February 2010 @Pomona Newsletter

Faculty and Staff Accomplishments

Jack Abecassis (Romance Languages & Literatures) published an article, “Le Passeport,” in Atelier du Roman 60 (December 2009), pp. 47-57.

Tahir Andrabi (Economics) and Asim Ijaz Khwaja are authors of the opinion piece “Responding to Disasters – Can We Act in Time?” in the January 20 issue of The Boston Globe.

Lisa Anne Auerbach (Art & Art History) has an exhibition, “The Tract House: A Darwin Addition,” at the American Philosophical Society Museum in Philadelphia from 29 January to 11 April. The exhibition is part of a citywide printed-arts event called Philagrafika.

Colin Beck (Sociology) gave an invited talk, “The World Cultural Origins of Revolutionary Waves,” as part of the Program on Global Studies Colloquium series at the University of California, Riverside, on 20 January.

Graydon Beeks (Music) read a paper on “The Selection of Texts for Handel’s ‘Cannons’ Anthems” at the conference “Purcell, Handel and Literature” in London in late November.

Grace Dávila-López (Romance Languages & Literatures) co-edited an online book, Cartografía teatral: Cádiz en los escenarios del Festival Internacional de Teatro 2008 (Irvine, CA: Ediciones Electrónicas Gestos, 2009), available at www.humanities.uci.edu/gestos/fit2008/. The book was presented during the Festival Internacional de Teatro in Cádiz, Spain, last October.

Kevin Dettmar’s (English) new textbook of popular music, Think Rock, was published by Prentice Hall. Dettmar was also elected to the Executive Board of the Association of Departments of English.

John Eldevik (History) delivered an invited talk, “Remembering Post-Carolingian Europe,” on 15 January at the University of California, Riverside, as part of a Mellon Foundation-sponsored workshop, “Medieval Culture and Postmodern Legacies.”

Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Media Studies) published an article, “The Literary Machine: Blogging the Literature Course,” in Teaching Language and Literature Online, ed. Ian Lancashire (Modern Language Association, 2009), pp. 205-16. She also published a brief article, “On Open Access Publishing,” on the Society for Critical Exchange’s website on 15 January.

On January 10, Peter Flueckiger (Asian Languages & Literatures) gave a paper, “Tokugawa jidai no shisou ni okeru shizen no shouhinka” (The Commodification of Nature in the Thought of the Tokugawa Period), at a symposium on Ecocriticism and Japanese Literary Studies, held at Rikkyo University in Tokyo.

Katherine Hagedorn (Music) presented a paper, “‘Mole yansa’: Embodying a Theology of Sound in Regla de Ocha,” as part of a roundtable titled “Theorizing Sound Writing: Experimental Ethnography” at the Society for Ethnomusicology conference in Mexico City on 19 November. She also published an essay, “To Have and to Hold: Possession Performance in Afro-Cuban Regla de Ocha,” in Women and New and Africana Religions, ed. Lillian Ashcraft-Eason, Darnise Martin, and Oyeronke Olademo (Praeger/ABC-Clio, 2009), pp. 145-65.

Hagedorn also played reyong with the ensemble Gamelan Burat Wangi in performances of “Ramayana: An Indian Epic” at REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, 6-8 November. The production was directed and choreographed by Nyoman Wenten (Music) and Nanik Wenten (Theatre and Dance). Gamelan Burat Wangi reprised its performance for Claremont audiences in Pomona’s Carolyn Lyon Garden on 9 November.

Laura Hoopes (Biology) is the author of “Outcomes for Women in Industry or Academia,” in AWIS Magazine 40:4 (Fall 2009), pp. 20-22; “Una Confronts Death,” a short story in The Chaffin Journal (2009), pp. 89-98; and “Interviewing by Telephone,” in The Writers’ Journal 31:1 (January-February 2010), pp. 41-42. Her short story, “Glorietta and Red Bob Come to Terms,” which was previously published online (#14, Rose City Sisters online anthology of flash fiction, July 31, 2009), was a finalist for “Story of the Year” on the Rose City Sisters Web site.

“It Happened at Pomona: Art at Pomona College 1969-1973,” a project developed by Kathleen Howe and Rebecca McGrew< (Art & Art History and Museum of Art), was awarded a $220,000 grant from the Getty Foundation. The project, which will include an exhibition and catalog, is part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative.

An essay by Meg Jolley (Theatre & Dance), “Mind in Motion: A Look into How and Why ‘The Right Thing Does Itself,’” was the feature article in AmSAT News (Winter 2009), the journal of the American Society for the Alexander Technique. The article included illustrations by recent Scripps graduate Julia Cost.

Gizem Karaali (Mathematics), Philip Choi (Physics & Astronomy), Sara Owsley Sood (Computer Science), and Eric Grosfils (Geology) are the authors of “Envisioning a Quantitative Studies Center: A Liberal Arts Perspective,” in Numeracy: Advancing Education in Quantitative Literacy 3:1 (2010), article 4. Karaali also also gave an interactive presentation for alumni, “How HOT Is Your Geometry? A Tropical Excursion,” in Berkeley on 7 December, and delivered a paper, “An Evaluative Calculus Project: Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy to the Calculus Classroom,” at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco on 16 January.

Thomas Leabhart (Theatre & Dance) taught a workshop for Pas de Dieux in Paris, 4-8 January; gave a lecture-demonstration, “Mime Corporal—Technique et Création,” at the Théâtre du Lierre in Paris on 9 January; and taught in the Theatre Arts MA program of the University of Seville, 11-15 January.

Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty (Routledge, 2008), by Andrew Lear (Classics) and Eva Cantarella, appeared in paperback this fall. It was reviewed in The New York Review of Books 56:14 (24 September 2009) and elsewhere.

Pardis Mahdavi (Anthropology) gave a talk, “The Feminization of Migration in the Gulf,” on 11 January as part of a conference on migrant labor in the Persian Gulf. Sponsored by Georgetown University, the conference was held in Doha, Qatar.

For two weeks in January, Alma Martinez (Theatre & Dance) taught Acting for the Camera to the cast of the soap opera Puerta Azul in Managua, Nicaragua; the show is produced by the NGO Puntos de Encuentro, which uses this traditional television format to present social issues. During those weeks she also discussed “entertainment as education” and other topics on television shows (including Primera Hora, Esta Noche and Accion 10 de la Manana) and in newspaper interviews for El Nuevo Diario (January 14) and La Prensa (January 12).

Martinez has also begun rehearsals in Mexico for the production of Zoot Suit being staged by the National Theatre Company of Mexico. She will also serve as the production’s U.S.-Mexico Project Coordinator. The company is funded by the Mexican government and is under the auspices of INBA (the National Institute of Fine Arts) and CONACULTA (the National Cultural Commission).

David Menefee-Libey’s (Politics) coauthored book Learning from L.A.: Institutional Change in American Public Education was named an Outstanding Academic Title of 2009 by Choice magazine.

Robert Mezey (English, Emeritus) holds the Richard L. Thomas Chair in Creative Writing at Kenyon College, his alma mater, this spring. He also recently published a villanelle in the National Review.

Denise Miller’s (Romance Languages and Literatures) daughter Elizabeth and her pony Miss Tattletail finished out their year with the following competitions: United States Equestrian Association (USEA) Convention in Reston, VA, from December 4-6, 2009 as Adult Novice Rider, Adult Amateur Novice Rider, Novice Horse and Pony of the Year. At the Area 5 Year of the Year Awards Banquet in Fresno on January 9, 2010, they were named Champion – Senior Novice Horse, High Score Pony, Adult Amateur Novice Rider, Reserve Champion – High Score Mare, and Horse/Rider of the Year.

Karen Parfitt (Biology) et al. published a paper, “The Resting Membrane Potential of Drosophila melanogaster Larval Muscle Depends Strongly on External Calcium Concentration,” in Journal of Insect Physiology (doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2009.11.002).

With Christopher Jazwa HMC ’05, Jennifer Perry (Anthropology) authored a paper, “Spatial and Temporal Variability in Chert Exploitation on Santa Cruz Island, CA,” in American Antiquity 75:1, pp. 177-98.

Virginie Pouzet-Duzer (Romance Languages & Literatures) presented a paper, “Inscription du bouquet: le jardin Mallarmé,” at the International Figura Conference “Gardens and Art: Framing, Unframing, Reframing,” held at Concordia University in Montréal on 10 December.

William Ransom (Art & Art History) has a solo exhibition of his sculpture at Chime and Co. in Los Angeles, 23 January through 28 February.

Monique Saigal (Romance Languages and Literatures) gave a presentation on her book Alliance francaise in Sacramento on January 23.

Kristina Sanchez and Sarah Yoo (Career Development Office) presented "Networking in a Web 2.0 World: Connecting Students to Online Professional Networking Sites" at the annual Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers (MPACE) conference on December 9.

Slavi Slavov (Economics) has an article titled “Do Common Currencies Facilitate the Net Flow of Capital among Countries?” in The North American Journal of Economics and Finance 20:2 (August 2009), pp. 124-44.

Miguel Tinker Salas (History and Chicano/a-Latino/a Studies) received an International Media Prize from the Mexican Club de Periodistas.

Nancy Treser-Osgood (Alumni Relations) has been named Chair-Elect for the Council of Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VII, which includes advancement professionals in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah and Guam. She has been a member of the Board of Directors for CASE District VII since 1998. She also chaired the national Homecomings and Reunions Conference in San Diego in January, where she spoke about campus partnerships and highlighting institutional fundraising needs.

On 21 January, Kenneth Wolf (History) delivered a paper, “Memories and Models: St. Elizabeth of Hungary and the Dicta Quatuor Ancillarum,” at the invitation of the Medieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame. The next day he led a graduate seminar titled “St. Francis and ‘Holy Poverty.’”