Gaudeamus

George Diamond and Joel Wingard, professors of English, went to the annual Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 16-20 in San Francisco.

For a panel about “Portfolios as Assessment and Learning Tools,” Joel described the English Department’s junior-year portfolio, required of writing-track majors. He spoke about the history of this requirement and how the department uses it as an assessment tool for the students and the program.

George chaired a session on the writing of deaf students and papers on “sentence-based pedagogies,” designed to decrease writing anxiety. He also went to a discussion of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, who lived in San Francisco. Hammett’s daughter spoke on “Questions I Wish I Had Asked My Father”—“fascinating!” said George.

Grace Ji-Sun Kim, assistant professor of doctrinal theology at Moravian Theological Seminary, participated in a panel called “(W)Riting Asian and Asian- American Women: Theologies, Hermeneutics, and Practices” at the annual Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry conference, April 7 at Emory University.

Camie Modjadidi, field coordinator for the Education Department, has been around and about. She attended the Pennsylvania Department of Education annual conference, February 22-24 in Hershey. Among other sessions, she went to an assessment of the No Child Left Behind Act.

She also was a member of the DOE’s Professional Educator Program Approval Review Team for Rosemont College, March 16-18. She was responsible for reviewing the elementary education undergraduate and graduate programs and the early childhood undergraduate program. And she attended a presentation on Section 504 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, April 19 in Bethlehem.

An article by Charlotte Rappe Zales, associate professor of education, and her research partner, Sister Susan J. Cronin of Immaculata College, has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Education. It is called “Embracing the Future: Bioinformatics for High School Women.” She also attended the National Science Teachers Association convention, March 31- April 3 in Dallas.

Michelle Schmidt, assistant professor of psychology, co-director of the Leadership Center, and new mom, organized a symposium for the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, April 6-10 in Atlanta. Its topic was “Popular or Liked? Implications for the Study of Victimization.” Within the symposium, she presented a paper called “Victims and Bullies: Perceptions of Popular and Liked Peers.” She also gave a paper with her former student, Jaime Marks ’04, called “Friendship and Victimization: Links with Depression, Anxiety, and Self- Worth.” Jaime is working on a Ph.D. in psychology at Penn State.

President Rokke appeared on Business Matters (WFMZ-Channel 69) on April 16. He discussed Moravian’s economic impact upon and contributions to the Lehigh Valley community.