Academic Accomplishments

Susan Savage was one of fifteen artists whose works were part of a special exhibit (entitled “The Last Word”) that accompanied a national pastors’ conference on "Preaching in a Visual Age." The exhibit was held at the old Warner Brothers Pacific Theatre in downtown Hollywood. After the close of the conference the exhibit remains on view through the end of the month to minister to the Pacific Theatre's Ecclesia congregation and to the local Hollywood community at large. A traveling exhibition of the works is scheduled in the coming year.

Caryn Reeder recently spoke at a special section of the Society of Biblical Literature’s annual meeting in Chicago. The section was concerned with "Violence and Representations of Violence Among Jews and Christians," and her presentation was entitled "Explaining Defeat: Josephus Among the Greco-Roman Historiographers." In September she also spoke on the topic "Wives and Daughters: Women, Sex, and Violence in Biblical Tradition" at a symposium hosted by North Park Theological Seminary.

Helen Rhee also presented a paper at the Society of Biblical Literature's annual meeting in Chicago. Her essay was entitled "Do We Not Have the Right to Our Food and Drink? A Peek into the Development of Clerical Compensations in Christianized Patronage." It was part of a session on the "Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism."

In November Alister Chapman (photo) gave a presentation at the Evangelical Theological Society on John Stott's popularity in North America. The invitation came largely as a result of the recent release of Alister's biography of the long-time minister of All Souls Church in London: Godly Ambition: John Stott and the Evangelical Movement (Oxford University Press). Also at the ETS meeting Tremper Longman gave a paper on “The Theological Contribution of the Comparative Analysis of ANE Wisdom Texts—Job as a Case Study.” While back in the Midwest for several religious society meetings, Tremper was also elected President of the Institute of Biblical Research for a three-year term.

Mary Docter spoke in October at the XII Congreso Internacional de Poesía y Poética (12th International Congress on Poetry and Poetics), in honor of Mexican poet José Emilio Pacheco. The conference was held in Puebla, Mexico (at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla). The title of her talk was: "'Se hace entre todos': La poética de la reciprocidad en José Emilio Pacheco."

In January a couple faculty will be giving presentations on international military themes. Greg Orfalea (photo) will be giving a talk at the opening of the "Patriots and Peacemakers" exhibit at the University of California, Irvine, which treats Arab Americans in military and public service. Lisa DeBoer will speak at an interdisciplinary symposium on "Battlefield Emotions" at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. This interdisciplinary workshop will "study the emotions associated with combat experience as expressed in all possible media and social spheres," and "chart the changes that can be observed over time."

In late November Steve Contakes (photo), David Marten, and Michael Everest took six students to the Southern California Undergraduate Research Conference at California State University, Channel Islands. The six students presented a total of five papers. Steve's students presented the papers on the "Synthesis and Characterization of N-ferrocenyl isonicotinamide and Its Reaction with Co(salen)” and “Synthesis and Photophysical Characterization of Ruthenium-functionalized PAMAM Dendrimers."

Sarah Skripsky organized and co-led a session for writing center directors of small liberal arts colleges (SLAC) at the International Writing Centers Association Conference in San Diego during October. The session was entitled “SLAC-ers Unite: Finding Power and Making Knowledge in a Small College Setting." Participants included writing center directors from nearby institutions such as Harvey Mudd College, Occidental College, and Concordia University, as well as from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Colby-Sawyer College, Carthage College, Central College and Coe College. Under Sarah’s leadership, Westmont College will now host the Southern California Writing Centers Association's Tutor Conference in the spring of 2014.

Pearson, the world’s leading producer of educational materials, has just developed a website devoted to the approach to chemistry developed by Niva Tro (photo). There are two new books featured on the site—one that came out last spring and another that will be released this spring. Michelle Hughes and Jane Wilson co-presented at ACSI's (Association of Christian Schools International) final convention in Anaheim. Their collaborative presentation—entitled "Changing the Conversation"—encouraged teachers and administrators to lift discourse to a hope-filled and Christ-honoring conversation.

An article by Jonathan Leech (photo) , "Skew lattices and binary operations on functions" (with Karin Cvetko-Vah and Matthew Spinks), will soon appear in the Journal of Applied Logic. Edd Noell’s paper entitled "'Minding the Gap' in Economics: The Contribution of Redeeming Economics" was read at the 2012 History of Economics Society Conference at Brock University in Ontario, Canada last June. Tatiana Nazarenko has received a $1000 grant from the Council of Independent Colleges’ Engaging Evidence Consortium for the Critical Thinking component of our assessment efforts. The money will be used to sponsor a workshop and dinner during the upcoming spring term.

Susan Penksa spoke at Brussels in early November to the European Union and member state personnel working for the EU External Action Service at their headquarters for international crisis management. In Brussels, she also hosted a book discussion, signing, and launch event for her new book on the EU and global security at Waterstones Bookstore. On the day after the US elections, she was the invited speaker of the Heinrich Boll Foundation event on "The US Presidential Elections: What is at Stake for Europe?”

Randy VanderMey contributed to Distilling Life: Poems for Reflection and Meditation, published by ReSource, an Anglican charitable organization “dedicated to the renewal of people and churches for mission in a changing world.” Randy’s two-page poem is entitled “Easter.”