November 14, 2003

Faculty/Staff Footnotes

Neely Benton was hired as an administrative assistant for the College of Music. Benton received her bachelor of arts in English from Furman University. She has performed in numerous recitals, religious services, competitions, and helped record two albums.

John Biguenet, Robert Hunter Distinguished Professor, gave a reading of his fiction and was interviewed on the stage as a featured author at the South Central conference on Christianity and Literature. He chaired a panel on "The Dark Side of the Crescent" at the 2003 Tennessee Williams Literary Festival. His book review of Waiting for April was published in the Washington Post. The British publication this summer of his collection of stories, The Torturer's Apprentice, has received enthusiastic reviews in such publications as The Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, and Sainsbury's Magazine.

Sylvia Brown joined the Division of Institutional Advancement as data assistant in the Office of Advancement Records. Brown comes to Loyola from the New Orleans Council on Aging where she worked as a secretary/bookkeeper. She is also attending Southern University, majoring in accounting.

Matt Bruns, A'98, joined the Division of Institutional Advancement as the assistant director of alumni relations and public affairs. Bruns received a bachelor degree in communications. Over the past five years, he has gained experience in public relations and event coordination at Stewart Enterprises where he served as a community relation's specialist and most recently at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis where he was a community education and marketing consultant.

Janice Burke has been promoted to senior faculty secretary in the School of Law.

Rhonda Cartwright, vice president of business and finance, has been selected as a member of the Board of Trustees for Loyola University Chicago. She serves on the finance committee.

Nick Capaldi, Legendre-Soule Chair, has been named the recipient of the Will Herberg Award for Outstanding Faculty Service to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Capaldi traveled to Washington, D.C., to receive the award October 23 at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) 50th anniversary celebration. At the celebration, Vice President Dick Cheney delivered the keynote address with additional comments from William Buckley Jr., and Edwin Feulner of the Heritage Foundation.

Kristen K. Essig joined the Twomey Center as an on-site coordinator at the Crescent City Farmers Market.

The International Biographical Centre in Cambridge chose Ernest Ferlita, S.J., professor emeritus of drama, as one of the "select few" for International Writer of the Year 2003. The Laurel Grove Theatre in Studio City in Los Angeles performed Ferlita's one-act play, The Witness, based on interrogation of witnesses of the assignation of six Jesuits and two women in El Salvador. Ferlita wrote a 10-minute play titled Come Home, Come Home that was chosen to be part of Love Creek Productions Autumn One Acts 2003 in New York City.

Andrell Gautier has been promoted to college analyst in the College of Arts of Sciences.

Robert Gnuse, professor of religious studies, read a paper, "Abraham as a Symbol in the Christian Tradition," at the Festival of Abraham Convocation sponsored by Loyola in August. Gnuse discussed "The Life and Historical Context of Martin Luther" at Grace Lutheran Church and the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in October. He also has five theological essays published in the August/September edition of Lectionary Helps.

Professor of Law Bobby Harges' article, "An Analysis of Expert Testimony in Louisiana after State v. Foret and Independent Fire Insurance Company v. Sunbeam Corporation, 49 Loy. L. Rev. 1121(2003)," was recently published in the Loyola Law Review. Harges also gave a talk titled "Negotiation Techniques and Mediation Advocacy" at the 2003 Louisiana Department of Justice CLE Seminar in Baton Rouge in September.

Troyelynn L. Herring joined the Whelan Child Care Center as a teacher of three-year-olds.

Craig S. Hood, professor of biological sciences, presented an invited departmental seminar titled "Geometric morphometrics: study of size and shape in evolutionary biology" to the faculty and students at the LSU Museum of Natural Science in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Carol A. Jeandron, director of the Office of Service Learning, presented the session "The Impact of Diversity on Higher Education Service Learning Programs" at the National Society for Experiential Education 2003 Annual Conference held in Minneapolis in October.

Stamos Karamouzis, associate professor of computer science at City College, presented a keynote address titled "Networked Universities in the United States," at the International Conference on Network Universities and E-learning that was held in Valencia, Spain this past May. In June, Karamouzis was an invited speaker at the Technological Educational Institute of Patras in Greece. His talk was titled "Towards the Conscious Machine." In September, he presented a paper titled "An Appreciation of Neural Networks for Predicting Juvenile Recidivism" at the 2003 IASTED International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Applications in Modeling, Prediction, Control, and Soft Computing session. ACTA Press published Karamouzis' paper in a bound volume.

James M. Klebba, Victor H. Schiro Professor of Law, spoke to a luncheon meeting of the New Orleans World Trade Center at the Plimsoll Club about the law school's study abroad summer program in Moscow. His talk was in conjunction with a WTC seminar on "Doing Business with Ukraine, Russia, and Moldova" in September.

Cheryl Kirk joined University Police Department as a Police Officer. She attended Slidell Regional Police Academy where she received P.O.S.T. level 2, 1^st Responder, First Aid, and C.P.R. certification.

Janis LeBleu was hired as site coordinator for City College (Baton Rouge Campus). LeBleu is a registered nurse and graduated from Texas Women's University with a bachelor's of science in nursing.

Larry J. Lewis was hired as a police officer in University Police.

Kathryn Venturatos Lorio, Leon Sarpy Professor of Law, presented a paper titled "The Integration of Civil and Common Law Institutions in Successions and Donations Law in Louisiana" at the Eighth Congress of the International Association of Legal Methodology held in Aix en Provence, France in September. The theme of the Conference was Plurijuralism.

James L. Meadows, III, joined the Music Prep Program as a ballet accompanist.

M. Isabel Medina, professor of law, presented a paper on "Undocumented Immigrant Workers in the Global Economy: The Case of Hoffman Plastics," at the 2003 AALS annual meeting in January. Shortly after her presentation, Medina went to Athens as a Fulbright Scholar. While visiting at the University of Athens during the spring, she taught a seminar on American Constitutional Law to 45 Greek law students. In April, she delivered a paper on "Globalization, Gender and U.S. Constitutional Norms of Citizenship" as part of the German Fulbright Lecture Series at the University of Leipzig and the Technical University in Chemnitz. In August, she participated in an Oxford Roundtable on Gender Bias and International Human Rights at Lincoln College. She appeared on two panels on "Women's Freedom in the Context of Equal Rights" and "Increasing Achievement for Minority Women in the Area of Math, Science and Technology through Early Support and Mentoring Programs." Since her return in August, Medina was invited by the New Orleans Bar Association to speak on a panel on "Brown v. Board of Education" at a symposium commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the decision. The symposium was held at the Louisiana Supreme Court in September and was cosponsored by the Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society and the Minority Involvement Section, Louisiana State Bar Association. Medina gave a talk as part of the Women's Resources Center First Monday Series on her Fulbright experience in October.

Vanessa D. Murphree, assistant professor of communications, recently presented "Black Power: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating and Public Relations," at the American Journalism Historians Association annual conference in Billings, Montana. The Association also awarded Murphree an honorable mention for the Margaret A. Blanchard 2003 Doctoral Dissertation Award for her research concerning public relations and civil rights.

Hazel S. Parker joined the Boggs Literacy Center as a literacy specialist and statewide coordinator.

Tiffany Player has been promoted to coordinator for international student services in the Center for International Education.

William Quigley, Janet Mary Riley Distinguished Professor of Law, has been awarded the 2004 Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) Teaching Award. Quigley will be presented with the award at the SALT dinner at the AALS annual meeting in Atlanta in January 2004.

Allen Seither joined Intercollegiate Athletics as the head cross country/track coach. He received a bachelor of arts in physical education and a masters of education from Southeastern Louisiana University. Seither has over 30 years of coaching experience.

Lola Steele joined the University Police Department as a police officer. Steele was captain of the city of Vidalia Police Department for eight years.

Carol Terre was hired as executive assistant to the dean for the College of Arts & Sciences. Terre has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Southeastern Louisiana University and more than 20 years of administrative and management experience.