Professional notes
Father James Burns has been invited to participate in a presidential summit at the White House on "Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools" April 23 and 24. Burns will present to a subgroup his research on the "Psychological, Cognitive and Economic Impact of Catholic Grammar Schools" in the inner city.
Dr. Catherine Craft-Fairchild, College of Arts Sciences (English Department), presented her paper, "Shylock During the Long Eighteenth Century: The British Imagination and the Jews," at the 39th annual meeting of the American Society for 18th-Century Studies last month in Portland, Ore. Her work focused on how and why Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" became politically volatile and important, particularly during the crisis over the Jewish Naturalization Bill of 1753. As a past president of the organization, Craft-Fairchild also proposed and chaired the Midwest ASECS panel, "Indigenous Aliens and the Literary Marketplace."
Dr. Shersten Johnson, College of Arts and Sciences (Music Department), has published an article, "At a Loss for Words: Writer's Block in Death in Venice," in PsyArt: An Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts.
Dr. Anne Klejment, College of Arts and Sciences (History Department), has been selected to participate in the Slave Narratives Seminar this June at Yale University. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, sponsor of the seminar, covers expenses of participants. Professors of history, literature and other fields will study with Yale history professor David Blight, author of several highly regarded works on African-American and Civil War history. The institute noted that this year's competition for the seminar was "intense and unprecedented." Klejment is preparing to teach the new general education survey course, African Americans in Global Perspective (History 116), and a research seminar, The Challenge to Jim Crow, next fall.
Dr. Lon Otto, College of Arts and Sciences (English Department), has been selected as winner of the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing for his short story, "Her Good Name," published in the winter 2007 issue of Prairie Schooner. The award is accompanied by a $1,000 cash prize.
Dr. John Wendt, Opus College of Business, presented "Legal Updates in Sports Medicine" at the spring Minnesota Sports Medicine Conference. The conference, for physicians, certified athletic trainers, physical therapists and other sports medicine providers, was held at the National Sports Center in Blaine and is one of the largest sports medicine conferences in the Midwest.
