Scholarship Snapshots

Academics took on a new form in the past two years, but Gordon’s faculty persist in their scholarship to develop new, creative work. Here’s a quick look at some of their most recent projects:

Education

The MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education congratulated Gordon’s School of Education for “full approval” in all areas last August. The School was commended as “exemplary” in one area and for its commitment to continuous improvement.

Faculty in the School of Education, including Priscilla Nelson ’74, Todd Morano, Julia D’Onofrio ’05, Elizabeth Scottron ’06 M’10 and Krista Erickson ’91, are participating in Louisa Moats’ Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling.

During the 2020–21 school year, Nelson and Erickson served on the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education initiative titled Mass Literacy: Empowering Educators and Students in Massachusetts Through Evidence-based Early Literacy.

Fine Arts

Bruce Herman (art) recently contributed a chapter to God in the Modern Wing (IVP Academic 2021), and continues an exhibition tour of his collaborative project, “Ordinary Saints.”

Last fall, Benjamin Klemme (music) conducted the choir and orchestra at SING! Global, a Nashville conference hosted by modern hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty of Getty Music. He also conducted the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in the annual New Year’s Eve concert.

Along with fellow members of the Arabella String Quartet, Adams Endowed Chair in Music Sarita Kwok recorded the Six Concertante Quartets by Joseph Boulogne Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The Naxos Records album is set for release in 2022. Kwok also spent time on her sabbatical as a guest at the University of Arkansas.

Mary Montgomery-Koppel (music) enjoyed two world premieres of her music in 2021: House on Fire: Three Songs on Responsibility, premiered by Calliope’s Call for their Earth Day virtual concert, and Prelude No. 2: Seaside, a commission premiered by Juventas New Music Ensemble.

Chris Underation (communication arts) received an award of excellence from the Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts for his work on the audio drama, The Encounter. In October, the audiobook version of Beacon-Light: The Life of William Borden (Christian Focus Publishing) by Kevin Belmonte ’90 was released, which Underation engineered, edited and produced.

Humanities

Graeme Bird (English, languages and linguistics) and Rebecca Leslie ’21 continue reading, analyzing and preparing a publication about a 12th–13th-century Byzantine Greek New Testament manuscript held in Gordon’s Vining Rare Book Collection.

The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors published an article by Damon DiMauro (English, languages and linguistics) in September of 2021.

Physical Sciences

Angie Cornwell (biology) and Kristen Siaw (physical sciences) were two of three faculty members, along with Dan Norton (psychology), to receive grant funding from the John Templeton Foundation to expand STEM research at Gordon. Cornwell officially began her work in January during her sabbatical, examining increased risks for dementia and stroke.

A free, online textbook by Karl-Dieter Crisman (mathematics), Number Theory: In Context and Interactive, was adopted by nearly two dozen schools during the pandemic. The summer 2021 edition features new cover art designed by Art Director Rebecca Powell. Crisman recently reported results of research on highly symmetric voting systems, which was conducted jointly with Abraham Holleran ’22, Josephine Noonan ’23 and Micah Martin ’22.

Faculty hosted two summer practicums last year—the new Data Analysis Summer Practicum led by Sam Mason (biology) and the Computer Science Summer Practicum led by Russ Tuck (computer science) and Jonathan Senning ’85 (mathematics and computer science).

Last year, Mike Veatch (mathematics) published Linear and Convex Optimization: A Mathematical Approach (Wiley 2021).

Social Sciences

In September, research by Kristen Cooper ’06 (economics and business) was featured in “Why We Do Research on

CCCU Campuses,” an article published by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) in their magazine, Advance. She also served as coauthor of an article for Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.

With a networking grant from the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Ruth Melkonian-Hoover (political science and international affairs) hosted scholars for two panels in November of 2021, just in time for the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, MA: “Who ‘Belongs’ at Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Table? Research and Dialogue on American History, Identity, and Immigration.” Gordon faculty served as respondents.

Daniel Norton (psychology) recently published articles in (PLOS) One and Frontiers in Psychology. Norton also received grant funding from the John Templeton Foundation to expand STEM research at Gordon. His work connects to research he recently published in Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy.

Graduate, Professional and Extended Studies

Salome Brooks (physical therapy) presented at two conferences last fall: the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy’s Educational Leadership Conference and the annual regional conference of the American Physical Therapy Association. She also gave a workshop at the Mayo Clinic Humanities in Medicine Symposium.

Ivan Filby, executive director of Gordon Global Adult Education, published the globally endorsed book Livestream: Learning to Minister in the Power of the Holy Spirit (Seedbed Publishing 2021).

Meet Gordon’s Newest Faculty

New Assistant Professor of Art Greg Deddo recently graduated from Rhode Island School of Design’s painting MFA program. The interdisciplinary artist and with experience in painting, photography and digital media showed four paintings last August in “High Quality Final Hole,” on display at Aysa Geisberg Gallery in New York City.

With expertise in biblical wisdom literature and early Jewish and Christian biblical interpretations, Joanna Kline ’05 joins the biblical studies faculty full-time as an assistant professor of Old Testament.

Originally from Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, China, Mengqi “Mandy” Liu brings knowledge of development and health economics with a concentration on human capital and child and adolescent well-being. The assistant professor of economics and business is the secretary for the Himalayan Policy Research Consortium, through which she organized the first Graduate Student Research Panel.

After earning an M.S. in Biology from the College of William and Mary, Sam Mason ’15 (not pictured) teaches biology and chemistry. As a quantitative ecologist, his research interests and experiences range from regional population dynamics to environmental nutrient cycling.

Erica Oldaker joins Gordon’s faculty as an assistant professor in mathematics with knowledge of mathematical physics related to quantum mechanics and quantum chaos.

Following part-time teaching at Gordon, Kristen Siaw now teaches full-time across multiple disciplines in the natural sciences. Siaw, who combines her love of materials science with her biochemistry and inorganic chemistry academic backgrounds, is one of three faculty who received a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to extend STEM learning at Gordon.

An assistant professor of kinesiology who hails from Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, China, Yi Sun specializes in exercise physiology, biological aging, the gut microbiome and pharmacology.