Faculty News
Of the Father's Love Begotten, by David Davies, Music, was premiered by the choirs and orchestra of Augustana College at the first annual "Christmas at Augustana" concert. David composed the work in the summer of 2008 specifically for student musicians of Augustana. The composition is based on the 12th century plainsong "Divinum Mysterium," and makes use of an English translation of a 4th-century text by Aurelius Clemens Prodentius.
Art Pitz, History, was recently retained by the Putnam Museum as a guest curator for an upcoming exhibit on Davenport's Civil Rights history from 1945-1974. The exhibit will hopefully open next fall and Art will travel to local libraries and schools. He has been working on this project since May of 2007 when he was appointed by the Davenport Civil Rights Commission, St. Ambrose University and Putnam Museum to coordinate research efforts regarding this history.
Stephen Warren, History, recently signed an advanced contract for his second book, co-authored with Randolph Noe, entitled The Greatest Travelers in America: Place, Transience, and Cultural Survival in Shawnee and Woodland Indian History. The book will be published by the University of North Carolina Press. The book challenges popular misconceptions about American Indian identities in the colonial period by revealing the inherent problems with fixing colonial Indian identities in place, in tribes, or in coalescent communities. Such categories, generated in Western epistemology, rob American Indians of their own multi-layered understanding of themselves. By focusing on creative adaptation and ethno-genesis, rather than on timeless tribal identities, Native peoples become actors in their own histories, thoughtfully adapting to the tumultuous impact of disease, warfare, and depopulation.
Warren's previous project, a multi-year collaboration with filmmakers Ric Burns and Chris Eyre on the film, Tecumseh's Vision, is scheduled to premiere on April 20, 2009. A sneak preview of the film can be viewed here: www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/episode_2_trailer
The National Communication Association held its annual convention in San Diego from November 20-24. Several Augustana faculty presented papers and participated on panels at this meeting. Wendy Hilton-Morrow was a part of the discussion panel, "Communication Studies' Scholars Contributions to Women's and/or Gender Studies Programs." Lisa Farinelli along with Breanna McEwan and Babin Gallagher presented "The End of a Friendship: Friendship Dissolution Reasons and Methods." Steve Klien presented a paper, co-authored with Margaret Farrar, entitled, "The Diatribe of Ann Coulter: Gendered Style, Conservative Ideology and the Public Sphere." Steve also served as an invited roundtable participant on the panel, "Film, Culture and Rhetoric: A Roundtable on the State of Critical Approaches to Film," and chaired and served as respondent on the panel, "Targeting the Youth Vote". Sharon Varallo presented "Showcasing Senior Seminars: A Liberal Arts Approach to Communication Capstones." Ellen Hay discussed "Assessing Oral Communication in the General Education Context." This paper will be included in an assessment primer that the NCA will be publishing next year.