People and Places: February 2018
Reporting on the professional activities of College community members and highlighting student achievement
Professor Emeritus of Art George Roland exhibited work in a group exhibition entitled “Just Say’n” at Bottle Works Gallery near Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The exhibition, held under the auspices of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, was selected by Pittsburgh-based curator Jill Larson. The exhibition opened December 8, 2017, and continued through January 27, 2018.
Professor of Political Science Shannan Mattiace has received a 2018–19 Fulbright Award to teach and conduct research in the South American nation of Chile. Mattiace plans to live in Chile for five months beginning in February 2019. Part of her time will be spent teaching and lecturing on immigration, Latin American indigenous and social movements, and Mexican politics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. The other time will be spent doing research, comparing indigenous communities in a border region of Mexico with indigenous communities on the western Bolivian border with Chile. Mattiace also plans to establish contact with Chilean indigenous colleagues in Santiago for a future book project.
In addition, over the last three years, Mattiace has been working with a group of 10 GLCA colleagues (five humanists and five social scientists) on a collaborative research project. The results of their work have been recently published in the edited volume, Mapping the Megalopolis: Order and Disorder in Mexico City (Lexington Press, 2018). Mattiace has two chapters in the volume, co-authored with Jennifer Johnson (Kenyon College).
The Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication voted to approve the appointment of Associate Professor of English and Director of Writing Alexis Hart to the CCC Editorial Board for a three-year term.
Assistant Professor of English Aline Lo recently published a book chapter titled “Guilt Trips: Returning to the Homeland in The Betrayal” in the collection The Humanities in a World Upside-Down, which was edited by Ignacio Lopez-Calvo and published through Cambridge Scholars. Prof. Lo presented work from this chapter for last semester’s Faculty Lecture Series.
Valerie Hurst ’18 presented a poster entitled “Integrating a Fragmented System of Care: A platform for contextualization of community wellness data in rural, Northwestern PA” at the AcademyHealth Annual Data Dissemination Conference in December 2017. The presentation highlighted the first year of work on a collaborative project between Allegheny College and the Crawford County Systems of Care Network. The goal of this project is to use GIS mapping tools to identify community wellness-related needs and inequalities. The presentation was co-authored by Ashley Weibel ’18, Christopher Shaffer (GIS manager/instructor in the Environmental Science/Studies Department), and Assistant Professor of Global Health Studies and Biology Becky Dawson ’00.
Assistant Professor of Geology Katie Tamulonis gave a talk at the annual Geological Society of America meeting in Seattle, Washington. Her talk was entitled “Optimizing Marcellus Formation field development, well performance, and operations by integrating geologic and engineering data into a volumetric geologic model.”
Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology Sharane Simon coauthored the paper entitled “An exhumed fine-grained meandering channel in the lower Permian Clear Fork Formation, north-central Texas: Processes of mud accumulation and the role of vegetation in channel dynamics,” which was accepted for publication in the IAS Special Publication (IAS48) on “Fluvial meanders and their sedimentary products in the rock record.” IAS Special Publications is a book series of thematic volumes edited by specialists on subjects of central interests to sedimentologists.
Richard Bowden, professor of environmental science, coauthored the paper “Long-term litter manipulation alters soil organic matter turnover in a temperate deciduous forest,” published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. This 20-year study at Allegheny’s Bousson Environmental Research Reserve shows that roots exert stronger controls over soil organic matter than do leaves. Management efforts that seek to increase forest productivity as a means to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide pollution may be of only limited effectiveness because increased inputs of leaves to the forest floor do not result in long-term increases of soil carbon. Models that aim to quantify soil C sequestration need to distinguish between above- and below-ground sources of organic matter inputs.
Nia Burnett ’18, Cameron Neiblum ’20, Melissa Burnett ’20, Rebecca Montgomery ’20, Alyssa Hall ’21, Audrey Serguievksi ’20, and Margo Beck ’21 recently served as judges for the annual Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences (PJAS) Region X Science Competition, held at Penn State Behrend. PJAS is a statewide organization designed to stimulate and promote interest in science among junior and high school students.
Hayley Diemer ’19, Dakotah Manson ’18, Sarah Shapely ’20, and Dalia Wellens ’19 explored what it takes to pursue careers in public service by participating in Ready to Run Pittsburgh, a bipartisan training program to encourage women to seek government leadership positions. The students attended the Jan. 27 full-day workshop through financial support from Allegheny’s Center for Political Participation and Jennifer Daurora ’99, who serves on the College’s Board of Trustees. Allegheny alumna Dana Brown ’00 is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics at Chatham University, which hosted this event.