Summer 2006 - Vol. 3, Issue 1

Articles for the Summer 2006 edition of The Fount are now available.
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Dean's Message

Alfred J. Finch, Jr., Ph.D., ABPP Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences Colonel, SCM al.finch@citadel.edu

Breaking Rules

As a young boy growing up in rural Georgia, I remember being taught many behaviors that were acceptable and many that were not. Never ask a lady her age. Clean your plate. Never talk with your mouth full. Never talk to strangers. Always say “yes sir” and “no sir.” Take responsibility for your mistakes and never try and blame anyone else. Never ask anyone for money. Later in this article, I will violate one of these lessons.

Shortly after becoming Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) at The Citadel, I attended a training session in New Orleans for deans and development officers. During this meeting I learned a number of things to do and a number of things not to do as a dean involved in fundraising. Emphasize the accomplishments. Make people feel part of a winning team – no one wants to think they are jumping on a sinking ship. Don’t share your concerns and fears. Act enthusiastic. Again, I will break one of these rules later in this article.

The Citadel is currently conducting a capital campaign and is attempting to raise $100,000,000. Many of you have been contacted to make contributions and have given generously. If you have already given, thanks for your support!

One aspect of our campaign is its organization according to schools. Each of the five schools (Business, Math and Science, Engineering, Education, and Humanities and Social Sciences) has certain items that have been targeted as needs. In SHSS we have identified five endowed areas as needs: Scholarships, Professors, Fellowships, an Endowed Chair, and a Dean’s Excellence fund. Each of these areas is very important to the school and its ability to continue providing the quality programs of which we are so proud.

Recently, I was asked about the Dean’s Excellence Fund. I thought now might be a good time to discuss what needs this fund is designed to address and request your support in our efforts to secure the resources needed to address them. The SHSS Dean’s Excellence Fund is designed to provide the dean flexible money to take advantage of opportunities and needs that arise. For example, we have started a number of new minors during the past few years. Some of these have been designed to help students develop a global perspective. The Dean’s Excellence Fund has allowed us to jump start these programs and to prepare our faculty to provide courses in areas they have not previously taught. For example, we have prepared a native speaking Korean faculty member to teach Korean language as a second language. This year we are doing the same thing with a native speaking Chinese faculty member. In addition, the funds have allowed us to provide additional student support for presentation of research findings at state, regional, and national meetings. Another student was provided support to study international law enforcement in Thailand. The Dean’s Excellence Fund also allows us to raise other funds. Recently, a donor requested that we offer matching funds for his gift to support a specific program. The Dean’s Excellence fund allowed us to do so. As a final example, we were recently given a substantial sum of money to establish an on-going outside speaker program. In order not to touch the initial gift, funds from the Dean’s Excellence fund were used for the first series of speakers until the funds began to generate income.

Why are such flexible funds not available through the state support? Isn’t The Citadel a state supported institution? Here is where I break the rule about not sharing concerns. Increasingly, state support has been decreased. It was not too long ago that the state of South Carolina provided The Citadel with a large portion of its budget. As recently as 2001, approximately a third of the budget came from the state. This level of support has decreased each year with only 18.1% of our current budget coming from state funds. The steady decline in state support has resulted in increases in tuition and decreases in the availability of funding for programs. However, we cannot depend on tuition alone and maintain the character of The Citadel. The financial leadership of The Citadel has done a wonderful job protecting programs but there is only so much they can do. Increasingly, we are making changes to save money rather than to maintain The Citadel as we know it – increasing enrollment; larger class size; more part-time faculty. We need a source of flexible funding that allows the Dean to address needs as they arise in the school and to meet new challenges

We are attempting to raise $5,000,000 for the SHSS Dean’s Excellence Fund. This amount of money will generate approximately $250,000 per year to enhance the programs in the school and to take advantage of opportunities that are presented. Let me present a couple of quick reminders. We teach all of the cadets – about 65% of the core curriculum – and the SHSS faculty constitutes approximately 40% of the entire Citadel faculty. Here is where I break one of the rules I learned as a young boy. I am asking you for money. Please give generously to the SHSS Dean’s Excellence Fund. Thanks in advance for sending your donations to the address below:

SHSS Dean’s Excellence Fund
Attention:
Joy A. Simpson, CFRE
Director of Development
The School of Humanities and Social Sciences
The Citadel Foundation
Holliday Alumni Center
The Citadel
171 Moultrie Street
Charleston, SC 29409

Spotlight on

U.S. News & World Report has named The Citadel the No. 2 best value in the South for 2007. The Citadel was also ranked in several other categories in the annual higher education ratings:

• In the category of best public universities in the South offering up to a master’s degree the college ranked No.3
   
• Among the best public and private universities in the South offering up to a master’s degree but few, if any, doctoral programs, The Citadel is ranked No. 7.

English Department

Professor Scott Lucas delivered two academic papers during the spring semester of 2006: “'Let None Such Office Take, Save He That Can For Right His Prince Forsake: A Mirror for Magistrates, the English Magistracy, and the Limits of Political Obedience, at the New College of Florida Medieval/Renaissance Conference, and “From Politics to Poetics: Thomas Sackville’s A Mirror for Magistrates” at the Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, March 23-25, 2006.

Dr. Lucas also completed an article titled “Let None Such Office Take, Save He That Can For Right His Prince Forsake”: A Mirror for Magistrates, Resistance Theory, and the Elizabethan Monarchical Republic, to be published in 2007 in the essay collection The Monarchical Republic of Early Modern England: Responses to Patrick Collinson, and a book manuscript titled "A Mirror for Magistrates and the Politics of the English Reformation."

This summer the English Department launched its annual Summer in London Program. Cadets spent six weeks in London, England taking a British literature survey course with Dr. Sean Heuston, Professor of English. Cadets also took one of two elective courses taught by British university faculty: Islam and the West or The Economic Integration of the European Union. Highlights of the program included trips to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (for a performance of Shakespeare's Coriolanus and a special class session led by Globe Theatre actors; the Keats House; Stonehenge; the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst; the Islamic Centre of England; the Lake District; numerous London museums and tourist attractions; and Dublin, Ireland where Dr. Heuston led a weekend literary/historical tour.

Michael Livingston, who joined the English faculty this fall, has had two short stories accepted for publication in the last month. The first -- "Professor Williamson and the Master Speed" -- will appear in a forthcoming issue of  Nature Magazine. The second -- "The Worth of an Eye in the Hand" -- will appear in the forthcoming anthology Until Someone Loses an Eye. His short story "Gnome Season" can be found in the current issue of Shimmer Magazine (for which he's also the Featured Author). His article "Reinventing the Hero: Gardner's Grendel and the Shifting Face of Beowulf in Popular Culture," co-written with John William Sutton of SUNY-Brockport, has been accepted by the journal Studies in Popular Culture, and this October he'll be at the University of Mississippi presenting the paper "The Beginning of the End of Troilus' Lament" at the Southeastern Medieval Association conference.

Writing Project Secures Study Group Grant

The Lowcountry Writing Project (LWP), directed by Dr. Tom Thompson (Associate Professor of English), has been awarded a $4,000 grant to start study groups for area school teachers in the 2006-2007 academic year. The LWP provides professional development for K-12 teachers in all disciplines, with the goal of improving student learning by improving the ways teachers use writing as a learning tool.

This grant, awarded by the National Writing Project, will allow up to 40 Lowcountry teachers to engage in professional discussions with peers on a monthly basis. Each group will select a book on a topic relevant to the needs and interests of the participating teachers. The LWP will provide the books and the group facilitators. At the end of the year, each group will provide a “report” of some type—an inservice program or perhaps a panel discussion—for other faculty members at the participating schools. The facilitators will also present the results of their work at the 2007 National Writing Project conference in New York.

In addition to improving student learning, the LWP also develops teacher leaders—a goal congruent with the mission statement for the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. The group facilitators, all of whom completed a Summer Institute sponsored by the LWP, will gain visibility in their respective schools as they facilitate year-round professional discussions, and they will participate in, and contribute to, the larger professional community as they become conference presenters at the New York conference and at other conferences.

For more information on the LWP and its programs, visit www.citadel.edu/writingproject.

History Department

Keith Knapp, professor of history, was invited to participate in the annual Japanese Tale Literature conference, which was hosted by Bukkyo University in Kyoto, Japan. On June 17, in Japanese, he presented a paper entitled “Current Research on Accounts of Filial Children in North America and Europe.” He, along with a Chinese archaeologist, was the first foreigners and non-literature specialists to ever take part in this meeting.

In June, his essay “Creeping Absolutism: Parental Authority as Seen in Early Medieval Tales of Filial Offspring,” was published in Confucian Cultures of Authority (State University of New York Press).

Modern Languages Department

Thanks to the efforts of Maj. Gen. John S. Grinalds, former Citadel President, and Al Gurganus, Modern Languages Head, the American Society of the French Legion of Honor has granted the Modern Languages Department $15,000 to fund ten scholarships of $1,500 for qualified French majors and minors participating in The Citadel's Summer Study in France in 2007.

For the 14th consecutive year, The Citadel’s chapter of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society has been named an "Honor Chapter" for its activities during the 2005-2006 academic year.

Each May, all 539 chapters of Sigma Delta Pi are asked to submit an annual report detailing their numerous activities and projects from the academic year. Based on these reports, the national executive committee chooses approximately 15 "Honor Chapters" annually. This recognition is based upon the caliber of chapter projects that reflect the Sigma Delta Pi mission of honoring excellence in the study of the Spanish language, contributing to cultural understanding and upholding the goals of the society.

Projects for which The Citadel's Tau Iota Chapter was recognized include the Lowcountry and South Carolina Spanish Teacher of the Year awards, the publication of El Cid, a refereed national journal in Spanish for undergraduate and graduate students; interpreting for local Hispanic immigrants, a website translation project for a local law firm, and the “Certificate of Merit" program to recognize outstanding high school students of Spanish in the tri-county area.

Of the 16 chapters recognized this year with "Honor Chapter" status, The Citadel ranked in the top five among Brigham Young University, Truman State University, Virginia Tech and Texas Tech. No chapter in the history of Sigma Delta Pi has earned this distinction in so many consecutive years.

On April 21, 2006, Charles S. Knisley (B.A., Spanish, '06), Chapter Secretary of Sigma Delta Pi at The Citadel, was a panelist in the Sigma Delta Pi Informative Session at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference where he presented on the activities of his award-winning chapter. Also, Knisley was accepted into Spanish graduate programs at Syracuse University and Ohio University respectively for the 2006-07 academic year; he also received a grant to attend Middlebury College's prestigious summer immersion program in Spanish in July 2006.

In February 2006, Dr. Juan W. Bahk's essay "La evolucion poetica de Pablo Neruday el surrealismo" was published in RevistaIberoamericana, an international, refereed journal of the Institute of “Revista Iberoamericana” at Seoul National University, South Korea.

Andrew Brooks, (B.A., German, '06), received a 2006-2007 Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship for $5,000.00. He is one of 60 students nationwide to receive this prestigious award. Also, Brooks presented his study "Deconstructing the Romantic in Theodor Storm's Draussen im Heidedorf" at Winthrop University for the 30th annual meeting of the Philological Association of the Carolinas (PAC). His essay "The Tyrant Motif and Nosferatu: 1922, 1977, 2000" was published in Postscript, the refereed journal of PAC. His paper "Borders, Borderlands, & Border Cultures" was accepted for presentation at the 2006 "Empire" conference at California State University;

Cadets Sean Callahan (Spanish major) and Michael Pilotte (Spanish minor) were accepted into the University of Virginia's prestigious study abroad program in Valencia, Spain, for the fall 2006 semester.

Anderson Stewart (B.A., Spanish, '03) was accepted into the Spanish Ph.D. program at the University of Kentucky with a teaching assistantship to begin in August 2006.

The Citadel's Tau Iota Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi inducted 10 new student members and one honorary member on March 7, 2006 at 7:00pm during its traditional ceremony in the Greater Issues Room of Mark Clark Hall. Conducted by Juan Canino (Chapter President), Javier Yudice (Vice-President), Charles Knisley (Secretary-Treasurer) and Dr. Del Mastro (Chapter Adviser), the ceremony initiated the following active members: Sean Callahan, Brian Corbett, Andrew Green, Kevin Johnson, Creighton Nash, Jared Newman, James Russell, William Thompson, John Wagner and Joe Zoretic . Dr. Zane U. Segle was inducted as an honorary member.

Cadet Anthony Luis Rodriguez (Spanish minor) participated in Wake Forest University's renowned study abroad program in Salamanca, Spain, during the spring 2006 semester. Rodriguez is the 3rd Citadel cadet admitted into this program in the past three years.

Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro was one of two U.S. scholars invited to contribute to a special edition of the literary journal Caleta (Cádiz, Spain) that will honor the late Spanish novelist Carmen Laforet. This issue will be available in the fall of 2006.

At the 59th Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (20-22 April 2006), Dr. Zane U. Segle presented his study "Lifting the Veil of Hyperbole: The Avisos Históricos of José Pellicer within Baroque Festival Discourse." At the same conference, Professor Del Mastro presented his paper "Self-Discovery through Mirrors in Carmen Laforet" and organized and chaired three sessions: 1) The Sigma Delta Pi Informative Session; 2) "In Honor of Donald L. Shaw: Literatura española 'fin de siglo'"; 3) "Contemporary Spanish Women Writers."

Dr. Del Mastro directed and edited both the online and hard copy editions of the spring 2006 issue (No. 48) of Entre Nosotros, the national journal of Sigma Delta Pi.

On February 24-26, 2006, Professor Mark P. Del Mastro participated in the annual meeting of the Association of College Honor Societies in Portland, OR, where he was elected member of the Board of Directors for a 3-year term (2006-09).

Professors Al Gurganus and Elba Andrade will each enjoy a one-year research sabbatical in 2006-07.

On January 20, 2006, Dr. Al Gurganus was confirmed President-Elect of The Citadel Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi. He will begin his two-year term as President beginning in the fall of 2007.

In January 2006, the 3rd issue of Decimonónica was published.  Professor Del Mastro is founding Co-Director of this refereed, online journal of nineteenth century Hispanic cultural production.

The Modern Languages Department welcomes the following six new faculty members in August 2006: Dr. Eloy Urroz, Assistant Professor of Spanish; Dr. Cathy Jellenik, Assistant Professor of French; Dr. Susanne Wagner, Visiting Assistant Professor of German; Dr. Alan Cambeira, Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish; Mr. Juan Barreto, Adjunct Professor of Spanish; Mrs. Mary Cabezas, Adjunct Professor of Spanish. More information on these outstanding new professors is located at our faculty & staff webpage.

Professor Cathy Jellenik will present her paper entitled "Hypermodernity in Annie Ernaux's Vie" at the December 2006 convention of the Modern Languages Association. She is also rewriting her doctoral thesis, tentatively entitled "A Tripartite Approach to Rewriting in Marguerite Duras, Annie Ernaux, and Marie Redonnet" for publication by Peter Lang.

Political Science & Criminal Justice Department

Terry Mays, Professor in the Political Science/Criminal Justice Department, published a book this Summer (2006) entitled The A to Z of Multinational Peacekeeping.

Cadet Lt. Col. Brian E. DuBois, 21, is a senior from Atlanta majoring in political science. A Star of the West Fellow, traveled to Lebanon this summer to study abroad.  Cadet Lt. Col. DuBois said “Yes, I was scared, however, my understanding of the situation and my experience living in a stressful and challenging environment here at The Citadel had better prepared me to handle the fear and the conditions we were living in. In a way, the bombs I heard sounded eerily similar to those cannons we hear at every afternoon parade. The lessons I learned and the experiences I had within Beirut were experiences I would not have had anywhere else. It was an excellent learning experience that came at an expense all too high for the people of Beirut, but using what I learn will help me better understand the region as well as inform classmates of the on going struggles we all may see in the Middle East.”

Psychology Department

Dr. Steve Nida, Professor and Department Head of Psychology, was invited to participate in the Harvard Summer Institutes Management Development Program this summer 2006 at Harvard.

The Psychology Department is pleased to announce that eight cadets and six graduate students attended the annual Southeastern Psychological Association Convention held in Atlanta, Ga. on March 16 – March 19, 2006. The graduate students and professors that made poster presentations were:

• Ms. Tiffany DeVane and Dr. Steve Nida presented “Implicit Attitudes Toward People With Disabilities: Can They Be Changed?”
   
• Ms. Jana Garl and Dr. Conway Saylor presented “Predictors of Social Competence in Youth With Spina Bifida.”
   
• Ms. Amanda Lewis and Dr. Darin Matthews presented “Analysis of the Comprehensive Tests of Nonverbal Intelligence.”
Paper presentations:
• Ms. Jessica Stinson and Drs. Nida, DeRoma and Matthews presented “Client Perception of Confrontation and Direcives in Substance Abuse Treatment.”
• Mr. Brad Leach and Dr. Saylor presented “Perceived Peer Victimization in Youth With and Without Disabilities.”

Along with graduate student James Collins Drs. Nida, Finch and Allen made a poster presentation entitled, “The Future of SEPA: A Survey of the Members.”

Dr. Allen presided over the “Memory and Learning” poster session.

Graduate Melissa Wohlfeiler will give a poster presentation entitled, “Paternal vs. Maternal Contributors to Cognitive and Behavioral Outcome of Children With Spina Bifida” at the 2006 National Conference on Child Health Psychology in Gainesville, Florida on April 19 – 22.

Graduate student Katie Scott and Professor Maya Khanna attended the Child Language Processing Conference in New York City on March 212006. They gave a presentation entitled, “Hough Dou You Know Wat Tou Sai?”

Graduate students Constance Leahy, Sarah Smith, Richard Montgomery and Dr. Ryan Allen, Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department, attended the 38th Annual Convention for the National Association of School Psychologists in Anaheim, CA on March 28 – April 1. Ms. Leahy presented the poster entitled, “Matrices Tests: DSA-II and Traditional Nonverbal IQ Assessment.” Mr. Montgomery presented “Scales 2nd Edition”; and Ms. Smith presented “PA316 Comparison of WISC-IV FSIQ and AGI in a Clinical Sample.”

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences sponsored Erin Jeffords, graduate student in clinical psychology, in her recent paper presentation at the International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in July, 2006. Ms. Jeffords’ paper, entitled, “Cross-Cultural Perspectives of Child Maltreatment,” was sponsored by Dr. Virginia DeRoma, Associate Professor in the Psychology Department. This research culminates a cross-cultural study comparing parenting differences for families from the United States and Ecuador.