Parabola Newsletter Feb. 2012

WINTER

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VOLUME 5 ISSUE 1

Letter from the Dean Welcome to the fifth edition of Parabola, the newsletter for the School of Arts and Sciences. I am happy to be back for my second year as Dean of Arts and Sciences and am sure you will enjoy the update on our school’s happenings.

For the Christmas season, the Schouweiler Planetarium hosted the 39th annual Star of Bethlehem show, and during the 2011 calendar year had over 5,000 guests. In early 2012, SOAS will host Indiana’s only Math Olympiad—an exciting new event for us.

This fall, the university welcomed its largest first-year class, including 346 first-time freshmen, and saw a 15.5 percent growth in SOAS majors from last fall. This marks the fourth year of double-digit growth in majors for our school. Biology, Exercise Science, Legal Studies and Sociology posted the largest percentage growth this year, with all departments welcoming new students.

I have had the pleasure to meet a number of you at the many events through SOAS and the university and I look forward to meeting even more of you in the year to come. If you wish to find out about our many programs or events, please feel free to visit our website at sf.edu/arts-sciences.

SOAS also welcomed five new faculty members: Mr. Weston Cutter, English; Ms. Monique Gregg, Sociology; Dr. Lance Richey, Philosophy and Theology; Dr. Jason Summers, Foreign Languages; and Dr. Paul Schmidt, Chemistry. Returning to USF from Saint Louis University, Sister Felicity Dorsett is again teaching in the Department of Philosophy and Theology. These new instructors add to our already outstanding faculty and staff.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

SOAS hosted new events this past year including: an SOAS Scavenger Hunt as part of the university’s “Family Weekend;” a new and returning student cookout; The Midwest Conference on Religion and Christianity, sponsored by the Department of English and Foreign Languages; and the local section of the American Chemical Society meeting. These events represent some of the highlights from SOAS in the 2011-2012 academic year.

To arrange a speaking engagement, or just to reconnect with the school, please contact me at msmith@sf.edu or 260-399-7700, ext. 8105.

Sincerely,

Dr. Matt Smith Dean, School of Arts and Sciences

� It’s Alive! � Bonding with a New Generation of Chemists � Dramatic Growth Continues � Making Math Matter � On the Writing of Books � Serving, Leading, Transforming

� A Gathering of Scholars and a Changing of the Guard � Students Put Some “Mussel” into USF Research � An Expanding Universe at USF � Facts and Figures

IT’S ALIVE! Growth and Change are Just a Part of Life in the USF Biology Department

by Dr. Teresa Beam, Professor of Biology

The Biology Department Is Growing!

The Department of Biology has seen a 220 percent increase over the past decade in the number of students enrolled in departmental programs.

Growth in the department can be attributed to the high-quality teaching, research, and outstanding success of our alumni.

In a recent survey, 100 percent of courses taught in biology ranked above the national average in terms of student satisfaction. Recent graduates in biology now have careers in medicine, environmental science, law, research, and clinical lab science.

New Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope The quality of research equipment at Achatz Hall of Science is impressive.

One recent addition is a Research-grade Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope, which has the ability to construct three-dimensional images of the interior of cells and can capture live video of cellular processes.

The USF Biology Department offers programs in Biology, Pre-Medicine, Pre-Veterinary Medicine, Pre-Physician Assistant, Pre-Dentistry, Environmental Science, and Clinical Lab Science.

DRAMATIC GROWTH

Continues in Exercise Science & Health Program Ms. Katie Wiedman, Assistant Professor and Chair Having grown from three majors to more than 140 in its first five years, SOAS’s newest degree program—Exercise Science & Health—continues to expand its resources by partnering with USF’s Physical Therapy program, allowing both programs’ students to share laboratory facilities and exercise testing equipment, and also offering Exercise Science & Health majors the ability to perform EKG and VO2 max testing as part of their professional training.

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High School Cadaver Lab Visits a Success Under the direction of Dr. Matthew Hopf, over 400 area high school AP Biology and Anatomy and Physiology students have had the opportunity to visit the USF cadaver lab since its opening in 2010. The students are able to take what they learn in the classroom and have it become real, with the opportunity to actually touch and hold the muscles and organs they have spent hours in the classroom trying to learn.

Many of these students have chosen to enroll at USF after witnessing firsthand the amazing resources and facilities USF has to offer. If you know of any high schools interested in attending the cadaver lab, contact Dr. Matthew Hopf at mhopf@sf.edu.

Dr. Teresa Beam

The enrollment and facilities’ growth has been supplemented by faculty additions. Ms. Michelle Lefevra, following a career in cardiac rehab at Parkview Hospital, joined the program as an associate professor specializing in Exercise Physiology and Kinesiology.

Another important milestone occurred this year when one of the program’s first graduates, Derek Bryant (B.S., ’07) returned to USF as an adjunct faculty member teaching Personal Fitness. Mr. Bryant, who is working on his master’s in Health Care Administration at USF, combines strong professional experience with a deep knowledge of and commitment to the university’s Franciscan values.

One of these core values, service to the Church and society, has driven the Exercise Science & Health program’s major outreach initiatives, including collaboration with IPFW, Ivy Tech, and Indiana Tech to form a Higher Education Committee with the Drug and Alcohol Consortium of Allen County. This committee is designing and implementing strategies

BONDING WITH A NEW GENERATION OF CHEMISTS USF Chemistry Majors Dive into Research Dr. Jean Elick, Associate Professor and Chair, Chemistry Department Chemists aren’t born, they are made — through years of hard work.

Happily, USF’s Chemistry Department has students and faculty with the discipline and passion necessary for success in this crucial field, as the past year’s events have demonstrated.

Last summer, undergraduate forensic and pre-med chemistry majors Jordan Heim and Talitha Frecker joined Dr. Andrea Geyer and Sr. Carol Meyers at the central regional meeting of the American Chemical Society in Indianapolis. They interacted with many regional scientists, cheered Dr. Geyer as she presented her groundbreaking research in alkyne metathesis, and enjoyed an evening of dinner and entertainment with the Sisters of Beech Grove Hospital. The trip was supported and made possible by the USF Chemistry Department, the Sisters of Beech Grove, and Thomas Dawson.

Returning to campus, Talitha joined undergraduate environmental science major Lauren Mey in Dr. Geyer’s laboratory research, which focused on applying green chemistry in the field of alkyne metathesis.

Their current investigations are centered in the development of alkyne metathesis in more environmentally benign reaction media, including ionic liquids. Dr. Geyer’s work on the influence of acids on alkyne metathesis systems will be published in the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry this fall.

to prevent or reduce binge and underage drinking on Fort Wayne-area college campuses. Recently, I, along with two committee members, presented our efforts at the Regional Student Affairs Conference.

The department also collaborates with the McMillen Health Center and Fort 4 Fitness by providing interns and committee service.

Through such collaborations, students complete real-life projects and simultaneously serve the community. USF also benefits from class collaborations with the Wellness Committee, and the department plans additional collaborative efforts, on and off campus. These outreach efforts, combined with strong growth in enrollment and resources, points to a bright future for the Exercise Science & Health program.

We encourage our graduates to keep in touch with the program and USF, and to seek out new opportunities for collaboration and service to USF and the northeast Indiana region in the years to come.

Dr. Andrea Geyer

The Chemistry Department’s research doesn’t stop there, however.

You can also find Dr. Pamela Lord and Nate James side by side in the laboratory, synthesizing a series of β-diketone thiophenes. Their project is aimed at exploring a series of polymerizable species with the potential to enhance the color purity of lanthanides used in LEDs. Promoting science to the broader public, an important part of the department’s mission, has seen much activity, as well. Dr. Geyer and Biology Professor Warren Pryor conducted a Research Poster Session for the School of Arts and Sciences in February 2012, where the department’s newest faculty member (and first physicist!), Dr. Paul Schmidt, presented the Keynote lecture, “How to build a better lightbulb.” Dr. Schmidt has also been working with area high school students in the Science Symposium at USF and talking about ancient instruments of measurement. The students spent time in the Planetarium using the star field for measurement before taking their measuring skills to the wider campus, counting the fathoms and comparing spans.

The Chemistry Department’s efforts at building a new generation of scholar-teachers were also rewarded this year when graduate John Gensic, a chemistry major who served as valedictorian of the Class of 2005 and is in his fourth year of teaching at New Prairie High School in New Carlisle, Indiana, was named one of five 2011-2012 Jacobs Educators.

The Jacobs Educator Award is supported by the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology at Indiana University (Bloomington) to recognize K-12 teachers across the United States who are using technology to support innovative inquiry-based teaching and learning activities in their classrooms. We hope he’ll be sending us some freshman chemistry majors in the near future!

A GATHERING OF SCHOLARS AND A CHANGING OF THE GUARD Dr. John Alvis

in the Department of English and Foreign Languages

Dr. Ken Bugajski, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of English and Foreign Languages From September 22 to 24, the Department of English and Foreign Languages hosted the Annual Conference on Christianity and Literature for the Midwest Region. The conference theme was “The Limits of Understanding: Encountering Mystery.” Over 30 scholars from around the United States met at the university to explore literature’s engagement with that “which passes all understanding.”

Dr. Mark Buechsel, assistant professor of English, organized the conference, which featured guest speaker and Shakespeare scholar Dr. John Alvis from the University of Dallas, as well as a keynote address from Dr. Adam DeVille, assistant professor of philosophy and theology.

“It has been a wonderful and exhilarating experience to work all these years at USF. I am truly a blessed man.”

- Dr. Steve Sullivan Of this first literature conference hosted by USF, Dr. Buechsel said, “The conference was successful on several levels. For one, the presentations combined serious high-level scholarship with genuine personal investment; they were excellent both in terms of skilled literary analysis and substantive human meaning. Additionally, because of the small scale of the conference, people experienced real community and got to know one another. It appeared that people left refreshed both in terms of intellectual stimulation and terms of having experienced community with likeminded Christian scholars. They were very appreciative of the university’s hospitality, our Franciscan spirit, and the beauty of our campus.”

EXPANDING UNIVERSE AT USF CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT WELCOMES ITS FIRST PHYSICIST 4

Sr. Carol Meyers, OSF Professor, Department of Chemistry

In addition to organizing the conference, the Department of English and Foreign Languages welcomed two new faculty members in August: Dr. Jason Summers, assistant professor of Spanish, and Mr. Weston Cutter, assistant professor of English. Dr. Summers specializes in twentiethcentury Hispanic literature and culture, and his recent work has focused on violence and social justice in Latin American texts. He has begun a revision of the Spanish minor and has revived the department’s study abroad class, which will take students to Costa Rica in May 2012 for three weeks of intense study of language and the Costa Rican ecosystem.

Mr. Cutter, who taught for two years at Northwestern College in Iowa, brings great enthusiasm for creative writing and extensive experience in publishing both fiction and poetry. His book of short stories, You’d Be a Stranger, Too, was published in 2010, and he edits the book and music review website, corduroybooks.wordpress.com. Mr. Cutter has created a plan to increase publication of USF’s literary journal, The Apostrophe, as well as expand student engagement with the journal’s design and publication.

Finally, the department bids farewell this spring to Dr. Steve Sullivan, who will be retiring after 43 years at USF. Steve is a legendary teacher/ administrator who has introduced several generations of students to the power and possibilities of language. His career is proof of his lifelong passion for serving students and others. Dr. Sullivan reflects, “A friend recently told me I have served in nearly every capacity at the university, except President: Professor in the English and Foreign Language Department, first full-time Director of Alumni, first full-time Director of Student Affairs, Director of Financial Aid, and Graduate Dean. It has been a wonderful and exhilarating experience to work all these years at the University of Saint Francis. I am truly a blessed man.”

USF’s Department of Chemistry has expanded its disciplinary boundaries, with the addition of Dr. Paul Schmidt as faculty and colleague. Paul holds a Ph.D. in Physics, the first faculty member in the department with that specialization. He grew up in Maryland, receiving his B.S. in Physics from Loyola University in Baltimore before earning his doctorate at the University of Georgia. Paul’s research, under the direction of Uwe Heppek, was on luminescent materials and their application to higher efficiency lighting. He has several publications and numerous conference presentations on this topic.

While a graduate student he received the award for excellence in teaching from the graduate school, as well as the Bill Cummings Award for outstanding Physics and Astronomy craduate student, the department’s top honor. During his studies, Paul found time to enjoy some of his favorite hobbies—backpacking, softball, and exploring caves—a passion he can continue with the Karst topology par excellence of southern Indiana.

Paul has taught introductory topics including physics, astronomy, sustainable energy practices, light and color, and physics of sports, as well as more advanced courses on optics, electricity and magnetism, and experimental design. As a visiting assistant professor at several other Indiana institutions, he has directed many student research projects, some of which have been presented

STUDENTS PUT SOME “MUSSEL” INTO USF RESEARCH in the Department of Biology Warren Pryor, Assistant Professor of Biology The USF Mussel Ecology Group, a group of student biologists under my direction, has its plate full this year researching local mussel populations.

Currently, students Alexandria Wright, Teresa Marion and Bryce Thornton are actively describing the thermal environment of lake-dwelling mussels, measuring their respiratory rates, and performing surveys of river-dwelling mussels. Others who have recently assisted are Ariel Quickery, Elizabeth Lichtenwalter and Jessica Black. Three former students are presently in Ph.D. programs: Rosie Morman, Joe Baumgartner and Kathryn McBride.

We have made good use of the USF Biology Department’s field equipment and the hospitality of the IPFW Field Station at Crooked Lake. Our linear transect line of 12 data loggers measures and stores water temperatures every 15 minutes at depths ranging from 10 cm to 3 m over a mussel bed containing hundreds of live mussels of six different species. Three additional loggers are buried 10 cm in the substrate along the transect line. We periodically snorkel to exchange old loggers for new ones. The data from the old loggers is then analyzed to seek patterns and trends. Recently, we presented preliminary results at a regional meeting of mollusk researchers (Gleason, et al. 2011). As our temperature sensors continue to gather data, we can continue to monitor and analyze these important patterns.

Last summer, we built upon the previous work of a Purdue researcher (Myers-Kinzie 1998), who measured the respiratory rates of fat mucket mussels at Crooked Lake at temperatures ranging from 10 to 25 C. We sought to determine whether the exponential relationship she found holds true for the warmer water that we documented. We were surprised to learn from our preliminary results that the relationship did continue at temperatures as great as 37.7 C. We plan to refine our techniques in

order to efficiently collect statistically relevant sizes of samples during both the coming winter and summer. We also intend to update our bibliography, and to offer presentations about our work in the spring of 2012 at the Indiana Academy of Science, and Butler’s Undergraduate Research Conference.

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We carried out a one-day mussel survey along the Saint Joseph River at Johnny Appleseed Park in October. This was the fourth year that the Mussel Ecology Group performed the survey, and the 18th year that I had. Alexandria Wright (sophomore) was this year’s Student Coordinator, and participants included Teresa Marion (sophomore), Azia Dwigans (freshman), Arsene Pinguelo (freshman), Ariel Quickery (junior), Elizabeth Lichtenwalter (junior), Jessica Black (junior), Rosie Morman (mussel geek emeritus) and me. Results from previous similar surveys have been presented orally and as posters at several conferences over the past few years, and a manuscript is in the final stages of preparation.

Looking ahead, in the summer of 2012, we plan to conduct the first-ever large-scale survey of the Saint Mary’s River, and to repeat the Johnny Appleseed Survey the following fall. The research from these surveys should help scientists gain an even deeper understanding not only of the mussel populations of the local river systems but also of their role in the complex ecosystem of northeastern Indiana.

Gleason CL, Morman RE, Wright AE & Pryor WW. 2011. Thermal Environment Fluctuations of Unionids of Crooked Lake, Whitley County, Indiana, August 2009 - July 2010. Presentation at the OVUM Meeting, 1 October 2011 at the Thomas More College Field Station, California, Ken. Myers-Kinzie M. 1998. The effect of temperature on the respiration of the freshwater mussel Lampsilis siliquoidea (Bivalvia: Unionidae). Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. 107: 85-89.

at the National Butler Undergraduate Research Symposia. Paul is writing an introductory textbook on physical explanations for various energy concepts and technologies, and is the keynote lecturer for the Research Poster Session for the School of Arts and Sciences, presenting “How to build a better lightbulb.”

Paul’s research fits perfectly with USF’s Franciscan core value of respecting creation.

He is keenly interested in Green Physics and energy conservation, and works closely with Rebuilding Together, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize communities, providing free rehabilitation and critical repairs to the homes of low-income Americans.

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FOURTH ANNUAL

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Funds raised go to FOOD for Haitian orphans For more info, contact aobringer@sf.edu.

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Making

MATH MATTER Math Department Emphasizes Innovation and Involvement in Instruction Dr. Victor Kutsenok, Professor and Chair, Department of Mathematics Numerophobia—fear of numbers—has long been one of the most common phobias among high school and college students, causing anxiety and determining career choices. Like germs spread by physicians in earlier times, this problem has often been caused by those most opposed to it —math instructors. However, USF’s Department of Mathematics is making great progress in finding a cure.

The B.S. in Mathematics Education and the Liberal Arts degree in Mathematics at USF are designed to engage students in real mathematical problem-solving. Employing a Socratic style of instruction, students seek solutions to mathematical problems from multiple perspectives— including game theory, calculation, logic, and strategy. Faculty recognize that different problem-solving strategies work better for different thinkers, and try to help students recognize their strengths and weaknesses as mathematicians. Too many mathematics programs assume that every student will seek a Ph.D. in pure mathematics and teach college. At USF, the Mathematics Department looks instead to non-academic careers that

depend on a solid background in mathematics. Thus, both the general education courses and the electives for majors are designed to develop practical skills, which can be adapted to a variety of possible careers, such as banking, financial analysis and computer animation. This departmental emphasis on Socratic instruction and practical application was on display in February 2012 when USF hosted the American Math Contest.

Middle and high school “mathletes” from Indiana, Michigan and Ohio competed to demonstrate their mathematical knowledge and their ability to apply it to real-world problem-solving.

I will also be carrying the USF banner when I attend the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference in Philadelphia in April 2012.

This conference, which focuses on instructional excellence and developing more interactive classroom approaches in teaching math, is the premier national gathering of math teachers. This is also an exciting time of transition for the Department of Mathematics. Mr. Steve Born has retired after a decade of service to USF students, and a search for his replacement is underway. With a small but steady number of majors and a growing cohort of secondary education majors planning to teach mathematics at the high school level, the department is keeping very busy. Alumni should check the USF website and the Parabola newsletter to keep up to date with the Mathematics program.

ON THE WRITING OF BOOKS

by Adam A.J. DeVille, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Theology, USF, and editor, Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies

Sir Winston Churchill aptly described the book-writing process: “Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.”

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In 2011, the University of Notre Dame Press released my book Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: Ut Unum Sint and the Prospects of East-West Unity. The book provides a way towards full unity between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, the two largest churches in the world, with over 1.5 billion Christians. I presented the book at academic conferences in 2011 and profited from the feedback I

SERVING, LEADING, TRANSFORMING: From USF to the U.S. Capitol, Students and Faculty Make a Difference Dr. Barry Jackisch, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of History and Social Sciences Karl Marx wrote: “Philosophers have only tried to understand history.

The point is to change it!” As the past year’s events have shown, these two tasks of understanding and leading change go hand in hand for both students and faculty in the Department of History and Social Sciences.

On the national level, graduating seniors and political science majors Vanessa Floyd and Matthew Ritzenthaler have recently worked or will be working with legislators in Washington, D.C., and Indianapolis.

Vanessa worked in the office of Representative Marlin Stutzman over the summer—in the middle of a budget showdown that threatened to leave the federal government without funding--while Matthew will be on hand at the Statehouse for the new session of the Indiana General Assembly.

Both intend to pursue careers in or around government.

Within the USF community, Dr. David Mullins continues to chair the Scholarship Sandbox, which meets at noon for an hour over lunch, the 12th of each month. Students and faculty give presentations concerning new interdisciplinary courses and programs of study being developed, teaching demonstrations, student projects, conference presentations, and the latest scholarship of discovery being conducted at USF. Sponsored by the Provost’s Office, the Scholarship Sandbox is a vital part of the culture of scholarship on campus.

received, and look forward to more of the same in 2012 when I lecture on Orthodox-Catholic rapprochement at the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and then at the University of Dayton.

Also this year I have struggled (often thinking of Churchill’s words) to finish another book, tentatively titled Sexual Differentiation and the Christian East: Sources Ancient and Modern. It is under contract with T&T Clark/ Continuum of London. The book in many ways is a companion volume to Christopher Roberts’ Creation and Covenant: the Significance of Sexual Difference in a Moral Theology of Marriage. Neither Roberts nor I finds very satisfactory the “traditional” answers to the question of same-sex relationships because most Christians have not been asking the right questions, including: what is the theological purpose of human sexual difference in this life and in what does it consist? What was in the mind of God in creating humans in a sexually differentiated form as male and female, and how important does He regard that difference—is it the equivalent of skin or eye color, or is there more to it? In seeking to answer these questions, I hope to offer Christians resources for a more coherent and substantial defense of marriage.

The department’s success in attracting new majors has greatly increased the demand for classes among undergraduates. To help meet this need, the Department of History and Social Sciences welcomed Karen Monique Gregg as a new tenure-track assistant professor of sociology.

She comes to us from the University of Notre Dame where she will graduate this spring with a Ph.D. in sociology and a graduate minor in gender studies. At Notre Dame she won several teaching awards, and her substantive areas of interest are the sociology of religion, gender studies, and social psychology. Monique has been teaching several sections of our introductory course in sociology this semester and says, “I’d like to motivate more of our USF students to major in sociology.”

Finally, we are happy to report that two other department members received promotion and/or tenure. Dr. David Mullins was promoted from assistant to associate professor, and I received tenure and was promoted from assistant to associate professor. Also, Dr. Thomas Schneider, now in his second year as assistant professor of political science, had an article, “Lincoln’s Lyceum Speech as a Model of Democratic Rhetoric,” published in the journal History of Political Thought.

In 2012 I will be writing two chapters I have been asked to contribute to two different volumes published by Oxford University Press. Then I will begin to edit a collection of scholarly articles, from experts around the world, under the working title “Eastern Christian Encounters with Islam.”

Islam remains, of course, a controversial force in our world but few realize that Eastern Christians have a long history—far longer than anything in this country or among any Western Christian groups—of trying to find a way to live together with Muslims. Most of those efforts have seen Christians suffering persecution and bloodshed, but sometimes there are amicable and peaceful communities living side by side in, e.g., Tatarstan. That history, still not well known notwithstanding a proliferation of books on Islam since 9/11, contains profitable lessons for us all.

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.”

- Sir Winston Churchill

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