Faculty Accomplishments

Bruce Bennett, Professor of English, gave a reading on October 28th of his poetry for the Watkins Glen Writers Group at the Montour Coffeehouse in Montour Falls.

On October 30th, Professor Bennett read his poetry at the Healing Muse launch for Issue#13 at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse.

Siouxsie Easter, Associate Professor of Theatre , recently directed “The Servant of Two Masters” for the fall faculty production. Over 25 students were involved in this production that entertained nearly 400 audience members on Friends and Family Weekend. The production was adjudicated by the Theatre Association of New York State (TANYS) and won 4 TANYS awards:

• Meritorious Achievement in Ensemble Acting to the Cast
• Meritorious Achievement in Costume Design to Barbara Murphy
• Excellence in Acting to Casey Jamieson for his portrayal of Truffaldino
• Excellence in Direction to Siouxsie Easter

Professor Easter and the students will be traveling to the TANYS Awards Banquet in November to receive their awards.

Christina Wahl, Associate Professor of Biology , taught a workshop for the New York State Bee Wellness program at the “Betterbee” company headquarters in Greenwich, NY on October 26. The topic was “Diagnosis of Nosema vs Acarapis woodii in the honeybee, Apis mellifera .” Details of her presentation are available at: http://nybeewellness.com/Microscopy___Anatomy.html.

Cynthia J. Koepp, Professor of History, participated in an international conference entitled: “L’anti-physiocratie: Critiques et oppositions au mouvement physiocrate de la fin des années 1750 au milieu du 19e siècle” that took place on 11-13 April 2013 at the Université Lumiére Lyon 2, in Lyon, France. Her paper, entitled “Resisting Physiocratic Rhetoric and Depictions of the Poor in late 18th century France,” was part of a session on “Rhétorique et literature anti-physiocrate.” She also served as the chair and discussant for another panel entitled “L’opposition à la physiocratie à l’´étranger.”

On 11-13 September 2013 Koepp also participated in an international conference at Princeton University entitled “Putting the Figure on the Map: Imagining Sameness and Difference for Children.” The title of her talk, “An Anthropologist Shows Children a World of Difference: The Pedagogical Imagination of Louis-François Jauffret,” was part of a session devoted to “Internationalism, and Tolerance.”

Siouxsie Easter, Associate Professor of Theatre, was recently featured on two radio programs. Tish Pearlman interviewed Siouxsie for the NPR program “Out of Bounds,” and George Sapio interviewed Siouxsie for the local Ithaca radio show “Onstage/Offstage.” On both programs, Siouxsie talked about her recent directing, installation work, and teaching.

Kurt Pipa, Lecturer of Japanese, planned and conducted a three-week Sustainability Leadership Program for Japanese Youths in July and August of 2013 at EcoVillage at Ithaca and in the city of Ithaca, along with his wife, Chieko Pipa. The program brought together two Japanese teenage students with 17 professionals, educators and activists, and offered the students a series of workshops and lectures in sustainability, sustainable living and leadership. The students also took part in a series of home stays, including a farm stay, and a host of experiential learning activities.

Along with his wife, Kurt also held “Yoku Dekimashita!” (“Well done!”), a weeklong Japanese Language and Culture Summer Camp based at EcoVillage at Ithaca in August, where he taught the Japanese language. The camp, in its second year, included 6 students and employed two high-school interns from Japan as teaching assistants. Both of these programs were activities of Sustena Life Club, an initiative started by Kurt and Chieko in 2012, whose mission is to bring Japanese and other international travelers to Ithaca to share, learn and inspire each other in the field of sustainability.

Christina Wahl, Associate Professor of Biology, presented a talk entitled “VISION IN THE DEEP: Unique Eye Muscle Arrangements Among Larval Stomiiform Fishes” at the annual meeting of the Gilbert Ichthyological Society, on September 28 at Pack Forest in Washington State.

Christopher Bailey, Professor of Chemistry, co-taught along with Professor George Lisensky, a National Science Foundation sponsored cCWCS workshop on “Materials Science and Nanotechnology for Chemists”, held July 21-26, 2013, at Beloit College in Wisconsin. The workshop, which attracted college chemistry faculty from across the country, focused on a chemical view of materials science and the nanoworld and emphasized the incorporation of these ideas into the core chemistry curriculum. Topics and activities included the synthesis of nanoparticles, solid state structures and model building, light emitting diodes (LED’s), X-ray diffraction, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, and the societal implications of nanotechnology.

Bruce Bennett, Professor of English, presented his essay, “The Tree As Trope”: James Merrill”s “Christmas Tree,” at the Merrill Critical Seminar, West Chester Poetry Conference, June 6th, 2013. He also delivered a paper, “Light Verse Need Not Be Light,” as part of the Light Verse Panel at West Chester, June 8th, 2013.

Professor Bennett’s poem “On The Beach” was published in Light (online) http://lightpoetrymagazine.com/revamp/, and two of his poems appear in the online humor magazine, Garbanzo!

Professor Bennett read his poetry as part of a group reading at Barnes & Noble in Ithaca, August 25th, 2013.

Siouxsie Easter, Associate Professor of Theatre, gave a presentation entitled “Teaching it ‘All’: Creating and Maintaining the Curriculum” as a part of the panel entitled “The Rewards and Challenges of Single Person Theatre Departments” during the August 2013 Association for Theatre in Higher Education national conference.

Also, during her sabbatical in the Spring, Siouxsie directed a short play entitled “Clean Slate” written by alumna Samm Vella for the Carnival Girls Productions play festival in Manhattan. She also traveled to Bath, England in March during which time she developed theatre curriculum for the fall and spring semesters and proposed a summer theatre program for Advanced Studies in England. The program was approved and implemented by ASE and Siouxsie will be teaching the inaugural summer theatre school alongside British professors in the Summer of 2014.

Jeanne Goddard, Professor of Dance, taught four weeks of modern dance classes at the CRS Barn Studio in Ithaca in July. She was also invited to join the Ithaca Summer Piano Institute for an improvisational performance with pianist John White. In August she choreographed, co-wrote, and co-produced “Opera Cowpokes ALIVE!” with Steven Stull and colleagues from Cornell University, Ithaca College, and the Ithaca community. Also in August, Jeanne produced “Moving Landscapes 6”, a choreographers’ showcase that featured work by dancers from Cornell, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Ithaca, Binghamton, Rochester, and Geneva. Ms. Goddard’s premiered her quartet, “Three Studies for a Decorated Vessel” and directed two group improvisations in collaboration with musicians from Ithaca and Geneva. Finally, Professor Goddard created “Sunset Wings”, her first choreography for a Middle Eastern dance ensemble.

Kent Klitgaard, Professor of Economics, paper entitled “The Failed Growth Economy, Stagnation, and the Biophysical Limits to Growth” appeared in Volume 1, number 1 of The International Journal of Social Science Research pages 140-157.

Richard Loosemore, Lecturer in Physics, completed a chapter that is to be published in a book next year. The title of the chapter is “Qualia Surfing” and the book is “Intelligence Unbound: The Future of Uploaded and Machine Minds”, edited by Russell Blackford and Damien Broderick, published by Wiley.

Milene Morfei, Professor of Psychology, contributed a chapter titled, “Psychology, Sustainability, and Sense of Place” to _Teaching Sustainability: Perspectives from the Humanities and Social Sciences_ (in press). Editors: W. P. Boring & W. Forbes; Publisher: Stephen F. Austin State University Press.

Christina Wahl, Associate Professor of Biology, in August served as a reviewer for a CAREER grant proposal on behalf of the National Science Foundation.

Also in August, Professor Wahl prepared a poster for the Empire State Honey Producers (ESHPA) on the topic of “Honey Bee Anatomy and Honey Bee Health” which was on display throughout the New York State Fair under the Wells College logo. Professor Wahl donated an ancient type of beehive called a “skep” with information on how it was used for display at the ESHPA booth. She also volunteered at the NYS Fair for four days, during which she educated visitors on the biology of the bee, the nature of honey, and explained how honeys differ depending on what type(s) of plant contribute the nectar that bees use to make honey. Professor Wahl was proud to sell her comb honey for the first time at the Fair this year, thus renewing a family tradition that extends back through four generations of Wahl family beekeepers