March 2001 University Reporter

Conference, Panels, and Presentations

CM Assistant Professor of Accounting James Bierstaker, in association with Arnold Wright, presented "The Interaction Between Auditor's Risk Perceptions and Partner Pressure on Audit Program Planning" at the 2001 Auditing Section 25th Anniversary Celebratory Midyear Conference, held in Houston in January.

Pamela Jones, associate professor of art history, delivered the keynote address, "The Recent Study of Art and Catholicism in Late-Cinquecento and Seicento Rome," at the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America at the Art Institute of Chicago on March 31.

In January, College of Public and Community Service Professor Herman Hemingway gave an invited lecture at the University of San Louis in San Louis, Senegal. His topic was "Martin Luther King Jr.: An Approach to Conflict Resolution through Non-Violence." He also lectured on civil rights in the U.S. at Suffolk University Extension in Dakar, Senagal.

CM Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Management and Marketing Michael Novak will present "Will Vinton Studios: The Collision of Creativity and Commerce" at the International Business Education Conference in March in Cancun, Mexico. Another paper, "Application Papers for Learning and Assessment in Organizational Behavior Courses," will be presented at the Applied Business Research Conference in March, also in Cancun.

Charles Meyers and the Applied Linguistics Program are hosting "The Third North American Symposium on Corpus Linguistics and Language Teaching" at the Park Plaza Hotel, March 23 - 25. The international conference is sponsored by the American Association for Applied Corpus Linguistics.

Elizabeth Sherman, McCormack Institute, and her husband Mickey Edwards, former congressman from Oklahoma and Kennedy School professor, will be the keynote speakers at the UMass Alumni Weekend in Naples, Florida, on March 3. They will discuss the national election, its implications for both parties, and the needed reforms to the electoral system.

On January 12, Vicky Steinitz, CPCS, copresented "Solidarity Work: Researchers in the Struggle for Social Justice," the keynote address at the 14th Annual QUIG Conference on Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies, at the University of Georgia.

Dennis J. Stevens, CPCS, will be delivering three papers, "Case Studies in Community Policing," "Three Generations of Incarcerated Sexual Offenders," and "Civil Liabilities and Arrest Decisions" at the annual conference of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, in Washington DC in April. In addition, Dorchester's police commander, Captain Robert Dunford, has asked Stevens to sit on his Neighborhood Action Council, which reviews police and community matters.

John Warner, Chemistry Department, has been invited to give plenary lectures at the Japan Catalysis and Fine Chemicals conference and workshop in Tokyo in March. His research was featured in the article "Green Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Boston" written by the Japan Chemical Innovation Institute, and in Chemistry in Britain, which featured an item on Warner's work using DNA to make materials important to the computer and electronics industry.

College of Public and Community Service Professor Asgedet Stefanos spent the winter break in Eritrea consulting on a project to establish a training center called "Women and Justice: Educational Skill Development Institute" that would help women from six ethnic groups to pursue a career in the justice system within Eritrea.

Ajume H. Wingo, philosophy professor and senior fellow at the McCormack Institute, participated in the Conference on the Advancement of Improvement in Teaching at UMass Boston on January 27, 2001. His presentation was titled "Chinua Achebe and Teaching Ethics." Wingo visited the University of Wisconsin, Madison in February to deliver two presentations: "Why We Dance: Esthetics in African Dancing," to the Dance Department, and "Living Legitimacy: A New Approach to Good Government in Africa," to the African Studies Program.

Publications

Deborah Brome, Psychology, has published two articles in the Journal of Black Psychology, "An Examination of Spirituality as a Protective Factor Among African American Women in Recovery from Substance Abuse" and "The Contribution of Africentric Values and Racial Identity to the Prediction of Drug Knowledge, Attitudes, and Use Among African American Adolescents."
Dick Cluster, Academic Support and Honors Programs, has published several new translations of Cuban short fiction. His translations of stories by Havana writer Antonio José Ponte appear in In the Cold of the Malecon and Other Stories and by the Cuban-American writer Sonia Rivera-Valdes in Forbidden Stories of Marta Veneranda.

The recently published second edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians contains over a dozen articles by Joseph Dyer, Music Department, on liturgical chant topics and music theory in the Middle Ages. His essay "Roman Catholic Church Music" is one of the most extensive articles in the 29-volume Dictionary. Several of his articles have already appeared in the comparable German-language encyclopedia, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

Joel Gerwein, a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Biology Track of the Environmental Sciences program, published "Forests As Providers of Ecosystem Services" in Conservation Perspectives, Winter 2001 (an e-publication of the Massachusetts Society for Conservation Biology). His article focuses on privately-owned forests in Massachusetts, and he evaluates the mechanisms for correcting inefficiencies in land development and their effectiveness.

Stephanie Hartwell, assistant professor of sociology, published an essay, "An Examination of Racial Differences Among Mentally Ill Offenders in Massachusetts," in Psychiatric Services in February.

Hanging Loose, the literary magazine and press, celebrated its 35th anniversary on January 29 at the National Arts Club in Manhattan. Dick Lourie, Publications, Mark Pawlak, director of academic support, and retired English professor Ron Schreiber were honored guests. The three, along with another colleague, are coeditors and publishers of the magazine, which has more than 100 titles in print.

Applied Linguisitics' Donaldo Macedo, with Lilia Bartolomé, College of Education, recently published A Educacao No Seculo with Artes Medicas Sul LTDA.

David Patterson, Music Department, has published "Beaver Moon" for Native American flute and percussion (bell, drum, notched stick, and bull-roarer) with J-P Publications, Colorado Springs.
Gopal Rao, Physics Department, and his group published "Processing of Medical Images Using Real-Time Optical Fourier Processing" in the Journal of Medical Physics in January. The paper outlines an analog optical interactive technique for cancer diagnostics and the possibility of developing a low-cost, portable, battery-operated instrument. UMass Boston's Office of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property is negotiating with companies to market the instrument.

Jean Rhodes, Psychology, has had her book Older and Wiser: Risks and Rewards in Youth Mentoring accepted for a spring publication by Harvard University Press.

Russell Schutt, professor of sociology, will publish Research Methods for Criminology and Criminal Justice with coauthor Ronet Bachman with Pine Forges Press Publication. Also, the third edition of Schutt's research methods book, Investigating the Social World ,has been published.

Dennis J. Stevens, CPCS, will publish his article "Civil Liabilities and Selective Enforcement" in the March issue of Law and Order. The journal also has accepted "The Elton Savory Murder Investigation," an article written by Stevens and Sgt. Roy Chambers, a member of the Boston Police Department and a CPCS student. Also, Community Policing Consortium has published Stevens' and cowriter Capt. Michael F. Masterson's article "Measuring Community Policing at Madison Police Department."

CM Assistant Professor of Management Science and Information Systems Peter Tarasewich has an article forthcoming in the Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce. "Aesthetics and Web Site Design" was coauthored with Harold Daniel and Hampton Griffin of the University of Maine.
Xuchen Wang, Environmental, Coastal and Ocean Sciences Department, recently published " Radiocarbon and stable carbon isotope compositions of organic compound classes in sediments from the NE Pacific and Southern Oceans" in Marine Chemistry.

Researchers at the Center for Social Policy have recently released a study "Homeless Management Information Systems: An In-Depth Look", which is a tool for communities looking to upgrade or implement such systems. The report reviews several leading software products, analyzes costs associated with operating them, and reviews the data elements collected by available software products.

Research and Grants

Bob Bowen of the ECOS department was honored with an "Outstanding Achievement Award in Teaching" for academic years 1999-2000, which was announced Dec 28, 2000 by Christine Armett-Kibel, dean, CAS Science Faculty.

CM Assistant Professor of Management Science and Information Systems Pratyush Bharati has received a Public Service Endowment Grant for his research on "Assimilation of Internet Based Technologies in Small and Medium Sized Manufacturers."

Carol L. Cardozo and Lisa K. Sussman, research associates at the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, have completed a study of the mental health needs of women who are in transition from welfare to work. The research analyzes the literature and reviews several programs across the country designed to meet the complex needs of this population. It will be available in March.

David Giessow, adjunct professor of voice in the Music Department, received a grant from the Somerville Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council to serve as an artist in residence at Somerville High School. He will coach the choral conductor and work with students in the high school chorus during the 2001 semesters.

College of Public and Community Service and Latino Studies Professor Ramona Hernández, and her co-principal investigator, Silvio Torres-Saillant, director of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at the City College of New York, have been awarded $76,000 by the Rockefeller Foundation for a major transnational conference entitled "Up from the Margins: Diversity as a Challenge of the Democratic Nation."

Seth Minkoff of the Department of Hispanic Studies/Latin American Studies Program has been awarded the Endowed Faculty Career Development Award for his proposal on "Syntax and Epistemology in Guatemalan Spanish," which explores his ongoing research into relationships between language and epistemology. The Endowed Faculty Career Development Fund was established by UMass Boston's retired faculty members; the award was distributed by the Awards Committee.

The Center for Immigrant and Refugee Community Leadership and Empowerment (CIRCLE) and the College of Public and Community Service have received $18,000 in funding from the Massachusetts Campus Compact for a community-based research project (ACE, Accessing College Education) that will explore the barriers immigrants face in accessing higher education. Further funding of $33,000 will be available to extend this one-year project over a three-year period. Sarah Bartlett and Elaine Ward are co-principal investigators.

The Center for Social Policy has received a 2001 Public Service Endowment grant from the University for Reality Check! Family Support Network in Massachusetts. The $3,500 grant will be used to disseminate findings from three recent CSP studies on the challenges emergency service providers face in their struggles to respond to the needs of families.

Appointments and Honors

The McCormack Institute's Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy will be undergoing a change in leadership. Former director Elizabeth Sherman has stepped down to devote more time to writing and teaching. Ann Froines, Women's Studies Program, and Catherine Lynde, chair of the Department of Economics, will serve as interim co-directors of the Center for the spring semester and serve as a transition to the new Center leadership.

In a ceremony attended by 1,200 people in New York City, Professor Ramona Hernández, CPCS and Latino Studies, was the recipient of the prestigious Medal of Our Lady of Altagracia, acknowledging her extensive professional service to the Dominican community. In the 13 years that this award has been given, Herández is the youngest recipient and one of the few not a member of the Catholic clergy.

CM Associate Professor of Marketing Raymond Liu has received a Fulbright Award to give lectures and conduct research at Tsinghua University in China. He has also been named to Who's Who Among America's Teachers, an accolade for which he was nominated by a former student.

Births

CM Assistant Professor of Accounting Susan Machuga is the proud mother of her second child and first son, Nicholas.

In the News

Bob Chen, associate professor in the Environmental, Coastal and Ocean Sciences Department, and his research on seawater caffeine levels were featured in a Boston Globe article on January 20.
Dana Marek, UMass Boston sophomore and Beacon hockey player, has been the focus of a number of media stories for ABC's Good Morning America, NBC's Today, Sports Illustrated, The Boston Globe, WBZ, WCVB, WHDH, and WLVI.

David Matz director of the Dispute Resolution Programs, was interviewed on WBUR on February 5 to discuss the five-year process of bringing together leaders of the pro and anti abortion campaigns for extensive dialog.

Elizabeth Sherman, McCormack Institute, was quoted in the New York Times on February 15, commenting on Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift's need to balance family and career in light of her expected appointment to Acting Governor when Paul Cellucci is confirmed as ambassador to Canada.

Tony Van Der Meer, Africana Studies, was quoted in the Boston Sunday Globe article "Black Artists Bridge Divide," on January 28.