Faculty News
Todd Cleveland recently traveled to New Orleans to present a paper entitled Biographical Discrepancies: José Norton de Matos, the Portuguese Colonial State and the Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), 1912-1975, at the African Studies Association's Annual Meeting.
Several members of the Communication Studies Department presented research and participated in roundtable discussions at the 95th annual National Communication Association Convention in Chicago, IL from November 12 to 15, 2009.
- Lisa Farinelli presented "Attachment, Emotional Communication, and Health Outcomes: A Study of Parents of Children with Mental Illness," a paper she co-authored (1st author) with Laura Guerrero of Arizona State University. She also participated in a roundtable discussion, "Too Big? Too Small? Goldilocks at the University: Making It Just Right" on the new professor's transition from a Research 1 university to a smaller, teaching-centered institution. Lisa reports that Augustana was seen quite favorably by other participants, who were impressed by such resources as pre-tenure paid leaves and transparent department statements of tenure expectations.
- Sharon Varallo participated in a roundtable entitled "Women's Mentoring Relationships and the Future of Communication Studies," which examined the importance of mentoring between students and faculty as well as between junior and senior faculty.
- Also appearing on Sharon's roundtable was Augustana Comm Studies alumna Lisa Slawter '03 Volkening, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Georgia, who also presented two competitive papers: "Rational Spectacle: Debating Global Warming in the Public Sphere on the Public Screen of An Inconvenient Truth", and "Rematerializing Electronic Communication through the 'Green My Apple' Campaign," a Top Four paper in the Environmental Communication Division, her second in two years. Lisa, currently on the academic job market, already has two publications in the journal Environmental Communication.
- Wendy Hilton-Morrow participated in a roundtable entitled "Queering the Future of LGBTQ Communication Studies," which discussed the future purposes and prospects for LGBTQ scholarship.
- Steve Klien presented a paper entitled "Cinematic Simulacra and the Prospect for Public Agency: Constructing the Citizen-Soldier in Post-9/11 War Films", in a roundtable on the rhetorical/critical analysis of film.
- Ellen Hay presented "The Capstone Experience: What are Students Learning? What are Faculty Learning about Student Learning?" in a panel on senior capstones in Communication Studies. Ellen reports that both the department's civic engagement SI track and new 1-credit research methodology courses were received favorably by attendees as novel and valuable. Ellen also presented in a roundtable entitled "The Communication Assessment Division: Five Years Out", in which she discussed national research efforts to assess oral communication learning outcomes.
Ellen Hay and Fenwick have secured a $25,000 grant from the Riverboat Development Authority to provide continued funding for the Reflective Leader Internship program. This program provides stipends for students who complete summer internships in local not-for-profit organizations. The students meet weekly during spring term preparing for the experience, and in the fall term following the internship, the students present their research and reflections on the organization, the needs it seeks to address, and their roles and responsibilities. Nine to ten students will be selected for the program in 2010.
Adam Parboosingh's article "A Brave New Theatrical World: Creating a Futuristic and Bleak World for Omniscience at Augustana College" was published in the theatre and entertainment magazine Live Design this month. This article discusses the integration of video projections into the design process for the spring 2009 production here on campus. Included in the 4 page spread are photographs of the student cast; Anden Drolet, Anna Dundek, Danielle Swanson, Jen Altenbernd, Jeremy Hoffman, Liz Stigler and Kathryn McCarthy. Students Katherine Caldwell and Andrew Lia, along with music faculty Randall Hall are also mentioned for their roles in the production. Director Dr. Scott Irelan, assistant professor of theatre arts and playwright Tim Carlson contributed to this article.
Adam is also the lighting designer for "Holly Jolly Christmas" at Circa 21 in Rock Island, performing until December 31. He also designed the lights for the children's show "Frosty's Magic Hat" also being performed at Circa 21 until December 26.
Molly Todd has signed a contract with the University of Wisconsin Press to publish Beyond Displacement: A Transnational History of Mobile Peasant Communities in the Salvadoran Civil War (ca. 1975-1992). The book will be released in fall 2010 to inaugurate a new series entitled "Critical Human Rights." Molly also has been invited to participate in a research group organized by the Human Rights Initiative at the University of Wisconsin. The group, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will engage the theme of "Vulmerability and Resilience: Rethinking Human Rights for the 21st Centure" in a series of seminars during 2010 and 2011.
The following announcement about Steve Warren is being repeated in this week's newsletter, as the link to the essay was not included last week.
Stephen Warren recently published two articles. The first, a co-authored essay, with Randolph Noe, entitled "'The Greatest Travelers in America': Shawnee Survival in the Shatter Zone," challenges the paradigm of place in American Indian history, as survivors of disease, warfare, and colonialism adopted migration as a colonial-era survival strategy. This essay appeared in a volume edited by Robbie Ethridge and Sheri-Shuck-Hall, Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South (Nebraska, 2009). The second article will appear next month in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 33:4. In "'To Show the Public That We Were Good Indians': Origins and Meanings of the Meskwaki Powwow," Warren used the Hauberg Collection in Augustana's Special Collections, along with images from the Upper Mississippi Valley Digital Image Archive, to show the ways in which the Meskwaki Indians developed a powwow to make a case for the survival of their community in the twentieth century. Rock Island's John Henry Hauberg played an important, though unintended role, in their efforts. For those who are interested, please read this copy of the essay. Finally, on November 10th, Warren had the privilege of working as a guest speaker for the Rockford Public Schools. Over the course of one school-day, Warren met with seven different 5th grade classes in four different elementary schools. Students watched clips from We Shall Remain: A Native History of America, after which Warren led a discussion of American Indian history."