Villanova University Award June2010

OnFriday, April 16, 2010, Villanova University’s master’sprogram inHuman Resource Development celebrated its30 year anniversary with a fundraising gala at OverbrookGolf Club in BrynMawr.More than 150 friends and alumniof the program were in attendance.

The event included a keynote speech by JohnM.Murabito,executive vice president of Human Resources and Servicesat Cigna Corporation. The 2009HRExecutive of theYear spoke on significant issues affecting the field of humanresources (HR) today. Mistress of Ceremonies was LynnDoyle, executive producer and host of “It’s Your Call withLynnDoyle” on the Comcast Network.

Outstanding Alumni Awards were also presented tothree graduates of the master’s degree program inHumanResource Development from the past ten years. Nomineeswere identified by their peers and fellow program alumniaccording to their impact on theHR field, leadership,creativity and innovation, customer focus, applied technicalHR knowledge and stewardship. The winners wereMelanieStephano,M.S. ’02, vice president of Human Resources forSCA Personal Care; Leon Singletary, M.S. ’05, principal ofFirst Contact HR and current president of Greater ValleyForgeHuman Resources Association; and JohnGarber,M.S. ’06, vice president at The Addis Group.

David F. Bush, Ph.D., founded theHuman ResourceDevelopment graduate program in 1980 and has been thedirector and a full-time faculty member for the last 30 years.Villanova University President, the Reverend PeterM.Donohue, O.S.A., and the dean of Graduate Studies in theCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Adele Lindenmeyr,Ph.D., announced the establishment of a new endowedscholarship for theHuman Resource Development program,the David F. Bush Scholarship. In addition to the funds raisedby the gala for the scholarship, the endowment received agenerous challenge pledge from Bisk Education, Villanova’spartner in the newly launched online master’s degreeprogram inHuman Resource Development.

Over $35,000 in corporate sponsorships were raised tohelp support the event and contribute to the David F. BushScholarship fund. Gala partner Trion and platinum sponsor

Graduate Human Resource Development Program Celebrates 30 Years

June 2010 | Volume Forty-Nine, Issue Three

A newsletter by and for the graduate programs of Liberal Arts & Sciences

GRADUATE LIBERALARTS & SCIENCES NEWS

In this Issue:

Highlight: Hispanic Studies 2Highlight: Political Science 4Department & Faculty News 6Faculty Profiles 11Student News 13Student Profiles 16Theses & Dissertations 18

Left to right: The Reverend Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., Villanova UniversityPresident; David F. Bush, Ph.D., Founder and Director of the Villanova HRDprogram; and Adele Lindenmeyr, Ph.D., Dean of Graduate Studies in theCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

continued on page 12

Outstanding Alumni Award winners (left to right) Leon Singletary, M.S. ’05,Principal of First Contact HR and current President of Greater Valley ForgeHuman Resources Association; Melanie Stephano, M.S. ’02, Vice Presidentof Human Resources for SCA Personal Care; and John Garber, M.S. ’06,Vice President at The Addis Group.

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Highlight:

GRADUATE HISPANIC STUDIESGraduate Program in HispanicStudies Welcomes DiverseCommunity of StudentsThe graduate program inHispanicStudies continues to grow with full-and part-time students who have diversebackgrounds from around the countryand the world. The program preparesstudents to become first-rate scholarsand teachers. For some, the master’s

is the final degree, while others plan tocontinue their studies in doctoralprograms.

“I consider myself very fortunateto learn from the experts inHispanicliterature and linguistics, who proved tobe not only great lecturers, but also verytrustworthy advisors who care abouttheir students,” said JelenaMihailovic,a formerM.A. student who is currentlypursuing her doctorate at the CityUniversity of NewYork.

Teachers from area schools arewelcome. In addition to the master’sdegree, many teachers are interested in a

pre- or post-master’s certificate. Theprogram offers courses such as SpanishTeachingMethodology as well as courseslike, “Obras maestras de la lituraturahispanica,” or “Masterpieces of HispanicLiterature,” which is especially designedfor teachers of Spanish AP literaturecourses and is offered this summer.Students enjoy the warm, welcomingatmosphere of the program, and

Villanova offers special reduced tuitionrates to all primary- and secondary-school teachers and administrators.

“The program is an excellentacademic experience. It maintainsa fine balance between reading primarymaterials, learning fromwork ofcontemporary and past scholars,and developing original ideas throughwriting and research,” said BrianYates, a formerM.A. student who iscurrently teaching Spanish at Red RocksCommunity College in Lakewood,Colorado. “The graduate programat Villanova is also a community,”

he continued. “Each of the professorstakes a very personalized approach totheir classes and students.”

Festival de Poesía en VillanovaOnMarch 25 – 27, 2010, the graduateprogram held its inaugural PoetryFestival on the Villanova Universitycampus. The three days of eventsincluded poetry readings, roundtablediscussions and the reading of academicpapers presented by poets and scholarsfrom 10 countries.

The festival included a special visitby Floridor Pérez, a renowned Chileanpoet perhaps best known for hiscollection “Cartas de prisionero,”based on his imprisonment during thePinochet dictatorship. Floridor Pérezread his poetry in the Connelly CenterCinema on the opening night of thefestival. Another special guest wasBrazilian poet Cristiane Grando, whoread her poetry during the closingrecital. The full roster of poets alsoincludedMaría Elena Arias Zelidón (ElSalvador), David Barreto (Ecuador),Andrea Cote Botero (Colombia),Silvino EdwardDíaz Burns (PuertoRico), Rodolfo Figueroa (Chile),Andrés González (Spain), GladysIlarregui (Argentina), Carlos Jiménez(Spain), VíctorMartín Iglesias (Spain),Magnolia Pérez Garrido (Cuba),Salvatore Poeta (United States, born inSicily), Joseph Robertson (UnitedStates), Enrique Sacerio-Garí (Cuba),Cristina Sánchez Conejero (Spain),Róger Santiváñez (Perú) and CarlosTrujillo (Chile).

The idea for the festival was bornone year ago in Villanova’s Spanishpoetry workshop, which is held everyMonday night on campus. CarlosTrujillo, Ph.D., associate professor ofSpanish and director of the graduateprogram inHispanic Studies atVillanova, was instrumental in making

Festival de Poesia Participants: Standing: graduate student Carlos Yushimito del Valle, former graduatestudent Stacy Aguirre, former graduate student and MLL faculty member Joseph Robertson, formergraduate student and associate professor at the University of North Texas Cristina Sanchez Conejero,graduate student Shawn Teague, former graduate student Jelena Mihailovic, and faculty memberDr. Salvatore Poeta. Seated: graduate student Andres Gonzalez Sanchez.

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the idea a reality. Dr. Trujillo, an award-winning Chilean poet, has directed thepoetry workshop since 1992, helping tocreate an atmosphere in which poets canactively explore their craft and grow.Mercedes Juliá, Ph.D., chair of theDepartment ofModern Languages anda specialist in contemporary poetry,welcomed the poets, scholars andattendees on the opening night of thefestival along with Adele Lindenmeyr,Ph.D., dean of Graduate Studies.

Scholars from the Spanish RoyalAcademy of the Language, Villanova’sgraduate program inHispanic Studies,and from other universities and severalnations attended the events. Thepresenters of academic papers exploredtopics such as “the temptation of NewYork” in the works of Spanish poetsJuan Ramón Jiménez, Federico GarcíaLorca, JoséHierro and JoséMaríaFonollosa. Another section explored thetopic, “distance and proximity,phenomenology and apocryphalhistories in the works of Chilean poets.”There was one event in English, inwhich four members of Villanova’sfaculty explored the art of translatingpoetry from four very differentperspectives. Stacy Aguirre, JillBlackstone, JelenaMihailovic andCristina Sánchez Conejero, all graduates

of the master’s degree program inHispanic Studies, returned to Villanova,making the journey from as far as NewYork and Texas to participate in thefestival.

Dr. Trujillo, Cristiane Grando,Floridor Pérez and Joseph Robertsonpresented books of their own poetry onFriday afternoon. The poetry recital onFriday night of the festival included livemusic by Grupo Reverberación andalso a post-recital dinner held in the St.Augustine Center. All of the events werewell attended by both the Villanovacommunity and the general public.

An anthology of poetry was publishedin connection with the festival thanks toDr. Trujillo and Joseph Robertson. Thecontributions of the poets and scholars

who attended will be collected in thespring edition of theNaufragios literaryjournal, published by the poetryworkshop and the Department ofModern Languages, online.Naufragioscan be accessed atwww.villanova.edu/artsci/modernlanglit/spanish/naufragios.htm

New Graduate Program DirectorSiliva Nagy-Zekmi, Ph.D., will assumethe position of graduate programdirector in August. Dr. Nagy-Zekmisucceeds Dr. Trujillo, who has servedin this capacity for five years. Thedepartment wishes to extend thanksto Dr. Truijillo for his service andprogram leadership.

For additional information about the Hispanic Studies program please visitwww.villanova.edu/artsci/modernlanglit/graduate

Left to right: Joseph Robertson, Floridor Pérez (Chile), ChristianeGrando (Brazil), and Carlos Trujillo. Trujillo and Robertson prepared theanthology of poetry. Floridor Pérez (guest speaker, poet from Chile),Cristiane Grando (guest speaker, poet from Brazil, Director of InstitutoBrasileiro de Cultura, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Dr. Salvatore Poetaand Chilean poetFloridor Pérez at theFestival de Poesia.

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Highlight:

GRADUATE POLITICAL SCIENCEPolitical Science GraduateProgram Continues to GrowThrough a wide selection of courses,theMaster of Arts in Political Scienceat Villanova offers students theopportunity to get a thoroughunderstanding of the key issues indomestic and international politics.Students use this knowledge to go on todoctoral programs, law schools, publicemployment, jobs in the nonprofitsector or various international careers.A joint agreement with theMaster ofPublic Administration program enablesstudents to combine their substantiveinterests in politics with the moreapplied knowledge about publicadministration and non-profitmanagement.

The strength and vitality of theprogram reflects the wide range ofactivities in which the department isinvolved as well as the accomplishmentsof its members and graduates.

Faculty ChangesA.Maria Toyoda, Ph.D., was namedthe new department chair last fall afterLowell Gustafson, Ph.D., became thenew associate dean for Arts andSciences. Robert Langran, Ph.D., hadserved as an interim department chairfor one year. Marcus Kreuzer, Ph.D.,continues as director of the graduateprogram in political science. In 2009 –2010, the program also hired two newfaculty: public administration specialist,LaurenMiltenberger, and a newspecialist in Russian politics, Mark L.Schrad, Ph.D.

Dr. Schrad joins the program thisfall from theUniversity of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign, where he taughtcourses in international relations andcomparative politics. He holds adoctorate in political science from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison andhas conducted research in the fields ofRussian and European politics, historical

institutionalism, transnational activism,organizational sociology and theinterface of ideas and institutions inpolicymaking. His work has appearedin numerous scholarly journals includingPolicy Studies Journal, Global EnvironmentalChange, PS: Political Science and Politics,Journal of Policy History and NationalitiesPapers, as well as commentaries in ForeignAffairs, TheMoscow Times and The NewYork Times. He is the author of “ThePolitical Power of Bad Ideas: Networks,Institutions, and the Global ProhibitionWave” (OxfordUniversity Press 2010),and is currently writing a book entitled,“Vodka Politics: Autocracy and Alcoholin Russia,” concerning the history ofalcohol-control politics in Russia, andprospects for addressing the post-Sovietdemographic catastrophe.

Miltenberger is completing herdoctoral work at the University ofDelaware, where she has been a corefaculty member involved in the designand implementation of a new

undergraduate public policy program.Her research experience includesserving as co-leader of a mixed methodstudy investigating the relationshipbetween nonprofit social serviceproviders and the State of Delaware.TheUrban Institute is currently usingthis study as a model for a new nationalproject on the nonprofit-governmentrelationship. Prior to attending theUniversity of Delaware, Miltenbergerheld executive nonprofit managementpositions and worked for a public policyresearch institute at Rutgers University.Her primary research interests includenonprofit management, governance andleadership issues, and the intersectionbetween nonprofits and government inthe modern welfare state. The two newhires as well as additional ones in theyears to come will further strengthen themaster’s program in Political Science.

John R. Johannes, Ph.D., will returnto teaching political science after fifteenyears as vice president for Academic

A. Maria Toyoda, Ph.D., Chair of Political Science Department

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Affairs. Dr. Johannes teaches Americangovernment and his research focuses onCongress.

In other faculty news, Dr. Gustafsonand Thomas W. Smith, Ph.D., wereboth appointed as associate deans inthe College of Liberal Arts and Sciencesfor social science and humanities,respectively. Jeffrey Hahn, Ph.D., thedepartment’s long time Russia specialist,retired two years ago. TheUniversityawardedDr. Hahn Emeritus status and heperiodically assists by teaching hispopular Russia courses. HafeezMalik,Ph.D., retired last year and also receivedpromotion to Professor Emeritus inMay2010. Dr.Malik is an internationalexpert in South-Asian politics, directorof the Institute for Pakistani Studies andeditor of the Journal of South Asian andMiddle Eastern Studies. Finally, RobertMaranto, Ph.D., left Villanova to accepta position as the new chair in EducationLeadership in the Department ofEducation Reform at the Universityof Arkansas. This new position willallow him to more fully pursue hislongstanding interest in educationalreform and his passion for charterschools.

Faculty AccomplishmentsDr. Toyoda was the Center for GlobalPartnership Japan Fellow at the Centerfor Strategic and International Studiesin Washington, D.C., in spring 2010,and theNonresident Visiting Scholar,InternationalMonetary Fund, inspring 2009.

Catherine Warrick, Ph.D., wasawarded a highly competitive NationalScience Foundation grant to examineproposals for Islamic law in Westerndemocracies, focusing on the UnitedKingdom and Canada. The projectinvestigates three key elements of theissue: Current and recent Islamic lawproposals; the variables that affectwhy and where such proposals are putforward; and the factors affecting thepopularity of, or hostility toward, suchproposals inMuslim communities andin the general population. One of themain objectives of this research is to

analyze the potentialeffect of such proposalson several key aspects ofdemocracy, includingwomen’s rights,religious freedom andminority inclusion. Theresearch is funded by agrant from theNationalScience Foundation’sLaw and Social Scienceprogram.

Catherine E.Wilson, Ph.D, assistantprofessor of PoliticalScience and nonprofitcoordinator in theM.P.A. program atVillanova, was theWilliam E. Simon Visiting Fellow inReligion and Public Life at the JamesMadison Program for the Study ofAmerican Ideals and Institutions atPrincetonUniversity during the 2009 –2010 academic year. During that year,she began preparing a manuscriptregarding the role that public, privateand nonprofit organizations are playingin the politics of immigration in the cityof Philadelphia. Wilson has participatedin select conferences, symposia andseminars concerning her study andcontinues to provide her insights tomedia outlets on the topic of UnitedStates immigration policy.

Satya Pattnayak, Ph.D., professorof Sociology and Political Science,received a Title IV Grant from theU.S. Department of Education to fundresearch, educational programs andpublic events dealing with Brazil.

Departmental ActivitiesThe department regularly co-sponsorsevents that are part of Villanova’spartnership with Catholic ReliefServices (CRS). CRS is the principleagency of the U.S. Catholic communitydealing with humanitarian assistanceand economic development indeveloping nations. Dr. Toyoda,Christine Palus, Ph.D., Dr. WilsonandDr. Kreuzer regularly participate

in on-campus events organized throughthis partnership.

The department is the home of theMatthew J. Ryan Center for the Studyof Free Institutions and the Public Goodat Villanova University, which promotesinquiry into the principles and processesof free government and seeks to advanceunderstanding of the responsibilities ofstatesmen and citizens of constitutionaldemocratic societies. The Centercommemorates the life and work ofMatthew J. Ryan, who was a memberof the Pennsylvania House ofRepresentatives for over 40 years andserved as speaker of the PennsylvaniaHouse of Representatives. Ryanreceived his Bachelor of Science fromVillanova University and his JurisDoctor from the Villanova UniversitySchool of Law. The Center sponsors anumber of visiting scholars as well aspublic lectures at Villanova.

The department was the host of theMid-Atlantic Region Association forAsian Studies Annual Conference inOctober 2009, including an AsiaBeyond Borders workshop and aTeaching Asia workshop that wereheld at Villanova.

For additional information aboutthe Political Science programplease visit www.psc.villanova.edu

Current M.A. students in Dr. Toyoda’s Development and Aid course.

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Graduate Liberal Arts & Sciences

DEPARTMENT & FACULTY NEWSApplied StatisticsMichael A. Posner, Ph.D., is theco-principle investigator and statisticianon a recently awarded four-year, $2.4millionNational Science Foundationgrant, in partnership with the 21stCentury Partnership for Science,Technology, Engineering, andMathematics (STEM) Education.The grant, entitled Proficiency-basedAssessment and Reassessment ofLearningOutcomes (PARLO), is arandomized controlled trial of 44 highschools in the greater Philadelphia areaaimed at evaluating the impact that anew assessment paradigm in ninth gradealgebra and geometry will have onstudent achievement, engagement andattitudes towards math. Dr. Posner isthe 2010 recipient of Villanova’sInnovative Teaching Award. His paper,entitled, “Managing the gradingparadox: Leveraging the power of choicein the classroom,” was awarded bestpaper for the 2010 Academy ofManagement annual meeting. He iscurrently serving as past-chair of theSpecial Interest Group of theMathematical Association of Americaon Statistics Education,Member-at-Large on the Executive Board of theAmerican Statistical Association’sSection on Statistics Education.

BiologyAaron M. Bauer, Ph.D., recentlypublished papers he coauthoredwith a formerM.S. student entitled,“Ecological notes on two sympatricPsammophis species from East Africa”in African Journal of Herpetology and“Sexual size dimorphism andreproduction in the Asian sand snakePsammophis condanarus (Psamophiidae)”inHamadryad (see Student News, page12). He also published “Ecologicalobservations on the Gargoyle Gecko,Rhacodactylus auriculatus (Bavay, 1869) insouthernNewCaledonia” in Salamandra

with a formerM.S. student (see StudentNews, page 12). Dr. Bauer taught aHerpetology course sponsored by theIndian government in Guwahati, Assam,northeast India, in November 2009.The intensive three-week courseattracted graduate students fromthroughout India and neighboringcountries. InMarch 2010 he spoke on“New Phylogenies andNew Species ofGeckos from the South Pacific” to theÖsterreichische Gesellschaft fürHerpetologie in Vienna, Austria. InApril 2010, Dr. Bauer and a recentM.S. student were guests of the NewZealandDepartment of Conservationand Te Papa, the NationalMuseum ofNewZealand, where they conductedcollaborative research on the systematicsof NewZealand lizard species (seeStudent News, page 13).Samantha K. Chapman, Ph.D., recentlypublished a paper entitled, “Biodiversityat the plant-soil interface: microbialabundance and community structurerespond to litter mixing,” in the journalOecologia.

CommunicationQi Wang, Ph.D., published a paperentitled, “Anxiety and uncertaintymanagement in an intercultural setting:The impact on organization-publicrelationships,” in a recent issue of theJournal of Public Relations Research and anarticle in the book: “Interculturalcommunication between China and theWorld: Interpersonal, organizationalandmediated perspectives.” She alsopublished an article entitled, “Comparingthe perceptions of success, attributions,andmotivations between the Chineseand the U.S. cultures,’’ in a recent issueofChinaMedia Research. The article wascoauthored with a former graduatestudent (see Student News, page 12).Dr. Wang’s paper, “I avoid conflictbecause I care,” a cross-culturalexamination of conflict avoidance

strategies, was accepted for presentationto the Social CognitionDivision at theNCA convention. She also served as the2009 – 2010 newsletter editor for theAssociation for Chinese CommunicationStudies, and has been elected to be chairof the 2010 election committee.Bill Cowen, Ph.D., was recently featuredin an article in the Baltimore Sun on hownews cycles affect reputation perceptionand brand image of cities and urbanareas.Len Shyles, Ph.D., was featured in aBusiness Insider article entitled, “Memoto Comcast: How to FixNBC.”Jill Flanagan, M.A., was namedcoordinator of the Vatican InternshipProgram. In this role, Flanagan recruitsundergraduate students to work at theRome Bureau of Catholic News Service,the Pontifical Council for SocialCommunications and the InternetService Provider Infrastructures office.Villanova is the only university in theworld offered the opportunity to placeinterns in key Vatican offices.

EducationEdward Garcia Fierros, Ph.D.,coauthored “Shifting Landscapes ofProfessional Practices: ELL SpecialEducation Placement in English-onlyStates” with A. Artiles, J. Lingner andA. Sullivan, in Forbidden Language: EnglishLearners and Restrictive Language Policies,edited by P. Gandara andM.Hopkins,UCLACivil Rights Project.Krista Malott, Ph.D., presented on twoinvestigations related to ethnic andracial identity development at thenational conference for the AmericanCounseling Association inMarch 2010.Also presenting was a co-researcherfromMonmouthUniversity and twoVillanova graduate counseling students,who assisted in implementing, analyzingand writing up a study on ethnic identitywith migrantMexican youth in KennettSquare, Pa.

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Teresa G. Wojcik, Ph.D., recentlypublished an article entitled, “ThePromise and Challenge of CurriculumHybridization in a Civic EducationCourse in Poland,” in the journalProblemyWczesnej Edukacji (Issues in EarlyEducation). In February 2010, Dr. Wojcikpresented at the 107th annualMiddleStates Regional Conference on theSocial Studies (MSCSS), held this yearin Gettysburg, Pa. Her presentation,entitled, “Digital Windows to the Past:IntegratingOn-Line Primary Sourcesand WebQuests,” explored the variedways in which pre-service and in-serviceteachers might meet instructionalobjectives by using the extensivecollections of digital primary sourcesavailable online at the Library ofCongress.

EnglishHeather Hicks, Ph.D., presented apaper entitled, “Time to Go: TemporalSubjectivity in ‘Oryx and Crake’ and‘Cloud Atlas,’” at the Conference of theInternational Society for the Study ofNarrative in Cleveland, Ohio in April2010.Lauren Shohet, Ph.D., recently led aseminar on “Resituating Romancein Comparative Contexts” for theShakespeare Association of America.The seminar sponsored several monthsof collaborative work among scholarsworking on relationships between early-modern English romance texts and textsfrom other traditions including othernational literatures, other time periodsand other genres. It culminated in ameeting in Chicago in April 2010.She also published the article, “UsableArchives,” in Shakespeare Studies andanother article on early-modernwomen’s elegy in theOxford Handbookof the Elegy, edited by Karen Weisman.Dr. Shohet’s reviews ofMartin Butler’s“Stuart CourtMasque and Political

Culture,” and WendyOlmstead’s“The Imperfect Friend: Rhetoricand Emotion inMilton, Sidney, andtheir Contexts,” both appeared inRenaissance Quarterly.

HistoryMarc Gallicchio, Ph.D., chaired andcommented on papers at a sessionon “Japan and theNew InternationalHistory” at the Asian StudiesConference in Philadelphia inMarch2010. His review of Russell D. Buhite’s“DouglasMacArthur: Statecraft andStagecraft in America’s East AsianPolicy” was published in the PacificHistorical Review in February 2010.Christopher Haas, Ph.D., presented aninvited paper entitled, “Geopoliticsand Georgian Identity in Late Antiquity:the Dangerous World of VakhtangGorgasali” in April 2010 at a conferenceorganized around the theme, “TheCaucasus: Imagining Freedom,Negotiating Dominion.” Theconference was held at the University ofSt. Andrews and was jointly sponsoredby the British Academy and the Centrefor Russian, Soviet, Central and EastEuropean Studies at the University ofSt. Andrews (a venue utterly wastedonDr. Haas since he is not a golfer).Lynne Hartnett, Ph.D., presented a paperentitled, “Constructing aMyth orRecounting a Life? Vera Figner’s Effortsto Find andDefine her Place in theRussian RevolutionaryMovement,”at the American Association for theAdvancement of Slavic Studies NationalConvention in Boston,Mass., inNovember 2009. Dr. Hartnett wasnominated for the Lindback Excellencein Teaching Award for the secondconsecutive year and was also elected toserve a three-year term as the Directorof Russian Area Studies at Villanova.Catherine Kerrison, Ph.D., has beenappointed to a three-year term of

service on the editorial board of theVirginia Magazine of History and Biography.The term runs from January 2010 toDecember 2012.Elizabeth Kolsky, Ph.D., is currentlyin India conducting research underthe auspices of a National ScienceFoundation grant. She recently gave atalk at the Centre for Historical Studiesat Jawaharlal NehruUniversity on herbook, “Colonial Justice in British India:White Violence and the Rule of Law.”Dr. Kolsky has also just published anarticle inGender &History entitled, “‘TheBody Evidencing the Crime’: Rape onTrial in Colonial India, 1860 – 1947.”Tim McCall, Ph.D., was awarded theI Tatti Fellowship at Villa I Tatti, theHarvardUniversity Center for ItalianRenaissance Studies, for 2010 – 2011.InMarch 2010, Dr.McCall presentedan invited lecture entitled, “CeciliaGallerani andMilaneseMistresses,” atthe Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreinMilan. He also read his paper, “TheSignoreHidden and Revealed: theIntarsia Coretto of PierMaria Rossi ofParma,” at the PennHumanities Forumat the University of Pennsylvania inMarch 2010. Another paper, “BrilliantBodies onDisplay: Masculinity, Nobility,and Power in Fifteenth-CenturyFerrara,” was presented at theRenaissance Society of America AnnualMeeting in Venice in April 2010, and heorganized and chaired the session“Parma’s Renaissance: Traditions of ArtandHistoriography.”Charlene Mires, Ph.D., is projectdirector for the Greater PhiladelphiaRoundtable, a series of public programsthat encourage dialogue about theregion’s recent history and currentissues. The programs, funded in partby the Pennsylvania HumanitiesCouncil, also will help to shape thecontent of the future Encyclopedia of

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DEPARTMENT & FACULTY NEWSGreater Philadelphia, for whichMiresis co-editor. For further informationvisit the project’s Web site athttp://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org.Dr. Mires also is the revisions editorfor the Encyclopedia of American History,Volume 9, Postwar United States 1946 – 68(NewYork: Facts on File, 2010).Paul Rosier, Ph.D., won the 2010American IndianNational BookAward for best book onmodernAmerican Indian history/studiesfor his book, “Serving Their Country:American Indian Politics and Patriotismin the Twentieth Century,” HarvardUniversity Press, 2009. The awardis given by the Labriola NationalAmerican IndianData Center atArizona State University (ASU).Dedicated in 1993, the LabriolaNational American IndianDataCenter in the ASU Libraries is oneof the only repositories within a publicuniversity library devoted to AmericanIndian collections. Dr. Rosier alsoparticipated in a panel on AmericanIndian citizenship at the April 2010AnnualMeeting of theOrganizationof AmericanHistorians.Alexander Varias, Ph.D., had an articleentitled, “Defining theMoment:History, Style, and the Paris Expositionof 1925,” published in The InternationalJournal of the Arts in Society in November2009. The article is an expandedversion of a paper Dr. Varias presentedat the conference of the societyorganized by the University of Illinoisand held in July 2009 in Venice, Italy.The article concerns the controversyamong French and British criticsregarding new architectural formsintroduced at the exposition by, amongothers, Le Corbusier, who set in motiona rebellion against the prevailinghistoricist style. The InternationalStyle, later called Art Deco, alsoemerged from the exposition and

figured in the controversy. Dr. Variasalso published articles forOdysseyMagazine, centered in Athens, Greece,inMarch, July andNovember of 2009on the Greek anarchist movement andits role in recent disturbances in Greece.These included an interview with theeminent historian,MarkMazower, andan article on theHellenic Center inNafplion, newly launched byHarvardUniversity as part of its larger focuson the history of Greece.

Human Resource DevelopmentGinamarie Ligon, Ph.D., presented twopapers at the Society of Industrial andOrganizational Psychology AnnualConference in Atlanta in April 2010.The first, entitled, “Structure differencesbetween violent and non-violentideological organizations,” wascoauthored byHuman ResourceDevelopment graduate students. (seearticle on page 17). The second paper,entitled, “Leading employees withautism,” was coauthored by collaboratorsJosh Fairchild, Samuel Hunter andMelissa Hunter, all from PennsylvaniaState University. Dr. Ligon alsoparticipated in an expert paneldiscussion on the impact of economiccrisis on leadership in organizations,and chaired a symposium on “HumanResource Interventions for Innovation”in the workplace at the conference.Several graduate students co-presentedwith Dr. Ligon at the conference (seearticle on page 17). Dr. Ligon alsocoauthored with SamHunter ofPennsylvania State University acommentary in the Journal of Industrial andOrganizational Psychology: Perspectives onScience and Practice entitled, “Putting thedevelopment into leadershipdevelopment.”

MathematicsDavid Sprows, Ph.D., has an articleentitled, “Antiderivatives as InverseLinear Transformations,” appearingin the current issue of theMathematicsand Computer Education Journal.

PhilosophyGabriel Rockhill, Ph.D., recentlypublished “Logique de l’histoire:Pour une analytique des pratiquesphilosophiques,” Paris: EditionsHermann, series “HermannPhilosophie,” 2010. Dr. Rockhillco-edited with Alfredo Gomez-Muller“Critique et subversion dans la penséecontemporaine américaine: Dialogues,”Paris: Editions du Félin, 2010.

PsychologyRebecca Brand, Ph.D., delivered a talkentitled, “HowAdults Structure ObjectDemonstrations to Support InfantAttention and Learning.” The talk, giveninNovember 2009, was part of theninth annual international conferenceon Epigenetic Robotics held in Venice,Italy. She also recently published apaper in the journalGesture, entitled,“Repetition in infant-directed actiondepends on the goal structure of theobject: Evidence for statisticalregularities.”Michael Brown, Ph.D., presented a talkentitled, “Social Influences on SpatialChoices,” at the annual meeting of thePsychonomic Society in Boston. Thispresentation was coauthored with aformerM.S. student (see Student News,page 14). Dr. Brown also coauthored apresentation entitled, “Facilitation ofLearning Spatial Relations AmongLocations in the Absence of CoincidentVisual Cues,” at the samemeeting, alongwith Bradley Sturz, Ph.D., of ArmstrongAtlantic University, andDebbie Kelly,Ph.D., of theUniversity of Saskatchewan.It was presented in poster format at thePsychonomic Society meeting and in

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spoken format by Dr. Sturz, who was apost-doctoral researcher at Villanova in2007, at the affiliated fall meeting of theComparative Cognition Society. Dr.Brown served as primary organizer ofthe latter meeting. He also coauthored apaper with Dr. Sturz andDr. Kellyentitled “Facilitation of learning spatialrelations among locations by visual cues:Generality across spatial configurations.”The paper was published in the latestissue of Animal Cognition. Dr. Brownpresented a paper at the 2010 annualmeeting of the Eastern PsychologicalAssociation entitled, “Social Influenceson rat spatial choices: Previous choicesof self and other,” and a paper at the2010 annual International Conferenceon Comparative Cognition entitled,“Spatial pattern learning andtransposition.” The latter was partof a special symposium organized byDr. Brown in honor of the contributionsof Donald A. Riley, Ph.D., of theUniversity of California, Berkeley, tothe field of comparative cognition.Nicole Else-Quest, Ph.D., publisheda paper in the January 2010 issue ofPsychological Bulletin entitled, “Cross-national patterns of gender differencesin mathematics: Ameta-analysis.” Thepaper was coauthored by Janet Hyde,Ph.D., of the University of WisconsinandMarcia Linn, Ph.D., of theUniversity of California, Berkeley.Dr. Else-Quest also participated intheMLK Freedom School in January2010 to discuss the role of activism inthe Gender and Women’s Studiesprogram. InMarch 2010, she presentedher research on cross-national gendergaps in math to the Philadelphia chapterof the Association of Women in Science.Dr. Else-Quest also traveled toWashington, D.C., to present herresearch on ethnic variations in gendergaps in math/science to other

researchers funded by theNationalScience Foundation, and in April 2010to San Francisco to present her meta-analysis of gender differences in self-conscious emotions.Charles Folk, Ph.D., attended the annualmeeting of the Psychonomics Society,as well as theObject Perception,Attention, andMemory (OPAM)conference, in Boston,Mass. At thePsychonomics meeting he presenteda paper entitled, “Shifting the sparing:Novel distractors produce lag 2 sparingin a contingent attentional blink task.”The paper was coauthored by professorAndrew Leber, University of NewHampshire, and professor HowardEgeth, JohnsHopkins University.Dr. Folk also coauthored a presentationwith Roger Remington and StephanieBecker, both of the University ofQueensland, entitled, “Top-downmodulation of attentional capture:Evidence for a relational set.” At theOPAM conference, Dr. Folk coauthoreda presentation with a formerM.S.alumnus (see Student News, page 15).Irene Kan, Ph.D., presented a posterentitled, “Implicit memory for novelassociations between pictures: Effectsof stimulus unitization and aging,” atthe AnnualMeeting of the PsychonomicSociety in Boston,Mass. This workwas done in collaboration withMiekeVerfaellie, Ph.D., of theMemoryDisorders Research Center (MDRC),VA BostonHealthcare System andBostonUniversityMedical Center andMargaretM. Keane of theMDRC andof Wellesley College. Dr. Kan alsopublished an article in a recent issueofCognitive Neuropsychology entitled,“A case for conflict across multipledomains: Memory and languageimpairments following damage toventrolateral prefrontal cortex.” Thearticle was coauthored by JaredNovick,

Ph.D., of University ofMaryland andJohn Trueswell, Ph.D., and SharonThompson-Schill, Ph.D., of theUniversity of Pennsylvania.Deborah Kendzierski, Ph.D., attendedthe annual meeting of the EasternPsychological Association held inNewYork inMarch 2010, where shepresented research from two recentprojects. The first presentation,coauthored with former and currentM.S. graduate students (see StudentNews, page 15) and undergraduatepsychology major Keelin Brady, focusedon “Self-schema status as a moderatorof the effectiveness of implementationintentions.” The second presentation,first-authored byM.S. alumnus (seeStudent News, page 15), was entitled,“Mindfulness of past transgressions:The dissonance arousing componentof induced hypocrisy.”Ginamarie Ligon, Ph.D., was awardeda Summer Research Fellowship andResearch Support Grant for theproject, “Characteristics of violent andnon-violent ideological organizations:Relationships to innovation,performance, and destructivenesscriteria.” In addition, Dr. Ligonpublished a commentary in the Journalof Industrial and Organizational Psychology:Perspectives on Science and Practice, 3(1),2010. The paper was entitled,“Putting the development intoleadership development,” and wascoauthored by Samuel T. Hunter, ofPennsylvania State University. Dr. Ligon,assisted by a currentM.S. student and anM.S. alumnus (see Student News, page15), presented an invited talk on“Evaluating Creative Ideas” at theAnnual Perspectives on CreativityConference held at Holy FamilyUniversity inMarch 2010. Dr. Ligonalso received an internal Faculty


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DEPARTMENT & FACULTY NEWSDevelopment Grant from the Collegeof Liberal Arts and Sciences.Matthew Matell, Ph.D., published apaper entitled, “Averaging of TemporalMemories by Rats,” in the Journal ofExperimental Psychology: Animal BehaviorProcesses. The paper was coauthoredwithM.S. alumnus and post-doctoralresearcher, Cynthia Gooch. Dr.Matellalso attended the 16th ComparativeCognition Conference, inMelbourne,Florida, in which he gave a talk entitled,“Stimulus Compounding in the PeakProcedure: Modality Effects,” andpresented two posters with currentand formerM.S. students. He and hisstudents also attended the 35th Societyfor Neuroscience Conference inChicago, Ill., where they presented twoposters (see Student News, page 15).Susan J. Naylor-Emlen, Ph.D.,presented a poster, “Transforming andReconstruction Space: Multiple TasksElucidate Skills Strategy,” at the 2009Psychonomic Society Conference.Dr. Naylor-Emlen recently publishedan article, “Contributing Factors toTemporal and Spatial AssociationsinMental Representations ofMaps,”in Spatial Cognition and Computation,in collaboration withHolly Taylorof Tufts University.Thomas Toppino, Ph.D., attended therecent meetings of the InternationalAssociation forMetacognition and thePsychonomic Society, both of whichwere held in Boston,Mass. At the lattermeeting, he coauthored a poster with aformerM.S. student (see Student News,page 15). The poster was entitled,“Metacognitive Control and SpacedPractice: Clarifying What PeopleDo and Why.”

Public AdministrationCraig M. Wheeland, Ph.D., presented acase study of the Greater CheltenhamAvenue Business ImprovementDistrict (GCABID) at the BusinessImprovement Districts and theEvolution of Urban Governanceconference held at the EarleMackSchool of Law at Drexel University inJanuary 2010. The GCABID is oneof 16 BIDS involving Philadelphia andone of only two that involve a suburbantownship as a partner. Dr. Wheeland hasbeen selected to fill the InternationalCity/CountyManagement Association’sseat on the editorial board of the journalPublic Integrity.Christine Palus, Ph.D., presented a casestudy at the Business ImprovementDistricts and the Evolution of UrbanGovernance conference held at theEarleMack School of Law at DrexelUniversity in January 2010. Her focuswas the City Avenue Special ServicesDistrict. Dr. Palus has also recentlypublished an article in the Journal ofPublic Administration and Theory entitled,“A Woman’s Touch? GenderedManagement and Performance inState Administration,” with coauthorsWillow Jacobson of the Universityof North Carolina-Chapel Hill andCynthia Bowling of AuburnUniversity.She also was recently appointed to theeditorial board ofUrban Affairs Review.

TheatreHarriet Power, M.F.A., and a currentgraduate student are among the sixdramaturgs working at PlayPenn,Philadelphia’s summer play-development workshop/festival.Power is dramaturgingNicholasWardigo’s “Hum,” a comic dive intohow we communicate when wordsfail, at The Adrienne in Philadelphiaon July 25, 2010. (see Student News,page 15).

Janus Stefanowicz, Costume Shopmanager and resident costume designerin the Theatre department, will beworking at PlayPenn, Philadelphia’ssummer play-development workshop/festival, as a costume design consultantfor “The Whale” by SamHunter.Michael Hollinger’s play “An EmptyPlate in the Café du Grand Boeuf”opened at Tucson’s Invisible Theatreon April 28, 2010.

TheologyThe graduate program in Theologyheld its first dies academicus in spring2010. The dies provided an academicplatform for faculty and students topresent their research. The event wasorganized as an afternoon colloquiumwith Kathleen Holscher, Ph.D., anda conference that featured anM.A.alumnus andMay 2010 graduateswho presented their theses and offeredanswers to questions by attendees(see Student News, page 15). Thevery successful event concluded with areception celebrating the achievementsof faculty and graduate students.Bernard P. Prusak, Ph.D., presented apaper inMarch 2010 at the CatholicUniversity of Leuven in Louvain,Belgium, at a conference on TheHousehold of God and LocalHouseholds: Revisiting the DomesticChurch. His paper was entitled, “TheEcumenical Household as DomesticChurch? Ecclesial Threat or PastoralChallenge and Even Resource?”

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FACULTY PROFILESMatthew S.Matell, Ph.D., earned hisdoctorate in psychology fromDukeUniversity in 2000. He spent twoyears doing post-doctoral work in thedepartment of neurology at theUniversity ofMichigan before joiningVillanova in 2003. His research isdirected towards understanding thepsychological and neural mechanismsunderlying the perception of time inthe seconds to minutes range.

“People sometimes think the studyof timing and temporal control isesoteric. However, I think that thisperspective is failing to see the forestfor the trees. It is easy for us to imaginethe loss of certain sensory capacities,like vision, because we can close oureyes. In contrast, it is nearly impossibleto imagine how we could functionwithout perceived temporal relationshipsbetween events. I think thatunderstanding how time is perceived

is a particularly intriguing question,as unlike other sensory judgments, thereis no physical substance, such as lightor sound energy, that is being measured.”

By altering brain function viadrug administration and examiningthe subsequent changes in temporalexpectation, or by directly recordingneural activity patterns while rats predictthe time of food delivery, Dr.Matell isworking to identify the algorithms usedby the brain to achieve temporal control.As alterations in temporal perceptionare seen in individuals with Parkinson’sDisease as well as people with drugaddictions, Dr.Matell hopes that hiswork can eventually lead to clinicalapplication. His work has frequentlybeen supported by grants from theNational Institutes of Health.

Matthew S. Matell, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Departmentof Psychology

Fr. Richard Jacobs, O.S.A., Ph.D., joinedthe Villanova faculty in 1991. Fr. Jacobsreceived his Bachelor of Science inBusiness Administration (VillanovaUniversity, 1976); aMaster of Divinityin Business Ethics (Catholic TheologicalUnion, 1982); twoMaster of Artsdegrees in Theology (Maryknoll Schoolof Theology, 1982; Catholic TheologicalUnion, 1983); and aMaster of Artsdegree in Education (1984) and aDoctor of Philosophy degree inEducational Leadership (1990)from theUniversity of Tulsa.

Fr. Jacobs is an internationallyrecognized authority on Catholiceducation. A former member of theUnited States Catholic Conference ofBishops’ Committee on Education, Fr.Jacobs serves as a consultant to Catholicdioceses and schools. In 1994, Fr. Jacobswas named the 12th USCCB Seton-Neumann Laureate. In addition to his

work on behalf of Catholic schools, Fr.Jacobs has also served as president of thePennsylvania Council on EducationalAdministration and as chair of theAmerican Educational ResearchAssociation Special Interest Group,Teaching and Learning in EducationalAdministration. Over the years, Fr.Jacobs has served on a number of for-profit and not-for-profit boards. He isalso a member of the American Societyof Public Administration.

Fr. Jacobs’ research agenda hasfocused primarily upon issues relatedto Catholic educational leadership.He has authored five books as well asnumerous chapters in edited booksand articles appearing in professionaljournals. Fr. Jacobs and his research havebeen quoted in national publicationsincluding EducationWeek, American SchoolBoard Journal, Connections, Momentum,and numerous Catholic newsweeklies.

The Rev. Richard M. Jacobs,O.S.A., Ph.D.Professor, Public Administration &Educational Leadership programs

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DEPARTMENT & FACULTY NEWS

College Celebrates 2010 CommencementAt the University’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday,May 16, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was pleasedto award two doctoral degrees, 82Master of Arts degrees,81Master of Science degrees, and 13Master of PublicAdministration degrees. Nazareth Pantaloni, III, andAlexi Kukuljevic from the Philosophy department receivedtheir doctoral hoods on the main stage, accompanied bytheir academic supervisors Joseph Betz, Ph.D., andWalter Brogan, Ph.D. The Commencement ceremonyalso recognized another 168 graduates in Liberal Arts andSciences who received their master’s degrees in SeptemberandDecember 2009.

Sunday’s ceremony represented the climax of a weekendof graduation celebrations at Villanova. A special recognitionceremony for the doctoral andmaster’s graduates in liberalarts and sciences was held on Saturday morning,May 15,where Adele Lindenmeyr, Ph.D., dean of Graduate Studiesin the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, congratulatedthem on their academic achievements. After the shortceremony, Dr. Lindenmeyr and graduate faculty of theCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences honored the graduateswith their friends and family at a reception in the ConnellyCenter.

Left to right: Dr. Bush, Lynn Doyle, Executive Producer and host of “It’s Your Callwith Lynn Doyle,” and Keynote Speaker John M. Murabito, Executive VicePresident of Human Resources and Services at Cigna Corporation.

Cigna Corporation were among the major contributors. Thechallenge pledge from Bisk Education will also help greatlyto advance the scholarship toward achieving the $100,000necessary to become fully funded. Present at the Galarepresenting Bisk Education were Andrew Titen, President,and Blair Stobaugh, Vice President for Development.

The event also included a silent auction that raised over$7,000 for the new scholarship fund. Items auctioned offincluded tickets to athletic events, autographedmemorabilia,restaurant gift certificates, gift baskets and pieces of art.

The event was planned and executed by the VillanovaUniversity Human Resource Development Alumni AdvisoryBoard. Advisory board member Lauren Gordon,M.S. ’08and advisory board president, Diane Perrymore, M.S. ’05,co-chaired the planning committee.

Graduate Human Resource Development Celebrates 30 Years continued from cover

Graduates process at the Recognition Ceremony on Saturday, May 15, 2010.

Adele Lindenmeyr, Ph.D., Dean of Graduate Studies, gives congratulations at theRecognition Ceremony for graduate students on Saturday, May 15, 2010. At left,Lowell Gustafson, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Social Science, and at right, ThomasW. Smith, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Humanities.

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STUDENT NEWSBiologyFormerM.S. student Amanda Cottonecoauthored two articles with AaronBauer, Ph.D.: “Ecological notes on twosympatric Psammophis species fromEast Africa” in African Journal ofHerpetology and “Sexual size dimorphismand reproduction in the Asian sandsnake Psammophis condanarus(Psamophiidae)” inHamadryad.FormerM.S. student Joshua Snydercoauthored a paper with Aaron Bauer,Ph.D., entitled, “Ecological observationson the Gargoyle Gecko, Rhacodactylusauriculatus (Bavay, 1869) in southernNewCaledonia,” in Salamandra.FormerM.S. student Stuart Nielsenand Aaron Bauer, Ph.D., were guestsin April 2010 of theNewZealandDepartment of Conservation andTe Papa, the NationalMuseum ofNewZealand, where they conductedcollaborative research on the systematicsof NewZealand lizard species. (SeeFaculty News, page 6.)Christopher Meehan, B.S./M.S. alumnus,had an article about his thesis workpublished inCurrent Biology and in TheNew York Times onOctober 13, 2009.Meehan’s work was based on fieldwork observation inMexico of the firstexample of a largely vegetarian spider,Bagheera kiplingi. Meehan is currentlyin a doctoral program at the Universityof Arizona. The New York Times articlecan be found at:www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/science/13obspider.html?_r=1&ref=science

CommunicationKim Feeney, M.A. alumnus, coauthoreda paper withQi Wang, Ph.D., entitled,“Anxiety and uncertainty managementin an intercultural setting: The impacton organization-public relationships,”in a recent issue of the Journal of PublicRelations Research. (See Faculty News,page 6.)

Jaya Mohan, a fall 2009 graduate,has accepted a position as copy editor/production editor with ECRI Institute,a healthcare nonprofit in PlymouthMeeting, Pa.Nathan Taylor will be enrolling at theUniversity of North Carolina in the fallto commence his doctoral studies.Major Jeff Pool had an article publishedin the current edition of theMarineCorps Gazette. The coauthored article isentitled, “Public affairs and InformationOperations.”Elisa Foster had her paper, “ControllingImages of African Women: HottentotVenus, Alek Wek & the thought ofStuart Hall,” accepted into Villanova’sinterdisciplinary journal,CONCEPT.Kelly Madden presented her paper, “APlace for Feminist Invitational Rhetoricin Politics: Hillary Clinton’s ConcessionSpeech,” at the 21st Annual ECSConference held by the Gender andWomen’s Studies Program at VillanovaUniversity in April 2010.

EnglishCynthia Estremera presented a paperentitled, “‘My President Is Black’: SocialOptimism inObama-era RapMusic,”on theHipHop and Race panel at thefirst “InMedia Res” AcademicSymposium (Conversations on Race,Gender, Media and Popular Culture)at Bucknell University in Lewisburg,Pa., in November 2009. The paperdiscussed various positive allusions topolitical Black leadership in the UnitedStates within contemporaryHipHopsongs. Her presentation can be accessedon You Tube at:Part 1:www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTpIXt1wAe4&feature=channelPart 2:www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQQ9vzoSTq8

Hispanic StudiesThree of the 2010 graduates of themaster’s program have been offeredfull assistantships to complete theirdoctorate inHispanic Studies. CarlosYushimito received offers fromGeorgetownUniversity and BrownUniversity, and will attend Brown.Andrés González Sánchez will attendthe University ofMiami, and AlejandraNavarro-Benbow will attend theUniversity of Connecticut.

HistoryFour graduate students in theHistorydepartment attended this year’sPhi Alpha Theta PennsylvaniaEast Regional Conference, held atBloomsburg University inMarch 2010.The students set a high standard withtheir work on topics ranging from raceand community to fashion and politics,and all four received awards, claimingtwo of the three best paper prizes andtwo of the three best presentationprizes.Brian Taylor received the best paperprize in U.S. History for his work,“Beyond Richard Allen: The Wesley-Bethel Dispute of the 1820s and itsMeanings for the Philadelphia BlackCommunity.” Elizabeth Ives received thebest paper prize in WorldHistory forher work, “The Body Politic: VictorianFashions as Agents of Change inMeiji,Japan.” Marisa Maldonado won a bestpresentation award for her work,“Confidante or Servant? Using thePlantationHierarchy to Re-envision theRelationship betweenMary Lincolnand Elizabeth Keckley,” as did BethPetitjean for her work, “ReformingRome’s Relics: The Practical and VisualImpact of Trent on the Veneration ofSaints and Relics.”Brian Taylor, a 2010 graduate of theM.A. program, has accepted a historydepartment fellowship/teaching


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STUDENT NEWSassistantship fromGeorgetownUniversity for doctoral studies. Heintends to study 18th- and 19th-centuryAmerican history, concentratingspecifically on antebellum sectionalconflicts, the American Civil Warand issues of race and slavery.Michael Smith, Ph.D., a 1994 graduateof theM.A. program and IndianaUniversity doctoral program., hasco-edited “Citizenship Across theCurriculum,” published by IndianaUniversity Press, April 2010. Inaddition to being a feather in the capof a distinguished alumni, the bookprovides insight into ways of revisingand improving college-level teaching.

Human Resource DevelopmentGraduate student Emily Malinowskiwas recently awarded the 2009 – 2010Greater Valley ForgeHuman ResourcesAssociation’s StudentMichael R. LoseyScholarship Award for her commitmentto pursuing a career in human resources.The merit-based scholarship waspresented toMalinowski at GVFHRA’sApril 2010 dinner meeting.

PhilosophyRebecca Goldner, doctoral student,presented a paper entitled, “Touch andFlesh in Aristotle’s ‘De Anima,’” at theAncient Philosophy Society Conference,in April 2010.Jeffrey D. Gower, doctoral student,presented a paper entitled, “The Kingof the Cosmos: Potentiality, Actuality,and the Logic of Sovereignty inAristotle’s ‘Metaphysics Lambda,’”at the Ancient Philosophy SocietyConference in April 2010.Elizabeth Irvine, doctoral student,attended the 48th annual SPEPconference in Arlington, Va., inOctober 2009.Michael Kim, doctoral student,presented a paper entitled, “The Politicsof Desire: Spinoza andHobbes on the

Construction of the State,” at theNorthwestern Political ScienceAssociation 2009 AnnualMeeting heldin Philadelphia, Pa., in November 2009.Alexi Kukuljevic, doctoral student,presented a paper entitled, “The PureUnformed,” at the Cornell TheoryReading Group: Form andGenesisConference held at Cornell Universityin Ithaca, N.Y., in April 2010.Michael Olson, doctoral student,presented a paper entitled, “On theDogmatic Limitations and SpeculativeResources of Transcendental Idealism,”at the Real Objects orMaterial Subjects:A Conference on ContinentalMetaphysics, at the University ofDundee in Scotland inMarch 2010.He also presented a paper entitled,“TakingMatter as Form: On theInsufficiency of Genealogy,” for theTheory Reading Group at CornellUniversity’s Annual Conference heldin Ithaca, N.Y., in April 2010.Raoni Padui, doctoral student, presenteda paper entitled, “Form andGenesis,”at the Cornell Theory Reading Groupin Ithaca, N.Y., in April 2010.Summer Renault-Steele, doctoralstudent, presented a paper entitled,“SensingHierarchy: The Aestheticsof Epistemic Authority,” at the FifthCaveHill Philosophy Symposiumat the University of West Indies inBridgetown, Barbados inNovember2009.John-Patrick Schultz, doctoral student,presented a paper entitled, “DiviningtheMedium/Mediating the Divine,” atColumbia University in April 2010.

Political ScienceRobert Spice presented a paper entitled,“The Institution of Tolerance: EUAccession andMinority Protections inRomania and Poland,” at the 71st AnnualPennsylvania Political ScienceAssociation Conference at the

Pennsylvania State Capitol inHarrisburg, Pa., inMarch 2010.SeveralMay 2010 graduates aremoving on to doctoral programs. DanielMallinson will be pursuing a doctorateat Pennsylvania State University. Hisprimary field of study will be AmericanPolitics with a secondary field inComparative Politics and a tertiary fieldin eitherMethods or Environmental/Energy Policy. Heather Leigh-Ba will bein the doctoral program at University ofNorth Carolina-Chapel Hill. She willmajor in international relations andcomparative government with herresearch focused within the subfield ofpolitical economy, specifically on the roleof institutions in economic developmentand the affect of aid on the quality ofbureaucracy in African countries. KikuHuckle will embark on a doctoral degreeat the University of Washington, Seattle.She is planning to conduct an in-depthquantitative and qualitative analysis ofthe political beliefs of AmericanCatholics.TwoMay 2010 graduates will pursuelaw degrees. Ferdinand Peche will beginlaw school at WashingtonUniversity inSt. Louis, and Sarah Powell will be atEmory Law School.

PsychologyMichael S. Cohen, M.S. alumnus,presented a poster entitled,“Metacognitive Control and SpacedPractice: Clarifying What People Doand Why,” at the recent meeting of thePsychonomic Society in Boston,Ma.The poster was coauthored by ThomasToppino, Ph.D. (See Faculty News,page 10.)Matthew Keller, M.S. alumnus,coauthored a presentation entitled,“Social Influences on Spatial Choices.”The presentation was given byMichaelBrown, Ph.D. (See Faculty News,page 8.)

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Allison Kurti, current graduate student,and Dale Swanton, M.S. alumnus,presented two posters at the 16th

Comparative Cognition Conference:“Modality Effects on Clock-Speed ina Delay Discounting Task,” and“Characterization of temporal averagingusing single-trials analysis.” Kurti andSwanton also presented posters entitled,“Microinjections of amphetamineinto the dorsal striatum increases earlyresponding in an interval timing task,”and “The effects of dopaminergicmodulation on temporal memoryaveraging,” at the Society forNeuroscience in Chicago, Ill. Theposters for both presentations werecoauthored withMatthewMatell,Ph.D. (See Faculty News, page 10.)Elizabeth Hocker, current graduatestudent, and Matt Wood, M.S.alumnus, assisted Ginamarie Ligon,Ph.D., in presenting an invited talk onvaluating Creative Ideas at the Societyof Industrial andOrganizationalPsychology Annual Conference inAtlanta in April 2010. (See FacultyNews, page 9.)Brian Anderson, M.S. alumnus andcurrently enrolled in a doctoral programat JohnsHopkins University, coauthoreda presentation with Charles Folk, Ph.D.,entitled, “Variations in the magnitudeof attentional capture: Testing a two-process model,” at the Society ofIndustrial andOrganizationalPsychology Annual Conferencein Atlanta, Ga., in April 2010.Tammy Stump, current graduatestudent, and Rebecca Ritter, M.S.alumnus, coauthored a presentationwith Deborah Kendzierski, Ph.D.,entitled, “Self-schema status as amoderator of the effectiveness ofimplementation intentions,” at theEastern Psychological Associationheld inNewYork inMarch 2010.(See Faculty News, page 9.)

Joseph Hafer, M.S. alumnus, first-authored a presentation withDeborah Kendzierski, Ph.D., entitled“Mindfulness of past transgressions:the dissonance arousing component ofinduced hypocrisy”. This presentationwas given by Dr. Kendzierski at theannual meeting of the EasternPsychological Association heldinNewYork inMarch 2010.

Public AdministrationChristopher Campbell was selectedas a finalist for the ICMALocalGovernmentManagement Fellowship.Catherine Schneider was selected asa 2010 Founders’ Forum Fellow bythe American Society of PublicAdministration. Each year, Founders’Forum Fellowships are awarded tofull-time undergraduate or graduatestudents studying in a field relevantto public administration. Fourteenstudents were selected for fellowshipsthis year.

TheatreBill D’Agostino, M.A. alumnus, andHarriet Power are among the sixdramaturgs working at PlayPenn,Philadelphia’s summer play-developmentworkshop/festival. (See Faculty News,page 10.) D’Agostino is dramaturgingCharlotteMiller’s “Raising Jo,” anexploration of the collision ofpreconceptions about parenthood andlove (and the surprises therein), on July25, 2010. He is the first PlayPenn internto be hired as one of their professionaldramaturgs.Second-yearM.A. student MarkCostello has won top honors at the 2010Kennedy Center American CollegeTheater Festival (KCACTF)O’NeillCritics Institute. Thanks to his win onthe regional level, Costello was invitedto attend the KCACTFNationalCompetition inNewYork City inApril 2010. As a national winner, he

will attend the EugeneO’Neill TheatreCenter during its national playwritingconference (July 2010), working withleading professional newspaper andmagazine critics from across the UnitedStates. This marks the third consecutiveyear that Villanova University theatrestudents have been invited to attend theO’Neill Center’s national playwritingcontest. In 2009, Devin Dippold ’09attended, and in 2008, Carrie Chapter’08 attended.

TheologyThe graduate program in Theology heldits first dies academicus in spring 2010.The dies provided an academic platformfor faculty and students to present theirresearch.M.A. alumnus Joseph C.Collins, and current students LawrenceRozanski and Christopher Friesenpresented their theses and offeredanswers to questions by attendees.The very successful event concludedwith a reception celebrating theachievements of our faculty andgraduate students.Cabrini Pak coauthored with SteveFahrig six book reviews, publishedin Lanterianum, an Italian scholarlyjournal, in spring 2010.Mark W. Westmoreland publishedan article inCONCEPT, Villanova’sinterdisciplinary journal of graduatestudies entitled “EschatologicalTemporality, Or: ‘Bergson and theReign of Theos.’”Rena Black published an article inCONCEPT entitled “The WørdMadeFresh: A Theological Exploration ofStephen Colbert.”Rachel Kondro, Daniel Minch, AnneMinicozzi, and Erik van Versendaalserved as peer reviewers forCONCEPTin 2009/2010.

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STUDENT PROFILESNathanTaylor received a Bachelor ofArts inCommunication fromMessiahCollege inGrantham, Pa., in 2007. Aftertaking a year off to work in the publishingindustry, Taylor came back quite happilyto academia in the fall of 2008. “Idecided to enroll at VillanovaUniversityfor a variety of reasons,” said Taylor. “Thefaculty are not only some of themostwell-respected scholars in their field, theyare also genuinely interested in studentresearch, oftentimes cultivatinga spirit of collaboration and synergy.More, theUniversity as a whole treatsits graduate students exceedingly well.”As a fully funded student, Taylor isactively involved in campus life, runninga documentary film series for theCenterfor Peace and Justice Education, whilealso remaining thoroughly engaged incourse work.Hewas interested in aterminal master’s program because hewanted to test the waters before applying

to doctoral programs. The program’strack record in this regard has beenexceptional, andTaylor and severalclassmates have been accepted to topdoctoral programs during thisexceptionally competitive year.

After finishing hismaster’s thesis,entitled, “OnThe Poiesis of Latrinalia,”he will be heading to theUniversity ofNorthCarolina-ChapelHill, to completedoctoral studies.While enrolled there,Taylor plans to continue the researchpath he started at Villanova, which hedescribes as, “…radically contextual,qualitative research focusing on culturalproduction, and foundationalized in thecritical/cultural paradigm.” Taylor says hecouldn’t be happier with his experienceat Villanova and feels prepared and fullofmomentum for doctoral study. “Thisis a testament to a rigorous graduateexperience that I will value for therest ofmy life.”

JackMcFadden is a full-time studentin the Liberal Studies graduate program.After graduating with a Bachelor ofArts inHumanities from Villanova inthe spring of 2009,McFadden realizedhe wanted to be a college professor butwas unsure about the field of study hewanted to pursue. He chose the LiberalStudies graduate program at Villanovaprimarily for the diverse course offeringswith the thought that the flexible natureof the program would give him theopportunity to further explore variousdisciplines. McFadden has justcompleted his first year of the programand says that it has already given himthe clarity he had hoped to attain.“The Liberal Studies program hasgiven me insights and perspectives Iprobably wouldn’t have realized in aprogram based on a single discipline,”he said. McFadden has taken courses

in the Liberal Studies department itself,as well as in philosophy, English, historyand theology. He plans on graduatingwith his master’s degree inMay 2011,and then hopes to enter a doctoralprogram with a focus on contemporaryphilosophy.

“My undergraduate professors atVillanova inspired me with a desire toteach andmy graduate professors in theLiberal Studies program have confirmedthat decision,” saidMcFadden. “Theyhave been accommodating both in andout of the classroom, and they havereally made the program work for me.”In his spare time,McFadden hosts atrivia night one night a week atMaloney’s Pub in BrynMawr. He alsoenjoys writing (fiction and nonfiction),reading, exercising, going to the moviesand spending time with friends.

Jack McFaddenGraduate Liberal Studies

Nathan Taylor M.A. ‘10Communications, Media and CultureConcentration

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HRD Students Present at Society of Industrial andOrganizational Psychology Conference in AtlantaVillanova’s graduate program inHuman Resource Development (HRD) recentlysent one faculty member and five students to the 25th Annual Conference for theSociety of Industrial andOrganizational Psychology in Atlanta, Ga., on April 8 – 10,2010. CurrentM.S. students Erica Bruno, Phillip Gibson, Lisa Panik and JimWallace were awarded Villanova Graduate Studies Travel Grants from theOfficeof Graduate Studies to attend the conference. CurrentM.S. student Zandra Leahy,Gibson, psychology undergraduatesMark Versella and AdrianeNguyen, andM.S.graduate Christopher Troyan, coauthored a paper with Ginamarie Ligon, Ph.D.,entitled “Structure differences between violent and non-violent ideologicalorganizations.”Ms. Bruno,Ms. Panik, Mr. Gibson and Current studentMelissaDoran co-presented with Dr. Ligon at the conference. Bruno and Panik presented aposter on “Assessing and developing innovative performance” based on the researchof Dr. Ligon and others (see Faculty News, page 8). Leahy and Gibson presented aposter on ‘Structure differences between violent and non-violent ideologicalorganizations” based on the research Dr. Ligon and others (see Faculty News,page 8). Wallace represented Villanova at theMaster’s Student Consortium.


STUDENT NEWS

MPA Program Inducts Charter Class forVillanova Chapter of Pi Alpha AlphaTheMaster of Public Administration program is pleasedto announce their charter for a chapter of Pi AlphaAlpha, the national honor society for Public Affairs andAdministration. The Reverend Richard Jacobs, O.S.A.,Ph.D., a professor in theM.P.A. program, will serve as thechapter advisor. Induction into the society requires thecompletion of 18 credits and a grade point average of 3.8or greater. Moving forward, the Villanova chapter willwork on a number of projects including the orientationprogram for new students and the annualM.P.A. golfouting. They will also sponsor an annual service project,honor one outstanding public servant at the fall meeting,and host a career networking forum. The first memberswere inducted at a ceremony at the Villanova ConferenceCenter onMay 14, 2010. They are: Paul Bonfanti,ChristopherMark Campbell, AlysonDamerel Fick,Christopher R. Hoffman, Levi Landis, David J. Mrochko,Stephanie Nissen, ScottMitchell Swichar and Jamie P.Worman.

Top from left: Zandra Leahy, Erica Bruno, PhillipGibson. Bottom from left: Lisa Panik, Dr. GinamarieLigon, Jim Wallace.

Villanova Chapter of Pi Alpha Alpha Charter ClassBack Row: Rev. Richard Jacobs, O.S.A., Ph.D., Chapter Advisor;Christine Palus, Ph.D., MPA Coordinator; Scott Mitchell Swichar;Christopher R. Hoffman.Front Row: Jamie P. Worman; Alyson Damerel Fick; Paul Bonfanti;Christopher Mark Campbell; Craig Wheeland, Ph.D.; Robert Stokes, Ed.D.Not Pictured: Levi Landis; David J. Mrochko; Stephanie Nissen

18 •


STUDENT NEWSThesis Listings – May 2010Name Thesis Title Advisor(s) & Department

Paul Michael Arendt RoadDustHeavengoing: Reading TheDevelopment of Jack Kerouac’s Spontaneous Prose Dr. HughOrmsby-Lennon, Englishin On the Road, The Subterraneans and Tristessa

Rebecca Lynn Burnett Re-examining Donne’s “Masculine Persuasive Force”: Submission, Power, and Christian Dr. Lauren Shohet, EnglishMasculinity in the Poetry of JohnDonne

Noelle Parisi Dahl EffectofPre-ExistingAdenovirusNeutralizingAntibodyonVectorInfectivityandTransgeneExpression Dr. Angela DiBenedetto, Biology

Shweta Dutta Visualization of spatial organization of membrane rafts on the plasma membrane of Dr. Anil Bamezai, BiologyCD4+T lymphocytes in response to a foreign antigen

Christopher Friesen NaimAteek: TheMethodology of Liberation Dr. Anthony Godzieba,Theology and Religious Studies

LauraM. Hallisey ACrystallographic Study of Quasiracemic Amino Acids and the Advancement towards Dr. W. Scott Kassel, ChemistryQuasiracemates ofMetal Complexes

Kerry Hasler-Brooks Coherence andDiscontinuity: Shaping theMother in the Short Story Sequences of Eudora Dr. Jean Lutes, EnglishWelty, FlanneryO’Connor, and Katherine Anne Porter

Meghan C. Hickey Exploring anUnusual -Hydroxybutyrate Dehydrogenase fromTrypanosoma brucei Dr. Jennifer B. Palenchar, Chemistry

Kiku E. Huckle Which Catholic Voters are “Good” Catholics? A foundational comparison of voters’ issue Dr. LaraM. Brown, Political Scienceposition and prioritization with catholic social justice teaching

KirstenHutzell The Impact of Bullying Behaviors on Social and Situational Avoidance in Schools Dr. Allison Ann Payne, Criminology

Elizabeth Greer Keller Novel Chemotherapeutics Against Lung and Colon Cancer Dr. ChristineMartey-Ochola,Chemistry

Kory Edward Kirk Genetic Algorithms and an Exploration of the GeneticWavelet Algorithm Dr. Frank Klassner, Computing Sci.

DaniyaMaratovna The Examination of Four Trypanosome 6-Phosphofructo-2-Kinase/Fructose-2,6- Dr. Jennifer Palenchar, ChemistryLukmanova-Kegelman Bisphosphatase Paralogs by RNA Interference

Timothy J. Pellenbarg The Characterization and Functionalization of Graphitic Nanofibers Dr. Robert Giuliano, Chemistry

Sharon Reid Manufacturing, The Past of Philadelphia: ACommunicative Approach to Understanding Dr. SusanMackey-Kallis,HowHistoric Preservation and Planning Practices Created a Colonial City at the Expense Communicationof the “Workshop of theWorld”

Joshua L. Rutt Associations of Personality Pathology andObjective Assessment of Interpersonal Dynamics Dr. PatrickM.Markey, Psychology

Orel Svetlana Shneider Progress Studies toward a Total Synthesis of theMinimized Analogs, Desisopropyl- and Dr. Eduard Casillas, ChemistryDesmethylene-Prehelminthosporol, of the Phytotoxin Prehelminthosporol

Sarah Thomas Gain theWorld and Lose Your Soul? Reconsidering Soul Talk in Christian Anthropology Rev. Michael J. Scanlon, O.S.A., S.T.D.,Theology and Religious Studies

Jessica V. Trout-Haney Breeding Biology and GeneticMating System of the Boreal Chickadee (Poecile Hudsonicus) Dr. Robert L. Curry, Biology

Jill Viglione Exploring the effect of objectively assessed skin tone on prison sentences among black female offenders Dr. Lance Hannon, Criminology

Hao Zhang Querying Databases: A Tale of TwoC#Approaches Dr. Don Goelman, Computing Sci.

Doctor of Philosophy Listings – May 2010Name Dissertation Title Advisor(s) & Department

Alexi Kukuljevic The Renaissance of Ontology: Kant, Heidegger, Deleuze Dr. Walter Brogan, Philosophy

NazarethA.M.Pantaloni, III The Im/Possibility of Democracy: Derrida andHabermas Dr. JosephM. Betz, Philosophy

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English Program Hosts First Graduate Thesis andField Examination SymposiumOn Saturday, March 27, 2010, Villanova University’s graduateprogram in English hosted its first annual Graduate Thesis andField Examination Symposium. The event took place at the SaintAugustine Center’s Honors Seminar Room, where six second-yeargraduate English students presented their research. According tothe program’s director, Heather Hicks, Ph.D., the event wasdesigned to provide students who are currently completing theirMaster’s degree with the opportunity to present their work andreceive feedback from their peers and English department faculty.

The symposiumwas split into two one-hour sessions. Eachsession had three presenters who offered approximately 10minuteoverviews of their thesis or field exam research. At the end of eachpanel session, students and faculty in attendance as well as theparticipants, were able to ask questions about the presentedmaterial in an effort to aid the students in tackling some of theproblems presented in their work.

The event was structured chronologically according to subject,so the first hour saw presentations from Becca Burnett, who spokeabout her thesis entitled, “Re-examining Donne’s ‘MasculinePersuasive Force’: Submission, Power, and ChristianMasculinityin the Poetry of JohnDonne,” John Keir, whose field examinationpaper is entitled, “Punishments in EarlyModernDrama,” andLauraHeinrich, whose thesis title is, “‘I Put Childish ThingsBehindMe’”?: Outgrowing Christianity in Three VictorianNovels.” After the question and answer period and a briefintermission, the second hour began with Tiffany DeRewal’spresentation, “Monstrous Undercurrents in 19th CenturyAmerican Literature,” followed by TedHowell’s talk on“Aesthetics/Religion/Nationalism: Situating the Soul of JamesJoyce,” and concluded with AndrewOwens’s presentation,“Narratives of Queer Conflict in the Contemporary Novel.”

The turnout was excellent, with every seat filled by currentfirst- and second-year graduate students, alumni, faculty and newlyaccepted graduate students eager to learn more about the topicspresented by the participants. Upon the symposium’s conclusion,students and faculty were invited to continue the discussion overa lunch provided by the dean of Graduate Studies. Dr. Hicksis confident that the event marks the beginning of a new andimportant tradition for the graduate program in English.


STUDENT NEWS

Top: Ted HowellMiddle: Becca BurnettBottom: Left to right: Recent alumnus Don James McLaughlin, incomingstudent Benjamin Raymond, Dr. Hicks and presenter John Keir

Three Days of RainSeptember 21 – October 3, 2010by Richard Greenbergdirected by Rev. David Cregan, O.S.A.

The Beaux’ StratagemNovember 9 – 21, 2010by George Farquharadapted by ThorntonWilder & Ken Ludwigdirected by Shawn Kairschner

The Cherry OrchardFebruary 8 – 20, 2011by Anton Chekhovdirected by Harriet Power

Bat BoyMarch 29 – April 17, 2011book by Keythe Farley & Brian Flemmingmusic & lyrics by Laurence O’Keefedirected by Valerie Joyce

Nonprofit organizationU. S. POSTAGE

PAIDVillanova University

June 2010 | Volume Forty-Nine, Issue Three

A newsletter by and for the graduate programs of Liberal Arts & Sciences

GRADUATE LIBERALARTS & SCIENCES NEWS

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences800 Lancaster AvenueVillanova, PA 19085-1696

In this issue, enjoy features on:• Graduate Hispanic Studies• Graduate Politcal Science• Dr. Matthew Matell, Department of Psychology• Fr. Richard Jacobs, MPA & Educational Leadership• Nathan Taylor, Graduate Communication Student• Jack McFadden, Graduate Liberal Studies Student

For the next issue, please send your news [email protected] by September 10, 2010.

Villanova Theatre Proudly Announces 2010 – 2011 Season

Tickets are now on sale. Call the Villanova Theatre BoxOffice at 610.519.7474,or visit www.theatre.villanova.edu.

Far Right: Kathryn M. Lylesas Annie Oakley in VillanovaTheatre's production of“Annie Get Your Gun.(Photo by Paola Nogueras.)Right: Jessica Bedford asRosalind and TimothyRinehart as Orlando(center) surrounded bymembers of the cast ofVillanova Theatre'sproduction of “As YouLike It.” (Photo by PaolaNogueras.)

Documents

Villanova University Award June2010