Finals are Over!

Finals week is over! Let summer begin! It's been a crazy week here at the Rock--wrapping up the Spring semester. Of course, as a proff I had to assign research papers, and of course these had to be due at the end of the semester once students had enough information under their belt, so that meant reading a slew of papers, about a hundred during the past week. And what would a semester be without a week of finals? So for students and instructors alike the end of term is a real zoo, and you can just imagine how restless the natives get.

Well today is Baccalaureate, my favorite event. It has lots of pomp and celebration and an informal reception afterwards. That's the part I like most: the food--jk. While the finger food is good, the opportunity to see graduating seniors one on one and get photos taken etc, that's the real event. Tomorrow is Commencement, and while that's nice in its own way, it's such a BIG production with hundreds of people, there's no real opportunity for the more friendly exchange. Anyhow kudos to the graduating class!

I'll be in England for the next two weeks, visiting my wife's Dad and some relatives. Then I'm back in the swing of things teaching two summer courses, so I'll let you in on what it's like during the summer, (besides hot and sweaty). And if you're thinking about summer classes, better sign up soon. BTW, they're cheaper in the summer than in the Fall and Spring.

Until then . . .

Student Wins Regional Paragon Award

At Rockhurst University we emphasize developing the whole person in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition. One outstanding student example of this drive for excellence is Garrett Fischer who has been selected to receive the 2007-08 Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award. The award, bestowed annually by the Great Lakes Valley Conference to one male and one female student athlete that display academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character and leadership, will be presented at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Awards Banquet in St. Louis on May 20.

Fischer exemplified the traits of a Paragon Award recipient during his time as a tennis player at Rockhurst. He helped guide the Hawks to the NCAA Tournament in all three years he was with the program and will earn a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in May. Fischer maintained a 4.0 grade point average, while excelling on the hardcourt and in the community.

He was an All-GLVC selection in 2008 and posted a 20-31 record in singles play over the course of his career. Fischer guided the Hawks to a second-place finish in the GLVC in both 2007 and 2008 and was named the 2007 GLVC Men’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year. During Fischer’s tenure with the squad, Rockhurst is 38-26 overall.

Fischer is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, a three-time GLVC All-Academic selection, a two-time ITA Academic All-American and a member of the Rockhurst Dean’s List and National Dean’s List. He is also the recipient of The Wall Street Journal Award and the Delta Sigma Phi Scholarship Key.

His activity in the community also sets him apart. After battling an illness in 2006, Fischer organized a fundraising team for the annual Guts & Glory Walk-Race in 2006-07 and helped raise over $1 million for research for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). He contacted congressmen to advocate for support of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Bill currently in Congress and planned a CCFA benefit night through the St. Louis Aces.

Fischer was also a representative at the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education in 2006, was an Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Honors Student Council Member in 2007 and was a three-year member of the Helzberg School of Management Dean’s Student Advisory Board.

“Garrett Fischer is very deserving of the GLVC Paragon Award,” states RU tennis coach Carolina Mayorga-Perry. “He displays academic excellence, tremendous athletic ability, tremendous character and strong leadership.”

Fischer is the first Rockhurst student-athlete to be awarded the Paragon Award. Rockhurst began competing in the GLVC in the fall of 2005. The Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award was established prior to the 1990-91 season in honor of Richard F. Scharf, Commissioner Emeritus of the GLVC.

(Thanks to John Dodderidge for this report.)

Deans' Summer Research Fellowship

Every year students at Rockhurst University have the opportunity to apply for a Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship. Besides the monetary bonus, it provides the student the opportunity to work closely with a faculty mentor. This year another student of mine, Andrea Essner, who is a Theology major was selected as one of seven to receive the fellowship. Many more students had submitted competitive proposals. I heard the selection process was difficult.

Andrea comes from Saint Louis, MO and is pursuing a double major in English and Theology. She intends to go onto grad school to earn a Ph.D. in theology. Her summer project is entitled “Feminine Images of God in English Mystical Texts: A Comparative Analysis,” and I will serve as her mentor since I have some expertise in this field of study. Andrea’s knowledge of English literature will enable her to appreciate how mystics throughout the British Isles used feminine metaphors of God to convey a spiritual reality that was meaningful for their audience.

Congratulations go to all of our fine recipients this year!

· Ms. Madiha Aslam, “Inquiry - Based Learning in Mathematics,” under the direction of Dr. Mairead Greene, Department of Mathematics and Physics.
· Ms. Blair Ballard & Ms. Bailey Williams, “Accuracy of Personality Judgments: Theory, Research, and Applications,” under the direction of Dr. Kate Nicolai, Department of Psychology.
· Ms. Rebecca Benjamin, “Evaluating the Success of a Relocated Population of Timber Rattlesnakes,” under the direction of Dr. Mindy Walker, Department of Biology.
· Ms. Andrea Essner, “Feminine Images of God in English Mystical Texts: A Comparative Analysis,” under the direction of Dr. Daniel Stramara, Jr., Department of Theology & Religious Studies.
· Ms. Jeanette Powers, “Looking In and In and In: Fractals and Nature,” under the direction of Dr. Zdenka Guadarrama, Department of Mathematics and Physics.
· Mr. Alhagie Touray, “Case for Economic Cooperation and Integration in Africa: Is It Possible?,” under the direction of Dr. Michael Tansey, Department of Economics.

Faculty Member of the Year Award

Every Spring students get the opportunity to recognize one of our faculty members as an outstanding teacher who is dynamic in the classroom and facilitates learning by really connecting with students. This year the “Rockhurst Faculty Member of the Year 2007-2008 As Voted by the Student Body” went to Mr. Glenn Young. Mr. Young is presently wrapping up his dissertation at UMKC on The Cloud of Unknowing. This is his first year teaching here at Rockhurst full-time and its quite an achievement to receive this award at all, let alone in one’s first year! Glenn teaches TH 1000 Christianity I: Foundations and its sequel TH 3000 Christianity II: Development, and we’re glad to have him in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies.

At Rockhurst we are centered around student learning, which is bolstered by an instructor’s scholarship and service to the community. We’re expecting great things from you, Glenn. No pressure!

Going to India -- An Interview

One of our Rockhurst faculty members, Dr. Faith Childress from the History Department, has just been accepted into a prestigious summer institute in India. So here’s an interview report in the first person.

"I’ve been selected to participate in the National Endowment of the Humanities’ Summer Institute entitled “Bharata Darshan—Past and Present in the Study of India’s History and Culture.” The Institute is composed of about 20 professors from across the US. For the month of July, I’ll be living in three locations in India: Shimla, New Delhi, and Agra. We’ve already been warned that the climate may prove challenging because although all three locations are in northern India, temperatures in July range from the 50s in Shimla to 110-plus degrees in New Delhi and Agra. Every day I will be attending morning lectures by scholars of South Asia, in the afternoons visiting sites related to the lectures, and attending cultural events in the evenings."

"I'm really jealous, Faith!"

"Well of course you are, Daniel. Anyhow, I’m excited about the Institute because it’s interdisciplinary. We’ll examine India’s religions, arts, architecture, history, and literature from ancient times to the present. Likewise, we’ll explore a variety of topics such as the creation of Indian myth, the traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, the synthesis of Hindu and Islamic artistic traditions, the interaction of British colonial power with the Princely States, the nationalist struggle, and the sexual economies of modern India. In addition, we’ll see temples and mosques, Mughal sites such as the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal, and memorial sites for leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Indira Gandhi. I know that being in India will be a fantastic experience, and I’m looking forward to incorporating what I’ll learn and experience into my World Civilizations and Modern South Asia courses."

"Did you know that I'm a contortionist and can fit into a small trunk?"

Dr. Childress gasps, "O my gosh, Daniel! How did you do that? But I'm sure they won't let me smuggle a wild animal into India."

Have a great time, Dr. Childress!

International Faculty

A university is a vibrant community, composed of students, faculty, and staff. And like any dynamic and living organism a university changes; it grows, adapts, etc. Next Fall Rockhurst will be gaining some new faculty. Because of job opportunities and family reasons our History Department had lost two faculty members. The new hires are Mr. K.D. Motes for Early US History and World History, and Dr. Cecilia Samonte for Modern US History and World History. (Dr. Samonte has already been with us for one year.) Our Department of Communication and Fine Arts had also lost a faculty member to a new job opportunity. He will be replaced by Ms. LaKresiha Graham. A faculty member in the Political Science Dept. had retired and will be replaced by Mr. Matthew Beverlin. And Biology and Chemistry likewise needed new members and thus Dr. Christine Wills and Dr. Petia Bobadova-Parvanova (from the University of Sophia, Bulgaria) will be joining us, respectively. And Rockhurst is pleased to hire a Director of Global Studies and Assistant Professor of Anthropology all-in-one: Dr. Chanasai Tiengtrakul. Dr. Chanasai will help launch our new Global Studies Perspectives requirement and reshape our Global Studies Program.

We eagerly await this diverse group of talented people--from across the USA (from California to Pennsylvania) and from around the world--to enrich our faculty and Rockhurst learning community. Our faculty is becoming more diverse and international.

Quaking in My Boots

One of the purposes of the RU blogs is to give you a glimpse into the life of students and faculty. So here’s one about me—my most favorite subject. jk! (Those who know me, know I really don’t like talking about myself, and I hate filling out Annual Faculty Data Reports where I need to talk about everything I’ve done and how good I am at doing what I do. YUCK!!!)

Any who . . . sometimes research and articles are spawned by accident. As I said previously, one of my hobbies is genealogy. As an historian I always try to track down all the verifiable information and documentation that I can find. One particular line of my ancestry is Quaker, and my most immediate Quaker ancestor was “disunited” for “marrying out.” In other words, he married a non-Quaker and was kicked out of the local Quaker congregation for it. Thus “disowning” and “disuniting” amongst the Society of Friends intrigued me so I investigated it. In looking at transcripts of original documents I discovered that many New Jersey Quakers were also disowned for their participation in the American Revolution, so this led to a whole new line of inquiry. Quakers were and are pacifists. So what about these fighting Quakers? Well it turns out that very little has been written about New Jersey Friends who took up arms, just a passing paragraph in some books. A good bit has been done on PA Quakers. So all of this “love of learning” has led to my cranking out an article written with a social sciences approach regarding New Jersey Quakers and the American Revolution.

So besides teaching and trying to foster learning, faculty members do research and writing that feeds back into the classroom. This research has given me a better understanding about the Society of Friends and appreciation for the complex relationships that existed during an important era of US history.

University life is about the love of learning and having gusto for life.