Faculty in the News
The Professional Achievements of our Faculty
Professor of Psychology Anthony C. Santucci, along with several of his students, has recently published several articles based on their research on the long-term effects of drugs of abuse in experimental models. Their work, appearing in the journals Behavioural Brain Research, Behavioral Neuroscience, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, and Brain Research Bulletin, examines the residual consequences of exposure to either alcohol or cocaine in laboratory rats. Their findings indicate that despite prolonged abstinence from drug exposure, subjects still suffered a variety of motivational, memory, and emotional disturbances. Because some of this work involved studying the effect of drug exposure during adolescence, Dr. Santucci’s research has implications relevant to the residual impact of youthful drug use on behavior later in life.
Especially, his research findings suggest that long-term, potentially permanent changes occur in the brain as a result of early exposure to drugs of abuse. Dr. Santucci and his students will continue this program of research with the aid of a Senior Faculty Course Release award made possible by the College.
Binita Mehta, Assistant Professor and Chair of the French Department, read a paper at an interdisciplinary conference, “Building Bridges in the City and Beyond: Languages, Communities & Cultures,” held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on April 11 and 12, 2008. Her paper, “Communities of Artists in Danièle Thompson’s Fauteuils d’orchestre (2006)” depicts how the lives of a classical pianist, an actress, and an art collector intersect on the avenue Montaigne, (8th arrondissement, near the Champs-Elysées across the river from the Eiffel Tower on Paris’s right bank) where high fashion meets high culture. In the film, the artists’ lives undergo a transformation in an area of central Paris far removed from the tensions of the unstable cités, (housing projects) located on its peripheries, perpetuating the myth of the city of light that obscures the realities of a contemporary multicultural Paris.
Megan Cifarelli, Assistant Professor of Art History, was invited to serve on the advisory panel for an exhibit of ancient Greek Art scheduled to open in October 2009 at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, MD. The panel, comprised of scholars, Classicists and curators from outside institutions, was convened on April 3rd and 4th to focus on the scholarly and curatorial issues pertaining to the exhibit. Tentatively titled “Heroes!” this exhibit will explore the mythological and cultic significance of heroic figures such as Herakles, Achilles, Odysseus and Helen in ancient Greek art, literature, and religion. The most recent exhibition curated by Professor Cifarelli, Gods, Myths and Mortals: Discover Ancient Greece, continues at the Children's Museum of Manhattan through December 2008.
Assistant Professor of Art History Lisa Rafanelli presented a paper at the international conference, “Noli Me Tangere: Text - Image – Context,” held at the Belgian Academy of Rome, April 1-4, 2008. The conference was hosted and organized by “The Research Programme: Mary Magdalene and the Touching of Jesus. An Intra- and Interdisciplinary Investigation of the Interpretation of John 20:17 in Exegesis, Iconography and Pastoral Care,” and sponsored by the Fund for Scientific Research - Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Arts of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Flanders (2005-2009). Professor Rafanelli was honored to be the only American speaker asked to present at this conference. Her paper, “To Touch or Not to Touch: The 'Noli Me Tangere' and 'Incredulity of Thomas' in Word and Image from Early Christianity to the Ottonian Period.” The proceedings from this conference will be published by Peeters Publishers (Flanders), 2009.
Tim Ross, Associate Professor of Studio Art is currently showing a digital print in the 2008 “American Impressions” exhibit at William Paterson University in New Jersey. In addition, Denise Bibro Fine Art recently supplied five monotypes to the “2008 Red Dot Fair” in Miami. The gallery also featured one etching/monotype at the “2008 Winter Salon for Gallery & Invited Artists” in New York City
Binita Mehta, Assistant Professor and Chair of the French Department just published an essay in a book, France at the Flicks: Trends in Contemporary French Popular Cinema, edited by Darren Waldron and Isabelle Vanderschelden (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007). The essay, “‘Comment peut-on être français?’ Imagining Alternative Identities/Futures in Coline Serreau’s Chaos (2001) and Julie Bertucelli’s Depuis qu’Otar est parti (2003)” examines two contemporary French films from the perspective of what it means to be French in today’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious France and in an ever-changing Europe.
This past December, a new CD, by Assistant Professor of Music Geoffrey Kidde, was released by Living Artists Recordings. Entitled I Am In Need Of Music, the CD features Professor Kidde’s work, “Songs from William Carlos Williams,” performed by The Gregg Smith Singers conducted by Gregg Smith.
During the winter break, Binita Mehta, Assistant Professor of French and Chair of the Department, was invited to lecture to majors in their senior year of the Bachelor of Mass Media degree at two colleges in Mumbai, India. The first lecture, on January 4, 2008 was at her alma mater, St. Xavier’s College; the second, on January 5, 2008 took place at Wilson College. Her lecture, “Representations of Multicultural France in Contemporary French Cinema,” focused on the challenges facing the French state in integrating its second and third generation African and North African immigrant populations, in light of the October-November 2005 (and more recent) riots in the housing projects of the French suburbs, and the representation of this multiethnic, multicultural, disenfranchised population in contemporary French cinema.
Hannah Fox, Assistant Professor of Dance and Theatre, recently published an article, "Playback Theatre: Inciting Dialogue and Building Community Through Personal Story," in The Drama Review: The Journal of Performance Studies, (Winter 2007, 89-105). The article explains the development of Playback Theatre into a global movement, currently practiced in fifty-five different countries. The article includes an interview with Professor Fox’s father, Jonathan Fox, the founder of the Playback Theatre technique.
On December 7th, Westchester Magazine Online featured an interview with Ken Mias, Lecturer in the Economics, Finance and Management department. The subject of the interview, titled “Gimme More, was about asking for a raise, something about which Mr. Mias is quite knowledgeable, given his 25 years of experience as a manager and a leader with Fortune 100 companies, including ChevronTexaco. Since the topic is universally intriguing, his response to the question “…what’s the secret?” is included below:
"It's circular…there are five steps, but the final step plays right back into the first one.”
First: Ask yourself why you think that you deserve a raise. Be objective. You have to go into your boss’s office with an explanation of why you are not being paid appropriately now.
Second: Do your homework. Figure out how your company and industry and profession are doing. You need to know what you’re worth and whether the market can afford you.
Third: Assess your relationship with your boss. Do you have an open and honest relationship? Is it stressed? Figure out how your boss is going to interpret what you say and prepare appropriately.
Fourth: Don’t compare yourself with others. It’s a big downfall. You may think that you know the environment or situation with another employee. But there could be many reasons why other employees make what they do. Don’t assume you have the picture from the boss’s perspective.
Fifth: Talk about yourself in terms of your job description. Most HR departments do a good job at assigning competitive salary ranges to a given job description. They know what the industry is paying. You need to be able to say, looking at my job description, I do more than that, I do very well at that, I can do this, not just that. But to do this, you need to ask yourself why you deserve a raise. Remember, that’s step one!
One bonus tip: It’s very valuable if you can communicate that you went through the process above. This demonstrates ownership over the objective to achieving your goal of more money.
This past November, Anthony Santucci, Professor of Psychology, served as a member of an external site visit team, which was invited to review the psychology program at Marist College. He was the primary author of the team’s report. In addition, Professor Santucci is serving as an ad hoc journal reviewer for several professional publications in the field of psychology and neuroscience. He has recently reviewed manuscripts submitted to Physiology and Behavior, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, and Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
On November 26th, Assistant Professor of Biology, Anna Yeung-Cheung, presented to the Mamaroneck Board of Trustees her most recent update on the findings on water and sediment in the upstream areas of Guion Creek. She has studied the Harbor Island area for the past two years to compare the levels of the bacteria enterococci and E.coli from the water and sediment inside and outside of the Gunderboom to those in the upstream areas of Guion Creek. Professor Yeung-Cheung’s presentation was reported in the November 30, 2007 issue of The Sound & Town Report, which can be accessed at:
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/1031/documents/pdfsubscribe/ST1130_e-edition.pdf
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Colin Morris, Assistant Professor of History and Director of American Studies presented, on November 19th, a lecture at the Bush-Holley Historic Site of the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich in Cos Cob, Connecticut. His lecture, titled The Transcendental Moment: Emerson's American Breakthrough, explored Ralph Waldo Emerson's earliest transcendental works, his break with Unitarian Christianity and Harvard Divinity School, and the profoundly American religious and historical sources of his ideas and intuitions. Prof. Morris' presentation was part of the Society's Front Porch Forum series of lectures by visiting scholars on Seeking Perfection in Antebellum New England.
Jeff Bens, Professor of English and Director of Creative and Professional Writing, chaired the feature film jury at the Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival in Temecula, CA in September. Earlier this month, Professor Bens and adjunct poetry professor Ken Hart read to and discussed their work with graduate and undergraduate writing students at SUNY Binghampton as guests of writer-in-residence Joe Weil. Professor Bens read a short story "Golden Day" from New England Review and Professor Hart read from his upcoming collection, Uh Oh Time, to be published by Anhinga Press in June.
John Carney, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies, has published Rethinking Sartre: A Political Reading (University Press of America). His book focuses on recent problems of political ideology. One example is the "new essentialism" - the use of biological research to argue for innate human differences, including social ones, that can serve as the basis for subsequent ideological agendas. He argues that Sartre's critique of essentialism is an effective counter-argument to this new wave of essentialist claims.
The University of East London in England featured an exhibition of the photographs of James Frank, Assistant Professor of Studio Art. Titled "Images of Spain," the November 19 – 23 exhibition included some photographs that were taken during the many years Professor Frank lived and taught in Spain. The majority of the photographs, however, were the fruit of a summer 2005 trip to photograph the Burgos Cathedral, one of the most significant Gothic cathedrals in Spain. That trip was funded by a “Manhattanville Summer Stipend for Research and Curriculum Development.”