What We’re Doing

NANCY ERICKSON BOUZRARA, assistant professor of French, received her fourth National Endowment for the Humanities grant, enabling her to attend the Popular Cartography and Society Summer Institute at the Newberry Library in Chicago this coming summer.

INDIA BROYLES, associate professor of education, recently returned from Russia, where she participated in the Partners in Education program. While in Russia she learned about the education system in the former Soviet Union, helped to develop teaching methods and curriculum, promoted cultural understanding, and made presentations to local schools.

JOEL W. EASTMAN, professor of history, was awarded a Silver Good Citizenship Award by the Maine Society of the Sons of the AmericanRevolution on April 21, 2001. Eastman, who retires in May, was recognized for his research, writing and speaking on the history of Maine. The award was given by President Harry W. Kinsley, Jr., who took Eastman’s course on Maine history 20 years ago.

CAROLYN EYLER, director of exhibitions and programs, received a $4,210 grant from the Maine Community Foundation for the development of a historic and public art trail of the original Back Cove shoreline in conjunction with the Area Gallery exhibit “Back Cove: Heart of Portland,” which runs May 10 - Oct. 23. Eyler will present the Back Cove project at a conference, “Arts and Environment: Making the Green,” May 3-6, in Woodstock, Vermont, held by New England Artists Trust, Congress 6.

MICHAEL S. HAMILTON, associate professor of political science, had his paper, “Cleaner Air, Stronger Trees, Healthy Lakes, in The Maine Woods,” published by the Forest Ecology Network. He presented a paper on "Multilateral Development Banks and Sustainable Development: Learning to Finance Environmental Assistance Programs," at the National Conference of the American Society for Public Administration, Newark, NJ, and another on "Estimating Capital Recovery Periods for Investments in Fine Coal Circuits at Indonesian Coal Preparation Plants," at a workshop sponsored by the Ministry of Minerals and Energy, Republic of Indonesia, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, both in March 2001.

MICHAEL HILLARD, associate professor of economics, gave oral and written testimony on the economic effects of raising the state's minimum wage to the Joint Labor Committee of the Maine State Legislature, at a hearing in Augusta on March 22. He appeared on “MaineWatch” on March 29, debating Bush's Tax Plan with Ross Connelly, director of Bush's 2000 presidential campaign in Maine. Hillard’s column on the Bush tax cut plan appeared in the April 29 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram.

JOYCE KENNEDY, adaptive technology specialist, Academic Computing Services, has received her Assistive Technology Practitioner certification from the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America. Kennedy, and JOYCE BRANAMAN, director of academic support for students with disabilities, recently presented their paper "A Philosophy for Providing Adaptive Technology Services to Students With Disabilities in an Integrated Setting" at the annual conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, in Los Angeles.

DAHLIA BRADSHAW LYNN, assistant professor of public policy and management, Muskie School, has been named to the editorial advisory board of the Review of Public Personnel Administration, the journal of the Section on Personnel Administration and Labor Relations of the American Society for Public Administration.

NOELLE NEUWIRTH, Web master, Department of Athletics, has been elected secretary of the Westbrook Lions Club for a second term. She has also been appointed to continue as information technology chair for District 41-L of Lions Clubs International.

CHARLOTTE ROSENTHAL, associate professor of Russian, presented a paper at the Modern Language Association in December titled "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow." Another paper, "Two Women Critics on Women's Creativity" was presented in February at a conference at Columbia University, "Mapping the Feminine."

FLYNN ROSS, assistant professor of teacher education, will have an article, "Helping Immigrants Become Teachers," published in the May issue of Educational Leadership. She will present "So What Type of Teachers are They?-- Graduates of a PDS Teacher Preparation Program 3-6 Years Later,” at the American Educational Research Association’s annual national meeting in Seattle this March. Ross will also present "Learning Through Storying: A Discussion of Qualitative Research Methodologies in Multicultural and Collaborative Settings" at the Northeast Educational Research Organization in Portsmouth, N.H., with JULIE CANNIFF, assistant professor of professional education, MELODY SHANK, assistant professor of teacher education, and ROBERT ATKINSON, associate professor of education/human resource development.
DAVID WAGNER, professor of social work and sociology, took part on a panel, “Beyond Charity and Therapy: Building Poor Peoples’ Movements” with members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union at the Eastern Sociological Society’s annual meeting in Philadelphia. He also was the invited discussant for a session on “Problems of Women Under Welfare Reform” at the same conference. Wagner has been named to Maine’s Protection and Advisory Council for Individuals with Mental Illness.

WILLIAM W. WELLS, associate provost for technology, information systems and libraries, law library director and professor of law, had his article, based upon his experiences in Eritrea and Uganda, "Assisting with Information Technology in East Africa," published simultaneously in Legal Reference Services Quarterly (Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 119 -130) and the monograph "Law Librarians Abroad" (Haworth Information Press, 2000).

WILLIAM “BUMPER” WHITE, assistant professor of clinical education, had his paper, “C is for Change: Seven Effective Classroom Practices for New and Veteran Science Educators,” appear in the March issue of Science & Children, the publication of the National Science Teachers Association.

OLIVER WOSHINSKY, professor of political science, spent spring break in Prague where he gave three lectures on media and politics at Charles University.

FENGGANG YANG, assistant professor of sociology, published a newspaper column in the January 18 issue of the Portland Press Herald, “Mainers Show Little Awareness of Asian-Americans in Their Midst.” As a response to this article, the Maine Historical Society has begun to develop an Archive of the Chinese in Maine. He gave a presentation on “The Moral/Spiritual Development in China Today” at the symposium on “Nourishing the Spirit: Social Change and Spiritual Development in China Today,” at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Culture, at the University of San Francisco last February. Yang co-authored the article, “Transformations in New Immigrant Religions and Their Global Implications,” that appeared in American Sociological Review (Vol. 64, No. 2). Yang’s previously published article, “Moral and Spiritual Development in China Today,” was translated to Chinese and appears in the April issue of Great Commission Bimonthly. “Three Approaches to Spiritual Values,” appears in the March issue of Pacific Rim Report (No. 19); and “Chinese Religions in North America,” appears in the January issue of the Chinese language publication, “Religions in China” (Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 51-53).

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