January 2010

Scott Corry, assistant professor of mathematics, published his paper “Galois Covers of the Open P-Adic Disc” in the journal Manuscripta Mathematica.

James H. DeCorsey, associate professor of music, served as visiting faculty at the Lawrence London Centre during fall term. He attended meetings of the Elgar Society and the British Horn Society and performed with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra at St. John’s Smith Square in programs that included the original version of Stravinsky’s “Petroushka” and Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 5.”

Beth De Stasio ’83, professor of biology and Raymond H. Herzog Professor of Science, has been elected by the membership of the Genetics Society of America to serve a three-year term on the board of directors. The society seeks to foster genetic research, communication of discoveries through conferences and publications (such as the flagship publication Genetics), and integration of recent advances in the understanding of genetics in the K-12 curriculum. De Stasio has been asked to co-chair an education workshop at a society meeting “Model Organisms to Human Biology” in Boston in June 2010.

David E. McGlynn, assistant professor of English, was awarded the 2009 Utah Book Award for fiction for his collection of stories, “The End of the Straight and Narrow.” His essay, “Rough Water,” appeared in the 2009 Best American Sports Writing and another essay, “Hydrophobia,” was named a Notable Essay in the 2009 Best American Essays. New work is forthcoming in The Southwest Review.

Joanne Metcalf, associate professor of music, had her compositions “Kyria Christifera, Il Nome del bel Fior” and “Ego Dilecto Meo” performed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Mike Truesdell ’07 performed “Floating and Grooving” at the opening concert of the 2009 Zeltsman Marimba Festival. “O Shining Light,” a new work for four women’s voices, was commissioned by Canty, one of Scotland’s premiere choral ensembles. It received its world premiere performance at St. Machar’s Cathedral in Aberdeen, Scotland and will be released on the Linn Records label in 2010. “O Shining Light” was written in memory of Lawrence Postdoctoral Fellow Jennifer Fitzgerald.

Chantal Norrgard, Lawrence Postdoctoral Fellow of history and ethnic studies, accepted an advance contract with the University of North Carolina Press for her book manuscript, “Seasons of Change: Labor, Treaty Rights, and Memories of Historical Transformation among Lake Superior Ojibwe, 1870-1942.” She also presented a paper, “Rethinking ‘Subsistence’ and ‘Labor’ in the Context of Ojibwe Treaty Rights,” at the American Society for Ethnohistory conference in New Orleans, La.

Brent Peterson, professor of German, and professor Robert Shandley of Texas A&M University received a $141,320 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. They will co-direct a seminar, “Germany’s Cosmopolitan Capital: Berlin and the Myth of German Monoculturalism,” for 16 American high school teachers in Berlin, Germany, for five weeks during the summer of 2010. The premise behind the seminar is that Berlin is not now, and has never been, a city composed exclusively of ethnic Germans.

Megan Pickett, associate professor of physics, chaired the Disk Theory panel for NASA’s Origins of Solar Systems program in September 2009. This was the second consecutive year she has done this.

Jerald Podair, professor of history and Robert S. French Professor of American Studies, organized the Robert S. French Lectures on the Civil War Era, which brought eminent Civil War scholars James McPherson and Vernon Burton to Lawrence. Podair delivered a lecture entitled “Lincoln’s Road to the Emancipation Proclamation: Understanding Freedom’s Ambiguities” to the Wisconsin Academy for the Study of American History. He published a review of the museum exhibit “Black Thursday Remembered” in the Journal of American History. He coordinated a meeting at Lawrence of the American Studies Working Group, which brings together American Studies scholars from around the region to discuss works of mutual interest.

Benjamin Rinehart, assistant professor of art, had three solo exhibitions of his prints, paintings and books in fall of 2009: “Veneer” in the Bonsack Gallery at John Burroughs School, St. Louis, Mo.; “Method to Mockup” in the Annex Gallery at UW-Oshkosh; and “Accepted” in the Lewis Art Gallery at Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss. He will have a fourth solo exhibition in spring of 2010 at UW-Manitowoc. For examples of Rinehart’s current work go to his Web site at www.benrinehart.com.

Julia Stringfellow, university archivist and assistant professor, presented a session at the annual Wisconsin Federation of Museums conference titled, “Archives 101: Basic Procedures for Working with Archival Materials.”

Rosa Tapia, associate professor of Spanish, presented “Immigrant Women in Contemporary Spanish Film” at the Mid-America Conference on Hispanic Literature at the University of Kansas, November 5-7, 2009.

Mark Urness, assistant professor of music, released the CD “Foreground”in the summer of 2009. He has recently performed with Lyle Mays, Kim Richmond, JC Sanford, Steve March Tormé and many other Jazz artists. He served as principal bass in the Water City Chamber Orchestra and performed with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra. He performed his composition “Swordfight, Flashback” on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Live from the Chazen” broadcast in Madison Wis., and on campus. Several of his reviews of recent compact disc releases were published in the fall issue of Bass World.

Ernestine Whitman, professor of music, had several of her flute studio students take first place in Lawrence University music competitions during the 2008-09 academic year. Sheri Muneno ’09 was the orchestra concerto competition winner; Shannon Donegan ’09 was the wind ensemble concerto competition winner; and the senior flute quartet comprised of Sarah Davies ’09, Daniel Schirmer ’09, Donegan and Muneno was the commencement concert winner.

Valerie Zimany, visiting assistant professor of art and Uihlein Fellow of Studio Art, presented the poster “Asian Craft & Design: Cross-listing a Ceramics Studio with East Asian Studies” at the Asian Studies Colloquium on Bringing Asian Arts and Material Culture into the Undergraduate Curriculum at Beloit College, Beloit, Wis. Following her summer artist residency at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana, her work was exhibited in “Recent Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection” in the North Gallery at Archie Bray from Sept. 24 to Nov. 7 and “2009 Artists in Residence” at the Kolva Sullivan Gallery in Spokane, Wash., from October 2 to 30, 2009.