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Transcript of Eberly Magazine
At the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, we expect our students, faculty, staff, and alumni to be aware of the rapid rate at which our world is changing. At the same time, we want more. We want them to be active participants in facilitating that change.
That means while our students are here in Morgantown, we work hard to prepare them for the growing “community” that extends across the country and beyond. Our students and faculty are encouraged to take advantage of, and create, opportunities that globalize the learning environment.
That’s why we’ve focused this issue of Eberly on the influence our students, faculty, staff and alumni are having abroad, and the impact those experiences are having on them.
This issue highlights some of the initiatives our College, and our University, have taken to ensure that our students have access to a life-changing, global education.
Like Marlenea Morgan, a first-generation college student, who took her first flight this summer when she traveled to Israel through the Religious Studies Program’s annual archeological dig in Bethsaida.
Our faculty are building graduate-level and post-graduate bridges for students through international opportunities including the Atlantis Program, a dual enrollment initiative whose participants receive both a master’s degree in history from WVU and either a master’s in social sciences from the University of Tartu in Estonia or a master’s in international relations from Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, Poland. Students spend at least one full semester in each of the three locations.
And the University as a whole continues to strengthen the United States’ partnership with China through collaborations with individuals in disciplines such as nanotechnology, world languages, business, and the arts.
Awareness of the evolving global landscape makes our students competitive and is just as important as knowledge of physics formulas, math equations, and historical dates.
I couldn’t be more excited about the global opportunities facing our students and faculty, and I hope you agree with me in finding that this edition of Eberly provides a glimpse of how the College is extending its reach and fulfilling its global mission.
Thanks to your generosity, Eberly is able to keep pace with constant innovations around the world. We appreciate your support of us in this undertaking.
Sincerely,
Robert H. Jones, PhD Dean
Dear friends,
ContentsIN THIS ISSUE2 Around the College
6 Vox Populi6 Understanding “Oneness”
8 From WVU to the Cold War and its Aftermath
11 Discovering Atlantis
14 Tangé Ne Giri
16 Ancient Wonder, Modern World
20 East Meets West Virginia
24 A Mountaineer in Paris
28 Where the Art Grows
32 New and Notable 32 Writing the Book on Inequality
34 Science on Tap
37 Escaping the Poverty Trap
38 Awards and Honors
38 Adding Wisdom to Knowledge
40 Meet WVU’s First WiSE Women
42 Making ADVANCEs in Research
ADMINISTRATIONJames P. Clements, PhD, President, West Virginia University
Michele Wheatly, PhD, Provost
Robert Jones, PhD, Dean
Joan Gorham, EdD, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs
Fred King, PhD, Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies
Asuntina Levelle, JD, Associate Dean, Financial Planning and Management
Katherine Karraker, PhD, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies
L. Christopher Plein, PhD, Associate Dean, School of Applied Social Sciences
Bonnie Fisher, Director of Development
EDITORIAL STAFFDevon Copeland, Executive Editor
Rebecca Herod, Executive Editor
Kathy Deweese, University Editor
Dustin Mazon, Web Designer
ART DIRECTION & DESIGNForrest ConroyAngela CaudillSue CristGraham CurryChris Schwer
CONTRIBUTING EDITORSEmily Christensen
Jared Lathrop
Diana Mazzella
Christine Schussler
Jake Stump
Ashley Wells
PHOTOGRAPHYM.G. Ellis, Senior Photojournalist
Brian Persinger, Photojournalist
Daniel Friend, Photography Manager (Ret.)
Jake Lambuth, Photography Intern
Todd Latocha, Photography Intern
COVER ILLUSTRATIONForrest Conroy
EDITORIAL OFFICERebecca Herod
Director of Marketing and CommunicationsPO Box 6286Morgantown, WV 26506-6286
CHANGE OF ADDRESSWVU FoundationPO Box 1650Morgantown, WV 26507-1650
VISIT OUR WEBSITE ATeberly.wvu.edu
WVU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action institution.
West Virginia University is governed by the West Virginia University Board of Governors and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.
Eberly alumna Heather Hartley is the author of Knock Knock (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2010) and Paris editor for Tin House magazine. Her poems, essays and interviews have appeared in or on PBS Newshour, The Guardian, and other venues and anthologies.
24
More than 450 WVU students have traveled to China to expand their studies in language, culture, nanotechnology, ceramics, painting, forestry and business, among other disciplines.
20
WVU graduate and former research hydrologist Annie Morris Simcoe now works as a paper/mixed media artist in Accident, Maryland. The artist makes her own plant-based paper, dyes it and then sews it into her colorful, signature designs.
28
Starting this month, we’ve created “digital jumps” that take you from the pages of Eberly to additional online content.
Using a Quick Response (QR) reader for your smartphone, you can now view additional video, photos or interesting facts that enhance what you’re reading. For a list of free QR readers, visit http://bit.ly/3xundO to download a compatible reader for your smartphone.
If you would like to access archival editions of the magazine, go to eberly.wvu.edu and select the Alumni link.
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 1
Around the College
Military couples face a number of
hardships and obstacles not experienced by
other couples. However, couples with one
member in the military actually experience less
stress in their interpersonal communication
than other couples, according to research
performed by the WVU Communication
Studies Department.
Melanie Booth-Butterfield, a commu-
nication studies professor, collaborated with
four graduate students on the research after
teaching a graduate seminar on interpersonal
communication in which students voiced
interest in how couples communicate when
one person is in the military.
Up until this point, little research on
military couples has focused on how these
couples talk and seek information in their
relationships — most has focused on conflicts,
self-disclosure, and adaptation problems.
The results of the research, Booth-
Butterfield said, were surprising.
“Nonmilitary couples are actually more
stressed out in their relationships than military
couples,” she said.
This research, which was published in
the June issue of Communication Studies,
raises additional questions. Is this because the
“value” of what they communicate when they
might not get to see someone again is higher?
Is it because nonmilitary couples don’t know
how to take advantage of every minute they
have with their partners? Is it that “everyday
talk” actually helps to relieve stress?
Couples engage in “everyday talk” when
they discuss their daily activities and how they
spend their time, sharing the mundane small
talk that normalizes relationships, Booth-
Butterfield said. Military couples, overall,
see this as being more important than other
couples do and make more of an effort to
engage in this “everyday talk.” An example
WVU research discovers military couples experience less stress over communication than non-military couples
would be when couples discuss
how they spent their day, such
as getting the kids ready for
school and other routine activities.
She said it is also possible that military
couples are naturally more resilient to stress
than other couples or that they handle stress
more effectively, because they are expecting it
and prepare themselves. Alternatively, people
who know they would not be able to handle
separations may opt out of such relationships.
These results, Booth-Butterfield said, will
likely lead to further research on the subject of
communication in military relationships. The
next step could be to apply this study to see if
these variables predict how well veterans will
readjust to civilian life. She also is working
on a study with an undergraduate student
about relationship satisfaction during different
phases of deployment.
Miles Wheaton-Hill uses fingerprint analysis during a mock crime scene investigation staged at the Evansdale Crime Scene Complex in July.
“I gave a speech at University High
School in Morgantown on the O.J. Simpson
trial,” said Tina Moroose, camp director. “I
realized after talking to the students there was
a great interest in forensics. When I got back
to campus, I proposed the idea for a camp
and we immediately started planning. We’ve
had 44 students between both camps, so I’d
say it has been very successful in its first year.”
Campers learned to collect evidence using
photography, fingerprinting, blood
spatter analysis, DNA analysis,
trace evidence microscopy, and
tool marks. The students were
taught by forensic science faculty,
and supervised by students from
the program. At the end of the
week, campers were able to process
a mock crime scene at the WVU
Crime Scene Complex.
“I’ve learned so much this
week it’s unreal,” said Keri
McDaniel, a senior from Morgantown.
“I’ve always thought this stuff was cool
on TV, but seeing hair samples under a
microscope really puts it in perspective. I
definitely want to learn as much as I can before
I come to WVU next year to study forensics.”
For more information about next
year’s camp, contact Tina Moroose at
tina.moroose @mail.wvu.edu.
A Glimpse into Forensic Science
When CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
premiered on CBS in October 2000, few
could have guessed the effect the television
show would have on pop culture or the
increased interest it would spark in forensic
science careers.
Now, 11 years later, the Forensic and
Investigative Science Program at West
Virginia University has given middle and
high school students the chance to experience
a week in the life of a real crime scene
investigator by hosting its first day camp.
The Forensic Science Day Camp ran
July 18-29 with separate one-week sessions
for 7th-9th grade students and 10th-12th grade
students. The camp was promoted at 15 local
middle and high schools in Morgantown,
Fairmont, and Bridgeport. However, students
came from as far away as North Carolina to
participate in the camp.
every minute counts
resilient to stress
“everyday talk”
photo by Brian Persinger
2 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
teeth in the Devonian Period
were useless against new species
of fish that used “crushing” teeth.
Through research, scientists
become more knowledgeable
about how species deal with their adversaries in the wild, said Lewis
Cook, a 1973 WVU alum who participated in the investigation
when he returned to the University to pursue his doctoral degree in
paleontology.
He said it is rewarding to discover new and original information
that may contribute to the understanding of how certain life forms
evolved and survived on Earth.
Funding for the research was provided by the National Science
Foundation, the Paleontological Association, the Paleontological
Society, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, and
the Evolving Earth Foundation.
Geology Professor Researches Mass Extinction
What was bad for fish was good for the fish’s food, according
to a paper published in a May edition of Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. New information about a mass extinction that
decimated ocean life 360 million years ago is giving researchers
further insight into long-term predator-prey relationships. Researchers
from West Virginia University, the University of Chicago, and the
Ohio State University found that the mass extinction, known as the
Hangenberg event,
produced a “natural
experiment” in the
fossil record with
results that mirror
modern observations
about predator-prey
relationships.
“The effects of
predation not only
cause individual species
to either adapt or go
extinct, predation can
also cause entire groups
of organisms to either adapt or go extinct. Also, when mass extinction
greatly affects either predator or
prey groups, we see a corresponding
impact in the other group,” said
study coauthor Thomas Kammer,
Eberly College Centennial Professor
of Geology.
The Devonian Period was a time of astonishing diversity for
marine vertebrate species. That thriving world was devastated by the
Hangenberg event, a mass extinction of unknown origin 360 million
years ago that set the stage for modern biodiversity. The next 15
million years in the fossil record are dominated by crinoids, a surviving
species similar to modern sea lilies and related to starfish.
“We’ve been puzzled for many years as to why there were so many
species and specimens of crinoids,” Kammer said. “There had to be
some underlying evolutionary and ecological reason for that.”
Datasets revealed that as fish populations thrived in the Devonian
Period, crinoid diversity and abundance remained low. However,
after the Hangenberg event devastated fish species, crinoids thrived,
diversified, and multiplied.
As fish species recovered to previous levels, crinoid populations
declined. Fossils suggest that the long period of dominance left the
crinoids especially vulnerable to a new predator. The hard armored
shells they had developed to defend against fish with sharp “shearing”
An artist’s rendering of a shallow marine ecosystem during the early Carboniferous Period. Crinoids include the camerates Dizygocrinus (under attack, bottom center, left) and the spiny Dorycrinus (bottom center, right), and the cladids Decadocrinus (bottom left) and Abrotocrinus (bottom right). Fishes include the cochliodont Deltoptychius (bottom center), the petalodont Janassa (left of center), the chondrenchelyiform Chondrenchelys (far left), and the actinopterygian Amphicentrum (upper right).
Learn about the Devonian Period.
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/devonian/
“We’ve been puzzled for many years as to why there were so many species and specimens of crinoids,” Kammer said. “There had to be some underlying evolutionary and ecological reason for that.”
Thomas Kammer, PhD
Robe
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eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 3
Around the College
Bullying Goes DigitalIn the online universe, freedom of
speech operates on a largely anonymous,
round-the-clock forum that can be relatively
consequence free. Researchers at West Virginia
University are examining what happens
when someone uses that forum as a digital
schoolyard in which to bully college students.
William Fremouw, a psychology professor,
and graduate student Allison Schenk
conducted the third survey in the world (so
far) about college students who are bullied by
someone via technology.
They presented their findings last March
at the American Psychology and Law Society’s
international conference in Miami, Florida.
Cyberbullying is repeated and intentional
bullying using mediums of technology, such
as the Internet and cell phones. Schenk is
crafting her master’s thesis on cyberbullying’s
effect on college students. While experts say
that online aggression typically peaks in high
school, college students are increasingly finding
themselves victims of online harassment.
“When I began my thesis in fall 2009,
I was not able to locate any published
research about cyberbullying among college
students,” she said.
“As far as I have found, my thesis is the
first examining the psychological impact,
suicidal behaviors, and coping strategies of
cyberbullying victims in college.”
In 2010, high-profile cases of college
students committing suicide — including the
death of a Rutgers University student who
jumped off of New York’s George Washington
Bridge two days after his roommate secretly
broadcast him having a sexual encounter with
another man — have led to the issue evolving
from water cooler conversation to a legislative
platform.
Schenk conducted an online survey to
examine whether undergraduate students
at WVU had ever considered themselves
victims of cyberbullying, and she received 799
responses. More than half of the respondents
— 572 — were females. The other 227
If you or someone you know is experiencing cyberbullying, there are resources available to you.
Anti-Defamation Leaguehttp://www.adl.org/education/cyberbullying
Provides information on in-school workshops and tips for responding to cyberbullying.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Usewww.csriu.org
Provides effective strategies to assist young people in developing the skills to behave in a safe, responsible, and legal manner when using the Internet.
Cyberbullying Research Centercyberbullying.us
Explores the causes and consequences of online harassment; includes fact sheets and resources.
Cybersmart!cybersmart.org/profile
Provides online professional development and free curricular resources on cyber safety, Internet ethics, creativity, and critical thinking.
Stop Cyberbullyingstopcyberbullying.org
Provides definitions, strategies, and legal considerations related to cyberbullying.
responses were from males.
Of the responses, 69 said they had
experienced cyberbullying at WVU and
had been the victim of at least one form
of cyberbullying four or more times. They
expressed higher occurrences of depression,
anxiety, and paranoia than the control group.
Of the survey respondents who had been
cyberbullied, four had attempted suicide.
Males and females tended to cope with
being cyberbullied in similar ways. Both males
and females told someone, avoided friends,
got revenge, and/or stopped going to events
and activities.
In addition females avoided the Internet
and cell phones. Males in the survey drank
alcohol and used illegal drugs as a coping
mechanism.
Schenk’s research will next explore the
perpetrators of cyberbullying, as well as the
people in their lives. Parents, peers, and
partners of those who cyberbully, she said,
will give some insight to their destructive
and dangerous behavior. She is looking for
differences in personality styles, criminal
behaviors, criminal thinking styles, alcohol
and drug use, psychological symptoms, and
suicidal behaviors. With this information, she
hopes to find ways to prevent cyberbullying
by understanding what causes bullies to start
hurting others.
Resources
4 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
One hundred and fifty years ago, the first
land battle of the Civil War was fought in
Philippi, West Virginia, then a part of Virginia.
Today, the Mountain State is
commemorating its origins, and a West Virginia
University professor is on the commission that
promotes awareness of the war’s anniversary and
marks the state’s unique role in the conflict.
Aaron Sheehan-Dean, the Eberly Family
Professor of Civil War Studies, is one of four
new members named to the West Virginia
Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission in
the spring. He serves as an academic historian
within the 13-member group.
“This anniversary is a great opportunity for
the state of West Virginia,” Sheehan-Dean said.
“As the only state to be created out of the Civil
War, and having been right in the middle of the
conflict, its history is very rich. This is a great
opportunity to draw in visitors to the state.”
Formed in 2009, the commission is made
up of representatives from the Legislature, key
state agencies, historians, and scholars.
It is helping various organizations and
groups around the state organize and coordinate
events, ranging from programs for grade school
children to events for the general public.
Throughout 2011, West Virginia
organizations are hosting battlefield tours,
lectures, and Civil War reenactments.
“My hopes for the commission are
educational in the broadest sense. I hope that
people from all different backgrounds get the
opportunity to learn about and discuss the Civil
War,” Sheehan-Dean said.
Sheehan-Dean is teaching a course this fall
that examines the Civil War and Reconstruction
era. He has published five books on the Civil
War, including Why Confederates Fought: Family
and Nation in Civil War Virginia. His most
recent book, Concise Historical Atlas of the US
Civil War, includes data maps and covers key
political and social changes before and after the
war years.
Professor Appointed to West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission
Department of History Digs Into the Civil War
In 2008, the Department of History entered into an internship partnership with National Civil War sites at Richmond and Fredericksburg, Virginia.
In 2009, graduate students in the Department created podcast walking tours for Civil War sites in Shepherdstown and Morgantown, West Virginia.
Kati Singel (MA, 2010) has worked on the “Civil War to Civil Rights” mapping project since 2007. She oversaw the creation of the National Park Service Sesquicentennial website.
http://www.nps.gov/civilwar150/
A Whole New WorldThe term “foreign languages” does not
fully reflect all that the Department of Foreign
Languages at West Virginia University has to offer.
Because of this, the department decided
to make a change and has now more fittingly
become the Department of World Languages,
Literatures and Linguistics.
“The former name lacked inclusivity. We
have offerings such as linguistics, the Intensive
English Program, the Teaching English as a
Second Language minor, and the Teaching
English to Speakers of Other Languages
graduate concentration,” said Ángel Tuninetti,
chair of the Department.
“We needed to make the name more
modern and inclusive enough to represent all
we have to offer.”
The name change became official
September 9, and was approved by the WVU
Board of Governors after a months-long
process that started with a discussion within
the Department’s faculty as to whether the
change was necessary.
“The selection process wasn’t easy, and
it wasn’t perfect, but this new name is the
best we could do to cover the diversity of our
department,” Tuninetti said.
This new name, he added, also is more
compliant with the state Department of
Education, which lists language initiatives
under “World Languages.”
This is just one more in a series of
initiatives within the Department as it
strives to continue enlarging students’
understanding of, and appreciation for,
other countries. In addition to expanding
its teaching corps, in the past four years the
Department has grown to include a Chinese
studies major, a Japanese studies minor, an
Italian studies major, Arabic and Portuguese
language offerings, and new study abroad
opportunities.
For more information, contact Ángel
Tuninetti, chair of the Department of World
Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, at
Aaron Sheehan-Dean, PhD
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 5
Americans have predefined images of
Africa. Socially prescribed stereotypes
project a distorted and simplified idea of what
we have come to know, not as individual
countries, but as the “dark continent.”
Many of us envision Africa as a hot,
desolate jungle riddled with famine, war,
disease, misery, and poverty. We think
of a strange world beyond our realm of
understanding, a place unrelated and
incomparable to our own. We draw
divisions between “us” and “them,” and
often fail to recognize our existent and
overwhelming similarities.
In my time in Africa over a period of seven
months in seven countries, I saw relationships
established between white tourists and black
locals. Many tourists only travel and converse
with other tourists and fail to learn from, or
immerse themselves in, the culture.
This boundary often extends beyond skin
color and carries into economic class as well.
Whites in Africa, whether they are residents
or tourists, tend to be wealthy. Tourists are
almost universally white. Blacks tend to be
less traveled and poorer in Africa. Whether
it is the intention of many tourists to abstain
from cultural immersion, local blacks often
interpret their actions as intentional and racially
motivated. This reinforces ideas of separation
based upon skin color. The lack of interaction
between whites and blacks perpetuates ideas of
difference, strangeness, and “otherness”—ideas
we need to move away from in our globalized,
interconnected society.
The concept of the “other” stems from the
colonial era and attempts to maintain a degree
of intellectual control between “whites” and
“blacks,” and to instill a sense of inferiority
among “blacks.” Many Africans believe this
continues to dominate the framework of
thought for white tourists because of the way
many tend to travel. Damage from a great deal
of tourism continues to affect race relations
and project a distorted image not only of
Africa, but also of the intentions of the average
white tourist. The typical local African sees the
typical white tourist traveling with other white
tourists, staying in accommodations owned
by white Africans or other white, foreign
investors, and leaving without ever having any
meaningful interaction with locals.
Before traveling, we must think of the way
we travel, and how our actions can potentially
benefit or harm the country and culture we are
visiting. Many locals informed me that seeing
concentrated pockets of wealth among white
residents and tourists in Africa also reinforces a
sense of inferiority among blacks, yet another
product of colonization. What tourists need
to consider is how actions are interpreted
in whatever setting they are in, where their
money is going, and who is benefiting from
that investment.
This is important for race relations, as well
as learning to think in a global, unified way
in our modern world. From my experiences
in southern and eastern Africa as a student,
tourist, and volunteer, it became clear that
there isn’t often a positive or beneficial
exchange between tourists and locals.
I witnessed the negative cultural effect of
tourism on several occasions. In the Moremi
Game Reserve in Botswana, I stood with my
back bent against the African sun alongside
Botswana University students as we worked on
by Abra Sitler
Understanding ‘Oneness’: The Importance of Mutual Exchange in Tourism
Abra Sitler and her friend, local artist Prosper Jones, stand in front of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
Sitler is a senior at WVU majoring in english and biology. After she graduates in May 2012, she plans to join the Peace Corps. Sitler is from Bramwell, West Virginia.
6 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
Understanding ‘Oneness’: The Importance of Mutual Exchange in Tourism
a wildlife conservation trip. Our chatter was
drowned out every few minutes by the roar of
jet engines as we watched flocks of European
and North American tourists descend to a
smooth landing in private jets.
Tourists experienced Africa from the
comfort of air-conditioned chalets, enjoyed
fine wines and exotic meats, and saw only
a handful of its wonders from safari game
drives. They departed without mingling with
or learning from locals, or gaining any true
sense of the culture in Botswana. Their trips
were documented with pictures of animals as
opposed to people, and many left without ever
having a single interaction with locals beyond
the purchase of cheap crafts.
Whether it was among coral sand
beaches in Zanzibar, Tanzania or in the mists
of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, I repeatedly
observed this separation. My artist friend
Prosper Jones was one such local who, prior
to our meeting, had never had a conversation
beyond the scope of financial transactions
with a tourist.
Growing up in a small village in
Zimbabwe, Prosper Jones is one of the
thousands who attempt to earn a meager
income to feed themselves and their families
by selling handmade crafts to tourists. He
approached me with pleading eyes and hands
full of carved wooden animals. However, we
transcended this established economic and
racial barrier, and learned to understand one
another. After conversing for several hours, I
asked him whether he felt tourism helped the
area. He began by telling me how he and
other locals felt trapped by their inability
to advance from their present economic
and educational state, and the often racial
separation that carried into the division
between tourists and locals.
He took me to his village for several
days to experience a microcosm of how the
tourism industry has affected many locals at
popular destinations. The village’s source of
economic revenue was based entirely upon
tourism and the sale of crafts, foods, and other
small goods. There was no diversification
in the community’s economy despite its
instability, as tourism is an often unreliable
and unpredictable industry.
Employment and educational
opportunities were extremely limited, and
all involved serving or appealing to tourists.
In nearly every instance I observed, tourism
seems to have done more harm than good
throughout southern and eastern Africa,
and little of the economic revenue is being
circulated throughout local economies.
The aspects of tourism that generate the
most revenue, safari companies and tourist
lodges, are almost uniformly owned by white
South Africans or foreign investors. Most of
the money from tourism is not alleviating
poverty in the area, but aggravating it.
Locals are left to sell cheap crafts in overly
competitive and crowded markets, and
appear to gain little or nothing from tourism.
Economies are often not diversified, so
opportunities outside of tourism in many
places are few and far between. Some of these
artists grow up earning the same unreliable
income as their parents, and earning it in the
same ways. Communities are crippled by
tourism, which, according to some scholars, is
becoming the world’s largest industry.
Studying abroad in Africa allows an
individual to more easily transcend these
barriers. Most of the foreigners who come
to Africa come as volunteers or tourists,
establishing a very “give and take” relationship.
Coming as a student changes the dynamic
entirely, and is an important step in the right
direction toward “oneness” and unification.
It no longer puts Westerners in the light
of tourists, but as people, and provides
more opportunity for cross-cultural
connections to be made, and for us to
understand one another.
Cross-cultural connection and an
exchange of information, ideas, and
understanding are vital for tourism to
be balanced and fair. Visiting a country
and leaving without experiencing the
culture and making connections with its
people compromises the tourists’ learning
experience and is a form of unbalanced
taking, and thus exploitation.
It is important for us to critically examine
the tourism industry and see how it affects
not only individuals visiting the area, but
the locals as well. It is vital to understand the
interconnection between all of our actions.
An acknowledgment of our “oneness” as well
as an understanding of our interconnection
are essential and can help us overcome the
“tourist” and “local” barriers to make social
and cultural progress.
It is important to remember that we no
longer rely only upon our own country for
support, education, resources, growth, and
development, but upon other nations around
the world. We live in an interconnected, inter-
dependent society, and our abilities to exist are
contingent upon international cooperation.
Despite a growing acknowledgment of this
interdependency, we continue to create spheres
of difference, speaking of the world in terms
of “Western” and the “non-Western,” the
“developing” and the “developed,” and “first
world,” and “third world.”
We are human, and fundamentally the
same with remarkably similar ideas, motives,
hopes, dreams, and desires. To move
forward as a global society, we must learn to
break down these barriers, to decolonize our
minds, and to think of humanity in terms
of our “oneness.”
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 7
was unclear whether the Soviets had erred or
lied. In the early 1990s when I was the US
Ambassador to Kazakhstan, a huge former
Soviet republic in Central Asia, its leaders
quietly approached us about a cache of leftover
Soviet highly enriched uranium (HEU).
With US support Kazakhstan was already
dispatching its remaining Soviet nuclear
weapons to Russia, and it asked for help from
the United States in disposing of the uranium.
Iranians had visited the factory where it
was stored but we were unsure whether they
knew of the 600 kilograms of HEU, enough
for dozens of nuclear weapons. Washington
could take no chances. A senior Russian
nuclear official was asked about interest in
the uranium, but denied it existed. Later a
Kremlin leader seemed better informed but,
surprisingly, told Washington that Russia did
not want it.
A secret effort was then launched to pack
and ship the uranium to America. After
a month of careful preparation by 40 US
experts sequestered in Kazakhstan near the
Chinese border, the uranium was loaded
Take my diploma before they seize it,”
a woman pleaded with me on a frigid
evening long ago in front of Moscow’s main
synagogue. “When I get out I must be able
to prove I’m a doctor.” As a diplomat I was
legally bound to refuse, but her plight seemed
real. The secret police, or KGB, threatened
to confiscate and annul university degrees of
Jews who sought to emigrate. Fortunately our
embassy’s experienced human rights officer
was nearby and said, “Not to worry, she’s
KGB and spies on refuseniks,” or Jews refused
permission to emigrate.
In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR) little was as it seemed. In 1939, then-
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
said it best: Russia is “a riddle, wrapped in
a mystery, inside an enigma.” He was right.
As a career foreign service officer in the US
Department of State, I saw this in many
years of dealing with the Soviet Union and its
successor states.
In the early 1980s, as the politico-military
officer at the US embassy in Moscow, I often
had to brief Western journalists to correct
false claims by the Kremlin of its restraint in
deploying new SS-20 missiles aimed at Europe
and Japan. The Kremlin wrongly thought
misleading propaganda would weaken the
resolve of America’s allies. Of course, I had
to be anonymous and so was quoted as a
“Western diplomat in Moscow.”
As a student at WVU in the mid-1960s,
I had no idea that a diplomatic career would
take me to Moscow and other places around
the world, much less that my experience
in Morgantown would shape it in three
important ways.
I couldn’t have predicted that I would be
working with Soviet diplomats. At times it
by William Courtney
From WVU to the Cold War and Its Aftermath
William Courtney, PhD
“ onto four large Air
Force C-5 cargo aircraft
and flown nonstop
halfway around the
world to a base in
Delaware. After it
had been transported
to a facility in Oak
Ridge, Tennessee, the
Secretaries of State,
Energy, and Defense
jointly announced the
success. Project Sapphire
became the largest known post-Cold War
clandestine nuclear recovery operation.
As a WVU student struggling to find his
ambition, I initially studied science. This paid
dividends when later I devoted much of my
career to security issues.
In 1975, while I was serving at the US
embassy in Brasilia, then-West Germany
and Brazil announced a sale of dangerous
technologies: plutonium reprocessing and
uranium enrichment. Overnight this became
the dominant issue in United States-Brazilian
relations. Although I was a junior officer, my
science background helped me become the
embassy’s action officer for this hot issue.
Another prominent issue is always human
rights. As Brazilians wearied of military rule,
the United States spoke out publicly about
abuses. Ambassador John Crimmins wisely
foresaw that undermining the legitimacy of
military rule would build leverage on the
nuclear issue. In the 1980s, Brazil returned
to democracy and its new leaders ended the
secret military nuclear program. I learned
8 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
a lesson about the value for diplomacy of
multiple sources of leverage.
My Brazilian experience led me to a
broader interest in politico-military affairs,
stimulated by a fellowship year at the Council
on Foreign Relations in New York. At the
Department in the late 1970s, I labored with
mid-level colleagues at the White House
and the Department of Defense to develop
policy options for expanding the US military
presence in the Persian Gulf. Washington was
uneasy about the escalating instability in Iran
and how Moscow might exploit it.
The plans we developed turned out to
be too little, too late. In November 1979, the
new revolutionary government in Tehran took
dozens of US diplomats hostage. Washington
responded by greatly augmenting US military
forces in the region. I learned a lesson about
how diplomats and soldiers could make
plans, but had to be ready to adapt quickly to
unexpected developments.
Political revolutions could also be
advantageous. Prior to the arrival of a reformist
Soviet leader in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev,
America had concluded several nuclear arms
accords with the Soviet Union but none
had done much to constrain weaponry.
At a 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland,
President Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev
endorsed a 50-percent cut in strategic
nuclear weapons, which are those mounted
on long-range launchers.
A friend who respected my expertise
asked if I thought such a cut could actually
be achieved. Judging by past Soviet behavior
I said no – and could not have been more
wrong. Over the next several years Gorbachev
brought about a dramatic political opening
in the USSR, making possible sharp military
cuts and later the collapse of communist rule.
I learned to be more circumspect in making
predictions about politics and diplomacy.
A lasting WVU benefit for me was
changing from a science major to economics.
An indulgence in student politics forced me to
regain my academic footing. My money and
banking professor, Betty Fishman, inspired me
to pursue graduate studies. I went on to earn
a PhD in economics at Brown University and
then chose a career involving my two passions,
economics and politics.
In the early 1970s during my first
Foreign Service tour, an Arab oil embargo
levied in response to US support for Israel
in the 1973 Yom Kippur war sparked higher
prices and temporary rationing and gasoline
lines. Other minerals producers decided to
emulate the oil exporters.
The leftist prime minister of Jamaica,
the source of bauxite for three-fifths of
US aluminum production, demanded an
eight-fold increase in taxes and royalties. The
White House wanted action. My superior,
Ambassador Tom Enders, however, made
a convincing case for patience and letting
market forces work. Over time they would
deny customers and investment resources to
producers seeking uncompetitive economic
rents. He showed how personal political
courage and a strong knowledge of economics
could benefit US diplomacy.
In the early and mid-1990s in Kazakhstan
and later Georgia, our embassies gave strong
diplomatic support to US companies seeking
to develop huge energy reserves in the Caspian
Sea region and export the energy to world
markets. The Soviet collapse had opened the
way for international investment, especially
in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Many of
the reserves were challenging to exploit
and required Western technology. A key
problem was Russian and Kazakhstani official
corruption and the Russian monopoly over
pipelines for energy exports to world markets.
For several years US leaders engaged
Russian leaders at the highest levels, but
to no avail. Then in March 1996 Georgia
and Azerbaijan agreed to build a pipeline
from Baku, on the Caspian Sea, to a
Georgian port on the Black Sea. This would
be the first energy pipeline to bypass the
Russian monopoly. Within weeks past
mendacious pipeline proposals collapsed
and a financially sustainable arrangement
was reached for a new and larger oil pipeline
through Russia to the Black Sea. Again I
learned how economic competition and
good diplomacy tend to go hand in hand.
WVU’s third influence on my life came
via my fraternity brother and 1964-65
president of the student body, the late US
Circuit Court Judge A. Blane Michael. I
was awed by his grace and good humor with
everyone during campaign events.
Treating others fairly and honorably
is a must in diplomacy. One should not
let political differences diminish personal
relationships. In 1986 Secretary of State
George Shultz and Secretary of Defense
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 9
Casper Weinberger voiced opposing views on
how to combat terrorism. After Abu Nidal
attacks at airports in Rome and Vienna, Shultz
publicly urged that America “fight back.”
Weinberger doubted this would “discourage
and diminish terrorism in the future.”
Shultz persisted but treated everyone with
respect, one reason he was a successful
Secretary of State.
During the late 1980s in Geneva talks, the
Soviets vigorously condemned a US plan to
develop nonnuclear defenses against Soviet
nuclear ballistic missiles. They claimed the
“strategic defense initiative” violated the
1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Our
diplomats contended, accurately, that new
nonnuclear technologies were at the time
far from posing a challenge to treaty limits.
Arguments sometimes became heated. Once
or twice I may have failed to heed Shultz’s
good example. I learned that emotions can
undermine diplomacy.
Student politics prepared me in another
way for diplomacy: the need to persuade
rather than compel. Diplomats spend
a lot of time organizing international
coalitions. We often did so to marshal
parallel diplomatic maneuvers and draw
public attention to the killing and maiming
of human rights activists and independent
journalists. Today Belarus is a case in point.
Diplomats are organizing international
pressure on President Viktor Lukashenko,
who has jailed election opponents and
ordered beatings of peaceful demonstrators.
When I entered the Foreign Service in
1972, only a tenth of America’s economy
involved foreign trade; today the percentage
is more than twice as high. US-owned assets
abroad have increased as a share of the gross
domestic product even more rapidly, and
praiseworthy overseas work by US charities
and other non-governmental organizations
has grown even faster.
Current and future WVU students will
live in a much more globalized world than my
generation and enjoy far more international
opportunities. Students should follow their
passions and, if they are interested, pursue
those international opportunities. Since
many of them cannot be foreseen until
sometime in the future, a broad liberal
education is the best preparation.
William Courtney lives in Washington,
D.C., and is director of strategy and
development at Computer Sciences
Corporation in Falls Church, Virginia,
where he assists with business and related
public policy strategies. He retired from
the Foreign Service in 1999, after having
served abroad in Brasilia, Moscow, Geneva,
Almaty, and Tbilisi, and in Washington at
the Department of State and the National
Security Council in the White House.
Courtney is a member of the Council on
Foreign Relations, the American Academy
of Diplomacy, and the board of directors of
the World Affairs Council of Washington,
D.C. His commentaries have appeared
in The International Herald Tribune,
Washington Post, Boston Globe, and
Moscow Times. He is pleased to talk with
students interested in a Foreign Service career,
email [email protected].
Stay ConnectedEberly College News & Notes
Your life, your story, in your words. Catch up on what former students are doing and take the opportunity to share your own story.www.eberly.wvu.edu/alumni
10 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
by Ashley Wells
phot
os c
ourt
esy
of A
tlant
is P
rogr
am
Forty-eight explorers will embark on the adventure of a lifetime — a
fully funded quest for knowledge called Atlantis that begins with a year
at West Virginia University before the voyagers jet off to study at two
European universities. Their pursuit? Not to find the fabled underwater
city, but to participate in the Transatlantic MA Program in East-Central
European Studies, or the Atlantis Program, for short.
The Atlantis Program is a dual
enrollment initiative whose participants
receive both a master’s degree in history
from WVU and either a master’s in social
sciences from the University of Tartu
in Estonia or a master’s in international
relations from Collegium Civitas in Warsaw,
Poland. Students spend at least one full
semester in each of the three locations.
Robert Blobaum, the Eberly Family
Distinguished Professor of History at
WVU and US director of the Atlantis
Program, has a long-standing professional
relationship with colleagues at Collegium
Civitas in Warsaw, Poland. Four years ago,
those colleagues were looking for universities
with whom they could partner and apply
for an Atlantis grant — a grant sponsored
by both the Fund for the Improvement for
Postsecondary Education and the European
Commission’s Directorate for Education
and Culture.
WVU had ties with the University of
Tartu in Estonia through the Department
of Political Science, and that university
joined to finish off the group. Faculty from
the three universities received an Atlantis
grant in 2009. To date, 29 students have
either graduated from the program or are
currently enrolled.
Max Reinke, who plans to complete
the program in December, stumbled across
the opportunity by chance, when his father
picked up a copy of the Daily Athenaeum
that contained an article about it. At the
time, he was enrolled in his last semester of
undergraduate study on track to graduate
with a degree in geography and Spanish.
Reinke chose to enroll in the
international relations program at Collegium
Civitas in Poland for his second degree.
“This program has not only advanced
my career goals, but has shaped them,”
he said. “I knew that I wanted to do
something with international relations.
But it’s such a broad and competitive
discipline; I didn’t really have any sort
of focus within it. I had never really
considered Central/Eastern Europe or the
former USSR being of much interest to me,
but after spending a year there I find that
whole region to be utterly fascinating.”
Reinke completed an internship
with the Permanent Secretariat of the
Community of Democracies.
The Community of Democracies is a
global coalition of democratic countries
that aims to promote democratic rules
and strengthen democratic norms and
institutions around the world. Reinke
interacted with ambassadors and
scholars, and was able to further narrow
his career focus within the field of
international relations.
Atlantisd i s c o v e r i n g
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 11
M A J A I S A K I E W I C Z
Currently enrolled as a visiting student at the University of Tartu. Has studied in the master’s program in history at West Virginia University and the master’s program in international relations at Collegium Civitas. Maja received her bachelor’s degree in international relations in January 2010 and a bachelor’s degree in international relations – Eurasian studies in July 2010 (both at Collegium Civitas). In fall 2009, she studied at the University of Limerick (Ireland) as an Erasmus exchange student. Maja is particularly interested in the Far East and South Asia. She believes that Central and East European states have an important role to play in Europe-Asia relations.
Read Maja’s Blog:http://bit.ly/pbm3yC
Like Reinke, the opportunity to
enhance knowledge of international
relations also drew Maja Isakiewicz to the
Atlantis Program. A Collegium Civitas
student, she spent the 2010-2011 academic
year studying in Morgantown. Atlantis’
unique dual degree system—complementary
degrees from different disciplines—stood
out. The opportunity to live and study for a
year in the United States was an added bonus
to Isakiewicz, who grew up in the decade
following the fall of communism and the
subsequent break-up of the Soviet Union.
“In communist Poland, people longed
for blue jeans, Hollywood films, music
records—all things with a cultural label
‘made in America.’ I grew up in the 1990s,
when our newly freed society was infatuated
with the abundance of Western goods
that suddenly became easily accessible,”
Isakiewicz said.
“What was ‘Western’ was often
synonymous with the US, so one could say
I inherited a certain attraction to the United
States by the very fact that I belong to the
first generation of Poles who had free access
to those goods.”
Studying abroad as a graduate student,
Isakiewicz said, provides invaluable
networking opportunities for students
who are on their way to being experts in
their fields. Plus, the lower cost of living in
Central and Eastern Europe compared to
their Western European counterparts, and
the regional history and culture provide a
unique living experience in a rich learning
environment, she said.
Students not enrolled
in the Atlantis Program
also reap the benefits of the
international partnership
through the faculty exchange
component. So far, three
faculty members from the
University of Tartu and two
from Collegium Civitas have
spent time at WVU, speaking
to students and providing
public lectures.
Blobaum, the program’s director; Lisa
DiBartolomeo, coordinator of the Slavic
and East European Studies program and
teaching assistant professor of foreign
languages; William Trumbull, associate
professor of economics; and Katherine
Aaslestad, professor of history, have all
represented WVU faculty at the European
universities. Joshua Arthurs, assistant
professor of history, is lecturing at the
University of Tartu this fall.
The program’s students also have joined
the lecture circuit and attended prestigious
conferences abroad. Cassandra Garcia, a
native of Fairmont, West Virginia, was
asked to speak at the Project Directors
Conference, which is sponsored by the
higher education wing of the European
Commission. She was the only current
Atlantis student to give a presentation and
spoke to the same audience as the director-
general of education and culture for the
European Union and other high-ranking
officials within the organization.
“The success of any academic program
can be measured by the successes of its
students, and (Cassandra’s) invitation to
speak at such an important conference
highlights the caliber of students enrolled in
the Atlantis Program,” Blobaum said.
Another student who is already proving
the program’s worth is Jessica Slattery
Karich. She was invited to attend a seminar
called “The United States Meets Europe: A
Forum for Young Leaders.” She presented
research examining the accessibility of the
justice system in the United States versus
the European Union. The seminar gave
her the opportunity to hear ambassadors,
ministers, social activists, and scholars share
their knowledge.
The legacy of the program will live on
in the successes of its graduates, as well as in
future collaborations.
“It is likely that other exchange
opportunities for students will arise from
the current partnership, since faculty
members and representatives from the
international exchange offices at the three
universities are in such close contact,”
Blobaum said.
As for the 48 students who are lucky
enough to be accepted into the program, there
can be no doubt that it lives up to its promise
to be the academic adventure of a lifetime.
“The success of any academic program can be measured by the successes of its students ...”
- R O B E R T B L O B A U M
12 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 15
Estonia……boasts the 3,000-year-old crater of an iron meteorite that
influenced the religions and customs of the Baltic Sea region.
… is home to Tartu Jaani Church, a Gothic sanctuary dating back to
the 14th century. About 1,000 terracotta sculptures in the church are
unique in Europe.
… is small, both by area and population, but it has more than a hundred
historical parishes, each one with its own traditional clothing.
… is egalitarian – 51 percent of engineers and scientists are women
(European Union average being 29 percent).
… uses two different words for “bread.” For Estonians the word bread
stands for a dark rye bread. The food commonly referred to as bread in the
rest of the world has a separate word in Estonian – sai (white bread).
… has more spas per capita than anywhere else in the world – there
are more than 40 spas for 1.3 million people.
Source: Introduce Estonia
Poland…… is the the 9th largest country in Europe.
… dogs are often named Burek, which translates to “brownish-grey color.”
… residents marry the youngest of all the members of the European Union.
… boasts 17 Nobel prize winners, including four Peace Prizes and
five in Literature.
… has a tradition called Marzenna, where people weave straw dolls
and decorate them with ribbons. These represent the end of winter, and
the beginning of spring. When the snow starts to melt, they proclaim the
beginning of spring and chuck the Marzennas into the river or stream,
symbolically ‘killing’ the winter.
… restaurants do not put tomato sauce on pizza. The waiters
bring sauce to the table in a pitcher, and diners pour it on top. Sometimes
the sauce is just ketchup.
Source: Swift Passport Services
Did You Know?
M A X R E I N K E
Currently enrolled in the master’s program in history at West Virginia University and the master’s program in international relations at Collegium Civitas. Attended the University of Tartu as a visiting student in fall 2010.Max graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University with a bachelor’s degree in geography and a minor in Spanish in December 2009. His study abroad experience includes a semester at Linköping University in Sweden, where his courses focused on European integration and Swedish language and culture.As an undergraduate student, he was involved in the work of the American Association of Geographers, the WVU Honors College Study Abroad Club, the WVU Geography Club, and WVU Students for Barack Obama. He also served as an intern for the National Geographic Educational Foundation.
Read Max’s Blog:http://bit.ly/qFOohs
phot
o by
Mar
k B
row
n
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 13
16 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
It all began with a presentation by one of the
fall 2010 class participants. Washington Gondi
came to West Virginia University from the tiny
village of Magwar, Kenya. Some of his relatives
had attended the University, and the people of his
village pooled their resources to provide him with
money for plane tickets and other necessities.
Gondi outlined the daily
life of his fellow villagers.
They have no plumbing,
electricity, or running water
in the village and live in a
community plagued by a staggeringly high
rate of HIV and AIDS. Gondi spoke about
his parents, who have been influential in
village life. His mother is part of a women’s
group called Tange’ Ne Giri. For these women,
being mindful of themselves means serving
the whole community. The women take in
orphaned children who have nowhere to go
and are not likely to be adopted.
Tange’ Ne Giri by Ashley Wells
Tange’ Ne Giri, a phrase meaning “to be mindful of yourself
and your well-being,” has taken on a special meaning for
graduate students in Doris Nicholas’ Social Work 621 class.
Men from the village often leave to search
for employment in cities and never return.
The Tange’ Ne Giri group tries to empower
women by starting micro-lending projects,
such as farming and raising dairy cows. From
the income this provides, the women were
able to start a health clinic for HIV and AIDS
testing and pay for school tuition for the
orphans they take in.
“It’s unfortunate what children have to
undergo at a young age, especially when
they have to deal with the loss of both
parents,” Gondi said.
“Some of the kids also have to live with the
stigma of their parents dying from HIV/AIDS, a
condition that doesn’t make their lives any easier.”
Gondi’s father was responsible for the
building of a school in the village. Villagers
relied on him to coordinate weddings, make
sure people attended church services, and form
committees to retrieve the bodies of relatives
who died away from home in the city.
Two years ago Gondi’s father died, leaving
behind a list of unfinished business goals for the
village that would enhance the villagers’ quality
of life. It was this list that fascinated Gondi’s
classmates and spurred them into action.
Each semester, students in 621 must
take up a community service project, either
individually or in groups. The fall 2010 group
of students, inspired by Gondi, decided to
work together to help the villagers of Magwar.
“I really want people to recognize that these students made a difference in the lives of people in a village halfway around the world in one semester…” —Doris Nicholas
Members of Tange’ Ne Giri, a women’s group in Magwar, Kenya, work in the fields.
photos courtesy of Doris Nicholas
14 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 17
“It was important that the village be
allowed to decide what they needed and
choose the goals of the project for themselves.
The goal of the social work class was to help
the village while still leaving as few ‘footprints’
as possible,” Nicholas said.
The class developed and executed the
project, focusing on raising money to buy a
cow. The type of cow they wanted to purchase
produces enough milk for the women of the
Tange’ Ne Giri group, with extra left over to sell.
The sale of milk and milk products provides
extra income for the women and orphans.
The students,
most of whom
work in places
outside of
Morgantown and
some of whom
travel quite a
distance to get
to class, hit the
pavement in their
communities to
raise the necessary
funds. They
approached their
church groups,
families, childrens’ schools, and other
community groups, taking donations to go
toward purchasing the cow.
Several area schools and organizations
allowed the class to give presentations.
Nicholas’ students brought in photos of the
Kenyan children in their school uniforms,
just like those of some of their West Virginia
counterparts. Local students were able to learn
about similarities between themselves and the
Kenyan children, despite the distance between
their classrooms. A pen pal program was
started to further link the classrooms.
“The entire social work class was involved
with the project, using the unique skills of each
student. One student made the PowerPoint
presentation child-friendly, for the classroom
presentations; another created a spreadsheet to
keep track of the money that had been raised
and all expenditures. Each student contributed
in a way that made best use of his or her
knowledge,” Nicholas said.
When all was said and done, the class
raised $1,600 more than expected. They were
able to purchase two cows for the village.
The group was later informed that one of the
cows was pregnant when it was purchased,
tripling the impact that the social work students
originally hoped to achieve. A private company,
where one of the students worked, donated a
public address system, which will announce
when public health officials are coming to the
village for screenings.
“I really want people to recognize that
these students made a difference in the lives
of people in a village halfway around the
world in one semester, and they sowed seeds
that will continue to grow,” Nicholas said.
“This is the kind of social work that I love—
grassroots organization.”
The project continues. A group of students
in the spring 2011 semester of the same course
decided to continue the partnership. Parents of
children at two Morgantown schools and one
school in Bruceton Mills continued the pen pal
program. At the Bruceton Mills school, a lesson
plan on difference was created to help students
broaden their world view.
Nicholas hopes that this will become a
long-term project and that the
social work students
can take on other
needs of the
village.
“I want this project to extend beyond my
tenure here,” said Nicholas, who plans to retire
next year. “This is a legacy I would love to see
continue beyond my time at WVU.”
The villagers are “overjoyed” by the
progress that has been made by the efforts of
the social work students, organizers said. They
are especially excited and appreciative of a pen
pal program. This initiative exposes children to
an international community that they would
not have known otherwise, a community that
Gondi said he feels fortunate to have met.
“The good in the people of West Virginia,
and the school, and
the opportunity the
school gave me of
traveling through every
county and meeting
people that I could
not have met in my
life —sharing their
experiences has been
important for me,”
Gondi said.
For Gondi,
this experience is
continuing the
work that his
father left behind and helping his mother
continue her work.
“Something I did not realize until I began in
social work was that my father and mother are
community organizers. I didn’t even know what
that meant before I started my studies,” he said.
“You take people for granted when they are
around. Now that my father is gone, I realize that I
should have told him how much he was worth.”
Gondi has wandered many country roads
here in West Virginia and in Kenya, and they
truly do all lead him home.
Kenya native Washington Gondi (front left) and social work professor Doris Nicholas, PhD (center), are joined by members of the Fall 2010 Social Work 621 class that raised funds for the village of Magwar.
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 15
18 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
ANCIENTWonder, Modern World
16 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 19
Opposite page: Mosaic from the ancient synagogue floor at Sepphoris.
Above left to right:
A Roman-era juglet found at the Religious Studies Program’s 2011 archaeological dig.
Marlenea Morgan at the 2011 dig site.
WVU freshmen Julia Zorn and Marlenea Morgan at the 2011 dig site.
Alexis Whitley holds the gold coin she found in 2010 at Bethsaida. About three-quarters of an inch in diameter, the coin carries the image of Antoninus Pius, the 15th Roman emperor, who reigned between A.D. 138 and 161.
Photo provided by Treasure Hunting
by Rebecca HerodPhotos provided by Marlenea Morgan and Aaron Gale, PhD
While there have been many milestones in Morgan’s college career, she counts the most recent as one of the most life-changing. She took her first flight in an airplane, not a domestic flight, but a flight to Israel to take part in the Religious Studies Program’s annual archaeological dig at Bethsaida.
Bethsaida translates to “House of the Fisherman.” It is a fishing village near the Sea of Galilee. Mentioned in the New Testament, it is associated with several of Jesus’ miracles. It was also the birthplace of the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip. The location of Bethsaida was discovered in 1987 by archaeologist Rami Arav, PhD, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the departments of philosophy, religion, and history and director of the Consortium of the Bethsaida Excavations Project.
Beneath the Hellenistic-Roman village of Bethsaida is a much older Iron Age site. This city was fortified with a massive city wall and a gateway, one of the largest and best-preserved Iron Age gates in the region. In addition to the gate, numerous discoveries have been made at Bethsaida, in 2010, WVU student Alexis Whitley discovered a solid gold Roman coin — the only coin of its type discovered in Israel to date. This season, Arav and volunteers worked to uncover an earlier phase of the city’s gate as well as continue excavations on the Roman-era residential quarter.
Marlenea Morgan’s journey of discovery began with a ten-hour plane ride and a week of touring historical and religious sites.
“When we got off the plane, we went right to the tour guide and a full day of
hen Marlenea Morgan left Wilsondale in Wayne County, West Virginia, she had never seen fireworks or
the ocean. She had never been in a boat or learned to swim. She had never been to a zoo or left the confines of her small community. When she came to West Virginia University she brought a suitcase; no computer, no cell phone, no money, no car. She did not know a soul in Morgantown.
Today Morgan is on her way to graduating with a major in anthropology and religious studies and a minor in women’s studies. She learned to swim at 19, saw Fourth of July fireworks while riding in a row boat, visited the Pittsburgh Zoo, and has traveled to a number of states with friends she met during her time in Morgantown. When you speak with her you get the sense that everything in her life is a new experience, an adventure sometimes scary, like making friends in a new town, and sometimes sublime, like seeing the ocean for the first time on a recent trip to Florida.
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20 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
pottery found during the dig were washed and separated by type: edges, handles, decorated, intact, etc. Then the students were taught how to determine a shard’s period, Hellenistic-Roman or Iron Age. In the evening they participated in lectures by the professors.
“I was amazed that Rami could just pick up a tiny piece of pottery and tell you what period it came from. I don’t think I could ever do that,” she said.
Then in the next breath she explains how to identify Roman pottery.
“I learned that Roman pottery frequently has ridges and that’s how you can tell. It’s also thinner than the Iron Age pottery,” she explained proudly.
touring. The first week was awesome, totally overwhelming. It was a sensory overload,” she said. “I think they planned it that way so we would sleep at night, and it worked because we were exhausted when we got to the church.”
Exhaustion gave way to excitement as they began the second phase of the two-week trip—the archaeological dig in the Roman-era residential quarter. Each morning the group of seven WVU students and three faculty rose at 4:30 a.m. to begin digging. They broke for breakfast and then finished digging at 12:30 p.m., when the desert sun reached temperatures in the low hundreds. Following lunch, the students took a pottery reading course. Pieces of
“I know it seems like a cliché, but if you aren’t trying new things and just jumping in, if you are always afraid, you are not living. Not really. You can wish something will happen, but wishing doesn’t get it done. You have to try; you have to work at it to make things happen for yourself.”—Marlenea Morgan
Marlenea Morgan stands in front of the Catholic Church of the Annunciation.
It’s those kinds of contradictions that make talking with Morgan such a wonderful experience. On the one hand, she is still cautious and unsure of herself, like when she relates the story of how she did not want to ride in a cable car up to Masada on the trip because she was worried it would fall, and on the other, she is ready to run full-tilt at the world and take it by storm.
“I really think the quote ‘there is nothing to fear but fear itself ’ is true,” she said.
“I know it seems like a cliché, but if you aren’t trying new things and just jumping in, if you are always afraid, you are not living. Not really. You can wish something will happen, but wishing
Waterfall near the Dan Forest.
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The synagogue at Capernaum, the oldest ever discovered, dates to the second or third century.
doesn’t get it done. You have to try; you have to work at it to make things happen for yourself.”
“Most people where I am from don’t go to college,” said the first-generation student.“It’s just not done. Girls graduate from high school and marry their high school sweet hearts. I wanted to go to college and I always thought I couldn’t do it. Then I came here,” she said.
Morgan is a member of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Participants are
from disadvantaged backgrounds and have demonstrated strong academic potential. Institutions work closely with participants as they complete their undergraduate requirements. Students are assigned a faculty mentor who supervises research and other activities. The goal is to increase the attainment of PhD degrees by students from under represented segments of society. William Arnett, professor emeritus of history, acted as Morgan’s mentor for her research on the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, father of King Tut.
“In 2010, when they discovered that King Tut was Akhenaten’s son through DNA testing, Dr. Arnett called me to tell me. He said I was the only person he knew who would be as excited about the discovery as he was. That was really cool,” she said.
All these discoveries bring the past closer to us. Surprisingly, Morgan said she did not notice many differences between ancient and modern societies.
“The group did discover a
skeleton during the dig, it was much closer to living quarters than we would find today, but other than that life is the same. We work, we eat, and we build homes for our families. We may have more technology now, but basic life is the same.”
Administrators and faculty can tell you about how transformational experiential learning can be, but talking with a student like Marlenea Morgan makes it real. Her growth and enthusiasm are obvious.
“The trip to Israel, in addition to being an archaeological dig, is also a cultural immersion. Students have the unique opportunity to explore the histories and practices of three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. At the end of the trip, for example, students visit important historical and religious sites in Jerusalem. They also interact directly with Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the marketplaces, restaurants, etc. Almost every student who has participated in this program said that it was life changing,” said Aaron Gale, coordinator of the Religious Studies Program.
This trip inspired Morgan to consider graduate school in the United Kingdom, in Wales.
“I’m very interested in women’s roles in ancient religions, particularly ancient Egypt. I found a faculty member in Wales who specializes in exactly that area,” she said.
On the way down the mountain at Masada, despite her nerves, Marlenea Morgan rode in the front of the cable car for a better look at the spectacular view.
“Almost every student that has participated in this study abroad program to Israel has said that it was life changing.” —Aaron Gale, Coordinator of the Religious Studies Program
Undergraduate Academic Enrichment ProgramMarlenea Morgan received funds from the Program for Religious Studies and the Academic Enrichment Program to support her travel to Israel.
The program provides undergraduate students enrolled in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences opportunities to participate in activities that complement, extend, and enhance their academic experiences at WVU. The program supports such activities as research projects, conference attendance, internships, study abroad, and public service work.
Since the inception of the Undergraduate Academic Enrichment Program in 1995, thousands of students have benefitted from opportunities that might not otherwise have been realized. Most students agree that their enrichment experience would not have been possible without the financial assistance the College offers through this unique program. In 2011, 350 awards totaling $70,000 were given.
If you would like to support the Undergraduate Academic Enrichment Fund, you may send a check in the enclosed envelope.
For more information, please contact Bonnie McBee Fisher at [email protected].
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EASTMEETS
WEST VIRGINIA
20 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
EASTMEETS
WEST VIRGINIA
On any given night this summer, when most Morgantown residents were deep in their slumber, dozens of West Virginia University students were half a world away, well-entrenched in their days as scholars scattered across China.
At times the differences between the United States and China can seem as if much more than a body of water separates the two continents. WVU students—a number of whom are leaving the United States for the first time—step outside their comfort zone and travel to a country full of new sights, smells, customs, and different languages.
But more often than not, the two countries’ similarities and shared goals emerge as a common ground on which strong partnerships are being built. WVU students, faculty, and staff are on the forefront of these collaborations. Whether it is cutting-edge energy research or the exploration of the historic connections of Western ceramics to China, WVU is there and embracing the Chinese proverb, “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”
by Devon Copeland
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 21
Hannah LinAssistant Professor of Chinese Studies
Chinese Studies: Chinese is spoken by
nearly one-fifth of the world’s population,
including more than one billion people
who speak Chinese as their native language.
Through the Chinese Studies Program
students are prepared for the opportunities
and challenges of the Greater China region,
and to better engage in the global socio-
political and economic arena. Learning
Chinese, Lin says, opens up a unique
window into one of the world’s most
ancient civilizations as well as the fastest
growing market.
The Department of World Languages,
Literatures and Linguistics started offering
Mandarin Chinese in fall 2006. In fall
2008, the Department added the Chinese
Studies major and minor to its programs.
The Chinese Studies program has an
interdisciplinary orientation. In addition
to Chinese language courses, including
Business Chinese and Chinese Media in
the advanced level, the program also offers
culture and literature courses to enrich the
students’ knowledge of Chinese civilization
and intellectual history. Students also can
take classes that are related to Chinese
studies from other fields such as history,
religion and a political science.
Students who take Chinese classes are
encouraged, with the support of generous
scholarships, to participate in the Chinese
study abroad programs, including the short-
term faculty-led programs in the summer
and the long-term semester exchange
programs in China and Taiwan. The
number of students majoring in Chinese
Studies has grown from three in 2008 to
almost fifty this year. Several graduates
from the program are currently working in
China and Taiwan.
Visit http://chinese.forlang.wvu.
edu/ to learn more about the Chinese
Studies program.
James P. Lewis Associate Professor of Physics
Hong WangResearch Professor of Physics
Nanotechnology Exploration: Through
the International Research Experience for
Students (IRES), WVU students have the
opportunity to conduct research in Jilin
University in China. The program, which is
funded by the National Science Foundation,
includes several research projects that are
related to nanomaterials.
The program started in the summer
of 2009 when professor Hong Wang took
thirteen WVU students—both undergraduate
and graduate—to Jilin University where they
spent eight weeks conducting research. This
past summer, eleven undergraduate students
participated in the program.
The goal of the IRES program is to
provide an opportunity for WVU students to
gain interdisciplinary research experience and
learn how to interact and adjust themselves
to different cultures. Students from WVU
face an increasingly global society, one where
it is crucial for professionals to be able to
perform and collaborate with international
stakeholders. The IRES program officials at
WVU are in the process of securing more
funding for the program. Contact James
P. Lewis, associate professor of Physics,
at [email protected], for more
information about the program.
Michael ShiAssistant Professor of Chemistry
STEM Collaboration: Michael Shi,
assistant professor in the C. Eugene Bennett
Department of Chemistry, has established
a summer research program to send
undergraduate students in the science,
Hannah Lin, PhD James P. Lewis, PhD Hong Wang, PhD
22 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
technology, engineering, and math fields
(STEM) to China to conduct research.
Students work in the State Key Lab of
Supramolecular Chemistry and Materials
at Jilin University. The program enables
undergraduate students to experience and
adapt to research in a different culture. The
proposal was supported by the National
Science Foundation as part of Shi’s CAREER
Award. For more information, contact
Michael Shi, assistant professor of chemistry,
Hong-Jian LaiProfessor of Math
Math Theories: Professor Lai has
established a number of collaborations
in China, exposing students from abroad
to the math program, which is growing
in prestige. The Department has worked
with professors at South China Normal
University since 1996, on algebraic graph
theory and matroid theory. Three of
SCNU’s top graduate students in graph
theory have come to WVU to pursue PhDs
since the partnership began. Graduate
students from a number of institutions in
China including South China University of
Technology, Jinan University, and Shandong
University have come to the University
to complete doctoral degrees. For more
information, contact Hong-Jian Lai at
Tim CarrMarshall Miller Professor of Geology
Sequestration: One of West Virginia
University’s top geology researchers,
Carr has been active in studying carbon
sequestration and storage issues associated
with fossil fuels both in the United States
and in China. He is associated with the
US-China Energy Center based at WVU.
He has traveled to China numerous times
in the past year to discuss advances in
converting coal to transportation fuels
while capturing and storing CO2 emissions.
With support from the US Department of
Energy, WVU and the Shenhua Group in
China have been evaluating the economic
and environmental impacts of the direct
coal liquefaction technology.
While commercial coal-to-liquids
processes exist, these are known as
indirect coal liquefaction and require
breaking coal down into molecules
of carbon monoxide and hydrogen,
which are building blocks that are then
processed into diesel fuel. Direct coal
liquefaction processes attempt to bypass
the breakdown of the coal into such
small molecules to make liquid fuels
directly. Information gained by the
researchers will be shared with those in
the United States to help promote the
transfer of clean coal technologies.
Visit http://www.nrcce.wvu.edu/USCEC/
for more information about the US-China
Energy Center.
“With China’s tremendous economic growth and its emergent political power, the task of increasing the number of American students who can demonstrate a functional proficiency in Chinese and a general understanding of Chinese culture is undeniably urgent.”—Hannah Lin
Michael Shi, PhD Hong-Jian Lai, PhD Tim Carr, PhD
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Did You Know? In the past five years (2005-2011), WVU’s China initiatives
involved six memorandums of understanding.
An average of 75 students per year have traveled
to China to expand their studies in language, culture,
nanotechnology, ceramics, painting, forestry, and business.
453 students have traveled to China since fall 2005.
That’s compared to 158 in the nine years previous to that.
In August, WVU signed on to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
“100,000 Strong” initiative to send 100,000 American
students to China over four years.
This list is not intended to be inclusive of all the partnerships that WVU has cultivated in China.
24 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
WVU in China
Locations: Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an
College of Business and Economics
Locations: Jingdezhen, Nanjing
College of Creative Arts
Locations: Chengdu, Shouzou (Shanxi)
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design
Locations: Hangzhou, Jilin, Qingdao, Suzhou, Taipei (Taiwan)
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Location: Jilin (Changchun)
WV NANO
Location: Guangzhou, Jilin, Shanxi, Suzhou, Xuzhou
College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
Location Interests: Wuhan
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center
Location: Guangzhou
Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism
Location: Shanghai, Tianjin
College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences
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28 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
As told to Christine Schussler
Heather Hartley didn’t
exactly take a direct
route from Charleston, West
Virginia, to Paris, but you won’t
see her complaining. These days the
WVU alumna is known for many things,
namely her roles as professor, curator,
editor, and writer in the City of Light.
Illus
trat
ion
by G
raha
m C
urry
26 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 29
Heather Hartley
She has picked up a few souvenirs along her journey from English student to literary tour de force—a deep passion for the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, a hopeless case of wanderlust, an affinity for teaching in Nantes (a city on the West coast of France), a serious weakness for LU Pure Butter Biscuits, otherwise known as Le Petit Beurre, and her lasting gratitude to Drs. Valérie and Michael Lastinger at the University for helping her chart the first point in her adventure.
Eberly Magazine: How does a girl from Charleston, West Virginia, make her way to living in Paris?
Heather Hartley: During my senior year, the Lastingers—both of whom had been
inspiring professors throughout my undergraduate years—strongly encouraged
me to apply for a position in France as an assistante d’anglais, an English teaching
assistant. Although only having studied French for a minor, I applied for a position
in the winter of my senior year and a few weeks before graduation in May, I
received an offer as a teaching assistant at Lycée Carcouet, a high school in Nantes. I
accepted without hesitation, having no idea where Nantes was located on a map or
what it meant to teach in a high school, but I did know that it happened to be the
headquarters for the delectable butter biscuit, Le Petit Beurre. I was just delighted
to have a job—and not one down the street, but a job across the Atlantic Ocean.
In Baudelaire’s poem “L’Invitation au voyage (Invitation to the Voyage),” he
writes:… Think of the rapture / Of living together there! / Of loving at will, / Of
loving till death, / In the land that is like you! . . . / There all is order and beauty,
/ Luxury, peace, and pleasure” (translation by Roy Campbell, Poems of Baudelaire,
New York: Pantheon Books, 1952). Although moving to Nantes was not quite as
idyllic or dreamy as this, it was a fantastic opportunity for me to begin a career
in teaching, continue writing, and improve my language skills—especially the
imperative mode when working with high school students with expressions like
“Sit down!” “Listen!” or “Please pass me that croissant!”
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30 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
EM: Have you ever thought of returning to the States or is there some sort of “pull” keeping you in Paris?
HH: Both. Having lived in Paris for nearly ten years, it is a second home to me. I feel
comfortable in the city and am fluent in the language—my pronunciation may not be
perfect, but I’m working on it. I return to the United States twice a year to visit family
and friends and more specifically to Charleston, West Virginia, where my family roots
run deeply. Here, of course, is my home—and more than this, here is my hometown.
When I return to Charleston, things that I miss when back in France come forth so
vividly: hot buttered corn on the cob, a fire in the fireplace at my mother’s home, the
smell of honeysuckle, bagels, brick buildings. A wonderful parallel between Paris and
Charleston is that both have rivers that serve to break and bridge the city at the same
time. In this way, there is a “pull” for me from both the Kanawha and the Seine rivers.
EM: What places have had the most “global influence” on you? How?
HH: Paris, Saint Petersburg in Russia, Naples in Italy and Charleston and Ravenswood,
West Virginia. I think that the poems in my first collection, Knock Knock (Carnegie
Mellon University Press 2010), explore these influences from different perspectives and
points of view. My poems and nonfiction essays are sometimes punctuated with words or
expressions from French, Italian or other languages—not to distance the reader, but rather
to draw them into the landscape or image being described by incorporating a foreign
word or phrase into the context of the writing. I think that my poems might better express
than I could in this interview how these particular places have influenced and inspired me.
EM: How did you deal with adversity/stereotyping, if you encountered any?
HH: It may sound clichéd, but living abroad you become a sort of diplomat for your home
country. I tend to disagree with former French President Charles de Gaulle when he said,
“Diplomats are useful only in fair weather: as soon as it rains they drown in every drop.” It
rains a lot in Paris and I find that both umbrellas and discussing current politics and issues to
be important ways to move communication forward—be it with other Americans, French
friends and colleagues, or someone of any nationality. It may be cloudy for a few days, but it
makes such a difference getting out there and being in the rain.
EM: What is your favorite French tradition/food/author/book/music/movie/place?
HH: My favorite food is éclair au café—it can illuminate even the greyest of Parisian
days. My favorite author is Charles Baudelaire, and I love the music of Eric Satie
and Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien,” because I don’t regret my decision
of having made France (and more specifically Paris) my second home,
although it does include some compromises. The best French movie
of all time for me is Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard. My favorite
place is the square Réné Viviani, next to Shakespeare and
Company Bookshop in the fifth district—it’s a
little public garden where the oldest tree of
the city still grows—a locust tree planted
in the early seventeenth century.
28 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
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—At a poetry reading
Around the room, merry-go-round,you find Mr. Desmond, the tax collector
writing villanelles, his head a hurricaneof baldness, sucking on the stub of a cigarette.
Next to him, a convention of Barbie dolls in black Tencel pantsfollowed by scant PhDs scouting their own knot
with a nod to patrons, of course, dull in thick gold and polyester blends, older than Ganesh.
The shrine of the bar floats in the foggy distance, beatitude passes by on a bamboo tray
and smiling with salsa between my teeth, I persevere in my quest—
to search for the face that will reveal my fate in a wine glass, on a paper napkin, let slip between beer nuts
my being and nothingness, who will pull outfrom beneath me a rabbit, a rubber duck,
disclose the future in my fingertips and bra straps, who from behind my ear will pull out a silver ducat.
About Heather Hartley
Heather Hartley is the author of Knock Knock (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2010) and Paris editor for Tin House magazine. Her poems, essays and interviews have appeared in or on PBS Newshour, The Guardian, The Rumpus and other venues and anthologies including The World Within: Writers Talk . . . and Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House. She lives in Paris, where she curates Shakespeare and Company Bookshop’s weekly reading series, and teaches creative writing and poetry at the American University of Paris. She graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Tau Delta from WVU in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in English with a French minor and women’s studies certificate. She received a master’s degree in French from Middlebury College in 1996.
The Karma Club
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 29
32 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences MagazinePoppies, 2011
30 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
“I come from a long line of people who can’t help but be artists...”
Where the Art
T he famed twentieth-century artist
Marc Chagall may have said that
“art picks up where nature ends,”
but Eberly alumna Annie Morris Simcoe
is building a career out of blurring the line
between the two.
In 2009, the Valencia, Pennsylvania,
native made the leap to full-time paper/mixed
media artist after spending years as a research
hydrologist at the West Virginia University
Hydrology Research Center.
At the center, Simcoe worked with
Department of Geology Professor Joseph
Donovan and other researchers on applied
water research problems in West Virginia and
the mid-Appalachian region, including water
availability, contamination, and development.
“I loved the energy of the University,
loved the students,” she said. “I loved
working with the graduate students and with
watershed associations. It was sort of cool
being the translator for all the groups.”
And it didn’t hurt that her job enabled
her to spend a considerable amount of
time outdoors, surrounded by the natural
beauty of the Appalachian Mountains as a
landscape.
Today Simcoe’s art, the creative process
she employs, and the materials she uses are all
organic and natural, much like her decision
to pursue her longtime dream of becoming
an artist. She may have successfully made
the transition from researcher to artist, but
Simcoe said the evidence is in her art that her
heart will always be in geology.
Take for instance her “Eddy Line”
collection. The completed pieces are a swirl of
rich, opulent tones of red, orange, yellow, teal,
and purple. The pieces are named for the
effect that occurs when leaves churn around
in the current created after water goes behind
a rock and spins in the reverse current.
“Geologists look at my work and say,
‘this was done by a geologist,’” she said
before laughing.
Like a number of artists, Simcoe’s
path took a winding route over some hills,
through some valleys — and changes in
By Devon Copeland Photos by Dan Friend
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 31
Artist Annie Simcoe makes paper out of plant materials such as cat tails, corn husks, iris leaves, rye grass, onions, and leeks.
To break down the cellulose in plant fibers, they are boiled in a caustic solution for several hours.
The fibers are beaten in a blender with a binder fiber called Abaca. Then they are poured into a large tub of water. A mold is dipped into the tub and a sheet of paper is lifted out.
The mold is turned upside down on a piece of felt. The sheet of paper sticks to the felt, and the mold is peeled away in a process called couching.
After several sheets have been couched, they are pressed to remove as much water as possible. Then they are then placed on sheets of plastic to dry.
Source: annabellepetuniahead.com
Annie Simcoe’s process
32 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
with the pieces of handmade paper hand
stitched together like a quilt. But her style
has since evolved from the traditional to
reflect more of her confidence as an artist.
Simcoe now uses a sewing machine and her
work now incorporates her paper designs
into quilts, creating non-traditional and
modern designs.
Her line has grown and she offers quilts,
jewelry, note cards, print reproductions of
her pieces, sculptures, lamps, and baskets,
and a clothing line is in the works.
As Simcoe’s style as an artist continues to
evolve and she introduces her collections to
more people, she hopes her soothing, earthy
work is a draw. Her style reflects her love
for the outdoors and Appalachia, and she
hopes that others can see the region’s natural
resources staring back at them.
“It basically conveys a basic emotion,”
she said. “It appeals to everyone, I hope.”
To visit Simcoe’s studio, learn more
about her papermaking gardens, and see
how she makes paper, call (301) 245-4585, or
email [email protected].
Her studio is open by appointment and groups
and children are welcome.
college majors — before bringing her to a
studio and farmhouse sitting on two acres in
Accident, Maryland, where she lives with her
husband Jeff and their dogs Elzie and Bo.
Two loves remained constant in Simcoe’s
life growing up — crafts and nature — but
she was still reticent to major in art when she
enrolled at WVU in 1996.
“I come from a long line of people who
can’t help but be artists,” she said. “My
parents were saying ‘take the classes you are
interested in and don’t worry about jobs.’”
“But despite my parents encouraging
me to be an art major I had it in my head
that I wouldn’t be able to get a job, which
is funny.”
After switching majors a couple of
times, Simcoe became a geology student,
a discipline where she instantly felt that
she belonged. She earned both a bachelor’s
degree and a master’s degree in geology in
2000 and 2002, respectively.
“I wanted to do environmental work,”
she said. “It got me in touch with a lot of
people who are more in line with what I am
interested in. I fit in.”
Similarly, Simcoe’s husband Jeff, who she
met in college, made a
commitment to pursuing
a “green collar” job. He
earned his bachelor’s
degree in environmental
and natural resource
economics and a master’s
degree in agriculture
and natural resource
economics from
WVU. Jeff Simcoe
is vice president of
environmental markets for GreenLight
Environmental, a start-up firm that focuses
on projects that reduce deforestation and
enhance forest preservation to create carbon
credits.
It’s no coincidence that the Simcoes
have opted for careers that look to sustain
the environment and recognize their global
responsibility.
When not working, the two are hiking,
exploring rivers, biking, and cross-country
skiing. When the weather permits, Annie
Simcoe works in her garden where she grows
produce for her home as well the materials
she uses to make paper, a nod to her goal
of creating art through a more sustainable
process. Simcoe’s paper-making supplies
read one part recipe, two parts greenhouse
offerings: onions, leeks, rye grass, cat tails, iris
leaves, lily leaves, hostas, and ramps.
She boils the plant fibers in a solution
of caustic soda to break down the cellulose
fibers before beating the fibers into a pulp.
Sheets of paper are hand-dipped from the
pulp, pressed, and dried. After the paper is
dry, Simcoe stitches them into patterns.
It has been 10 years since she was
introduced to the art of papermaking.
At the time, Simcoe said, she was firmly
hooked on pottery.
In her spare time in college, she found
herself in the Craft Center in the basement
of Braxton Tower on the Evansdale campus,
where she learned how to make pottery.
“I fell in love,” she said. “I made pottery,
I made pottery, I made pottery. If it’s
something that you are interested in, it’ll
reduce your stress,” she recalled.
In graduate school she spent
four hours a day, six days a week in
the Craft Center, making pottery.
While learning to make paper one
year for Christmas cards, she was
instantly attracted to papermaking,
its portability and its low cost.
“It was something I could do
at home,” she said. “I didn’t have
to have a wheel and kiln. It didn’t
need such a dedicated space.”
When Simcoe began seriously
considering pursuing art full time, she said
she weighed whether to turn to pottery as
an outlet. But she ultimately decided the
field was too crowded.
“One of the advantages of
papermaking is it’s not something a whole
lot of people do,” she said. “This allows
me to be sort of unique.”
Even so, Simcoe has made sure to put
her personal spin on papermaking. Early on,
Simcoe’s art reflected her affinity for quilts,
Eddy Line, 2011
“It was something I
could do at home,”
she said. “I didn’t
have to have a
wheel and kiln. It
didn’t need such a
dedicated space.”
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 33
36 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
With such topics as hate crimes,
urban neighborhoods and feudalism,
the works “showcase the diversity of
research in the department and the
enormous growth in book writing,”
Latimer said. “These topics are all over
the map but they’re connected. There’s
an inequality theme to all of them.”
The Division of Sociology and
Anthropology has traditionally pushed
its professors to publish articles in
academic journals. But the ways
in which WVU sociologists and
anthropologists present their research have
evolved. More professors are now taking
the book route, skipping the creative
limitations associated with writing for peer-
reviewed journals.
Bringing with him a wealth of real-
world experiences as a former police officer
in Wilmington, Delaware, and FBI unit
chief, Jim Nolan has taught a hate crime
course at WVU since the early-2000s.
The FBI defines a hate crime as a criminal
offense committed against a person,
property, or society that is motivated, in
whole or in part, by the offender’s bias
against a race, religion, disability, sexual
orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.
Nolan’s dedication to the topic led
him to co-author The Violence of Hate:
Confronting Racism, Anti-Semitism, and
Other Forms of Bigotry with Jack Levin,
a sociology professor at Northeastern
University. This book—along with The
Essential Hate Crime Reader, which Nolan
edited with sociology instructor Susie
Bennett—is required reading for his hate
crime classes.
“An important aspect to the book is
that it points out that the causes of hate
violence are not really the hatemongers
people who are ranting and raving about
the inferiority of, and danger presented by,
different minority groups,” said Nolan,
whose strides in the classroom earned him
the title of West Virginia’s 2010 Professor
of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching and the
Council for Advancement and Support
of Education. “It’s because the average
person won’t get involved to stop it. It’s
important for the average person to develop
an understanding of the true nature of
hate violence. Most of it occurs because of
misunderstanding.”
Rachael Woldoff, an associate professor,
also draws on her classroom experiences for
research projects. Her latest undertaking
involved three years of fieldwork and 90
interviews that culminated in White Flight/
Black Flight: The Dynamics of Racial Change
in an American Neighborhood, published
by Cornell University Press. In a capstone
Writing the BOOK
THE DIVISION OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, tucked away a bit off the beaten path in Knapp Hall, can be easy to overlook in West Virginia University’s sea of 191 degree programs.
But a recent explosion of books by three professors, addressing a diverse mix of societal issues, as well as more works to come off the presses soon, signal this small department is ready to make a big noise.
Currently, the sociology department has only 13 faculty members required to do research. To have three of those professors with books out at the same time is quite a feat, said Melissa Latimer, outgoing chair of the Division and director of the WVU ADVANCE Center.
Jim Nolan, PhD
34 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 37
class, Woldoff was teaching students how
to utilize United States Census Bureau
data. Figures for one working-class urban
neighborhood, located in the northeast,
caught her eye. From 1990 to 2000, the
black population in that area skyrocketed
from 2.2 to 58.8 percent. Engaging her
sociological imagination, Woldoff ended up
driving to the neighborhood.
“I casually started talking to people
and thought I’d hear the typical narrative,
‘The whites here left and were afraid of the
blacks, crime and violence,’” Woldoff said.
“But that’s not what happened.”
Instead, Woldoff discovered that the
white residents live in harmony with the
black population. In her new book, she
highlights three types of residents: the white
stayers, the black pioneers and the second-
wave blacks.
The white stayers are mostly elderly,
Caucasian residents who never left the
neighborhood. The stayers compliment the
black residents for their acts of kindness,
which include shoveling snow for them,
Woldoff said.
The second group, the black pioneers,
consists of the African Americans who
first moved into the neighborhood. These
residents take an active approach seeking an
integrated, safe, and orderly environment
for their children.
Slight conflict arises, however, with the
addition of second-wave blacks, the most
recent migrants to the neighborhood. This
group is uninvolved and isolated from
the community, Woldoff said, and their
norms on child-rearing and the
maintenance of order clash with
those of the black pioneers.
Assistant Professor Josh
Woods also released a book
this year and has another one
coming out. Woods teamed up
with Vladimir Shlapentokh, a
sociology professor at Michigan
State University, to write Feudal
America: Elements of the Middle
Ages in Contemporary Society.
The idea for this book grew
out of Shlapentokh’s research
on post-Soviet Russian society.
From there, Woods and Shlapentokh
examined similarities between European
feudal societies of the Middle Ages and
contemporary America.
“Feudal America urges readers to
think critically about the naïve labels
that are often used to characterize the
United States,” Woods said, “labels such
as ‘democracy,’ ‘liberal capitalism,’ ‘free
markets,’ and ‘meritocracy,’
that are lavishly expressed
on INEQUALITYBy Jake StumpPhotos by M.G. Ellis
New &Notable
in social studies textbooks and the
speeches of American politicians.”
Woods, who came to WVU in 2009,
teaches courses on social psychology
and complex organizations. One of his
research interests includes the social and
psychological responses to terrorism and
other perceived threats, which led to his
work on yet another book. Freaking Out:
A Decade of Living with Terrorism, is slated
for release in January 2012.
That publication will examine how the
9/11 attacks changed American society,
from immigration policy shifts to the
Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Not only are the books padding
professors’ vitas, but the lessons outlined
within those pages are transferring to the
classroom and aiding in the development of
the Division of Sociology and Anthropology.
Rachael Woldoff, PhD Josh Woods, PhD
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 35
Mad scientist. The very phrase
conjures up the image of something
inaccessible, strange, and difficult to
understand. For some people just the
words scientist and science illicit the
same feelings. West Virginia University
wants everyone to know that science
and scientists are accessible and
relevant. Learning about the sciences
doesn’t mean you have to be a brainy
intellectual in a lab coat, with no
people skills, trapped in a laboratory,
and doing experiments that have no
bearing on reality.
“We want to put a public face on science. The idea of science
seems disconnected from the individual and can be strange to
some groups. We want them to see that scientists are real people
in the real world. We like the same things that other people
like – to sit down and have a drink from time to time. We like
to get out of the classroom and the lab and sit down and talk
about ideas with other people,” explained Jim Belanger, associate
professor of biology.
That desire to sit down with people, relax, and discuss ideas is
what inspired the science café movement.
It all began in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s. Groups
of people started coming together to discuss matters related to
science in a way that was engaging and welcoming of the general
public. It was designed to be as unintimidating as possible and
to draw in people who did not necessarily have a background in
science. From there, it grew.
Science cafés sprung up all over the United Kingdom, and
it wasn’t long before they made the trip across the pond to the
United States. These cafés have been operating all around the
country for years now. Belanger and Bia Vianna, a graduate
by Ashley Wells, Photos by Jake Lambuth
36 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
candidate in biology who took one of his
courses, noticed something curious: West
Virginia was one of the few states that did
not have any science cafés.
Vianna had already experienced the
benefits of an informal gathering with her
students. She taught a biology laboratory
course once a week and made a deal with
her students: she would bring coffee for
them, if they would promise to be alert
and ready to participate. During these
coffee breaks in the hall, she noticed that
the group would actually start talking
about the science behind what they were
learning. The discussions were informal
and relaxed, and they spoke about the
material in a different way than they did
in the classroom.
Belanger and Vianna decided to start
a Morgantown science café, and Science
on Tap was born. The concept is simple.
Come and relax, get some food, and talk
about science.
“Why can’t you talk about science in
a bar? Most people think entertainment
is talking about sports, “Brangelina,” etc.
. . . understanding that talking about
science can be entertaining can change the
way you look at the world. It can change
lives,” explained Belanger.
Twenty-five people attended the
first Science on Tap event, the “Real
Science of CSI,” presented by Clifton
Bishop, associate professor of biology,
and Stephanie Young, a recent alumna
of the Department of Biology’s doctoral
program. By the end of the semester, that
number grew to 45 attendees.
Other topics that have been showcased
at Science on Tap include “Scents of
Direction: What Moths Taught the US
Navy about Finding Things by Smell,”
presented by Jim Belanger; “Engaging
Minds: Bringing the Science of Learning
into the Classroom,” presented by
Michelle Withers, assistant professor of
What are science cafés?Science cafés are live—and lively—events that take place in casual settings such as pubs and coffeehouses, are open to everyone, and feature an engaging conversation with a scientist about a particular topic.
The science café format has spread across the globe, adapting to different cultures and audiences. No matter the location, each café encourages conversation, debate, and interaction.
Science cafés welcome people who may or may not typically get involved with scientific discussions. They are not exclusive club meetings for scientists and science majors.
Is there a single organization that oversees science cafés?Science cafés represent a grassroots movement. They exist all over the world and can vary from place to place. Many science cafés in the United States draw inspiration from Café Scientifique, a network based in the United Kingdom. Even the names of science cafés vary, including Science on Tap, Science Pub, Ask a Scientist, and café Sci.
Who can start a science café?Anyone can organize a science café—you don’t have to be a scientist! All you need is a passion for science and a willingness to reach out and talk with people.
Where can I find resources and support for science cafés?NOVA scienceNOW, in association with Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, runs sciencecafes.org. Created with the help and input of many science café organizers, the site is intended as a community resource to support and encourage the growth of science cafés.
The online network helps café organizers share ideas, tips, and advice.
Visit http://www.sciencecafes.org/ for more information.Source: Sciencecafes.org
Science on Tap series creators Jim Belanger, associate professor of biology (front left), and Bia Vianna, a graduate candidate in biology (front right) listen and take notes in the audience during the “Top 10 Mysteries of Sleep —Solved” session at Mountain State Brewery in June.
New &Notable
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 37
“I strongly believe that in a world shaped by science and technology, the appreciation of the scientific method, critical thinking, imagination, and all other processes and concepts involved in science literacy should be extended and practiced by everyone in our society. Science on Tap is my “baby,” and I think it is a great way to help in the accomplishment of engaging people in talking and discussing interesting scientific topics.”— Bia Vianna
biology; and “Top Ten Mysteries of Sleep:
Solved,” by Hawley Montgomery-Downs,
associate professor of psychology.
When these scientists talk, other
people tend to listen. The first meeting of
Science on Tap happened to share the bar
with a French Club meeting.
“I looked over, and they were paying
attention to us. It was nice to think that
we were already reaching a different
audience,” commented Vianna.
The Science on Tap events are
also beginning to bring the University
community closer to the Morgantown
community, as a whole. Belanger has
gotten emails from parents of home-
schooled children who are interested in
bringing them along for a fun learning
experience, and Belanger hopes this leads
to even more participation by people
without connections to the University.
To make their discussions even more
accessible, ideas have been tossed around
to create a Science on Tap podcast. This
would allow people to still listen to the
discussions, even if they cannot make it to
the actual event.
Another goal of these events is to
foster communication between different
departments at WVU. During the spring
semester, representatives from the Health
Sciences Center, WVNano, and the
WVU Center for Neuroscience attended
the events. They expressed interest in
participating as speakers at future events.
“We want to collaborate with other
science departments and colleges that
are interested and want to help in the
planning of Science on Tap events,”
Vianna said.
“I strongly believe that in a world
shaped by science and technology, the
appreciation of the scientific method,
critical thinking, imagination, and all
other processes and concepts involved
in science literacy should be extended
and practiced by everyone in our
society. Science on Tap is my “baby,”
and I think it is a great way to help in
the accomplishment of engaging people
in talking and discussing interesting
scientific topics.”
Apparently, she is not the only
one. Since Vianna first noticed that no
science cafés took place in West Virginia,
according to the map on the Science
Cafés website, one has shown up in the
Charleston area.
These events coincide with
an important time for science
communication at WVU and nationally.
Over the past year, speakers have given
public lectures on the importance of
effective communication of scientific
subjects, and a symposium in April was
entirely devoted to the topic.
The WVU 2020 Strategic Plan
for the Future specifically stresses the
importance of better and more science
communication. Nationally, the
conversation about the importance of
STEM (science, technology, engineering,
and math) and communication about
STEM grows.
Belanger, Vianna, and all others
involved plan to continue organizing
regular events where the University
community and the rest of Morgantown
can sit down, have an ice cold drink or
a slice of pizza, and bring the national
discussion to a fun and accessible local
level.
For more information about monthly
Science on Tap events contact Bia Vianna at
Audience members listen to Hawley Montgomery-Downs’ presentation.
Hawley Montgomery-Downs, associate professor of psychology, presents “Top 10 Mysteries of Sleep—Solved.”
38 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 41
Calistus Ngonghala
PovertTrapBy Christine Schussler
a recent West Virginia University graduate has published a paper examining
whether it’s more effective to give people money or health care to help them
overcome poverty.
Calistus Ngonghala, who earned his doctorate in mathematics in May,
collaborated with Mateusz Plucinski of the University of California at Berkeley,
and Matthew H. Bonds of Harvard Medical School, on “Health Safety Nets can
Break Cycles of Poverty and Disease: a Stochastic Ecological Model.”
The paper, which was published online in the Journal of Royal Society Interface
in May, uses a mathematical model to analyze the effect an enforced minimum
level of health and economic support can have on an impoverished community.
The research, Ngonghala said, had personal implications.
“Coming from a part of the world (Cameroon) where a greater portion of
the population suffers from extreme poverty and deadly diseases such as malaria,
tuberculosis and HIV almost all the time, I fully understand the impact of these
on individual lives and economic development,” he said.
“As an applied mathematician, I have always been interested in applying
mathematical modeling to assist in the fight against poverty and such mass killer
diseases. Poverty and the prevalence of infectious diseases happen to depend on
each other.”
Through the study, Ngonghala and his partners adapted a version of an
infectious disease model and incorporated a per capita income into the model.
They then examined an individual’s susceptibility to disease based on their per
capita income.
Their theory — higher income, better nutrition and health-related
investments in areas such as sanitation, disease carrier eradication, inoculation,
and drug therapies tend to reduce infections, while a highly infected population is
less productive, leading to smaller per capita income.
“Within a specific population or country, there are rich and healthy, rich and
unhealthy, poor and healthy, and poor and unhealthy individuals,” Ngonghala said.
“My immediate research plan is to extend this research to explore within a
population or within a country disease-driven poverty traps (that will track the
income and disease status of individuals within a population or country).”
In addition to his doctorate in mathematics from WVU, conducting
research in the Department of Chemistry and teaching in the Department of
Mathematics, Ngonghala has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in
computer science and a master’s degree from the University of Buea, Cameroon.
In July, he began a two-year post-doctoral appointment as a researcher at the
newly created National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at the
University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
TH E
y
New &Notable
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 39
KNOWLEDGE
During his final year as an
undergraduate at Duke University in 1961,
he was accepted as part of the first group
of Americans to teach in East African
secondary schools. He found the experience
of teaching in Kenya so rewarding that he
stayed to teach for three more years. After
his return to the United States, his heart
remained with Kenya.
Maxon joined the West Virginia
University faculty in 1969 and received
his doctoral degree in history from the
University of Syracuse in 1972. He
pioneered the University’s African history
curriculum, and has served as an academic
leader and nationally recognized scholar
in the field.
Early in his career at WVU, he
developed a two-semester survey of African
history, a graduate readings course, and
a research seminar. He went on to build
the core of the African History Program,
eventually developing nine courses for the
department, including East African history,
WISDOM TOADDING
by Emily Christensen and Rebecca HerodPhoto by Todd Latocha
A Kenyan proverb states, “we add wisdom to knowledge.” It is a
fitting way to describe the life and career of Robert “Bob” Maxon. As a child, his
goal was to become a teacher and coach. Although he envisioned a career as a
high school social studies teacher, he ultimately traveled a different career path.
Throughout his more than 40-year career as a member of the WVU Department
of History, Maxon has moved a phalanx of students from simple knowledge of
a subject to true wisdom. He has turned them from learners into teachers, and
from teachers into scholars and leaders in the field of African history.
a world history survey, and a capstone
course for undergraduate majors.
Maxon regards as one of his greatest
accomplishments the supervision and
teaching of 21 doctoral students who earned
their PhDs through the History Program.
Eleven of the doctoral dissertations he has
directed have subsequently been published
as books. The impressive record of
publication for these students does not end
there, by Maxon’s count his students have
published a total of 18 books.
40 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
Awards & Honors
history at Saint Louis University.
Maxon has twice risen to leadership
of the Department of History, serving as
the chair from 1983 to 1989, and again
from 1998 to 2004. Following his first
stint as chair, he spent an academic year on
sabbatical serving as a visiting professor at
Moi University in Kenya, the first of four
such visits. Maxon was instrumental in
the inauguration of the master’s program
in history at Moi. Additionally, he has
trained a number of Kenyan students, four
“We have exchanged ideas for
research, commented on each other’s
projected publications, and exchanged
career ideas,” Maxon said. “A close
relationship with former students
represents an immensely satisfying
outcome of my teaching experience.”
Steve Zdatny, a former colleague and
current chair of the Department of History
at the University of Vermont, notes Maxon’s
ability to recognize and nurture graduate
students as one of his strongest attributes.
“… he is a fine judge of talent;
the young men and women he has
brought to WVU from Kenya have
been a remarkably consistent group
…. The payoff of his efforts and the
proof of their effectiveness lie in the
extraordinary professional success
his students have had,” he said.
Maxon’s students have earned
prestigious scholarships, published
dozens of articles and books, and
gone on to become professors at
universities around the country and
in Kenya.
“Professor Maxon has
produced more PhD candidates
in African history, in the last three
decades, than most mentors of
African history doctoral students
in the United States. And therein
lies what might be one of his
most far-reaching contributions
not only to the University,
College, and Department, but
also the history profession,” said
former mentee George O. Ndege,
PhD, associate professor of
“A close relationship with former students represents an immensely satisfying outcome of my teaching experience.”—Robert Maxon
Robert Maxon Honors and AwardsRobert Maxon’s academic leadership and commitment to scholarship is reflected in the many awards he has received. In fall 2010, he received an honorary doctorate degree from Moi University in Kenya in recognition of his many contributions to the study of African history.
His honors include:
1972-73 WVU Outstanding Teacher Award
1992 Cheikh Anta Diop Award for Outstanding Faculty Scholarship in African and African-American Studies from the WVU Center for Black Culture and Research
1993-94 WVU Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award
1993-94 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Researcher Award
2007-08 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award
2007-08 WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award
2009 Kenya Scholars and Studies Association Lifetime Achievement Award
of whom have taken positions within Moi
University as members of the Department
of History or administrators in the College
of Arts and Sciences.
In addition to teaching generations
of WVU students, Maxon is the author
of a widely used textbook, East Africa: An
Introductory History, first published in 1986
and reprinted twice since then. An East
African edition was published in Nairobi,
and a Chinese version was published in
Beijing in 2010.
Maxon is an American citizen,
but part of his heart has been
in Kenya since his first visit. He
married a Kenyan woman, Felicia
Ayiro Maxon, and together they
have two adult children. Maxon
also was an active participant in
Kenyan soccer, becoming involved
as a player on several competitive
teams while living there. An article
announcing his 2010 honorary
doctoral degree from Moi touts
his talent for soccer, noting that he
once played with some of Kenya’s
greatest “footballers.”
“Bob’s heart is truly in Kenya,”
said Liz Fones-Wolf, chair of the
Department of History. “His deep
love and respect for the country
and its people have translated into
the creation of a legacy at WVU.
He has trained the next generation
of African historians and created a
long-lasting partnership between
West Virginia University and Moi
University.”
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 41
WVU’sMEET
WOMEN
FIRST
By Rebecca Herrod
Two outstanding female faculty researchers and two graduate students have been awarded West Virginia University’s first Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Awards.
Mikel “Mickey” Holcomb, assistant professor of
physics, and Jennifer Weidhaas, assistant professor of
civil engineering, will receive $3,750 to pursue their
research. Kathleen Burke and
Mary Kylee Underwood, both
graduate students in the Eberly
College of Arts and Sciences,
will receive $1,250 awards.
The award supports
faculty initiatives and student
scholarships. The WiSE
Giving Circle brings together
alumni and friends who seek
to impact the field of science
by encouraging and mentoring
young women in their pursuit
of professional careers within the National Science
Foundation-funded STEM disciplines: science,
technology, engineering, and math.
The giving circle is an internal program that was
developed simultaneously with WVU’s National
Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional
Transformation Grant, which seeks to increase
the participation and advancement of women in
academic science and engineering careers.
“Through the WiSE Program, the philanthropic
community has endorsed WVU’s commitment to
advancing women in the STEM fields. Private/public
partnerships like this will be necessary for WVU to
achieve the goals of the 2020 Strategic Plan,” said
Provost Michele Wheatly.
Mickey Holcomb joined the Eberly College
Department of Physics in 2009. Her funds will
support research of multiferroics, materials that
can exchange magnetic fields with electric fields.
The material’s properties show promising device
applications, allowing for the creation of smaller
components, particularly in computers.
Mickey Holcomb
42 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
Jennifer Weidhass is a member of
the environmental/hydrotechnical group
in the WVU Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering. She has
experience working in academia, industry,
and government agencies. Her research
focus includes biological, chemical, and
physical environmental engineering
approaches, including water/wastewater
treatment, hazardous waste and emerging
contaminants remediation, water quality
modeling and bacterial source tracking
of contaminants. She will use her award
to purchase a benchtop, refrigerated
microcentrifuge
for her research
laboratory.
“This
refrigerated
microcentrifuge
will be invaluable
in the generation
of data in my
research area,
environmental biotechnology,” she said.
“The equipment will be used to
generate the final set of data required for a
manuscript to be submitted
to a peer-reviewed journal. I
look forward to publication
of the research, which will
serve as a concrete outcome
from the use of the award
dollars.”
Graduate students
Kathleen Burke and Mary
Kylee Underwood
will use the awards
to establish their
professional and
postdoctoral paths.
Burke will use her
funds to attend the
2012 Hereditary Disease
Foundation’s conference
in Boston, Massachusetts.
There she will have the
opportunity to deliver a
seminar outlining her study results on the
cause of Huntington’s disease.
The long-term goal of her research in
chemistry professor Justin Legleiter’s lab
in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of
Chemistry is to understand the biophysical
properties and molecular mechanisms
that contribute to the pathology of
nanoscale self-assembled macromolecules
in neurodegenerative diseases, like
Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
“These funds will give me an excellent
networking opportunity,” Burke said.
“By demonstrating the importance of
techniques that I have become proficient
in, specifically in atomic
force microscopy, I hope
to establish myself as a
viable candidate for a
postdoctoral position.”
Underwood plans to
continue research—begun
as an undergraduate in
the lab of professor James
Lewis—on delafossites,
a family of oxides
that could possibly
be used as catalysts to
reduce carbon dioxide
emissions. Increasing
the visible light photo
activity of an oxide
would make it an
optimum candidate
for the photo catalysis
of carbon dioxide into
usable products such as methane. This could
provide a reduction in carbon dioxide fossil-
fuel power plants.
“This research is the beginning of what
will be presented as my PhD dissertation in
the course of the next three years,” she said.
“The expected outcome of this work
includes at least three scientific papers in
the next two years, collaborative experience
with experimental scientists and multiple
conference presentations.”
The 2011-2012 WiSE Awards are
funded by WiSE annual membership and
donations, the Hall-de Graaf Endowment
for Women in Science and Engineering, the
Research Trust Fund Hall-de Graaf Science
and Engineering Fund, and the Eberly
College of Arts and Sciences.
To learn more about the WiSE
Giving Circle contact Bonnie Fisher,
director of development in the Eberly
College of Arts and Sciences or visit
wisewomen.wvu.edu.
To learn more about WISE, visit wisewomen.wvu.edu
Kathleen Burke
Kylee Underwood
Jennifer Weidhaas
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 43
Awards & Honors
in ResearchADVA N C EsMaking
by Diana Mazzella, Photos by M.G. Ellis
44 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine
Leslie Hopkinson was raised on math and science.
Her parents—a math teacher and an engineer—inspired her to pursue a career in science. She also liked being outdoors and wanted to preserve it for everyone else.
She journeyed into ecological
engineering with the help of her adviser and
teaching mentors (all three were women),
and participated at her graduate institution’s
seminars and networking experiences
for young female scientists funded by a
National Science Foundation grant called
ADVANCE that is designed to support
female faculty.
Now Hopkinson, as an assistant
professor at West Virginia University, is
faced with climbing the faculty career
ladder while building her research team and
lab. Once again she is receiving assistance
from the women around her.
She is one of eight women who are
receiving $15,000 grants through WVU’s
$3.2 million National Science Foundation
ADVANCE Grant. The funds, part of the
WVU ADVANCE Sponsorship Program,
will allow them to receive mentoring from
faculty members outside their department
and to explore their science in new ways.
The overall grant is designed to create a
network of support and resources for female
faculty in science, technology, engineering,
and math careers.
“By ensuring that women scientists
consider academia as a viable and attractive
career option, we are contributing to a more
diverse science and engineering workforce,”
said Melissa Latimer, director of the WVU
ADVANCE Center. “These role models
also help to inspire the next generation of
female faculty and researchers.”
These professors’ interests are far-reaching.
Hopkinson is exploring how to restore
riverbanks to allow plant and animal life to
thrive. Karen Culcasi wants to figure out the
identity issues that Palestinians living long
term in Jordan are facing. Jessica Deshler
wants to see how better to teach college
calculus with gender in mind. Yuxin Liu is
developing a microvessel model combining
biology and engineering to allow the
investigation of human tissue, which could
contribute to cancer research.
Jennifer Weidhaas is using bacteria to
clean up pollution. Jennifer Ripley Stueckle
is curious to see if fish in the Potomac River
are showing both male and female sex cells
because of pollution, while Shikha Sharma
will track carbon dioxide in the Appalachian
Mountains. Robin Hissam is researching
biological polymers.
All eight women got into their fields in
different ways.
For Jennifer Ripley Stueckle, a teaching
assistant professor in the Department of
Biology, it was an eighth grade trip to
Wallops Island in Virginia that convinced
her aquatic life would be in her future.
“Over the week, we visited intertidal,
marsh, eelgrass beds, and estuarine
environments, and I was amazed to see all
the different fishes, crabs, and invertebrates
dart between my legs,” Stueckle said.
“From that point on, I focused my
education on marine science.”
Some, like Hopkinson, had female
scientists and engineering role models
guiding them to the place they are now.
Yuxin Liu grew up watching her
parents, both electrical engineering
professors, teach and research at universities
in China. Seeing her mother work as a
faculty member showed her a direct path to
research, and she didn’t see the difficulties
women face in engineering.
But the statistics tell another story.
According to the Society of Women
Engineers, women made up 17 percent
of freshman engineering majors earlier
in the last decade, and fewer than 20
percent of those in science, engineering,
technology and math careers were women.
The National Science Foundation reports
that women with science and engineering
doctorates made up 30 percent of full-time
faculty in 2006.
“I think as women faculty in the
engineering department, we really need to
do something to change that,” Liu said.
Why women in science?
When it comes to the question of
why support women in science, for some
the answer is obvious: it’s the science that
should be supported no matter who is
practicing it.
But diversity, some note, allows new
ideas to flourish.
Jennifer Weidhaas, who researches
and teaches in the Department of Civil
“Having a diverse faculty in terms of gender and race provides the multiple lines of thought and disparate approaches that are needed to solve complex problems in science and engineering.”— Jennifer Weidhaas
eberly.wvu.edu FALL 2 0 1 1 45
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more confidence that I will be successful in
doing this research.”
Shikha Sharma, an assistant professor
in the Department of Geology and
Geography, said the mentorship she will
receive from Rosemary Capo, an associate
professor of geology and planetary science
at the University of Pittsburgh, could turn
into something more.
“I have had very limited networking
and mentorship opportunities in the U.S.
as my entire schooling was in India,” she
said. “This is a great opportunity for me
to get a good mentor who has a successful
academic career. Since our research
interests and fields of specialization
greatly complement each other, I foresee
a potential for long-term research
collaboration.”
From 2012 to 2015, ten women a
year will be selected to receive the WVU
ADVANCE sponsorships.
To read detailed biographies of the
women in science, technology, engineering
and math fields at WVU, go to
http://wisewomen.wvu.edu/.
and Environmental Engineering, said
that, “Everyone approaches problems
differently.”
“Having a diverse faculty in terms of
gender and race provides the multiple lines
of thought and disparate approaches that
are needed to solve complex problems in
science and engineering.”
Jessica Deshler researches
undergraduate mathematics education, a
field in which she stands out.
“Successful women and minorities in
science and academia can have the greatest
influence over others right now who might
not be sure if this is the career choice for
them,” Deshler said.
“Showing others by our own example
is a great way to demonstrate what we’re all
capable of doing. I hope that female and
minority students see me as an example
of the nontraditional—a female Hispanic
mathematician, and that that might
influence even one student to pursue a
career choice that he or she might not have
otherwise.”
Feeling encouraged was certainly the
route that led Karen Culcasi to pursue a
career in geography.
With the ADVANCE sponsorship,
she will be meeting and questioning
Palestinian refugees in Jordan about how
their displacement after the formation of
Israel in 1948 affects their identity. She’ll
bring students with her to learn about
refugees and other cultures, and she’ll
be strengthening a bond with Yarmouk
University in Jordan that is leading to an
exchange program between the Jordanian
university and WVU.
The grant allows her to both learn
more about the refugee experience, an
area she hasn’t delved into before, and to
increase her understanding of the Arab
world, an area that has fascinated her since
high school.
She could pull off the project on her
own, but there’s something reassuring
about the mentoring aspect.
“I would attempt this on my own but
having her assistance is encouraging,” she
said of her project mentor Alison Mountz
of Syracuse University. “It gives me a lot
Your Legacy is PersonalNo student’s passion for learning should be derailed by a lack of money.
That’s what almost happened to Drs. Sophia and David Blaydes. The couple married during their final year in graduate school and struggled financially. Despite years of success, they still remember the anxiety-filled days.
That’s why in June, the Blaydes designated provisions from their estate to create the David Fairchild Blaydes Biology Doctoral Dissertation Scholarship, to support a PhD student in his or her final year. Their gift makes sure that the WVU graduate student experience is firmly rooted in the pursuit of academic excellence, not worry.
Make a planned gift today and plant seeds for tomorrow’s future. For more information on how you can contribute to the Eberly College through your will, living trust or IRA, contact Bonnie Fisher, Director of Development, at (304) 293-4611 or [email protected].
The WVU Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization that generates, receives and administers private gifts for the benefit of WVU.
From left to right: Jeffrey Blaydes, Dr. William Peterjohn, recipient Zachariah Fowler, Dr. Richard Thomas, Drs. David and Sophia Blaydes.
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY PRESSORDER ONLINE AT WWW.WVUPRESS.COM OR PHONE (800) 621-2736.
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Look for the Spring Vision Issue of Eberly in your mailbox in May 2012.