In Brief

FACULTY AND STAFF

The College was saddened to learn over the summer of the deaths of two staff members.

Harvey Louis Edwards, a longtime dining services employee, died July 6 from injuries suffered when riding a bicycle and colliding with a car on Homecrest Avenue in Ewing. Harvey, 48, grew up in Ewing Township and graduated from Ewing High School in 1976. He was unmarried but was one of 15 children. He worked in dining services at the College for the past 27 years.

Peggie Ann Pinkney, 49, died June 28 in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She had been employed in the Office of Building Services as a building attendant in the School of Business. A native of North Carolina, she had lived in Trenton for many years and is survived by her mother and father, two daughters, a granddaughter, and 12 brothers and sisters.

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The winners of the second Helen Shaw Staff Special Achievement Award were acknowledged August 23 at a reception in the atrium of the Social Sciences Building. They are Janis Blayne-Paul, who directs special events planning and execution in the Office of College and Community Relations, and Alexander Michalchuk, laboratory mechanic in the School of Engineering. A committee of the Staff Senate reviewed nine nominations from a number of individuals and offices before making its selections. Janis was recognized for her imagination, organizational skill, success at recruiting volunteer assistance, and diplomacy under stressful conditions of managing such events as Commencement, Community Fest, and the Sesquicentennial celebration. Alexander was praised for his invaluable service in maintaining and repairing everything from the telescope atop the Science Complex to the machinery in the School of Engineering, as well as helping instruct students in the use of welding and other equipment.

Tom Bracken, who served as a member of TCNJ’s Board of Trustees from February 1997 to October 2004, was one of three South Jersey community leaders honored as South Jerseyans of the Year in June by the Sen. Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden. Bracken, a banker for more than 30 years, is president and chief executive of Sun Bancorp in Vineland, a board member of the New Jersey Alliance for for Action, the New Jersey Network, and other charities and state committees. 

Lyle Fulton has joined the staff of the Office of College and Community Relations as assistant sports information director. Lyle comes to TCNJ after serving the past five years as the sports information director at Oswego State University. While at Oswego State, Lyle guided all aspects of sports information for the Lakers’ 23-sport program. A 1991 graduate of Utica College of Syracuse University, Fulton is a former sports writer for the Oswego, NY, Palladium-Times and the former editor of the Fulton, NY, Valley News. He replaces Nairem Moran, who served in the post since 2000 and has left to pursue graduate study at the University of South Carolina.

Mark Kiselica, professor and chair of the Department of Counselor Education, recently received two national honors. He was named the 2005 recipient of the Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person by the American Counseling Association. Mark also was elected to “fellow” status in the Society of Counseling Psychology: Division 17 of the American Psychological Association (APA) for his “outstanding and unusual contributions to the science and profession of counseling psychology.” This is the second time Mark has been named a fellow of APA, an accomplishment achieved by only approximately one percent of the 150,000 APA members.

Deborah Knox, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science, has been named interim dean of the School of Science, replacing Gale Simmons, who has accepted another position at SUNY’s College of Staten Island. Miroslav Martinovic, associate professor of computer science, was elected by the department faculty to be interim chairman.

Kevin McHugh, director of athletics, in June was recognized along with 25 other ADs from across the country as a winner of the 2004-05 General Sports TURF Systems Athletic Director of the Year. The designation was made by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Kevin, who is in his 18th year at TCNJ, was selected from among ADs of Division III institutions in the southeast section of the country. Candidates for the award are drawn from the entire membership of NACDA in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. They must have been directors for at least five years and demonstrate high levels of commitment to higher education and students athletes, loyalty, and excellence in their profession, as well as the ability to inspire others.

Amanda Norvell, assistant professor of biology, has co-authored a paper in the July 2005 issue of Development, Genes and Evolution. Its title is “Squid is Required for Efficient Posterior Localization of Oscar mRNA during Drosophilia Oogenesis.” Her co-authors are Alain Debec, assistant professor of biology at Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Villefranche Sur Mere, and three former TCNJ students: Lisa Gibson ’03, Daniel Finch ’04, and Brandi Thoma ’04.

John Pollock, professor of communication studies, is the lead author of a study published in the February issue of Communication Research Reports of major American newspaper coverage of Islam following September 11, 2001. Co-authors included present and former communication studies majors Stefanie Gratale ’06, Christine Piccillo ’04 and Dana Leopardi ’04. In May, John was named the leader of a three-scholar team to receive the first-ever “seed grant” from the United Nations Foundation for research into the effectiveness of UN communications about its global AIDS programs. The other scholars who will share the grant are Sara Sayeed of Baruch College CUNY and Pradeep Sopory of the University of Memphis.

Ethan Pride, assistant professor of biology, published three papers in professional journals last spring. “Optimal Group Size and Seasonal Stress in Ringtailed Lemurs” came out in the May issue of Behavioral Ecology and showed how cortizol, a hormonal indicator of stress, varied with the number of individuals in a lemur’s group, suggesting that animals form groups of a given size for physiological reasons. Another paper demonstrated an association between high levels of cortisol in lemurs and their risk of mortality. It appeared in the March issue of Biology Letters. A third project involved studying the behaviors of lemurs and their individual cortisol levels. In a paper published in the April 2005 International Journal of Primatolog, Ethan reported that lemurs with low food intake and lots of intergroup conflicts have high cortisol, suggesting that one reason lemurs choose to be social is to fight other groups for food.

Marianna Sullivan, director of the International Studies Program and professor of political science, spent a portion of her summer in Europe, having been invited to speak by the Center for Historical Studies of Defense in Paris. The title of her lecture at Les Invalides was "Memories of Vietnam and U.S. Policy in Iraq." She discussed how contested memories of the Vietnam conflict influence the positions taken by U.S. politicians about Iraq today and she examined the rhetoric used during the 2004 election. Marianna spoke in French and answered questions afterward. As she put it, "The question period was lively as the French know something about Vietnam and also have had similar experiences fighting an indigenous foe in Algeria. Thus, in addition to discussion of current events, the give-and-take concerned historical events and how they are remembered by both France and the United States."

Matthew Winkel, an information architect on the information technology staff, presented on "Web Standards Communication Initiatives" at the June 1 meeting of the New Jersey Higher Education Webmasters Association at Ramapo College of New Jersey. On August 23, he particpated as panelist and delivered a presentation titled "Using ePortfolios for eAdvising" at the Summer Faculty Institute at Seton Hall University.

STUDENTS

Three computer science majors and Monisha Pulimood, assistant professor of computer science, are the joint recipients of a $3,500 grant from the Computer Research Association to support a full year of academic research into aspects of internet computing language. Juniors Gregory Adkins and Elizabeth Carter, and senior Amanda Micai will receive $1,000 each to support their work, and Monisha will have $500 to purchase materials for the project. The award was made by the Computer Research Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research. The National Science Foundation supports the program with the goal of increasing diversity in graduate schools, particularly in Computer Science and Engineering.

John Fischer, a junior physics major, spent part of his summer playing the role of young Joe Boyd, the superstar baseball player for the Washington Senators, in the musical play “Damned Yankees.” The show was mounted by the Lebanon Community Theatre and tells the story of a middle-aged ball player who sells his soul to the devil. It ran for 12 performances in July.

On July 6-8 a large TCNJ contingent joined some of the best Flash designers in the world in the fourth annual FlashForward Conference in New York City. FlashForward is the premier event showcasing the development tool Macromedia Flash and features a day of instructional workshops and two days of technical and inspirational seminars. TCNJ was represented by the college’s information architect, Matthew Winkel, students Vinny Cerpa, Omid Dadgar, and Rob LaPlaca, adjunct professor of interactive multimedia Sean Dembrosky '03 , and alumni Lamar Hines '04, Jen King '05, Jonathan McGough '05, and John Riviello '03. TCNJ had the largest representation of any educational institution.

Four rising sophomore business majors are among 12 New Jersey high school students to be honored for having successfully completed their first year supported by scholarships from the New Jersey Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Each of the four--Alex Alvarez, Lauren Gonzalez, Valerie Perez, and Evie Yawn--was awarded a $2,000 renewable scholarship last year as an entering freshman.

Sophomore English major Alex Meggitt attended the three-day Clyde Hirt Sports Media Workshop in early August. He and seven other college students interested in sports media were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the Meadowlands Arena and Giants Stadium, appeared on the WB11 Morning Show, and listened to speakers such as award winning photojournalist Mark Hall and the radio voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, Tom McCarthy. The workshop concluded with the Hambletonian, a major harness racing event held annually at the Meadowlands Racetrack. The students covered the event and had their stories critiqued by Kelly Young, a publicist for the Harness Horse Breeders of NY. Alex said, “We met a lot of people who have years of experience in various facets of journalism but also got to see how they cover an event. Plus, everyone wrote their own articles for publication. It was pretty exciting.”

Two students taking piano instruction from Rita Sklar, adjunct professor of piano, were top prize winners in April at the New Jersey Music Teachers Association Spring Recital auditions. As a result, senior Erika Safran, a music education major, and sophomore Christina Merwitz, a music performance major, played along side the best young pianists in the state at the High Honors Winners Recital at Rider University on May 22. On May 14, both women played at Carnegie Hall in New York, and in June, Christina gave a solo recital at Salon 33, a private organization that sponsors monthly concerts in Princeton.