Academic News (News2Note)

News2Note, the academic newsletter of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, is published monthly during the academic year by Debra Stoudt, associate dean for policy and faculty affairs. Academic news can be submitted to her directly at dstoudt@vt.edu.

Planning, Governance, and Globalization doctoral student Norhan Abdelgawad, Public and International Affairs faculty member Shalini Misra, and Professor Emeritus of Urban Affairs and Planning Kris Wernstedt published “Toward a Management Framework for Smart and Sustainable Resource Management:  The Case of the Appalachian Trail,” Journal of Environmental Management 372 (December 2024), Article 123422, with Morva Saaty et al.

Amy Allen, Education, coedited Beyond Single Stories:  Changing Narratives for a Changing World, Social Science Education Consortium Book Series (Charlotte, North Carolina:  Information Age Publishing, 2024), with Anne Marie Kavanagh and Caitríona Ní Cassaithe.  Allen’s individual contributions to the volume were:  “Disrupting Single Narratives Through the Power of Story” with Kavanagh and Ní Cassaithe, pp. xi–xxv, and “Multiple Perspectives and Place-Based Education as a Catalyst for Social Change,” pp. 115–36.

Ralph Buehler, Public and International Affairs, published “Bikeshare-Metrorail Integration in Washington, D.C.:  What are the Characteristics of Neighborhoods that Encourage Capital Bikeshare Trips to and from the Metrorail?” in Transportation Research Record 2678.10 (October 2024):  282–91, with Md Shazalal Tushar.

Ten CLAHS faculty members were among the 80 faculty university-wide honored during the Celebrating Scholarly Distinction ceremony, which took place on November 6.  Recognized as recipients of prestigious and highly prestigious awards were:  Mark Barrow, History, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship; David Brunsma, Sociology, American Sociological Association Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award; Joseph Eska, English, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; James Hawdon, Sociology, Fulbright Scholar Award; Deborah Milly, Political Science, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship; Michael Moehler, Political Science and Director of the Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award; Andrew Scerri, Political Science, Fulbright Scholar Award; and Tyechia Thompson, English, National Endowment for the Humanities – Mellon Fellowship.  Anthony Kwame Harrison, Sociology, was honored as an Alumni Distinguished Professor.  Amy Price Azano, Education and Director of the Center for Rural Education, was recognized as one of nine faculty members with the largest proposal within a college or institute.

Joseph Eska, English, published “Celtic in Greek Characters and Implications for Greek and Celtic Phonology,” Indogermanische Forschungen 129 (2024):  199–212.

Natalie Ferand, Education, is serving as the Co-Principal Investigator of Stem-It Up2:  Immersive Professional Development Experience for Agriscience Teachers to Explore the Floriculture Industry (SIU2).  The three-year program for middle and high school agriculture teachers is designed to deepen their understanding of the interconnectedness of agriculture, focusing on the identified needs in the “green industry.”  Ferand is one of five members of the research team, which received a grant from the Professional Development for Agricultural Literacy program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture; the grant supports SIU2.  Details about the SIU2 program are available here.

Jessica Folkart, Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, coedited and cotranslated The Angle of Horror:  An English Translation and Critical Edition (Vancouver, Canada:  Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2024), with Michelle Geoffrion-Vinci.  The collection of stories was written by Spanish author Cristina Fernández Cubas.

Aarnes Gudmestad, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published “Consistency as a Baseline Measure for Tracking Change in Grammatical Gender Marking,” Journal of the European Second Language Association 8.1 (2024):  24–34, with Amanda Edmonds.

ASPECT doctoral student Robert Hodges presented “Improving Policy Research and Analysis Through Globalized Experiential Learning:  The Administrative and Pedagogical Frameworks of the Diplomacy Lab” at the ISA Midwest Conference, which took place November 22–24 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Stefanie Hofer, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, was the guest coeditor of Wounded Scholar – Healing Witness, a special issue of Life Writing, 21.4 (2024), with Idit Gil.  Hofer’s individual contributions were:  the editorial “Wounded Scholar – Healing Witness” with Gil, “Kinship in Darkness:  On the Humanities’ Intrinsic Potential to Foster Post-Traumatic Healing,” and “On Witnessing, the Responsibility of Transmitting, and the Healing Powers of Creativity:  An Interview with the Jewish-Argentine Artist Mirta Kupferminc,” pp. 631–37, 661–74, and 775–90, respectively.

The following CLAHS faculty were selected to participate in Leading in Place, an eight-month leadership development program for academic faculty members:  Danille Christensen, Religion and Culture; Sherri Craig, English; Victoria Lael, Human Development and Family Science; Sharon Mastracci, Public and International Affairs; Dana Robertson, Education; Jessica Taylor, History; and Matthew Wisnioski, Science, Technology, and Society.  The program is the inaugural offering of the new Provost’s Leadership Development Program. 

ASPECT doctoral student Luther McPherson presented “Violence and the State in Latin America:  Conceptualizing Dependent Militarization” at the International Studies Association – Northeastern Regional Conference, which took place November 8–9 in Baltimore, Maryland; the paper was coauthored by Political Science faculty member and ASPECT core faculty member Desirée Poets.  In addition, McPherson presented “Romanticizing Clausewitz:  On the Poetics and Grammar of Vom Kriege” as part of the Interpretive and Relational Methodologies Workshop at the conference and participated in two conference roundtable panels:  “UnRealism:  Students of Global Politics and the Lure of Fiction” and “Critique Makes the Institution:  Perspectives on Pedagogy, Power, and Practice in the Modern University.”

Deborah Milly, Political Science, was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant/ Fellowship for Advanced Social Science Research on Japan in the amount of $35,000 for her project titled “An Alternative View of Japan’s Migration Governance Through the Lens of Foreign-Born Eldercare Workers.”  Milly has spent this semester in Japan conducting research for her book, which will examine how non-central state actors respond to Japan’s migration policy as they attempt to ensure a sufficient number of care workers for Japan’s aging population.

Shalini Misra, Public and International Affairs, published “Analyzing Knowledge Integration in Convergence Research,” Environmental Science & Policy 162 (December 2024), Article 103902, with Megan A. Rippy and Stanley B. Grant.  The three authors’ post from October 22, “Setting Up Your Team for Knowledge Integration,” on the Integration and Implementation Insights blog served to introduce the article.

Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures faculty members María del Carmen Caña Jiménez and Vinodh Venkatesh coedited Crisis TV:  Hispanic Television Narratives After 2008, SUNY Series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture (Albany, New York:  State University of New York Press, 2024).  Together they contributed “Introduction:  Crisis TV:  Hispanic Television Narratives After 2008,” pp. 1–18.  In addition, Caña Jiménez’s individual contribution was “Crises Upon Crisis:  Game of Mirrors, Baroque Elements, and Cervantine Influences in La que se avecina,” pp. 145–68, and that of Venkatesh “Small-Screen Superheroes in Argentina and Mexico:  Nafta Súper and Blue Demon,” pp. 195–218.

Carol Mullen, Education, received the UCEA Service Award from the University Council for Educational Administration in appreciation for her leadership and commitment to the UCEA Executive Committee from 2018 to 2024.  The award was presented at the 2024 UCEA conference, which took place November 20–23 in Los Angeles, California.

Three CLAHS doctoral students were among 30 Virginia Tech graduate students who presented their research in 90 seconds to a public audience and a panel of judges at the Nutshell Games.  Representing the College were:  Kamla Al Amri, Curriculum and Instruction, “CARE for Faculty Development”; Aline de Souza, ASPECT, “The Potential of Artistic Work to Disrupt Anti-immigration Discourses”; and Isabel Valdivia Leiva, Human Development, “Stress and Executive Functions – What’s Math Got to Do With It?”  This year’s games took place November 2 at the Moss Arts Center. 

ASPECT doctoral student Rebekah Mui Pei Ern presented “Material Culture and Anabaptist Remembrance at the Behalt Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center” with Carita B. Keim at the Mennonite Heritage Center History Conference 2024, which took place November 7–9 in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, as well as “Purity Culture:  Examining Its Impact” at the Anabaptist Awareness Symposium on Sexual Abuse 2024, which was held November 14–16 in Goshen, Indiana.

Two Planning, Governance, and Globalization doctoral students presented posters at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, which took place November 17–21 in Portland, Oregon.  Norhan Abdelgawad presented “From Trailhead to Summit:  Using Natural Language Processing to Analyze Thru-Hikers’ Wilderness Experiences,” which was coauthored by Public and International Affairs faculty member Shalini Misra, Professor Emeritus of Urban Affairs and Planning Kris Wernstedt, et al.  Shruti Punjabi presented “Toward a Typology of Knowledge Integration in Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations,” which was coauthored by Misra, Stanley B. Grant, and Megan A. Rippy.

ASPECT doctoral student Aline de Souza presented “The Personalities of Watercolors” at the Virginia Science Festival, which was held November 2 at the Moss Arts Center on the Virginia Tech campus.

Vinodh Venkatesh, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published “Las masculinidades gays en series españolas de televisión:  entre la homonormatividad y el homonacionalismo (Gay Masculinities in Spanish Television Series:  Between Homonormativity and Homonationalism), Masculinidades gays y maricas en la cultura española contemporánea, ed. Iker González-Allende (Barcelona, Spain:  Egales, 2024), pp. 137–62.

The College notes with sadness the death of Gary Wamsley, Professor Emeritus of Public Administration, who founded the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech in 1977.  Teacher and mentor to numerous graduate students, he served as the editor of the journal Administration and Society for 40 years and worked as a consultant to the Carter and Clinton administrations.  Wamsley was honored with emeritus status from Virginia Tech in 2005.  Additional information can be found in the funeral home obituary and the Virginia Tech In memoriam.

Trevor Wilson, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published Alexandre Kojève and the Specters of Russian Philosophy (Evanston, Illinois:  Northwestern University Press, 2024).

2024

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