Basil Vendryes, an adjunct instructor of viola, chamber music in the Lamont School of Music, was invited to perform as guest Principal Viola of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra during the 2009–10 season. He acted as leader of the viola section for 5 weeks, including performances with world-renowned pianist Lang Lang and a two-week tour of Japan under the baton of Music Director Paavo Jarvi. Vendryes also gave a series of master classes at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Academy in March of 2010. His summer schedule includes teaching at the Quartet Program at SUNY, Fredonia and at the Montecito Music Festival in California. He continues his duties as Principal Viola of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Director of the Colorado Young Sinfonia ensemble and as viola instructor at Lamont.
Diana Wilson, Professor English Emerita, gave invited talks at the Universidad Autónoma in Barcelona this May, and at the Centre for Maghrebi Studies in Orán, Algeria in June on a collaborative NEH project dealing with White Slavery. The project involves a translation and scholarly edition of a monumental chronicle written by Dr. Antonio de Sosa, a sixteenth-century European captive in Muslim Algiers. The first of three volumes—“A Dialogue with Islam”—is forthcoming from Notre Dame University Press.
Robert Stencel and Toshiya Ueta, both in the physics and astronomy department, have been independently awarded observing time of the Hubble Space Telescope during its 18th year of operation.
Jacqueline Victor’s paper, “Burons and Jasseries, Situated Utopias,” has been accepted for presentation at the conference by International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments to be held in Beruit, Lebanon in December 2010. Victor is an adjunct faculty member in the language and literatures department.
Alan Chen, associate dean for faculty scholarship and law professor, has published “Rosy Pictures and Renegade Officials: The Slow Death of Monroe v. Pape” in the June edition of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review.
Law adjunct professor David Kopel has authored “The Right to Arms in the Living Constitution” for the Cardozo Law Review, and co-authored “State Court Standards of Review for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms” in the Santa Clara Law Review. His amicus brief in the Supreme Court case McDonald v. Chicago was cited by Justice Alito’s plurality opinion and by Justice Stevens’ dissent.
Alba Newmann Holmes in the University Writing Program is currently participating in a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on Mapping and Art in the Americas at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The program brings together a group of faculty, scholars and artists from around the county to discuss the history and practice of mapping as it relates to art as well as pursue their own archival projects. Holmes’ own work at the institute focuses on cartographic revision, building upon her own previous scholarship that examines how poets revise, and how they teach students how to revise.
Doug Farquhar, an adjunct at the Sturm College of Law and University College, recently published an article, along with colleague Scott Hendrick, in the March issue of the Environmental Law Reporter entitled “State Authority to Regulate Toxins in Children’s Consumer Products.” This article reviews potential conflicts with state consumer protection laws and the recently passed Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008.
University Carillonneur Carol Jickling Lens has been asked to chair the Nominating Committee for the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. She was also made an alternate juror for the exam committee.
Frank Ascione is the 2010 recipient of the George T. Angell Humanitarian Award, which is given by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals–Angell Animal Medical Center. The award is presented to an individual in recognition of exceptional dedication, caring, and commitment to animals, their welfare, and their quality of life. Ascione is a social work professor and executive director of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection.