Virginia Wesleyan College

In this issue :

 

Myth, music and Methodism explored in fall lectures

Appalachian music, John Wesley and the ancient mythology of werewolves and "shape shifters" were subjects of guest lecturers during the fall semester at Virginia Wesleyan College.

Assistant Professor of History Dan Margolies, Ph.D., the VWC History Department and Virginia Beach Public Schools welcomed country music authority Bill C. Malone, Ph.D., for a discussion and musical sampling about the varieties of Appalachian music. The program was sponsored by the Teaching American History Grant Speakers Program.

After playing some selections of music from Appalachia, Malone surprised the crowd by saying that there is no such thing as Appalachian music. "There is, however, a great variety of music performed by Appalachian-born people."

Malone recently retired from Tulane University and now hosts a radio show in Madison, Wisconsin. He is the author of Country Music, U.S.A., (first published in1968); Southern Music/American Music; Singing Cowboys and Musical Mountaineers: Southern Culture and the Roots of Country Music and numerous encyclopedia and journal articles. His most recent book, Don't Get above Your Raisin' examines the relationship between the working class culture and "America's truest music."

Assistant Professor of Classics Lynn Sawlivich, Ph.D, also welcomed his former student-turned-professor for a special program about "shape shifting," or ancient mythological creatures that change form.

Debbie Felton, Ph.D., spoke about
shapeshifters and werewolves

Debbie Felton, Ph.D., associate professor of classics and undergraduate program director for the Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says she's always been interested in ghost stories and the supernatural and found her niche in graduate school when studying the Greeks and Romans.

Just in time for Halloween, Felton discussed the concept of werewolves and the need for humans to act out their animal nature, whether for hunting or exploration of anger. She also told stories about the mythical gods' use of shape shifting as punishment or as a tool in whatever plan they had devised.

In addition to numerous articles about folklore in ancient Greece and Rome, Felton has published Haunted Greece and Rome: Ghost Stories from Classical Antiquity (1999) and Things That Went Bump in the Night: An Anthology of Strange Stories from Greece and Rome, forthcoming in 2004.

Richard Heitzenrater, Ph.D.,
spoke about John Wesley at Fall
Convocation.Richard Heitzenrater, Ph.D., the William Kellon Quick Professor of Church History and Wesley Studies at Duke Divinity School, was the speaker at Fall Convocation. Heitzenrater spoke to faculty, staff and students on "Who is John Wesley?" in celebration of the 300th anniversary of Wesley's birth.

In his talk, he showed numerous drawings and pictures of Wesley that varied greatly in detail, resulting in much confusion among experts about Wesley's appearance.

Students overwhelm audiences with Anything Goes

Students tap-danced and sang to the tunes of Cole Porter during Wesleyan's fall production of his musical masterpiece Anything Goes.

The eight performances featured a cast of more than 20 students, and at one point boasted 18 cast members tap dancing together on stage, many of whom had never danced before landing a role in the play.

Adult Studies students present art exhibit

Students from the Adult Studies Program had the chance to push their boundaries and enter the realm of art with the "Save a Tree: Synthetic Paper Exhibition" at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia in Virginia Beach.

Students from two art classes created unique mixed media works using synthetic paper made from recycled plastics and other materials donated by Yupo Corporation in Chesapeake.

The exhibit integrated experimental methods with new fine art materials. For many of the students, some bankers and insurance agents by day, the art courses challenged their creativity.

New lab honors Dr. Jefferson Harris

For 25 years, Betty Jefferson Harris, Ph.D., could always be found teaching in her white lab coat. The professor emeritus of biology and chemistry may have retired from Virginia Wesleyan in 2000, but her name lives on in the college's new Cellular and Molecular Biology Lab in Blocker Hall, which was dedicated in her honor during Homecoming in October.

Betty Jefferson Harris, Ph.D., receives
congratulations from VWC Trustee
Susan Torma '72.

The new lab will enable the college to offer additional courses that enroll more students. Jefferson Harris says a new lab has been needed for some time.

"We used to have two small labs, and I had been talking for 20 years about creating a larger lab," Jefferson Harris says. "I very much appreciate that they've named the new lab in my honor. I'm very humbled by it."

She came to Wesleyan in 1975. During her teaching career, Jefferson Harris taught biology, chemistry, cell biology, microbiology, biochemistry and bioethics. She was the Wesleyan faculty's first two-time recipient of the prestigious Samuel Nelson Grey teaching award. She served as chairman of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division from 1989 until her retirement.

In addition to the lab, Blocker Science Auditorium has also undergone some important improvements, including new lighting and a high-tech projection system.

Faculty members receive honors, noted for accomplishments

Rita Frank, Ph.D., professor of psychology, was honored recently by her peers in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (Division 2 of the American Psychological Association) after having the syllabus for her lab course, Descriptive Methods of Psychological Science (Psychology 280), accepted by Project Syllabus.

To qualify for this recognition, members of the society must believe that the syllabus makes a significant contribution to the teaching of psychological research and should be made available to a national audience. Frank's syllabus will be posted on the Project Syllabus and Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology web sites for the next four years and will be made available in print form upon request.

At a fall awards ceremony for the Virginia Recreation and Park Society, Doug Kennedy, Ph.D., professor and coordinator of recreation and leisure studies, received the Fellow Award. It is the premiere award given by Virginia Recreation and Park Society in recognition of an individual who has demonstrated consistent and outstanding commitment to the profession and the society.

Also at this ceremony, the Jane P. Batten Student Center was named the Best New Facility Renovation/Addition in its category.

Of the 135 applicants across the country, Craig Wansink, Ph.D., professor of religious studies, was one of 12 academicians selected to participate in a three-week seminar in January on "Teaching Islam and Middle Eastern Culture" at the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan.

The scholars worked in seminars, conducted research at ACOR and met with scholars in the Middle East. The program was sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, with support from the U.S. Department of State.

Through associations with Harvard University's Pluralism Project and the American Council of Learned Societies, Wansink has researched both Islam in Hampton Roads and Muslim evangelism in American prisons. During the last two years, he has given more than 50 lectures in the community on Islam, regularly speaking at churches, schools and at the Armed Forces Staff College.

Catharine Cookson, Ph.D., director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan College, spoke at a conference on religious freedom on Oct. 9 hosted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Parliamentary Assembly.

Held in Rome, the conference was the First Parliamentary Forum on the Mediterranean and included a special address by, and audience with, Pope John Paul VI at the Vatican.

Cookson's talk, "Religious Tolerance in Pluralistic Societies," examined religious freedom by highlighting a number of significant relationships. She noted that at the heart of every religious freedom issue lies the problem of civil order.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly gathers 317 members from national parliaments in 55 participating nations. The assembly's main objective is to meet the challenges of democracy by facilitating inter-parliamentary dialogue.

Birdsong 204 has a new purpose! Formerly a faculty office, it is now the home of The Journal of American Culture.

Edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson, Ph.D., professor of communications, and William M. Jones, Ph.D., professor of political science, the journal is the official publication of the American Culture Association.

The quarterly journal showcases articles on diverse aspects of American culture, including literature, history, politics, mass media, society, material culture, folklore and popular culture.

Founded by Ray B. Browne at Bowling Green State University in 1978, it is the first journal to be edited at the college.

Governor appoints associate athletic director to authority

Governor Mark R. Warner announced a series of appointments to various boards and commissions in September, including Wesleyan's own Joanne M. Renn, who was named to the Hampton Roads Sports Facility Authority.

Renn is a retired women's basketball coach and serves as associate athletic director and coordinator of the Marlin Athletic Club.

New classics professor joins faculty

This fall Wesleyan welcomed a new full-time faculty member, Lynn Sawlivich, Ph.D., assistant professor of classics.

Sawlivich hails from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and has taught at Sweet Briar College in Virginia and Wooster College in Ohio.

In addition to his regular course schedule, Sawlivich plans to host a variety of lectures on topics relating to classical studies, the first of which was held in October, and other events involving area high school Latin programs.

Student radio station hits the airwaves

Good things come to those who wait... Thanks to the hard work of Stuart Minnis, Ph.D., assistant professor of communications and station manager Dori Broomell '04, the wait for a college radio station is over.

VWAW, Wesleyan's radio station, broadcasted live from the Jane P. Batten Student Center for the first time in the fall. With a handful of dedicated deejays, the station presents a variety of programming and provides students with hands-on broadcasting experience.

Testing Center opens

Tests came early this year, not necessarily in the classroom, but in the new Test Center that opened in September at Virginia Wesleyan. The new center offers an expanding selection of standardized tests and convenient hours.

"We're the test givers and we're getting busier," said Jane Kiefer, test center manager. "The first month was rather slow, but the second month was five times busier."

Located in Pruden Hall, the Test Center has 13 stations, offering all computer-based testing. Tests include the GMAT, GRE and Praxis 1, as well as the NBPTS - National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, NAPLEX - National Association of Pharmacy Licensing Exam, and MPJE - the Multi-State Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam.

The Test Center is a regional facility, open to the public. "And, it's really nice having it available on the Wesleyan campus for our students and alumni," Kiefer said.

Although open on a limited schedule, "as people become more aware of us, we'll be offering more sessions," Kiefer said.

Internships place students at exciting posts

Sherri Shumate '04 interned during the fall semester in the Recreational Therapy Section, a consult service for patients and families at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.

She worked primarily with patients on research protocols dealing with allergies and infectious disease, arthritis and muscular skeletal disorders and cancer. In addition, she participated in a drug-versus-placebo protocol to evaluate the effectiveness of a new weight loss drug in obese adolescents and worked with the NIH Pain Team, which employs an interdisciplinary approach to physical and psychosocial pain management.

Throughout her internship, Shumate was also hard at work on an independent research project that involved a systematic review of the Recreational Therapy Section Outcome projects from 1993-2003.

Shumate graduated summa cum laude in December and plans to pursue a master's of education at the University of Virginia. Eventually, she says, she would like to teach recreational therapy at a college or university.

Leah Porter, '04, a health and human services major, has been accepted for her spring semester internship to work with a special project of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia called Building Holy Fellowship: Community in Action.

The project is a two-year community building process funded by a grant from Trinity Church, Wall Street, to benefit the more than 33,000 members and 123 congregations of the Diocese. Participants will share what they do well with the community, co-create an image of the future and participate in making it a reality.

Leah will assist Coordinating Consultant Mimi Delcuze with documentation, research and meeting facilitation. Although she officially begins her internship in January, Leah attended the Appreciative Inquiry Foundations training in Toronto, Canada, Nov. 10-14. n

Wesleyan joins other area colleges and universities to build Habitat House

More than 80 people attended the Oct. 5 groundbreaking ceremony for a Habitat for Humanity house to be built by area college and university students in Norfolk.

Sarah McMurtrie '05, a junior from Auburn, AL, is a site supervisor on the project. Mary Douglas, a junior from Virginia Beach, is the public relations chair for the build and president of the Virginia Wesleyan Habitat for Humanity Chapter.

Virginia Wesleyan joins Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University and Tidewater Community College as partners in the Higher Education Build. Together they represent more than 60,000 students in South Hampton Roads.

The house is the first joint effort of colleges and universities for the South Hampton Roads affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. It is the third house built by the Virginia Wesleyan College Chapter of Habitat for Humanity since 1998. The college has the only chartered chapter of Habitat in the region.