Current News

Faculty members from three departments will engage in a lively roundtable discussion on The Future of Moderate Republicanism, placing today’s political situation and midterm election results in perspective. Held at 7:00 pm, January 30 in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theatre, the discussion will revolve in part around the release of the book Modern Republican: Arthur Larson and the Eisenhower Years (Indiana University Press, 2006), by David Stebenne, History. (Larson was chief presidential speechwriter during the Eisenhower administration.) The panelists will look at the last time the moderates were in charge of the national GOP, why they lost control, and their prospects now for regaining influence in the party. Panelists include Stebenne; Paul Beck, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; and moderator Nancy Rogers, Moritz College of Law. The event, which is free and open to the public, will include a Q&A session with audience members and will be followed by a reception and book-signing. Co-sponsors include the College of Humanities, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies, John Glenn School of Public Affairs, and Wexner Center for the Arts. An RSVP is requested to alcalde.1@osu.edu

Nick Breyfogle, History: “Prayer and the Politics of Place: Molokan Church Building, Tsarist Law, and the Quest for a Public Sphere in Late Imperial Russia,” in Sacred Stories: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Russian Culture, eds. Heather Coleman and Mark Steinberg (Indiana University Press, 2006).

David Cressy, History: Literacy and the Social Order: Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart England (Cambridge University Press, first paperback edition 2006).

Jared Gardner, English: "Archives, Collectors, and the New Media Work of Comics," Modern Fiction Studies 52 (Winter 2006): 787-806.

David Herman, English: review of Considering Counter-Narratives: Narrating, Resisting, Making Sense, eds. Michael Bamberg and Molly Andrews, Language and Society 36.2 (2007): 278-284.

Daniel Prior, History: The Semetey of Kenje Kara: A Kirghiz Epic Performance on Phonograph, with a Musical Score and a Compact Disc of the Phonogram (Turcologica, Band 59), edited,translated and with an introduction and commentary by Daniel Prior; Kirghiz text transcribed with the assistance of Ishembi Obolbekov (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006).

John C. Rule, History, was honored at the Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the Western Society for French History, October 19-21. The panel “In Honor of John C. Rule” was chaired by Linda Frey (University of Montana) and panelists were John Stapleton (United States Military Academy); and Charlie Steen (University of New Mexico).

Graduate student Patrick Carr, English, presented “Postmodern Architecture and the Politics of the Discontinuous Eye: A Conversation Between Daniel Libeskind and Fredric Jameson,” Rethinking Precarity Conference, The Ohio State University, January 19.

Alcira Dueñas, History, presented “Amerindians and the Colonial Church: A Reinterpretation of Native Struggles for Social Inclusion in Colonial Peru,” at the American Historical Association meeting, Atlanta, January 7.

Ivonne García, English, presented “Anticipating Colonialism: American Letters on Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1831-1835,” Nineteenth-Century American Literature Division, Modern Language Association Convention, Philadelphia, December 28.

Judson L. Jeffries, African American and African Studies, was invited by the Young Professionals Association to speak at the Columbus Urban League on the significance of Dr. Martin L. King Jr.'s legacy, January 18.

Pranav Jani, English, presented “Troops Out Now? Iraq and ‘The White Man's Burden,’” Speaker Series for American Political Thought and Radicalism course, Thomas Worthington High School, Worthington, January 2007.

Sebastian Knowles, English, presented “The Idealization of Space in Irish Literature, a guest lecture for International Studies 501 (Larson), January 2007.

Glenn Kranking, History, presented "Island People: Transnational Identification, Minority Politics, and Estonia's Swedish Population" at the Center for Baltic and East European Studies at Södertörn University College in Stockholm, Sweden, January 17.

Xilao Li (Harper College, Chicago, IL) will present “The Reception of African American Literature in China,” 3:00 pm, January 26, 347 University Hall. Contact: Department of African American and African Studies, 292-3700.

Dana Renga (Colorado College), a candidate for a position in Italian, will present “Visualizing the Confino: Homosexuality and Internal Exile in Mussolini's Italy,“ 4:00 pm, January 26, 185 Mendenhall Lab. Contact: Department of French and Italian, 292-4938.

The opening reception for Imaging Antiquity: Selections from the Jack Balcer Image Archive starts at 5:00 pm, January 26, Faculty Club. The Visual Resources Library in the History of Art Department houses the personal slides of the late Jack Balcer, professor of ancient history from 1971-2003, during which time he earned the Outstanding Teaching Award and the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award. A prolific photographer, Professor Balcer employed visual aids as a means to engage and instruct students on how to regard the past. The Jack Balcer Image Archive consists of nearly 30,000 slides documenting his scholarly research on the Athenian Empire, Greek and Roman Numismatics, and the Persian Empire. The exhibit will be on display at the Faculty Club from January 26 to March 16. Contact: Visual Resources Library, 292-0520.

Neil Tennant, Philosophy, will present “Existence and Identity in Free Logic: A Problem for Inferentialism?,” 3:30 pm, January 29, 350 University Hall, in the Philosophy Colloquium. Contact: Department of Philosophy, 292-7914.

Erin McGraw, Jason Tucker, and Michael Martinez will participate in the Student/Faculty Reading, 7:00 pm, February 1, 2007, 311 Denney Hall. Contact: Creative Writing Program, 292-2242.

Ignacio Corona, Spanish and Portuguese, will present "Material Negotiations of Identity in Guadalajara," 5:30 pm, February 8, Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Avenue, for the Dinner Lecture Series sponsored by the Center for Folklore Studies. The OSU community is welcome, but space for dinner is limited; RSVPs are requested. Contact: Sheila Bock, smbock99@yahoo.com by January 26.

John Guilmartin, History, will lead a panel of three graduate students who are veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, noon, January 30, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Avenue. Sergeant Valerie Hudson, Captain Pete Rayls, and Major Thomas Spahr will talk about their experiences, with plenty of time for question and answer. The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be served to students and faculty who RSVP to Ann Powers at powers.108@osu.edu no later than January 26. Contact: Department of History, 292-2674.

On February 2, the Writing Programs of the Department of English will sponsor the Writing Pedagogy Forum with the Digital Media Project Staff speaking on "The End(s) of New Media." The talk will be from 1:30-3:00pm and will be held in 131 Mendenhall Laboratory. Faculty, Lecturers, and Graduate Teaching Assistants are welcome and refreshments will be provided.

Kazadi wa Mukuna (Kent State University) will present "The Enigma of Bumba-meu-Boi," 3:30 pm, February 2, George Wells Knight House, 104 East 15th Avenue, for the Lusophone Globalicities Working Group. Co-sponsored by the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, Department of African American and African Studies, the School of Music, the Department of Theatre, the Center for Folklore Studies, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and the Center for Latin American Studies. (Visit the the Library Web site.) Contact: Daniel Avorgbedor, avorgbedor.1@osu.edu, or Richard Gordon, gordon.397@osu.edu.

A viewing of the documentary "The Invisible Children: Rough Cut" and panel discussion begin at 7:30 pm, February 5, in the Drexel Gateway Theater. This wonderfully reckless film exposes the effects of a 20-year long war on the children in Northern Uganda through the eyes of three young traveling Americans. The panel discussion will include Scopas Poggo, African American and African Studies-Mansfield; Antoinette Errante, Educational Policy & Leadership, and alumna Halle Butvin, who is leading a student youth summit in Uganda. Contact: Elise Kahl at kahl.25@osu.edu.

John Wenzel (Biological Sciences) will present “Mauritius, Island of the Lost,” at 7:00 pm, February 8, Columbus Museum of Art, in conjunction with the Museum’s “Harrio Kallio: Dodos and Mauritius Island” exhibition and its Big Picture Series. Contact: Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, 688-0265.

On February 9, the Writing Programs of the Department of English will sponsor the Writing Pedagogy Forum with the Digital Media Project Staff speaking on "Whose Text? Plagiarism, Copyright, and Cultural Differences." The talk will be from 1:30-3:00pm and will be held in 131 Mendenhall Laboratory. Faculty, Lecturers, and Graduate Teaching Assistants are welcome and refreshments will be provided.

Gerhild Scholz Williams (Washington University, St. Louis) will present “The Global and the Local: Wonders in the News,” 2:30 pm, February 9, 90 Science and Engineering Library, in The Marvelous Lecture Series. Contact: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 292-7495.

David Sanson, Philosophy, will present “A Defense of Meinongian Presentism,” 3:30 pm, February 12, 350 University Hall, in the Philosophy Colloquium. Contact: Department of Philosophy, 292-7914.

The College will host its 10th annual career-exploration event designed for Humanities majors, 6:00-8:30 pm, February 15, Faculty Club. Please encourage your students to attend; students of all ranks will benefit from this interaction with alumni. Contact: College of Humanities, 292-1882.

The College of Humanities Staff Advisory Committee invites you to nominate a colleague for the College’s Above and Beyond the Call (ABC) Awards for Winter Quarter 2007. ABC nominations are a great way to show appreciation and support for colleagues! All staff members of the College of Humanities are eligible to win, except for those who are currently serving on the Staff Advisory Committee. Staff may be nominated by a faculty member or by a fellow staff member. To nominate a staff member for this award, simply send an email to Natascha Miller, miller.521@osu.edu, briefly describing the nominee's Above and Beyond the Call qualifying act. Read more about Above and Beyond the Call. Members of the 2006-07 Staff Advisory Committee include Patty Burba, French and Italian; Dave Johnson, Humanities Information Systems; Debbie Knicely, East Asian Languages and Literatures; Natascha Miller, Germanic Languages and Literatures; and Chad Schneider, Foreign Language Center.