IN BRIEF

Faculty and Staff 

Joseph Goebel, assistant professor of modern languages, attended the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey annual conference on March 18, 2006, and presented a paper titled “Developing Oral Proficiency with Scenarios.” He also co-presented a paper titled “The Galapagos Islands: Building Student Interest through Thematic Units” at the annual Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages on March 30, 2006, through April 1, 2006. In addition, Professor Goebel was the invited speaker at a workshop for the faculty, adjunct teachers and graduate assistants at the University of Akron on March 10, 2006. His presentation was titled "Teaching World Languages: SLA Theory, the National Standards and Dos Mundos." 

Diane Gruenberg, director of The Write Place and coordinator of the humanities and social sciences tutoring center, and Nancy Lasher, assistant professor in the School of Business, co-authored an article titled, "The School of Business and Writer's Place Partnership at The College of New Jersey." The article was one of two featured pieces in Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, spring 2006 (volume 3, issue 2). The article details the process of collaboration that culminated in the publication of the School of Business Guide to Writing in August 2005. In accepting the article for publication, the editors of Praxis noted that it "makes a key interdisciplinary connection." For a full-text of this article, click on the following link: Praxis: A Writing Center Journal. The URL for the Guide to Writing is  http://www.tcnj.edu/~business/documents/SOB_05-06_Writing_Guide.pdf

Frances Mecartty-Dunlap, assistant professor of modern languages, attended the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in New York City on March 30, 2006. The title of her presentation was "Contextualizing the Standards for Intermediate and Advanced College Students." 

Jia-Yan Mi, assistant professor of modern languages, presented a paper titled "Rewinding the Lines: Depoeticization and Lyric Minoritarianism in the New Chinese Cinema of Poetry” at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), held in San Francisco on April 6, 2006, through April 9, 2006. 

Regina Morin, associate professor of modern languages, presented a paper at the 51st International Linguistic Association (ILA) Conference, sponsored by York University. It was held in Toronto, Canada, from March 31, 2006, through April 2, 2006. The ILA Conference’s topic was “Words and their Histories.” Professor Morin’s paper was titled "Spanish Gender Assignment in Computer and Internet-Related Loan Words."  Professor Morin was also recently published in Hispania (89:.1 (2006): 170-182) for her article titled “Building Depth of Spanish L2 Vocabulary by Building and Using Word Families.” Hispania is the official journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, with a world-wide circulation of 14,000.

Beth Paul, currently serving as interim vice president of student life, will be taking over the position of interim provost starting July 1. During her tenure this past year as interim vice president for student life, Beth has served on the president’s cabinet and provided exceptional leadership to the Office of Student Life. She has directed a strategic planning effort for the division, created a new leadership structure in Residential Development, improved budget and resource allocation practices, and, among other accomplishments, continues to bring national prominence to the College through her collaborations. During the past year, Beth has engaged a broad array of constituents in addressing key student development issues, including sexual assault and alcohol use. Most recently, she authored an article on “Community-Based Research as Scientific and Civic Pedagogy,” which appeared in the winter 2006 issue of Peer Review, a journal specializing in issues of undergraduate higher education. The article, based on her work with psychology students, details Beth’s experience organizing research projects designed to help local non-profit community organizations and municipal agencies deal with actual community issues using student-faculty-agency partnerships.  As interim provost, Beth will provide continuity and overall leadership for the academic enterprise, will work to continue implementing the strategic planning in and around the academic transformation, and will support a number of initiatives currently in various stages of implementation.

David Stillman, conversation hour coordinator in the Department of Modern Languages, attended the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in New York City on March 30, 2006. The topic of his presentation was "Student-led Conversation Hours at The College of New Jersey."   

Matthew Winkel, information architect in information technology, participated in Higher Ed Blog Con, a fully web- based event focused on how new online communications technologies and social tools are changing Higher Education. The topic of his presentation was "Student To-Do List RSS Feed: Combining Audience and Task Navigation."

STUDENTS

April Duncan, senior women’s and gender studies and English major, received a graduate assistantship at the University of Maryland.

Andrew Grant, a junior physics major from Seaford, NY, will be featured in a documentary set to play at the Trenton Film Festival on Saturday, May 6. The documentary, "Knocking," will also be nationally broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens during the 2006-2007 season. The story is about Grant’s grandfather, Joseph Kempler, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who saw Jehovah’s Witnesses at concentration camps. He later converted and the film follows the family as they join Kempler on a trip back to Austria and Poland to visit the concentration camps he survived.

Julia Pratt, senior nursing major from Collingswood, has been selected as The College of New Jersey’s Outstanding Student Leader of the Year. The award is presented annually by the Office of Campus Activities to a student who exceptionally demonstrates the leadership traits needed to transform student life at the College.  This year, 41 students were nominated for the honor. As the executive director of the Student Finance Board (SFB), Julia is responsible for chairing weekly meetings that allocate funds from the annual $650,000 student activities budget. She also makes decisions regarding SFB funding policies, negotiates contracts for student services, and coordinates payroll for 20 student employees. Julia is also involved as the student representative on the Celebration of the Arts committee and on the Student Center Board of Governors. She is a member of the Professional Nursing Organization of Students, a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society for nursing, and nominee for Kappa Delta Pi. She has worked as a nursing aide at St. Mary’s Medical Center. She was honored at the Student Life Award Ceremony on April 9.  

Heema Tambakuwala, sophomore nursing major, has been awarded a scholarship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW). With more than 100,000 members, the AAUW works to promote education and equity for women and girls.

Pamela Wrede, senior English teaching major, has been selected to receive the New Jersey Commissioner’s Distinguished Student Teacher Award.  She is one of 15 recipients in the state and this year's only recipient from TCNJ.