"WHAT" IS COMING TO CAMPUS?

Feb. 21-22	Causes, Connections & Consequences: Globalization Past & Present World History Association of Texas ["WHAT"] 2009 Conference Co-Sponsored by St. Edward's University - History Faculty Scheduled: 18 Concurrent Sessions Keynote Speaker: Dr. Dmitri Katsy, St. Petersburg University, Russia Location: Trustee Hall with lunch in Mabee Ballroom For information, contact Dr. Pat Perry, patp@stedwards.edu
Mar. 26	Job and Internship Fair View employer list (updates): www.stedwards.edu/hilltopcareers Recreation and Convocation Center
Apr. 17	SOURCE 2009! Ragsdale Center 3rd floor and Jones Auditorium 9 - 3 Symposium on Undergraduate Research & Creative Expression Call for Oral Presentation Abstracts: deadline Feb. 20, 5:00 pm Call for Poster Presentation Abstracts: deadline Mar. 6, 5:00 pm

Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve

Last summer St. Edward’s University formed an affiliation with Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, 227 acres of Texas Hill Country on the east side of Loop 360.
The mission of Wild Basin is to encourage and support environmental research and education. There are hands-on opportunities for learning in areas such as ecosystem studies, environmental science and policy, geography, environmental ethics and sustainability practices.

Currently, senior Noel Chapi, Environmental Science & Policy major, is doing his Internship at Wild Basin under the faculty supervision of Dr. Peter Beck. St. Edward’s is playing an important role in the partnership with Wild Basin. Our own Dean of the School of Behavioral & Social Sciences, Dr. Brenda Vallance, is on the Board of Directors of Wild Basin, along with others from the university, including Dr. Charles Bicak and Dr. Al Hook from the School of Natural Sciences, Dr. Rob Manzer, Rhonda Cartwright, Joe DeMedeiros, and Mischelle Diaz from the administrative side of campus.

 

Wild Basin Special Programs for March and April
March 2009
15 Wild Basin Walk, 9:90-11:30 AM
20 STARGAZING AT WILD BASIN 7:30 PM
21 Indian Lore 10:00-11:00 AM
April 2009
17 STARGAZING AT WILD BASIN 8:00 PM
19 Wild Basin Walk 9:30-11:30 AM
25 Flintknapping 10:00-12:00 PM

Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve is a beautiful area with over 3 miles of hiking trails, open each day from sunrise to sunset. For more information check out their website, http://www.wildbasin.org/index.lasso or call 512-327-7622.

BSS Faculty Retiring 2008-9

Our deepest gratitude and thanks go to Dr. Perry McWilliams (Sociology and Global Studies) and Dr. Michael Farrall (Sociology) for their many years of service to St. Edward’s University and the School of Behavioral & Social Sciences. We wish them well, knowing that we will miss them both very much.

Phased Retirement
Two other BSS faculty members entered phased retirement during the 2008-2009 year: Dr. Jim Payne (Latin American Studies, former Associate Dean of BSS) and Dr. Jean Frank (Social Work). They will still be teaching but at a reduced course load.

Feb 17	President’s Meeting, 3:30 in Mabee Ballrooms
Feb 21-2	World History Association of Texas 2009 Conference on campus For information, contact Pat Perry, patp@stedwards.edu
Feb 23	Deadline for graduation certification. Students with May 09 graduation plans may verify their certification under Biographical information in EdWeb. Further questions? Contact Lindsey Taucher.
Feb 27 - Mar 1	Homecoming 2009 and Parents Weekend
Mar 2	Last day for students to file or withdraw Pass/NoPass declarations
Mar 2	Last day to convert Incompletes or initiate grade appeal for a course
Mar 6	BSS Faculty Development Day, Wild Basin Preserve, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Mar 6	Deadline for application to the Fall 2009 semester at Angers, France For information, contact Dr. Bill Nichols, williamn@stedwards.edu
Mar 16-20	Spring Break
Mar 26	Job and Internship Fair – RCC
Mar 30	Last day for students to withdraw from a class
Apr 9-10	Easter Break
Apr 13	Easter Monday - no classes
Apr 17	SOURCE – Ragsdale 3rd floor and Jones Auditorium
May 1	Last day of classes for the spring semester
May 1	University party honoring retiring faculty members, Dr. Mike Farrall (Sociology) and Dr. Perry McWilliams (Sociology and Global Studies) and Dr. Joby McClendon (Spanish)

Valerie Episcopo (Sociology has wonderful news to share with BSS. She successfully defended her dissertation January 16th at Syracuse University. The title of her dissertation is Strain and Weight Change. Congratulations, Val, from the entire BSS family!!

Promotion: Dr. Christie Sample Wilson (History and Global Studies) and Dr. Bill Nichols (Political Science & Global Studies) recently were promoted to Associate Professors. As Dr. Vallance notes, we’re “fortunate to have these outstanding teachers, scholars, and mentors as members of the BSS faculty!”

Advising Specialist for BSS, Lindsey Taucher,Dr. Brian Smith, recently attended a conference sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service, entitled “Called to Serve”. She received training on how to find jobs in government. Students who are interested in exploring job possibilities in that area are encouraged to meet with her. Sign up for an appointment on her office door in HCH 102.

Dr. Brian Smith (Political Science) presented his paper, “The Rise and Fall of a Political Maverick: Ken Livingstone and the London Mayoral Elections of 2000 and 2008,” at the Southern Political Science Association Meeting in January, 2009.

Dr. Christie Sample Wilson (History and Global Studies), supported by a Presidential Excellence grant, spent almost a month this summer in Paris and Valence working on archival research. The documents she found allowed her to complete the manuscript, Beyond Belief: Surviving the Edict of Nantes in France. In addition, she was able to begin researching two new projects, both set in the late 1600s. One is on the ways in which women asserted themselves to protect their families from the brutalities of royal policies, and the other is on the effectiveness of the caisse des conversions, a fund of money set aside to buy the conversion of French Protestants to Catholicism.

Valerie Episcopo (Sociology) will be making a presentation at the Western Social Science Association’s 51st Annual Conference in April. Based on some of the work from her dissertation, the presentation is entitled Chronic Strains Cause Weight Change, But Not Equally. This year the WSSA conference will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Dr. Jeannetta Williams (Psychology) recently received the honor of being the BSS nominee for Advisor of the Year. She currently advises 30 students formally assigned to her, as well as many others who look to her for advice and direction. Congratulations!

Dr. Sara Villanueva Dixon (Psychology) and her 2 research groups have been working hard. Psychology majors Taylor Abt and Audrey Fischer, along with recent SEU graduate Veronica Villa, will be presenting their work with Dr. V. at the upcoming Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) conference in San Antonio in April. Their research presentation is entitled “Eating and Exercise Behavior in Older Adolescent Young Men.”

Julia visited the University of Glasgow (above) during her semester in Ireland

Julia Baker (Criminal Justice) did a fall Study Abroad at the University of Ulster Magee in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She took classes on Genocide and International Politics (taught by a professor who had spent 10 years in Cambodia learning about the genocide of the Khmer Rouge), International Human Rights, and Government and Politics of Northern Ireland. Julia aspires to be a lawyer, and this experience has, in her own words, made her “very curious about the area of international criminal law and international human rights law.” One day she would like to “work in Europe as part of the UN and the International Criminal Court.”

Erin Conant and Victoria Sank (Psychology) are working on a manuscript that is based on research with Dr. V. on parenting across different ethnicities. Dr. Villanueva-Dixon is currently editing the manuscript for submission to the Journal of Family Psychology. The title is “Questioning the Deficiency Model: Investigating Differences in Parenting Behaviors Among Latino, African American, and Caucasian Families.”

Katherine Stowe (Sociology) will be presenting her research, “Student Attitudes Concerned with Urban Transportation: Progressive or Anticipated,” at the Western Social Science Association’s 51st Annual Conference in Albuquerque in April. She received departmental funds for her travel through a BSS Student Research Award.

Genevieve Cato (International Relations/English Literature) and friends Joseph Filip (Digital Media), Emma Tardif (Social Work), Garret Hall, and Jennifer Schrauth (English Writing/Rhetoric), drove to Washington for the recent Presidential Inauguration. They received help in renting a car from Student Affairs. It was a marathon drive, but what an adventure to be in Washington when history was made! Above is a picture the group took while there.

Psychology Interns are working at interesting sites this semester. For example, Charron Sumler is interning at Travis County Juvenile Probation Department, Michael Garza is working with the Mobile Art Program (a project of BSS’s own Theresa Bond Zelazny), Jake Adams is continuing his work at Austin Child Guidance Center, Katherine Johnson is interning at KidVenture Therapy, and Chaia Sanazaro is at Austin Children’s Shelter. Their faculty supervisor is Dr. Sara Villanueva Dixon, who is currently supervising a total of 31 interns.

On November 20, the following students were inducted into Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society: Stefon Andrews (History), James Byers (History/English Literature), Jessica Dillon (Political Science), Steven Ditto (History), Kimberly Winn (History). Dr. Mity Myhr is the group’s faculty adviser.

Two programs in Behavioral and Social Sciences that are on the rise are Social Work and Sociology.

The Social Work Program at St. Edward's University is dedicated to providing social work education to culturally diverse undergraduate students of all ages. The program promotes a strong sense of community, commitment to the pursuit of a more just world, belief in the dignity of the human person, and understanding of, and appreciation for, human diversity. Graduates are well prepared to enter the community as competent social work practitioners, to confront institutionalized forms of oppression, and to advance the achievement of social work and economic justice.

The program includes former Director and long-time faculty member, Dr. Jean Frank, and more recent additions, Dr. Stacey Borasky (current Director) and Dr. Debbie Webb (2008). Dr. Borasky took over leadership of the program in Fall, 2007.

The Social Work program is accredited by the Council on Social Work, which requires periodic reaffirmation, a process on which Dr. Borasky is currently focusing. Accreditation by the Council on Social Work recognizes the program's achievement of professional standards. Students who complete the Bachelors in Social Work (BSW) and meet GPA requirements of the graduate programs can be admitted to “advanced standing” status. That means students can complete the Masters in Social Work (MSW) in 3 semesters, both at The University of Texas and at Texas State University.

The Student Social Work Association has an active schedule of upcoming activities, including Lobby Day at the Capitol in April and a screening of a film about Abe Asheroff, lifelong activist who died last year at the age of 92. Political Science students study politics from the time of Plato all the way up to what you see in the news today. They study commentators (from Aristotle and Augustine to George Will and Cokie Roberts), practitioners (from czars and popes to current senators, prime ministers, and presidents), and the policy making process (legislative, executive and judicial arrangement of power). Because St. Edward’s is located in the capital city of Texas, there are unique opportunities to study and take part in politics.

The Sociology program is dedicated to the education of undergraduate students, the development of greater understanding of the social world, the ability to interpret social phenomena, and cultivating appreciation for the diversity and complexity of society. The program includes faculty member Dr. Michael Farrall, Val Episcopo, MA, RD, and Dr. Michelle Robertson (who will come on board in Fall, 2009).

Recent Sociology interns have worked at sites such as El Buen Samaritano Health Clinic, LiveStrong - Lance Armstrong Foundation, Teen Dating Abuse Hotline, Goodwill Industries, and Communities in Schools.

Approximately half of the graduates in Sociology accept jobs in organizational management where a sensitivity to cultural diversity is desirable. The other half decide to go on to graduate school to study in majors such as Sociology, Public Health, and Social Work. Some of last year’s graduates are currently enrolled in graduate study at: Columbia University, New York University, UT-San Antonio and UT-Austin.

Academics is not the only focus, however. Sociology majors host a “Social Palooza” every semester where students have fun speed socializing. Watch for the date for this upcoming event to be posted around campus.

Thomas and Josephine, children of Dr. Christie Sample Wilson (History), accompanied their parents on a trip to New York recently. I wonder if they’ll grow up to be historians like their mom … or international patent attorneys like their dad …