Although a small number of the many accomplishments and activities on the part of faculty and other members of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Indiana University South Bend are listed below, the listings obviously are not intended to be complete, but rather to provide examples of the wide range and breadth of efforts by college members. A more detailed listing of highlighted activities can be found in the College's Accomplishments, Activities, Accolades documents that appear at the end of each regular semester (and are posted online for Spring 2008, Fall and Spring 2007 as well as Fall and Spring 2006). The greatest detail and most complete listing of faculty activities are found in the College Annual Report documents compiled at the end of each calendar year (and posted online).

Another indication of faculty activities and accomplishments may be found in the involvement of undergraduates in research by the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at IU South Bend. Students are actively engaged in their own research as well as that of the College faculty. A report of the numerous undergraduate student presentations and publications mentored by College faculty are posted for the year 2007.

Spotlight

Spring 2008

Awards and Recognition

Three CLAS faculty members have received 2008 all-university awards.

Karakatsanis (photo courtesy IU Home Pages)

Neovi Karakatsanis, Associate Professor of Political Science, received a 2008 IU President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. The all-university teaching award was made as part of the Founders Day ceremonies in Bloomington on March 30th. The IU HomePages story may be found here.

Torstrick, Bender (photos courtesy IU Home Pages)

Rebecca Torstrick, Associate Professor of Sociology & Anthropology, and Eileen Bender, Professor of English, received W. George Pinnell Awards for Outstanding Service. Their awards were also made as part of the March 30th Founders Day ceremonies on the Bloomington campus. The IU HomePages stories may be found here for Rebecca and here for Eileen.

Froysland

Hayley Froysland, Assistant Professor of History, was named the 2008 recipient of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Outstanding Advisor Award. The award recognizes Hayley's exceptional contributions to student advising in the College. The award was presented at the 2008 College Honors Convocation on May 1st.

Wolfer (photo courtesy IU Home Pages)

James Wolfer, Associate Professor of Computer Science, has received awards and recognition for his work and contributions. First, Jim received an award for his efforts from the International Conference on Engineering and Technology Education in March. As worded on the plaque, the award was made to Jim "...who has in the highest measure, contributed to brightening the flame of excellence in Engineering and Technology Education." The award recognized Jim's work in several areas, including his technical work in medicine and remote sensing. Secondly, Jim was selected to serve on the technical committee for the SuperComputer08 conference, the premier supercomputing conference worldwide. Finally, Jim has been approved for membership in the Radiological Society of America.

FACET: Recognition of Teaching Excellence

Feighery, Talcott

Two IU South Bend CLAS faculty members have been elected to the all-IU FACET (Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching). William Feighery (Associate Professor and Chair of Chemistry) and Laura Talcott (Lecturer in Psychology) and will be inducted into the FACET Academy in May in French Lick, IN.

Note: See also Scholarship below for the IU South Bend Distinguished Research Award.

Grants

Grants have recently been awarded to faculty members of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

VanderVeen, Zwicker

IU New Frontiers Grants have been received by two faculty members. Lesley Walker, Chair of the Department of World Language Studies and Associate Professor of French, received $18,600 for her project "New Paradigms in French Revolutionary Studies: A Franco-American Colloquium." Jay VanderVeen, Assistant Professor of Anthropology (Sociology & Anthropology), received a $48,645 grant to support his project "Pre-Columbian Pottery and the Construction of Social Meaning." In addition to the New Frontiers Grant, Dr. VanderVeen also received a $2,500 New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities Exploration Traveling Fellowship Grant to support a research trip and conference presentation in Sienna, Italy on the topic of Archaeometry.

Lisa Zwicker, Assistant Professor of History, received a $1,850 New Frontiers Exploration Traveling Fellowship Grant to do archival work in Germany for a project "Academic Honor and the Movement to Ban Pistol Dueling Within German Student Life, 1902-1903."

Isabel O'Connor, Associate Professor and Chair of History, received two travel-related grants. They were a $2,500 Arts & Humanities Traveling Fellowship and $600 from the Overseas Conference Fund.

Scholarship

Levine (photo courtesy IU Home Pages)

Ilan Levine (Physics and Astronomy; along with an IUSB undergrad Edward Behnke) were among the authors of a paper that appeared in the prestigious professional journal Science on February 15. The article, “Spin-Dependent WIMP Limits from a Bubble Chamber,” describes dark-matter research done as part of the COUPP Collaboration with IU South Bend, University of Chicago and the Fermi Laboratories. A story about Dr. Levine's work appears in the IU Home Pages (link).

Full citation: E. Behnke, J. I. Collar, P. S. Cooper, K. Crum, M. Crisler, M. Hu, I. Levine, D. Nakazawa, H. Nguyen, B. Odom, E. Ramberg, J. Rasmussen, N. Riley, A. Sonnenschein, M. Szydagis, & R. Tschirhart. Spin-Dependent WIMP Limits from a Bubble Chamber. Science, Vol. 319, 15 February 2008, pp. 933-936. URL: www.sciencemag.org.

In addition to this scholarly work, it was also announced in April that Dr. Ilan Levine was the 2008 recipient of the IU South Bend Distinguished Research Award. Dr. Levine will make a public presentation about his work during the next academic year as part of the award process. Congratulations, Ilan!

Walker

Lesley Walker, Associate Professor of French and Chair of the Department of World Language Studies, is the author of the book A Mother's Love: Crafting Feminine Virtue in Enlightenment France, published by Bucknell University Press and advertised at http://www.bucknell.edu/script/upress/book.asp?id=330.

Wolfson Press Established, First Books

The Wolfson Press, named for long-time Chancellor Lester Wolfson, was established last year and its first two books have become available. One of the books is a biography of Kurt Simon, a local philanthropist and businessman. The biography was written by IU South Bend Emeritus Professor of English Gabrielle Robinson (Kurt Simon: Businessman and Benefactor). The other book is a selected collection of 60 of the essays from the WVPE-FM public radio station's "Michiana Chronicles" series of radio essays primarily by IU South Bend CLAS faculty members (And Now, Michiana Chronicles: Selected Radio Essays). The release of these books was covered by the South Bend Tribune in an article on March 30.

Undergraduate Research Journal

After a period of inactivity, the 2008 (Volume 8) issue of the IU South Bend Undergraduate Research Journal was published. The volume was edited by Britnie Foutch, a Biology major, and Peter Bushnell, Chair and Professor of Biological Sciences served as the faculty advisor. There were 10 papers in the volume, all resulting from students mentored by faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Media Attention

As noted in the Spring 2008 edition of Accomplishments, Activities, and Accolades, Peter Bushnell, Chair and Professor of Biological Sciences, was part of a study of a shark repellent method. The original story in Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Science Spotlight, has also received attention in numerous media sources, including Science Daily, National Geographic news, China's People's Daily Online, a podcast on "60-Second Science" at the Scientific American website, and LiveScience.com's coverage ran at MSNBC. Dr. Bushnell is pictured in the original article (see photo below from the article) catching a sandbar shark for the research.

Bushnell (photo courtesy Science Spotlight)

Scott Sernau, Professor of Sociology & Anthropology and Director of International Programs, was featured in the Spring 2008 issue of IU International. The feature discussed recent feedback in a public forum from IU South Bend students on their extremely positive experiences doing study abroad. The feature appears on page 18 of the IU publication.

Selected College Activities

Honors and Awards List

Department Annual Reports

Accomplishments, Activities, Accolades documents: Spring 2006 | Fall 2006 | Spring 2007 | Fall 2007 | Spring 2008

Faculty News for other calendar years 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004