Dr. Douglas Bomberger, professor of music, published “The Kindness of Strangers: Edward MacDowell and Breslau” in the spring 2014 issue of the peer-reviewed journal, American Music. The article chronicles a young American composer’s efforts to build a career in Germany during the 1880s and the timely support he found in Breslau, which has been the Polish city of Wroclaw since World War II. Research was conducted during the Faculty International Study Seminar (FISS) in Eastern Europe in summer 2013.
Bomberger was also chosen by The Presser Foundation to write a research article on the life and work of The Foundation’s benefactor, Theodore Presser. He was chosen to complete the extensive research from a pool of 13 applicants and received a $35,000 grant. The Presser Foundation is a private foundation in the United States dedicated solely to music education and music philanthropy. The Foundation supports music performance and education through undergraduate and graduate scholar awards, operating and program support for music organizations, capital grants for music building projects and assistance to retired music teachers.
Dr. David Downing, professor of English and department chair, had his book published this month. The book is a new annotated edition of C. S. Lewis’s Pilgrim’s Regress, originally published in 1933. On Sept. 19, there was a book launch at the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College in Chicago, the premier study center for C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien studies.A lecture and book signing by Downing followed a banquet.
Dr. Amy Milligan, visiting assistant professor of women and gender studies, was published in the Journal of Lesbian Studies for her work, “Expanding Sisterhood: Jewish Lesbians and Externalizations of Jewishness,” and her book, “Hair, Headwear, and Orthodox Jewish Women: Kallah’s Choice,” published by Lexington Books.
Dr. W. Brian Newsome, associate professor of history and assistant dean for general education and assessment, is the recipient of the New York State Association of European Historians’ triennial Bailey Prize for best article. The award is for “The Women of the Pavillons: A Case Study,” which appeared in the winter 2012 Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, (38, no. 3, pp. 107-128). The award presentation took place at the annual meeting, held on the campus of SUNY-Geneseo in early October.
Dr. Hossein Varamini, professor of finance and international business and director of international business, participated in the 2014 Teaching Interfaith Understanding Seminar (Cambridge). The seminar was featured in the fall 2014 issue of the Council of Independent Colleges.
Dr. Joseph T. Wunderlich, associate professor of engineering and computer engineering program coordinator, published papers concerning his and Joseph John Wunderlich’s work on Minecraft, student’ group-builds and high school competitions to build wellness centers in FYS villages. Wunderlich presented these papers as a 2013 JAPAN one-hour keynote talk and a 2014 LONDON conference talk.
Administration & Staff
Jean-Paul Benowitz, director of student transition programs and assistant director of academic advising, spoke at a symposium on first-generation college students in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference was featured in the fall 2014 issue of the Council of Independent Colleges.
President Carl J. Strikwerda participated as an advisor in the Community College Transfer Project Planning Meeting, a national initiative to increase the number of community college graduates who transfer to four-year colleges and universities and insure their academic success. The meeting was featured in the fall 2014 issue of the Council of Independent Colleges.
Collaborations & Department or Group Achievements
Sociology and anthropology students presented their research in the Pennsylvania Sociological Society Undergraduate Student Research Poster Competition Under the guidance of Dr. Michele Lee Kozimor-King ’93, the following students presented research posters: Amira Allen, Samantha Poremba, Emilee Rhubright, Mallory Slusser and Kayla Stickell. Rhubright took first place, Allen placed second, and Poremba finished third.
The College’s sociology/anthropology major was nationally recognized as a gold standard program in sociology, for integrating a progressive learning structure with recommended curricular elements from the most commonly cited reference on the ideal structure of the sociology major — “Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major Updates,” (McKinney et al. 2004). The study was published in October 2014 in Teaching Sociology, which is the primary conduit by which sociology faculty learns of innovative teaching practices and new resources relating to sociology instruction. Elizabethtown College was recognized as an aspirational model along with Princeton, University of Chicago, Elon College and Pomona College.
E-town NOW publishes faculty and staff achievements once per month during academic semesters and less frequently during breaks. Submit your achievement here.