What’s New in CLA

WOW! Steve Matthews, Assistant Professor, History, has been selected as a recipient of the University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. This is “a unique two year award designed to enhance the careers of our most promising junior faculty.” The grant provides $32,500 of research support in both year one and year two, with an additional sabbatical or monetary support the second year. Only two other CLA faculty have received this award, Paul Cannan, Associate Professor of English, and Larry Knopp, Professor of Geography & Associate Dean of the Graduate School.

Yes! Finally a Writing Studies Major! In December the Regents formally approved a major that will allow students to concentrate their learning in either Journalism and/or Professional Writing. Students will be able to declare the major beginning with fall semester 2009. Thanks to department head Jill Jenson and all who helped make this possible!

John Schwetman, Assistant Professor of English, has been selected as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Master of Liberal Studies Program.

Paul Cannan of English, John Arthur of Sociology, and Jen Jones of Anthropology, have been selected as faculty participants for the 2009-2010 Study in England Programme.

And SO many wonderful achievements to announce:

Promotions:

Jen Jones, from Assistant Professor of Anthropology to Associate Professor with tenure;
Olaf Kuhlke, from Assistant Professor of Geography to Associate Professor with tenure;
Rosemary Stanfield Johnson, from Assistant Professor of History to Associate Professor with tenure;
Janelle Wilson, from Associate Professor of Sociology to Full Professor.

CLA Recipients of National Awards/Honors:

Scott Freundschuh, Associate Professor of Geography, has been named a Program Director for the Geography and Regional Science Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Science at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC. The post is up to 2 years. Dr. Freundschuh is the third UMD faculty to receive a position at NSF, and the first from the College of Liberal Arts.

Mike Mageau, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Director for the Center for Sustainable Community Development received grants totaling $68,952 from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Park Rapids School District, U of MN’s Northeast Region Sustainable Development Partnership, and Northeast MN’s Clean Energy Resource Team, for a wind resource development project. Mageau, along with Stacey Stark, Director of the Geographic Information Systems Lab, received a $27,625 grant from the Minnesota DNR in support of the Lake Superior Coastal Program.

John Red Horse, Professor of American Indian Studies and Leslie Lilligren, Director Upward Bound, have received a $2,795,340 five-year grant from the Department of Education for the Upward Bound Vision Question Program. Upward Bound UBVQ is an early intervention, college preparation program that works with both low-income and first generation college-bound students in grades 8 - 12 in the Duluth and Minneapolis Public Schools.

Paul Sharp, Professor of Political Science, has been named a visiting fellow at Clingendael, the Netherland’s Institute of International Relations’ Diplomatic Studies Programme. The Fellowship involves a research commitment and periods of study.

Krista Twu, Associate Professor of English, received a $3,000 summer Institute Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her project, "The Medieval Mediterranean and the Emergence of the West." Dr. Twu also received a $10,000 Vice Chancellor’s Special Funding Award for Research/Creative Activity for the “NEH Institute Translation Project”;

Sean Walsh, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, received a $3,000 summer Institute grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

CLA Recipients of System-Wide Awards:

Steve Matthews, Assistant Professor, History, has been selected as a recipient of the University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. This is “a unique two year award designed to enhance the careers of our most promising junior faculty.” The grant provides $32,500 of research support in both year one and year two, with an additional sabbatical or monetary support the second year. Only two other CLA faculty have received this award, Paul Cannan, Associate Professor of English, and Larry Knopp, Professor of Geography & Associate Dean of the Graduate School.

David Beard, Assistant Professor of Writing Studies, received a $9,013 Grant-in-Aid in support of his project: “I.A. Richards: The Meaning of the New Rhetoric.” Beard also received a UMD Single Semester Leave in support of that same project. In addition, Beard, Ken Marunowski, Assistant Professor of Writing Studies and David Gore, Assistant Professor of Communication, received a $13,000 Interdisciplinary Collaboration grant from the Institute for Advanced Study.

Rebecca de Souza, Assistant Professor of Communication, with Adam Pine, Assistant Professor of Geography and Mark Zmudy, Assistant Professor of HPER, received a $24,921 grant from the Institute for Advanced Study in support of their project, “Training the Body to Participate in the Public Sphere.”

Mitra Emad, Associate Professor of Cultural Studies, was selected as a Residential Fellow at the University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Study for the spring of 2009. Dr. Emad joins 2 other CLA faculty, Scott Laderman, History, and Steve Vanderheiden (formerly of Pol Sci), as recipients of this fellowship. Emad was also awarded a Sabbatical for 2008-09 in support of her project, “Reaching the Body: Birth and Death as Sites for Knowledge-in-Action in Health Care Professionalization.”

John Hatcher, Assistant Professor of Journalism, has received a $18,593 Grant-in-Aid in support of his research, Small Media, Big Stories: A Comparative Analysis of the Role of Community-Focused Media in a Democracy.

Ron Marchese, Professor of Humanities & Classics, has received a $6,120 Grant-in-Aid in support of his research, The Plataiai Urban Mapping Project Final Season 2009.

Steve Matthews, Assistant Professor of History, received a $14,116 Grant-in-Aid in support of his project, “Lancelot Andrewes and the Intellectual World of Tudor/Stuart England.”

Garrick Percival, Assistant Professor of Political Science, received a $14,160 Grant-in-Aid in support of his project, “Going ‘Soft’ on Crime: Politics and the Diffusion of Prisoner Reentry Policies in the US States.”

Joe Staats, Assistant Professor of Political Science, has received a $28,971 Grant-in-Aid in support of his research, Measuring Judicial Performance in the Former Communist Countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Recipients of Campus-Wide Awards:

John Arthur, Professor, Sociology-Anthropology, received a $10,000 Vice Chancellor’s Special Funding Award for Research/Creative Activity for “The Brain Drain, Failed States and International Migration from Africa”. Arthur also received a $15,259 Grant-in-Aid in support of his project, “African Immigrant Doctors and Allied Health Care Professionals in the United States and Britain.” In addition, Arthur was named the Albert Tezla Teacher/Scholar for 2007-08.

Beth Austin, Assistant Professor of Communication, received a $2,000 VDIL summer grant for her project “Sticks & Stones.”

Paul Cannan, Associate Professor and head of English, received a $10,200 Vice Chancellor’s Special Funding Award for Research/Creative Activity for “The Making of Shakespeare the Poet.”

Sutapa Chattopadhyay, Assistant Professor, and Pat Farrell, Associate Professor of Geography, received $3880 to bring Dr. Nandini Das, an independent demographer focused who focuses on population and the labor force in countries such as India.

David Cole, Associate Professor of Philosophy, received a Sabbatical in support of his book project, “How Language Works.”

Bill Fleischman, Professor emeritus of Sociology-Anthropology, received a $6,500 grant from the Center for Community and Regional Research. He also received a $7,500 grant from the Duluth Police Department.

Emily Gaarder, Assistant Professor of Criminology, received a $9,000 Vice Chancellor’s Special Funding Award for Research/Creative Activity Sentencing Circles and Intimate Partner Abuse.”

David Gore, Assistant Professor of Communication, received a Single Semester Leave in support of his book project, Rhetoric of Economic Inquiry.

Linda Grover, Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies and Alexis Pogorelskin, Associate Professor of History (with Rick Smith of American Indian Learning Resource Center and Cheryl Reitan of University Relations), received a $4,050 Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative Grant in support of the lecture series, “Personal Histories: American Indians in Minnesota.”

Jen Jones, Associate Professor of Anthropology, received a $5,189 grant from the Center for Community and Regional Research.

Njoki Kamau, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies, received a Sabbatical in support of her project, “The Paradox of Water Development: The Impacts of the Third Nairobi Water Dam (Ndaka-Ini Dam) on Women and Men in Kenya and the Community’s Response.”

Scott Laderman, Assistant Professor of History, received a Single Semester Leave in support of his book project, Surfing. Laderman also received a $19,993 Grant-in-Aid in support of his surfing project. In addition, he received the 2007-08 CLA Teaching Award for Faculty in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd year at UMD.

Suzanne Lyndon, Assistant Academic Advisor for CLA, received the UMD Outstanding Academic Advisor Award.

Chongwon Park, Assistant Professor of Writing Studies, received a $13,100 Vice Chancellor’s Special Funding Award for Research/Creative Activity for “Surface Generalizations of Semantic Delimiters and Their Computational Implementation.”

Maureen Tobin Stanley, Associate Professor of Spanish, received a $8,700 Vice Chancellor’s Special Funding Award for Research/Creative Activity for “Voices and Images of the Holocaust in Spanish Culture.”

Heidi Stark, Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies, received a $2,423 Diversity Grant to bring Dr. John Borrows, Professor of Law and Foundation Chair of Aboriginal Justice and Governance at University of Victoria, British Columbia to campus. Borrows is Canada’s leading Indigenous law scholar who introduces tribal lifestyles, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs into legal focus through the use of oral histories and traditional stories that shape Anishinabe communities.

Stacey Stark, Director of the Geographic Information Systems Lab, received a UMD Outstanding Service Award for Continuous Service.

Melissa Walls, Assistant Professor of Sociology-Anthropology, received the 2007-08 CLA Research Award for tenure-track faculty.

Eileen Zeitz, Professor of Spanish, received the 2007-08 Chancellor’s Outstanding Faculty Adviser Award for the College of Liberal Arts. Zeitz also received the 2007-08 CLA Research Award for tenured faculty.

Gesa Zinn, Associate Professor of German, received a Single Semester Leave in support of her book project, Gypsies in 20th Century Germany.

Recipients of College Awards:

Michael Mullins, Instructor of German Studies, received the 2007-08 CLA Teaching Award for Term Faculty in or beyond the Fourth Year at UMD.

Runa Das, Assistant Professor of Political Science, has received a 2009-10 Single Semester Leave in support of her research, Strategic Culture, Identity, and (In)Security in India’s Nuclear Policy Making.

Hairong Feng, Assistant Professor Communication, has received a 2009-10 Single Semester Leave in support of her research, Supportive Communication Behaviors Across Cultures.

Emily Gaarder, Assistant Professor of Criminology, has received a 2009-10 Single Semester Leave in support of her research, Domestic Violence and Restorative Justice.

Garrick Percival, Assistant Professor of Political Science, has received a 2009-10 Single Semester Leave in support of his research, Rethinking the ‘Tough on Crime’ Paradigm: Politics and the Diffusion of Criminal Justice Reform Policies in the US States.

Comings and Goings

New 2008-09 Faculty:

Juli (“Jake”) Caceres is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Spanish in the department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. His PhD Is from Georgetown University, and his area of expertise is modern and contemporary Spanish, Catalan, and Latin American film, literature, and popular culture.

Kathryn Carlson is a term instructor in Geography. Most recently Carlson worked as a GIS Specialist in the St. Louis County Land Department. Her MS is from the University of Akron.

Jill Doefler is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of American Indian Studies. Her PhD is from the University of Minnesota, and her area of expertise is 20th Century American Indian literature and history.

Ed Downs is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of Communication. His PhD will shortly be from the Pennsylvania State University, and his area of expertise is media effects.

Quaing Fang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of History. His PhD is from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his area of expertise is Chinese Legal, Political and Cultural History.

Weiqing He is a Visiting Professor of Chinese in the department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Most recently she was an Instructor at Ocean University of China. Her PhD is from Sichuan University and her area of expertise is modern and contemporary Chinese Literature.

Mark Jennings is a term Assistant Professor in the department of Political Science and the director of our Mock Trial program. His JD is from William Mitchell College of Law and his area of expertise is Constitutional Law.

Alison Klawiter is a term Instructor in the department of Writing Studies. Most recently she was a Grad TA in the department of English at UMD, where she earned her MA.

Hilary Kowino is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of English. His PhD will shortly be from Michigan State University and his area of expertise is African Literature.

Dan Martin is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of Sociology-Anthropology. His PhD is from the University of Minnesota, and his area of expertise is community organizations and social movements.

Tristram McPerson is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of Philosophy. His PhD is from Princeton University, and his area of expertise is metaethics, normative ethics, and moral epistemology.

Kathryn Milun is a tenure-track Assistant Professor Cultural Studies in the department of Sociology-Anthropology. Her PhD is from the University of Minnesota and her area of expertise includes the cultural and social dimensions of global and urban commons.

Amy Shuster is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of Political Science. She is ABD at Princeton University, and her area of expertise is political theory, 20th Century social & political thought, and South Asian politics & culture.

Joseph Staats is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of Political Science. His PhD is from the University of California, Riverside, and his area of expertise is public law/judicial politics, and political theory.

Jeremy Youde is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of Political Science. His PhD is from the University of Iowa, and his area of expertise is international relations and comparative politics.

Rochelle Zuck is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of English. Her PhD is from the Pennsylvania State University, and her area of expertise is American Literature before 1900.

New 2008-09 Staff:

Susan Bonomo is the new Program Associate for the Masters of Advocacy and Political Leadership program. She comes to us from the University of Wisconsin Superior where she most recently served as an associate with Continuing Education.

Stephen Graham is a GIS Lab Research Associate. Most recently he was a senior GIS Programmer/Analysis at the Pennsylvania State University, and his PhD is from the University of Texas at Austin. His areas of expertise include GIS, climate modeling, hydrology, and web development

Michele Hatcher is the new Coordinator for Undeclared Student Advising. This is a “new” position funded by the Chancellor and has responsibilities with CLA, CEHSP, and SCSE. Most recently Hatcher was a part-time academic advisor in the CLA Student Advising Center. Her MA is from the University of Rochester and her area of expertise is developmental advising.

Vicki Jacoba is the new KUMD Station Manager and Journalism Instructor. Most recently she was the Chair of Electronic Media Studies and Radio Consultant for KIWR-FM at Iowa Western Community College. Her MA is from Fort Hays State University

Adam Meyer is the CLA Director of Development. Most recently he served as the Development Director for the University of Alabama Honors College. He holds a PhD from Michigan State University and a Certificate in Fund Raising Management from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Retirements:

Tom Bacig, Professor Cultural Studies
William Fleischman, Professor of Sociology
J. Clark Laundergan, Professor of Sociology
Roger Lipps, Associate Professor of English
Rick Seybolt, Associate Professor of Spanish