Faculty and Staff

Dr. Gary Woodward, professor of communication studies, has co-authored a book titled Persuasion and Influence in American Life, Fourth Edition with Robert E. Denton Jr. The book offers a comprehensive summary of persuasion theory and practice in a wide range of contexts, including political campaigns, social movements, and advertising. Woodward and Denton have also collaborated on two other recent projects. Their book, Political Communication in America, Third Edition, was published by Praeger/Greenwood in late 1998, and a collection of essays titled Political Communication Ethics: An Oxymoron was published by Praeger/Greenwood in April 2000. Dr. Woodward's chapter in the collection is called "Narrative Form and the Deceptions of Modern Journalism.”

Dr. Edward Rockel, associate professor of biology, and Mr. David Rose, assistant professor of biology, conducted an extended study of the Assunpink Creek. Their findings were published under the title "Analyses of the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority Environs: A 20 Year Summary 1977-1996.” In addition, the study was also cited in a July 1999 report prepared by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

Dr. Beth Paul, associate professor of psychology, and Dr. Juda Bennett, assistant professor of English, were appointed editors of the journal Transitions beginning with the fall 2000 issue. The journal, funded by the New Jersey Project, explores and promotes inclusive pedagogy and curriculum transformation. Representing a variety of cross-disciplinary interests, both theoretical and practical, the journal is designed to create a dynamic exchange among diverse scholars. A variety of approaches, everything from theoretical essays to short descriptions of pedagogical innovations, will assist teachers and scholars at all levels who are committed to integrating recent scholarship on gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and other identity positions.

Dr. David Venturo, assistant professor of English, is the author of a new book titled Johnson the Poet. A critical study of the poetic career of Samuel Johnson, eighteenth-century man of letters, the book is the first ever to focus exclusively on Johnson's achievement as a poet and to study his development as a writer of verse over a period of sixty years.

Dr. Charles Fenwick, associate professor of law and justice, has been invited by St. Antony's College of Oxford University to present a lecture at the Antonians 2000 Golden Conference, celebrating the college's fiftieth anniversary. Dr. Fenwick was invited by the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, one of five centers at St. Antony's. The focus of the conference will be interpreting the political and economic change of the last fifty years and looking ahead to the next half century. His paper is entitled "Economic Change, Education, and the Police: Interpreting the Social Management of Serious Street Crime in Postwar Japan and Beyond." Prior to attending the conference at Oxford in July, Dr. Fenwick will speak at a conference at the University of Western Australia in June.

Dr. Cynthia Paces, assistant professor of history, received a grant from International Research Exchanges Board to travel to Minsk Belarus in September for the first-of-its-kind conference on Women's Studies in Eastern Europe. Dr. Paces presented a paper titled "Writing Women's History and History of Gender in Countries in Transition.” Her contributions to the conference were on gender, nationalism, and religion in Czechoslovakia.

Dr. Steve Klug, professor of biology, has completed the third edition of his textbook Essentials of Genetics, and the sixth edition of his textbook Concepts of Genetics. These books, published by Prentice-Hall, Inc. in 1999 and 2000, respectively, and co-authored with Michael Cummings, have been widely adopted throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Australia, and Europe. The recent edition of the Essentials of Genetics text is dedicated to Dr. Klug's close friend and former colleague, Dr. Joseph Vena, professor emeritus of biology at TCNJ, who passed away in 1998.

Dr. Gloria Dickinson, associate professor of African-American studies, was elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. She was also elected international recording secretary of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Dr. Regina Kenen, professor of sociology and anthropology, received visiting scholar appointments at the Family Research Centre, University of Cambridge, U.K., and The Institute of Cancer Research, Royal Cancer Hospital, U.K. for the spring 2000 semester. She was awarded a Haddow Fund support grant for visiting research scholars at the latter institution. In addition, Dr. Kenen has written two entries in The Encyclopedia of Reproductive Technologies published in 1999.

Dr. William DeMeritt, professor of English, was awarded The College's Student Life Faculty Award on December 7, 1999. The award is presented annually to a faculty member who by his or her continual involvement in student life programs has contributed to the quality of life on campus and to the community of learners at The College.

Dr. Jean Kirnan, associate professor of psychology, had her article "Effectiveness of an Undergraduate Program in Industrial/Organizational Psychology,” authored with two students, published in the journal Teaching of Psychology.

Mr. Nino Scarpati, director of service learning, and Mr. Robert Anderson, director of general education, were invited to be presenters at a conference sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The conference, titled General Education in the New Millennium: Opportunities, Principles, and Politics, was held in San Antonio in February. Their session was titled "Campus and Community Collaboration in the Core Curriculum.”

Dr. Allan Gotthelf, professor of philosophy and religion, has published a book titled On Ayn Rand. Part of the Wadsworth Philosophers Series, the book draws on Dr. Gotthelf's personal knowledge of Rand during the last twenty years of her life, his study with her, and his life-long study, teaching, and public lecturing on her work. One of the founders of the Ayn Rand Society, Dr. Gotthelf has served as chairman of the organization since 1990. Dr. Gotthelf is a recognized authority on Rand and has lectured on her life and thought throughout the world.

Dr. Martin Becker, assistant professor of physics, had several works published during 1999, including: “Spiral Coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous Wenonah-Mt. Laurel and Navesink Formations in the Northern Coastal Plain of New Jersey in Northeastern Geology and Environmental Science;”“Traprock Treasures: Zeolite Finds in New Jersey's Quarries in Rock and Gem;” and “A Gateway Website that Provides Earth System Science Internet Activities to K-12 Teachers in the Journal of Geoscience Education.”

Dr. Thulsi Wickramasinghe, assistant professor of physics, conducted observational research of the halo of a remote galaxy (NGC 253) for young stars at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile, in August. In addition, his recent presentations include: "Study of Halo Stars” at the 35th Liege Astrophysical Colloquium in Belgium in July; “On the Gravitational Lending Due to Relativistically Moving Lens” at Boston University in July; and “How GRBs Could Determine Cosmology” at the 5th Huntsville Gamma Ray Bursts Symposium in October.

Dr. John Pollock, associate professor of communication studies, was elected to the five-faculty national board of directors of Lambda Pi Eta, the national undergraduate honor society in communication studies. His book, titled World Opinion in the Emerging World Order and co-authored with Frank Rusciano, was published by Praeger in 1998. Two papers Dr. Pollock co-authored with students were presented at the International Communication Association's annual meeting in San Francisco in May 1999. In addition, a paper he co-authored with students was presented at the National Communication Association's annual meeting in Chicago in November 1999. Dr. Pollock's development of an original methodology to study media coverage of political and social change was recognized recently in one of the leading methods textbooks in communication studies. The book, Investigating Communication: An Introduction to Research Methods, devoted a complete page to the “community structure approach,” crediting its development to “Pollock and colleagues,” and selected it as a new definition in the communication studies field.

Dr. David Holmes, assistant professor of mathematics and statistics, had his article “Cicero, Sigonio and Burrows: Investigating the Authenticity of the 'Consolatio'” published in the Journal of Literary and Linguistic Computing in December 1999. The article, co-authored with Emily K. Tse and Richard S. Forsyth, used a statistical method known as stylometry to prove that a 1583 publication of Consolatio by Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) is a forgery. Based upon numerous analyses, the evidence showed the Consolatio to be a work of Neo-Latin, and not a genuine Ciceronian work. The evidence clearly showed that stylometry can be used to determine authorship of works written in Latin.In January 2000 The College and The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce sponsored a conference, titled Learning Links, to explore new directions in K-12 education, paying special attention to school programs designed to facilitate children's transitions to the workforce. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the conference brought together business leaders, educators, and brain researchers to share information and common concerns. Funding was awarded in late 1999 to select NSF projects, including the Children Designing & Engineering Project, located at TCNJ’s Department of Technological Studies. Children Designing & Engineering is a three-year collaboration between TCNJ and the NJ Chamber of Commerce to develop elementary learning units that explore several New Jersey industries. The units integrate math, science, and technology through real-world problem solving.