Edward Charney, associate professor of art and department chair, held a solo
exhibition of oil paintings at The Butler Institute of American Art in Salem, Ohio, in January and February. The exhibit, which featured 35 paintings, included a new work that was created during Charney’s fall sabbatical. In addition, Charney participated in a twoperson exhibition of paintings at A Muse Gallery in Columbus, Ohio, and in a group invitational exhibition of Ohio landscape artists in the Schumacker Gallery at Capital University last year. Charney also exhibited 15 new
watercolor paintings in the Springfield Museum of Art along with work by Wittenberg students, which focused on subjects seen during a course with Charney in Italy last summer.

Trudy Faber, professor of music, performed the organ part for the Cedarville University performance of Handel’s Messiah Parts II and III, directed by Dayton Philharmonic maestro Neal Gittelman, Feb. 1.

Margaret Goodman, professor of biology, recently completed a sabbatical project with the Shodor Foundation in Durham, NC. While there, Goodman developed computational models of cellular processes, specif ically the interactions that regulate the cellular response to external signals (hormones) such as adrenaline (epinephrine). Goodman plans to incorporate her work into her cell biology course.

On April 16, Darlene Brooks Hedstrom, associate professor of history, presented a lecture at the American Research Center in Egypt’s Cairo Center titled “The White Monastery Federation Project: A Late Antique and Medieval Monastic Settlement.” She has also been invited to present a paper at the Christian Art on the Borderlands of Asia, Africa and Europe conference in Zakroczym, Poland, May 6-8. Brooks Hedstrom will discuss “Monastic Delta Designs: An Archaeological Assessment of the Late Antique Dwellings and Settlements in Coptic Egypt.” In addition, she and her colleague, Stephen Davis from Yale University, will begin the third season of excavation at the 6th-10th century, Egyptian monastic settlement of John the Little in Wadi Natrun, Egypt, in May. The Egyptian Delta Monastic Archaeology Project (EDMAP) is funded by National Geographic and Yale Egyptological Institute in Egypt.

On March 22, D. Scot Hinson, associate professor of English, presented a paper titled “Lying to Ourselves: Neo- Noir’s Search for Self in L. A.” at the Annual International Popular Culture/ American Culture Conference in San Francisco, Calif.

Horton Hobbs, professor of biology, was elected president of the Ohio Academy of Science, the “leading organization in Ohio to foster curiosity, discovery, and innovation and to unite all who value education, science, engineering, technology, or their applications for the benefit of society.” Hobbs is considered to be one of the nation’s top biospeleology experts.

Brandon Jones, assistant professor of music, served as co-chair of the 2008 Ohio Music Educators Association State Professional Development Conference
in Cincinnati, Feb. 7-9. The annual conference, the third largest of its kind, also included the New Sousa Band opening concert, which featured soprano Lee Merrill, adjunct instructor of music. Jones also was the featured conductor of the Messiah College Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania and served as guest lecturer for the instrumental conducting class, Feb. 28- March 1. Additionally, Jones conducted the Honors Concert Band at the annual Ohio Private College Instrumental Conductors Association Honors Band Festival, Jan. 19-20, at the College of Wooster. Wittenberg participants included Rebecca Cooper ’09 (French horn), Allie Daniels ’08 (percussion), Brittany Steinbrecher ’09 (double bass) and Ben Williams ’10 (oboe).

Ralph Lenz, professor of geography, served on the Institute of International Education’s National Screening Committee for Southeast Asia in early December in New York. The committee met to choose Fulbright Award recipients from American student applicants for Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Paco Labrador, head volleyball coach, was recently documented in a CBS feature on NCAA sports along with the volleyball team. This portion, from the Division III segment, features Labrador and senior second-team All-American Emily Bell in short interviews about the NCAA Division III Volleyball Final Four.

On March 2, cellist Barbara Mackey, assistant director of alumni relations, and flutist Joyce Wendel, associate professor of music, played for the Eyes Wide Open gallery photo exhibit reception at Fallingwater, one of the most famous Frank Lloyd Wright designs in America, located in Mill Run, Pa. The traveling exhibition is a result of a collaborative project between three Frank Lloyd Wright sites and Eyes Wide Open Network. Seventeen children joined the program to experience Wright’s architecture through the lens of a camera. Using high-quality digital SLR cameras, students took photographs of three buildings designed by Wright: Fallingwater, Springfield’s own Westcott House and the Unity Temple in Oak Park, Ill.

Olga Medvedkov, profe s sor of geography, presented a pre-Springfield Symphony lecture during the night of Russian music, March 15. Following the concert, students had the opportunity to meet with Russian pianist Olga Kern.
As a member of the Church Relations Council of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Rochelle L. Millen, professor of religion, participated in its annual
meeting at the museum, Feb. 4. Millen is currently working on a monograph
based on correspondence between an immigrant in the United States and a person in Sambor, then Poland (now the Ukraine) in the 1930s. The focus of the
research is the interwar years in Poland.

George C. Ramsay, professor emeritus of art, had his collage, sculpture and
graphic abstractions from 2000 to the present on exhibit at the Nuveen Community Center for the Arts in Montague, Mich., last fall.

Matthew J. Smith, associate professor of communication and department chair, and Karen S. Reynolds, director of WittPath Career Services, will present a short course titled “Developing a Co- Curricular Program in Communication Leadership” at the annual conference of the Eastern Communication Association
in Pittsburgh, Pa., on May 4. Two seniors in Wittenberg’s Communication Leadership Program, Nicole Wade and Tia Carter, will also present alongside faculty and student s f rom Ohio University and Hanover College.

Jim Welch, associate professor of biology and director of the marine science program, attended the 7th Larval Biology Symposium at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Coos Bay, Ore., last fall. While there, he presented a paper titled
“Just how selective is settlement of fiddler crab megalopae? New evidence from a molecular technique,” which included results of National Science Foundation-supported research he conducted with five undergraduate students over the past two years. He also discussed this research in February as the featured speaker at the annual Quest & Question dinner.

Bob White, director of church relations, presented a workshop titled “Relationships for Youth Workers” at the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza in California in February. The workshop addressed the important
issues regarding single youth workers who seek meaningful relationships as
they are engaged in the time-consuming calling to youth ministry. White has presented workshops on healthy relationships to thousands of teenagers and youth workers for the past 10 years, and he is also the Region 6 Facilitator for the Youth Ministry Network.

Leanne Wierenga, associate professor of languages, and Amy Livingstone,
associate professor of history, will again team up to teach a summer program in
Paris, May 18- June 15. The course will explore the history of the Middle Ages by examining the physical remains of castles and cathedrals, as well as interpret French fairy tales from the 12th century by studying their cultural context.