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Dimensions Magazine

Summer • 2014

Faculty News

Art faculty Bruce Nellsmith (right) and Paula Riddle (far right) were selected for the annual Piccolo Spoleto juried exhibition in Charleston, S.C., in which Nellsmith won an award in the drawing category. Nellsmith and Riddle also were included by jury selection in the fine arts exhibition of the Greenwood Annual Festival of Flowers Fine Arts Exhibition in Greenwood, S.C., which featured a strong contingent of some of the most respected artists in the Midlands. Nellsmith received the Greenwood Art Center’s first-ever Choice Award for his submission. In its first year of operation on the campus of Newberry College, Wessel’s Library Gallery hosted a faculty exhibition that included paintings by adjunct art faculty Marjorie Huwa, paintings of Provence by Bruce Nellsmith and recent prints, drawings and pottery by associate professor of Art Paula Riddle, which also included work influenced by Riddle’s recent trip to France.

New at Newberry College Dr. Tien Chih joins Newberry as assistant professor of Mathematics from the University of Montana for 2014-2015. Zachary Davis is currently a visiting instructor of Chemistry. After defense of his dissertation in May, Davis joins Newberry College as assistant professor of Chemistry from Purdue University for 2014-2015.

Nellsmith held a solo exhibition at City Art of Columbia, S.C., featuring paintings and drawings (including 32 new paintings) derived from his trip to France during spring 2013. He also was the featured artist for Columbia’s Annual Vista Lights Festival.

Professor of Biology Valarie Burnett was a presenter at the spring meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists. u“A Far Gone Night,” the second novel by assistant professor of English John Carenen, is scheduled for release on Sept. 9, 2014, by Neverland Press. A sequel to his first novel, “Signs of Struggle” (October 2012), Carenen’s second novel continues to follow the exploits of wise-cracking tough guy Thomas O’Shea, who stumbles upon another crime near his northeastern Iowa home. This time, O’Shea discovers a 14-year-old Ojibwa Indian girl with two bullets in her head floating in the river that runs through the small town of Rockbluff. Familiar characters from the first novel also reappear in book two. u Professor of Spanish Dr. Gregory K. Cole, was invited to read poetry selections from his most recent collection, “Frases To Or,”at the XIII Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispanica in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

Professor of Theatre Matthew Fuller received the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities Excellence in Teaching Award given annually to recognize and celebrate best practices in teaching. A faculty member from each of the 20 higher education member institutions is nominated for the award and selected according to rigorous guidelines. The award recipients are honored at a special dinner and receive a $3,000 professional development grant.

p Professor of Biology Charles Horn was re-elected treasurer for the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society. He also was a presenter at the spring meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Laura Lanni is a co-principal investigator on the project, “Establishing the South Carolina Computational Chemistry Consortium (SC4) to Enhance Research, Education and Participation Broadening in the State.” The project brings computational modeling to Newberry College through funds provided by South Carolina Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and Institutional Development Awards (EPSCoR/IDeA). The project is a collaborative grant with the University of South Carolina, Coastal Carolina University, Benedict College, Francis Marion University and Claflin University. Biology professors Christina McCartha and Renee Stubbs were presenters at the Southeastern Regional Noyce Conference.

Professor of Nursing Betsy McDowell presented her paper, “Community Collaboration to Combat Domestic Violence Involving Children,” at the annual conference for the Society of Pediatric Nurses held in April in Scottsdale, Ariz. She also consulted with pediatric nurses involved in research during one-on-one sessions at the conference and provided an annual report on SPN News, a publication by the Society of Pediatric Nurses for which she is editor. Assistant Professor of Psychology Sara Peters gave a poster presentation at the Southeastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting on “The processing of sarcasm in ambiguous statements.” She also co-authored the article, “Interference between conversation and a concurrent visuomotor task,” in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Advanced in Rank Barry McGinnis, Music, was advanced in rank to full professor. Marilyn Seymour, English, was advanced in rank to associate professor.

Emeritus Faculty q Dr. Joseph A. McDonald was awarded Professor Emeritus of Sociology. An associate professor of Sociology, McDonald was instrumental in envisioning and implementing the Values-Based Learning Program (for which he served as director) as well as the Summerland Honors Program.