In the February edition of “The Pharos,” a monthly newsletter featuring the accomplishments of faculty, 22 faculty members were recognized for their accolades over the previous academic year.
In Print:
In Christ Pallant and Christopher Halliday’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives on Production, Reception, Legacy,” Dr. Terrence Lindvall wrote a chapter that playfully looked at global parodies of the 1937 Walt Disney feature film. He noted that “feature and short animated films offer indirect ways of communicating values.”
In addition, Lindvall also authored another chapter that was not recognized in “The Pharos.” In Dr. Kathy Merlock Jackson, Dr. Lisa Lyon Payne, and Dr. Kathy Stolley’s “Animals and Ourselves,” he wrote a chapter that investigated various models of what anthropomorphic cartoon characters laugh at and why.
Both chapters act as parables that adhere to Horace’s ideal of utile et dulce, texts that are both instructive and entertaining. Both chapters utilize celebrated analyses of the cultural and aesthetic landmark Disney features.
Other accomplishments in print included Dr. Sara Sewell’s published book chapter entitled, “Antifascism in the Neighborhood: Daily Life, Political Cultural, and Gender Politics in the German Communist Antifascist Movement, 1930-1933” which was featured in the Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies. Dr. Lisa Lyon Payne, along with three coauthors, published “Keeping the Lights on and the Wolves Outside: College Student Media Advisers in Communities of Practice.” Dr. Stephen Hock published a chapter focused on sustainability entitled, “Just Junk in a Safeway Cart I’m Pushing Down to the Recycling Center: The Aesthetics of Ecology in Michael Robbins’s Poetry.”
In just this last month, Dr. Nadia Nafar and Dr. Kenneth Yung published a paper titled “Political Freedom and Form Cash Holdings” in the Virginia Economic Journal, and Dr. Joyce Easter, Dr. Deb Otis, and Dr. Maury Howard published “Chemical Reactions” in the POGIL Activity Clearinghouse Journal.
Presentations and Panels:
Dr. Jason Squinobal featured eight compositions that explored the synthesis of electronic and acoustic music. He was joined in performance with his group, the Trio Atomic. The group recorded, edited, and produced the video in its entirety. Squinobal was accompanied by his group members, Will McPeters and Mike Laubach, who are adjunct faculty members at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Other accomplishments in this area included Dr. Ben Haller for his presentation of his paper, “Orpheus and Orfeu: Marcel Camus Eastertide Pagan Temporale.” Dr. Scott Ramsey presented his paper, “2020 Vision: How a Global Pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement Focused our Teaching.” George Jackson presented a paper entitled, “Differential Tax Treatment of Debt vs. Equity: How Do You Draw a Line That Doesn’t Exist?” at the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing’s Mid-Year Fellow Workshop.
In the last month, Dr. Marielle Postava-Davington presented a talk titled “Adventure of a Termite Ecologist: Learning to Make the Most of What Nature Gives You” as a part of a virtual seminar series hosted by the Lincoln Memorial University School of Mathematics and Sciences.
Various other accomplishments:
Various other accomplishments included Dr. Joyce Easter for her three-year appointment to the Small College Committee of the National Collegiate Honors Council. Stephen Leist was appointed to the editorial board of Virginia Libraries, the publication of the Virginia Library Association, for a two-year term. Additionally, Dr. Doug Kennedy was one of nine people appointed by the US Department of Justice to serve on the Tort Claimants Committee (TCC) in the Boy Scouts bankruptcy proceedings.
Lastly, Dr, Craig Wansink was featured in the last section of the newsletter, entitled “Community Engagement.” He was recognized for the first-ever presentation of his course, “Extreme Religion: The Body and Rituals from World Religions.” Dr. Benson Fraser was also recognized for beginning his course, “Mass Communication and its Influence.”
By Jack Palmer
jrpalmer@vwu.edu
