Eberly Magazine

Dear friends, At the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, we expect our students, faculty, staff, and alumni to be aware of the rapid rate at which our world is changing. At the same time, we want more. We want them to be active participants in facilitating that change.

That means while our students are here in Morgantown, we work hard to prepare them for the growing “community” that extends across the country and beyond. Our students and faculty are encouraged to take advantage of, and create, opportunities that globalize the learning environment.

That’s why we’ve focused this issue of Eberly on the influence our students, faculty, staff and alumni are having abroad, and the impact those experiences are having on them.

This issue highlights some of the initiatives our College, and our University, have taken to ensure that our students have access to a life-changing, global education.

Like Marlenea Morgan, a first-generation college student, who took her first flight this summer when she traveled to Israel through the Religious Studies Program’s annual archeological dig in Bethsaida.

Our faculty are building graduate-level and post-graduate bridges for students through international opportunities including the Atlantis Program, a dual enrollment initiative whose participants receive both a master’s degree in history from WVU and either a master’s in social sciences from the University of Tartu in Estonia or a master’s in international relations from Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, Poland. Students spend at least one full semester in each of the three locations.

And the University as a whole continues to strengthen the United States’ partnership with China through collaborations with individuals in disciplines such as nanotechnology, world languages, business, and the arts.

Awareness of the evolving global landscape makes our students competitive and is just as important as knowledge of physics formulas, math equations, and historical dates.

I couldn’t be more excited about the global opportunities facing our students and faculty, and I hope you agree with me in finding that this edition of Eberly provides a glimpse of how the College is extending its reach and fulfilling its global mission.

Thanks to your generosity, Eberly is able to keep pace with constant innovations around the world. We appreciate your support of us in this undertaking.

Sincerely,

Robert H. Jones, PhD Dean

ADMINISTRATION James P. Clements, PhD, President, West Virginia University Michele Wheatly, PhD, Provost Robert Jones, PhD, Dean Joan Gorham, EdD, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs Fred King, PhD, Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies Asuntina Levelle, JD, Associate Dean, Financial Planning and Management Katherine Karraker, PhD, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies L. Christopher Plein, PhD, Associate Dean, School of Applied Social Sciences Bonnie Fisher, Director of Development

Contents IN THIS ISSUE 2 Around the College 6 Vox Populi 6 Understanding “Oneness” 8 From WVU to the Cold War and its Aftermath

11 Discovering Atlantis 14 Tangé Ne Giri 16 Ancient Wonder, Modern World

EDITORIAL STAFF

20 East Meets West Virginia

Devon Copeland, Executive Editor Rebecca Herod, Executive Editor Kathy Deweese, University Editor Dustin Mazon, Web Designer

24 A Mountaineer in Paris

ART DIRECTION & DESIGN Forrest Conroy Angela Caudill Sue Crist Graham Curry Chris Schwer CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Emily Christensen Jared Lathrop Diana Mazzella Christine Schussler Jake Stump Ashley Wells PHOTOGRAPHY M.G. Ellis, Senior Photojournalist Brian Persinger, Photojournalist Daniel Friend, Photography Manager (Ret.) Jake Lambuth, Photography Intern Todd Latocha, Photography Intern

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More than 450 WVU students have traveled to China to expand their studies in language, culture, nanotechnology, ceramics, painting, forestry and business, among other disciplines.

28 Where the Art Grows 32 New and Notable 32 Writing the Book on Inequality 34 Science on Tap 37 Escaping the Poverty Trap

38 Awards and Honors

38 Adding Wisdom to Knowledge 40 Meet WVU’s First WiSE Women 42 Making ADVANCEs in Research

Starting this month, we’ve created “digital jumps” that take you from the pages of Eberly to additional online content.

Using a Quick Response (QR) reader for your smartphone, you can now view additional video, photos or interesting facts that enhance what you’re reading. For a list of free QR readers, visit http://bit.ly/3xundO to download a compatible reader for your smartphone.

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Eberly alumna Heather Hartley is the author of Knock Knock (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2010) and Paris editor for Tin House magazine.

Her poems, essays and interviews have appeared in or on PBS Newshour, The Guardian, and other venues and anthologies.

COVER ILLUSTRATION Forrest Conroy EDITORIAL OFFICE Rebecca Herod Director of Marketing and Communications PO Box 6286 Morgantown, WV 26506-6286 Rebecca.Herod@mail.wvu.edu CHANGE OF ADDRESS WVU Foundation PO Box 1650 Morgantown, WV 26507-1650 wvuf@wvuf.org VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT eberly.wvu.edu

If you would like to access archival editions of the magazine, go to eberly.wvu.edu and select the Alumni link.

WVU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action institution.

West Virginia University is governed by the West Virginia University Board of Governors and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.

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WVU graduate and former research hydrologist Annie Morris Simcoe now works as a paper/mixed media artist in Accident, Maryland. The artist makes her own plantbased paper, dyes it and then sews it into her colorful, signature designs. eberly.wvu.edu

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Around the College WVU research discovers military couples experience less stress over communication than non-military couples Military couples face a number of hardships and obstacles not experienced by other couples. However, couples with one member in the military actually experience less stress in their interpersonal communication than other couples, according to research performed by the WVU Communication Studies Department.

Melanie Booth-Butterfield, a communication studies professor, collaborated with four graduate students on the research after teaching a graduate seminar on interpersonal communication in which students voiced interest in how couples communicate when one person is in the military.

Up until this point, little research on military couples has focused on how these couples talk and seek information in their relationships — most has focused on conflicts, self-disclosure, and adaptation problems.

The results of the research, Booth-

Butterfield said, were surprising.

“Nonmilitary couples are actually more stressed out in their relationships than military couples,” she said.

This research, which was published in the June issue of Communication Studies, raises additional questions. Is this because the “value” of what they communicate when they might not get to see someone again is higher?

Is it because nonmilitary couples don’t know how to take advantage of every minute they have with their partners? Is it that “everyday talk” actually helps to relieve stress?

Couples engage in “everyday talk” when they discuss their daily activities and how they spend their time, sharing the mundane small talk that normalizes relationships, BoothButterfield said. Military couples, overall, see this as being more important than other couples do and make more of an effort to engage in this “everyday talk.” An example

s ount te c u n i ym ever resilie nt to stress

would be when couples discuss how they spent their day, such talk” “everyday as getting the kids ready for school and other routine activities.

She said it is also possible that military couples are naturally more resilient to stress than other couples or that they handle stress more effectively, because they are expecting it and prepare themselves. Alternatively, people who know they would not be able to handle separations may opt out of such relationships.

These results, Booth-Butterfield said, will likely lead to further research on the subject of communication in military relationships. The next step could be to apply this study to see if these variables predict how well veterans will readjust to civilian life. She also is working on a study with an undergraduate student about relationship satisfaction during different phases of deployment.

A Glimpse into Forensic Science

When CSI: Crime Scene Investigation premiered on CBS in October 2000, few could have guessed the effect the television show would have on pop culture or the increased interest it would spark in forensic science careers.

Now, 11 years later, the Forensic and Investigative Science Program at West Virginia University has given middle and high school students the chance to experience a week in the life of a real crime scene investigator by hosting its first day camp.

The Forensic Science Day Camp ran July 18-29 with separate one-week sessions for 7th-9th grade students and 10th-12th grade students. The camp was promoted at 15 local middle and high schools in Morgantown, Fairmont, and Bridgeport. However, students came from as far away as North Carolina to participate in the camp.

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photography, fingerprinting, blood spatter analysis, DNA analysis, trace evidence microscopy, and tool marks. The students were taught by forensic science faculty, and supervised by students from the program. At the end of the week, campers were able to process a mock crime scene at the WVU photo by Brian Persinger Crime Scene Complex.

Miles Wheaton-Hill uses fingerprint analysis during a mock crime “I’ve learned so much this scene investigation staged at the Evansdale Crime Scene Complex in July. week it’s unreal,” said Keri McDaniel, a senior from Morgantown.

“I gave a speech at University High “I’ve always thought this stuff was cool School in Morgantown on the O.J. Simpson on TV, but seeing hair samples under a trial,” said Tina Moroose, camp director. “I microscope really puts it in perspective. I realized after talking to the students there was definitely want to learn as much as I can before a great interest in forensics. When I got back I come to WVU next year to study forensics.” to campus, I proposed the idea for a camp and we immediately started planning. We’ve had 44 students between both camps, so I’d say it has been very successful in its first year.”

Campers learned to collect evidence using

For more information about next year’s camp, contact Tina Moroose at tina.moroose @mail.wvu.edu.

What was bad for fish was good for the fish’s food, according to a paper published in a May edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. New information about a mass extinction that decimated ocean life 360 million years ago is giving researchers further insight into long-term predator-prey relationships. Researchers from West Virginia University, the University of Chicago, and the Ohio State University found that the mass extinction, known as the Hangenberg event, produced a “natural experiment” in the fossil record with results that mirror modern observations about predator-prey relationships.

“The effects of predation not only An artist’s rendering of a shallow marine ecosystem during the early cause individual species Carboniferous Period. Crinoids include the camerates Dizygocrinus (under attack, bottom center, left) and the spiny Dorycrinus (bottom center, right), and to either adapt or go the cladids Decadocrinus (bottom left) and Abrotocrinus (bottom right). Fishes extinct, predation can include the cochliodont Deltoptychius (bottom center), the petalodont Janassa Thomas Kammer, PhD (left of center), the chondrenchelyiform Chondrenchelys (far left), and the also cause entire groups actinopterygian Amphicentrum (upper right). of organisms to either adapt or go extinct. Also, when mass extinction greatly affects either predator or “We’ve been puzzled for many years as to why there teeth in the Devonian Period prey groups, we see a corresponding were so many species and specimens of crinoids,” were useless against new species impact in the other group,” said Kammer said.

“There had to be some underlying of fish that used “crushing” teeth. study coauthor Thomas Kammer, evolutionary and ecological reason for that.”

Through research, scientists Eberly College Centennial Professor become more knowledgeable of Geology. about how species deal with their adversaries in the wild, said Lewis The Devonian Period was a time of astonishing diversity for Cook, a 1973 WVU alum who participated in the investigation marine vertebrate species. That thriving world was devastated by the when he returned to the University to pursue his doctoral degree in Hangenberg event, a mass extinction of unknown origin 360 million paleontology. years ago that set the stage for modern biodiversity. The next 15 He said it is rewarding to discover new and original information million years in the fossil record are dominated by crinoids, a surviving that may contribute to the understanding of how certain life forms species similar to modern sea lilies and related to starfish. evolved and survived on Earth.

“We’ve been puzzled for many years as to why there were so many Funding for the research was provided by the National Science species and specimens of crinoids,” Kammer said. “There had to be Foundation, the Paleontological Association, the Paleontological some underlying evolutionary and ecological reason for that.”

Society, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, and Datasets revealed that as fish populations thrived in the Devonian the Evolving Earth Foundation.

Period, crinoid diversity and abundance remained low. However, after the Hangenberg event devastated fish species, crinoids thrived, diversified, and multiplied.

As fish species recovered to previous levels, crinoid populations declined. Fossils suggest that the long period of dominance left the crinoids especially vulnerable to a new predator. The hard armored shells they had developed to defend against fish with sharp “shearing”

Learn about the Devonian Period. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/ science/prehistoric-world/devonian/

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Robert Nicholls

Geology Professor Researches Mass Extinction

Around the College Bullying Goes Digital In the online universe, freedom of speech operates on a largely anonymous, round-the-clock forum that can be relatively consequence free. Researchers at West Virginia University are examining what happens when someone uses that forum as a digital schoolyard in which to bully college students.

William Fremouw, a psychology professor, and graduate student Allison Schenk conducted the third survey in the world (so far) about college students who are bullied by someone via technology.

They presented their findings last March at the American Psychology and Law Society’s international conference in Miami, Florida.

Cyberbullying is repeated and intentional bullying using mediums of technology, such as the Internet and cell phones. Schenk is crafting her master’s thesis on cyberbullying’s effect on college students. While experts say that online aggression typically peaks in high school, college students are increasingly finding themselves victims of online harassment.

“When I began my thesis in fall 2009, I was not able to locate any published research about cyberbullying among college students,” she said.

“As far as I have found, my thesis is the first examining the psychological impact, suicidal behaviors, and coping strategies of cyberbullying victims in college.”

In 2010, high-profile cases of college students committing suicide — including the death of a Rutgers University student who jumped off of New York’s George Washington Bridge two days after his roommate secretly broadcast him having a sexual encounter with another man — have led to the issue evolving from water cooler conversation to a legislative platform.

Schenk conducted an online survey to examine whether undergraduate students at WVU had ever considered themselves victims of cyberbullying, and she received 799 responses. More than half of the respondents — 572 — were females. The other 227 4

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responses were from males.

Of the responses, 69 said they had experienced cyberbullying at WVU and had been the victim of at least one form of cyberbullying four or more times. They expressed higher occurrences of depression, anxiety, and paranoia than the control group.

Of the survey respondents who had been cyberbullied, four had attempted suicide.

Males and females tended to cope with being cyberbullied in similar ways. Both males and females told someone, avoided friends, got revenge, and/or stopped going to events and activities.

In addition females avoided the Internet

and cell phones. Males in the survey drank alcohol and used illegal drugs as a coping mechanism.

Schenk’s research will next explore the perpetrators of cyberbullying, as well as the people in their lives. Parents, peers, and partners of those who cyberbully, she said, will give some insight to their destructive and dangerous behavior. She is looking for differences in personality styles, criminal behaviors, criminal thinking styles, alcohol and drug use, psychological symptoms, and suicidal behaviors. With this information, she hopes to find ways to prevent cyberbullying by understanding what causes bullies to start hurting others.

Resources If you or someone you know is experiencing cyberbullying, there are resources available to you.

Anti-Defamation League http://www.adl.org/education/cyberbullying Provides information on in-school workshops and tips for responding to cyberbullying.

Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use www.csriu.org Provides effective strategies to assist young people in developing the skills to behave in a safe, responsible, and legal manner when using the Internet.

Cyberbullying Research Center cyberbullying.us Explores the causes and consequences of online harassment; includes fact sheets and resources.

Cybersmart! cybersmart.org/profile Provides online professional development and free curricular resources on cyber safety, Internet ethics, creativity, and critical thinking.

Stop Cyberbullying stopcyberbullying.org Provides definitions, strategies, and legal considerations related to cyberbullying.

Professor Appointed to West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission One hundred and fifty years ago, the first land battle of the Civil War was fought in Philippi, West Virginia, then a part of Virginia.

Today, the Mountain State is commemorating its origins, and a West Virginia University professor is on the commission that promotes awareness of the war’s anniversary and marks the state’s unique role in the conflict.

Aaron Sheehan-Dean, the Eberly Family Professor of Civil War Studies, is one of four new members named to the West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission in the spring. He serves as an academic historian within the 13-member group.

“This anniversary is a great opportunity for the state of West Virginia,” Sheehan-Dean said.

“As the only state to be created out of the Civil War, and having been right in the middle of the conflict, its history is very rich. This is a great opportunity to draw in visitors to the state.”

Formed in 2009, the commission is made up of representatives from the Legislature, key state agencies, historians, and scholars.

It is helping various organizations and groups around the state organize and coordinate events, ranging from programs for grade school children to events for the general public.

Throughout 2011, West Virginia organizations are hosting battlefield tours, lectures, and Civil War reenactments.

“My hopes for the commission are educational in the broadest sense. I hope that people from all different backgrounds get the opportunity to learn about and discuss the Civil War,” Sheehan-Dean said.

Sheehan-Dean is teaching a course this fall that examines the Civil War and Reconstruction era. He has published five books on the Civil War, including Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia. His most recent book, Concise Historical Atlas of the US Civil War, includes data maps and covers key political and social changes before and after the war years.

Aaron Sheehan-Dean, PhD

Department of History Digs Into the Civil War In 2008, the Department of History entered into an internship partnership with National Civil War sites at Richmond and Fredericksburg, Virginia.

In 2009, graduate students in the Department created podcast walking tours for Civil War sites in Shepherdstown and Morgantown, West Virginia.

Kati Singel (MA, 2010) has worked on the “Civil War to Civil Rights” mapping project since 2007. She oversaw the creation of the National Park Service Sesquicentennial website.

http://www.nps.gov/civilwar150/

A Whole New World The term “foreign languages” does not fully reflect all that the Department of Foreign Languages at West Virginia University has to offer.

Because of this, the department decided to make a change and has now more fittingly become the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics.

“The former name lacked inclusivity. We have offerings such as linguistics, the Intensive English Program, the Teaching English as a Second Language minor, and the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages graduate concentration,” said Ángel Tuninetti, chair of the Department.

“We needed to make the name more modern and inclusive enough to represent all we have to offer.”

The name change became official September 9, and was approved by the WVU Board of Governors after a months-long process that started with a discussion within the Department’s faculty as to whether the change was necessary.

“The selection process wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t perfect, but this new name is the best we could do to cover the diversity of our department,” Tuninetti said.

This new name, he added, also is more compliant with the state Department of Education, which lists language initiatives under “World Languages.”

This is just one more in a series of initiatives within the Department as it strives to continue enlarging students’ understanding of, and appreciation for, other countries. In addition to expanding its teaching corps, in the past four years the Department has grown to include a Chinese studies major, a Japanese studies minor, an Italian studies major, Arabic and Portuguese language offerings, and new study abroad opportunities.

For more information, contact Ángel Tuninetti, chair of the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, at angel.tuninetti@mail.wvu.edu. eberly.wvu.edu

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Understanding ‘Oneness’:

The Importance of Mutual Exchange in Tourism

by Abra Sitler

A

mericans have predefined images of Africa. Socially prescribed stereotypes project a distorted and simplified idea of what we have come to know, not as individual countries, but as the “dark continent.”

Many of us envision Africa as a hot, desolate jungle riddled with famine, war, disease, misery, and poverty. We think of a strange world beyond our realm of understanding, a place unrelated and incomparable to our own. We draw divisions between “us” and “them,” and often fail to recognize our existent and overwhelming similarities.

In my time in Africa over a period of seven months in seven countries, I saw relationships established between white tourists and black locals. Many tourists only travel and converse with other tourists and fail to learn from, or immerse themselves in, the culture.

This boundary often extends beyond skin color and carries into economic class as well.

Whites in Africa, whether they are residents or tourists, tend to be wealthy. Tourists are almost universally white. Blacks tend to be less traveled and poorer in Africa. Whether it is the intention of many tourists to abstain from cultural immersion, local blacks often interpret their actions as intentional and racially motivated. This reinforces ideas of separation based upon skin color. The lack of interaction between whites and blacks perpetuates ideas of difference, strangeness, and “otherness”—ideas we need to move away from in our globalized, interconnected society.

The concept of the “other” stems from the colonial era and attempts to maintain a degree of intellectual control between “whites” and “blacks,” and to instill a sense of inferiority among “blacks.” Many Africans believe this continues to dominate the framework of thought for white tourists because of the way

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Abra Sitler and her friend, local artist Prosper Jones, stand in front of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

Sitler is a senior at WVU majoring in english and biology. After she graduates in May 2012, she plans to join the Peace Corps. Sitler is from Bramwell, West Virginia.

many tend to travel. Damage from a great deal of tourism continues to affect race relations and project a distorted image not only of Africa, but also of the intentions of the average white tourist. The typical local African sees the typical white tourist traveling with other white tourists, staying in accommodations owned by white Africans or other white, foreign investors, and leaving without ever having any meaningful interaction with locals.

Before traveling, we must think of the way we travel, and how our actions can potentially benefit or harm the country and culture we are visiting. Many locals informed me that seeing concentrated pockets of wealth among white residents and tourists in Africa also reinforces a sense of inferiority among blacks, yet another product of colonization. What tourists need

to consider is how actions are interpreted in whatever setting they are in, where their money is going, and who is benefiting from that investment.

This is important for race relations, as well as learning to think in a global, unified way in our modern world. From my experiences in southern and eastern Africa as a student, tourist, and volunteer, it became clear that there isn’t often a positive or beneficial exchange between tourists and locals.

I witnessed the negative cultural effect of tourism on several occasions. In the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana, I stood with my back bent against the African sun alongside Botswana University students as we worked on

a wildlife conservation trip. Our chatter was drowned out every few minutes by the roar of jet engines as we watched flocks of European and North American tourists descend to a smooth landing in private jets.

Tourists experienced Africa from the comfort of air-conditioned chalets, enjoyed fine wines and exotic meats, and saw only a handful of its wonders from safari game drives. They departed without mingling with or learning from locals, or gaining any true sense of the culture in Botswana. Their trips were documented with pictures of animals as opposed to people, and many left without ever having a single interaction with locals beyond the purchase of cheap crafts.

Whether it was among coral sand beaches in Zanzibar, Tanzania or in the mists of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, I repeatedly observed this separation. My artist friend Prosper Jones was one such local who, prior to our meeting, had never had a conversation beyond the scope of financial transactions with a tourist.

Growing up in a small village in Zimbabwe, Prosper Jones is one of the thousands who attempt to earn a meager income to feed themselves and their families by selling handmade crafts to tourists. He approached me with pleading eyes and hands full of carved wooden animals. However, we transcended this established economic and racial barrier, and learned to understand one another. After conversing for several hours, I asked him whether he felt tourism helped the area. He began by telling me how he and other locals felt trapped by their inability to advance from their present economic and educational state, and the often racial separation that carried into the division between tourists and locals.

He took me to his village for several days to experience a microcosm of how the tourism industry has affected many locals at popular destinations. The village’s source of economic revenue was based entirely upon tourism and the sale of crafts, foods, and other small goods. There was no diversification in the community’s economy despite its instability, as tourism is an often unreliable and unpredictable industry.

Employment and educational opportunities were extremely limited, and all involved serving or appealing to tourists.

In nearly every instance I observed, tourism seems to have done more harm than good throughout southern and eastern Africa, and little of the economic revenue is being circulated throughout local economies.

The aspects of tourism that generate the most revenue, safari companies and tourist lodges, are almost uniformly owned by white South Africans or foreign investors. Most of the money from tourism is not alleviating poverty in the area, but aggravating it.

Locals are left to sell cheap crafts in overly competitive and crowded markets, and appear to gain little or nothing from tourism.

Economies are often not diversified, so opportunities outside of tourism in many places are few and far between. Some of these artists grow up earning the same unreliable income as their parents, and earning it in the same ways. Communities are crippled by tourism, which, according to some scholars, is becoming the world’s largest industry.

Studying abroad in Africa allows an individual to more easily transcend these barriers. Most of the foreigners who come to Africa come as volunteers or tourists, establishing a very “give and take” relationship.

Coming as a student changes the dynamic entirely, and is an important step in the right

direction toward “oneness” and unification.

It no longer puts Westerners in the light of tourists, but as people, and provides more opportunity for cross-cultural connections to be made, and for us to understand one another.

Cross-cultural connection and an exchange of information, ideas, and understanding are vital for tourism to be balanced and fair. Visiting a country and leaving without experiencing the culture and making connections with its people compromises the tourists’ learning experience and is a form of unbalanced taking, and thus exploitation.

It is important for us to critically examine the tourism industry and see how it affects not only individuals visiting the area, but the locals as well. It is vital to understand the interconnection between all of our actions.

An acknowledgment of our “oneness” as well as an understanding of our interconnection are essential and can help us overcome the “tourist” and “local” barriers to make social and cultural progress.

It is important to remember that we no longer rely only upon our own country for support, education, resources, growth, and development, but upon other nations around the world. We live in an interconnected, interdependent society, and our abilities to exist are contingent upon international cooperation.

Despite a growing acknowledgment of this interdependency, we continue to create spheres of difference, speaking of the world in terms of “Western” and the “non-Western,” the “developing” and the “developed,” and “first world,” and “third world.”

We are human, and fundamentally the same with remarkably similar ideas, motives, hopes, dreams, and desires. To move forward as a global society, we must learn to break down these barriers, to decolonize our minds, and to think of humanity in terms of our “oneness.”

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From WVU to the Cold War and Its Aftermath

by William Courtney

“T

ake my diploma before they seize it,” a woman pleaded with me on a frigid evening long ago in front of Moscow’s main synagogue. “When I get out I must be able to prove I’m a doctor.” As a diplomat I was legally bound to refuse, but her plight seemed real. The secret police, or KGB, threatened to confiscate and annul university degrees of Jews who sought to emigrate. Fortunately our embassy’s experienced human rights officer was nearby and said, “Not to worry, she’s KGB and spies on refuseniks,” or Jews refused permission to emigrate.

In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) little was as it seemed. In 1939, thenBritish Prime Minister Winston Churchill said it best: Russia is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” He was right.

As a career foreign service officer in the US Department of State, I saw this in many years of dealing with the Soviet Union and its successor states.

In the early 1980s, as the politico-military officer at the US embassy in Moscow, I often had to brief Western journalists to correct false claims by the Kremlin of its restraint in deploying new SS-20 missiles aimed at Europe and Japan. The Kremlin wrongly thought misleading propaganda would weaken the resolve of America’s allies. Of course, I had to be anonymous and so was quoted as a “Western diplomat in Moscow.”

As a student at WVU in the mid-1960s, I had no idea that a diplomatic career would take me to Moscow and other places around the world, much less that my experience in Morgantown would shape it in three important ways.

I couldn’t have predicted that I would be working with Soviet diplomats. At times it

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William Courtney, PhD

was unclear whether the Soviets had erred or lied. In the early 1990s when I was the US Ambassador to Kazakhstan, a huge former Soviet republic in Central Asia, its leaders quietly approached us about a cache of leftover Soviet highly enriched uranium (HEU).

With US support Kazakhstan was already dispatching its remaining Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia, and it asked for help from the United States in disposing of the uranium.

Iranians had visited the factory where it was stored but we were unsure whether they knew of the 600 kilograms of HEU, enough for dozens of nuclear weapons. Washington could take no chances. A senior Russian nuclear official was asked about interest in the uranium, but denied it existed. Later a Kremlin leader seemed better informed but, surprisingly, told Washington that Russia did not want it.

A secret effort was then launched to pack and ship the uranium to America. After a month of careful preparation by 40 US experts sequestered in Kazakhstan near the Chinese border, the uranium was loaded

onto four large Air Force C-5 cargo aircraft and flown nonstop halfway around the world to a base in Delaware. After it had been transported to a facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the Secretaries of State, Energy, and Defense jointly announced the success. Project Sapphire became the largest known post-Cold War clandestine nuclear recovery operation.

As a WVU student struggling to find his ambition, I initially studied science. This paid dividends when later I devoted much of my career to security issues.

In 1975, while I was serving at the US embassy in Brasilia, then-West Germany and Brazil announced a sale of dangerous technologies: plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment. Overnight this became the dominant issue in United States-Brazilian relations. Although I was a junior officer, my science background helped me become the embassy’s action officer for this hot issue.

Another prominent issue is always human rights. As Brazilians wearied of military rule, the United States spoke out publicly about abuses. Ambassador John Crimmins wisely foresaw that undermining the legitimacy of military rule would build leverage on the nuclear issue. In the 1980s, Brazil returned to democracy and its new leaders ended the secret military nuclear program. I learned

a lesson about the value for diplomacy of multiple sources of leverage.

My Brazilian experience led me to a broader interest in politico-military affairs, stimulated by a fellowship year at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. At the Department in the late 1970s, I labored with mid-level colleagues at the White House and the Department of Defense to develop policy options for expanding the US military presence in the Persian Gulf. Washington was uneasy about the escalating instability in Iran and how Moscow might exploit it.

The plans we developed turned out to be too little, too late. In November 1979, the new revolutionary government in Tehran took dozens of US diplomats hostage. Washington responded by greatly augmenting US military forces in the region. I learned a lesson about how diplomats and soldiers could make plans, but had to be ready to adapt quickly to unexpected developments.

Political revolutions could also be advantageous. Prior to the arrival of a reformist Soviet leader in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev, America had concluded several nuclear arms accords with the Soviet Union but none had done much to constrain weaponry.

At a 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, President Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev endorsed a 50-percent cut in strategic nuclear weapons, which are those mounted on long-range launchers.

A friend who respected my expertise asked if I thought such a cut could actually

be achieved. Judging by past Soviet behavior I said no – and could not have been more wrong. Over the next several years Gorbachev brought about a dramatic political opening in the USSR, making possible sharp military cuts and later the collapse of communist rule.

I learned to be more circumspect in making predictions about politics and diplomacy.

A lasting WVU benefit for me was changing from a science major to economics.

An indulgence in student politics forced me to regain my academic footing. My money and banking professor, Betty Fishman, inspired me to pursue graduate studies. I went on to earn a PhD in economics at Brown University and then chose a career involving my two passions, economics and politics.

In the early 1970s during my first Foreign Service tour, an Arab oil embargo levied in response to US support for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur war sparked higher prices and temporary rationing and gasoline lines. Other minerals producers decided to emulate the oil exporters.

The leftist prime minister of Jamaica, the source of bauxite for three-fifths of US aluminum production, demanded an eight-fold increase in taxes and royalties. The White House wanted action. My superior, Ambassador Tom Enders, however, made a convincing case for patience and letting market forces work. Over time they would deny customers and investment resources to producers seeking uncompetitive economic rents. He showed how personal political courage and a strong knowledge of economics could benefit US diplomacy.

In the early and mid-1990s in Kazakhstan and later Georgia, our embassies gave strong diplomatic support to US companies seeking to develop huge energy reserves in the Caspian Sea region and export the energy to world markets. The Soviet collapse had opened the way for international investment, especially in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Many of the reserves were challenging to exploit and required Western technology. A key problem was Russian and Kazakhstani official corruption and the Russian monopoly over pipelines for energy exports to world markets.

For several years US leaders engaged Russian leaders at the highest levels, but to no avail. Then in March 1996 Georgia and Azerbaijan agreed to build a pipeline from Baku, on the Caspian Sea, to a Georgian port on the Black Sea. This would be the first energy pipeline to bypass the Russian monopoly. Within weeks past mendacious pipeline proposals collapsed and a financially sustainable arrangement was reached for a new and larger oil pipeline through Russia to the Black Sea. Again I learned how economic competition and good diplomacy tend to go hand in hand.

WVU’s third influence on my life came via my fraternity brother and 1964-65 president of the student body, the late US Circuit Court Judge A. Blane Michael. I was awed by his grace and good humor with everyone during campaign events.

Treating others fairly and honorably is a must in diplomacy. One should not let political differences diminish personal relationships. In 1986 Secretary of State George Shultz and Secretary of Defense

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Casper Weinberger voiced opposing views on how to combat terrorism. After Abu Nidal attacks at airports in Rome and Vienna, Shultz publicly urged that America “fight back.”

Weinberger doubted this would “discourage and diminish terrorism in the future.”

Shultz persisted but treated everyone with respect, one reason he was a successful Secretary of State.

During the late 1980s in Geneva talks, the Soviets vigorously condemned a US plan to develop nonnuclear defenses against Soviet nuclear ballistic missiles. They claimed the “strategic defense initiative” violated the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Our diplomats contended, accurately, that new nonnuclear technologies were at the time far from posing a challenge to treaty limits.

Arguments sometimes became heated. Once or twice I may have failed to heed Shultz’s good example. I learned that emotions can undermine diplomacy.

Student politics prepared me in another way for diplomacy: the need to persuade rather than compel. Diplomats spend a lot of time organizing international coalitions. We often did so to marshal parallel diplomatic maneuvers and draw public attention to the killing and maiming of human rights activists and independent journalists. Today Belarus is a case in point.

Diplomats are organizing international pressure on President Viktor Lukashenko, who has jailed election opponents and ordered beatings of peaceful demonstrators.

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When I entered the Foreign Service in 1972, only a tenth of America’s economy involved foreign trade; today the percentage is more than twice as high. US-owned assets abroad have increased as a share of the gross domestic product even more rapidly, and praiseworthy overseas work by US charities and other non-governmental organizations has grown even faster.

Current and future WVU students will live in a much more globalized world than my generation and enjoy far more international opportunities. Students should follow their passions and, if they are interested, pursue those international opportunities. Since many of them cannot be foreseen until sometime in the future, a broad liberal education is the best preparation.

William Courtney lives in Washington, D.C., and is director of strategy and development at Computer Sciences

Corporation in Falls Church, Virginia, where he assists with business and related public policy strategies. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1999, after having served abroad in Brasilia, Moscow, Geneva, Almaty, and Tbilisi, and in Washington at the Department of State and the National Security Council in the White House.

Courtney is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the board of directors of the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C. His commentaries have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Moscow Times. He is pleased to talk with students interested in a Foreign Service career, email courtneywmh@gmail.com.

Stay Connected Eberly College News & Notes Your life, your story, in your words. Catch up on what former students are doing and take the opportunity to share your own story. www.eberly.wvu.edu/alumni

photos courtesy of Atlantis Program

discovering

Atlantis

by Ashley Wells

Forty-eight explorers will embark on the adventure of a lifetime — a fully funded quest for knowledge called Atlantis that begins with a year at West Virginia University before the voyagers jet off to study at two European universities. Their pursuit? Not to find the fabled underwater city, but to participate in the Transatlantic MA Program in East-Central European Studies, or the Atlantis Program, for short.

The Atlantis Program is a dual enrollment initiative whose participants receive both a master’s degree in history from WVU and either a master’s in social sciences from the University of Tartu in Estonia or a master’s in international relations from Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, Poland. Students spend at least one full semester in each of the three locations.

Robert Blobaum, the Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of History at WVU and US director of the Atlantis Program, has a long-standing professional relationship with colleagues at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, Poland. Four years ago, those colleagues were looking for universities with whom they could partner and apply for an Atlantis grant — a grant sponsored

by both the Fund for the Improvement for Postsecondary Education and the European Commission’s Directorate for Education and Culture.

WVU had ties with the University of Tartu in Estonia through the Department of Political Science, and that university joined to finish off the group. Faculty from the three universities received an Atlantis grant in 2009. To date, 29 students have either graduated from the program or are currently enrolled.

Max Reinke, who plans to complete the program in December, stumbled across the opportunity by chance, when his father picked up a copy of the Daily Athenaeum that contained an article about it. At the time, he was enrolled in his last semester of undergraduate study on track to graduate with a degree in geography and Spanish.

Reinke chose to enroll in the international relations program at Collegium Civitas in Poland for his second degree.

“This program has not only advanced my career goals, but has shaped them,” he said. “I knew that I wanted to do something with international relations.

But it’s such a broad and competitive discipline; I didn’t really have any sort of focus within it. I had never really considered Central/Eastern Europe or the former USSR being of much interest to me, but after spending a year there I find that whole region to be utterly fascinating.”

Reinke completed an internship with the Permanent Secretariat of the Community of Democracies.

The Community of Democracies is a global coalition of democratic countries that aims to promote democratic rules and strengthen democratic norms and institutions around the world. Reinke interacted with ambassadors and scholars, and was able to further narrow his career focus within the field of international relations. eberly.wvu.edu

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Like Reinke, the opportunity to enhance knowledge of international relations also drew Maja Isakiewicz to the Atlantis Program. A Collegium Civitas student, she spent the 2010-2011 academic year studying in Morgantown. Atlantis’ unique dual degree system—complementary degrees from different disciplines—stood out. The opportunity to live and study for a year in the United States was an added bonus to Isakiewicz, who grew up in the decade following the fall of communism and the subsequent break-up of the Soviet Union.

“In communist Poland, people longed for blue jeans, Hollywood films, music records—all things with a cultural label MAJA ISAKIEWICZ ‘made in America.’ I grew up in the 1990s, Currently enrolled as a visiting student at the University of when our newly freed society was infatuated Tartu. Has studied in the master’s program in history at West with the abundance of Western goods Virginia University and the master’s program in international that suddenly became easily accessible,” relations at Collegium Civitas.

Isakiewicz said.

Maja received her bachelor’s degree in international relations “What was ‘Western’ was often in January 2010 and a bachelor’s degree in international synonymous with the US, so one could say relations – Eurasian studies in July 2010 (both at Collegium I inherited a certain attraction to the United Civitas). In fall 2009, she studied at the University of States by the very fact that I belong to the Limerick (Ireland) as an Erasmus exchange student. Maja first generation of Poles who had free access is particularly interested in the Far East and South Asia. to those goods.”

She believes that Central and East European states have an Studying abroad as a graduate student, important role to play in Europe-Asia relations.

Isakiewicz said, provides invaluable networking opportunities for students Read Maja’s Blog: who are on their way to being experts in http://bit.ly/pbm3yC their fields. Plus, the lower cost of living in Central and Eastern Europe compared to their Western European counterparts, and the regional history and culture provide a unique living experience in a rich learning environment, she said.

Students not enrolled in the Atlantis Program also reap the benefits of the international partnership through the faculty exchange component. So far, three faculty members from the University of Tartu and two from Collegium Civitas have - ROBERT BLOBAUM spent time at WVU, speaking to students and providing public lectures.

Blobaum, the program’s director; Lisa DiBartolomeo, coordinator of the Slavic and East European Studies program and 12 FALL 2 0 1 1 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine

“The success of any academic program can be measured by the successes of its students...”

teaching assistant professor of foreign languages; William Trumbull, associate professor of economics; and Katherine Aaslestad, professor of history, have all represented WVU faculty at the European universities. Joshua Arthurs, assistant professor of history, is lecturing at the University of Tartu this fall.

The program’s students also have joined the lecture circuit and attended prestigious conferences abroad. Cassandra Garcia, a native of Fairmont, West Virginia, was asked to speak at the Project Directors Conference, which is sponsored by the higher education wing of the European Commission. She was the only current Atlantis student to give a presentation and spoke to the same audience as the directorgeneral of education and culture for the European Union and other high-ranking officials within the organization.

“The success of any academic program can be measured by the successes of its students, and (Cassandra’s) invitation to speak at such an important conference highlights the caliber of students enrolled in the Atlantis Program,” Blobaum said.

Another student who is already proving the program’s worth is Jessica Slattery Karich. She was invited to attend a seminar called “The United States Meets Europe: A Forum for Young Leaders.” She presented research examining the accessibility of the justice system in the United States versus the European Union. The seminar gave her the opportunity to hear ambassadors, ministers, social activists, and scholars share their knowledge.

The legacy of the program will live on in the successes of its graduates, as well as in future collaborations.

“It is likely that other exchange opportunities for students will arise from the current partnership, since faculty members and representatives from the international exchange offices at the three universities are in such close contact,” Blobaum said.

As for the 48 students who are lucky enough to be accepted into the program, there can be no doubt that it lives up to its promise to be the academic adventure of a lifetime.

Did You Know?

Estonia … …boasts the 3,000-year-old crater of an iron meteorite that influenced the religions and customs of the Baltic Sea region. … is home to Tartu Jaani Church, a Gothic sanctuary dating back to the 14th century. About 1,000 terracotta sculptures in the church are unique in Europe. … is small, both by area and population, but it has more than a hundred historical parishes, each one with its own traditional clothing. … is egalitarian – 51 percent of engineers and scientists are women … uses two different words for “bread.” For Estonians the word bread stands for a dark rye bread. The food commonly referred to as bread in the rest of the world has a separate word in Estonian – sai (white bread). … has more spas per capita than anywhere else in the world – there are more than 40 spas for 1.3 million people.

Source: Introduce Estonia

Poland…

photo by Mark Brown

(European Union average being 29 percent).

MAX REINKE

… is the the 9th largest country in Europe. … dogs are often named Burek, which translates to “brownish-grey color.” … residents marry the youngest of all the members of the European Union. … boasts 17 Nobel prize winners, including four Peace Prizes and five in Literature. … has a tradition called Marzenna, where people weave straw dolls and decorate them with ribbons. These represent the end of winter, and the beginning of spring. When the snow starts to melt, they proclaim the beginning of spring and chuck the Marzennas into the river or stream, symbolically ‘killing’ the winter. … restaurants do not put tomato sauce on pizza. The waiters bring sauce to the table in a pitcher, and diners pour it on top. Sometimes the sauce is just ketchup.

Source: Swift Passport Services

Currently enrolled in the master’s program in history at West Virginia University and the master’s program in international relations at Collegium Civitas. Attended the University of Tartu as a visiting student in fall 2010.

Max graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University with a bachelor’s degree in geography and a minor in Spanish in December 2009. His study abroad experience includes a semester at Linköping University in Sweden, where his courses focused on European integration and Swedish language and culture.

As an undergraduate student, he was involved in the work of the American Association of Geographers, the WVU Honors College Study Abroad Club, the WVU Geography Club, and WVU Students for Barack Obama.

He also served as an intern for the National Geographic Educational Foundation.

Read Max’s Blog: http://bit.ly/qFOohs

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Tange’ Ne Giri

by Ashley Wells photos courtesy of Doris Nicholas

Tange’ Ne Giri, a phrase meaning “to be mindful of yourself and your well-being,” has taken on a special meaning for graduate students in Doris Nicholas’ Social Work 621 class.

Gondi’s father was responsible for the It all began with a presentation by one of the Men from the village often leave to search building of a school in the village. Villagers for employment in cities and never return. fall 2010 class participants. Washington Gondi relied on him to coordinate weddings, make The Tange’ Ne Giri group tries to empower came to West Virginia University from the tiny sure people attended church services, and form women by starting micro-lending projects, village of Magwar, Kenya. Some of his relatives committees to retrieve the bodies of relatives had attended the University, and the people of his such as farming and raising dairy cows. From who died away from home in the city. village pooled their resources to provide him with the income this provides, the women were Two years ago Gondi’s father died, leaving able to start a health clinic for HIV and AIDS money for plane tickets and other necessities.

Gondi outlined the daily “I really want people to recognize that these students made a life of his fellow villagers.

They have no plumbing, difference in the lives of people in a village halfway around the electricity, or running water world in one semester…” — ­ Doris Nicholas in the village and live in a behind a list of unfinished business goals for the community plagued by a staggeringly high testing and pay for school tuition for the village that would enhance the villagers’ quality rate of HIV and AIDS. Gondi spoke about orphans they take in. of life. It was this list that fascinated Gondi’s his parents, who have been influential in “It’s unfortunate what children have to classmates and spurred them into action. village life. His mother is part of a women’s undergo at a young age, especially when Each semester, students in 621 must group called Tange’ Ne Giri. For these women, they have to deal with the loss of both take up a community service project, either being mindful of themselves means serving parents,” Gondi said. individually or in groups. The fall 2010 group the whole community. The women take in “Some of the kids also have to live with the of students, inspired by Gondi, decided to orphaned children who have nowhere to go stigma of their parents dying from HIV/AIDS, a work together to help the villagers of Magwar. and are not likely to be adopted. condition that doesn’t make their lives any easier.”

Members of Tange’ Ne Giri, a women’s group in Magwar, Kenya, work in the fields.

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“I want this project to extend beyond my When all was said and done, the class “It was important that the village be tenure here,” said Nicholas, who plans to retire raised $1,600 more than expected. They were allowed to decide what they needed and next year. “This is a legacy I would love to see able to purchase two cows for the village. choose the goals of the project for themselves. continue beyond my time at WVU.” The group was later informed that one of the The goal of the social work class was to help The villagers are “overjoyed” by the cows was pregnant when it was purchased, the village while still leaving as few ‘footprints’ progress that has been made by the efforts of tripling the impact that the social work students as possible,” Nicholas said. the social work students, organizers said. They originally hoped to achieve. A private company, The class developed and executed the are especially excited and appreciative of a pen where one of the students worked, donated a project, focusing on raising money to buy a pal program. This initiative exposes children to public address system, which will announce cow. The type of cow they wanted to purchase an international community that they would when public health officials are coming to the produces enough milk for the women of the not have known otherwise, a community that village for screenings.

Tange’ Ne Giri group, with extra left over to sell.

Gondi said he feels fortunate to have met.

“I really want people to recognize that The sale of milk and milk products provides “The good in the people of West Virginia, these students made a difference in the lives extra income for the women and orphans. and the school, and The students, the opportunity the most of whom school gave me of work in places traveling through every outside of county and meeting Morgantown and people that I could some of whom not have met in my travel quite a life —sharing their distance to get experiences has been to class, hit the important for me,” pavement in their Gondi said. communities to For Gondi, raise the necessary this experience is funds. They Kenya native Washington Gondi (front left) and social work professor Doris Nicholas, PhD (center), are continuing the approached their joined by members of the Fall 2010 Social Work 621 class that raised funds for the village of Magwar. work that his church groups, father left behind and helping his mother of people in a village halfway around the families, childrens’ schools, and other continue her work. world in one semester, and they sowed seeds community groups, taking donations to go “Something I did not realize until I began in that will continue to grow,” Nicholas said. toward purchasing the cow. social work was that my father and mother are “This is the kind of social work that I love— Several area schools and organizations community organizers. I didn’t even know what grassroots organization.” allowed the class to give presentations. that meant before I started my studies,” he said.

The project continues. A group of students Nicholas’ students brought in photos of the “You take people for granted when they are in the spring 2011 semester of the same course Kenyan children in their school uniforms, around. Now that my father is gone, I realize that I decided to continue the partnership. Parents of just like those of some of their West Virginia should have told him how much he was worth.” children at two Morgantown schools and one counterparts. Local students were able to learn Gondi has wandered many country roads school in Bruceton Mills continued the pen pal about similarities between themselves and the here in West Virginia and in Kenya, and they program. At the Bruceton Mills school, a lesson Kenyan children, despite the distance between truly do all lead him home. plan on difference was created to help students their classrooms. A pen pal program was broaden their world view. started to further link the classrooms.

Nicholas hopes that this will become a “The entire social work class was involved long-term project and that the with the project, using the unique skills of each social work students student. One student made the PowerPoint can take on other presentation child-friendly, for the classroom needs of the presentations; another created a spreadsheet to village. keep track of the money that had been raised and all expenditures. Each student contributed in a way that made best use of his or her knowledge,” Nicholas said.

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ANCIENT Wonder, Modern World

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by Rebecca Herod Photos provided by Marlenea Morgan and Aaron Gale, PhD

hen Marlenea Morgan left Wilsondale in Wayne County, West Virginia, she had never seen fireworks or the ocean. She had never been in a boat or learned to swim.

She had never been to a zoo or left the confines of her small community. When she came to West Virginia University she brought a suitcase; no computer, no cell phone, no money, no car. She did not know a soul in Morgantown.

Today Morgan is on her way to graduating with a major in anthropology and religious studies and a minor in women’s studies. She learned to swim at 19, saw Fourth of July fireworks while riding in a row boat, visited the Pittsburgh Zoo, and has traveled to a number of states with friends she met during her time in Morgantown. When you speak with her you get the sense that everything in her life is a new experience, an adventure sometimes scary, like making friends in a new town, and sometimes sublime, like seeing the ocean for the first time on a recent trip to Florida.

Opposite page: Mosaic from the ancient synagogue floor at Sepphoris.

Above left to right: A Roman-era juglet found at the Religious Studies Program’s 2011 archaeological dig.

Marlenea Morgan at the 2011 dig site.

WVU freshmen Julia Zorn and Marlenea Morgan at the 2011 dig site.

Alexis Whitley holds the gold coin she found in 2010 at Bethsaida. About three-quarters of an inch in diameter, the coin carries the image of Antoninus Pius, the 15th Roman emperor, who reigned between A.D. 138 and 161.

Photo provided by Treasure Hunting

While there have been many milestones in Morgan’s college career, she counts the most recent as one of the most life-changing.

She took her first flight in an airplane, not a domestic flight, but a flight to Israel to take part in the Religious Studies Program’s annual archaeological dig at Bethsaida.

Bethsaida translates to “House of the Fisherman.” It is a fishing village near the Sea of Galilee. Mentioned in the New Testament, it is associated with several of Jesus’ miracles. It was also the birthplace of the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip. The location of Bethsaida was discovered in 1987 by archaeologist Rami Arav, PhD, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the departments of philosophy, religion, and history and director of the Consortium of the Bethsaida Excavations Project.

Beneath the Hellenistic-Roman village of Bethsaida is a much older Iron Age site. This city was fortified with a massive city wall and a gateway, one of the largest and best-preserved Iron Age gates in the region. In addition to the gate, numerous discoveries have been made at Bethsaida, in 2010, WVU student Alexis Whitley discovered a solid gold Roman coin — the only coin of its type discovered in Israel to date. This season, Arav and volunteers worked to uncover an earlier phase of the city’s gate as well as continue excavations on the Roman-era residential quarter.

Marlenea Morgan’s journey of discovery began with a ten-hour plane ride and a week of touring historical and religious sites.

“When we got off the plane, we went right to the tour guide and a full day of

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“I know it seems like a cliché, but if you aren’t trying new things and just jumping in, if you are always afraid, you are not living.

Not really. You can wish something will happen, but wishing doesn’t get it done. You have to try; you have to work at it to make things happen for yourself.”—Marlenea Morgan Marlenea Morgan stands in front of the Catholic Church of the Annunciation.

touring. The first week was awesome, totally overwhelming. It was a sensory overload,” she said. “I think they planned it that way so we would sleep at night, and it worked because we were exhausted when we got to the church.”

Exhaustion gave way to excitement as they began the second phase of the two-week trip—the archaeological dig in the Roman-era residential quarter. Each morning the group of seven WVU students and three faculty rose at 4:30 a.m. to begin digging. They broke for breakfast and then finished digging at 12:30 p.m., when the desert sun reached temperatures in the low hundreds. Following lunch, the students took a pottery reading course. Pieces of

Waterfall near the Dan Forest.

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pottery found during the dig were washed and separated by type: edges, handles, decorated, intact, etc. Then the students were taught how to determine a shard’s period, Hellenistic-Roman or Iron Age. In the evening they participated in lectures by the professors.

“I was amazed that Rami could just pick up a tiny piece of pottery and tell you what period it came from. I don’t think I could ever do that,” she said.

Then in the next breath she explains how to identify Roman pottery.

“I learned that Roman pottery frequently has ridges and that’s how you can tell. It’s also thinner than the Iron Age pottery,” she explained proudly.

It’s those kinds of contradictions that make talking with Morgan such a wonderful experience. On the one hand, she is still cautious and unsure of herself, like when she relates the story of how she did not want to ride in a cable car up to Masada on the trip because she was worried it would fall, and on the other, she is ready to run full-tilt at the world and take it by storm.

“I really think the quote ‘there is nothing to fear but fear itself’ is true,” she said.

“I know it seems like a cliché, but if you aren’t trying new things and just jumping in, if you are always afraid, you are not living. Not really. You can wish something will happen, but wishing

The synagogue at Capernaum, the oldest ever discovered, dates to the second or third century.

doesn’t get it done. You have to try; you have to work at it to make things happen for yourself.”

“Most people where I am from don’t go to college,” said the first-generation student.“It’s just not done. Girls graduate from high school and marry their high school sweet hearts. I wanted to go to college and I always thought I couldn’t do it. Then I came here,” she said.

Morgan is a member of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Participants are

“In 2010, when they discovered that King Tut was Akhenaten’s son through DNA testing, Dr. Arnett called me to tell me. He said I was the only person he knew who would be as excited about the discovery as he was. That was really cool,” she said.

All these discoveries bring the past closer to us. Surprisingly, Morgan said she did not notice many differences between ancient and modern societies.

“The group did discover a

“Almost every student that has participated in this study abroad program to Israel has said that it was life changing.”

—Aaron Gale, Coordinator of the Religious Studies Program from disadvantaged backgrounds and have demonstrated strong academic potential.

Institutions work closely with participants as they complete their undergraduate requirements. Students are assigned a faculty mentor who supervises research and other activities. The goal is to increase the attainment of PhD degrees by students from under represented segments of society. William Arnett, professor emeritus of history, acted as Morgan’s mentor for her research on the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, father of King Tut.

skeleton during the dig, it was much closer to living quarters than we would find today, but other than that life is the same. We work, we eat, and we build homes for our families. We may have more technology now, but basic life is the same.”

Administrators and faculty can tell you about how transformational experiential learning can be, but talking with a student like Marlenea Morgan makes it real. Her growth and enthusiasm are obvious.

“The trip to Israel, in addition to being an archaeological dig, is also a cultural immersion. Students have the unique opportunity to explore the histories and practices of three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. At the end of the trip, for example, students visit important historical and religious sites in Jerusalem. They also interact directly with Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the marketplaces, restaurants, etc. Almost every student who has participated in this program said that it was life changing,” said Aaron Gale, coordinator of the Religious Studies Program.

This trip inspired Morgan to consider graduate school in the United Kingdom, in Wales.

“I’m very interested in women’s roles in ancient religions, particularly ancient Egypt.

I found a faculty member in Wales who specializes in exactly that area,” she said.

On the way down the mountain at Masada, despite her nerves, Marlenea Morgan rode in the front of the cable car for a better look at the spectacular view.

Undergraduate Academic Enrichment Program Marlenea Morgan received funds from the Program for Religious Studies and the Academic Enrichment Program to support her travel to Israel.

The program provides undergraduate students enrolled in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences opportunities to participate in activities that complement, extend, and enhance their academic experiences at WVU. The program supports such activities as research projects, conference attendance, internships, study abroad, and public service work.

Since the inception of the Undergraduate Academic Enrichment Program in 1995, thousands of students have benefitted from opportunities that might not otherwise have been realized. Most students agree that their enrichment experience would not have been possible without the financial assistance the College offers through this unique program. In 2011, 350 awards totaling $70,000 were given.

If you would like to support the Undergraduate Academic Enrichment Fund, you may send a check in the enclosed envelope.

For more information, please contact Bonnie McBee Fisher at bonnie.fisher@mail.wvu.edu. eberly.wvu.edu

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W V

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On any given night this summer, when most Morgantown residents were deep in their slumber, dozens of West Virginia University students were half a world away, well-entrenched in their days as scholars scattered across China.

At times the differences between the United States and China can seem as if much more than a body of water separates the two continents. WVU students—a number of whom are leaving the United States for the first time— step outside their comfort zone and travel to a country full of new sights, smells, customs, and different languages.

But more often than not, the two countries’ similarities and shared goals emerge as a common ground on which strong partnerships are being built.

WVU students, faculty, and staff are on the forefront of these collaborations. Whether it is cutting-edge energy research or the exploration of the historic connections of Western ceramics to China, WVU is there and embracing the Chinese proverb,

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”

WEST VIRGINIA

by Devon Copeland

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Hannah Lin, PhD

James P. Lewis, PhD

Hong Wang, PhD

Hannah Lin

take classes that are related to Chinese studies from other fields such as history, religion and a political science.

Students who take Chinese classes are encouraged, with the support of generous scholarships, to participate in the Chinese study abroad programs, including the shortterm faculty-led programs in the summer and the long-term semester exchange programs in China and Taiwan. The number of students majoring in Chinese Studies has grown from three in 2008 to almost fifty this year. Several graduates from the program are currently working in China and Taiwan.

Visit http://chinese.forlang.wvu. edu/ to learn more about the Chinese Studies program.

includes several research projects that are related to nanomaterials.

The program started in the summer of 2009 when professor Hong Wang took thirteen WVU students—both undergraduate and graduate—to Jilin University where they spent eight weeks conducting research. This past summer, eleven undergraduate students participated in the program.

The goal of the IRES program is to provide an opportunity for WVU students to gain interdisciplinary research experience and learn how to interact and adjust themselves to different cultures. Students from WVU face an increasingly global society, one where it is crucial for professionals to be able to perform and collaborate with international stakeholders. The IRES program officials at WVU are in the process of securing more funding for the program. Contact James P. Lewis, associate professor of Physics, at james.lewis@mail.wvu.edu, for more information about the program.

Assistant Professor of Chinese Studies Chinese Studies: Chinese is spoken by nearly one-fifth of the world’s population, including more than one billion people who speak Chinese as their native language.

Through the Chinese Studies Program students are prepared for the opportunities and challenges of the Greater China region, and to better engage in the global sociopolitical and economic arena. Learning Chinese, Lin says, opens up a unique window into one of the world’s most ancient civilizations as well as the fastest growing market.

The Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics started offering Mandarin Chinese in fall 2006. In fall 2008, the Department added the Chinese Studies major and minor to its programs.

The Chinese Studies program has an interdisciplinary orientation. In addition to Chinese language courses, including Business Chinese and Chinese Media in the advanced level, the program also offers culture and literature courses to enrich the students’ knowledge of Chinese civilization and intellectual history. Students also can 22

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James P. Lewis

Associate Professor of Physics

Hong Wang

Research Professor of Physics Nanotechnology Exploration: Through the International Research Experience for Students (IRES), WVU students have the opportunity to conduct research in Jilin University in China. The program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation,

Michael Shi Assistant Professor of Chemistry STEM Collaboration: Michael Shi, assistant professor in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry, has established a summer research program to send undergraduate students in the science,

Michael Shi, PhD

Hong-Jian Lai, PhD

Tim Carr, PhD

“With China’s tremendous economic growth and its emergent political power, the task of increasing the number of American students who can demonstrate a functional proficiency in Chinese and a general understanding of Chinese culture is undeniably urgent.”—Hannah Lin technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM) to China to conduct research.

Students work in the State Key Lab of Supramolecular Chemistry and Materials at Jilin University. The program enables undergraduate students to experience and adapt to research in a different culture. The proposal was supported by the National Science Foundation as part of Shi’s CAREER Award. For more information, contact Michael Shi, assistant professor of chemistry, at Xiaoodng.shi@mail.wvu.edu.

theory have come to WVU to pursue PhDs since the partnership began. Graduate students from a number of institutions in China including South China University of Technology, Jinan University, and Shandong University have come to the University to complete doctoral degrees. For more information, contact Hong-Jian Lai at hjlai@math.wvu.edu.

Tim Carr

Hong-Jian Lai

Marshall Miller Professor of Geology

Math Theories: Professor Lai has established a number of collaborations in China, exposing students from abroad to the math program, which is growing in prestige. The Department has worked with professors at South China Normal University since 1996, on algebraic graph theory and matroid theory. Three of SCNU’s top graduate students in graph

Sequestration: One of West Virginia University’s top geology researchers, Carr has been active in studying carbon sequestration and storage issues associated with fossil fuels both in the United States and in China. He is associated with the US-China Energy Center based at WVU. He has traveled to China numerous times in the past year to discuss advances in converting coal to transportation fuels

Professor of Math

while capturing and storing CO2 emissions.

With support from the US Department of Energy, WVU and the Shenhua Group in China have been evaluating the economic and environmental impacts of the direct coal liquefaction technology.

While commercial coal-to-liquids processes exist, these are known as indirect coal liquefaction and require breaking coal down into molecules of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are building blocks that are then processed into diesel fuel. Direct coal liquefaction processes attempt to bypass the breakdown of the coal into such small molecules to make liquid fuels directly. Information gained by the researchers will be shared with those in the United States to help promote the transfer of clean coal technologies.

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Did You Know?

In the past five years (2005-2011), WVU’s China initiatives involved six

memorandums of understanding.

An average of 75

students per year have traveled

to China to expand their studies in language, culture, nanotechnology, ceramics, painting, forestry, and business.

453 students have traveled to China since fall 2005.

That’s compared to 158 in the nine years previous to that.

In August, WVU signed on to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “100,000 Strong” initiative to send 100,000

American

students to China over four years.

This list is not intended to be inclusive of all the partnerships that WVU has cultivated in China.

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WVU in China College of Business and Economics Locations: Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an

College of Creative Arts Locations: Jingdezhen, Nanjing

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design Locations: Chengdu, Shouzou (Shanxi)

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Locations: Hangzhou, Jilin, Qingdao, Suzhou, Taipei (Taiwan)

WV NANO Location: Jilin (Changchun)

College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Location: Guangzhou, Jilin, Shanxi, Suzhou, Xuzhou

Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Location Interests: Wuhan

Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism Location: Guangzhou

College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences Location: Shanghai, Tianjin eberly.wvu.edu

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Illustration by Graham Curry

As told to

Christine Schussler

Heather Hartley didn’t exactly take a direct route from Charleston, West Virginia, to Paris, but you won’t see her complaining. These days the WVU alumna is known for many things, namely her roles as professor, curator, editor, and writer in the City of Light.

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She has picked up a few souvenirs along her journey from English student to literary tour de force—a deep passion for the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, a hopeless case of wanderlust, an affinity for teaching in Nantes (a city on the West coast of France), a serious weakness for LU Pure Butter Biscuits, otherwise known as Le Petit Beurre, and her lasting gratitude to Drs. Valérie and Michael Lastinger at the University for helping her chart the first point in her adventure.

Heather Hartley

Eberly Magazine: How does a girl from Charleston, West Virginia, make her way to living in Paris?

Heather Hartley: During my senior year, the Lastingers—both of whom had been inspiring professors throughout my undergraduate years—strongly encouraged me to apply for a position in France as an assistante d’anglais, an English teaching assistant. Although only having studied French for a minor, I applied for a position in the winter of my senior year and a few weeks before graduation in May, I received an offer as a teaching assistant at Lycée Carcouet, a high school in Nantes. I accepted without hesitation, having no idea where Nantes was located on a map or what it meant to teach in a high school, but I did know that it happened to be the headquarters for the delectable butter biscuit, Le Petit Beurre. I was just delighted to have a job—and not one down the street, but a job across the Atlantic Ocean.

In Baudelaire’s poem “L’Invitation au voyage (Invitation to the Voyage),” he writes:… Think of the rapture / Of living together there! / Of loving at will, / Of loving till death, / In the land that is like you! . . . / There all is order and beauty, / Luxury, peace, and pleasure” (translation by Roy Campbell, Poems of Baudelaire, New York: Pantheon Books, 1952). Although moving to Nantes was not quite as idyllic or dreamy as this, it was a fantastic opportunity for me to begin a career in teaching, continue writing, and improve my language skills—especially the imperative mode when working with high school students with expressions like “Sit down!” “Listen!” or “Please pass me that croissant!”

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EM: Have you ever thought of returning to the States or is there some sort of “pull” keeping you in Paris?

HH: Both. Having lived in Paris for nearly ten years, it is a second home to me. I feel comfortable in the city and am fluent in the language—my pronunciation may not be perfect, but I’m working on it. I return to the United States twice a year to visit family and friends and more specifically to Charleston, West Virginia, where my family roots run deeply. Here, of course, is my home—and more than this, here is my hometown.

When I return to Charleston, things that I miss when back in France come forth so vividly: hot buttered corn on the cob, a fire in the fireplace at my mother’s home, the smell of honeysuckle, bagels, brick buildings. A wonderful parallel between Paris and Charleston is that both have rivers that serve to break and bridge the city at the same time. In this way, there is a “pull” for me from both the Kanawha and the Seine rivers.

EM: What places have had the most “global influence” on you? How? HH: Paris, Saint Petersburg in Russia, Naples in Italy and Charleston and Ravenswood, West Virginia. I think that the poems in my first collection, Knock Knock (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2010), explore these influences from different perspectives and points of view. My poems and nonfiction essays are sometimes punctuated with words or expressions from French, Italian or other languages—not to distance the reader, but rather to draw them into the landscape or image being described by incorporating a foreign word or phrase into the context of the writing. I think that my poems might better express than I could in this interview how these particular places have influenced and inspired me.

EM: How did you deal with adversity/stereotyping, if you encountered any?

HH: It may sound clichéd, but living abroad you become a sort of diplomat for your home country. I tend to disagree with former French President Charles de Gaulle when he said, “Diplomats are useful only in fair weather: as soon as it rains they drown in every drop.” It rains a lot in Paris and I find that both umbrellas and discussing current politics and issues to be important ways to move communication forward—be it with other Americans, French friends and colleagues, or someone of any nationality. It may be cloudy for a few days, but it makes such a difference getting out there and being in the rain.

EM: What is your favorite French tradition/food/author/book/ music/movie/place?

HH: My favorite food is éclair au café—it can illuminate even the greyest of Parisian days. My favorite author is Charles Baudelaire, and I love the music of Eric Satie and Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien,” because I don’t regret my decision of having made France (and more specifically Paris) my second home, although it does include some compromises. The best French movie of all time for me is Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard. My favorite place is the square Réné Viviani, next to Shakespeare and Company Bookshop in the fifth district—it’s a little public garden where the oldest tree of the city still grows—a locust tree planted in the early seventeenth century.

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The Karma Club —At a poetry reading

Around the room, merry-go-round, you find Mr. Desmond, the tax collector writing villanelles, his head a hurricane of baldness, sucking on the stub of a cigarette.

Next to him, a convention of Barbie dolls in black Tencel pants

About Heather Hartley Heather Hartley is the author of Knock Knock (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2010) and Paris editor for Tin House magazine. Her poems, essays and interviews have appeared in or on PBS Newshour, The Guardian, The Rumpus and other venues and anthologies including The World Within: Writers Talk . . . and Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House. She lives in Paris, where she curates Shakespeare and Company Bookshop’s weekly reading series, and teaches creative writing and poetry at the American University of Paris. She graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Tau Delta from WVU in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in English with a French minor and women’s studies certificate. She received a master’s degree in French from Middlebury College in 1996.

followed by scant PhDs scouting their own knot with a nod to patrons, of course, dull in thick gold and polyester blends, older than Ganesh.

The shrine of the bar floats in the foggy distance, beatitude passes by on a bamboo tray and smiling with salsa between my teeth, I persevere in my quest— to search for the face that will reveal my fate in a wine glass, on a paper napkin, let slip between beer nuts my being and nothingness, who will pull out from beneath me a rabbit, a rubber duck, disclose the future in my fingertips and bra straps, who from behind my ear will pull out a silver ducat.

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Poppies, 2011

“I come from a long line of people who can’t help but be artists...”

Where the Art T

he famed twentieth-century artist Marc Chagall may have said that “art picks up where nature ends,” but Eberly alumna Annie Morris Simcoe is building a career out of blurring the line between the two.

In 2009, the Valencia, Pennsylvania, native made the leap to full-time paper/mixed media artist after spending years as a research hydrologist at the West Virginia University Hydrology Research Center.

At the center, Simcoe worked with Department of Geology Professor Joseph Donovan and other researchers on applied water research problems in West Virginia and the mid-Appalachian region, including water availability, contamination, and development.

“I loved the energy of the University, loved the students,” she said. “I loved working with the graduate students and with watershed associations. It was sort of cool being the translator for all the groups.”

And it didn’t hurt that her job enabled her to spend a considerable amount of

By Devon Copeland Photos by Dan Friend

time outdoors, surrounded by the natural beauty of the Appalachian Mountains as a landscape.

Today Simcoe’s art, the creative process she employs, and the materials she uses are all organic and natural, much like her decision to pursue her longtime dream of becoming an artist. She may have successfully made the transition from researcher to artist, but Simcoe said the evidence is in her art that her heart will always be in geology.

Take for instance her “Eddy Line” collection. The completed pieces are a swirl of rich, opulent tones of red, orange, yellow, teal, and purple. The pieces are named for the effect that occurs when leaves churn around in the current created after water goes behind a rock and spins in the reverse current.

“Geologists look at my work and say, ‘this was done by a geologist,’” she said before laughing.

Like a number of artists, Simcoe’s path took a winding route over some hills, through some valleys — and changes in

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Annie Simcoe’s process

Artist Annie Simcoe makes paper out of plant materials such as cat tails, corn

The mold is turned upside down on a piece of felt. The sheet of paper sticks to the felt, and the mold is peeled away in a process called couching.

To break down the cellulose in plant fibers, they are boiled in a caustic solution for several hours.

After several sheets have been couched, they are pressed to remove as much water as possible. Then they are then placed on sheets of plastic to dry.

husks, iris leaves, rye grass, onions, and leeks.

The fibers are beaten in a blender with a binder fiber called Abaca. Then they are poured into a large tub of water. A mold is dipped into the tub and a sheet of paper is lifted out.

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Source: annabellepetuniahead.com

college majors — before bringing her to a skiing. When the weather permits, Annie studio and farmhouse sitting on two acres in Simcoe works in her garden where she grows Accident, Maryland, where she lives with her produce for her home as well the materials husband Jeff and their dogs Elzie and Bo. she uses to make paper, a nod to her goal Two loves remained constant in Simcoe’s of creating art through a more sustainable life growing up — crafts and nature — but process. Simcoe’s paper-making supplies she was still reticent to major in art when she read one part recipe, two parts greenhouse enrolled at WVU in 1996. offerings: onions, leeks, rye grass, cat tails, iris “I come from a long line of people who leaves, lily leaves, hostas, and ramps. can’t help but be artists,” she said. “My She boils the plant fibers in a solution parents were saying ‘take the classes you are of caustic soda to break down the cellulose interested in and don’t worry about jobs.’” fibers before beating the fibers into a pulp.

“But despite my parents encouraging Sheets of paper are hand-dipped from the me to be an art major I had it in my head pulp, pressed, and dried. After the paper is that I wouldn’t be able to get a job, which dry, Simcoe stitches them into patterns. is funny.”

It has been 10 years since she was After switching majors a couple of introduced to the art of papermaking. times, Simcoe became a geology student, At the time, Simcoe said, she was firmly a discipline where she instantly felt that hooked on pottery. she belonged. She earned both a bachelor’s In her spare time in college, she found degree and a master’s degree in geology in herself in the Craft Center in the basement 2000 and 2002, respectively. of Braxton Tower on the Evansdale campus, “I wanted to do environmental work,” where she learned how to make pottery. she said. “It got me in touch with a lot of “I fell in love,” she said. “I made pottery, people who are more in line with what I am I made pottery, I made pottery. If it’s interested in. I fit in.” something that you are interested in, it’ll Similarly, Simcoe’s husband Jeff, who she reduce your stress,” she recalled. met in college, made a In graduate school she spent commitment to pursuing four hours a day, six days a week in “It was something I a “green collar” job. He the Craft Center, making pottery. could do at home,” earned his bachelor’s While learning to make paper one she said. “I didn’t degree in environmental year for Christmas cards, she was and natural resource instantly attracted to papermaking, have to have a economics and a master’s its portability and its low cost. wheel and kiln.

It degree in agriculture “It was something I could do and natural resource at home,” she said. “I didn’t have didn’t need such a economics from to have a wheel and kiln. It didn’t dedicated space.”

WVU. Jeff Simcoe need such a dedicated space.” is vice president of When Simcoe began seriously environmental markets for GreenLight considering pursuing art full time, she said Environmental, a start-up firm that focuses she weighed whether to turn to pottery as on projects that reduce deforestation and an outlet. But she ultimately decided the enhance forest preservation to create carbon field was too crowded. credits.

“One of the advantages of It’s no coincidence that the Simcoes papermaking is it’s not something a whole have opted for careers that look to sustain lot of people do,” she said. “This allows the environment and recognize their global me to be sort of unique.” responsibility.

Even so, Simcoe has made sure to put When not working, the two are hiking, her personal spin on papermaking. Early on, exploring rivers, biking, and cross-country Simcoe’s art reflected her affinity for quilts,

Eddy Line, 2011

with the pieces of handmade paper hand stitched together like a quilt. But her style has since evolved from the traditional to reflect more of her confidence as an artist.

Simcoe now uses a sewing machine and her work now incorporates her paper designs into quilts, creating non-traditional and modern designs.

Her line has grown and she offers quilts, jewelry, note cards, print reproductions of her pieces, sculptures, lamps, and baskets, and a clothing line is in the works.

As Simcoe’s style as an artist continues to evolve and she introduces her collections to more people, she hopes her soothing, earthy work is a draw. Her style reflects her love for the outdoors and Appalachia, and she hopes that others can see the region’s natural resources staring back at them.

“It basically conveys a basic emotion,” she said. “It appeals to everyone, I hope.”

To visit Simcoe’s studio, learn more about her papermaking gardens, and see how she makes paper, call (301) 245-4585, or email annie@annabellepetuniahead.com.

Her studio is open by appointment and groups and children are welcome.

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Writing THE DIVISION OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, tucked away a bit off the beaten path in Knapp Hall, can be easy to overlook in West Virginia University’s sea of 191 degree programs.

But a recent explosion of books by three professors, addressing a diverse mix of societal issues, as well as more works to come off the presses soon, signal this small department is ready to make a big noise.

Currently, the sociology department has only 13 faculty members required to do research. To have three of those professors with books out at the same time is quite a feat, said Melissa Latimer, outgoing chair of the Division and director of the WVU ADVANCE Center.

With such topics as hate crimes, urban neighborhoods and feudalism, the works “showcase the diversity of research in the department and the enormous growth in book writing,” Latimer said. “These topics are all over the map but they’re connected. There’s an inequality theme to all of them.”

The Division of Sociology and Anthropology has traditionally pushed its professors to publish articles in academic journals. But the ways in which WVU sociologists and anthropologists present their research have evolved. More professors are now taking the book route, skipping the creative limitations associated with writing for peerreviewed journals.

Bringing with him a wealth of realworld experiences as a former police officer in Wilmington, Delaware, and FBI unit chief, Jim Nolan has taught a hate crime course at WVU since the early-2000s.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a criminal offense committed against a person,

Jim Nolan, PhD

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the BOOK

property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.

Nolan’s dedication to the topic led him to co-author The Violence of Hate: Confronting Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Other Forms of Bigotry with Jack Levin, a sociology professor at Northeastern University. This book—along with The Essential Hate Crime Reader, which Nolan edited with sociology instructor Susie Bennett—is required reading for his hate crime classes.

“An important aspect to the book is that it points out that the causes of hate violence are not really the hatemongers people who are ranting and raving about the inferiority of, and danger presented by, different minority groups,” said Nolan, whose strides in the classroom earned him the title of West Virginia’s 2010 Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. “It’s because the average person won’t get involved to stop it. It’s important for the average person to develop an understanding of the true nature of hate violence. Most of it occurs because of misunderstanding.”

Rachael Woldoff, an associate professor, also draws on her classroom experiences for research projects. Her latest undertaking involved three years of fieldwork and 90 interviews that culminated in White Flight/ Black Flight: The Dynamics of Racial Change in an American Neighborhood, published

by Cornell University Press. In a capstone

on INEQUALITY

By Jake Stump Photos by M.G. Ellis class, Woldoff was teaching students how to utilize United States Census Bureau data. Figures for one working-class urban neighborhood, located in the northeast, caught her eye. From 1990 to 2000, the black population in that area skyrocketed from 2.2 to 58.8 percent. Engaging her sociological imagination, Woldoff ended up driving to the neighborhood.

“I casually started talking to people and thought I’d hear the typical narrative, ‘The whites here left and were afraid of the blacks, crime and violence,’” Woldoff said.

“But that’s not what happened.”

Rachael Woldoff, PhD

Instead, Woldoff discovered that the white residents live in harmony with the black population. In her new book, she highlights three types of residents: the white stayers, the black pioneers and the secondwave blacks.

The white stayers are mostly elderly, Caucasian residents who never left the neighborhood. The stayers compliment the black residents for their acts of kindness, which include shoveling snow for them, Woldoff said.

The second group, the black pioneers, consists of the African Americans who first moved into the neighborhood. These residents take an active approach seeking an integrated, safe, and orderly environment for their children.

Slight conflict arises, however, with the addition of second-wave blacks, the most recent migrants to the neighborhood. This group is uninvolved and isolated from the community, Woldoff said, and their norms on child-rearing and the maintenance of order clash with those of the black pioneers.

Assistant Professor Josh Woods also released a book this year and has another one coming out. Woods teamed up with Vladimir Shlapentokh, a sociology professor at Michigan State University, to write Feudal America: Elements of the Middle Ages in Contemporary Society.

The idea for this book grew out of Shlapentokh’s research on post-Soviet Russian society.

From there, Woods and Shlapentokh examined similarities between European feudal societies of the Middle Ages and contemporary America.

“Feudal America urges readers to think critically about the naïve labels that are often used to characterize the United States,” Woods said, “labels such as ‘democracy,’ ‘liberal capitalism,’ ‘free markets,’ and ‘meritocracy,’ that are lavishly expressed

New & Notable

in social studies textbooks and the speeches of American politicians.”

Woods, who came to WVU in 2009, teaches courses on social psychology and complex organizations. One of his research interests includes the social and psychological responses to terrorism and other perceived threats, which led to his work on yet another book. Freaking Out:

Josh Woods, PhD

A Decade of Living with Terrorism, is slated for release in January 2012.

That publication will examine how the 9/11 attacks changed American society, from immigration policy shifts to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Not only are the books padding professors’ vitas, but the lessons outlined within those pages are transferring to the classroom and aiding in the development of the Division of Sociology and Anthropology.

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by Ashley Wells, Photos by Jake Lambuth

Mad scientist.

The very phrase

conjures up the image of something inaccessible, strange, and difficult to understand. For some people just the words scientist and science illicit the same feelings. West Virginia University wants everyone to know that science and scientists are accessible and relevant. Learning about the sciences doesn’t mean you have to be a brainy intellectual in a lab coat, with no people skills, trapped in a laboratory, and doing experiments that have no bearing on reality.

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“We want to put a public face on science. The idea of science seems disconnected from the individual and can be strange to some groups. We want them to see that scientists are real people in the real world. We like the same things that other people like – to sit down and have a drink from time to time. We like to get out of the classroom and the lab and sit down and talk about ideas with other people,” explained Jim Belanger, associate professor of biology.

That desire to sit down with people, relax, and discuss ideas is what inspired the science café movement.

It all began in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s. Groups of people started coming together to discuss matters related to science in a way that was engaging and welcoming of the general public. It was designed to be as unintimidating as possible and to draw in people who did not necessarily have a background in science. From there, it grew.

Science cafés sprung up all over the United Kingdom, and it wasn’t long before they made the trip across the pond to the United States. These cafés have been operating all around the country for years now. Belanger and Bia Vianna, a graduate

candidate in biology who took one of his courses, noticed something curious: West Virginia was one of the few states that did not have any science cafés.

Vianna had already experienced the benefits of an informal gathering with her students. She taught a biology laboratory course once a week and made a deal with her students: she would bring coffee for them, if they would promise to be alert and ready to participate. During these coffee breaks in the hall, she noticed that the group would actually start talking about the science behind what they were learning. The discussions were informal and relaxed, and they spoke about the material in a different way than they did in the classroom.

Belanger and Vianna decided to start a Morgantown science café, and Science on Tap was born. The concept is simple.

Come and relax, get some food, and talk about science.

“Why can’t you talk about science in a bar? Most people think entertainment is talking about sports, “Brangelina,” etc. . . . understanding that talking about science can be entertaining can change the way you look at the world. It can change lives,” explained Belanger.

Twenty-five people attended the first Science on Tap event, the “Real Science of CSI,” presented by Clifton Bishop, associate professor of biology, and Stephanie Young, a recent alumna of the Department of Biology’s doctoral program. By the end of the semester, that number grew to 45 attendees.

Other topics that have been showcased at Science on Tap include “Scents of Direction: What Moths Taught the US Navy about Finding Things by Smell,” presented by Jim Belanger; “Engaging Minds: Bringing the Science of Learning into the Classroom,” presented by Michelle Withers, assistant professor of

Science on Tap series creators Jim Belanger, associate professor of biology (front left), and Bia Vianna, a graduate candidate in biology (front right) listen and take notes in the audience during the “Top 10 Mysteries of Sleep —Solved” session at Mountain State Brewery in June.

What are science cafés?

Science cafés are live—and lively—events that take place in casual settings such as pubs and coffeehouses, are open to everyone, and feature an engaging conversation with a scientist about a particular topic.

The science café format has spread across the globe, adapting to different cultures and audiences. No matter the location, each café encourages conversation, debate, and interaction.

Science cafés welcome people who may or may not typically get involved with scientific discussions. They are not exclusive club meetings for scientists and science majors.

Is there a single organization that oversees science cafés?

Science cafés represent a grassroots movement. They exist all over the world and can vary from place to place. Many science cafés in the United States draw inspiration from Café Scientifique, a network based in the United Kingdom. Even the names of science cafés vary, including Science on Tap, Science Pub, Ask a Scientist, and café Sci. Who can start a science café?

Anyone can organize a science café—you don’t have to be a scientist! All you need is a passion for science and a willingness to reach out and talk with people.

Where can I find resources and support for science cafés?

NOVA scienceNOW, in association with Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, runs sciencecafes.org. Created with the help and input of many science café organizers, the site is intended as a community resource to support and encourage the growth of science cafés.

The online network helps café organizers share ideas, tips, and advice.

Visit http://www.sciencecafes.org/ for more information.

Source: Sciencecafes.org

New & Notable

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“I strongly believe that in a world shaped by science and technology, the appreciation of the scientific method, critical thinking, imagination, and all other processes and concepts involved in science literacy should be extended and practiced by everyone in our society.

Science on Tap is my “baby,” and I think it is a great way to help in the accomplishment of engaging people in talking and discussing interesting scientific topics.”— Bia Vianna

biology; and “Top Ten Mysteries of Sleep: Solved,” by Hawley Montgomery-Downs, associate professor of psychology.

When these scientists talk, other people tend to listen. The first meeting of Science on Tap happened to share the bar with a French Club meeting.

“I looked over, and they were paying attention to us. It was nice to think that we were already reaching a different audience,” commented Vianna.

Hawley Montgomery-Downs, associate professor of psychology, presents “Top 10 Mysteries of Sleep—Solved.”

The Science on Tap events are also beginning to bring the University community closer to the Morgantown community, as a whole. Belanger has gotten emails from parents of homeschooled children who are interested in bringing them along for a fun learning experience, and Belanger hopes this leads to even more participation by people without connections to the University.

To make their discussions even more accessible, ideas have been tossed around to create a Science on Tap podcast. This would allow people to still listen to the discussions, even if they cannot make it to the actual event.

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Another goal of these events is to foster communication between different departments at WVU. During the spring semester, representatives from the Health Sciences Center, WVNano, and the WVU Center for Neuroscience attended the events. They expressed interest in participating as speakers at future events.

“We want to collaborate with other science departments and colleges that are interested and want to help in the planning of Science on Tap events,” Vianna said.

“I strongly believe that in a world shaped by science and technology, the appreciation of the scientific method, critical thinking, imagination, and all other processes and concepts involved in science literacy should be extended and practiced by everyone in our society. Science on Tap is my “baby,” and I think it is a great way to help in the accomplishment of engaging people in talking and discussing interesting scientific topics.”

Apparently, she is not the only one. Since Vianna first noticed that no science cafés took place in West Virginia, according to the map on the Science Cafés website, one has shown up in the Charleston area.

These events coincide with an important time for science communication at WVU and nationally.

Over the past year, speakers have given public lectures on the importance of effective communication of scientific subjects, and a symposium in April was entirely devoted to the topic.

Audience members listen to Hawley MontgomeryDowns’ presentation.

The WVU 2020 Strategic Plan for the Future specifically stresses the importance of better and more science communication. Nationally, the conversation about the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and communication about STEM grows.

Belanger, Vianna, and all others involved plan to continue organizing regular events where the University community and the rest of Morgantown can sit down, have an ice cold drink or a slice of pizza, and bring the national discussion to a fun and accessible local level.

For more information about monthly Science on Tap events contact Bia Vianna at bia.vianna@mix.wvu.edu.

PovertyTrap TH E

a

By Christine Schussler

recent West Virginia University graduate has published a paper examining whether it’s more effective to give people money or health care to help them overcome poverty.

Calistus Ngonghala, who earned his doctorate in mathematics in May, collaborated with Mateusz Plucinski of the University of California at Berkeley, and Matthew H. Bonds of Harvard Medical School, on “Health Safety Nets can Break Cycles of Poverty and Disease: a Stochastic Ecological Model.”

The paper, which was published online in the Journal of Royal Society Interface in May, uses a mathematical model to analyze the effect an enforced minimum level of health and economic support can have on an impoverished community.

The research, Ngonghala said, had personal implications.

“Coming from a part of the world (Cameroon) where a greater portion of the population suffers from extreme poverty and deadly diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV almost all the time, I fully understand the impact of these on individual lives and economic development,” he said.

“As an applied mathematician, I have always been interested in applying mathematical modeling to assist in the fight against poverty and such mass killer diseases. Poverty and the prevalence of infectious diseases happen to depend on each other.”

Through the study, Ngonghala and his partners adapted a version of an infectious disease model and incorporated a per capita income into the model.

They then examined an individual’s susceptibility to disease based on their per capita income.

Their theory — higher income, better nutrition and health-related investments in areas such as sanitation, disease carrier eradication, inoculation, and drug therapies tend to reduce infections, while a highly infected population is less productive, leading to smaller per capita income.

“Within a specific population or country, there are rich and healthy, rich and unhealthy, poor and healthy, and poor and unhealthy individuals,” Ngonghala said.

“My immediate research plan is to extend this research to explore within a population or within a country disease-driven poverty traps (that will track the income and disease status of individuals within a population or country).”

In addition to his doctorate in mathematics from WVU, conducting research in the Department of Chemistry and teaching in the Department of Mathematics, Ngonghala has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in computer science and a master’s degree from the University of Buea, Cameroon.

In July, he began a two-year post-doctoral appointment as a researcher at the newly created National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Calistus Ngonghala

New & Notable

eberly.wvu.edu eberly.wvu.edu

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ADDING

WISDOM TO KNOWLEDGE

by Emily Christensen and Rebecca Herod Photo by Todd Latocha

A Kenyan proverb states, “we add wisdom to knowledge.” It is a fitting way to describe the life and career of Robert “Bob” Maxon. As a child, his goal was to become a teacher and coach. Although he envisioned a career as a high school social studies teacher, he ultimately traveled a different career path.

Throughout his more than 40-year career as a member of the WVU Department of History, Maxon has moved a phalanx of students from simple knowledge of a subject to true wisdom. He has turned them from learners into teachers, and from teachers into scholars and leaders in the field of African history.

During his final year as an undergraduate at Duke University in 1961, he was accepted as part of the first group of Americans to teach in East African secondary schools. He found the experience of teaching in Kenya so rewarding that he stayed to teach for three more years. After his return to the United States, his heart remained with Kenya.

Maxon joined the West Virginia University faculty in 1969 and received his doctoral degree in history from the 40

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University of Syracuse in 1972. He pioneered the University’s African history curriculum, and has served as an academic leader and nationally recognized scholar in the field.

Early in his career at WVU, he developed a two-semester survey of African history, a graduate readings course, and a research seminar. He went on to build the core of the African History Program, eventually developing nine courses for the department, including East African history,

a world history survey, and a capstone course for undergraduate majors.

Maxon regards as one of his greatest accomplishments the supervision and teaching of 21 doctoral students who earned their PhDs through the History Program.

Eleven of the doctoral dissertations he has directed have subsequently been published as books. The impressive record of publication for these students does not end there, by Maxon’s count his students have published a total of 18 books.

Awards & Honors “A close relationship with former students represents an immensely satisfying outcome of my teaching experience.”—Robert Maxon

history at Saint Louis University. of whom have taken positions within Moi “We have exchanged ideas for Maxon has twice risen to leadership University as members of the Department research, commented on each other’s of the Department of History, serving as of History or administrators in the College projected publications, and exchanged the chair from 1983 to 1989, and again of Arts and Sciences. career ideas,” Maxon said. “A close from 1998 to 2004. Following his first In addition to teaching generations relationship with former students stint as chair, he spent an academic year on of WVU students, Maxon is the author represents an immensely satisfying sabbatical serving as a visiting professor at of a widely used textbook, East Africa: An outcome of my teaching experience.”

Moi University in Kenya, the first of four Introductory History, first published in 1986 Steve Zdatny, a former colleague and such visits. Maxon was instrumental in and reprinted twice since then. An East current chair of the Department of History the inauguration of the master’s program African edition was published in Nairobi, at the University of Vermont, notes Maxon’s in history at Moi. Additionally, he has and a Chinese version was published in ability to recognize and nurture graduate trained a number of Kenyan students, four Beijing in 2010. students as one of his strongest attributes.

Maxon is an American citizen, “… he is a fine judge of talent; but part of his heart has been the young men and women he has Robert Maxon Honors and Awards in Kenya since his first visit. He brought to WVU from Kenya have Robert Maxon’s academic leadership and commitment to married a Kenyan woman, Felicia been a remarkably consistent group scholarship is reflected in the many awards he has received.

Ayiro Maxon, and together they …. The payoff of his efforts and the In fall 2010, he received an honorary doctorate degree have two adult children. Maxon proof of their effectiveness lie in the from Moi University in Kenya in recognition of his many also was an active participant in extraordinary professional success contributions to the study of African history.

Kenyan soccer, becoming involved his students have had,” he said.

His honors include: as a player on several competitive Maxon’s students have earned teams while living there. An article prestigious scholarships, published 1972-73 WVU Outstanding Teacher Award announcing his 2010 honorary dozens of articles and books, and 1992 Cheikh Anta Diop Award for Outstanding Faculty doctoral degree from Moi touts gone on to become professors at Scholarship in African and African-American his talent for soccer, noting that he universities around the country and Studies from the WVU Center for Black Culture once played with some of Kenya’s in Kenya. and Research greatest “footballers.”

“Professor Maxon has “Bob’s heart is truly in Kenya,” produced more PhD candidates 1993-94 WVU Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award said Liz Fones-Wolf, chair of the in African history, in the last three Department of History. “His deep decades, than most mentors of 1993-94 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding love and respect for the country African history doctoral students Researcher Award and its people have translated into in the United States. And therein 2007-08 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding the creation of a legacy at WVU. lies what might be one of his Teacher Award He has trained the next generation most far-reaching contributions of African historians and created a not only to the University, 2007-08

WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award long-lasting partnership between College, and Department, but West Virginia University and Moi also the history profession,” said 2009 Kenya Scholars and Studies Association Lifetime University.” former mentee George O. Ndege, Achievement Award PhD, associate professor of eberly.wvu.edu

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MEET

WVU’s FIRST WOMEN

By Rebecca Herrod

Two outstanding female faculty researchers and two graduate students have been awarded West Virginia University’s first Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Awards.

Mickey Holcomb

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Mikel “Mickey” Holcomb, assistant professor of physics, and Jennifer Weidhaas, assistant professor of civil engineering, will receive $3,750 to pursue their research. Kathleen Burke and Mary Kylee Underwood, both graduate students in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, will receive $1,250 awards.

The award supports faculty initiatives and student scholarships. The WiSE Giving Circle brings together alumni and friends who seek to impact the field of science by encouraging and mentoring young women in their pursuit of professional careers within the National Science Foundation-funded STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and math.

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine

The giving circle is an internal program that was developed simultaneously with WVU’s National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant, which seeks to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

“Through the WiSE Program, the philanthropic community has endorsed WVU’s commitment to advancing women in the STEM fields. Private/public partnerships like this will be necessary for WVU to achieve the goals of the 2020 Strategic Plan,” said Provost Michele Wheatly.

Mickey Holcomb joined the Eberly College Department of Physics in 2009. Her funds will support research of multiferroics, materials that can exchange magnetic fields with electric fields.

The material’s properties show promising device applications, allowing for the creation of smaller components, particularly in computers.

Awards & Honors

To learn more about WISE, visit wisewomen.wvu.edu

Jennifer Weidhass is a member of Kylee Underwood Lewis—on delafossites, the environmental/hydrotechnical group will use the awards a family of oxides in the WVU Department of Civil and to establish their that could possibly Environmental Engineering. She has professional and be used as catalysts to experience working in academia, industry, postdoctoral paths. reduce carbon dioxide and government agencies. Her research Burke will use her emissions. Increasing focus includes biological, chemical, and funds to attend the the visible light photo physical environmental engineering 2012 Hereditary Disease activity of an oxide approaches, including water/wastewater Foundation’s conference would make it an treatment, hazardous waste and emerging in Boston, Massachusetts. optimum candidate Kylee Underwood contaminants remediation, water quality There she will have the for the photo catalysis modeling and bacterial source tracking opportunity to deliver a of carbon dioxide into of contaminants. She will use her award seminar outlining her study results on the usable products such as methane. This could to purchase a benchtop, refrigerated cause of Huntington’s disease. provide a reduction in carbon dioxide fossilmicrocentrifuge The long-term goal of her research in fuel power plants. for her research chemistry professor Justin Legleiter’s lab “This research is the beginning of what laboratory. in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of will be presented as my PhD dissertation in “This Chemistry is to understand the biophysical the course of the next three years,” she said. refrigerated properties and molecular mechanisms “The expected outcome of this work microcentrifuge that contribute to the pathology of includes at least three scientific papers in will be invaluable nanoscale self-assembled macromolecules the next two years, collaborative experience in the generation in neurodegenerative diseases, like with experimental scientists and multiple of data in my Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. conference presentations.”

Kathleen Burke research area, “These funds will give me an excellent The 2011-2012 WiSE Awards are environmental biotechnology,” she said. networking opportunity,” Burke said. funded by WiSE annual membership and “The equipment will be used to “By demonstrating the importance of donations, the Hall-de Graaf Endowment generate the final set of data required for a techniques that I have become proficient for Women in Science and Engineering, the manuscript to be submitted in, specifically in atomic Research Trust Fund Hall-de Graaf Science to a peer-reviewed journal. I force microscopy, I hope and Engineering Fund, and the Eberly look forward to publication to establish myself as a College of Arts and Sciences. of the research, which will viable candidate for a To learn more about the WiSE serve as a concrete outcome postdoctoral position.”

Giving Circle contact Bonnie Fisher, from the use of the award Underwood plans to director of development in the Eberly dollars.” continue research—begun College of Arts and Sciences or visit Graduate students as an undergraduate in wisewomen.wvu.edu.

Kathleen Burke and Mary the lab of professor James Jennifer Weidhaas eberly.wvu.edu

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Making A D VA N C E s

in Research

by Diana Mazzella, Photos by M.G. Ellis 44

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Awards & Honors

Leslie Hopkinson was raised on math and science.

Her parents—a math teacher and an engineer—inspired her to pursue a career in science.

She also liked being outdoors and wanted to preserve it for everyone else.

She journeyed into ecological engineering with the help of her adviser and teaching mentors (all three were women), and participated at her graduate institution’s seminars and networking experiences for young female scientists funded by a National Science Foundation grant called ADVANCE that is designed to support female faculty.

Now Hopkinson, as an assistant professor at West Virginia University, is faced with climbing the faculty career ladder while building her research team and lab. Once again she is receiving assistance from the women around her.

She is one of eight women who are receiving $15,000 grants through WVU’s $3.2 million National Science Foundation ADVANCE Grant. The funds, part of the WVU ADVANCE Sponsorship Program, will allow them to receive mentoring from faculty members outside their department and to explore their science in new ways.

The overall grant is designed to create a network of support and resources for female faculty in science, technology, engineering, and math careers.

“By ensuring that women scientists consider academia as a viable and attractive career option, we are contributing to a more diverse science and engineering workforce,” said Melissa Latimer, director of the WVU ADVANCE Center. “These role models also help to inspire the next generation of female faculty and researchers.”

These professors’ interests are far-reaching.

Hopkinson is exploring how to restore riverbanks to allow plant and animal life to thrive. Karen Culcasi wants to figure out the identity issues that Palestinians living long term in Jordan are facing. Jessica Deshler wants to see how better to teach college calculus with gender in mind. Yuxin Liu is developing a microvessel model combining biology and engineering to allow the investigation of human tissue, which could contribute to cancer research.

Jennifer Weidhaas is using bacteria to clean up pollution. Jennifer Ripley Stueckle

Some, like Hopkinson, had female scientists and engineering role models guiding them to the place they are now.

Yuxin Liu grew up watching her parents, both electrical engineering professors, teach and research at universities in China. Seeing her mother work as a faculty member showed her a direct path to research, and she didn’t see the difficulties women face in engineering.

But the statistics tell another story.

According to the Society of Women Engineers, women made up 17 percent of freshman engineering majors earlier

“Having a diverse faculty in terms of gender and race provides the multiple lines of thought and disparate approaches that are needed to solve complex problems in science and engineering.”— Jennifer Weidhaas is curious to see if fish in the Potomac River are showing both male and female sex cells because of pollution, while Shikha Sharma will track carbon dioxide in the Appalachian Mountains. Robin Hissam is researching biological polymers.

All eight women got into their fields in different ways.

For Jennifer Ripley Stueckle, a teaching assistant professor in the Department of Biology, it was an eighth grade trip to Wallops Island in Virginia that convinced her aquatic life would be in her future.

“Over the week, we visited intertidal, marsh, eelgrass beds, and estuarine environments, and I was amazed to see all the different fishes, crabs, and invertebrates dart between my legs,” Stueckle said.

“From that point on, I focused my education on marine science.”

in the last decade, and fewer than 20 percent of those in science, engineering, technology and math careers were women.

The National Science Foundation reports that women with science and engineering doctorates made up 30 percent of full-time faculty in 2006.

“I think as women faculty in the engineering department, we really need to do something to change that,” Liu said.

Why women in science?

When it comes to the question of why support women in science, for some the answer is obvious: it’s the science that should be supported no matter who is practicing it.

But diversity, some note, allows new ideas to flourish.

Jennifer Weidhaas, who researches and teaches in the Department of Civil eberly.wvu.edu

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Awards & Honors and Environmental Engineering, said that, “Everyone approaches problems differently.”

“Having a diverse faculty in terms of gender and race provides the multiple lines of thought and disparate approaches that are needed to solve complex problems in science and engineering.”

Jessica Deshler researches undergraduate mathematics education, a field in which she stands out.

“Successful women and minorities in science and academia can have the greatest influence over others right now who might not be sure if this is the career choice for them,” Deshler said.

“Showing others by our own example is a great way to demonstrate what we’re all capable of doing. I hope that female and minority students see me as an example of the nontraditional—a female Hispanic mathematician, and that that might influence even one student to pursue a career choice that he or she might not have otherwise.”

Feeling encouraged was certainly the

route that led Karen Culcasi to pursue a career in geography.

With the ADVANCE sponsorship, she will be meeting and questioning Palestinian refugees in Jordan about how their displacement after the formation of Israel in 1948 affects their identity. She’ll bring students with her to learn about refugees and other cultures, and she’ll be strengthening a bond with Yarmouk University in Jordan that is leading to an exchange program between the Jordanian university and WVU. The grant allows her to both learn more about the refugee experience, an area she hasn’t delved into before, and to increase her understanding of the Arab world, an area that has fascinated her since high school.

She could pull off the project on her own, but there’s something reassuring about the mentoring aspect.

“I would attempt this on my own but having her assistance is encouraging,” she said of her project mentor Alison Mountz of Syracuse University. “It gives me a lot

more confidence that I will be successful in doing this research.”

Shikha Sharma, an assistant professor in the Department of Geology and Geography, said the mentorship she will receive from Rosemary Capo, an associate professor of geology and planetary science at the University of Pittsburgh, could turn into something more.

“I have had very limited networking and mentorship opportunities in the U.S. as my entire schooling was in India,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for me to get a good mentor who has a successful academic career. Since our research interests and fields of specialization greatly complement each other, I foresee a potential for long-term research collaboration.”

From 2012 to 2015, ten women a year will be selected to receive the WVU ADVANCE sponsorships.

To read detailed biographies of the women in science, technology, engineering and math fields at WVU, go to http://wisewomen.wvu.edu/.

Your Legacy is Personal

That’s what almost happened to Drs. Sophia and David

No student’s passion for learning should be derailed by a lack of money.

graduate school and struggled financially. Despite years

Blaydes. The couple married during their final year in of success, they still remember the anxiety-filled days.

That’s why in June, the Blaydes designated provisions from their estate to create the David Fairchild Blaydes Biology Doctoral Dissertation Scholarship, to support a PhD student in his or her final year. Their gift makes sure that the WVU graduate student experience is firmly rooted in the pursuit of academic excellence, not worry.

Make a planned gift today and plant seeds for tomorrow’s future.

For more information on how you can contribute to the Eberly College through your will, living trust or IRA, contact Bonnie Fisher, Director of Development, at (304) 293-4611 or Bonnie.Fisher@mail.wvu.edu.

From left to right: Jeffrey Blaydes, Dr. William Peterjohn, recipient Zachariah Fowler, Dr. Richard Thomas, Drs. David and Sophia Blaydes.

The WVU Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization that generates, receives and administers private gifts for the benefit of WVU.

FALL/WINTER 2011

NEW BOOKS

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY PRESS ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.WVUPRESS.COM OR PHONE (800) 621-2736.

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Morgantown, WV 26506 Permit No. 34

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences 201 Woodburn Hall West Virginia University PO Box 6286 Morgantown, WV 26506-6286 Address Service Requested

Look for the Spring Vision Issue of Eberly in your mailbox in May 2012.