Our Stories
Material Lab Needed to Aid Archaeology Research
The working conditions were hot, rough and sometimes painful. Jeanette Repczynski loved every minute of it. She and three other students spent a month in the Dominican Republic working on a collaborative research with James M. VanderVeen, assistant professor of sociology
and anthropology.
They, along with students and faculty members from IU Bloomington, worked at the Bahia Isabela Archaeological Project (BIAP).
The fieldwork is only part of the lesson. VanderVeen is hoping to fund a material culture laboratory in Wiekamp Hall that will combine research equipment with teaching space. The work done in a lab “is the work most folks don’t tend to associate with archaeology,” VanderVeen said.
In addition to analysis of international fieldwork, VanderVeen said the faculty would be able to assist museums and local historical societies with investigations.
Before the analysis could begin, the students had to dig into the job. Repczynski is a senior from South Bend. “It was an experience of a lifetime. It was a chance to see history in a new light.”
Darryl Ricketts, a senior from Mishawaka, also participated in the expedition. He said he was fortunate to have the opportunity to experience some of the remarkable work that is being done by IU outside the U.S.
This is the second year that VanderVeen and his students were excavating the area near La Isabela, the first European town in the New World. The project focused on studying the interaction between the European settlers of the Columbus era and the indigenous people, the Tainos.
A year ago, the crew excavated near a village to find evidence of broken pottery that would show interaction between the Tainos and the Europeans. This year, the students and professor moved the site to a low flood plain. VanderVeen described it as sandy with scrub trees and mangroves.
Vanderveen said there was mixed success. “We found only a scattering of pieces. But we had a new research question and funding that allowed us to study the materials collected in the previous field season.”
They transported 30 fragments of pottery and 50 grams of shell for analysis. After analysis here, the pottery will be sent to a nuclear laboratory and the shell will be carbon dated.
“Work in the field is brief and intense. The lab works is more involved and slower,” VanderVeen said. It takes “two to 10 times as long cleaning, sorting, identifying and analyzing the artifacts as we did finding them,”
he said.
The Power of Prayer
Kevin Ladd considers himself a social psychologist. But he is more than that. He
is one of the leading researchers of prayer in the country and, possibly, the world.
Ladd and his team of student researchers have put IU South Bend on the center stage in the study of how people pray. With the help of a three-year, $735,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation, Ladd and 12 IU South Bend students are combining science and faith in an effort to understand prayer.
Ladd is a former pastor, as was his father. He earned a Master of Divinity from Princeton University but while there he became drawn to the discipline of psychology. He decided his talents could best be used in studying the psychology of religion. He earned a doctorate degree in psychology at the University of Denver where he found his path to the study of prayer and met his wife. Ladd came to IU South Bend in 2001 and has now secured one of the largest research grants in the university’s history. The funding allowed Ladd to hire undergraduate research assistants who are heavily involved in all aspects of the research. They are working with more than 800 individuals from more than 25 churches in the South Bend area. The research consists of personal interviews, surveys, labyrinths, life-sized mannequins, and photography, all trying to gather descriptions of how people engage in their faith through prayer.
“More than 90 percent of Americans say they engage in prayer,” said Ladd. “But there is not a lot of research about prayer.” He makes it clear that the purpose of his research is not to answer the question of whether prayer works. “That is not the goal,” Ladd said. “We are describing the practice of prayer.” He also wants the research to be used by other scholars to continue the study of faith, religion and prayer. However, Ladd gets the most satisfaction from watching his students learn and grow. “They are the next generation of researchers.”
Student Briana Becker proves his point. “Before I became involved in this project I had very little experience or interest in research. Being a part of this has sparked my interest not only in this research but in other projects I may undertake in the future.”
For Melissa Lentine the academic experience has impacted her personally. “I was surprised that nearly every participant has shared a moment stemming from prayer that not only changed or affected them but has affected and continues to affect me,” she said.
And Ladd has learned from his own research. He says he prays differently now. “I don’t stay in the same box I used to be in.”
Young Philanthropists Make a Difference
For Lindsey Turner, IU South Bend class of 2008, philanthropy is not an obligation or a duty; it is a joy to give back. “I really found myself here at IU South Bend – it became a second home to me.” She and her husband David are making a generous gift to establish the Turner Instructional Media Fund. The fund is designated for the purchase of a commercial television camera and related equipment. The Turner gift is intended to support and enhance the experience of students studying mass communications by providing state-of-the-art electronic camera and recording equipment.
Lindsey Turner graduated from high school in Berwyn, Pa., in 2001. Her future husband, David, was accepted by University of Notre Dame two years later and she moved with him to Indiana. In what she describes as a stroke of luck, she took a part-time job as a cheerleading coach at IU South Bend. She fell in love with the people and the campus. “It was like coming home,” she says. “Everyone was so good to me, so helpful.”
Lindsey chose mass communications as her major and spent the next four years working towards
a degree, with a concentration in electronic media and a minor in psychology. As a Notre Dame architecture student, David pursued internships in distant cities and Lindsey traveled with him.
While spending his junior year together in Italy, Lindsey was able to continue her studies with IU South Bend via the Internet. “My department at IU South Bend was so supportive of me in every way, from transfer of previous credits to traveling with my husband.”
Lindsey and David received their degrees in the spring of 2008. This was no small feat as Lindsey gave birth to their son Chase in February of this year. David had a job waiting for him in Pennsylvania and the Turners moved east after graduation.
“To say that I am grateful for my years at IU South Bend would be an understatement. Faculty and fellow students alike helped me grow as a person and gave me the support that helped me to succeed. David and I feel fortunate to be able to give back.”
The Turner gift equipment will be housed in the Franklin D. Schurz Library. Plans call for a renovation of the east side of the first floor of the library. The newly designed “Media Commons” has just been approved by university officials and will be dedicated to media services and technology. Fundraising for the entire project is now underway.
