. The flagship program of the US-Ireland Alliance, the Mitchell Scholarship is a nationally competitive program which selects 12 young American leaders and fully funds a year of graduate study in Ireland. Mitchell scholars are encouraged to adopt an ambassadorial role and further ties between the US and Ireland while growing academically and in leadership and public service.

mirandaConcerned with food insecurity for most of her life, Miranda has dedicated her scholarship and community efforts to fighting hunger at the systemic level. Her research focuses on finding ways to give individuals who experienced hunger and poverty a voice in policy. Miranda is a graduate research assistant for the Institute of Civic Discourse and Democracy and a graduate teaching assistant for public speaking classes. Outside of school, she chairs the Junction City Food Policy Council, is an executive member of Live Well Geary County, and is an assistant coach for the speech team at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska. Miranda will receive her MS in Social Policy at the University College Cork in Cork, Ireland. Back to top


Economics

Amanda Gaulke, assistant professor of economics, has been awarded a Spencer mandyFoundation Small Research Grant in the amount of $40,850 for her proposal seeking to study student loan repayment. The goal of this project is to examine how people with student loans move through repayment and what factors are associated with losing good standing during repayment.

Despite student debt exceeding credit card debt, little is known about how people transition through the repayment process. Gaulke and her co-investigators, financial economists Maxime Roy and Christopher Reynolds of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, seek to understand which factors affect people’s ability to repay their loans, and to describe such dynamics as when and how people’s loans go into default, deference or forbearance.

“The media often discusses student loans in a negative light but there isn’t much current research that explains how student loans interact with other types of debt, such as credit cards and medical bills,” Gaulke said. Read the full story here. Back to top Continue reading “College Highlights, November 2016”

College Highlights, October 2016

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there are always big things happening. Take a look at some of our highlights from October 2016:

Biology

Chemistry

English

Geography

Geology

Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

History

Johnson Cancer Research Center

Journalism and Media Communication

Mathematics

Music, Theatre and Dance

Political Science

Psychological Sciences

Sociology, Anthropology and, Social Work

Biology

A team of biologists from K-State were honored with a national publication award at the annual conference of The Wildlife Society, Oct. 15-19, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The research team from K-State included David Haukos, leader of the Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit; Brett Sandercock, professor of biology; Andrew Gregory, 2011 doctoral graduate and assistant professor at Bowling Green State University; Lance McNew, 2010 doctoral graduate and prairie chickensassistant professor at Montana State University; and Virginia Winder, 2013 postdoctoral fellow and assistant professor at Benedictine College.

The team received the 2016 award for Best Article for “Factors Affecting Female Space Use in Ten Populations of Prairie Chickens” that was published in the open-access journal Ecosphere in September 2015. Photo of prairie chickens courtesy Division of Biology Facebook page. Return to top


Chemistry / English

Four faculty members at two universities in Kansas have been named recipients of the state’s most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence: the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards. The four will be recognized Dec. 13 during a ceremony at the Kansas Memorial Union.

This year’s recipients from K-State are both faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences: Christer Aakeroy, university distinguished professor of chemistry, and Philip Nel, university distinguished professor of English.

This is the 35th annual presentation of the awards, established in 1981 by Takeru Higuchi, a distinguished professor at the University of Kansas from 1967 to 1983, and his wife, Aya. The awards recognize the exceptional long-term research accomplishments of faculty at Kansas Board of Regents universities. Each award includes a citation and a $10,000 award for ongoing research efforts. The money can be used for research materials, summer salaries, fellowship matching funds, hiring research assistants or other support related to research.

Awards are given in four categories: humanities and social sciences, basic sciences, biomedical sciences and applied sciences. Each award is named for former leaders of KU Endowment who played key roles in recruiting Higuchi to KU. Their financial support of KU helped enhance university research throughout Kansas. Continue reading “College Highlights, October 2016”