Faculty Professional Activities

Diane Van Blerkom, assistant professor, education

Presentations at the 40^th Annual Conference of the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA), Portland, Ore.:

• "Best Practices in College Reading and Learning: Remembering Cindy Peterson"Higbee, J., Van Blerkom D., Smilkstein R., MacDonald L., and Miller Payne E.
• "Time Management Strategies that Lead to a Focus on Learning"

Diane Van Blerkom, Dr. Malcolm Van Blerkom, associate professor, educational psychology, and Dr. Sharon Bertsch, associate professor, psychology

Award for the best journal article for 2006-2007, College Reading and Learning Association

"Study Strategies and Generative Learning: What Works?" Journal of College Reading and Learning, Fall, 2006. It was based on research conducted at Pitt-Johnstown that compared the efficacy of several different study strategies.

Dr. Natalie Conrad, assistant professor, elementary education

Recipient of the Sigma Alpha Pi National Society of Leadership and Success Excellence in Teaching Award.

Dr. Nina Girard, associate professor, mathematics education

Distinguished Service Award, Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics (PCTM).  Presented at the 56th Annual PCTM Conference, the award recognized Dr. Girard for service as the General Conference Chair in the planning and implementation of the 55th Annual PCTM Meeting.  Over 700 math teachers (K-12 and college) attended and participated in more than 150 sessions/workshops and visited with 75 exhibitors.  The service award is presented to the general conference chairperson upon the completion of the annual conference and reports. 

Dr. Girard presented a general session during the conference for middle school math teachers entitled "Using Writing Exercises to Capture the Essence of Mathematics."  The session presented ideas on incorporating writing into the middle school classroom; participants had an opportunity to try sample writing exercises and discussed how utilizing such in the classroom can demonstrate and capture the essence of a student's true mathematical understanding. 

Dr. Girard also participated in the Executive Board meeting of PCTM.

At a day-long workshop, designed by Dr. Girard and other members of PCTM, she presented an in-service workshop to 42 mathematics teachers in grades 3-8 at the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit 16, Lewisburg, Pa., that examined how school mathematics curricula can address the Algebraic Concepts Assessment Anchors at various grade levels, as promoted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education

Dr. Girard has been accepted as a presenter at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Annual Meeting to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah in April, 2008.  Her session entitled, "Becoming More Certain about Conceptual Understanding in Calculus," will be presented and conducted as a gallery workshop to high school and college level mathematics educators. The session will examine how even though calculus concepts are often presented algebraically, when concepts are presented using technological, visual, and hands-on approaches, more meaningful calculus experiences and understandings result.  Conceptual calculus problems from unique multiple perspectives will be explored.

Dr. Donna Kowalczyk, assistant professor, elementary education

Served as the guest speaker for the Cambria Area Reading Council.  The presentation, "Motivating Literacy through Inquiry Science," provided the participants with a hands-on learning experience, instructional resources, and information about incorporating inquiry science and reading instruction at the elementary and middle school levels.

Dr. Andrew Rose, associate professor, civil engineering technology

Recipient of the Pitt-Johnstown President's Award for Teaching Excellence.

Dr. Jerry Samples, director, Engineering Technology; professor, engineering technology

Recipient of the American Society for Engineering Education National Outstanding Teaching Award.

Dr. Alvaro Bernal, assistant professor, Spanish

Published refereed interview Washington Cucurto, Destiempos.com (10) September-October, 2007.

Presentations:

• "Tendencias del cine colombiano contemporáneo; El auge de la sicaresca y el narcorealismo," XXXIII Annual Hispanic Literatures Conference, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
• "Paris narrada por inmigrantes colombianos," Mid-America Conference on Hispanic Literatures, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• "Fútbol en Colombia: cultura popular, regionalismo e imaginarios," XV Congreso de Colombianistas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

Lectures:

Corporación Unificada Nacional de Educacion Superior (CUN), Bogotá, Colombia (July-August 2007) - a three-week interdisciplinary seminar presented for students of graphic design with literary concepts and perspectives of contemporary cultural theory.

Dr. Matthew Burstein, assistant professor, philosophy

Publications:

• "Taking As: Experience & Judgment in the Life of Agents," Philosophical Explorations (Vol. 10, Num. 3, pp. 227-243)
• "Prodigal Epistemology: Coherence, Holism, and the Sellarsian Tradition," The Self-Correcting Enterprise: Essays on Wilfrid Sellars, (edited by M.P. Wolf and M.N. Lance and published by Rodopi Press as a part of the Poznan Studies in Philosophy of the Sciences and Humanities series).
• "The Thanatoria of Soylent Green: On Reconciling the Good Life with the Good Death," forthcoming: Bioethics through Film (edited by S. Shapshay and to be published by Johns Hopkins University Press)

Presented version of "The Thanatoria of Solvent Green" paper, 5^th Annual Hawaii International Arts and Humanities Conference

Dr. Burstein received a Faculty Summer Research Grant to pursue research (based on the work of Michel Foucault and John Dewey) addressing the nature of agents embedded in social institutions; the resulting papers build upon the material in his recent publications.  He was also selected as the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority's inaugural "Professor of the Week"

Dr. Dolores Buttry, assistant professor, French and German

Reviewed Hélène Tétrel's book, La Chanson des Saxons et sa réception norroise: avatars de la matière épique, Speculum.

Presented: "Passing the Horizon of Expectations: Master Wace and his Courtly Audience," section sponsored by International Courtly Literature Society

Notes: Dr. Buttry chaired two sections in medieval literature under the auspices of the Southeast Medieval Association, Annual Conference of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association in Atlanta, Ga.  She has also been named to the Executive Committee of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association.

Dr. Catherine S. Cox, professor, English literature

Presentations:

• "Heeding the Siren's Call: Refigurations of Subjectivity in Dante's Purgatorio," Annual Meeting of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA), Atlanta, Ga.
• "D'var Torah Vayera: The Grammar of Entreaty," Temple Beth Israel, Altoona, Pa.

Alessandra Lynch, assistant professor, English writing

Published "It was a terrible cloud at twilight," second collection of poetry, won the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Award, forthcoming:  Pleiades Press and distributed by Louisiana State University Press, 2008.

Reading:

UPWords Reading Series, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Dr. David Magill, assistant professor, English

Published "Celebrity Culture and Racial Masculinities," forthcoming: collection, Mediated Masculinities, edited by Elwood Watson. 

Kristen Lynn Majocha, instructor, communication

Presentations:

• "Developing Syllabi According to Kenneth Burke: Form Versus Information," 93rd Annual Convention, National Communication Association, Chicago, Ill.
• "The Digital Divide and Spanish Speaking Publics: Why We Should Investigate the Why," 68th Annual Convention, Pennsylvania Communication Association, State College, Pa.

Notes: Ms. Majocha chaired the session: "Faith & Communication Theory in Conversation: Theoretical and Methodological Engagements" and served as co-chair, Religious Communication Association Division of Communication Studies for the 93rd Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, Chicago, Ill.  Ms. Majocha was also renamed the Editorial Assistant for the Pennsylvania Communication Association's Annual, a peer reviewed state journal.

Dr. Michelle Mock, assistant professor, English

Recipient of the Sigma Alpha Pi National Society of Leadership and Success Excellence in Teaching Award and the Phi Eta Sigma Pitt-Johnstown Instructor of the Year Award.

Dr. Barbara Petrosky, assistant professor, French

Published "Le Japon de Pierre Loti: la mise en cadre d'un cliché" Bulletin de l'Association des Amis de Pierre Loti. (Juin 2007)

Reviewed Beaumarchais in Seville by Hugh Thomas. New London: Yale University Press, 2006 for Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association

Presentations:

• "La photographie: un art diabolique pour Pierre Loti," Pennsylvania Foreign Language Conference
• "The secret and the cognitive itinerary in the Chatelaine de Vergy," Medieval literature session, SAMLA Convention, Atlanta, Ga.

Notes:  Dr. Petrosky travelled to Paris to take a class organized by the Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris, European School of Management in order to obtain certification to teach Business French. She also visited Spain and Catalunya to do research and conduct an interview about the "Retirada."  The article has been submitted to Catalan Studies.

Susan Wieczorek, instructor, communication

Presentation:

Seminar workshop, Notre Dame University, for the Tom Dooley Society, an organization for medical alumni of Notre Dame.  The presentation included formal instruction on communication proficiency for the medical community in doctor/patient relations within the medical interview. Joining her was E. Phillips Pollack, MD, Clinical Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery, West Virginia University School of Medicine and private practitioner, Plastic Surgery Inc., Wheeling, W. Va.  Mark Hubbar, former senior vice president of corporate development, Clear Channel Communications and currently, corporate media consultant for senior management conducted a "Physicians in the Media" segment as well.  Role playing with Notre Dame Acting students finished this two day, interactive workshop. 

"Transforming a Basic Public Speaking Course into a Diversity Workshop," "Approaches for the Diversity Centered Classroom Panel."  Examined teaching techniques for a mildly diverse student population that were developed in the Faculty Diversity Seminar.

Notes:  Ms. Wieczorek organized and chaired the "Approaches for the Diversity Centered Classroom Panel," Eastern Communication Association (ECA), Providence, R.I.

"Proxemic Rule Violations in Medicine," "Intersecting Nonverbal Communication Theories: Reviewing Major Contributors across Disciplines Panel," Analyzed Edward T. Hall's contributions in light of the standard medical interview. ECA, Providence, R.I. 

Dr. Sharon Bertsch, associate professor, psychology along with Diane Van Blerkom, assistant professor, education, and Dr. Malcolm Van Blerkom, associate professor, educational psychology

Award for best journal article for 2006-2007, College Reading and Learning Association

"Study Strategies and Generative Learning: What Works?" Journal of College Reading and Learning, Fall, 2006. It was based on research conducted at Pitt-Johnstown that compared the efficacy of several different study strategies.

Dr. Katrin Monecke, visiting assistant professor, geology

Monecke, K., Finger, W., Klarer, D., Kongko, W., McAdoo, B. G., Moore, A. L., & Sudrajat, S.U. (2008).  A 1,000-year sediment record of tsunami recurrence in northern Sumatra.  Nature 455, 1232-1234.

Dr. John Mullennix, professor, psychology and Dr. Steven Stern, professor, psychology

"Positive Prejudice Toward Disabled Persons Using Synthesized Speech: Does the Effect Persist Across Contexts?" Journal of Language and Social Psychology, December. The paper was co-authored by Muriel Dumont, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, and Pitt-Johnstown alumna Lynn Winters.

Dr. John Mullennix, along with co-authors Jerome Branche and Ellen Cohn, University of Pittsburgh, Diversity Across the Curriculum: A Guide for Faculty in Higher Education, 2007, Jossey-Bass Publishing.

Drs. Mullennix and Stern, along with co-authors Olivier Corneille and Johanna Huart, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, "Distortions in the memory of the pitch of speech," Experimental Psychology, 2007.

Dr. Esther Siegfried, assistant professor, biology

Recipient of the Sigma Alpha Pi National Society of Leadership and Success Excellence in Teaching Award.

Dr. Steven Stern, professor, psychology

Presentated "Computer Synthesized Speech and Perceptions of Disabled Users," 4th Annual James J. Bradac Memorial Lecture, Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif.  A review of his longstanding research collaboration with Dr. John Mullennix.

David Willey, instructor, physics

Performances, Demonstration Shows, Workshops:

• Demonstration shows (six) for students, workshops (two) for teachers, and show for general public, Singapore Science Center
• Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Demonstration and workshop for teachers, Starbase Camp, Virginia
• Shows, Boy Scout Camp and local schools

Guest Television Appearances:

• Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• Johannes B. Kerner TV Show, Hamberg, Germany
• Robert Jensen TV Show, Amsterdam, Holland

Dr. Janet Grady, director, Nursing; associate professor, nursing

Publication:

"Report of the 2004-2005 International Telenursing Survey," Computers, Informatics, Nursing. September-October 2007

Recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women Education Award for Educational Creativity, Innovation, and Reform.

James R. Alexander, professor, political science

Publications: 

• “Sentiment and Aesthetics in Victorian Photography: The Child Portraits of C. L. Dodgson,” The Carrollian, the Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society (U.K.), No. 17, pp. 2-67 
• “Roth at Fifty: Reconsidering the Common Law Antecedents of American Obscenity Doctrine,” John Marshall Law Review 41 (2008), pp. 393-433. 
• “Kingsley International Pictures v. Board of Regents,” in Encyclopedia of the First Amendment, ed. D. Hudson and J. Vile, CQ Press 2009.  
   

Neelima Bhatnagar, assistant professor, business management

Presented a paper at the Information Systems Education Conference (ISECON) held in Pittsburgh, PA in November 2007 entitled “A Study of the Inclusion of Programming Languages in an Undergraduate Information Systems Curriculum”.  She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Johnstown Chapter of Association of Information Technology Professionals, as Education Director.
 

Dr. Gregory Fairs, associate professor, geography

Publication:

“Three-Hour and Twenty –Four –Hour Rainstorm Ratios across the Southern United States” (with B. Keim) Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 13 (2008): 101-104

Presentations:

• “Extreme 24-Hour Rainfall Atlases in the United States: 1950 – Present” presented at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Geographical Society, Johnstown, PA, November, 2007
• “An Analysis of 3-Hour and 24-Hour Extreme Rainfall in El Paso, TX” (with B. Keim)  presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers, Charleston, SC, November, 2007
• “Three-Hour and 24-Hour Rainfall Ratios across the Southern United States” (with B. Keim) presented at the annual meeting of The Association of American Geographers, Boston, MA, April, 2008.

He also chaired the Pennsylvania Geographical Society conference organization committee for the 2007 meetings, and continues to serve as Associate Editor of The Pennsylvania Geographer and on the Executive Board of the PGS.

Monica Frolander-Ulf, associate professor, anthropology,

Made a presentation on Integrating Academics into the Service Learning Curriculum at the Amizade Global Service Learning Institute at West Virginia University, October 13, 2007; and attended Latin American Social and Public Policy Conference in Pittsburgh PA on February 15, 2008. She also served as a faculty member in the Amizade Navajo Nation service learning project during the summer of 2008.

Dr. Reinhard Heinisch, professor, political science

Publications:

• "The Rise and Fall of Austrian Identity Populism- A Test Case for CEE Countries?" in Problems of Post-Communism. Forthcoming
• "Structure and Agency Populism in Austria - Its Causes and Repercussions." In Twenty-first Century Populism: The Spectre of Western European Democracy" ed. Daniele Albertazzi, Duncan McDonnell et al. Palgrave (2007).
• “Right-Wing Populism in Austria - A Case for Comparison?” in Problems of Post-Communism. 53, May/June 2008: pp. 20-34.
• “Structure and Agency of Populism in Austria - Its Causes and Repercussions,” in Twenty-first Century Populism: The Spectre of Western European Democracy ed. D. Albertazzi,  D. McDonnell et al. Palgrave 2007
  

 Op-Ed Essays, European Newspapers/Magazines:

• "Angst vor dem Absturz,"[Fear of Falling-The American Middle-Class in the New Economy] Op-ed article Wiener Zeitung August 4, 2007
• "Das Ende Neo-Liberaler Traeume,"[The End of Neoliberal Dreams-Latin America turns to the Populist Left] Akademia, March 2007
• "Verheiratet mit Hillary... ," [Married with Hilary, Dating Obama-The Painful Search for a Frontrunner] Op-ed article Wiener Zeitung May 9, 2007

Presentations

•  “The Politics of Social Policy Reform – The Austrian Experience” presented at the International Studies Conference on ‘Social Policy in the New Europe—The Experiences of the Smaller EU Member States’ in Minneapolis, March 2008.  
• “Sustainable Urban Development and Regional Planning in the EU Context” an the International Conference on Urban Renewal and Policy Planning in Bilbao, Spain, December 2007

Dr. Heinisch was an invited participant at a symposium on “Austrian Science Talks” organized by ASCINA and the Austrian Ministry of Science in Santa Monica CA October 2007; and delivered the keynote address at the 2008 University of Salzburg International Symposium for Comparative European Politics in April 2008. He also serves as director at the Summer University Carinthia in Austria, co-financed by the local chamber of commerce and the city of Villach, which brings together U.S. faculty and students from Eastern and Western Europe as well as the United States; and provides expert political commentary for Austrian television and print media.

Recipient of the Lambda Pi Eta Pitt-Johnstown Instructor of the Year Award.

Dr. Ola Johannsson, assistant professor, geography

Publications:

• “Inter-Urban Competition and Air Transport in the Deregulated Era: The Nashville Case,” Journal of Transport Geography, 15, 2007: pp. 368-379
• “Ten People Can’t Run This City Anymore: Neoliberalism and Governance Change in Nashville Circa 1987-1999,” Southeastern Geographer, 47, 2007: pp. 298-319  

Presentations: 

• “Understanding Pedestrian Behavior in Five Johnstown PA Neighborhoods” (with A. Mulhollen) presented at the Pennsylvania Geographical Society Annual Meeting, Johnstown, PA, November 2007
• “Ethnic Branding in Chicago: Swedish Andersonville” (with M. Cornebise) presented by Cornebise at the National Council for Geographic Education Annual Meeting, Oklahoma City, OK, October 2007
• “Touring Circuits and the Uneven Geography of Rock Music Performance” (with T. Bell) presented at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting, Boston, MA, April 2008
• “Air Emissions from Coal Transportation in the United States since the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990,” The Wisconsin Geographer 2008 
  

Serving as president of the Pennsylvania Geographical Society.

William Kory, associate professor, geography

Editor of The Pennsylvania Geographer (19th year). The last issue- Spring/Summer 2007-focused on "Cultural Geography."

Presentations:

• "Johnstown, Pennsylvania: The Ancestry of the City's Population" Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Geographical Society, Johnstown, Pa.
• “Liberia’s 2008 Population and Housing Census – A Projection” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Liberian Studies Association in Toledo OH, March 2008
• Chaired a panel on Careers in Geography at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Geographical Society in Johnstown, PA, November 2007
• Chaired a panel session at the Midwest Slavic Conference at Ohio State University, Columbus OH, April 2008.

Dr. Mary P. Lavine, associate professor, geography

Is organizing a pilot project on Mapping the Johnstown Flood of 1889, in conjunction with Johnstown Area Heritage Association and local GIS professionals, a project which involves constructing a digital map and database for individual structures in Johnstown pre-and post-flood 1889 from historical data.

Dr. Robert W. Matson, professor, history

Publications: 

• “An Autobiographical Allegory: Franco Zeffirelli’s Tea With Mussolini in Michael Paris, ed., Repicturing the Second World War: Representations in Film and Television, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008: pp. 39-54
• Using Visual Evidence ed. text with R. Howells, McGraw Hill Press, 2008.

Dr. John McGrath, associate professor, marketing

Co-authored (w. R. Vickroy) the 2007 Economic Climate Study, commissioned by the Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Chamber of Commerce.

Serves on the editorial board of the Northeastern Journal of Business, Economics and Technology.

Recipient of the 2008 Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award.

Dr. Paul Newman, professor, history

Published “A Matter of Consequence and Interest to all’: Seventy-Five Years of Pennsylvania History, in Pennsylvania History 75, 2008: pp. 307-345 

Serves as the editor of Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies and on the editorial board of H-Pennsylvania. 

Recipient of the History Channel's "Save Our History" Teacher of the Year Award.

Doug Reed, visiting assistant professor, management

Presented “Games People Play” and “Games People Play 2”  at the annual conferences of the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (OBTS) at Pepperdine University, June 2007 and Babson College, Boston, June 2008.

Authored two chapters in Bruce Colbert's (Pitt-Johnstown), College Study Skills…Teamwork and Leadership, Prentice Hall, 2008.

Recipient of the Society of Success and Leadership Award.

Katherine Reist, associate professor, history 

Presentations:

• “Training a Reluctant Ally: the U.S. Naval Advisory Mission to China, 1945-1949” presented at the 2007 Naval History Symposium, Annapolis MD in September 2007
• “After the War: the American Military Mission to China, 1945-1949” presented at the annual international meeting of the Society for Military History at Ogden UT in April 2008
  

Janice Rummell, visiting assistant professor, accounting

Convened a concurrent session and made a presentation on “Using Business Scenarios to Help Students Structure Their Oral Presentations” at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) National Colloquium on Change in Accounting Education in Scottsdale, AZ , October 2007. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Johnstown chapter of the IMA and has been appointed as the chapter representative to the IMA Mountain States (Regional) Council.

Ron Vickroy, associate professor, management

Co-authored (with J. McGrath) the 2007 Economic Climate Study, commissioned by the Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Chamber of Commerce

Serves as a Director of the Memorial Medical Center and as Vice Chairman of Conemaugh Health Initiatives.

Recipient of the Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award.

Veronica Wilson, assistant professor, history

Publications: 

• “An Ordinary Wife and Mother, or the ‘Red Spider Woman’? Ethel Rosenberg and Communist Motherhood as National Allegory,” in (M)othering the Nation: Constructing and Resisting Regional and National Allegories Through the Maternal Body, Lisa Bernstein and Pamela Monaco, eds., Cambridge University Press 2009
• “Reconstruction and the Women’s Rights Movement,” in Brian Johnson, ed., Conflicts in American History: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1850s -1877 Brucolli Clark Laymon/Manly Press, 2008-09

Presentations:

•  “An Ordinary Wife and Mother, or the ‘Red Spider Woman’? Ethel Rosenberg and Communist Motherhood as National Allegory,” presented at the Missouri Valley History Conference in Omaha NE, March 2008
• “ ‘To Tell All My People’: Race, Representation, and John Birch Activist Julia Brown,” presented at the Berkshire Conference on Women’s History, Minneapolis, June 2008
• “The “Woman with a Past”: Anticommunism, Gender Politics, and the Lives of Former Communist Spy Hede Massing,” presented at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) annual conference, Columbus OH, June 2008
  

Ray Wrabley, associate professor, political science

Publications: 

• “Cowboy Capitalism or Welfare Ranching: The Public Lands Grazing Policies of the Bush Administration” in Public Land & Resources Law Review 29 (2008): 85-122
• “Managing the Monument: Cows and Conservation in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument” Journal of Land, Resources, and Environmental Law 29, 2009 

Stanley Yerep, assistant professor, accounting

Presented “Enhancing and Improving Student Learning in Accounting Courses with Computerized Accounting Simulations” (with D. Zakrzwski) at the Northeastern Association of Business, Economics & Technology conference, State College, October 2007.