The article “‘I’ll Contrive a Sylvan Room’: Certainty and Indeterminacy in Charlotte Smith’s Beachy Head, the Fables, and Other Poems (1807),” by Mark K. Fulk,associate professor, English, has been published in the new book Romanticism and the Object (Larry H. Peer, ed.; Palgrave Macmillan, December 2009). The editor praises the essay for finally adding women’s voices to the concept of Romantic indeterminacy.
An interdisciplinary team of Buffalo State College faculty has been awarded a NASA grant in conjunction with the NASA Langley Research Center. The cooperative effort between the Buffalo State team, Langley, the University of Wisconsin, and Kentucky State University will develop, test, and disseminate a series of learning progressions based on NASA data sources, cutting-edge science, and technology for use by middle and high school teachers. Called STUDIES (Students and Teachers Using Data from Investigations in Earth Systems), the four-year ($654,250) project will include statewide participation of earth science teachers and assessment methods. The following are participants: Catherine Lange, Bettina Martinez-Hackert, Jude Sabato, Bernadette Tomaselli, Kevin Williams, and Joseph Zawicki,Earth Sciences and Science Education; David Henry,Elementary Education and Reading; Tao Tang,Geography and Planning; Charlotte Roehm, Great Lakes Center and Geography and Planning; Don Erwin,Information Services and Systems; Joaquin Carbonara, Mathematics; Dan MacIsaac, Physics; andKenneth L. Huff, ’92, ’97, Mill Middle School teacher.
Zhang Jie, professor, Sociology, and director, Center for China Studies, published his article “Social Reference Theory: A Preliminary Conceptualization in Sociology” in the journal Study and Practice 10: 138–143 (in Chinese).
Steve Street’s review of Sergio Ramírez’s To Bury Our Fathers: A Novel of Nicaragua appears in the Fall 2009Rain Taxi Review of Books online. “This thirty-year-old novel…evokes a world formed and deformed by the same kind of global economic disparities and culture/ideology clashes we still debate” today.
Sixteen early childhood and childhood elementary education teacher candidates taking EDU 312: Teaching of Science and Mathematics in the Elementary School published their first books in fall 2009. The course and project are headed by Coralee Smith, associate professor, Elementary Education and Reading. The 16-page books are based on New York State and national standards in math or science and are geared toward students in grades 1–6, including bilingual students. All books successfully integrate English language arts with the given math or science subject.
Smith has included this Create, Publish, and Share Project (CPS), now in Phase II, as part of the curriculum for her students since spring 2008. She and her teacher candidates incorporate the project as a stepping stone in teaching math and science while working in their elementary teaching placement school, West Hertel Academy, a Professional Development School.
A copy of each book will be available in the West Hertel Academy library and in E. H. Butler Library’s Curriculum Materials Lab.
The Journal of Short Film, the peer-reviewed quarterly DVD journal showcasing independent short films, will publish Meg Knowles’s film Walk (vol. 17).
Melaine Kenyon, associate director for instructional technology, Instructional Resources, completed “Foundations in Copyright Management and Leadership,” the foundational course for the Center for Intellectual Property’s Certification Program in Copyright Leadership in Higher Education at University of Maryland University College. The certification course is part of the 2009–2010 Intellectual Property in Academia Online Workshop Series.
The Buffalo State College chapter of the Association for Childhood Education Internationalhas received the 2009 Chapter Excellence Award. This award recognizes and spotlights chapter accomplishments in the areas of governance, membership, activities, and service that directly benefit children and educators for the period July 1, 2008–June 30, 2009.
The Buffalo State chapter has more than 40 members who participated in various activities during this period. The group focused on the importance of play for children when inviting speakers, developing activities, and conducting service projects. Some members also presented on this topic at the ACEI International Conference and Exhibition in Chicago in March and at the Buffalo State Research and Creativity Celebration last spring.
Zhang Jie, professor, Sociology, and director, Center for China Studies, published his article “Sociology as a Science and Its Future” in Xinhua Digest 18: 159 (in Chinese).
Karen O’Quin, associate dean, School of Natural and Social Sciences, participated on the panel “Associate/ Assistant Deans and Authority Outside the Decanal Office: Definitions, Models, and Means of Acquisition” at the annual meeting of CCAS (Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences) in Baltimore, Maryland, November 11–14. She served as a member of the CCAS Assistant/Associate Dean’s Committee during 2009.