Gaudeamus

Carmen Ferrero Pino, associate professor of Spanish, has completed the sabbatical project that took her to Spain last semester. She adapted a masterpiece of 18th-century neoclassical literature, El sí de las niñas by Leandro Fernández de Moratín, by translating it into contemporary Spanish and writing a detailed introduction to the period and the author, including a glossary. She is using the text in her course on Peninsular literature this semester. While abroad, she traveled extensively in Europe and visited Croatia and Turkey. She also has published an article in Reflexiones: Ensayos sobre escritoras hispanoamericanas contemporáneas (Ediciones Nuevo Espacio).

Rah! Rah! Rah!
The Greyhound Cheerleaders, directed by Erin Oleksa Kratzer, took first place December 15 in the collegiate women’s division of the Greater Philly Classic Cheer Competition. They earned a bid to go to the Can/Am 2003 International Cheerleader Championships in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The squad has 20 women, co-captained by Lauren Bisco ’03, Phillipsburg, N.J., and Jamie Good ’04, Macungie.

Moravian students in the annual Intercollegiate Wind Ensemble, held January 18-19 at Muhlenberg College, were Tracy Smith ’04, Alburtis, first flute; Sarah Baer ’05, Easton, first oboe; Laura Strattan ’04, Jonestown, bass clarinet; Crystal Manara ’06, Aquebogue, N.Y., baritone sax; Matthew Silvius ’03, Nazareth, first trumpet; and Clair Socci ’05, Coopersburg, bass trombone. The ensemble was conducted by Jim Barnes, chair of the music department and band director at Moravian, and his colleagues from Muhlenberg, Lehigh University, and Kutztown University. The group also performed under James Steffy, Muhlenberg’s interim president, a former band director at Susquehanna University.

Hair Today
The Locks of Love hair donation, held January 22 at the HUB, clipped 261 inches (almost 28 feet) of hair to be used for wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer treatments.

Farewell (and Hello)
Lucy McCammon, assistant professor of sociology and former co-chair of the department, left the College at the end of the fall semester to move with her family to St. Louis. “We made this decision some time ago—to get back to a city to raise Sam,” she said. “And having his grandparents there was definitely a motivation, too.” Lucy joined the faculty in 1996. Her classes for the spring semester are being handled by Jacob Segal, partner of Jean Halley, assistant professor of sociology. Jacob holds a B.A. from Washington University (St. Louis) in history and political science, an M.A. in social sciences from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.

Number Crunchers
Gordon Williams, assistant professor of mathematics, was invited to address the Kollegseminar for the graduate program in applied algorithmic mathematics at the Technische Universität München, Germany, on January 9. His topic was “Petrie Schemes.” He spoke on the same subject at the January 17 joint meeting of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America. Petrie schemes, he explains, have to do with geometric and combinatorial properties of polyhedra and polytopes, not with weird life forms in laboratory dishes. He also spent the holidays growing a beard.

Michael Fraboni, assistant professor of mathematics, also attended the joint AMS/MAA meeting, where he judged the undergraduate poster session—not on design but on mathematical content. “I got to decide the fate of a few aspiring mathematical minds for a day,” he says. He also gave a talk on his own research: “Some q-Convexity Properties of Coverings of Complex Manifolds.”

A Death in the Family
Arden L. Regar, a student at Moravian Theological Sseminary, died January 20 after a long battle with cancer. Arden was 43 and had been working part-time toward the Master of Divinity degree until last summer, when her worsening condition made her decide to push full-time toward completing the program. But “her health really went downhill after Thanksgiving,” says Moravian chaplain David Bennett, and she was unable to finish the semester.

“She was such a brave and gentle soul,” says David. “She was very much an active part of the community there, and they had been praying about her cancer for more than a year.”
Her companion, Susan Vollmer, also a Seminary student, survives her. A memorial service for Arden was held January 25 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley.