BU Prof Awarded Phi Kappa Phi Literacy Grant

Congratulations to Dr. Mary Katherine Waibel Duncan of the Bloomsburg University Department of Psychology, recipient of a Phi Kappa Phi Literacy Grant in support of “Handmade Literacy for Our Hometown." Working with the BU Toy Library, faculty and students from the university’s chapter of Phi Kappa Phi will educate elementary and middle school-aged children about the needs of the community and engage the children in literacy-based service projects. The literacy projects will include fashioning inspirational banners to adorn the rooms of residents at assisted living facilities and nursing homes, handcrafting cards for displaced children and their families residing at local hospitality houses and creating informational posters to share the stories of animals awaiting adoption at local shelters.

The Phi Kappa Phi Literacy Grant program was initiated in 2003 to provide funding to Phi Kappa Phi chapters and active members for ongoing projects or new initiatives that reinforce part of the Society's mission "to engage the community of scholars in service to others." Drawing from a multi-disciplinary Society of students and scholars from large and small institutions, applicants are encouraged to consider literacy projects that have creative relevance to their disciplines and to the needs of their communities.

Scholarship Takes to the Stage

Scholarship takes many forms. For David A. Miller, assistant professor in the Theatre & Dance Division, scholarship includes directing professional theatre and this summer he is doing just that: directing The Nosemaker's Apprentice: Chronicles of a Medieval Plastic Surgeon for Amphibian Stage Productions in Fort Worth, TX. The play, according to its authors, is part Monty Python and part Airplane. Fans of Mel Brooks and South Park will also delight in the particular brand of humor in this play.

 Alexandra Lawrence as Amelia and Scott Weinrich as Gavin
in technical rehearsals for The Nosemaker's Apprentice.

About The Nosemaker's Apprentice: "A father weaves a magic tale for his daughter to justify his unlicensed plastic surgery practice, tracing the origins of cosmetic surgery to craftsmen in medieval Europe. The hero of this tale is Gavin, a young orphan rescued from a dismal existence in the Ivanhoe Workhouse for Criminally Impoverished Boys when he is apprenticed with the local Nosemaker, and who eventually becomes one of the finest surgeons in Vienna, cradle of quack medicine." (Samuel French, Inc.)

It's not the first visit to Cowtown for Miller. Over the course of the past 10 years, David has directed 6 full productions and 4 staged readings for Amphibian. He first connected with Amphibian company members through colleagues in graduate school at Rutgers University, where he earned his MFA in Directing. His most recent Amphibian productions include a reading of On the Ceiling, about two artisans at work on the Sistine Chapel, and a production of Wittenberg, about Hamlet's senior year at Wittenberg University where his professors are Martin Luther and Doctor Faustus.

Bloomsburg University audiences will have a chance to see The Nosemaker's Apprentice when it is performed as part of the BU Players' 2014-15 season. For more about the BU Players' season, visit http://www.bloomu.edu/buplayers-current. For more about the Fort Worth production and Amphibian, visit http://www.amphibianproductions.org/2014-Nosemakers_Apprentice.htm. For more about David's professional work, visit http://mrdavidamiller.com/.

Photo: Alexandra Lawrence as Amelia and Scott Weinrich as Gavin in technical rehearsals for The Nosemaker's Apprentice.  

Students Inducted into Anthropology Honor Society

On May 2, 2014 twenty-five Anthropology students were inducted into the Lambda Alpha National Collegiate Honor Society in Anthropology in the Schweiker room of Andruss Library.  Gabrielle Vielhauer was recognized as Outstanding Senior in Anthropology, Erika Maxson was awarded the Wymer and Warner Anthropology Scholarship, and graduating seniors, conference presenters, and student scholarship and grant recipients were recognized in the annual anthropology honors reception and induction ceremony. 

Below are some photos of the event. Congratulations to all!

We Make History, Part 2: History Professor Michael Hickey on his Fulbright Senior Specialist fellowship in Smolensk, Russia

Students stand up at their desks when the professor walks in to the classroom at the start of a lecture at Smolensk State University in the Russian Federation.  They then wait until the professor says “good morning” to be seated.  It is an old practice, a nineteenth century holdover no longer common in Russia’s main metropolitan centers like Moscow and St. Petersburg, but indicative of the strength of traditions in provincial Russia.   And yet the classrooms there are nothing if not modern, equipped with “smart boards” and various other computer technology.  It is one of the many contrasts one encounters in teaching at Smolensk State University—or SmolGU—one of Russia’s oldest public institutions of higher education.  SmolGU is the largest of the two dozen universities, colleges, and technical institutes in Smolensk, a city of about 300,000 people that this year is celebrating its 1,175th anniversary.
    
    Since the late 1980s I’ve spent so much time in Smolensk working on research projects that the assistant director at the regional historical archives jokes about my being a member of her staff.  I’d given public talks at SmolGU and occasionally sat in on the courses of friends who teach there, but I’d never formally presented a series of lectures there.  That is, until this May and early June, when I had the honor of being a Fulbright Senior Specialist at Smolensk State University.

Courses at SmolGU meet twice a week, for 90 minutes per session.  My hosts at the university organized my schedule so that I could sandwich lectures into my daily research visits to the region’s historical archives.  I presented two sets of lectures on very different topics to students in two very different programs—history students studying in the faculty of History and Law, and English language students studying in the faculty of philology and foreign languages.  Each lecture was followed by a long and spirited question and answer period, which sometimes had to continue in the hallway so that students and faculty in the next period’s courses could use their classroom.

In courses for the Department of History and Law, my talks focused on English-language historical writing about modern Russia.  These were divided into presentations on three different themes:  the events of 1914-1921 (World War One, the 1917 Russian revolutions, and the Russian civil war); the collectivization of agriculture and its consequences in 1929-1934; and the origins of the Great Terror of 1936-1938.  I presented these talks for students enrolled in “special topics” history courses, with about twenty students in each course.  Inevitably, students’ questions led to discussions of US-Russian relations during and since the Cold War.  After my first lecture, two students in particular pushed me to explain and defend what they described as “aggressive” and “inappropriate” US policy towards Russia during this year’s crisis in Ukraine—a moment that tested my ability to construct precise diplomatic Russian sentences.   After I explained that President Obama rarely calls me on the phone for advice on policy matters, the mood lightened considerably (and I faced no subsequent questions on the topic).  As a rule, students asked excellent questions about historiography and historical methods and sources, and were particularly interested in my own research.  More than anything, though, they wanted to know why an American would spend his entire adult life studying not just Russian history, but the history of their home town….

The second series of lectures, for students studying English, had a very different tone.  These lectures were open to all students, with the result that the room—which held 75 students--was packed past capacity for each session.  Since the students were studying English, I was asked to speak in English (which, frankly, was a great relief).  And because the students were preparing for general examinations that include sections on the American and British educational systems, I was asked to focus on education in the US.  I organized my presentations around three interrelated themes:  ethnic, racial and cultural diversity as a defining aspect of US culture; the constitutional division of power between federal, state, and local governments in the US; and the organizational and funding structures of K-12 and higher education in the US.  These talks led to very lively discussions in which students asked me, for example, to explain what is distinctly “American” about American culture.  Most of all, though, students wanted to know about college life in the US and about the relationship between their own experience and the experience of students at Bloomsburg University.

During my visit, BU and SmolGU began discussions towards setting up a new student exchange program.  So perhaps in a year or two, students from SmolGU can learn firsthand what life is like here in Bloomsburg—where they will find that students do not stand at attention when the professor enters the classroom.  And BU students will have the amazing opportunity to study Russian language and culture in the beautiful ancient city of Smolensk.

Michael C. Hickey
Department of History

We Make History: Student Receives Best Article Award

Congratulations to Rebecca Anderson, a "remarkable" student according to Dr. Jeanette Keith of the History department. Rebecca is finishing her M.Ed at BU and is currently enrolled as an undergraduate in the Nursing program(!). Rebecca was recently selected as the recipient of the Nebraska State Historical Society's James L. Sellers Memorial Award for 2014. An independent panel of scholars selected her article "'Grandma Gabel, she brought Ralph': Midwifery and the Lincoln, Nebraska Department of Health in the Early Twentieth Century" as the best article published in Nebraska History during 2013. 

Bloomsburg Explores Digital Humanities

This spring the Bloomsburg University Institute for Culture and Society’s Annual “Bloomsburg Explores” Symposium presents Bloomsburg Explores Digital Humanities. The symposium is a three-day series of discussions, lectures and other events centering on digital tools and projects relevant to faculty and student creative work and scholarship, and on the future of digital liberal arts.

The lineup for the symposium includes the following events:

Faculty Panel Discussion: “Digital Tools and Projects in the Arts and Humanities” (Monday, April 14 at 3 PM in Centennial 239) featuring Professors Sue O’Donnell (Art and Art History), Alla Myzelev (Art and Art History), Robert Dunkelberger (Library), Stephanie Schlitz (English), Christopher Podeschi (Sociology), Jennifer Whisner (EGGS), M. Safa Saracoglu (History)

Student Panel Discussion: “Digital Projects In and Out of the Classroom” (Wednesday, April 16 at 7 PM in Centennial 201) An all-student panel will discuss class-based projects, internship projects and student participation in University-related programs (e.g., the BU Writing Center, the Center for Community Research and Consulting, the University Archives, and the Magee Archives Project)

Professor William Pannapacker

Featured Guest Lecture: "Stop Calling it Digital Humanities, Start Calling it Digital Liberal Arts" April 21, at 7 PM, McCormick Center for Human Services Rm. 1303) from Professor William Pannapacker, Professor of English at Hope College and founding director of the Hope College Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Scholars Program in the Arts and Humanities, which has become a model for the integration of digital technology into undergraduate research in the humanities.

The Institute for Culture and Society promotes research, scholarship, and the creative and performing arts in the College of Liberal Arts at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. The Institute organizes lectures, presentations, and performances that explore and elucidate aspects of human culture and society. Through such events, the ICS works to share the intellectual and creative achievements of COLA faculty and students with the Bloomsburg University community and with the regional community.

For more information, visit the ICS Symposiums page.

History Student Presents Research at the National Collegiate Honors Council in New Orleans

Allison Huber, a BU senior double-majoring in History and Secondary Education/Citizenship, presented a research paper at the National Collegiate Honors Council annual conference in New Orleans this past November on the topic of "The Nobles in the French Revolution."  Her presentation summarized findings from her year-long BU Honors Independent Study project, mentored by History professor Michael Hickey.

Allison Huber presenting at the National Collegiate Honors Council,
courtesy of Michael Hickey

Huber presented her work on a panel at the National Collegiate Honors Council annual conference, which gathered on November 6-10 in New Orleans.  The event brought together hundreds of Honors Students from across the country, including seven BU students.  Huber was the group's only COLA representative and the only BU student to present a formal paper rather than participate in a poster session.  Her paper was selected by a NCHC research committee in a competitive process and was included in a panel on Student Interdisciplinary Research. 

Huber studied how aristocrats described and understood their own experiences during the French Revolution in their diaries, journals, letters, and memoirs, and used that information to make generalizations about how nobles viewed and reacted to revolutionary transformations of society. 

She found that many nobles in France initially supported the Revolution. In general, though, noble fear of the revolutionary government started soon after the abolition of privileges in 1789 and then multiplied as the moderate revolutionary government of 1789-92 instituted increasingly anti-aristocratic policies. Noble fear and hatred of the revolution peaked with the Jacobin Reign of Terror in 1793-94. Huber concluded that tracing the evolution of aristocratic attitudes in 1789-1794 helps us understand the nobility's actions during the Third, or Thermidorian, Phase of the Revolution in 1795-1799. 

The fifteen minute presentation focused on the sources Huber used and her research methods, her main conclusions, and possible areas for further research.  Her presentation was followed by questions from the panel discussant and the audience.  "It was an incredible experience and I was proud to represent the university and the Honors Program,” said Huber.