IN BRIEF

CAMPUS NEWS

The Jeffrey Ralston Foundation Scholarship has been expanded to provide $8,000 annually to 20 students studying criminology and justice at the College. The scholarship, named in memory of Jeffrey Ralston, was created by his mother, Betsy Ross Ralston, who graduated from the College in 1949. Jeffrey was a popular patrolman in Neptune who died in 1997 at age 34. The Ralston Scholarship was originally intended to support students planning to enter law enforcement, but adjustments were made when students with a wide range of interests in criminology and justice studies expressed interest. Upon her death in 2000, Betsy Ross Ralston’s entire estate was transferred to the Foundation and her longtime friends, Roy Berenotto and Barbara Fox, were named as trustees. Both parties elected to make the change in the number of students who receive the scholarship.

Albert Stark, a partner at the Princeton law firm Stark & Stark, has agreed to donate proceeds from his new book, A War Against Terror Through My Lens, to the College in support of the School of Culture and Society, specifically the Leadership in Public Affairs (LPA) program and the College’s Center for Social Justice. Should net proceeds from the effort top $50,000, an endowment for the two programs would be created. In 2005, Stark was honored as the College’s “Citizen of the Year.”

FACULTY AND STAFF

The 2006 Helen Shaw Staff Special Achievement Award this year was shared by seven individuals representing five separate departments.  Established by the Helen Shaw Endowment in January 2003 in honor of Helen D. Shaw ’36, the award recognizes the essential role TCNJ staff members play in the College’s educational process and institutional activities. The winners this year are: Vicki Allen-Edwards, STEP/PDSN; James Boatwright, Academic Support Programs; Virginia Brown, STEP/PDSN; Paulette LaBar, Department of English; James Lopez, Campus Police; Judy Masterson, College Art Gallery; and Jennifer Pirone, STEP/PSDN. A committee of the Staff Senate reviewed 11 nominations from a number of individuals and offices before making its selections. Awards were presented at a reception on August 22.

A piece written by Alcohol and Drug Counselor Joe Hadge has been selected to appear in Get Fit New Jersey!, a government publication from the state’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which was formed to encourage and promote physical fitness statewide. The project was proposed to meet the Governor’s Office fitness challenge and address the needs of the people of New Jersey. Hadge’s chapter, titled "Alcohol & Fitness," focuses on the effect that alcohol consumption has on physical fitness.

Criminology and Justice Studies professor Henry Fradella was awarded a grant this summer from the Study of Sexual Minorities at the University of California-Santa Barbara. The grant facilitated the development of a unit on gays and lesbians in the military for the Freshman Seminar that Fradella is teaching this fall, Law and Sexualities. Additionally, Fradella’s most recent article, “Why Judges Should Admit Expert Testimony on the Unreliability of Eyewitness Testimony,” was published in the prestigious Federal Courts Law Review, the official journal of the United State’s Judges’ Association. Fradella also published a textbook this summer, Forensic Psychology: The Use of Behavioral Sciences in Civil and Criminal Justice, published by Thompson, the leading publisher of criminal justice and legal materials. 

Art professor Ricardo Miranda was named one of six artists to receive the 2006 Lambent Fellowship in the Arts award from the Tides Foundation, a New York City nonprofit philanthropic organization. The grant, which amounts to $21,000 for each artist, will be used by Miranda to continue producing pieces that focus on themes such as immigration, discrimination, gentrification, and the effects of globalization. 

Gloria Dickinson, professor of African American studies, has been installed as the international regional director for Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc., the oldest Greek-letter organization established by and for African-American college-trained women. Dickinson will oversee the international chapters of the sorority located in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Alfred Quinton, assistant professor in the School of Business, was inducted as president of Trenton Rotary in June. Trenton Rotary is an organization that serves the greater Trenton area and is part of Rotary International.                             

Howard Robboy, associate professor of sociology, had an article titled “Reducing vs. Suppressing Campus Crime” published in the July/August 2006 edition of Footnotes, a publication of The American Sociological Society.

Matthew Winkel, TCNJ's Webmaster, was a featured presenter at the 2006 EduWeb conference, which took place from July 31 – August 1 in Baltimore, MD. He presented on the College’s use of RSS feeds (“Really Simple Syndication”) to deliver customizable news to its community, and its plan to roll out podcasting, possibly including a professor interview series and links to podcasts of campus events including guest speakers. See an interview with Matthew at http://syndicateblog.petersons.com/wordpress/.

STUDENTS

TARO, a semi-autonomous interactive robot created by students from the College, won the Technical Innovation Award out of a field of 18 teams at the 2006 National Conference on Artificial Intelligence held July 16-20 in Boston. This year was TCNJ’s first time attending the competition. Engineering majors Chris Rindosh, Joe Votta, and Brian Schlesinger, along with Electronic Technology Lab Coordinator Michael Mensch and mechanical engineering professor Jennifer Wang created the robot, which specializes in natural-language understanding and execution. Entered in the human/robot interaction contest, TARO is capable of talking, animating its “face” as it speaks, shaking hands, and responding to questions. Miroslav Martinovic, associate professor of computer science, served as the team's artificial intelligence adviser.

Caryn Feder, junior music education major with a focus in percussion, offered her drumming talents for the show, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, which ran from May 25-28 at The George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick and from June 14-18 at The Producer's Club II on 9th Ave. in New York City.  

Margaret Natter, a graduate student in the English program, has been chosen to receive a Graduate Merit Award from the Executive Women of New Jersey. Natter will be awarded a check of $2,750 during the Graduate Merit Award Dinner on Sept. 21, 2006.

A paper from Cathy Soban '06 , a psychology and women's and gender studies major, has been selected to appear in a special issue on masculinity and male body image for the International Journal of Men’s Health. The paper, which is on male anorexia, was written for her senior capstone class for women's and gender studies, taught by department chair Ellen Friedman.  

Senior Noel Ramirez was honored with the HiTOPS Youth Leadership Award at its annual Guardian Angel Gala. HiTOPS (Health-Interested Teens' Own Program on Sexuality) provides innovative programs that aim to promote adolescent health and well being. Ramirez, a facilitator with HiTOPS, was recognized for his work with area youth.  

This summer, junior journalism major Monique Reuben interned through The Washington Center with the U.S. Department of Defense. The department’s highly competitive internship program selects only several interns each summer from hundreds of applicants. Reuben served as a writer for American Forces Press Service, the department’s central source for military news. Her duties included writing feature articles on service members and civilians who organize events to help support the troops. She will be traveling abroad to Ghana this year.

On June 1, The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) announced junior biology and chemistry major Arthur Romanchuk as one of the 13 recipients of its sixth annual ASPB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program.