CAS Department Manager Holiday Party - (L-R) Back: Kari Craighead (Modern Languages and Literatures), Martii Kuznicki (Communication), Diane Idemoto (Physics), Pam Doherty (Political Science), Cindie Simms (Psychology), Mitch Grieb (Art and Art History), Heidi Elmore (Classics, History), Britt Cain (CAS Dean's Office, Center for the Arts and Humanities), Sue Khalipa (CAS Dean's Office), Jessica Gopp (English), Janis Davis (Philosophy), Cory Gong (Environmental Studies and Sciences, Public Health), Janice Jorgenson (Gender and Sexuality Studies), Vicky Gonzalez (Religious Studies). Front: Ria Jain (Music), Merry Kaelani (Graduate Program in Pastoral Ministries), Pauline Nguyen (Ethnic Studies), Kathleen Schneider (CAS Dean's Office), Ruth Mikusko (Theatre and Dance).

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back to campus! I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing winter break and a good start to Winter quarter. Compared to Fall and Spring quarters, Winter seems to be a bit quieter…unless you’re a department chair or manager preparing the next year’s curriculum! 

The Black Justice Studies Collaborative is hosting its first event next week. Eddie S. Glaude Jr., a New York Times Bestselling Author & James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University will be speaking on Black Justice.  Please join us for this inaugural event on January 16 at 4 pm in the St. Clare Room.

Applications for the REAL program are now open! Any student in the College of Arts and Sciences can apply for funding—up to $6,000—to engage in summer research, internships, projects, or creative works that allow them to discern their career goals, explore future employment fields, and grow their professional networks. We will be hosting weekly information sessions for students starting next week, and have a hard deadline on March 1 this year. Please encourage your students to apply!

As the seasons change, here are some haikus from Anishinaabe poet and activist Kimberly Blaeser.

Happy New Year,

Daniel

i. Spring the tips of each pine the spikes of telephone poles hold gathering crows may’s errant mustard spreads wild across paved road look both ways roadside treble cleft feeding gopher, paws to mouth cheeks puffed with music yesterday’s spring wind ruffling the grey tips of fur rabbit dandelion ii. Summer turkey vulture feeds mechanical as a red oil rig head rocks down up down stiff-legged dog rises goes grumbling after squirrel old ears still flap snowy egret—curves, lines, sculpted against pond blue; white clouds against sky banded headed bird this ballerina killdeer dance on point my heart iii. Fall leaf wind cold through coat wails over hills, through barren trees empty garbage cans dance damp September night lone farmer, lighted tractor drive memory’s worn path sky black with migration flocks settle on barren trees leaf birds, travel songs october moon cast over corn, lighted fields crinkled sheaves of white iv. Winter ground painted in frost thirsty morning sun drinks white leaves rust golds return winter bare branches hold tattered cups of summer empty nests trail twigs lace edges of ice manna against darkened sky words turn with weather now one to seven deer or haiku syllables weave through winter trees Northern follows jig body flashes with strike, dive: broken line floats up.

Highlights

Rohit Chopra (Communication) was a speaker for the panel, "The State of the Union-India Edition: Hindu Majoritarianism and the 2024 Indian Elections," held on November 24, at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. The panel was co-sponsored by the Hinduism and North American Hinduism Units of the AAR.
   
He also published an article, "Hinduism, Soft Power, and the Remaking of Global Indian Public Culture under Narendra Modi," on the Berkley Forum of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University. The article was published as part of a series of reflections on the Geopolitics of Religion and Culture in Asia: A Thematic Series, a joint initiative of the Center and the United States Institute of Peace. 

The article is based on his presentation at a conference on the same theme earlier this year, organized by USIP, Georgetown University, and the National University of Singapore. Rohit also presented his research and findings related to the topic to an audience of U.S. policymakers and academics at an event organized by USIP and Georgetown University in December.

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Tom Plante (Psychology) published an article in December 2024 "Dealing with Divisiveness: Ignatian Principles for Better Relationships" in Pastoral Psychology.

Abstract: Interpersonal and intergroup relationships seem to have steadily deteriorated in recent years, with an increase in the lack of civility and decency along with a greater willingness to attack and cancel anyone who does not agree with one’s cherished perspective on numerous matters. New popular phrases such as cancel culture, public shaming, air rage, and gaslighting have entered the common vernacular. Ignatian spirituality offers several helpful strategies for dealing with these contemporary divisive conflicts in a productive manner. These include (1) seeing God (or the sacred) in all things, (2) striving towards kinship with others through the pathway of civility, hospitality, and solidarity, and (3) managing conflict with accommodation, humility, and the expectation of goodness in mind. This article introduces and provides examples of these three Ignatian principles that can be employed in all challenging relationships, including both personal and professional as well as psychotherapeutic ones. They can be utilized in a secular or spiritually minded manner as well. Having more tools to improve relationships is especially needed now.

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Kirsten Read (Psychology) presented a talk entitled, "Confirmation or Surprise? How Predictable Language Supports Young Children's Retention of new Name-Animal Pairs" at the Psychonomic Society's 65th Annual Meeting in New York City. The talk focused on research completed last year at the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose with recent alumni Grace Roach '23 (Psychology), Dhanya Paul '22 (Neuroscience) and Caroline Cotler '23 (Psychology). In the study with preschool-aged participants we found that, contrary to theories of "error driven learning," young children did better at remembering new names for animals when the animals were the predictable last word in short rhymes (like Clark the... shark), than when they were surprising (e.g., Claire the... hare). This research on subtle differences in how children's book language can support vocabulary acquisition is a reminder of just how powerful playful real world interactions with children can be in their learning. The talk was also highlighted and summarized in the conference newsletter.

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The History Department is happy to announce that our undergraduate journal, Historical Perspectives, has won the Phi Alpha Theta (National History Honor Society) first prize award in the Nash History Undergraduate Print Journal competition for the second year in a row. The journal is student edited and features research papers and senior theses from history students at SCU. This year's issue was edited by 2024 graduates Rosie Huang ’24 (Economics, History) and Payton Stewart ’24 (History), with faculty advising by Naomi Andrews (History).

 

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Jerry Burger’s (Psychology, Emeritus) short story, “Booth,” was one of 14 stories selected for The Best of the Delmarva Review, 2008-2023. The anthology covers the first 16 years of the literary magazine. Jerry’s story originally appeared in the December 2022 issue.

 

 

 

 

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Vivien Leung (Political Science) and co-author Nathan Chan (Loyola Marymount University) published "The Activation of Anti-Asian Attitudes on Vote Choice" in Political Behavior. Using cross-sectional over time and panel data from the American National Election Studies, we find that holding more anti-Asian attitudes was not associated with Republican vote choice between 2008–2016, including when Donald Trump first ran. However, anti-Asian views became strongly related to voting for Trump in 2020. Further panel analysis demonstrates evidence that anti-Asian views measured prior in 2016 increased the likelihood of vote switching to the Republican Party in 2020.

 

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Jesica Siham Fernández (Ethnic Studies) was the recipient of the 2024 Michael Alexander Early Career Award granted by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). The award was established in 2005 to recognize early career excellence in scholarship as well as in service. For this award, scholarship is defined in terms of substantive academic (theoretical, empirical, or applied) contributions to the psychological study of social issues.

Additionally, Jesica published an article with Michelle Fine (CUNY, The Graduate Center) in the journal Qualitative Psychology. Entitled “Methodological Retrospective: Critical Participatory Action Research,” the article presents and describes the history, foundations, and ethical imperatives of engaging in critical participatory action research (CPAR).

Image: Jesica at Zion National Park.

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Kimberly Dill (Philosophy) published her chapter, "On the Efficacy of Cultivating Environmental Reverence for Forests" in Marcello di Paola's (Ed.) The Vegetal Turn (Springer Nature). In this piece, Dill develops a philosophical account of reverence, as induced by more-than-human entities and environments. Utilizing a relational ethical framework, she argues that environmental reverence ought to be conceived of as a moral emotion, which—through habituation and cultivation—carries the potential to grow into a fully-fledged environmental virtue. Reverence is constrained by a set of both internal and external success conditions; its proper implementation thus requires on-the-ground relationship building between communities and the local, biodiverse spaces near which they dwell. She focuses on the important role that reverence plays in motivating the efficacious conservation of sylvan ecosystems, drawing on eco-anthropological research into the high concentrations of biodiversity found in residentially managed ‘sacred groves.’ Altogether, Dill recommends a few first-order, ethical prescriptions: first, mass environmental discourse ought to highlight the motivational efficacy of cultivating cultural narratives that center environmental reverence and the key, carbon-sequestering role that forests play in climate-change mitigation. Finally, it is imperative for environmental ethicists to elevate the epistemic status afforded to traditional ecological and residential land managers.

 

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Students at Villa Maria Academy in Santiago, Chile, on Zoom with Dr. Jiménez.

Francisco Jiménez (Modern Languages and Literatures, Emeritus) was featured in AP preparation materials by Lingco, Language Labs, 2024, with an excerpt from Cajas de cartón. His graphic novel The Circuit was named to the New York Public Library's 2024 Best Books of the Year list.

In October, he engaged with students through several virtual presentations. On October 25, he spoke with middle school students at Williams Memorial School in Napaskiak, Alaska, where students read excerpts from The Circuit and Breaking Through. On October 30, he had a virtual discussion with 6th-grade Language Arts classes at Odle Middle School in Bellevue, Washington, where students studied The Circuit.

On November 12, he held a virtual session with students at Villa Maria Academy in Santiago, Chile, where students read Cajas de cartón. On November 7, he met with the SCU LEAD scholars to discuss his memoir Reaching Out. Later, on November 20, he hosted a virtual discussion about The Circuit with 6th graders at Avenues The World School in New York City.

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Chan Thai (Communication) and Prashanth Asuri (Bioengineering) have been awarded a $100,000 grant from NIIMBL, The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, to serve as a regional lead for the NIIMBL eXperience program in the Bay Area. The program will take place in June 2025 and will expose underrepresented STEM students to the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry through hands-on training, industry tours, and engagement with professional associations. The week-long eXperience @ SCU will also include professional development workshops, academic workshops focused on topics such as health disparities and biostatistics, as well as mentoring sessions for participants.

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Kieran Sullivan (Psychology) and Katy Bruchmann (Psychology) published a paper "The Online Jealousy Scale: An adaptation, extension, and psychometric analysis of the Facebook Jealousy Scale" in the journal Frontiers in Human Dynamics. Online interactions (via social networking sites, direct messaging, etc.) provide rich fodder for romantic jealousy and a validated measure is needed to advance research on jealousy in the digital arena. Three studies were used in order to develop, refine, and evaluate the Online Jealousy Scale (OJS). The findings indicate that the OJS can be reliably used to measure jealousy related to online interactions and social media for research participants of all ages and in various types of relationships. The measure will allow researchers to more accurately assess online jealousy and to build on one another's work.

 

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar