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Letter from the Dean
Dear Friends of the College,
With summer in full swing, I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight
the prolific scholarship achievements of the College's exceptional faculty.
In
addition to continuing the College’s commitment to excellence in
undergraduate and graduate teaching,
faculty in the College have published 26 books and have edited 18 books during the 2006-2007
academic year. Faculty also have written 215 published articles and have
presented 327 papers at conferences both nationally and internationally.
Please join me in celebrating the excellent scholarship and research being
conducted by members of the College’s faculty.
Thank you for continuing to read the
College's e-newsletter, the newly named,
Inside A&S. We appreciate your continued interest in the
life of the
College, and we welcome your
feedback. I wish you
and your families a wonderful summer.
Sincerely,
Rev. Kail C. Ellis, O.S.A., Ph.D.
Dean of the College
In College News …
Spanish Internship Program Serves Members of the
Philadelphia Hispanic Community
Students Gain Real-World Experience and Much, Much
More
Opportunities to apply classroom learning in real-world
situations are invaluable ones for students, and for those students who are
studying and attempting to master a foreign language, those opportunities to
speak and write the language in a variety of professional settings may be
even more valuable.
Now in its fifth year, the
Spanish Internship Program offers an essential experience for students
interested in helping the Hispanic community while using their Spanish
language skills. The goals of the program include:
• To help students become fluent in Spanish by translating and interpreting
for student lawyers while helping members of the Philadelphia Hispanic
community
• To express publicly, through service and scholarship, the University’s
commitment to promoting social justice and the common good for all
• To serve the poor and marginalized members of the community through
service and scholarship in recognition of the words of St. Thomas of
Villanova: “The Lord hear the cry of the poor.”
The Department of
Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures offers qualified
undergraduate students the opportunity to integrate their knowledge of the
Spanish language and culture with practical experience in the Philadelphia
Hispanic community by working closely with law students. The
program is designed to help students build relationships with
professionals in the private and public sectors, gain valuable work
experience, and discover their interests and aspirations.
“This is a totally unique program that combines the knowledge and expertise
of several disciplines to enhance awareness in our students, help them
develop by working as young professionals in the community, and help the
poor Hispanic community by offering services that are very much needed,”
said Mercedes Juliá, Ph.D.,
a professor of Spanish in the department of classical and modern languages
and literatures and one of the creators of the program. “The
Spanish internship program can be an eye-opener for many students who
are proficient in Spanish. It allows students to practice and perfect their
Spanish by interpreting back and forth from Hispanic clients and lawyers as
well as by translating letters and legal documents. It also allows students
to come in contact with a culture and lifestyle completely different from
the one they are used to.”
The
program maintains the academic integrity of the curriculum of the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences through careful planning and by
providing uniform requirements and careful supervision. Using field work
experiences in the Philadelphia area Hispanic community, students gain an
understanding of the Hispanic culture and the opportunity to practice and
improve their knowledge of the Spanish language.
The
Spanish internship allows students with excellent command of Spanish to
use it in the community, while gaining professional experience. It is a
program that provides the student with intellectual, social, and emotional
development. Besides personal growth, students gain professional work
experience and acquire valuable job contacts.
Here is what one student who participated in the
internship program had to say about it:
"My experience working at the Villanova law clinic has
been formidable. The clinic has given me the opportunity to further enhance
my bilingual proficiency, and at the same time, I have been able to help
those that need my skills the most. I highly recommend the internship at the
clinic for those students who want to experience a real and genuine
experience in expanding their bilingual skills. Not only will the intern be
able to translate legal documents, but he or she will also have the
opportunity to interpret day-to-day conversations. Working at the clinic is
a fantastic learning experience."
To learn more about the
program, please contact
Mercedes Juliá, Ph.D.
LACEO Honors A&S Faculty With Leadership Award
College faculty members have been awarded the Latin
American Cultural Exchange Organization Leadership Award in recognition of
their outstanding support to the men in the Graterford State Correctional
Institution. The inscription on the award reads: “Your Dedication and
Leadership Set the Standard for Others to Follow.”
“The College is honored to have received this
award,” said Rev. Kail C. Ellis, O.S.A., Ph.D., dean of the College. “We are
deeply touched, moved, and humbled by the kind words inscribed on the award,
and we hope to continue working with the men at Graterford in the future.”
More than 30 years ago, the College has been offering
select men at Graterford the opportunity to earn their bachelor's degree. In
this program, the College offers two courses in the fall and two in the
spring semesters. The courses follow the Villanova academic calendar,
satisfy the same standards and requirements as on-campus courses, and are
usually taught by Villanova faculty. The curriculum at is Villanova’s
regular 120-hour liberal arts program, which is offered on a part-time
basis.
Inmates at Graterford State Correctional Institution
Donate $900 to University
The Brotherhood at the Graterford State Correctional
Institution has donated $900 to the University. "We are deeply touched and
moved by the overwhelming generosity of the members of Brotherhood," Father
Ellis said. "Every penny of the gift has been put back
into Villanova University’s program at Graterford."
College Announces New Department of Geography and
the Environment
The College is pleased to announce the new Department of Geography and the Environment,
a department which links
the social sciences and the natural and physical sciences. The department will integrate the disciplines
of geography and environmental science in seeking to understand the
interaction of people and the natural environment in specific places and
around the world. Three degree programs will be offered.
The Geography degree program (B.A.) focuses on the interaction of
humans with the natural and physical environments of the earth from a spatial
perspective. The program’s graduates will have a fundamental understanding of
the patterns of human social dynamics and physical processes at the earth’s
surface, such as globalization and global climate change, within the context of
places, landscapes, and regions. Graduates will also be trained in the use of
geospatial technologies as tools in addressing many modern concerns. The
geography degree is a traditional arts degree requiring 10 classes in geography.
Geography courses count toward the social science general education requirement.
The Environmental Studies degree program (B.A.) focuses on the
interface between environmental science and relevant social sciences, including
public policy, political science, law, economics, sociology, and planning. The
program’s graduates will have a fundamental understanding of the biological,
chemical, and physical principles that underlie the structure and function of
the natural and physical environments of the earth coupled with a foundation in
the social sciences that underlie the relationships between humans, as
individuals and/or societies, and the natural and physical environments of the
earth. The environmental studies degree is a multidisciplinary arts degree built
around a variety of social science courses, with a few additional science
courses required.
The Environmental Science degree program (B.S.) focuses on the
application of biological, chemical, and physical principles to understanding
the natural and physical environments of the earth. The program’s graduates will
have an understanding of and appreciation for the processes and interactions
that occur both within and between the atmosphere, the biosphere, the
lithosphere, and the hydrosphere and be able to assess and address the direct
and indirect influences of human activities on the integrity of the earth’s
systems. The environmental science degree is a multidisciplinary science degree,
which requires at least eight laboratory science classes. Interested students
should be encouraged to take science classes beginning in their first year.
For more information, please contact
Dr. Keith Henderson.
College Offers Students, Faculty, and Staff Access
to Mideastwire.com
The
College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences is pleased to offer to its students, faculty,
and staff access to Mideastwire.com,
an Internet-based news service that employs a team of translators from around the
region to gather important stories from and about the Middle East. Its core
product is a daily e-mail newsletter to English speaking subscribers that
aggregates key English language stories about the Middle East together with
translated Arabic and Persian stories that appear via the print, radio, and
television media of the region.
While there are now more than 500 Arabic and Persian
news outlets reporting stories from and about the Middle East, there is
currently no affordable means for English speakers to gain access to much of
this content. As a result, the overwhelming majority of English speaking
businesspersons, students, journalists, and others who have an interest in
the affairs of the region are largely unaware of what the Middle East media
is covering and how they are covering these stories.
Mideastwire.com aims to
close this gap by offering a daily e-mail newsletter of concise, translated
briefs covering some of the key political, cultural, economic, and opinion
pieces appearing in the media of the 22 Arab countries, Iran, and the Arab
Diaspora.
For more information, please contact
Mideastwire.com.
Department of Psychology Now Offering Two Combined Bachelor’s/Master’s
Programs
The Department of Psychology now offers
two
five-year bachelor’s/master’s degree programs. In the first program,
students earn both a B.A. and an M.S. in psychology. This program provides
an especially strong foundation for individuals who plan to pursue a Ph.D.
in one of the many subfields of psychology. It also serves the needs of
students who are unsure of their future professional goals and of
individuals seeking a terminal master’s degree before entering the work
force.
Whereas this program emphasizes basic theory and research in psychology, the
second bachelor’s/master’s program has a decidedly applied focus, combining
a B.A. in psychology with an M.S. in Human Resource Development. This
program specifically prepares students to enter the work force as human
resource professionals by providing a comprehensive background in the basic
human resource competencies with emphasis on global, strategic, and
developmental issues.
In both programs, students take graduate and well as undergraduate courses
during their senior year. Several of the graduate courses count for both
graduate and undergraduate credit, allowing the master’s degree to be
obtained in only one additional year.
Learn more
here.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Partners with
the Financial Times
Providing Students With Global
Perspectives on World Events
 The
College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences has partnered with the
Financial Times, internationally recognized for its authoritative
news, comment, and analysis, to provide students and faculty with full
access to the FT’s electronic edition and to FT.com’s Level Two subscription
service. This partnership will enable the University to further educate its
students on socio-economic and geo-political issues that affect everyone
regardless of a student’s major.
How To Access the Financial Times Online
There are many ways to access the FT online:
Save the Dates!
Please mark your calendars for these important events:
New Student Orientation
August 23 to 26
First Day of Undergraduate Classes
Monday, August 27
Liberal Arts Open House
Saturday, September 8
Science and Technology Open House
Sunday, October 28
Early Action Candidates' Day
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Candidates' Day
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Please click
here for the complete academic calendar.
Event Round-up
Be sure to visit the
College's home
page for a more complete rundown of upcoming events!
VCLE to Host the 2007 Carlyle Studies Conference in July
The Villanova Center for Liberal Education (VCLE) will host the
2007 Carlyle Studies Conference on July 12-13, 2007. The plenary speaker
is Chris Vanden Bossche from the Department of English at the University of
Notre Dame. For more information, please contact
Marylu Hill.
Make Plans Now to Visit the Mendel Exhibit ... Coming to Philadelphia's
Academy of Natural Sciences
Villanova University and The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia
proudly announce their partnership to present the traveling exhibition,
“Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics,”
which will visit the Academy at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway from May
28 to September 28, 2008. The exhibition will be available to only five tour
venues in the United States through 2008: Philadelphia (Villanova and the
Academy of Natural Sciences), Chicago, Washington, D.C., Columbus, Ohio, and
Memphis, Tennessee.
During the exhibition’s Philadelphia tour, all Villanova students, staff,
and faculty who present valid identification will receive free general
admission to the Academy of Natural Sciences. It is our hope that you will
find this special exhibition informative and enjoyable.
To learn more about the exhibit, please visit
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/mendel/. For more information, please contact
Kate Szumanski.
Faculty in the News
-
David M. Barrett, Ph.D., a professor of political science, was
quoted in a recent
New York Times article entitled,
"Cold-War Era Abuses Invite Contemporary Comparisons."
In the article, the author writes, "Mr.
Barrett, author of a 2005 book on the C.I.A. and Congress in the 1940s
and 1950s, said the notion that the C.I.A. was once lawless but now
meticulously follows the law is simply wrong." Dr. Barrett also was
a recent guest on
WHYY's "Radio Times."
-
Timothy Brunk, Ph.D., an assistant professor of theology and
religious studies, has written the book Liturgy and Life: The Unity
of Sacrament and Ethics in the Thought of Louis-Marie Chauvet. New
York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Franfurt am Main, Oxford, Vienna: Peter
Lang, 2007.
-
Alice Dailey, Ph.D., an assistant professor of English, is
featured in an article entitled,
"Teacher of Shakespeare is the merchant of menace in ring."
-
Amanda Grannas, Ph.D., an assistant professor of chemistry, is
quoted in a
Philadelphia Inquirer article about a Bristol High School
chemistry teacher.
-
Jill McCorkel, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology, was
the featured speaker at a seminar on Journalism and the Sociological
Imagination held at New York University in April.
-
Harriet Power, M.F.A., an associate professor of
theatre, recently directed Tio Pepe by Matthew Lopez, with an
all-star cast including Broadway veteran Priscilla Lopez, at Luna
Stage. She traveled to Toronto in late June to speak at the annual
international conference of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the
Americas.
-
Paul Sheldon, Ph.D., an assistant professor
of psychology, was interviewed by Margot Adler for the
nationally-broadcast Justice Talking program of National Public
Radio. The program topic was taxation. Paul discussed the relationship
between paying our taxes and paying for war, and suggested that we
consider our conscience when we pay taxes that support warfare. The
program was broadcast during the week before April tax day. The entire
program is available at
www.justicetalking.org/. Paul’s interview can be found
here.
Alumni in the News
-
John G. Emling, '91, who received a bachelor's degree in
political science, has been named Deputy Assistant to the President for
Legislative Affairs, the
White House announced. Emling currently serves as Special Assistant
to the President for Legislative Affairs. Prior to this, he served as
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs at the Department of
Treasury. Earlier in his career, he served as a Policy Analyst on the
Senate Republican Policy Committee and Chief of Staff to Congressman
Eric Cantor.
-
Christian Giudice, '97, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in
English, has written the first biography of one of boxing's biggest
legends,
Hands of Stone: The Life And Legend of Roberto Duran, published
by
Milo Books.
-
Kate Hetherington, who earned a master's degree in counseling and
human relations from the Department of Education and Human Services, has
been named the new president of
Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland.
Read the full story here.
-
Yasmin Namini, '89, who earned a master's degree in applied
statistics, has been named senior vice president for marketing and
circulation for the New York Times Media Group.
Read the full story here.
-
Gloria Park, MAPP, a doctoral student in exercise and
sport psychology at Temple University, wrote an article entitled,
"Aspiring to
be a Positive Parents," in the Positive Psychology News Daily.
Currently, Park works as a program coordinator at the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia and is an assistant instructor for the Master
of Applied Positive Psychology Program at the University of
Pennsylvania. She received her BA in psychology and philosophy from
Villanova and an MA in applied positive psychology from UPenn.
IT Corner
-
New Phone System Coming -- As you probably know, a new phone system
will be installed July 4 to 8 requiring every phone to be
replaced. Please note that saved messages on the current system will not
carry over to the new system, nor will distribution lists. More details
are available at:
http://unit.villanova.edu/voip/
-
New E-mail System Coming -- Our College will be the first area
migrated to the new system, beginning on June 4 (we do not have a more
detailed schedule, but will send it out when it becomes available).
Similar to the PC rollout, it will require a hands-on configuration of
each computer (which on average could take around 1 hour). If you are
not available at the time your department is migrated, then you will be
completed in the fall semester. Instructor-led training on the new
Outlook E-mail client will be available (on Mondays and Tuesdays, June
4 to July 31, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.), and we recommend that everyone
attends. You can find out more about the new email system at:
http://unit.villanova.edu/exchange/
-
Scantron Upgrade -- The aging Scantron test-grading system will be
upgraded to the newest version this summer. Please note that the old and
new systems will be unavailable during Summer Session I due to
renovations of the basement of the St. Augustine Center for the Liberal
Arts. Instructor-led training
is being made available to heavy users of this product in June.
Additional training and support documents will be available late summer.
The system will reside in a new room. Look for an e-mail update in
August.
-
Tablet PC Pilot -- The College will be piloting 10 Tablet PCs with
faculty beginning this fall. A Tablet PC is a “convertible laptop” with
the capabilities of being written on through the use of a digital pen
and touch screen technology. This technology has the possibility of
being integrated into the learning experience. The purpose of the
pilot is to collect feedback on evaluating the value of this product as
a teaching aid to our faculty. If you are interested in becoming
involved, please send an e-mail
to
Christopher Driscoll.
-
SharePoint upgrade -- Over the summer, current sites on the College
SharePoint server will be migrated to a newer version of the SharePoint
Web-based collaboration tool. Sites will be moved one at a time, and
owners of sites will be contacted by College IT staff to coordinate. The
current SharePoint system will continue to run until all sites have been
migrated to the new system.
Send Your News Items and Event Notices for Publication Is
your upcoming event not listed in this e-newsletter? Do you wish it was? Do
you need help broadening your outreach efforts, publicizing events, and
getting the word out about the accomplishments of your faculty?
Learn more here! Please submit your announcements or events via our
online submission form or directly to
Kate Szumanski. Kate
will include it in the next issue of the College’s e-newsletter. |
