September 2010 @Pomona Newsletter

News & Notes

• The Pomona College memorial service for David Alexander will be held on Saturday, September 25 at 4:00 p.m. in Bridges Hall of Music. It will be followed by a reception held in the Carolyn Lyon Garden (the area between the Museum and Thatcher Music Building), weather permitting.
• Save the date: The Fall Staff Forum is Tuesday, September 28, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in Rose Hills. If you wish to submit questions prior to the forum, email StaffCouncil@pomona.edu or to any member of Staff Council (Lamar Arenas, Manny Cervantes, Cathy Hicks, Holly Duncan, Carol Thompson, Matthew Walker, Dani Aurouze, Steve Comba, Tom Roybal or Bowen Close). You may also drop your comments in the suggestion boxes at dining services, housekeeping and grounds.
• It’s also time to register your vehicle for campus parking. To renew your registration, bring your staff ID to Smith Campus Center, Room 208, on Monday, September 13, between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. If it’s a new vehicle, also bring your driver’s license and DMV registration. You can also get permits and renewals at Campus Safety.
• Happy holiday news: Upcoming holidays include Thursday, November 25, and Friday, November 26, for Thanksgiving. Winter Break will start with on Wednesday, December 22nd, at 3p.m. and all offices will re-open on Monday, January 3rd at 8 a.m.
• Founder’s Day is October 14. Read our new “Department Update” feature below to find out the special festivities taking place this year!

Department Update - Advancement

Editor’s note: As part of our ongoing goal to gather staff and faculty news from around the campus, each month we are going to ask a department head to share the latest news from their office. This month, we’ve asked Chris Ponce, vice president for Advancement, to introduce Campaign Pomona: Daring Minds to the campus.

Next month will mark the formal beginning of another important chapter in Pomona history, when we “go public” with a five-year fundraising campaign to support our students and faculty.  With a minimum goal of $250 million, this will be the most ambitious effort ever mounted by the College.  Supported by the Board of Trustees and many other volunteers, the Advancement staff has been securing lead gifts for some time.  We are striving to raise at least 47% of the total by mid-October, when two campus events will mark the beginning of our five-year drive.

On Founder’s Day, October 14, we are planning a campus celebration to which all students, staff and faculty are invited.  At 4:30 p.m. in Little Bridges, a short program and preview of our campaign video will be presented, followed by a picnic dinner on Smith Campus Center lawn.  Everyone who attends will go home with a fun gift! 

On Saturday, October 16, we expect more than 400 alumni, parents and friends to join us on campus for the public launch of the campaign.  Shortly afterward, regional campaign events will take place in Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C.  

Details about our campaign objectives will be forthcoming.  The attached Campaign Journal [pdf] illustrates a few areas, and here are our four thematic headings:

• $44 million: Expanding the annual fund to provide ongoing support for students and faculty
• $65 million: Enhancing affordability for deserving students through expanded support for scholarships
• $73 million: Strengthening teaching and learning with a focus on creativity and active engagement
• $68 million: Enhancing critical facilities that support living and learning

Would you like to share news about your department? Email Laura Tiffany.

New Employees

• Christopher Bettera, Assistant Director of Study Abroad, Study Abroad
• Sabrina Birdsong, Human Resources Generalist I, Human Resources
• Michael Denny, Financial Analyst, Office of the Treasurer
• Adan Gallardo, Language Technology Specialist, Oldenborg Center
• Iris Gardner, Admissions Officer, Admissions
• Joel Hart, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Admissions
• Aura Hernandez, Advancement Records Specialist, Advancement
• Julia Hoevelmann, German Language Resident, Oldenborg Center
• Samantha Jones, Admissions Officer, Admissions
• Conor O'Rourke, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Admissions
• Jonathan Peterson, Admissions Officer, Admissions
• Nguyen Phan, Environmental Safety Manager, Facilities & Campus Services
• Stephanie Renne, Archive Assistant, PBI
• Vern Stoermer, Dining Services Staff, Dining Services
• Kaori Sugihara, Japanese Language Resident, Oldenborg Center
• William Torres, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Admissions
• Natalie Walper, Human REsources Generalist II, Human Resources

New Faculty

Keep an eye out for an upcoming news article with more information on each new faculty member.

• Gabriel Chandler, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
• Michael Diercks, Instructor in Linguistics and Cognitive Science
• Melissa DiLorenzo, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
• David Divita, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
• Jonathan Hall, Assistant Professor of Media Studies
• Arash Khazeni, Assistant Professor of History, SPRING
• Jonathan Lethem, Roy Edward Disney ’51 Professor of Creative Writing and Professor of English (Spring 2011)
• Anthony Perman, Visiting Assistant Professor of Music
• Alice Pigott, Visiting Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
• Colleen Rosenfeld, Assistant Professor of English
• Richard J. Stolzberg, Visiting Professor in Chemistry
• John Unger, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
• Michael Wong, Visiting Instructor in Physical Education and Head Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach

New Postdoctoral Fellows

• Mary Barr, ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology & Africana Studies
• Anna Joo Kim, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Analysis (Spring 2011)
• Katy Muzikar, Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemistry
• Riley C. Snorton, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Media Studies (Spring 2011)

Summer Steps 2010

Lisa Beckett reports that 30 Pomona College faculty and staff completed the six-week Summer Steps Pedometer Program. Each participant set goals for increasing movement and all participants succeeded! Congratulations to: Judy Arriola, Anna Asker, Lisa Beckett, Rhonda Beron, Elizabeth Champion, Cris Cheney, Hilda Dinolfo, Faye Epps, Jack Gallagher, Gina Green, Laura Hoopes, Beth Hubbard, Lucy Huff, Evelyn James, Donna Lane, Patricia Maine, Mary Marvin, Mark Matsumoto, Chris Maynard, Sara Mitchell, Faye Moore, Karen Parfitt, Mary Paster, Kaye Pereida, Wendy Rios, Mike Riskas, Jennifer Stazewski, Nancy Treser-Osgood, Meg Worley and Alma Zook.

For more information on pedometer programs or the FSFW program, please contact Lisa Beckett or visit www.pe.pomona.edu/information/staff_wellness.

Recent News

•    The Pomona College Board of Trustees Elects Three New Members
•    New Fossil Bed Discovery by Royal Ontario Museum/Pomona College Team Challenges Assumptions About Famous Fossil Site 
•    2010 Convocation Speeches Now Available Online
•    Meet Our Newest Sagehens: Class of '14 Move-In Day Slideshow
•    Video: Harwood Court Renovation Project
•    Two Students Start a Food and Farming Internship Program for Local High School Students
•    How Pomona Professors Spent Their Summer "Vacations"
•    Professor Michael Steinberger's Research Cited in Landmark Proposition 8 Ruling
•    New Study by Sadie Barr '09 and Prof. Wright Finds Eating Whole Foods vs. Processed Foods Burns More Calories
•    Using High-Speed Video, Prof. Dwight Whitaker and Co-Author Discover a Plant That Produces Mushroom Clouds for Spore Dispersal
•    New Program Helps Campus Offices Go Green

Faculty and Staff Accomplishments

Craig Arteaga-Johnson (Office of Annual Giving) gave a presentation, "Holistic Planning for the Annual Fund," to Annual Fund Directors and other professionals at the 25th Annual S.T.A.F.F. Conference (Sharing the Annual Fund Fundamentals) at Denison University in Granville, Ohio on 19 July 19. The presentation offered a framework to use for promoting complete and effective planning throughout the annual giving program.

Allan Barr (Asian Languages & Literatures) gave a talk in Chinese on “New Research on the Ming History Inquisition” at the Cultural Affairs Department of Nanxun Township, Zhejiang, on 22 July. He gave a paper, also in Chinese, titled “Confessions of an Amateur Translator” at the International Conference on Literary Translation held in Beijing, 10-11 August.

Graydon Beeks (Music) sang a pair of Handel arias to conclude the Delegates’ Concert at the Biennial Conference on Baroque Music, held in Belfast, North Ireland, in July. His article “Handel at Cannons” is featured in Early Music America 16:3 (fall 2010). He also read a paper on the secular music of William Croft at the annual Handel Conference in Halle, Germany, in June.

Ralph Bolton (Anthropology) is the senior co-editor of 50 Años de Antropología Aplicada en el Perú: Vicos y Otras Experiencias (50 Years of Applied Anthropology in Peru: Vicos and Other Experiences), published by the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos in Lima. His chapter in the book is titled "Chijnaya: El Nacimiento y Evolución de una Comunidad Andina, Recuerdos y Reflexiones de un Antropólogo Aplicado" (Chijnaya: The Birth and Evolution of an Andean Community, Memories and Reflections of an Applied Anthropologist).

Bolton has also has been awarded the American Anthropological Association’s Franz Boas Award for Exemplary Service to Anthropology.  The honor is given annually to recognize a member’s outstanding contribution to the discipline through “the increase and dissemination of humanistic and scientific knowledge and service to the profession.”

Patience Boudreaux (Office of Annual Giving) was a panelist in the "Newcomer Track" of the 25th Annual S.T.A.F.F. Conference at Denison University in Granville, Ohio on July 19.  She led a breakout session for new professionals in annual giving titled "What I Wish I Knew My First Year," focusing on soliciting and engaging graduates of the last decade.

Paul Cahill (Romance Languages & Literatures) published an article, "«Poesía en la guerra»: la (co)herencia y unidad (con)textual de Viento del pueblo,” in Ínsula 763-764 (2010), pp. 22-26. 

José R. Cartagena-Calderón (Romance Languages & Literatures) has a chapter, "Of Pretty Fops and Spectacular Sodomites: El lindo don Diego and the Performance of Effeminacy in Early Modern Spain," in The Poetics of Masculinity in Early Modern Italy and Spain, ed. Gerry Milligan and Jane Tylus (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, Victoria University in the University of Toronto, 2010), pp. 217-34.

Susana Chávez-Silverman (Romance Languages & Literatures) has an essay, titled “Essays in Containment: Another Look at Madness (and Its Displacements) Chez Pizarnik,” in Alejandra, ed. Ivonne Bordelois and Pedro Cuperman (New York/Buenos Aires: Syracuse University Press/Editorial Paidós, 2010), pp. 58-77.  The volume is a special issue of Point of Contact 10:1-2.

Chávez-Silverman read from her work and was interviewed by Tom Hill on KSPC in June and was interviewed by Cristina Fernández Pereda for the Spanish newspaper El País in July. She can be heard reading from her books Killer Crónicas and Scenes from la Cuenca de Los Angeles y otros Natural Disasters on the University of Wisconsin Press website. The latter book was singled out  in Anis Shivani’s “The 17 Most Innovative University Presses and the Books You Will Want from Them,” which appeared on The Huffington Post on 21 August.

Ludwig Chincarini (Economics) presented several papers in May: "A Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Hedge Funds," at Cambridge Research Associates in Pasadena; "Some Thoughts about Portfolio Management," at Emerging Markets Management L.L.C. in Arlington, VA; and "A Multi-Asset Approach to Inflation Hedging for a US Investor," at the Investment Management Consultants Association Conference in Orlando, FL. And with Salvatore Bruno, Chincarini is the author of “Optimal Real Return Portfolios,” in the July/August 2010 issue of Investments and Wealth Monitor.

Toni Clark (English) and Christopher Chinn (Classics) presented on ecocriticism at a Mellon 23 workshop, Sustainability Education in the Liberal Arts Context, held on the Pomona campus, 28-29 June.

Bowen Close (Sustainability Integration Office) reports that Pomona College has climbed more than 30 places in the annual Sierra Club’s Cool School’s ranking to #23. Schools were rated on energy sources, food purchasing, alternative transportation options, and more. We did best in the transportation category, but received high marks in many other categories including waste, administration and efficiency.

Silverpoint drawings by Steve Comba (Museum of Art) are featured in the exhibition “Luminous Line: Contemporary Drawing in Metalpoint” at Scripps’s Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery from 29 August through 17 October.  His work is also featured in “Natural/History” at the Loft 204 Gallery of the Claremont Packing House from 3 September through 1 October.

Cecilia Conrad (Economics and Dean of the College’s Office) lectured on “The History of IAFFE and Feminist Economics” at an International Association for Feminist Economics preconference workshop in Buenos Aires in July. Zachary Mirman ’11 translated the presentation slides into Spanish for distribution at the conference.

Grace Dávila-López (Romance Languages and Literatures) presented a paper, "Procesos de creación colectiva y el rol del actor en la creación del personaje: dos puestas escénicas de 'La razón blindada' de Arístides Vargas," at the Educational Program of the XXV International Hispanic Theatre Festival of Miami in July.

With Paul Saint-Amour, formerly of Pomona’s English Department, Kevin Dettmar (English) has been awarded a grant of $156,734 to co-direct a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, “James Joyce’s Ulysses: Texts and Contexts,” in Dublin, Ireland, in summer 2012. Also, his essay, “Are Liner Notes Dead? Does It Matter?,” was selected by the Chronicle Review, upon its 10th anniversary, as one of the 10 favorite essays it's published in the last decade.

David Divita (Romance Languages & Literatures) gave a paper, “Style and the Individual: Two Case Studies from la Petite Espagne,” at the Sociolinguistics Symposium held at the University of Southampton, England, 1-4 September.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Media Studies) gave three talks in June: "Reading (and Writing) Online, Rather than On the Decline," at Cultural Literacy in Contemporary Europe - 4th Workshop: Electronic Textuality, held in Istanbul, Turkey; "What a Press Can Add in the Age of DIY Publishing,” at the Association of American University Presses Annual Meeting, held in Salt Lake City; and "New Models for Scholarly Communication: Evaluating Digital Scholarship for Tenure and Promotion," at the Association of Departments of English Summer Seminar West, held here at Pomona.  She gave two more talks in July: "Open vs. Closed: Changing the Culture of Peer Review,” at Digital Humanities 2010, King's College, London; and "MediaCommons and Planned Obsolescence," at the Scholarly Communication Institute 8, held at the University of Virginia.

An interview with appeared in Die Zeit on 15 July. She was also featured in a front-page article, “Scholars Test Web Alternative to Peer Review,” in the 23 August New York Times. The article featured recent experiments in open peer review; both experiments were conducted by MediaCommons, the digital scholarly network co-founded by Fitzpatrick.

Erica Flapan (Mathematics) is one of three winners of the 2011 Mathematical Association of America’s Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.

Stephan Ramon Garcia (Mathematics) gave a talk, "Complex Symmetric Operators: An Overview," in Prague on 31 August as part of a European Science Foundation exploratory workshop, Mathematical Aspects of the Physics with Non-Self-Adjoint Operators. With Warren Wogen, Garcia coauthored “Some New Classes of Complex Symmetric Operators,” in Transactions of the American Mathematical Society 362 (2010), pp. 6065-77.

In recognition of his distinguished contributions to the geosciences, Eric Grosfils (Geology) was elected to Fellow status in the Geological Society of America.

Katherine Hagedorn (Music and Dean of the College’s Office) presented a paper, “Toward a Theology of Sound in Afro-Cuban Regla de Ocha: Sonic Portraits of the Orichas,” as part of the symposium Sound In/As Religion at the XXth Congress of the International Association of the History of Religions, held in Toronto, 16-21 August.  She also chaired another panel in this symposium and translated the papers for a third panel, entitled New Imaginaries and Religious Actors in Contemporary Cuba.

David Haley (Physics & Astronomy) presented an experiment, “Peltier Coolers,” as part of an Introductory Laboratory Workshop at the American Association of Physics Teachers’ meeting at Portland State University, 17-21 July.

Marjorie Harth (Art & Art History and Museum of Art, Emerita) published an exhibition review, “Collector’s Choice: J. Paul Getty and His Antiquities,” in caa.reviews on 3 June.

Richard Hazlett (Geology and Environmental Analysis) and John Lockwood are the authors of a new book, Volcanoes: Global Perspectives (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).

Laura L. Mays Hoopes (Biology) published “The Art of Science Writing: Natalie Angier” in AWIS Magazine 41 (spring 2010), pp. 15-16, and “Virginia Armbrust” in CBE-Life Sciences Education 9 (summer 2010). Hoopes also participated in the Norman Mailer Writers’ Colony workshop on biography in June.

Art Horowitz (Theatre & Dance) gave a paper and video presentation, “Open Wide: Ah! – A Non-Operatic Counterpoint of Tolerance,” at the Fifth Annual International Conference on the Arts in Society, held in Sydney, Australia, 22-25 July.

Kathleen Stewart Howe (Art & Art History and Museum of Art) was an invited participant in the symposium “Traces, Collections, Ruins: Towards a Comparative History of Antiquarianism,” held at the Getty Villa and Center, 3-4 June.

Karl Johnson (Biology and Neuroscience) et al. have an article, “Systematic Screening of Drosophila Deficiency Mutations for Embryonic Phenotypes and Orphan Receptor Ligands," in PLoS ONE 5(8):e12288.doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0012288.

Meg Jolley (Theatre & Dance) taught a series of workshops in developmental movement and the Alexander technique at a Pasadena studio recently opened by John Pennington (Theatre & Dance).

Gizem Karaali (Mathematics) has received a Young Investigator Award of $29,756 from the National Security Agency.  She will use the award to continue her research on Yang-Baxter equations, super quantum groups, and Hopf algebras.

Nina Karnovsky (Biology) is co-author of “Foraging Strategy of Little Auks under Divergent Conditions on Feeding Grounds,” in Polar Research 29:1 (April 2010), pp. 22-29.

Zayn Kassam (Religious Studies) gave a lecture, “Gender, Scripture, and Society in Islam,” at the Centre for the Study of Comparative Muslim Societies and Cultures, Simon Fraser University Downtown campus, in Vancouver, Canada, on 27 July.

David Kauchak (Computer Science) published “A Course-Long Information Retrieval Project,” in Proceedings of the Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AAAI Publications, 2010), available online.

At the Geological Society of America’s Cordilleran Section meeting in Anaheim, 27-29 May, Jade Star Lackey (Geology) gave a talk, “Igniting the Sierran Arc: Evolving Oxygen and Hafnium Isotope Ratios in the Bass Lake Tonalite,” whose coauthors included Cameron Windham ’11 and Ryan Frazer ’09.  He also coauthored a poster, “Deposition, Diagenesis, and Cementation History of Pleistocene Volcaniclastic Sediments in Long Valley Caldera, CA,” with Katherine Beeler ’10 and Hilary Lackey.

Andrew Lear (Classics) and Meryl Altman (DePauw University) are co-authors of “The Unspeakable Vice of the Americans,” in the fall 2010 issue of Iris: The Newsletter of the Lambda Classical Caucus, pp. 3-6.

Genevieve Lee (Music) performed eleven different chamber music programs at the Garth Newel Music Center, Virginia, during May, July and August. She played as a member of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet and also collaborated with guest artists such as Third Coast Percussion.

Alma Martinez (Theatre & Dance) was lead coordinator of the international symposium "!Esos pachucos, esos chicanos, esos pochos! el Teatro de Luis Valdez y su lucha por una mexicanidad americana,” held 24-26 June at the National University of Mexico in Mexico City.  The symposium was organized in collaboration with Pomona College and the National Theatre Company of Mexico, among others. During the spring and summer, she was interviewed or cited in numerous newspapers--including the Los Angeles Times--magazines, and websites, as well as on the radio, about her Zoot Suit production and symposium. 

Martinez and her brother, Army Major Carlos Martinez, gave a lecture, “Creative, Educational and Service Careers” at the public library in Eagle Pass, TX, on 24 July, and she presented a paper, “Zoot Suit: Mexico in the Chicano Imagination,” at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference in Los Angeles on 5 August. On 30 June, she was cast in the feature film Cristiada, directed by Dean Wright and starring Academy Award nominees Andy Garcia, Catalina Sandino and Peter O'Toole. 

Daniel Martinez (Biology) received a National Institutes of Health R01 award of $1,263,358 to investigate “Mechanisms Underlying Lack of Senescence and Inducible Senescence in Members of the Genus Hydra.”

With Emily Marcinkevicius '06 et al., Martinez published “FoxO and Stress Responses in the Cnidarian Hydra vulgaris,” in PLoS ONE 5:7; and with Julia Willner ’00, Kassia Percell ’01, Abril Iñiguez ’08 et al., he published “Phylogeny and Biogeography of Hydra (Cnidaria: Hydridae) Using Mitochondrial and Nuclear DNA Sequences,” in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

April Mayes (History) co-organized an international conference, “Transnational Hispaniola. Shared History, Shared Future: Converging Paths in the Haitian-Dominican Transborder Experience,” held 3-6 June at the Instituto Filosófico Pedro Francisco Bonó in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Tyler Moersch (Chemistry) and Heidi Leonard ’12 presented a poster, “Using Precursor Chemistry to Template Vanadium Oxide for Chemical Sensing,” at the American Chemical Society’s National Meeting in Boston in August. Co-authors included Charles Taylor (Chemistry) and students Joseph Beardslee '08, Anna Mebust '08, Adam Chaimowitz '10, and Casey Davis-VanAtta ’10.

Moersch also shares the news of the Claremont Colleges Rugby Football Club’s first Division II Men's Rugby National Championship. MOersch, the team’s fly half, says the team has been invited into the Division I Premier league in which the Dragons will face the highest level of competition in the nation. First-year head coach Jeremy Ognall won the American Rugby News' National Coach of the Year and Claremont's own Nick Regas earned a spot as a first side All-American.

Nivia Montenegro (Romance Languages & Literatures) read a paper, “Generation Y in Cuba: Politics and Technology,” at the Association of History, Literature, Science and Technology Conference in Madrid on 25 June.  She and Enrico Maria Santí gave a presentation about their critical edition of Guillermo Cabrera Infante’s novel Tres tristes tigres at Casa de America, Madrid, on 28 June. Montenegro also wrote the obituary of a legendary bolero singer, “Olga Guillot: Toda una voz, todo un genero, toda una epoca,” in the 13 July issue of Diario de Cuba, Cultura. Montenegro’s critical edition of Tres tristes tigres was reviewed in three publications in Spain: El Pais (2 July), Tiempo (9 July) and Diario de Cuba.

Jack Morones (Theatre and Dance) reports, on the behalf of his department, the allocation of $275,000 for a significant upgrade of the lighting and sound systems of the Dick Byron Seaver Theatre complex. The upgrades to the Seaver Theatre, which was built in 1990 with state-of-the-art equipment at that time, will include complete replacement of the theatrical lighting fixture inventory energy efficient spotlights, LED floodlights and LED automated fixtures. It is anticipated that these replacements will achieve a greater than 40% reduction in electricity usage. The theatre will also be substantially upgrading its computer lighting control systems and its audio speaker system.

Bryan Penprase (Physics & Astronomy), Irene Toro Martinez ’09, Daniel Beeler ’09 and others published “Keck Echellette Spectrograph and Imager Observations of Metal-Poor Damped Lyα Systems,” in The Astrophysical Journal 721:1 (20 August), doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/721/1/1.

While coaching in San Martino Buon Albergo, Italy, Frank Pericolosi (Physical Education) was featured in a 7 July article in the newspaper L’Arena.

Jennifer Perry (Anthropology) is the author of two recent book reviews: “A Canyon through Time: Archaeology, History and Ecology of the Tecolote Canyon Area, Santa Barbara County,” in Journal of Anthropological Research 66:2, pp. 290-91; and “The Chumash at European Contact: Power, Trade, and Feasting among Complex Hunter-Gatherers,” in American Indian Culture and Research Journal 34:1, pp. 150-52.

Sheila Pinkel (Art & Art History) had a solo exhibition at Baranas Hindu University in Varanasi, India, in July, and her work was included in a group exhibition at DNJ Gallery in Los Angeles in July and August. She also gave a lecture, “Art and Sustainability,” at Baranas Hindu University in Varanasi, India, in July.

Virginie Pouzet-Duzer (Romance Languages & Literatures) presented a paper, “En mangeant Rosa ou la poétique anthropophage de Benjamin Péret," on 14 July during the weeklong "Poésie et Politique au XXe siècle" colloquium held at the Centre Culturel International de Cerisy-la-Salle in France.

Leonard Pronko (Theatre & Dance) presented a lecture/discussion of Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs for the Scholar’s Circle at A Noise Within theater in Glendale on 4 August. 

For distinguished contributions to the mathematical sciences or education, Ami Radunskaya (Mathematics) was named the 15th Falconer Lecturer by the Association for Women in Mathematics and the Mathematical Association of America. She delivered her lecture, “Mathematical Challenges in the Treatment of Cancer,” at MathFest 2010 in Pittsburgh on 6 August.  In addition, with colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Otago, she received a $124,472 award from the National Science Foundation for “Predicting the Release Kinetics of Matrix Tablets,” a project aimed at developing a mathematical model to aid in the design of time-release tablets.

William Ransom’s (Art & Art History) work is featured in “The Imaged Word,” an exhibition appearing at the Albany International Airport in Albany, NY, from July to February.  In addition, he recently spent five weeks in residence at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Franconia, MN, where he made a sculpture to be exhibited there for the next three years.

Joti Rockwell (Music) published an article, “Banjo Transformations and Bluegrass Rhythm,” in Journal of Music Theory 53:1 (spring 2009), pp. 137-62.

Erin Runions (Religious Studies) gave a paper, “By the Book: Biblical Allegory and Torture,” as part of the conference “Christianity and Torture” at Harvard University, 6-9 June.

Monique Saigal (Romance Languages & Literatures) gave a presentation, “Women in the French Resistance,” to students from the Middlebury Language Academy here at Pomona on 8 July.

John Seery (Politics) gave the opening address, “The Liberal Arts as a Coal Mine: Assessing the Canary’s Cough,” for Twenty-First Century Liberal Education: A Contested Concept, a seminar held at Transylvania University, 15-18 July. Nina Karnovsky (Biology) was an invited participant in the seminar.

Shahriar Shahriari (Mathematics) was an invited mini-symposium speaker at the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics conference in Austin, TX, on 14 June; his talk was titled “Chains in Normalized Matching Posets.”  In addition, he gave an invited talk, “Calculus and Prime Numbers,” to NSF-REU students at California State University, Channel Islands, on 30 June.

Patricia Smiley (Psychology) delivered a talk, “Mothers' Beliefs and Their Young Children's Self-Regulation of Emotion and Action in Achievement Settings,” at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society in St. Louis in June.

Michael Steinberger’s (Economics) research on the differential estate tax burden on same-sex as opposed to married couples was cited in Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling on the unconstitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, pp. 92-93.

Valorie Thomas (English and Africana Studies) gave a paper, “When Your Blood Is in the Water; A Survivor’s Ethos: Spiritual and Diasporic ‘Disidentifications’ in Zeitoun,” as an invited participant in the panel “The Creole City” at the American Comparative Literature Association annual meeting, held in New Orleans, 1-4 April.  She also gave an invited lecture, “Maya Deren: The Sacred Possession of Film,” as part of the “Migrations of the Sacred” lecture series at the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, on 7 August.

Robin Thompson '02 (Financial Aid) married fellow Pomona alum Dan Abendschein '02 in her hometown on Maui, Hawaii.

Kyla Wazana Tompkins (Gender and Women’s Studies, English) was offered book contracts at NYU Press and at Duke University Press.

Marilynn Waters (Economics) was awarded honorable mention in the fine art-abstract category of the International Photography Awards for her photograph "Turrell's Sky Space with Moon."  Other recent awards include first place in the portrait category of the “Everyman” international competition and honorable mention in the first all-women “Julia Margaret Cameron” competition, hosted by Worldwide Photography Gala Awards.

Sadie Barr ’09 and Jonathan Wright (Biology) are the authors of “Postprandial Energy Expenditure in Whole-Food and Processed-Food Meals: Implications for Daily Energy Expenditure,” in Food and Nutrition Research 54 (2010): 5144; DOI 10.3402/fnr.v5410.5144.

Samuel Yamashita (History) delivered a talk, “Coercion, Compliance and Resistance in Wartime Japan, 1942-45,” at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, on 5 April and at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on 17 April.