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Wilkinson Faculty News
Committed to advancing academic research, improving health care, generating cultural understanding, protecting the environment, and creating technical and social change, Wilkinson College faculty are lauded by local and global institutions.
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2008
Dr. Kent Lehnhof, assistant professor of English, presented a paper at the 9th International Milton Symposium, held this summer in London. The symposium, commemorating the 400th anniversary of John Milton's birth, drew approximately 300 scholars from across the globe. Dr. Lehnhof's paper, "Angels, Demons, and Drag Kings," treated the topic of masculinity in Milton's Paradise Lost. While in London, Dr. Lehnhof also gave an invited presentation at the Brigham Young University London Centre. The presentation examined Milton's thoughts on poetry and free speech in the context of other poets and philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Sidney, and Wordsworth.
Doug Sweet, writing program coordinator, Department of English recently presented a paper, "No FYC, No Proficiency Test = No Problem" at the 2008 Annual Writing Program Administrator's Conference in Denver, Colorado.
Dr. Kent Lehnhof, assistant professor of English, recently presented a paper at the 2008 meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America. Dr. Lehnhof's paper examined the interplay of antifeminism and antitheatricalism in Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedie of Mariam (1613), the first original English drama to be written by a woman.
Dr. Marilyn Harran, Stern Chair in Holocaust Education, director of the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education and professor of religious studies and history, has been honored with the 2008 Spirit of Anne Frank Outstanding Educator Award, which will be formally presented to her June 12 at a ceremony at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Sponsored annually since 1996 by The Anne Frank Center USA, the Spirit of Anne Frank Awards honor educators, students and citizens of all faiths and backgrounds- bridge builders, peacemakers, and role models- who have demonstrated outstanding personal courage and commitment in working to promote tolerance, inclusion and social justice in their communities.
Dr. Kent Lehnhof, assistant professor of English, has pulished an article titled "Profeminism in Philip Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie" in the most recent issue of Studies in English Literature. The essay takes up the commonplace that Sidney wrote as a response to Stephen Gosson's The Schoole of Abuse, an antipoetic pamphlet of 1579. Dr. Lehnhof shows that Sidney's Apologie does not resist Gosson's antipoeticism so much as it does his antifeminism. Much more than it serves as a defense of poetry, Sidney's treatise serves as a defense of women.
Dr. Jennifer Waldeck, assistant professor of Communication Studies, was invited by Chapman alumnus Ashley Cohen (07) to conduct a workshop for Marriott Vacation Club International's Southern California and Orlando, FL operations. This pro bono service was provided on behalf of the Department of Communication Studies for an audience of 27 consumer advocacy specialists employed by Marriott. The topic was "Communication Tactics and Strategies for Successful Complaint Resolution." Discussion focused on application of Dr. Waldeck's research findings and ongoing work in the area of organizational learning and business communication competence, conducted here at Chapman University.
Dr. Mark Axelrod, professor of English and comparative literature, has been invited to be one of several guest writers to speak/read at the first International Literary Arts Festival to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November. He was also given permission by the John Fowles Estate to adapt Fowles' novella Mantissa into a stage play.
Dr. Joseph Runzo, professor of philosophy and religious studies, has authored the chapter on "Religious Pluralism" for Blackwell's (UK) Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues. Just published, this volume presents definite essays by leading British and American experts. In his chapter, Dr. Runzo addresses whether the conflicting truth claims of the world's religions can be reconciled, assesses prominent attempts to do so, and argues that the religious perspectives of the world religions can be compatible even through their religious truth claims are irreducible plural.
Dr. Martin Nakell, professor of English, has had his new novel, Settlement, reviewed in the pre-eminent online journal of art and literature, Mad Hatters' Review. In part, the review states: "Nakell pulls off experimental literary techniques like a master prose magician. ... Nakell has achieved something in Settlement that is nearly impossible and would likely be disastrous if undertaken by a less skilled writer ... And he brings the novel to a close celebrating the Narrator's - and Every Human's - primal urge to create something from nothing."
Dr. Alexander Bay, assistant professor in history, has been nominated by the Social Science Research Council for a long-term, 12-month Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Bay is already a research fellow in the History of Medicine Department at the Kitazato Institute in Tokyo, and he will be associated officially with Keio University by invitation of Professor Akihito Suzuki. His research activities will be carried out primarily in various archives in the Tokyo area.
http://fellowships.ssrc.org/japan/postdoc/
Dr. Jennifer Waldeck, assistant professor of communication studies, and Kathleen Dougherty, a Chapman senior majoring in communication studies, have had their paper "Collaborative Communication Technologies and Learning in College Courses: Which Are Used, For What Purposes, and To What Ends?" accepted for presentation at the Eastern Communication Association (ECA) conference in May in Pittsburgh. Additionally, their paper was the top-ranked submission to the Instructional Communication Interest Group of ECA. Dougherty received a faculty-sponsored research grant for her work on this project.
Dr. Waldeck also has a paper titled "The Development of an Industry-Specific Online Learning Center: Consulting Lessons Learned" accepted for publication in Communication Education's winter special issue on training and consulting by communication scholars. Communication Education is a national journal published by the National Communication Association. The article focuses on a performance-improvement project Dr. Waldeck led for a national association.
Dr. Robert Slayton, the Henry Salvatori Professor of American Values and Traditions in the Department of History, was mentioned prominently in a Dec. 12 New York Times article about New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Headlined "On Spitzer's Bookshelf," the article details some of the books the governor was reading - among them, Dr. Slayton's biography of one of Spitzer's predecessors, Gov. Alfred E. Smith: Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE5DD1431F931A35751C1A9619C8B63
Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Jennifer Waldeck has been asked to serve as a Guest Editor on a manuscript for Communication Theory, a publication of the International Communication Association.
Associate Professor Paul Apodaca was honored on January 4 by being named the Lela Arenas Madrigal Lecturer by The Center for California Nations (CCN) at UC Riverside. Dr. Apodaca presented a lecture entitled "First Voices: Musical Traditions of Southern California Indians" at the Costo Library located within the Tomas Rivera Library at UCR. "The Madrigal family, who are Cahuilla Indians, endowed this lecture series to honor their mother. Five of her children have graduated from UCR and are among the most professionally accomplished members of their community," said Apodaca. The Center for California Nations is a non-profit center on the UCR campus directed by the holder of the entrepreneur who endowed both the Chair bearing his name and the library housing his collection of books and research material pertaining to American Indians. "This is a really nice way to start the year," said Apodaca, "I am pleased to advance the rich academic environment that surrounds American Indian Studies."
Dr. Gregg A. Payne, assistant professor of communication studies, has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. The article, titled Structural and Social Forces Restricting Media News Content in Democracies: A Critical Perspective, examines a variety of economic issues and other influences that contribute to homogenization of news content, limiting public debate and the free flow of ideas in democracies. Comparisons are made with forces influencing news content under authoritarian political structures, and parallels drawn.
2007
Jan Osborn, instructor of English, and Marianne Smith, director of I-Teach, attended the 2nd International Conference on Language, Education and Diversity at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. They presented a paper focused on support systems that facilitate the persistence and retention of ethnically and linguistically diverse first-generation college students.
Dr. Waldeck also has had a paper titled "The Development of an Industry-Specific Online Learning Center: Consulting Lessons Learned" accepted for publication in Communication Education's winter special issue on training and consulting by communication scholars. Communication Education is a national journal published by the National Communication Association. The article focuses on a performance-improvement project Dr. Waldeck led for a national association.
Dr. Joseph Runzo, professor of philosophy and religious studies, presented two papers at the Annual Meetings of the American Academy of Religion in San Diego. He addressed the ethics of military humanitarian intervention as a member of an international panel of scholars and he was invited as one of six scholars of religion to launch the publication of the new Encyclopedia of Love in the World Religions. For the Encyclopedia Dr. Runzo wrote the key entry on "Love and Sexual Symbolism in the World Religions." During the AAR meetings Dr. Runzo also conducted filmed interviews on environmental ethics with experts on the world religions from Yale, McGill, the Universities of Pennsylvania, Florida, Tokyo, and Ryukoku University.
Dr. Ann Gordon, associate professor of political science, recently had three of her students present original research at the Undergrad Research Conference at Cal State Los Angeles. A fourth student had her paper accepted, but was unable to attend. All four papers were completed in the Henley Research Laboratory and relied on sophisticated statistical methods. They were well received at the conference.
Dr. Wenshan Jia, associate professor of communication studies, made a guest presentation titled "Sports, Culture and intercultural Communication" to kick off the two-week training sessions of the Inaugural Shanghai Sports Bureau Leadership Seminar sponsored by and taking place at Concordia University in Irvine on Dec. 3. Dr. Jia also interpreted (from English to Chinese) for Robert Ctvrtlik, vice-president of U.S. Olympic Committee, and Dr. Jack Preus, president of Concordia University, who extended welcome remarks to the 19-member Chinese sports delegation. According to President Preus, this seminar made history as the largest sports delegation from China to the U.S. in the history of U.S.-China relations.
Dr. Kent Lehnhof, assistant professor of English, has published in the most recent issue of English Literary Renaissance an article titled "Scatology and the Sacred in Milton's Paradise Lost." The essay established the rich ambiguity of bodily processes in Milton's poem. While Milton used evacuation and other "indecorous" operations to signal the depravity of the devil, he also uses scatology to express the sublime goodness of God.
Dr. Pilar Valenzuela, assistant professor in the Department of Languages, will represent Chapman as an invited speaker at an international conference on the "Structure of Amazonian Languages: Phonology and Syntax." The meeting will take place in Manaus, Brazil, this week. Dr. Valenzuela will give two talks: the first is a comparative study of the case-marking systems in the languages of the Panoan Family (Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia), and the second presentation deals with the coding of subjects and the object in Shiwilu, a highly endangered language from the Kawapanan Family that Dr. Valenzuela studied last summer thanks to funds from her Wang-Frandkin professorship.
Dr. Gregg A. Payne, assistant professor of communication studies, has been contacted by the Pennsylvania State University libraries with a request for a paper he delivered at the University of Massachusetts, the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and the most recent conference of the International Communication Association. The paper, which deals with social and structural constraints on the U.S. news content, has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Dr. Jennifer Waldeck, assistant professor of communication studies, recently presented a paper on the top-ranked panel of the National Communication Association's Training and Development division in Chicago. In her talk, she discusses her own research findings and industry best practices which facilitate effective online learning, emphasizing ways to promote both intra- and interpersonal communication among participants. As a whole, the panel focused on communication practices which enhance the utility of online training and degree programs for career development. Dr. Waldeck and her co-presenters were recognized with the Top Panel award at Training & Development Division Business meeting in Chicago.
Dr. Tekle M. Woldemikael, professor and chair of sociology, participated as a critic in the panel "Author Meets Critics: Peter Beyer's Book Religion in a Global Society" at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and Religious Research Association in Tampa, Fla. on Nov. 2-4. He also presented a paper titled "The Religious Life of Eritreans in the U.S." in a panel on "Religion and Ethnicity" at the same conference.
Dr. Art Blaser, professor of political science, has been appointed to another term on the editorial board of Disability Studies Quarterly. Also, his syllabus for "People with Disabilities in Politics and Society" was one of those selected from nearly 200 syllabi to be included in Peace, Justice and the Security Studies: A Curriculum Guide from Lynne Reinner Publishers. Additionally, he reviewed Christina Schwabenland's Stories, Visions and Values in Voluntary Organizations for "Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations."
Dr. Nancy Martin, associate professor of religious studies, was an invited lead speaker at a four-day international Inter-religious Encounter that opened a three-month International Forum of Cultures in Monterrey, Mexico. Professor Martin made six major presentations. Three of these focused on "Recovering the Sacred," exploring religion's role in addressing the environment crisis. In addition she presented inter-religious perspectives on "Reproduction and Domestic Violence" and the "Role of Religion and Spirituality in Society," and delivered a 90 minute address on "Justice and Holiness: Perspectives of the World Religions." Dr. Martin then met in two days of closed-door sessions with world religious leaders to map out the future role the Parliament of the World's Religions will play in addressing the ethical challenges facing our world today.
Professor Doug Sweet, Coordinator of Undergraduate Writing, recently delivered a paper, "Materializing First Year Composition: The Matter of Orthodoxy," at the Purposes of English: A Conference on the Future of English Studies" October 19-20 at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Dr. Gregg A. Payne, assistant professor of communication studies, has been selected by the International Communication Association to participate in peer review of papers being submitted for presentation at the association's international conference, scheduled for May 2008 in Montreal.
Dr. Wenshan Jia, associate professor of communications, recently published two articles: "The Study of Chinese political culture from the perspective of communication as social construction" in Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development, published by Lexington Books; and "Status of Chinese communication studies since 2000 and prospects during the first half of the 21st. century," in Intercultural Perspectives of Chinese Communication, published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Dr. Lynda Hall presented a paper at the Jane Austen Society of North America's (JASNA) Annual General Meeting (AGW) in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. The title of the paper, "Jane Fairfax's Choice: The Sale of Human Flesh Intellect" considers the quality of life of the governess in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century in England and why selling themselves in the marriage market was often the lesser of two evils for many women of the time. The presentation was attended by over 150 people and the paper is currently under consideration for publication in Persuasion, the JASNA journal.
Dr. Jennifer Waldeck, faculty mentor to communication studies seniors Brandon Marcia, Briana Helmuth, and Cathryn Durante, reports that the research team's work has been accepted for presentation at the Southern California Undergraduate Research Conference, to be held in November 2007 at California State University, Los Angeles. The team conducted a content analysis of leading business publications and identified primary themes of communication competencies which employers value. In their discussion of the themes, the researchers focus on how requisite workplace communication skills have changes since the last such formal analysis, published in 1987. Predictably, web-based communication technology competence figured prominently into the analysis. A second primary theme involved communication aimed at social support in situations of stress and burn-out, related to the blurred lines between work and home in contemporary organizational environments.
Dr. Matthew Schneider, professor of English and associate dean of humanities in Wilkinson College of Letters and Sciences, has published an essay titled "Intensity and Ambiguity in Romantic Poetics" in The Originary Hypothesis: A Minimal Proposal for Humanistic Inquiry (Davies Publishing Group, 2007). Dr. Schneider's essay examines how muteness leads to emotional impact in selected works by William Wordsworth, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.
Dr. Joseph Runzo, professor of philosophy and religious studies, was invited as one of the 40 world experts by the Parliament of the World's Religions to address global ethical issues in Monterrey, Mexico, for an audience of 7,500 people. Runzo directed the key portion of the program on "Religion and Armed Conflict" and gave several presentations on terrorism and humanitarian intervention. Runzo worked with Tu Wei-Ming, director of Harvard's Yenching Institute. Each of the 40 experts was the director of a major international organization. Dr. Runzo represented the Global Ethics and Religion Forum, an international, educational NGO, as its executive director.
Dr. Gregg A. Payne, assistant professor of communication studies, has been invited to participate in a National Communication Association seminar directed at addressing issues concerned with gender communication theory and pedagogy. The seminar is scheduled as part of the association's national conference in Chicago November 2007.
Dr. Richard Doetkott, professor of communication studies, recently received a City of Westminster award from Mayor Margie Rice for his work on the new Rose Center. Orange County's newest performing arts venue. The Rose Center features a 500-seat banquet hall, connected through a dramatic lobby to the Rose Theatre, a 422-seat state-of-the-art performance space. Based on the number, quality and variety of productions mounted the first year of the Center's existence, The Center already has become a significant addition to Orange County's performing arts spaces. Prof. Doetkott was the concept designer of the Center and specified all the sound, lights, seats, curtains, audience rake, stage, dimensions, etc. The Rose Center took ten years to complete and cost more than $25 million, exclusion of the land.
Dr. Wenshan Jia, associate professor of communication studies, was invited by the Research Board of National Communication Association to present "Another Revolution in the Field of Communication-Emerging Communication Initiatives in P.R. China" at the 2007-2008 National Communication Association Annual Convention in Chicago on Nov. 16, 2007. The two other guest speakers are from Purdue University and Tsinghua University, a top University in China.
Upon his invitation by the Foundation on International and Cross-strait Studies, a top nonpartisan think tank located in Taibei, Taiwan, Dr. Wenshan visited Taiwan between Sept. 16, 2007 - Sept. 22, 20077 and was consulted on his "views on China Studies" from disciplinary perspective communication. During the stay, he visited various bodies such as Center for International Studies, National Chengchi' University, the Policy Research Department of Nationalist Party, Department of International Affairs, Democratic Progressive Party, the Mainland China Affairs Council, and Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.
Dr. Michael Pace, assistant professor of Philosophy, has been invited to give a paper, "Modest Foundationalism and the Problem of the Speckled Hen", at the UCLA Epistemology Workshop on Oct. 13, 2007. The paper defends a theory of the rationality of beliefs based on perception against a major objection. Dr. Pace has also been invited to give a separate talk on a related theme at the Southern California Philosophy Conference on Oct. 27, 2007.
Dr. Jim Blaylock, instructor in English, recently sold his novel Knights of the Cornerstone to Pengui/Putnam. Once published, it will be Dr. Baylock's 15th novel.
Dr. Wenshan Jia, associate professor of communication studies, was recently consulted for his expertise on contemporary issues of communication between China and the West by a United Kingdom-based research and consulting firm called Sense Worldwide. The interview was conducted by Joe Orton, a Sense Worldwide research and consulting associate with a Ph.D. from Oxford University.
Dr. Paul Apodaca of the Sociology Department was invited to attend a ceremonial dinner at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, DC on September 20 to watch the retirement of the founding Director Richard W. "Rick" West, Jr. (Cheyenne/Arapaho) and the elevation of new Director, Kevin Gover (Pawnee). Director West is also Trustee of Redlands University and Stanford University and a respected Washington lawyer. Kevin Gover, is the former Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs and the Sandra Day O'Connor Professor of Law at Arizona State University. Dr. Apodaca is one of the founding consultants for the NMAI. Attending the ceremony were members of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian and Roger Kennedy, former Director of the National Museum of Natural History and Director of the National Park Service. "I am helping Roger's wife Frances complete a book about American Indian historical places. I invited Rick West to visit Chapman this spring when famed American Indian Law scholar Rennard Strickland will be teaching. Rick and Rennard co-taught a class at University of Oregon," said Dr. Apodaca.
Dr. Jennifer Waldeck, assistant professor of communication studies, had a study titled, "Answering the Questions" published in vol. 56, no. 4 of Communication Education, the field's premiere journal dedicated to issues of communication in the learning process. The study revealed a student-generated typology of personalized education characteristics and demonstrated the relationship of those characteristics to a range of instructional communication variables such as mentoring, teacher immediacy, teacher communication competence, and student learning outcomes. A second study is under review, and Dr. Waldeck will discuss the personalized education research program, funded in party by the Faculty Research and Development Committee, at an October Faculty Forum.
Dr. Richard Ressurreccion, adjunct lecturer in the sociology department, co-authored an article, "Hardiness Assessment and Training as Potential Management Tools in Firefighter Recruitment Programs," which was published in The International Fire Service Journal of Leadership and Management. It is the result of a four-year study conducted with co-authors and researchers Dr. Salvatore Maddi of UCI; Dr. Richard Harvey of CSUSF; Christopher Giatras, MSW, EMT-P, of the Beverly Hills Fire Department; and Stephen Raganold, EMT-P, of the Long Beach Fire Department.
Dr. Gregg A. Payne, assistant professor of communication studies, had an article, "News Coverage Perceptions of Justice: An Experimental Investigation of Reality Construction" accepted for publication in The Journal of Humanities and Social Science. The article examines the relationship between news treatments of police manipulation of evidence in which the coverage affects public perceptions of law enforcement.
Dr. Paul Apodaca, associate professor of sociology, was honored on Sept. 9 by Frances Knott and the Little Eagle Free Foundation, which sponsors American Indian students pursuing higher education. Frances is part of the family of Chapman Trustee Marion Knott. The Knott family and Professor Apodaca was given proclamations praising his efforts at diversity education and increasing awareness of American Indian culture from the California State Assembly, the California Senate, the County of Orange and the United State Congress.
 Three professors from Chapman's departments of languages and sociology presented papers at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) international conference held in Montreal Canada, Sept. 5-9. The Chapman professors joined over 4,000 scholars from across the Americas who came together at LASA to share research in an inter-disciplinary setting. Dr. Lynn Horton, Assistant Professor of Sociology, presented data from her fieldwork in Central America in her paper '"We Are Abandoned:' Good Governance and Claims on the State in Rural Central America." Dr. Laura Loustau, Associate Professor of Languages, explored expressions of violence in literature in her presentation, "Violence and Poetic Solidarity in an Era of Globalization." Dr. Pilar Valenzuela, Assistant Professor of Languages, chaired the panel "Afro-Latin(o) and Indigenous Forms of Knowledge" where she presented her paper "Testimony of a Shipibo Woman: Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Collaboration in Knowledge Production."
Dr. Jennifer Waldeck, assistant professor of communication studies, recently provided training and consulting to Ford Motor Company's North American operations. Each new model year, Ford launches a massive training initiative to communicate changes in Ford and Lincoln/Mercury programs to dealership personnel. Dr. Waldeck worked with them to create online educational materials, including e-learning modules and online learning communities. She also conducted "train the trainer" sessions with instructors who go out into the field to work directly with dealership employees on performance improvement. This is Dr. Waldecks's fourth year of involvement with Ford's annual program changes.
Dr. Pilar Valenzuela, assistant professor of the department of languages, represented Chapman as guest speaker at plenary meeting of the C Congreso Nacional de Investigaciones Linguisticonio de una mujer shipiba: una experienceia de colaboracion intercultural."
Dr. David Shafie, assistant professor of political science, presented a paper titled "E-Rulemaking and Environmental Policy, 1996 - 2006" at the recent American Political Science Association annual meeting in Chicago. The paper is part of a longer-term research project that will result in a book manuscript.
Dr. Lori Cox Han, professor of political science, recently attended the American Political Science Association annual meeting in Chicago, where she concluded her term as President of the Presidency Research Group, an organized section of the APSA which is dedicated to the study of the presidency. In addition, she is also a member of the executive council of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, which holds its annual board meeting at the conference. Han also chaired a panel titled "Constitutional Perspectives on the Presidency."
Upon invitation by Institute of International Education of Students headquartered in Chicago, Dr. Wenshan Jia, associate professor of communication studies, created and guest taught a new course Chinese Media and the Emergence of Civil Society for a select class of American students in Beijing, China in May, 2007. Jia was able to maintain a balance between classroom experience and the first-hand experience in the class by bringing students to visit several major media bodies. The class was so appealing that it attracted the visit of a professor of public opinion from George Washington University based in Washington, D.C..
Funded by a curricular diversity grant of Chapman University, Dr. Wenshan Jia acted as a featured speaker on the topic of intercultural facework and acted as a chair of a panel at the international conference on intercultural communication cosponsored by China Association for Intercultural Communication and the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies (based in San Antonio, Texas), Harbin, China, June 23-27, 2007.
Over the summer, Dr. Wenshan Jia guest lectured at the following institutions: He presented on Chinese contribution to communication theory to a group of graduate students and faculty at Zhejiang University Institute of Contemporary Discourse Studies; he presented his intercultural perspective on foreign language curriculum reform to a group of faculty at Jiliang University, both in Hangzhou, China. Jia also lectured to the Yanfu Media Group of 250 media workers on the topic of audience-centered media in Jiangsu Province; Jia also guest lectured on intercultural communication to a group of graduate students in Xian International Studies University and a group of faculty at Xi'an College of Arts and Sciences respectively.
Dr. Gregg A. Payne, assistant professor of communication studies, has been invited to present a paper in October in Glasgow, Scotland at the International Conference on Communication and Conflict. The conference is sponsored by and will be held at the University of Strathclyde. The paper addresses structural and associated social forces producing ideological, topical, and thematic content homogenization in mass mediated news, and the effects of homogenization on suppression of legitimate debate in the public arena. Dr. Payne has also been selected to serve on the communication and mass media editorial review board of Scientific Journals International, which he also serves on the editorial advisory board for.
Dr. Joseph Runzo, professor of philosophy and religion, was invited to lecture this summer at the University of Frankfurt and at the University of Mainz on te international project he is directing to revise Just War Theory for the 21st Century. Before flying to Germany, he spent a week at the Jerusalem Centre for Ethics consulting with experts in military ethics from NATO countries and from the Israeli Defense Forces, including former IDF Chief of Staff General Moshe Ya'alon. In Jerusalem, Dr. Runzo was able to add 10 more experts in international relations to the project to revise Just War Theory.
Dr. Mark Axelrod, professor of comparative literature and director of the John Fowles Center for Creative Writing, recently returned from lecturing on screenwriting at both UNIACC and ARCOS universities in Santiago, Chile, and has been invited to teach a seminar on film adaptation in Finland at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki. In addition, his fourth book on screenwriting, The Scene, has been accepted for publication by Heinemann Publishing, with whom he has published his previous three books. His 10-minute play, Chips, Falling Where They May, will be staged in San Diego this November and his trilogy of one-act plays titled Taxing Tales: An American Trilogy is being considered by the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis. His collection of short films, Borges' Travel, Hemingway's Garage is currently being evaluated for translation into Spanish with Norma Press, a major publisher in Buenos Aires.
Dr. Jennifer Waldeck, assistant professor of communication studies, was recently included in the 2007/2008 Cambridge Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women, Honors Edition. Additionally, Dr. Waldeck was named to the editorial board for Scientific Journal's International to SJI publishes peer-reviewed open access articles for all disciplines and has assembled an extensive and prestigious editorial board that included faculty from Yale, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, and other high-profile institutions from Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Dr. Wenshan Jia, associate professor of communication studies, has been appointed to the Standing Committee on China Association for Intercultural Communication. According to committee president Jia Yuxin, Dr. Jia was unanimously approved for the position "in consideration of the remarkable achievements and contributions (Dr. Jia has) made in the field of interculutral communication studies, particularly in the promotion of understanding between China and the West."
Dr. Marvin Meyer recently returned from Egypt, where he was shooting a new 2-hour special on Jesus for The Discovery Channel, to find advance copies of two of his just-published books in his mailbox. Dr. Meyer, Griset Chair in Bible and Christian Studies, has spent the last decade writing, editing and preparing The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition (Harper San Francisco, 864 pages), leading a distinguished editorial board that includes his colleague Dr. James Robinson, emeritus of the Claremont Graduate University, as well as many other top international scholars in early Christian and Gnostic studies. The book's introduction is co-written by Dr. Elaine Pagels, the respected Princeton academic and author who recently spoke here on campus with Dr. Meyer. The Nag Hammadi Library is a collection of fourth-century Gnostic texts whose discovery in Egypt, in 1945, radically altered the world's perception of the world of the historical Jesus, Judaism, Greco-Roman religions and the many varieties of early Christianity. The new book includes new translations of the texts, commentary and extensive notes, in a publication already being hailed as "definitive," "fascinating" and "a standard reference for decades to come."
Chapman celebrated the accomplishments of its faculty on Friday, May 11, 2007 a the 12th Annual Faculty Honors Convocation, where professors were recognized for grants, years of service and awards of excellence. Dr. Jennifer Keene, associate professor of history, was announced as they 2007-2009 Wang-Fradkin Professor, as selected by her colleagues. Granted in memory of Hua-Cheng Wang, Professor of Political Science, diplomat, and expert on international law; and Cheng-Mei Fradkin, distinguished teacher, scholar, and administrator, the professor is a two-year monetary award to further teaching and scholarship and the highest honor Chapman can bestow on a faculty member.
Dr. Marilyn Harran, director of Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, was voted by students to receive the "Faculty Member of the Year" award.
Dr. Kent Lehnhof, assistant professor of English and Comparative Literature, contributed a chapter to the most recent volume of a highly regarded series of new critical essays on Shakespeare's plays, published by Routledge. Lehnhof's essay appears in the volume dedicated to All's Well That Ends Well and discusses that play in light of recent scholarship regarding the roles women played in the medicine shows of early modern mountebanks. Another multi-author collection to which Lehnhof contributed, Milton's Legacy, was recently awarded the Irene Samuel Prize by the Milton Society of America, given to the most distinguished multi-author collection of the year.
Dr. Marilyn Harran, professor of religious studies and history, was featured in the Dec. 29 issue of The Jewish Journal, where she was included in the journal's second annual List of Top Ten L.A. Mensches, even though she herself is not Jewish. "A mensch is a person who is upright, honorable, decent," the journal says, "a person to admire and emulate." This year the category of "Honorary Mensch" was added to honor non-Jews, and Harran was recognized as a "modern righteous gentile" for her work with the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education.
Dr. Art Blaser, professor of political sciences, had an article, "Some Alternatives to Simulations" included in the book Disability Awareness - Do It Right!, edited by Mary Johnson. He also reviewed Eric Stover's book The Witnesses: War Crimes and the Promnise of Justice in The Hague for the H-Genocide Discussion Network of H-Net and will have a chapter titled "Compatibility of Long-Term Care and Independent Living: A Focus on Younger Individuals with Disabilities: published in the Handbook of Long-Term Care Administration and Policy, to be published by CRC Press 2007.
Dr. Lori Cox Han, professor of political science, participated in a Liberty Fund Colloquium in Atlanta titled "George Washington and the American Founding." The tree-day conference brought together 15 scholars from various disciplines and universities across the country to discuss Washington's contribution to the nation's founding and the contemporary view of liberty.
Faculty Honors Convocation
William Cumiford, Excellence in Teaching Awards, Chapman University
Lynn Horton, Excellence in scholarly/Creative Work, Chapman University
Jennifer Keene, Promoted to Full Professor, Chapman University
Donald Will, Honored for 20 years of Service, Chapman University
Arthur Blaser, Honored for 25 years of Service, Chapman University
Virginia Warren, Honored for 25 years of Service, Chapman University
Richard Watson, Honored for 30 years of Service, Chapman University
Jennifer Keene, 2007-2009 Hua Cheng Wang Award, Chapman University
Marilyn Harran, Faculty Member of the Year Award, Chapman University
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