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Arts and Sciences News
2020-21 New Western Michigan University College of Arts and Sciences leadership
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Dr. Stephanie Peterson
Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Nicolas Witschi
Interim Associate Dean,College of Arts and Sciences
New Chairs and Directors
Dr. Jonathan Baker
Chair, Department of Psychology
Dr. Kathleen Baker
Acting Chair, Department of Geography, Environment and Tourism
Dr. Linda Borish
Chair, Department of History
Dr. Michael Famiano
Chair, Department of Physics
Dr. Megan Grunert-Kowalske
Chair, Department of Chemistry
Dr. Ilana Nash
Chair, Department of Gender and Women's Studies
Dr. Pablo Pastrana-Pérez
Chair, Department of Spanish
Dr. Staci Perryman-Clark
Director, Institute of Intercultural and Anthropological Studies
Dr. Heather Petcovic
Chair, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences
Dr. John Saillant
Chair, Department of English
Dr. Jeffrey Terpstra
Chair, Department of Statistics
Teaching Law and Culture of Medieval England Arts and Sciences dean named a distinguished woman in higher education
The Michigan American Council on Education Network has recognized Dr. Carla Koretsky, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, as a distinguished woman in higher education leadership. The award recognizes groundbreaking work on behalf of women that is outside the scope of the nominee’s formal workplace responsibilities.
As dean of the college, Koretsky has actively promoted diversity and inclusion initiatives, especially related to the advancement of women and people of color in STEM. Previously she has served as a faculty member in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences since arriving at WMU in 2000, and subsequently also the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. A problem solver by nature, Koretsky has worked tirelessly to advance access, equity and inclusion, especially in STEM.
Koretsky currently serves as the WMU lead investigator on a three-year, $996,000 ADVANCE grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to support a collaborative partnership with Iowa State University, Michigan Technological University and North Dakota State University. The partners seek to develop and implement institutional strategies to support diverse STEM faculty, especially women who are caregivers or members of underrepresented minority groups.
"As a geochemist, Dr. Koretsky is intimately familiar with the obstacles women face both within the scientific disciplines as well as higher education as a whole," says WMU provost, Jennifer Bott.
Koretsky is also the co-lead of the ASPIRE Institutional Change team at WMU. In 2019, WMU was selected to participate in ASPIRE, together with 19 other higher education institutions from across the country, to develop and implement outreach, hiring and retention practices to support a more diverse and inclusive faculty. ◆
This summer 25 faculty and graduate students from institutions across the country had a unique opportunity to learn about the law and culture of Medieval England thanks to a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities grant garnered by the director and deputy director of the internationally-recognized WMU Medieval Institute.
Dr. Jana Schulman, director of the Medieval Institute and professor of English, and Dr. Robert Berkhofer III, deputy director and associate professor of history, were awarded a $169,000 grant – one of just 11 projects nationwide selected for funding. The grants are intended to support professional development opportunities for faculty and graduate students engaged in undergraduate teaching. Together, Schulman and Berkhofer developed and co-directed a virtual four-week summer program focused on the law and culture of Medieval England, with themes including “words as weapons'' and “crime, gender and violence.” The program provided participants opportunities to work closely with an interdisciplinary group of renowned scholars of history, English, law and medieval studies from institutions across the U.S. and Britain. In addition to engaging in lively discussions and readings of legal, literary and historical texts, program participants completed individual projects tracing themes of law and culture from medieval to modern times.
Schulman and Berkhofer hope that the experience will inspire these faculty and graduate students to enhance their teaching with new ideas and perspectives on the law and culture of Medieval England. ◆
WMU addresses institutional bias in STEM fields through a nearly $1M NSF grant
Western Michigan University is blazing a trail to increase the retention and success of diverse women faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The $996,000, threeyear ADVANCE grant from the National Science Foundation aims to develop and implement institutional strategies to increase the success of women STEM faculty, especially minority women and women with significant family care-giving responsibilities, across the nation. The ADVANCE Midwest Partnership-Joining Forces Grant is a collaboration between lead institution Iowa State University and partners North Dakota State University, Michigan Technological University and Western Michigan University. “This project is intended to create significant, systemic, institutional change in support of a more diverse and inclusive workplace at Western and other institutions like it,” said Dr. Carla Koretsky, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator on the NSF grant. The ADVANCE team at WMU includes Koretsky; Dr. Heather Petcovic, chair of the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences; Dr. Michelle Hrivnyak, faculty specialist in the Institute of Intercultural and Anthropological Studies; and Deirdre Courtney, a doctoral candidate in interdisciplinary studies.
INSPIRING GENDER EQUITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Lexi Jamieson Marsh, Ellen Currano, and Kelsey Vance –creators of The Bearded Lady Project.
Since fall of 2020, the team has hosted a series of crossinstitutional events and trainings as part of a regional women’s caucus to promote awareness about and reduce gender bias in STEM fields. From virtual film showings – including “The Bearded Lady Project: Challenging the Face of Science,” and “Picture a Scientist,” with panel discussions following – to crossinstitutional webinar discussions, the events have highlighted persistent gender inequities in STEM workplaces, and offer institutional strategies to mitigate bias and inequity. “We’ve been able to launch several new initiatives across our regional partnership to promote and support gender equity in STEM,” said Koretsky. “In addition to the regional caucus event series, these include an Advocates and Allies program, a cross- institutional Department Chair and Director Professional Development program, and CrossInstitutional Mentoring Committees.” The partnership recently wrapped up its first year of cross-institutional mentoring committees. These committees are designed to bring groups of mentors and mentees together across institutions based on participants’ self-identified intersectional identities – including women with caregiving responsibilities, international women, LGBTQIA+ women, and women who are members of underrepresented communities. Main topics of discussion included workplace climate, graduate student mentoring, tenure and promotion, negotiating salary, and juggling work life balance, especially during the pandemic. The regional caucus events, aimed to inform and inspire faculty and institutional leaders to take action in support of gender equity, typically drew more than 100 attendees, with the initial screening of “Picture a Scientist” drawing over 600 registrants. Following each event, surveys were sent out to participants asking them to indicate the extent to which the Joining Forces Women’s Caucus events improved their understanding of the experiences represented by women faculty in STEM and inspired them to act to promote gender equity. Nearly 90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the events increased their awareness of gender bias in STEM and motivated them to take action to mitigate this bias.
Raychelle Burks, Ph.D. Associate Professor of chemistry at American University.
"There's a lot of research on the biases and issues that are disproportionately faced by women. For example, women are often assigned larger service loads than men. Research has also shown persistent inequities with respect to things like start-up packages and the sizes of lab space, and also that women are evaluated differently than men on student ratings of courses or in tenure and promotion evaluations," said Koretsky. "Understanding and effectively addressing these issues and finding strategies to retain and promote women in STEM is vitally important— especially women of color and women with family caregiving responsibilities, many of whom have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic." Focused on furthering the awareness of gender bias within institutions, the team has been examining child care programs and facilities at peer and regional institutions to identify where efforts that would support caregiving students, faculty and staff could be developed. They are also working on several projects to document the differential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on STEM faculty. Looking to the future, the ADVANCE partners hope to disseminate training programs and best practices developed in this project to other regional institutions. Several partnership caucus events are already in the works for 2021-22, including a presentation on understanding implicit bias by Project Implicit facilitator Dr. Perry, as well as a discussion with Dr. Bala Chaudhary on building an antiracist lab. ◆
S-STEM program helps establish STEM cohorts to foster community among transfer students
A nearly $1 million National Science Foundation grant will help transfer students flourish as STEM majors while at Western Michigan University. The five-year NSF grant will fund scholarships for both undergraduate and graduate students in chemistry and biochemistry programs, as well as establish cohorts to foster community and a sense of belonging among transfer students. "The S-STEM program at the National Science Foundation is specifically to support low-income but academically talented students in STEM fields," says Dr. Megan Grunert Kowalske, chair of the Department of Chemistry and principal investigator on the grant. The project will focus on recruiting, retaining and supporting future chemists and biochemists at WMU through structured and targeted interventions, such as workshops, to form connections with other students and faculty members. It will also provide resources and facilitate opportunities for cohort members to engage in research opportunities and internships. While a select group of students will join each cohort over the five-year duration of the project, the resources and programming developed will be available to all students. The first cohort began in January 2021. ◆
COVID-19 research webinar series launched by College of Arts and Sciences
Throughout the pandemic, WMU faculty and students have engaged in public impact research that provides important insights into the long-term effects of COVID-19. Some of these projects were supported by $31,620 in grants from the University’s Office of Research and Innovation, provided by the Meader Presidential Endowment – a fund specifically designated for promoting excellence at WMU. Projects were selected for funding based on their potential for broad societal impact. Special emphasis was placed on projects that were interdisciplinary and could be completed immediately in a remote capacity.
Results of the projects funded by the endowment were shared in four webinars over the course of the 2020-2021 academic year. These webinars were made freely available to the public in an effort to ensure that research findings be widely disseminated, so that they could contribute to solving some of the myriad problems the pandemic has presented.
Dr. Matthew Mingus, professor of public administration, Dr. J. Kevin Corder, professor of political science, and political science graduate student Daria Blinova presented “Factors motivating the timing of COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders by U.S. Governors.” In their webinar, the team demonstrated how decisions and rationales on whether or not to issue shelter-in-place orders were influenced by American federalism. Dr. Brooke Smith, assistant professor of psychology, and Alex Twohy, graduate student in psychology, studied the causes and effects of social isolation during the pandemic. In “Moderators of social isolation and mental health outcomes during COVID-19,” Smith and Twohy described the impact COVID-19 has had on human activity worldwide, as limitations on social interactions have caused significant mental health issues for many. The two presented strategies that could be implemented to improve mental health and to cope with stressors caused by social isolation.
Dr. Stephen Covell, chair and professor of comparative religion, and Dr. Diane Riggs, faculty specialist II in comparative religion, noted how COVID-19 has impacted religious organizations and how these organizations have responded to it in “Pandemic response and religion in the United States.” Their efforts to analyze and better understand the actions of religious organizations is critical because it can provide insights into effective response to future emergencies or natural disasters.
Dr. James Cousins, former associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Wessam Abdelaziz, teaching assistant in Arabic, examined the impacts of COVID-19 on universities, especially with respect to accreditation. In “The COVID-19 crisis, accreditation and the future of higher learning,” the two described the findings of their rigorous, year-long study on the effects of COVID-19 on teaching and learning in the academy, particularly as instructors rapidly pivoted to deliver online instruction, and how this might affect higher education accreditation for years to come. ◆ Groundwater contamination is an increasingly critical problem in the U.S. and globally. In recent years, lead contamination of drinking water supplies in Flint and PFAS contamination of water supplies in Kalamazoo County have attracted national, as well as international, attention.
Western Michigan University has long been known for its outstanding research and teaching in hydrogeology, as well as in science education. A new grant from the National Science Foundation will support a collaboration of WMU hydrogeology and science education scholars as they combine their expertise to understand how students develop and hone the 3D spatial thinking skills needed to accurately visualize and predict unseen groundwater contamination beneath the Earth’s surface. Dr. Heather Petcovic, chair of the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences and professor of geological and environmental sciences & science education, and Dr. Matt Reeves, associate professor in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, will examine how students use spatial thinking skills to solve groundwater contamination problems both in the classroom and in the field. The NSF-funded team also includes an alumna, Dr. Peggy McNeal, and her colleague, Joel Moore, at Towson University in Maryland. McNeal, who earned a doctorate from Western in 2017, was a rare double winner of WMU graduate awards, having earned both an All-University Graduate Research and Creative Scholar award and an All-University Graduate Teaching award. ◆
Assistant professor directs esteemed Capital Internship Program
In 2018, Dr. Lauren Foley, assistant professor of political science, stepped in as the director of the Political Science and Lee Honors College Capital Internship Program for the College of Arts and Sciences. She is only the second director of the longstanding, highly esteemed internship program, which was founded by Dr. David Houghton, associate professor emeritus of political science, in 1990, and has placed nearly 1,000 students into internships.
Each year, 20-25 students participate in the program, roughly half of whom are members of the Lee Honors College. The students typically spend two full days each week during the spring semester in Lansing, where they work with members of the legislature, lobbyists and judges. Students attend legislative session meetings, help research and draft legislation, and work directly with constituents.
In her role as program director, Foley recruits undergraduate students for the program, while also maintaining and making new connections with internship supervisors and sites. She also teaches a companion political science seminar course to the internship program each spring.
Foley’s passion for both the program and for student success stems from her own internship experience. While in law school, she interned for a nonprofit legal counsel and a Michigan Supreme Court justice. Her internships influenced her legal education and profoundly shaped the research agenda she would eventually pursue in her doctoral studies.
Foley looks forward to continuing to grow the Capital Internship Program, providing her students with unparalleled opportunities to engage side-by side with policy experts, and to pursue their passions at WMU and beyond. ◆
Tristan Brown is a passionate advocate for sustainability and the environment. Graduating from Western Michigan University in 2005 as both an environmental studies and student-planned major, Brown was able to personalize his course of study to fit his interests and career goals. While at WMU, Brown immersed himself in a breadth of curricular and co- curricular opportunities, applying knowledge gained in his studies to develop solutions to real world problems. The Lee Honors College student was involved in the Western Student Association, Economics Student Association, Students for a Sustainable Earth, and Physics Club. Brown served as a coordinator for the Gibbs House – a living laboratory for students to implement their sustainable design solutions and projects — and studied abroad in Malaysia. In recognition of his accomplishments, he was awarded the prestigious Morris K. Udall Foundation scholarship for environmental studies, and subsequently a Gates Cambridge scholarship.
Brown has continued to advocate for environmental sustainability in roles working first for U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and later, after completing his law studies at the University of California, Berkeley, for U.S. Senator Gary Peters. From 20162017 he served as Deputy Associate Administrator for Congressional Affairs in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As an attorney in private practice, Brown focused on matters related to the transportation and public utility sectors.
Currently, Brown is applying his wealth of environmental and sustainability expertise as the newly appointed acting administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. In this position he oversees an agency charged with the safety of 2.8 million miles of pipeline and 1.2 million shipments of hazardous materials every day.
Brown works directly with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to reduce environmental impact from pipeline and energy infrastructure. He oversees budgets, personnel, communication, and relations with Congress and agency stakeholders.
Brown looks forward to advancing the agency’s mission and climate change policies. ◆
Two College of Arts and Sciences faculty were named Blue Ribbon Finalists in the National Science Foundation 2026 Idea Machine competition. The competition challenged researchers, students and community members to propose new “Big Ideas” for future investment by the NSF in fundamental science, engineering and STEM education research.
Dr. Bilinda Straight, professor of anthropology and gender and women’s studies; and Dr. Todd Ellis, assistant professor of geography and science education, contributed ideas that were selected from the more than 800 entries as two of the top 14 finalists in the competition. Straight’s idea “Reversibility: Future of Life on Earth,” asks what mechanisms, motivators and tipping points determine reversible versus irreversible changes, whether in organisms, behaviors or systems, and how these changes impact the future of life on planet earth.
With his idea, “the STEM Teaching and Learning Incubator,” Ellis points out that teaching innovation is often risky, expensive and requires long-term support, and proposes to empower K-12 educators to use maker spaces and cultivated collaborations to develop new approaches to STEM teaching and learning.
Straight and Ellis each received a cash prize of $1,000 and an honorable mention at the winner recognition event in Washington, D.C.
Western was the only institution in Michigan with finalists in the competition and the only institution in the country with two ideas included among the Top 14. ◆
Dunbar Hall undergoing transformation in renovation project
Dunbar Hall, an aging, heavily-employed classroom building used by more than a dozen academic programs, is undergoing a $43 million renovation, supported by $30 million in state capital outlay dollars. Dozens of College of Arts and Sciences courses are typically taught in Dunbar, the second most-utilized teaching facility on campus, each year.
Together with Friedmann and Knauss Halls, Dunbar was originally developed in response to booming enrollment at the University during the 1960s, and helped to meet the growing demand for classroom space. Although the five and a half story, 78,000 square-foot building has served the University well over its almost 50-year lifetime, it no longer provides adequate, accessible space to support teaching and learning.
The project, set to begin in spring 2020, was put on hold due to the pandemic. Design has since resumed, with interior demolition beginning in fall 2021, and University officials expecting classes to resume in Dunbar Hall in fall 2023.
DEVELOPING A STATE-OF-THE-ART LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The overhaul of the building includes completely reconfigured classrooms to support active, engaged learning, and the addition of intentional spaces for students to gather for informal learning and study. The renovation also includes significant upgrades to the existing utility infrastructure, shared with Friedmann and Knauss Halls, to maximize energy efficiency and better align with WMU’s sustainability mission. It is anticipated that the building will attain a minimum of LEED Silver certification, with the goal of achieving Gold or even Platinum status. The renovated building will house a modern communication media suite and dance studio. The School of Communication media suite will include a TV studio, control room, journalism room, and an audio production and podcast studio.
View from the East (Hilltop Village) looking West
