Letter from the Dean

Dear Friends of the College,

In one week, our students will return to campus to begin the spring 2008 semester. When our students come back to Villanova, their academic calendars will be filled with new classes and a host of special on-campus events featuring engaging guest speakers exploring important and relevant topics in our world today.

For example, the 2008 Villanova Literary Festival, sponsored by the Department of English, will feature many of our nation's finest authors and poets. Learn more about the 10th annual Literary Festival here. This series of events is one of the highlights of the spring semester.

While you are on the Web, be sure to check out the College's Web site for more useful information about the College, including more upcoming event announcements.

Thank you for continuing to read Inside A&S. We appreciate your continued interest in the life of the College, and, as always, we welcome your feedback.

I wish you and your families a new year filled with good health and happiness. All of us in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences look forward to the spring 2008 semester.

Sincerely,


Rev. Kail C. Ellis, O.S.A., Ph.D.
Dean of the College
 

In College News …

Proudly Announcing the Gerald M. Lemole, M.D., Endowed Chair in Integrative Biology

First Endowed Chair in the Sciences in the History of Villanova University

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is proud to announce the Gerald M. Lemole, M.D., Endowed Chair in Integrative Biology, which is the first endowed chair to be awarded in the sciences in the history of the University. Learn more here.
 

I am pleased to announce that Helen K. Lafferty, Ph.D., University Vice President, has accepted an opportunity to return to the faculty and become the first College Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences. This new position will allow her to continue teaching in the Department of Education while also assisting the Dean with issues of critical importance to the College and its mission. Learn more here.
 

Department of English in the College to Host 10th Annual Literary Festival

Learn more about the 10th annual Literary Festival here.

Explore iTunes University on the Web

Download faculty lectures and subscribe to podcasts all at iTunes University. Connect to what is happening at Villanova anytime, anywhere.

Call for Papers: Third Annual Asian Studies Undergraduate Research Conference

The Greater Philadelphia Asian Studies Colloquium of the Greater Philadelphia Human Studies Consortium invites paper submissions for the third annual Asian Studies Undergraduate Research Conference. Paper submissions should be 12 to 20 pages on any topic related to Asian studies. Villanova will nominate two to three papers for final inclusion in the conference, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 12, 2008. Finalists will be informed by mid-March of their paper acceptance. This year, the conference will take place at West Chester University, and a keynote speaker will be invited to the conference luncheon. Please submit papers (preferably in electronic format) by Jan. 18, 2008, to: Dr. A. Maria Toyoda, director of the East Asian Studies Program.
 

Visit Mideastwire.com Today!

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. 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:

• For resources for faculty, please click here.

• For resources for students, please click here.

• To access the digital version of today's newspaper, please click here.

• To access the Financial Times online, please click here.
   

IT Corner

• Faculty Web site Templates.  The Liberal Arts and Science IT staff has provided Web site templates as a way to help those faculty members who would like to modify their personal Web site presence but don't know where to start (in terms of design). Please visit the A&S faculty template Web site to learn more about them.
   
• Web site Updates. The following departments or programs recently launched new Web sites: Honors, IGIS, Modern Languages and Literatures, Service Learning and RASCON.  This completes the College's transition to the University's new web standards.
   
• E-mail Backup. Learn how to backup your Outlook Personal Folders here.
   
• University's Online Calendaring System. The University has revamped its system for posting news and events to the University, College, and departmental home pages. To learn how to enter your event announcements so that they appear on the University's online calendar and on the appropriate home pages in the "Events" section, please visit this Web site for detailed instructions. In addition, we ask that information is entered one time and one time only for each event. As the new system rolls out and people become more familiar with it, we are discovering that two or three entries per event are being added to the system, each by a different person. Please enter information one time and one time only. Many thanks to you for your cooperation and support. Be sure to visit the University's robust online calendar here: http://campusevents.villanova.edu/vuevents
   
• Digital Signage Submission Guidelines. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is working with University Information Technologies (UNIT) to install two digital signs for the College. Located in the lobby of the St. Augustine Center for the Liberal Arts and the east entrance of the Mendel Science Center (coming soon), the purpose of these signs is to display University and College news, events, and other special announcements. To have your announcement posted on the digital sign(s), please click here for directions and submission guidelines.
  
   

Save the Dates!

Please mark your calendars for these important events:

Spring 2008 Semester Begins     Monday, January 14, 2008
Early Action Candidates' Day      Saturday, February 16, 2008 (Please note date change.)
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!
 

University Events Module Makes It Easy to Promote Special Events, Lectures, and Other Happenings
Posting an event on the University's Web site and College's Web site has never been easier. Simply enter all relevant information here.

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 24 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/. You also can visit the Academy of Natural Sciences to learn more. For more information, please contact Kate Szumanski.
 

Faculty Scholarship

• Timothy W. Kirk, Ph.D., the Catherine of Siena Fellow in Ethics and Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, published an article, "Beyond Empathy: Clinical Intimacy in Nursing Practice," in Nursing Philosophy (8, no. 4 (2007): 233-243).  The article puts forth a conceptual model of clinical intimacy to explain the construction of meaning in nurse-patient relationships.
   

• Robert Langran, Ph.D., a professor of political science, chaired and was the discussant at a panel on "The Constitution and Constitutional Interpretation" at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association in Philadelphia in November 2007.

Faculty in the News

• David M. Barrett, Ph.D., a professor of political science who has written extensively about Congressional oversight of the CIA, was featured on WHYY's Radio Times on Wednesday, Dec. 12. Listen to the show here.
   
• Lara M. Brown, Ph.D., an assistant professor of political science, was featured in a recent article in the The New York Times entitled, "As I Was Saying Before I Left Office." Read the full article here.
   
• John Immerwahr, Ph.D., a professor of philosophy and a senior research fellow at Public Agenda, has co-written an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled, "What Colleges Must Do to Keep the Public's Good Will." Learn more here. A subscription is required to access premium content online at The Chronicle of Higher Education.
   
• Satya Pattnayak, Ph.D., a professor of sociology and political science and director of the Center for Latin American Studies, was quoted in an article entitled, "Jindal has few ties to ancestral homeland," which appeared in The Times-Picayune. Read the full story here.
   
• Colleen Sheehan, Ph.D., an associate professor of political sciences, was quoted in an article entitled, "DeWeese vows to push agenda," which appeared in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Read more here.
   
• Catherine Warrick, Ph.D., an assistant professor of political science, was featured in a recent Courier Post article entitled, "Jury hears of alleged spousal abuse, sexual assault." Dr. Warrick served as an expert witness for the prosecution on gender law in the Middle East. Read the full story here.

Students in the News

• Angela Allen, '08, presented a paper entitled, “A Game for Knights: Chivalry and Misogyny in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep,” at the Undergraduate Conference in Medieval and Early-Modern Studies hosted by Moravian College on December 1, 2007. Learn more here. 
   
• Anne Marie Pisano, '95, who received a bachelor's degree in Honors, was named a principal in the law firm of Goldberg Kohn in Chicago. Learn more here.  
   
• Steven Runk, '85, who received a bachelor's degree in art history, was named the new executive director of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Learn more here.

Alumni in the News

• Peter T. DuBois, '92, who earned a dual bachelor's degree in Honors and English, was featured in a recent article in the Boston Globe entitled, "Peter DuBois has always been moved by theater." Read the full story here.
   
• Coleen Smith, who earned a bachelor's degree in psychology, has been name the Chief People Officer, a newly created position, at Mimeo.com -- www.mimeo.com --, an innovator of online, on-demand digital printing for business documents and marketing materials. Smith brings over twenty years of knowledge and expertise to the company, including hands-on leadership and experience in managing human resources-related functions for global organizations. Learn more here.
   

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.