April 5, 2002

Faculty/Staff Footnotes

Shaniece Bell Bick-ham joins the Division of Institutional Advancement as a research analyst. Bell Bickham is a graduate of Dillard University where she received a bachelor of arts degree in mass communications. She is also a graduate student at Loyola. Recently, she served as the community affairs coordinator for the Super Bowl XXXVI Host Committee.

Robin Bellina was hired as a part-time instructor in the Intensive English program.

John Bolles, Loyola webmaster, was promoted to senior programmer.

Carl Brans, professor of physics, welcomed to campus Professor I.H. Dwivedi of the Tata Research Institute in India. The two exchanged ideas on various singularities occurring in spherical dust collapse. Dwivedi lectured on his results describing the development and physical appearance of naked singu-larities. This term refers to tears in the fabric of spacetime predicted by Einstein's standard theory of General Relativity when sufficiently massive stars collapse under certain conditions. In black hole formation, by definition, the spacetime tears are hidden from the rest of the universe. However, Dwivedi's work shows that under certain condition this spacetime tear (singularity) can be visible from the rest of the universe (naked).

John Biguenet, Robert Hunter Distinguished Professor, appeared as one of two featured authors at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association; his lecture and reading, "Because I Could Not Draw a Horse," traced the role of libraries in his development as a writer. Biguenet has also won a Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities' grant to offer a Teacher In

stitute for Advanced Study at Loyola this summer on "The Last Resort of Language: Learning to Love Poetry." He served as the judge of the 2002 Vassar Miller Poetry Award. His story, "It Is Raining in Bejucal," which originally appeared this past year in Zoetrope: All-Story Magazine, has been selected for inclusion in the Best American Mystery Stories 2002, to be published in the fall by Houghton Mifflin. He was the featured speaker at the Heartland Literary Society in Chicago. In addition, an interview with him on "Reflections on the State of Fiction" appeared in the book section of the Chicago Tribune recently. He continues as a member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Artists Guild, one of whose projects is Louisiana ArtWorks, a major urban arts complex that is currently under construction on Lee Circle.

Deidre Craige was hired as a toddler assistant in the Whelan Children's Center.

Phanuel Akubueze Egejuru, professor of English, published a book, China Achebe: Pure and Simple, an oral biography of Africa's most famous novelist. Achebe is listed among "1000 Makers of the 20th Century" by the Times of London. His novel, Things Fall Apart, now a classic, is included in the volume Books of the Century by New York Public Library. The biography is compiled from interviews with Achebe, his family, teachers, classmates, colleagues, friends, doctors, employers and employees etc. Loyola's Office of Grants & Research partly funded Egejuru's travels for this sabbatical project. Egejuru's aim in the book is to uncover the real man behind the works. Information on the book can be downloaded at www.africanbookscollective.com.

A division of the American Counseling Association, the Association for Specialists in Group Work, bestowed the Group Practice Award on Kevin Fall, professor and chair of the Department of Education. The Association for Specialists is comprised of counselors, counselor educators and group counselors. Fall's selection was based on his extraordinary record and the fact he has accomplished so much so early in his career.

Madeleine Faust, instructor in visual arts department, was commissioned to develop two sculptures in front of St. Andrew the Apostle Church on Eton Drive in Algiers. These pieces will be unveiled in June marketing the church/school's 50^th anniversary.

Colette Fortuna was hired in Financial Aid Office as an administrative assistant.

Henry Gabriel, professor of law, was appointed to a three-year term on the United National Commission on International Trade on Electronic Commerce. Two years ago, Gabriel served as a reporter for the Uniform Commercial Code that governs sales and leasing in the United States. As the reporter, he oversaw revision of the 50-year old code. Gabriel is a nationally recognized commercial law specialist.

Kenneth Gannaway joined University Police as a police officer.

Michelle Melancon was hired as a technical services assistant in the University Library.

John Mosier, professor of English, shared his expert views on the TV program "Movies in Time" on the History Channel in March. Mosier discussed the historical relevance of the film The Lost Battalion that was set during World War I and starred Rick Shroeder. Mosier wrote The Myth of the Great War: A Military History of WWI that has been nominated for Pulitzer Prize.

Mark D. Rubinfeld, assistant professor of sociology, presented a paper titled "The Mythical Jim Thorpe: Representations, Significations, and Implications," and moderated two other panels, at the National Association of Native American Studies Annual Conference in Houston, Texas, last month. Additionally, his book Bound to Bond: Gender, Genre, and the Hollywood Romantic Comedy was published by Prager Publishers this fall.

William Quigley, professor of law, published the recent article "Due Process Rights of Grade School Students Subjected to High-Stakes Testing," in Boston University Public Interest Law Journal.

Lydia Voigt, professor and interim provost, and William E. Thorton, professor and director of the Department of Criminal Justice, published co-authored chapters in two books. The first chapter, "Domestic Violence in Russia' appeared in Domestic Violence: A Global View, Greenwood Press, 2002 and "Teen Violence in Russia" appeared in Teen Violence: A Global View, Greenwood press, 2001.

Music instructor Mona Bond (center) is pictured with Bryan Hymel and Kristen Bauer, M'02, at the New Orleans Women's Opera Guild orientation series for the operas of the season. Bond gave the lecture for the opera, Turandot, which was performed in March by the New Orleans Opera Association at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.

The lecture took place in February at the Opera Guild Home on Prytania Street. Hymel and Bauer assisted Bond in the presentation. They each sang two of the most beautiful and well-known arias from the opera, accompanied by professor and organist Carmen Leerstang.

Hymel won the 2000 Metropolitan Opera auditions in New Orleans and Bauer is a senior majoring in vocal performance. She has had one of the lead roles, Rosalinda, in Loyola's opera performance of Die Fledermaus in January.