Faculty Notes, Dec. 14, 2012

Please send submissions for Faculty Notes to pr@chapman.edu.

Jennifer Funk, Ph.D., assistant professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, traveled to Santiago, Chile to conduct research funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.  The research project examines the physiological and morphological differences between native and exotic plant species from the five Mediterranean-climate regions: California, Chile, Australia, South Africa, and the Mediterranean Basin.  The goal of the project is to find a standard protocol to eliminate exotic species and restore native plant communities in all five regions.  California poppy is an abundant weed in Chile and was one of the focal species on the trip.

Susan Gabel, Ph.D., professor and the new director of the Ph.D. in Education and internationally known for her work in disability studies, has received a Fulbright Specialist grant to visit the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, in late May and early June of 2013. Her project will include guest lecturing, collaborating with Canterbury’s faculty and students on policy and inclusive education as well as delivering the keynote speech at the 12th annual Disability Studies in Education international conference.

Donald Guy, assistant professor, Department of Theatre, College of Performing Arts, is serving as the Production Coordinator/Technical Director for the Festival Ballet Theatre production of The Nutcracker, running at the Irvine Barclay Theatre from Dec. 14-24. This production will feature American Ballet Theatre stars Irina Dvorovenko, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Stella Abrera and Sascha Radetsky. He has also been commissioned by BRAVA to design the lighting for choreographer David Allan’s The Nutcracker at Landis Auditorium in Riverside on Dec. 15-16. This production will feature Clara Blanco and Pierre-François Vilanoba from San Francisco Ballet. For both Nutcracker productions, Guy employed two current Chapman students, Michael Lee ’13 and Steven Bravek ’13, to serve as his assistants and gain valuable experience working on professional productions. After finals are complete, he will travel to Mt. Pleasant, Mich. to design the lighting for Carnival of Wonders at the Soaring Eagle Casino. This production will star multi-award winning magicians Mark Kalin, Jinger Leigh and Jeff Hobson. Finally, to ring in the New Year, he will travel to New York to design Magical Passion at Turning Stone Casino. This production will star multi-award winning illusionists Ayala and Tanya.

Michael Hass, Ph.D., professor, College of Educational Studies, has been recognized as an official candidate to become a Fulbright Specialist. Dr. Hass will use the award to continue his work in school psychology in Vietnam.

Micol Hebron, assistant professor, Department of Art, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, gave a public lecture at Art Basel Miami (the biggest contemporary art fair in the country) in Miami Florida at the O Cinema, on Dec. 8, 2013. Her lecture was the first public presentation of research she has been conducting on the affect of “Cuteness.” The lecture is titled “What “cute” can do for you (and what it can’t): A lecture on the functionality of cute.”

Wenshan Jia, Ph. D., Department of Communication Studies, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, delivered a keynote presentation titled “The Third Voice in the Debates on China’s Ethnic Policy Models” at the Fourth Forum on Communication and Social Development in China’s Ethnic Minorities Regions (11/23-11/26, 2012) held in Nanning, Guangxi Autonomous Region, Southwest China on 11/24, 2012.  The forum was jointly sponsored by School of Journalism & Communication Renmin University of China, Beijing, China and School of Journalism & Communication, Guangxi University located in Nanning, Guangxi, Southwest China.

On the afternoon of 11/27, 2012, Jia made a guest presentation titled ” Intercultural Competence in the Context of Globalization” for a 200-member audience of faculty and graduate students of College of International Studies, Guangxi University (http://news.gxu.edu.cn/xykx/2012-11-28/29411.html).

Dale Merrill, dean of the College of Performing Arts, served on a panel of judges for the 15th Annual Choreography Festival in Palm Desert.  The panel included legendary dancers Donald McKayle, Jodie Gates and Larry Billman and pioneering talent agent Julie McDonald.  The festival highlights new and exciting choreography, offers cash prizes to up-and-coming choreographers from around the country, and brings the experience of dance to the young people of the Coachella Valley.

Timothy Shields, Ph.D., assistant professor, George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics, Economic Science Institute, has had two papers accepted for publication:

• “Do Liars Believe?” Co-Author: Roman Sheremeta, forthcoming at Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
• “Transparency, Efficiency and the Distribution of Economic Welfare in Pass-Through Investment Trust Games” Co-Authors: Thomas Rietz, Vernon Smith and Roman Sheremeta, forthcoming at Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

In addition, Shields made several presentations this semester, including:

• Presented research aimed at measuring issues of adverse selection (sorting) and moral hazard (incentives) when performance-based compensation is viewed by the market at the American Accounting Association annual meeting in Washington DC, Aug. 6.

• Presented work Oct. 16 at New Developments in Signaling and Game Theory Conference held at the congress centre of ETH Zurich “Centro Stefano Franscini” situated at Monte Verità.

• Gave an invited seminar Nov. 2 at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.

• Presented work upon the effect of uniform accounting standards at the 2012 North-American Annual ESA Conference, Tucson, on Nov. 14.

Ramesh P. Singh, Ph.D., Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences attended 11th Biennial Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference PORSEC – 2012 held during November 5-9, 2012, Kochi, India and presented a research paper titled, “Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling Associated with Dust Events”. He convened a session on Early Warning of Tsunami together with Dr. Tony Song, JPL, CA. Dr. Singh is member of the Science Organizing Committee of the PORSEC and attended Scientific Organization Committee meeting, the next 12th Biennial PORSEC will be held in Bali, Indonesia during 4-7 November 2014.

Jennifer Waldeck, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Communication Studies, has been appointed to the Educational Policies Board (EPB) of the National Communication Association.  The EPB is a leadership body that encourages, endorses, and engages in projects related to the improvement of instruction in communication at all levels. It also coordinates other National Communication Association (NCA) educational and instructional development activities. Waldeck also completed her term as Chair of the Instructional Development Division of NCA at the recent Orlando conference, where she also delivered two presentations related to her ongoing instructional and business communication research program:  “Student Engagement Through the Use of Digital Media:  A Review and Propositions” and “Research In Practice:  Power in the Classroom and Behavior Alteration Techniques.”