Gaudeamus

The Leadership Center sent 11 students to the Pennsylvania Governors Conference for Women, November 15 in Philadelphia. The event covered leadership development, career advancement, social issues, and professional development from experts in the fields of health, media, business, the arts, finance, and personal development, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

The students who attended were: Amelia Dietrich ’08, Lauren Gass ’07, Karissa Gehman ’07, Jennifer Kahl ’06, Ashley Kimmet ’07, Rebecca Moore ’06, Allison Pearsall ’07, Ashley Rickerson ’07, Laura Sahlender ’07, Catelyn Savoth ’08, and Maria Smith ’07. The students were accompanied by Sue Herschlag and Meredith Poindexter-Bird of CIT.

At the request of Jon Conrad ’82, director of human resources, Carol Traupman-Carr ’86, associate dean of academic affairs and brass arrangements, scored the Moravian Christmas hymn “Morning Star” for Jon’s Silver and Brass Trombone Quartet. (An appropriate choice, given the trombone choir tradition in Moravian worship.) It was performed for the first time at the opening weekend of Christkindlmarkt in December. In addition to Jon, another member is Bryan Hay ’86 of the Mainstreet Brass, for which Carol also arranges.

Grace Ji-Sun Kim, assistant professor at Moravian Theological Seminary, responded to the critique of her book, The Grace of Sophia, by Laura Donaldson of Cornell University at a panel on “Writing Women’s Theology in Asian North America” at the annual American Academy of Religion conference, November 18-22 in Philadelphia.

Neil Wetzel, assistant professor of music and director of jazz studies, led a workshop December 1 on jazz improvisation for middle-school music students. Partnering with the Bethlehem Area School District, he met with 21 students from Nitschmann, East Hills, and Northeast Middle Schools. The workshop used a curriculum he designed to teach beginning jazz improv, called “Learning Jazz Language.”

On December 9, he coordinated a master class on the blues with jazz pianist Bill Mays. The College’s Jazz Combo I (led by artist-lecturer Tony Gairo) performed. Almost 300 students from schools around the area made up the audience.

Cecilia Fox, assistant professor of biology, presented research done with Honors student Sarah Mueller ’05 to the Society for Neuroscience, November 11-16 in Washington, D.C. The project, “Long-Term Selenium Administration as a Protective Agent in the 6-OHDA Lesion Model,” is part of Cecilia’s ongoing research into the causes of Parkinson’s disease.

Two other student-researchers attended the conference: Rachel Siegfried ’06 described her summer SOAR research project on the neuroprotective effects of selenium in the 6-OHDA striatal lesion model. Charlotte Bowsher ’07 assisted Cecilia and Sarah in a poster presentation on “Brain Awareness Day: A ‘New and Improved’ Service-Learning Project for the Community,” presented by the College and the DaVinci Discovery Center of Science and Technology this past spring.

SPORTS SPOTS: Stephanie Seaman ’06 is the 16th player in Moravian history to top 1,000 career points, which happened at the Moravian Winter Classic Tournament, held January 6-7.

• And for the first two weeks of January, Kelly Applegate ’07 was first in the nation in percentage of field goals scored. She also was Women’s D-III News’ player of the month.

• Congrats also to fullback Kevin Lukich ’06, the second Moravian player to be invited to the Aztec Bowl, a game between top NCAA Division III players and the Mexican national team. (Jarrod Pence ’03 went in 2002.) It was broadcast live on the Internet from Toluca, Mexico, December 17.

Bob Schoenen, having relinquished the post of vice president for institutional advancement, has returned to the Board of Trustees of the College.

Allison McBride ’05 and Rosalind Remer, former associate professor of history, have an article in the latest Perspectives, the magazine of the American Historical Association. Allison has been working for Ros this year, helping to plan the 300th birthday party of Benjamin Franklin.

Librarian Beth Fuchs attended a conference on “Scientific Publishing: What Does the Future Hold?,” November 12 at Lehigh University.

Busy, busy Dana Dunn, professor of psychology, gave two invited presentations at the 28th annual National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, January 2-5 in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. This conference is for teachers of psychology at high schools, two- and four-year colleges, and universities to enhance their teaching skills. With Robert Henderson and Sandra Goss Lucas, Dana led a workshop on improving the teaching of introductory psychology. He also delivered (twice) a talk on “Teaching Writing: Exercises and Assessment Methods for Use Across the Psychology Curriculum.”

Dana has been named to the editorial boards of two journals: PsycCRITIQUES, published on line by the American Psychological Association to review new books in psychology; and Teaching of Psychology, for which he’s served as a consulting editor in 1994-2000 and 2002-04.

Catching up from last semester, Dana gave a talk on “Defining the Good Life,” November 15 at Moravian Hall Square, Nazareth. Joan Lardner Paul, major gifts officer, organizes and runs the speaker series at this assisted-living facility.

And he reports: “For what may be the only time, I’ve been mentioned in an op-ed piece in the New York Times, written by my graduate school mentor, Timothy Wilson [University of Virginia]. He acknowledges the contributions made by a former grad-school friend and me to a piece of research we did a while back.” The piece, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” was about the futility of introspection as a traditional New Year activity. It ran December 29.

More Sociologists!

The Sociology Department is doing its best to make sure that Moravian has future students. Dan Jasper, assistant professor, and his wife, Hana, just made the 2005 income-tax writeoff with a daughter, Henry (yes, you read that right) Lamb Jasper, born early in the morning December 31.

She joins Isabella Marie Kilps, born to Soc’s administrative assistant, Karen Kilps, and her husband, Seminary student Andy Kilps, on November 30. Bettie Smolansky, professor and department chair, says: "With its usual impeccable timing, the department had scheduled a surprise baby shower for December 1." The surprise was on them. But they had the party anyway, and Karen got the balloons and gifts later.