Faculty Notes Patrick Blaine, Ph.D., assistant professor of Spanish, presented on methods for teaching film at the Cine-Lit VII Conference at Portland State University in Portland, Ore. His presentation shared bibliographies and filmographies for teaching courses on the literature and film of Argentina and Chile from a number of different perspectives. Blaine also is revising a book manuscript titled “Recovering Democracy in Chilean Film and Narrative.” Michael Calvillo 1985, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, gave a presentation at the 11th annual Iowa Teachers of Psychology conference at Central College in Pella, Iowa. During the presentation, Calvillo demonstrated a teaching technique he uses which combines multiple technology products – such as PowerPoint and Moodle, a learning management system – to conduct live, interactive experiments in the classroom. Sam Clovis, D.P.A., professor and chair of business administration and economics, presented five “Serious Civics” lectures at Morningside College. His lectures examined conservative thought and progressivism in the United States; key components – and proponents – of capitalism, socialism and communism; various templates for evaluating presidential candidates; and the impact economic philosophies are likely to have on the next presidential election based on lessons from history. David Elder, Ph.D. (ABD), assistant professor of writing and rhetoric; Jeremy Schnieder, Ph.D., assistant professor of writing and rhetoric; and Leslie Werden, Ph.D., assistant professor and chair of writing and rhetoric, are conducting a research project that will follow a cohort of students over four years at Morningside and gather data on what writing skills they bring to college, which skills they transfer from class to class, and which skills they have upon graduation. The professors created a pilot program to test the idea this spring, and they plan to launch the full project in August. James Fisk, M.L.S., college librarian and assistant professor; John Kolbo 1977, B.A., instructor of art; and Pam Mickelson, Ed.D., professor of business administration, were presenters at the Marketing Management Association’s annual fall educators’ conference held in Indianapolis, Ind. They offered information on how faculty can provide a more comprehensive marketing and graphic
design education through crossdepartmental cooperation. Mickelson also served on a panel looking at best practices for using technology in the classroom. William Heyborne, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, co-wrote an article with two off-campus colleagues that has been published in the May/June issue of the Journal of College Science Teaching. The article, “A Comparison of Two Forms of Assessment in an Introductory Biology Laboratory Course,” provides evidence that student performance differs depending on the format of exams, and states that substituting one question type with another may have profound implications with regard to student performance and learning. Jan D. Hodge, Ph.D., professor emeritus of English, continues to write poetry. Several of his poems appeared in the anthology “Tipping the Sacred Cow: Overturning Myth, Fairytales, and Legends,” and another in the anthology “New Sun Rising,” a volume published to raise money for disaster relief for Japan. His 'signature' poem, "Carousel," appears in the new edition of Lewis Turco's standard reference work The New Book of Forms, and his double-dactyl rendering of a tale from the “Arabian Nights” can be found online in the most recent issue of Lavender Review. Mary Kovarna, Ed.D., professor and chair of nursing education, joined the board of directors for Sunrise Retirement Community of Sioux City. Sunrise is Siouxland's largest community-based not-for-profit retirement community that provides the entire continuum of care for seniors from independent living to specialized memory care for individuals with Alzheimer's and related disorders. Pam Mickelson, Ed.D., professor of business administration, was selected to receive a 2011 Hormel Meritorious Teaching Award at the 2011 Marketing Management Association Spring Conference in Chicago. The Marketing Management Association is a worldwide organization of both business people and academics who are involved in marketing. Joan Nielsen, Ed. Spec., associate professor of education and director of Project Unlimited Proficiency, was a presenter at the National Association for Multicultural Education Third Regional Conference in Kansas City, Mo. With faculty members from three other universities, she presented preliminary outcomes of a five-year collaboration where universities
in multiple states used the same curriculum to assist teachers working with English language learners. Jen Peterson, Ph.D., assistant professor of English, had a chapter published in the book “Approaches to Teaching the Works of Tim O’Brien,” which was edited by Alex Vernon and Catherine Calloway. Her chapter applies two prevalent postmodern theories to “In the Lake of the Woods.” She details specific ways in which an instructor can draw students into analysis of the novel’s form as well as into the narrative itself. Heather L. Reid, Ph.D., professor and chair of philosophy, presented her paper “Athletics and Aesthetics” at the third annual geo-aesthetics conference that was sponsored by the International Association for the Study of Environment, Space and Place at Towson State University in Maryland. The paper surveyed the similarities between sport and art and the ethical connection between beauty and goodness as embodied in the ancient Greek gymnastic ideal of kalokagathia. Her article, "East to Olympia: Recentering Olympic Philosophy between East and West," was published in Olympika, the journal of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario. The article interprets the Olympic movement's official philosophy according to both Eastern and Western philosophies and argues that a balanced approach between the two perspectives better reflects the ancient Hellenic heritage of the Olympic Games. Reid also has two books coming out this summer: "Aretism an Ancient Sports Philosophy for the Modern Sports World," which she co-wrote with Mark Holowchak, and "Athletics and Philosophy in the Ancient World: Contests of Virtue." Rachel Robson, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, and Susan Burns, Ph.D., associate dean for academic affairs, collaborated on an article that has been published in the May issue of the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education. The article is about a teaching technique Robson developed at Morningside to help students understand the role of random mutations in evolution. No teaching technique has ever been shown to improve students’ understanding of this concept before. Robson and Burns showed that, following this lesson, students were more than two times better at explaining how genetic mutations occur than they were before the lesson. Burns’ role was to collect and analyze data regarding the teaching technique.
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