April/May 1999  

It is hard to believe that we are fast approaching the end of the academic year. As you can see from this issue of the "Chronicle," our Liberal Arts faculty have not in any way slowed down. We feature here a diverse array of faculty and student achievements in the past months; please take the time to read and learn about the distinguished research, scholarly, and creative accomplishments of our Liberal Arts community.

I invite all of you, too, to join me and the Dean's Office staff at the College of Liberal Arts Awards Recognition Ceremony on April 30, at 3:30 p.m., in the Anthropology Museum. We will be announcing at this event the College of Liberal Arts 1999 Distinguished Achievement and Mullen awards and recognizing, as well, the service records of our faculty and staff.

I am also pleased to announce that the College Strategic Planning effort is on course; for more details, please see Roger Schlesinger's news brief in this issue. Also, I invite all faculty, students and staff to attend the open planning meeting for the "Liberal Arts in the New Millennium" conference to take place next fall. Marina Tolmacheva, who is spearheading this effort, has details elsewhere in this issue.

To our students, best wishes on your upcoming exams, and Happy Spring to everyone!

Barbara Couture
Dean, College of Liberal Arts

Shelli Fowler (Comparative American Cultures and English) has been invited to give the keynote address at the Pedagogies on the Edge Conference in Pocatello, Idaho, in April. Her talk is entitled "Freirean Authority vs. Authoritarianism: Negotiating Classroom Power Dynamics as a Graduate Student Teacher." She will also present a talk to the Department of English at Idaho State University on 19th-century slave narratives.

John Brewer, German professor in Foreign Languages, was honored by the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa for ten-years' service as an officer in the Gamma Chapter of the State of Washington. Brewer has participated in Phi Beta Kappa for over 30 years.

Randall Johnson, designer of the WSU Cougar head logo was recognized by the WSU Alumni Association in March. Johnson, a 1938 Fine Arts graduate, designed the logo as a student. He was advertising director for Washington Water Power Company in Spokane for 38 years. At the ceremony he received a new WSU class ring bearing the logo.

"Buddy" Lynn Levy, instructor in the English Department has a recent book "Echoes On Rimrock: In Pursuit of the Chukar Partridge" ( in the Snake, Grande Ronde and Salmon Rivers ) and an April Alaska Airline Magazine story "Extreme Athletes" about the Discovery Channel's Eco-Challenge which will be aired soon. Levy attended the internationally televised Eco-Challenge last Oct. in Morocco as an accredited journalist. The Eco-Challenge is a multi-sport endurance race. The teams of 4 each in Morocco rode camels, sea kayaked, mountaineered, mountain biked, etc.

Nelly Zamora received the Coalition for Women Students "Woman of Color Award," in February 1999.

University Curriculum Diversity Minigrants, which are used to address diversity issues through existing courses or new ones, were awarded to Mary Blair-Loy (Sociology/Women's Studies), Mary Bloodsworth (Philosophy), Lindsey Cohen (Psychology), Judy Jones (Womens Studies), Michelle Kendrick (English) and Susan Ross (Communication). In addition, Comparative Americ an Cultures is working with the College of Business and Economics on a new course, Working with Diversity.

Shirley Stephens, a graduate student in History, was nominated for the Disability Awareness Association's Third Annual Faculty of the Year Award. The award is given to faculty members who successfully and creatively accommodated students with disabilities in the classroom. The choice will be made by a committee of students with disabilities. The award is an attempt to recognize instructors for their efforts to assist students with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Flutist Ann Marie Yasinitsky and pianist Gerald Berthiaume (both Music) are featured on the new CD Nancy Van de Vate, Chamber Music Vol.V released internationally by Vienna Modern Masters. They were requested

Marta Maldonado (Sociology graduate student) has been invited to be the keynote speaker at the seventh symposium on Research in the Social Sciences sponsored by the Sociology Student Union, with the cooperation of the Social Sciences Department and the Center for Applied Social Research of the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus.

Joe Campbell (Philosophy) and Michael O'Rourke (U of I) are organizing the second annual Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference to be held here and in Moscow, April 23-25th. Philosophers from across the country will present their work on the theme "Rationality." An opening panel discussion on "Drawing the Line between Rationality and Irrationality," and a special session for student presentations and discussions are also slated.

American Studies doctoral candidate Margaret Sherve was awarded a Graduate School travel grant to travel to the Mid-America American Studies Association conference to present a paper in April.

E. San Juan (Comparative American Cultures) was the keynote speaker at an international conference sponsored by Chiba University in Japan, in March. He spoke on "The Paradox of Multiculturalism." San Juan is also a major contributor to a volume of essays on multiculturalism edited by professor Midzunoe being published in Tokyo, Japan.

Maria Cuevas, Marta Maldonado, and Wanda Costen, all Sociology graduate students, are the first recipients to receive the Sociology department's Minority Student Fellowship.

Noël Sturgeon will be a visiting lecturer at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia from May to June. She has also been invited to give two public lectures, one at the University of Washington and one at the University of California, Davis, about her book, Ecofeminist Natures: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political Action.

Steven Kale (History) presented a paper to the Annual Conference of the Society for French Historical Studies entitled "Did Salons Acquire a Political Vocation." The conference was held at Georgetown University in March.

Sara Ewert was awarded the 1999 Women of Distinction Award for a WSU Student from the WSU Women's Resource Center. She was recognized for her scholarly skills, teaching ability, collegiality and service. She teaches U. S. history, women's history and environmental history. Last summer she participated in the "Big Ride Across America," a 3,200-mile bicycle race to raise money for the American Lung Association. She personally raised more than $6,000 for the c harity that addresses women's health problems.

The Department of Speech and Hearing Science, in cooperation with EWU's Department of Communication Disorders, is hosting a reception on April 14 at the University Programs in Communication Disorders in Spokane. This will be an opportunity for the programs to renew partnerships with area professionals and referral agencies.

An article, "Modeling Folsom Mobility, Mating Strategies, and Technological Organization in the Northern Plains," by Doug MacDonald, lecturer, Anthropology, will appear in Plains Anthropologi st in June.

Supreme Court Decision-Making: New Institutional Approaches, edited by Cornell Clayton (Political Science) was published by the University of Chicago Press. The volume will be the subject a roundtable at the upcoming meeting of the Western Political Science Association Barbara Sitko (English) wrote a chapter, "Knowing How to Write: Metacognition and Writing Instruction," for a book, Metacognition in Educational Theory and Practice published in New York by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates in 1998.

Alicia Mueller (Music) recently published "The Effect of Movement-Based Instruction on the Melodic Perception of Primary-Age General Music Students," in The Orff Echo, winter 1999; and "A Unit of Study on the Music of China," in General Music Today, winter 1999. As a contributing author for a book, Pathways to Success: Culturally Responsive Teaching, she wrote the music content chapter, "Celebrating Our Differences through Multicultural Activities: The Collaboration and Integration of Music across the Disciplines."

Peter Chilson's (English) book called Riding the Demon: On the Road in West Africa is a literary journalistic investigation of road culture in Africa. It was published by the University of Georgia Press and won the Associated Writing Programs Prize in Creative Nonfiction. He will read selections from the book April 6 at 4:10 in the Bundy Reading Room and on April 10 he will give a talk and sign books from noon until 2:00 p.m. at the BookPeople in Moscow. </ P>

Mary Cronin Lamonica had two articles accepted for publication on the role and purpose of antebellum female textile operatives' publication in New England: "'Those Who Toil and Spin': Female Textile Operati ves Publication, 1840-1850," in American Journalism; and "Redefining Woman's Sphere: New Englands's Antebellum Female Textile Operatives' Magazines and the Response to the 'Cult of True Womanhood,'" in Journalism History.

Joe Ayers published an article in Communication Research Reports (with Terry Schliesman and Debbie Sonandré) and another accepted for Communication Education (with Tim Hopf and Patricia Edwards). Both deal with testing ways to help people cope with communication apprehension.

Alex Kuo (English) reviews The New Oxford Book of English Prose in an essay in the April issue of Biblio.

Faculty, students and staff in the College of Liberal Arts have been working hard for the past few months to develop a strategic plan for the unit. Key components of the plan will identify and prioritize short and long-term goals and objectives while articulating strategies to achieve them. The planning effort began in January with a meeting for all interested faculty, students and staff in the college. I was surprised at the number of people who attended the meeting and pleased by the quality of the discussion. At a follow-up meeting in February, chairs and directors elaborated upon and refined the ideas generated in the earlier meeting. Now, several task forces have been formed to take the lead in drafting the strategic plan. In addition to writing the college's mission statement, they are focusing on four key areas: designing a procedure to guide the allocation or reallocation of resources within the college; reinvigorating the college's curriculum to meet the challenges of the 21st century; improving the recruitment and retention of undergraduate and graduate students; and strengthening graduate education and faculty research. Before spring semester ends, if all goes according to schedule, constituent groups within the college-faculty, students, staff, alums, chairs and directors, and members of the dean's office-will have the opportunity to critique the strategic plan draft. Once in place,the plan will provide a framework for future decision-making about the myriad services and activities that the college offers to the university and the citizens of Washington State.

Next fall, the College will convene a conference on "The Liberal Arts in the New Millennium." Our goal is to provide a forum for discussion of the intellectual, social and political challenges faced by those engaged in liberal arts education. We also would like to re-affirm our central role in the teaching and activities taking place across the university. The forward-looking theme of the conference invites discussion of how the historic role of liberal arts as the core of humanistic education is to be integrated with the science and technology of the present and future. Another challenge arises out of a paradox. The cognitive, problem-solving, and communication skills provided by a liberal arts education are not only the most important goals of higher education-they are, in fact, career skills. Yet we are searching for successful pedagogy to develop these skills in students increasingly preoccupied with value and committed to specialized disciplines and career training. Such widely-held attitudes lead to the neglect of a broad-based education that promotes active awareness of one's natural, social, and cultural environment. The good news is that as we approach the new millennium, one revival seems to be following another: first a Jane Austen revival, and now a Shakespearean revival have engaged the public on several levels. The Y2K problem may be forgotten long before our graduates develop appreciation for the competencies and qualities of the liberally educated person. The conference is being planned to focus ourselves on building liberal arts curricula for the future, and to celebrate Liberal Arts in a public way. We invite College faculty, administrators, staff and students to come together in shaping the conference program. An open planning meeting will take place on Thursday, April 8, from 3-4:30 p.m. in Wilson 333. If you are unable to attend, but would like to contribute in some way, please contact me by telephone (509)335-3830 or e-mail tolmache@wsu.edu

April 5 Murrow Symposium, Keith Jackson, Beasley Coliseum, 7:30 p.m.

April 5 First-Year Graduate Students' Exhibition, Gallery II, Fine Arts Center April 6 Jazz Concert, Bryan Hall Theatre, 8 p.m.

April 8-10 Sweeney Todd, R. R. Jones Theatre, Daggy, 8 p.m

April 12 Seminar, "Researching European Feminism in Historical and Cross-National Perspective" Karen Offen, Stanford University, McCallister 321,11 a.m. Lecture: "Why Should We Pay Attention to the History of Feminisms in Europe?" 7:30 p.m., Bundy Reading Room. Sponsored by English, History, Foreign Languages, Political Science and Women Studies.

April 13 Percussion Ensemble, Bryan Hall Theatre, 8 pm.

April 15-17 Sweeney Todd, R.R. Jones Theatre, Daggy, 8 p.m.

April 19 Guitar Studio Recital, Bryan 305, 8 p.m.

April 19 American Diversity Course Proposal Workshop, 12 noon, Bundy Reading Room

April 21 Dance Recital, Wadleigh Theatre, 8 p.m.

April 22 Choral Concert, Bryan Hall Theatre, 8 p.m.

April 23 "Rationality" Philosophy Conference, Public Forum, Moscow Community Center, 7 p.m.

April 29 Women Studies Awards Ceremony, Bundy Reading Room, Avery 2:30 p.m.

April 30 College of Liberal Arts Awards Reception, Anthropology Museum, 3:30 p.m.

May 8 WSU Commencement, (Liberal Arts) Beasley Coliseum, 8 a.m.

Keith Jackson, recently retired ABC sports commentator, and Casey Murrow, son of renowned broadcaster and WSU communication graduate, Edward R. Murrow, will both make presentations at the Edward R. Murrow Symposium on April 5, Beasley Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. Jackson's presentation, "A Rap Session with Keith Jackson," will be moderated by communications professor Glenn Johnson. Prior to Jackson's speech, the symposium will be dedicated to the memory of Edward Murrow's wife, Janet, who died in Dec. 1998. Murrow's son Casey, of Putney, Vermont, will give a response for the family and a 10 minute video entitled "Tribute to the Murrow Tradition, featuring film clips of Walter Cronkite, Sam Donaldson, Tom Brokaw, and Mike Wallace discussing Murrow's influence on the broadcast industry will be shown. Also prior to his address, Jackson will receive a Murrow Award. A live video broadcast of the symposium will be available on the Internet through the Murrow website at http://www.wsu.edu/Communications/symp99.html. Additional information about the symposium is available at that site as well.

WSU Commencement for College of Liberal Arts 1999 graduates is scheduled during the morning all-University ceremony Saturday, May 8, at Beasley Coliseum. All members of the University community are invited to attend. The ceremony begins at 8:00 a.m. and is expected to end near 11:00 a.m. All graduates will have their names read individually and shake the hand of the Dean. Glenn Johnson (Communication) and Erich Lear (Music and Theatre Arts) will announce graduates' names. Chairs and directors will lead undergraduates into the Coliseum. Lineup for candidates for undergraduate degrees is expected to be on the east side of the Coliseum at 7:30 a.m. Candidates for graduate degrees will receive instructions from the Gradua te School. Find information on the web at http://www.registrar.wsu.edu/commencement. WSU alumnus Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft and ownerof the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks, will receive the Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award and deliver a response.

The College will, in summer 1999, bring aboard an Academic Coordinator in the Dean's Office to plan and implement the College's student admission and retention programs. Also assisting with data and administrative tasks, and supervising College web site managers, the position will be highly visible in recruitment activity and internally focused on supporting retention. The appointee will travel to high schools, community colleges, and recruitment fairs. The search committee, chaired by Erich Lear, will receive applications through the end of the academic year and will try to conclude selection of interviewees in time for the new person to begin work on July 1. The position requires a master's degree in a liberal arts area as well as demonstrated communication and computer skills. Preferred qualifications include success in student recruitment efforts. Additional information concerning the position should be available in early April.

Laurie Heustis (Sociology) was invited by HRS to present a training workshop in Filemaker Pro database software. The presentations were in February and March for beginning classes, with more advanced classes being offered in the spring and s ummer. For more information on future classes, call Laurie at 335-4597, or HRS at 335-4521.