FACULTY/STAFF

Gene Ann Behrens, professor of music and director of music therapy, shared the following achievements:

  • She presented at the 15th World Music Therapy Congress (WMTC) in Tsukuba, Japan, in July 2017, speaking on international guidelines for teaching and providing trauma therapy within other countries, especially low-income countries. The “13 International Road Signs for Trauma Work” also was published in the proceedings for the Congress.
  • She created and directed an interactive presentation for the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) Executive Board members that she delivered at the WMTC. The presentation related concepts about communication and networking to parts of a spinning drum. Each audience member created his or her own spinning drum and used it in a song at the end of the presentation to emphasize the concepts and analogies. About 12 WFMT board members participated in the presentation.
  • Behrens was the organizer and moderator for the Spotlight Session on Trauma at the WMTC. She edited and helped organize the presentations of four international speakers, gave a short opening presentation on the neurobiology of trauma and moderated questions at the end. This was her final task on the WFMT Board as she steps down after six years as chair of the Global Crises Intervention Commission.
  • She was the invited keynote speaker for the International Symposium on Music Therapy & Trauma/PTSD in Ede, The Netherlands, in June 2017. The Dutch Music Therapy Association and the European Music Therapy Confederation sponsored the symposium.
  • She also was invited to present a two-day experiential workshop on the neurobiology of trauma for an international group of about 50 music therapists gathering in Ede, and she taught two classes for music therapy students at the ArtEZ School of Music, Enschede, The Netherlands.

 

Jean-Paul Benowitz, director of student transition programs and prestigious scholarships and fellowships, gave a lecture as part of the July 2017 program celebrating 125 years of the Pennsylvania Chautauqua at Mount Gretna. The lecture was titled “Colemans, Kauffmans and Chautauquans: 125 Years of the Pennsylvania Chautauqua in the Hall of Philosophy.”

Dan Chen, assistant professor of political science and Asian studies, has a forthcoming article, titled “State Capacity and Cadre Mobilization in China: the Elasticity of Policy Implementation,” to be published in the Journal of Contemporary China. Chen co-authored this article with John James Kennedy from the University of Kansas.

Milt Friedly, professor of art, was selected to exhibit with the GAA Foundation at the European Cultural Center during the 16th Architectural Biennale in Venice, Italy, from May – November 2018. The GAA is a Dutch-based foundation that promotes international, contemporary art. Friedly is one of 30 sculptors invited to participate with 150 architects. The exhibition is titled “Time Space Existence.”

Lauren Gibson, assistant professor of chemistry, published a paper in Malaria Journal. The publication presents the development of an assay for diagnosis of malaria and results from analysis of patient samples from rural Zambia. The article can be accessed at DOI 10.1186/s12936-017-1996-4.

Michael G. Long, associate professor of religious studies and peace and conflict studies, has contracted with City Lights Books of San Francisco to publish “WE THE RESISTANCE: DOCUMENTING OUR HISTORY OF NONVIOLENT PROTEST.” The book will be published in Winter 2018.

James MacKay, associate professor of chemistry, was awarded a $196K grant from the National Science Foundation to work on the collaborative research project: “Nucleobase-Modified Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) for Sequence Selective Triple-Helical Recognition of Non-Coding Ribonucleic Acid (RNA).” The project is a partnership with Eriks Rozners, professor of chemistry and Chemistry Department chair at Binghamton University, who received a complementary award to support related activities. As part of this project, MacKay spends a sabbatical year at Binghamton University focused on jumpstarting the collaborative activities. The project is aimed at the development of new methods for molecular recognition of biologically-significant, non-coding RNA. The project expands interdisciplinary, collaborative research across traditional institutional boundaries and contributes to improving STEM education.

Steve Nolt, Senior Scholar and professor of history in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, was in Indiana in August 2017 conducting cultural competency workshops for approximately 200 U.S. Department of Agriculture field and office staff members who work with Amish populations in the Midwest.

Brenda Read-Daily, assistant professor of engineering, presented the poster, “Introducing Water Treatment Concepts Using Backpacking and Point-of-Use Technologies,” at the conference of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Hossein Varamini, the College’s Turnbull-Jamieson Professor of Finance and International Business and director of international business; Emma Neuhauser, associate professor of finance, and Trang Hoang ’15, international business, published the paper, “The Linkage between Insider Trading Activities, Market Efficiency and Stock Information Content” in the Journal of Business & Economic Policy. This manuscript will appear in the September 2017 issue of the Journal. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 12th Annual London Business Research Conference, July 10-12, 2017.

Varamini also published a collaborative research paper in the International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, Volume 3, No. 7 in June 2017, with two recent international business graduates Madison McCall and Jason Clough. The title of the paper is “An Empirical Investigation of the International Fisher Effect: Mexican Peso and United States Dollar.”

Joseph Wunderlich, associate prof of engineering and computer science and the computer engineering program coordinator, was invited to speak at the 2017 Phoenix Contact Edunet conference in Vienna, Austria, is summer 2017. The audience included approximately 100 people representing 19 of the 29 countries in the Edunet. Wunderlich was the only U.S. citizen at the conference.

 

STUDENTS

Blair Hendricks ’18, international business major, attended the Landmark Conference Summer Research Symposium in July 2017 and presented a talk about her SCARP research project, “AASHE STARS: The Coordination and Funding of Sustainability Efforts at Elizabethtown College.”

 

COLLEGE

Elizabethtown College won two 2016-2017 national awards from Alpha Lambda Delta, the National Honor Society for First-Year Students. The Alpha Award calculates the yield percentage of new member invitees. Elizabethtown earned an Alpha Silver — for 80- to 89-percent participation. The College also earned a Delta bronze for a 10- to 24-percent increase over the previous year.

 

E-town NOW publishes achievements of our faculty and staff members once per month during academic semesters and less frequently during breaks.  Submit your achievement here.