IN BRIEF

CAMPUS NEWS

The School of Art, Media, and Music has received several major gifts pledged from private donors since 2005 totaling $1 million. The money will go toward endowments that will be used to support art programs and student scholarships. Major donors include Herbert Mayo, whose donation went toward renaming the Music Concert Hall as the “Mildred and Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall” in memory of the professor’s parents. Board of Trustees member Barbara Pelson provided a major donation to support student scholarships in music and arts and alumna Theresa Martinac established a scholarship for vocal music students. A bequest gift from the estate of Ethel Rathhauser Bard will be used to establish an endowment to support programs in the school and alumni cash gifts.

FACULTY AND STAFF

Paul D’Angelo, assistant professor of communications, co-authored an article with Dr. Frank Esser of Switzerland titled “Framing the Press and the Publicity Process in U.S., British, and German General Election Campaigns: A Comparative Study of Metacoverage.” The article was recently printed in the Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics. D’Angelo also presented a paper, “The Power of the Press: The Effects of Press Frames in Political Campaign News on Media Perceptions”, at the annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) meeting in June 2006, in Dresden, Germany.

Blythe Hinitz, professor of early childhood and elementary education, won the 2006 Teacher’s Choice Award for a book she co-authored with other education specialists titled The Anti-Bullying and Teasing Book, published last year by Gryphon House Publishers. The award is the highest honor offered by Learning magazine. The book describes how to use activities, the classroom environment, and family involvement to develop empathy in children and create a climate of mutual respect in the classroom. 

Teresa Nakra, assistant professor of music, was recently cited as an expert for her work on the mapping and measurement of musical conductors’ movements and the physiological reactions exhibited in conductors. Her extensive comments were included in “Measure for Measure” by music scholar Justin Davidson in the August 21, 2006 issue of The New Yorker.

Taras Pavlovsky, dean of the library at The College of New Jersey, was appointed to the New Jersey Library Network Review Board. He will be one of eight librarians from across New Jersey charged with the responsibility of advising New Jersey State Librarian Norma E. Blake in regard to the New Jersey Library Network. Funded through the New Jersey State Library, the New Jersey Library Network provides residents with valuable statewide services, such as the JerseyCat interlibrary loan system which connects residents to materials in over 800 libraries. The New Jersey Library Network Review Board will examine issue in the field, and offer their ideas for future programs.

Donna Shaw, journalism professor, was promoted to contributing writer for the leading journal in her field, American Journalism Review. She will begin with the October/November issue. 

Crystal Smith, counselor for the College’s Collegebound Program, will be honored by the Trenton Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in credit of her exemplary citizenship and dedicated service to helping others in the Trenton Community. Smith will be presented with the Annual Freedom Fund Award in Education. Additionally, Smith has been named one of 28 distinguished Fellows in the Leadership Trenton Program, sponsored by the John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy of Thomas Edison State College. The program provides seminars and workshops to prepare civic leaders in the Trenton Community for future leadership roles.

Jeanine Vivona, associate professor of psychology, published an article in the summer 2006 edition of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the premier journal in the field of clinical psychoanalysis. Her paper is entitled, "From developmental metaphor to developmental model: The shrinking role of language in the Talking Cure." 

Gary Woodward, professor of communications, recently published a book titled Center Stage: Media and the Performance of American Politics. The book assesses changes in the national news media environment since 9/11, and offers a new perspective on the old idea of politics as performance. This is Woodward’s sixth book in a career focused on assessing the nature of persuasion and political communication in a changing media-saturated world.

STUDENTS

Students from the College, along with Ewing High School students and residents of Anchor House, will be working with renowned sculptor Steven Siegel at Hamilton’s Grounds for Sculpture to create two to three outdoor sculptural installations using indigenous post-consumer materials (recyclables). Scott Allen, Darcy Coligan, Jenna Garrison, Erin Hough, Jennifer Kakaletris, Michelle Nugent, David Sankey, Katharine Straut and Danielle Wollner will contribute to the program. The Grounds for Sculpture “Artist-in-Residence” program is supported through an Artist & Communities grant from Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation. It is also funded by J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, Johnson & Johnson and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

The first of a series of student seminars in mathematics was held Tuesday, Sept. 12 from 5:30pm to 6:30pm in Room P-221.The speaker was Brendan Kelly, whose topic was “Mapping Cantor's Dust onto the Firmament.” The purpose of the seminar is for mathematics majors, who are taking independent study, independent research or capstone, to explain to their peers what they are studying this semester, and at the same time to find out what other students in the department are working on. The seminar will take place each Tuesday and only students are invited.

Biology students Brian Dunn, Heather Lubchansky (nee McMahon), Kerry Mauck, and Kelly-Marie McCartney, along with associate professor of biology Janet Morrison, have written an article that was recently accepted for publication.  The title of the article is "Ecological Comparison of Two Co-invasive Species in Eastern Deciduous forests:  Alliaria petiolata and Microstegium vimineum".  It will be published in the Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society

Communications professor John Pollock presented five papers co-authored with students from the College at international and national conferences this summer: “Nationwide newspaper coverage of affirmative action: A community structure approach” co-authored with Jean Lutkenhouse; “Gay rights: Nationwide newspaper coverage of gays in the Boy Scouts, gay adoption and gay marriage: A community structure approach” co-authored with Samantha Schumacher and Laura de Zutter; “Nationwide newspaper coverage of Genetically-Modified Food: A community structure approach” co-authored with Pamela Braddock, Kristine LaPlant, and Michelleslie Maltese-Nehrbass. Nationwide newspaper coverage of laws restricting environmental tobacco smoke: A community structure approach co-authored with Dana Eisenberg, Tom Hipper, Tracy Severino, and Ashley Magazzu; “Warrantless wiretapping: A community structure approach to nationwide newspaper coverage of National Security Agency surveillance” co-authored with John Fialk, Justin Grazioli, and Kevin Shields.