Faculty/Staff News
 Dee Erway-Sherwood, assistant professor of graphic design & program director was recently selected by the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission to create the 2008 Smoky Hill River Festival limited edition print series. The artist proof will be housed in the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission’s permanent collection, and the entire artists’ series consisting of two hundred and fifty prints will be on display and available for purchase by the public in the Salina Arts and Humanities office, and at the Smoky Hill River Festival in June.
 "Unacknowledged Behaviorist: An Appreciation of William Stephenson's 'Postulates of Behaviorism,'" written by Bryan D. Midgley, Associate Professor of Psychology, will be published in the upcoming issue of Operant Subjectivity. Stephenson's article, published in 1953, was a response to Kenneth Spence's (1948) "The Postulates and Methods of 'Behaviorism.'" In his retrospective appreciation, Midgley argues that "Stephenson's article... reveals a behavioral perspective on psychology, even though Stephenson is not usually regarded as a behaviorist." To make this case, Midgley discusses Stephenson's position on the psychological topics of dualism, monism, and research methods.
Ms. Amanda Christy ('08) and Dr. Ocie Kilgus attended the Annual Conference of the Kansas World Languages Association on November 2 and 3 in Wichita. As part of the conference, a select number of participants had the opportunity to make a classroom visit at the Horace Mann Dual Language Magnet School, a bilingual school that consistently has been the recipient of awards and recognition in the area of academic excellence. Both Ms. Christy and Dr. Kilgus had the privilege of being a part of the visiting group and enjoyed the opportunity to talk with administrators and teachers. Ms. Christy is scheduled to complete a portion of her student teaching at Horace Mann in the spring 2008.
Dr. Allan Ayella recently published an original research article in a peer-reviewed journal. The article is based on research work that Dr Ayella did during his doctoral program at Kansas State University. Dr. Ayella's current research interest is related to linking proper diet and exercise to cancer prevention. The article's abstract can be found at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/117346428/ABSTRACT.
Dr. Becki Bowman, assistant professor of communication, recently attended the National Communication Association Conference held in Chicago from November 15-18. During this conference, she presented a paper titled "A Categorization of Classroom Conflicts between Students and Teachers." The paper summarized research conducted on over 700 college students reporting about their perceived conflicts with classroom instructors. Three general findings came from this study: First, students tend to attribute responsibility of conflict to teachers; Second, students often report a lack of conflict, even when a conflict exists; and Third, most students' strategies for managing conflict were relatively stable, meaning that they did not change their method of managing a conflict across situations, but tended to use the same communication style in multiple situations.
This study was conducted by Dr. Bowman while she was in a doctoral program at Kent State University. During her tenure there, KSU's doctoral program in communication was ranked #1 in the nation for research productivity.
Dr. Ocie Kilgus attended the 30th Annual Global Studies Conference at the University of Nebraska at Omaha on October 5. She presented a paper titled: "Things Go Worse with Coca-Cola": The Insurgent Poetry of Hólger Córdova. The paper dealt with how his poetry exposes and challenges U.S. companies like Coca-Cola that wield enormous economic and cultural power in developing countries.
Dr. Jonathan Frye has been named section editor for the international Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. The aim of this encyclopedia is to provide the most comprehensive, cohesive, and objective coverage to date on the topic 'Science and Religion'. This work covers the widest spectrum possible of academic disciplines and religious traditions worldwide, with the intent of laying bare similarities and differences that naturally emerge within-across disciplines and religions today.
Dr. Frye has also been named as a panelist at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) conference in San Diego, November 17-20, 2007. The panel will be speaking and responding to the theme: Rethinking Science, Religion, and their possible relations.
On September 28, 2007, Dr. Gary R. Entz, associate professor of history at McPherson College, will present a paper before a joint session of the Communal Studies Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association. The conference will take place in Mentor, Ohio. The paper, entitled "William Bickerton and the Zion Valley Colony of Kansas," is a summation of two scholarly articles that Dr. Entz has published in KANSAS HISTORY: A JOURNAL OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS and THE JOURNAL OF MORMON HISTORY.
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