Faculty Notes, Nov. 11, 2013

Mark Axelrod, Ph.D., professor, Department of English, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, wrote a chapter titled “Kindle, Kindle Burning Bright: Poetics of fiction on the 21st Century” for the essay anthology The Next Thing: Art in the Twenty-First Century, published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Jennifer Funk, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, recently published a paper entitled “Leaf traits within communities: Context may affect the mapping of traits to function” in the journal Ecology. The paper may be read online at www.esajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1890/12-1602.1

Donald Guy, assistant professor, Department of Theatre, College of Performing Arts, and head of Entertainment Technology, recently served as the lighting designer and stage manager for the Festival Ballet Theatre’s production of The Firebird by choreographer Nikolai Kabaniaev and the World Premiere of Texture in Time by choreographer Josie Walsh at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Texture in Time was a technical collaboration between lighting, projections, music, sculpture, and special effects. The special effects for the production were designed by Academy Award winner Jim Doyle. Guy hired current Chapman Technical Theatre students Taylor Maurer ’16 and Nikolai Eiteneer ’15 to during the production.

Wenshan Jia, Ph.D., professor, Department of Communication Studies, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, gave a talk titled “Global Justice Communication as a Growing Force of New Media-Driven Globalization and Denationalization” during the Second International Scholarly Camp for Graduate Students and Junior Scholars of Communication and Media sponsored by the Fudan-Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Fudan International Center for Research and Department of Sociology, Loughborough University, United Kingdom, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, in July.

In addition, Jia delivered a lecture titled “Interethnic Competence as an Instrument for a Solid State-Society Relation in China”presented at the State-Society Relations in the New Era: Lessons for and from China,  a political science conference, sponsored by Fudan University Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences, Shanghai, China, in June. Also in June Jia presented “The eight schools of intercultural studies around the world” at the 8^th Biennial International Academy for Intercultural Research Conference in Reno, Calif.

William Kroyer, professor, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, and director of the Digital Arts Program, moderated a panel discussion at the annual summit of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Visual Effects Society. Much of the discussion centered on the potential for the creation of a new Oscar category that would recognize visual imaging. Coverage of the discussion can be read in the online edition of The Hollywood Reporter.

Ramesh P. Singh, Ph.D., professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, was invited to attend the Third International Workshop on Diagnosis of Environmental Health by Remote Sensing, DEHRS, 2013 and The 10th Anniversary of the Founding of the Centre for Applications of Spatial Information Technologies in Public Health held in Shenzhen, China in September. He gave an invited talk titled “Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Pollution and Its Impact on Health” and also chaired a scientific session for young researchers.”

John Benitz, associate professor, College of Performing Art, Department of Theatre, will direct a multimedia, readers theatre performance of If All the Sky Were Paper at The WAMC Auditorium in Albany, N.Y., Saturday, Nov. 16. Special guest will be Andrew Carroll, performing the part of the narrator, accompanied by five local professional actors. This performance was made possible by the generosity of the Department of Theatre, The College of Performing Arts, Chapman University and The National Endowment for the Arts.

In addition, Benitz will direct the play, Lines of Fire, also written by Carroll, at Union College in January.