Summer 2001

Faculty/Staff Footnotes

Erin Alexander joined the Office of Advancement Research as a research analyst in June. A 1999 graduate of Loyola, Alexander was most recently an administrative assistant in the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations.

S.L. Alexander's graduate student, Chantel Bailliet, will present a paper at the National Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications in Washington, D.C., in August. The paper, "To Rate or Not to Rate? A Comparison of Internet Ratings Systems with the Television Industry's Ratings" was written as a class assignment for Alexander's class "Regulation of Broadcast, Cable & the Internet" and brings to nearly two dozen the number of Alexander's student papers selected for presentation/publication.

John Biguenet, Robert Hunter Distinguished Professor, has had his story "It Is Raining in Bejucal" accepted by Zoetrope: All-Story Magazine for publication; the story was commissioned by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine has accepted another story, "Rnsom," for publication. His collection of stories, The Torturer's Apprentice, has been favorably reviewed in such publications as The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Minneapolis Star Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal among others. The Torturer's Apprentice has been named a Book Sense 76 Selection by the Independent Booksellers of the United States and has been named an Original Voices national selection by Borders Books. A recording of the live performance at Symphony Space on Broadway in New York of his story "And Never Come Up," which appeared originally in Granta, was presented on "Selected Shorts," a weekly series broadcast on 125 local affiliates of National Public Radio throughout the United States. Another story, "I Am Not a Jew," was presented in a live performance at Symphony Space in February, and the same story was reprinted as the fiction excerpt in the March/April issue of Book Magazine, which also includes a feature on the American short story today focusing on Biguenet's work. He has recently given readings of his fiction and lectures in New York, Miami, Chicago, the University of Texas at Dallas, Baylor University, Notre Dame University, and the University of Michigan, where he also lectured to the translation studies seminar of the comparative literature program on "The Sorrow and the Piety: Two Centuries of Mistranslating Dante."

Biguenet chaired a panel on "Translation and Creative Writing" and, as president of the American Literary Translators Association, moderated another panel on the organization at the national conference of the Associated Writing Programs, the association of university creative writing teachers, in Palm Springs. He was the featured writer on the "Thacker Mountain Radio Show" of Square Books in Oxford. Biguenet gave the Claire Rich Memorial Lecture at The University of Texas at Dallas and spoke on "Sentimentality and Morality: How Americans Talk about Good and Evil." He was a featured writer on the short story panel of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of California Los Angeles. Biguenet led a master class on writing short stories, interviewed Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham on stage, and served on a panel on the contemporary short story at the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival. Biguenet appeared as the featured writer in a weeklong interactive online interview on Salon.com's "Table Talk," a program on contemporary writers.

Yolanda Grinstead was hired as a career counselor/coordinator of Law Career Services in the School of Law.

Denis Janz, Provost Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, was appointed by the Rockefeller Foundation as Writer in Residence at the Bellagio Center on Lake Como in Italy for the month of March 2002. In July 2001, Janz will teach a course "Comparative Religion: Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Islam" at the University of Pristina in Kosovo.

James Klebba was appointed dean of the School of Law for the academic year 2001­ 2002. Klebba has served as interim dean for two years.

Klebba, the Victor H. Schiro Professor of Law, began his career with Loyola in 1973. He is a nationally respected scholar having published extensively in leading legal journals and publications. Klebba has lectured frequently in Eastern Europe and the former U.S.S.R. and is director of Loyola's Summer Legal Studies Program in Moscow and Budapest. He serves as a volunteer attorney for the Legal Assessments and Concept Papers for the Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI) and is the former chair of the Association of American Law School's Section on Civil Procedure. On the university level, Klebba served on the Law School Committee on Foreign Programs (chair), the Law School Rank and Tenure Committee (chair), Legal Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees, University Budget Committee, University Honorary Degrees committee, and the Public Law Center Board of Directors.

In recognition of his tremendous contribution to the enhancement of the law school, Klebba was invested with the Victor Schiro Professorship of Law in 1993. He received a juris doctor from Harvard Law School in 1967 and a bachelor of arts in political science from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn.

Anthony Ladd, associate professor of sociology and department chair, chaired a session on "Disaster Research" at the annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society in Atlanta.

Dana E. Land joins Loyola as the executive director of development in the Division of Institutional Advancement. The appointment became effective May 28. Land began her career in development in New Orleans where she directed fund-raising efforts for United Cerebral Palsy of Greater New Orleans. She served as assistant director of the annual fund at Loyola in 1995. Land has extensive experience with non-profit groups concerned with environmental issues and wildlife conservation. She began work at The Audubon Institute in New Orleans and then served as director of development for The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana. She moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as director of development for science initiatives in the Conservancy's international headquarters. Her final position before returning to New Orleans was with the World Resources Institute, an international environmental think tank, where she was director of new markets. A native of Sulphur, La., Land received a bachelor of science degree in liberal arts at Louisiana State University.

Julia McSherry, director of publications and marketing communications, and Catherine Wessinger, chair and professor of religious studies, were elected co-chairs of the Women's Studies Committee.

Loyola and Tulane universities sponsored the 32^nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Eighteenth Century Studies in April. Loyola professors Cassandra Mabe, Tom Zamparelli, Mark Fer-nadez, Katherine Adams, and Peter Rogers participated. They were joined by Tulane professors Madeleine Dobie and Cynthia Lowenthal and UNO professors Dan Doll and Jack O'Connor to arrange the meeting that brought over 660 speakers to the Radisson Hotel in New Orleans to discuss art, history, questions of gender, religion, and literatures of the period. The Historic New Orleans Collection collaborated with a reception and a concert at St. Louis Cathedral followed. Musica da Camera presented vocal and musical pieces from manuscripts of the Ursulines.

Michael Marengo joined Physical Plant as a mechanic.

Mary Sue Oehlke administrative assistant in the College of Business Administration, participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event. She raised over $700 from the College of Business to donate to the American Cancer Society. Several students from Loyola also participated in the Relay for Life event that took place in April.

Dianne Puig joined Physical Plant as an administative assistant.

Earl Richard, professor of New Testament Studies, published his fifth book, Reading 1 Peter, Jude, and 2 Peter: A Literary and Theological Commentary, in the prestigious commentary series, "Reading the New Testament: A Literary and Theological Perspective." He also gave the Yamauchi Lecture in Religion titled, "Jesus, Mark, and the Modern Reader," which has just been published by the University Press and is available in the Religious Studies office. Richard has delivered several lectures in the past year: "Mark's Son of Man and Son of God Christology in View of the Community's Apocalypticism" and "Mark's Use of the John the Baptist Tradition" at meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature; "An Introduction to the Three Quests for the Historical Jesus" for the Trinity Episcopal Bible Study class here in New Orleans; "Celebration of the Eucharist in the Early Church" (or "Eucharist: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow") at a local meeting of the Catholic Daughters of America; and "A Social-Science Study of Mark's CommunityA Response to a Recent Study" at a meeting of the College Theology Society at Xavier University. Additionally, Richard gave a 10-hour lecture course, "Study of the Gospel of Luke," to St. Rita's Adult Education Program. He also has published a brief article on "Stephen" (of New Testament fame) for the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Finally, Richard attended a seminar at the University of South Carolina on the integration of technology and teaching titled "Stop Surfing; Start Teaching."

The university bid a farewell to Mattie Stone-Williams who served as director of the Upward Bound program for 25 years. Stone-Williams is pursuing a singing career with the Ebony Singers and will tour Europe this fall. Her last day was May 31. Under her direction, Loyola's Upward Bound Program has become a nationally recognized student assistance program that has dramatically changed the lives of many young people and which has given Louisiana and the nation over 3,000 high school graduates with nearly 70 percent of those also graduating from college. Many of Loyola's Upward Bound students have gone on to complete graduate and professional programs and pursue careers in medicine, law, engineering, and education.

Stone-Williams work has been recognized by numerous Loyola awards, as well as awards from city, state and national organizations and educational associations. She has received Outstanding Director Awards, Future Business Leaders Association Awards, and has represented Loyola and Upward Bound as a participant, facilitator, and presenter at state, regional, and national conferences for the U.S. Department of Education TRIO programs. Stone-Williams has regularly been the featured speaker to groups concerned with improving education in Louisiana and throughout the United States.

Paulette Swartz-fager serves as the acting director of the Upward Bound Program. She has most recently held a dual appointment at Loyola in the Office of Information Technology and the Department of English.

Donald Zimmerman joined the Department of Human Resources as a payroll and benefit manager.