College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Georgia Southern's James M. Woods contributes to a history of Catholics in Arkansas

Mildred Pate, assistant professor in the Department of Writing and Linguistics, and Lisa Smith, information services librarian in the Henderson Library, were invited speakers at the 2007 Atlanta-area BIG (Bibliographic Instruction Group) Conference. Sponsored by the Atlanta University Center, Emory University, Georgia State University and the University of Georgia, the conference was held in Athens at UGA’s Student Learning Center. They presented details from their collaborative project “Extreme Makeover: How Collaboration and Hard Work Improved English 1102 Students’ Multi-Genre Projects.”

Michael Braz, professor of music, had two treble choir arrangements published by Hal Leonard Publications of Milwaukee, Wis. Braz' settings of the African-American spiritual “Deep River” and the English carol “I Saw Three Ships” were originally commissioned by the Raleigh (N.C.) Boychoir. Additionally, “Variations on a Theme of Beethoven,” a composition solo flute, was recently published by Alry Publications of Charlotte, N.C.

Paul A. Rodell, associate professor of history, has been selected to participate in the 2007 Summer Institute on Korean Culture and Society. The institute is being offered by the Asian Studies Development Program of the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Participants will have a series of lectures, seminar discussions and films on Korea. After this formal introduction, the participants will be taken to Korea for two weeks where they will visit a number of historic and cultural sites and attend further lectures and cultural presentations. Funding for this highly competitive institute is provided by the Freeman Foundation and the Korea Foundation. During the fall semester Rodell will offer a Department of History senior seminar on Korea.

Leigh Thomson, assistant professor of graphic design, won two gold and three silver ADDYs from the Savannah Advertising Federation and two silver awards in the 14th District Regional competition. The ADDY awards are the world’s largest advertising competition given by the American Advertising Federation, a non-profit industry association.

Patricia Walker, associate professor of painting, has had her painting “The Lightening Strike” juried into the Pastel Competition of The Pastel Journal, a magazine for pastel artists. One hundred winning artworks were chosen from over 4,000 entries. Walker’s work is pictured in the April 2007 edition of the magazine.

The Arden Duo, Carolyn J. Bryan, associate professor of music, and Sandra McClain, former music faculty member, gave two concerts at Florida Atlantic University. Bryan's lecture presentation on the Czech ghetto of World War II was titled Terezin: Then and Now. The lecture complemented a performance of I Never Saw Another Butterfly, a song cycle setting of poetry by the children of Terezin.
The Arden Duo performed for the Music at Noon series on the Boca Raton campus and as part of the freshman forum of the Wilkes Honors College in Jupiter, Fla.

Paul A. Rodell, associate professor of history, spoke on “Southeast Asia: The Philippines (History & Contemporary Culture)” at the March 14 session of the Asia-Pacific Orientation Course at the USAF Special Operations School in Hurlburt Field, Pensacola, Fla. More than 50 junior officers and enlisted men and women who are scheduled for duty in Asia where theywill serve in joint operations and training programs with their Asian counterparts attended the course. March 22-26, Rodell attended the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Boston where he co-chaired the business meeting of that organization’s Philippine Studies Group (PSG). He was elected PSG vice executive secretary at last year’s meeting in San Francisco, a position he will hold for three years with automatic succession to executive secretary in 2009.

The recently released fourth edition (2008) of “Theories of Psychotherapy and Counseling” by Richard Sharf offers an overview of the embodied psychotherapy approach developed by Edward W.L. Smith, professor of psychology. Smith wrote the therapy session example included in the discussion.

Horst Kurz, associate professor of German, presented “Landeskunde: Thema Wirtschaft” at the annual South Carolina Foreign Language Association conference held on February 16, in Columbia, S.C.
On March 1, he introduced “Noch ein Gedicht! Literatur im Sprachunterricht” at the joint SCOLT - FLAG - SEALLT (Southern Conference on Language Teaching, Foreign Language Association of Georgia and South Eastern Association for Language Learning Technology) conference in Atlanta. He serves on the FLAG board of directors of eletronic media and participated in various organizational meeting related to the event.

Edward W.L. Smith, professor of psychology, had his book The Body in Psychotherapy translated into a Czech language edition, Telo v Psychoterapii, by Portal in Prague, Czech Republic.

Horst Kurz, associate professor of German, attended the annual Sprachbad Savannah - A Weekend Seminar for Teachers of German on Tybee Island, Ga., January 12 to 14. The event brought together 35 educators from all levels of instruction from schools in the state.

Cathie Johnson, assistant professor, and Horst Kurz, associate professor, both of German, helped out in numerous ways at the annual “State German Convention,” an event that attracts approximately 475 high school students from all over Georgia. The event took place February 2 and 3, at Camp Jackson near Covington, Ga.

Kathy Albertson, associate professor of Writing and Linguistics and the director of the Georgia Southern Writing Project, was recently awarded the Georgia College Teacher of the Year Award by the Georgia Council of Teachers of English, the state affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Cultural Book Club Discussion
The Covenant with Black America by Tavis Smiley. This book is considered a blueprint to
addressing the most critical issues confronting to the African-American community.

Facilitator: Dr. Ron Bailey
12:00 noon
Russell Union 2044
Wednesday February 21

Note: Mr. Smiley's book is for sale at $10.00 each in the Multicultural Student Center, room 2024 in Russell Union.

Michael Pemberton, associate professor in the Department of Writing and Linguistics and director of the Writing Center, is included in a chapter in the book COMPbiblio: Leaders and Influences in Composition Theory and Composition, Fountainhead Press, 2007. The book includes articles about influential people in writing.

On Thursday, February 8 at 6:30 p.m. the Friends of Henderson Library will be sponsoring a book signing and dinner featuring Dr. Erik Brooks of the Political Science Department. He will be speaking about his book Pursuing A Promise: A History of African Americans at Georgia Southern University. The dinner will be held at the Hotel and Restaurant Management dining room. The price of the dinner is $20 per person, and tickets must be purchased by February 7. For reservations, please call Henderson Library at 681-5115 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

On Friday, January 26 at 10:00 a.m. Dr.Gossai will be talking about and signing copies of his latest book River Crossings: Memories of a Journey at an event sponsored by Friends of the Henderson Library. "In his engaging memoir, Hemchand Gossai invites the reader to accompany him on a journey toward home, self-realization, a life's vocation, and - most importantly - a faith by which to live," said David Dudley, author of the award-winning "The Bicycle Man" and a colleague of Dr. Gossai's . The event will be held in the Library, room # 1300 during Religious Awareness Week. There will be light refreshments. Don't miss this exciting event.