Faculty/Staff News Fall 2014
Rebecca Entel (English and creative writing) was a writer-in-residence at the Summer Literary Seminars program in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July. In addition to offering workshops in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, photography, and the history of Jewish Lithuania, the program hosts writers-, artists-, and editors-in-residence who give readings and talks, and who also experience Vilnius alongside workshop participants.
Gwen Schimek (director of student life and assistant dean of students) and Elizabeth Jach (former assistant director of institutional research and assessment) gave a presentation titled “Defining Citizenship and Ethical Behavior on a Small, Residential, Liberal Arts Campus: Photo Elicitation as an Understanding of Student Experience” at the 2014 International Congress for Qualitative Inquiry. Erin Davis (sociology) also presented, giving a talk titled “Women’s Involvement in Strategy Boardgaming: Challenges and Possibilities.”
Ben Greenstein (geology and associate dean) was one of the primary co-authors of Part I of “Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012,” a report released by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. The report, a three-year joint effort of the International Coral Reef Initiative’s Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and the United Nations Environment Programme, found that most Caribbean coral reefs will disappear in 20 years if the population of fish that eat seaweed isn’t restored, as Caribbean reefs are gradually getting smothered by algae.
Tammy Mildenstein (biology) planned the first-ever survey of Mariana fruit bats this past summer. Mildenstein, who was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Guam, used members of the Guam community and those serving on Andersen Air Force Base to help with the survey. The Mariana fruit bat is one of two mammals native to Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands, and is listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Shannon Reed (English and creative writing) was one of 73 participants in the HERS Bryn Mawr Summer Institute, held at Bryn Mawr College in July. Since 1978 the HERS Institute for Women in Higher Education has annually offered women faculty and administrators the opportunity to participate in an intensive program that prepares them to be leaders in higher education.