November 10, 2000

Faculty/Staff Footnotes

John Biguenet, Robert Hunter Distinguished Professor, gave the welcoming address as president of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), an organization of academic and professional translators of literature in the United States and abroad, at its annual conference in San Francisco. In addition, Biguenet led the master class on short fiction and moderated a panel discussion on spirituality in poetry at Words & Music 2000: A Writers' Conference of the Faulkner Society. His story "Rose," which originally appeared in Esquire, was reprinted in The Double Dealer Redux.

Nancy McKenzie Du-pont, assistant professor of communications, presented her paper, "Electric Batteries: A Mississippi Editor and His Powerful Press," at the American Journalism Historians Association national convention in Pittsburgh in October.

Gerald Fagin, S.J., associate professor of systematic theology, had an article "Practical Theology and Jesuit Higher Education" published in Jesuit Education, 21, Conference Proceedings on the Future of Jesuit Higher Education.

Madeleine Faust, instructor of foundations in visual arts department, has been commissioned to do three sculptures for the American Can complex that is being developed as upscale apartments and condos. The sculptures are to be made of parts of the old canning machines that they've salvaged. The first units are supposed to be available in the spring, and this complex has retail space and coffeeshops.

Bruce Frank joined the university library as a technical assistant.

The Harrison Company Publishers recently published Associate Professor of Law Bobby Marzine Harges' 2000 Supplement to Harges and Jones' Louisiana Evidence, 3rd Edition, co-written with Professor Russell Jones of Southern University Law Center.

Martha Heggelund joined International Student Affairs as an administrative assistant.

Anthony Ladd, associate professor and chair of sociology, recently presented a co-authored paper at the annual Mid-South Sociological Association meetings in Knoxville, Tennessee, titled "Corporate Swine and Capitalist Pigs: A Decade of Environmental Controversy in North Carolina."

Andrew Macdonald, associate professor of English, has published a book, Shape-shifting: Images of Native Americans in Recent Popular Fiction. His co-authors are Gina Macdonald and Mary Ann Sheridan.

Jill Minkus joined the Division of Institutional Advancement as a research analyst. Minkus has a bachelor's degree from Reed College and a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, both in Russian literature. She was formerly with San Francisco Works where she was manager of planning and development.

John Murphy, professor of piano in the College of Music, recently performed at Portland State University, Pacific Lutheran University at Tacoma, and the University of Washington at Seattle.

Kevin Sharp was hired in physical plant as a carpenter.

Associate professors of economics in the College of Business Administration Michael Saliba, William Bar-nett, and Deborah Walker co-wrote a paper, "A Free Market for Kidneys: Efficient and Equitable" that will be published in the winter 2000 edition of The Independent Review: Journal of Political Economy. More than 1,000 Americans die prematurely every year because they cannot receive kidney transplants. Additionally, another 40,000 plus suffer while on waiting lists for a transplant. According to these professors, this health care problem can be virtually eliminated, as a cause is clear and the remedy at hand. The paper argues that, given a free market in kidneys in conjunction with the current system of financing transplants, no persons who could benefit physically from a kidney transplant need to go without one. It refutes the argument that poorer individuals would be priced out of a free market for kidneys by correcting the faculty economic analysis on which the argument is based. It also refutes the idea that if there were a free market for kidneys, only poor individuals would sell kidneys, and that such sales would be coercive in nature. The paper also argues against the idea that to allocate such an essential scarce good as a kidney on the basis of wealth is morally repugnant.

Robert A. Thomas, chair in Environmental Communications, spoke to the local chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators about the need for businesses to address environmental justice issues in order to help their neighbors and be a member of the community. The central thesis was that companies that are viewed as good corporate citizens will have the support of their communities, and that is good for business. Thomas also gave the keynote address at the annual National Chevron Conservation Awards ceremony held in the Audubon Tea Room. He addressed similarities between the top concerns of environmental activists and those who support free-market solutions. He further discussed the priorities of business and how environmental concerns and actions could benefit the business world. Additionally, Thomas presented a workshop on "Opening Lines of Communications between Oil and Gas Companies and Their Neighbors" to six Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources officials. This work was based on an EPA project facilitated by Thomas in Norco, Louisiana.

Keith Vetter, professor of law, addressed a Roman law conference in Antalya, Turkey, that was sponsored by the University of Ankara Law School. His topic was "Some Examples of the Roman Law of Slavery Applied in the Spanish American Colony of Louisiana." The talk will be published in the book, Proceedings of the LIV Section of the Société Internationale pour l'Histoire des Droits de l'Antiquite and in French in the Revue internationale des Droits l'Antiquite.

The Law Clinic at Loyola's School of Law recently welcomed Allison Wanna-maker to its staff. Wanna-maker signed on as a staff attorney for the national Catholic Legal Immigration Network Detention Project, which works on legal problems of incarcerated immigrants in this area of the country. She comes from the Los Angeles office of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network where she has worked since 1998 as a detention attorney. Wannamaker is a 1995 honors graduate of Rhodes College and a 1998 Georgetown Law graduate, where she was senior notes editor of the International Environmental Law Review.