News

A front-page Raleigh News and Observer article focuses on CHASS faculty member and forensics expert Ann Ross. She was called in to help identify remains of a woman murdered in rural Edgecombe County. Her forensics expertise has helped identify victims from Bosnia to Chile, and across North Carolina.

Related Links:

• Read the N&O story.

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Ed Funkhouser really knows how to work a crowd.

He does it every Saturday in the fall when NC State plays a home football game at Carter-Finley Stadium.

On game days, the Communication professor--and the Voice of the Wolfpack--can get nearly 60,000 Wolfpack fans to yell "first down" in unison by simply inflecting his voice, measuring his tone and pacing his delivery.

Related Links:

• Read the Bulletin story.

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A study co-authored by Psychology Department Head Doug Gillan indicates that those highly embellished graphs and charts in USA Today and other media outlets may actually help people understand data more effectively than traditional graphs.

Related Links:

• Read more here.

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Kevin Howell has been named interim associate vice chancellor for alumni relations and executive director of the NC State University Alumni Association.

In addition to maintaining current alumni outreach and service initiatives and objectives, Howell will work with the Alumni Association Board of Directors and leadership of the university to consider long-term strategies, including the fiscal planning needed to support the growth of the association.

Howell currently serves as assistant to the chancellor for external affairs. He is a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and the North Carolina State Board of Education.

A former NC State student body president -- and member of the Board of Trustees -- Howell earned his B.A. in political science in 1988 and his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and
his wife Aleta, also an NC State alumnus, live in Raleigh with their two daughters.

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Imagine using the same process that goes into building video games to help investigators solve real-world crimes. Through a new grant, that's what researchers at North Carolina State University plan to do. Their work will lay the framework for multi-agency collaboration in crime scene investigations (CSI) by creating an unprecedented cyber infrastructure -- a virtual environment that provides data resources, simulation tools, expert access and unique collaboration capabilities. CHASS Anthropologist Ann Ross co-directs the Program for Forensic Science.

Related Links:

• Read the news story.

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Psychology Professor Rupert Nacoste says we are not in a post-racial era, we are in the midst of a period of interracial transition.

Related Links:

• Read the news release.

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NC State's Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures will use a grant funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to create a hub for teaching future military leaders the language and cultural skills they will need to address conflict in critical parts of the world, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East.

In the first year, the project will focus on three critical languages: Arabic, Chinese, and Urdu, according to Department Head Ruth Gross. Persian and Russian will be added in the second year.

Related Links:

• Read the news release.

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Parenthood is pushing mothers and fathers in opposite directions on political issues associated with social welfare, from health care to education, according to new research conducted by Associate Professor of Political Science Steven Greene.

"Parenthood seems to heighten the political 'gender gap,' with women becoming more liberal and men more conservative when it comes to government spending on social welfare issues," Greene says.

Related Links:

• Read more about it.

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A team of researchers at NC State, led by Associate Professor of Communication Sarah Stein, recently received a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation that will bring advanced mathematics software to rural, under-served high schools in North Carolina through NC State's innovative cloud computing solution, the Virtual Computing Lab (VCL).

Related Links:

• Read more about it.

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A new study by CHASS political scientists Michael Cobb and Bill Boettcher shows that Bush administration attempts to "frame" casualties from the Iraq War bolstered support for the war effort among certain members of the U.S. public, but also produced a backlash that led to decreased tolerance for additional casualties and war spending among others. The study has implications for the Obama administration.

Related Links:

• Read the news release.

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Summer 2009 CHASS Newsletter

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The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has named Cat Warren, an associate professor of English, as editor of its faculty magazine, Academe.

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CHASS Poet John Balaban is the subject of a Vietnamese state television video describing his work to preserve the Nom language and culture.

Related Links:

• Watch the YouTube video.

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Neal Hutcheson (Film Studies '92) distilled the art of making moonshine into an Emmy-winning documentary. "The Last One" features one-of-a-kind bootlegger Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton. Hutcheson won a golden statuette in Atlanta this summer for the Southeast region's best cultural documentary.

Related Links:

• Meet our winning documentarian.

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CHASS major Morgan McCormick was part of an interdisciplinary team from NC State students who made it to the finals in Disney's ImagiNations Design Competition.

Related Links:

• Read the Bulletin feature article.

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The Department of Political Science has received a five-year, $700,000 grant, to be shared with the Department of Economics. The grant from the John W. Pope Foundation will support teaching and research activities on issues relating to public policy, politics, economics and law.

Related Links:

• Read the news release.

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Thinking your memory will get worse as you get older may actually be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Professor of Psychology Tom Hess and a team of researchers have found that senior citizens who think older people should perform poorly on tests of memory actually score much worse than seniors who do not buy in to negative stereotypes about aging and memory loss. The New York Times, Time Magazine, ABC News, and other national and international outlets picked up this story.



Related Links:

• Read the news release

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Musicologist Jonathan Kramer has traveled the world in search of endangered poems, songs, music, and languages. He recently joined Frank Stasio on WUNC's The State of Things to share what he found in Suriname, the tiny South American country filled with such unique musical traditions as plantation slave spirituals and songbird smuggling. He also addresses the country's endangered traditions and how its government plans to use music to develop cultural tourism.

Related Links:

• Listen to the radio interview.

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New research from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology shows that gay and lesbian couples are forming long-term, committed relationships, even in the absence of the right to marry. However, couples surveyed for the study overwhelmingly said they would get married if they could in order to secure legal rights -- such as retirement and healthcare benefits.

"Our study indicates that marriage is both more and less important to gay and lesbian couples in long-term relationships than was perhaps previously understood -- more important in terms of the legal rights it conveys, but less important as a symbol of commitment," says study co-author Dr. Sinikka Elliott, an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at NC State. "This research underscores the need for legal protections and rights for all couples."

Related Links:

• Read the news release

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Law enforcement officers from around the region are coming to NC State to participate in a weeklong crime scene investigation workshop cosponsored by the college's Forensic Sciences Program. Participants will solve a series of mock murders while they learn the latest in the field of forensic science.

"Discovery and Recovery: Death in Natural Environments," is being held June 1-5 to help law enforcement officers hone their investigative skills through a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on field exercises.


Related Links:

• Read the news release

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Governor Bev Perdue named six CHASS majors among the 100 North Carolina college, graduate, and law students she announced who will fill 10-week summer internships positions with state agencies. "There is no better way to learn a job than by doing it," the governor said.

Kerrie Brackett of Lincolnton, a sophomore criminology and bioarchaeology major, has accepted the Jump Starting Lives internship with the Department of Corrections' Lincoln Correctional Center in Lincolnton.

Aaron Cusick of Raleigh, a graduate student in public history, has accepted the Special Collections internship with the Department of Cultural Resources State Archives Division in Raleigh.

Paul Jones of Raleigh, a senior communication major, has accepted the N.C. State Fair Public Relations internship with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services State Fair Division in Raleigh.

Joanna McKnight of Greenville, a junior history major, has accepted the Architectural Field Studies and Restoration Services Source Book internship with the Department of Cultural Resources Historical Resources Division in Greenville.

Kathryn Pennington of Greensboro, a senior history and communications major, has accepted the Historic Site Interpreter and Researcher internship with the Department of Cultural Resources Duke Homestead Historic Site in Durham.

Mallory Richardson of Raleigh, a senior English and communications major, has accepted the Foster Care and Adoption Task Force internship with the Department of Administration's Commission of Indian Affairs in Raleigh.



Related Links:

• Read the news release

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Professor of Religious Studies William Adler has received the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence from NC State's Board of Trustees in recognition of his outstanding career here. The Holladay Medal is the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member by the trustees and the university.



Related Links:

• View the news release.

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English Professor John Kessel has won the prestigious Nebula Award for Best Novelette for 'Pride and Prometheus,' a tale involving characters from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." "It's a story about the difficulty of finding the proper mate," Kessel says, "and how initial impressions are not always the most trustworthy."


Related Links:

• Read the news release.

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One will travel from India to teach Urdu. Another will come from Bangladesh to teach Bengali. And a third will arrive from Afghanistan to teach Persian. The Institute of International Education is sending three Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants to NC State in 2009-2010. The application was made by the North Carolina Center for South Asia Studies, whose Critical Languages Program provides courses in less commonly taught languages such as Urdu, Bengali, and Persian at NC State, Duke, and UNC-CH. "By their very presence, these Fulbright teaching assistants infuse genuine culture and communication into lower level-language classes and greatly enhance the foreign language experience for American students," says Dwight Stephens (Foreign Languages and Literatures), who directs the Critical Languages Program for the NC Center for South Asia Studies. "And at the end of the year, the TAs return to their countries as ambassadors for democracy and for their host institution." For more information, please contact Dwight Stephens: dstephens@ncsu.edu.

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CHASS faculty will lead 14 study abroad programs this summer and participate in several additional programs with other colleges. Programs span the globe from Europe to Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Academic study ranges from anthropological and archaeological field work to language study, social work, and international affairs. Here's who's leading programs, and where:
Vienna, Austria - Lutz Kube
Oxford, England - Wilton Barnhardt
Burgundy and Paris, France - Dudley Marchi
Lille and Paris, France - Diane Beckman
Guatemala - Linda Williams, Tim Wallace
Florence, Italy - Anne Schiller
Perugia, Italy - Anna Rita Bonaduce-Dresler
Dominican Republic - Mark Darhower
Lima and Cuzco, Peru - Kay and Leo Villa-Garcia
Segovia, Spain - James McConnell
Arusha, Tanzania - Craig Brookins
Thailand - Troy Case, William Wormsley

Here's where else CHASS will be involved around the globe:
Hangzhou, China - Clifford Griffin, Neil Schmid
Prague Institute - Rich Clerkin, Sandy Kessler, Devin and Marsha Orgeron

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Dr. Maxine P. Atkinson, professor of sociology and head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, has been honored with an Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

Related Links:

• Read the news release.

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Language may be the last unacknowledged prejudice, according to CHASS sociolinguist Walt Wolfram. On the basis of voice, Wolfram says we make assumptions and do linguistic profiling.

Related Links:

• Read the news article.

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All three recipients of the university's Mathews Medal are CHASS majors this year. The medal is reserved for graduating NC State seniors who have built a campus legacy based on their leadership and service to their alma mater. John Cooper Elias, Anna Patton, and Sara Yasin were recognized for their extraordinary service and leadership. The medal is named for NC State's first student and was created and administered by the Alumni Association Student Ambassador Program.

Related Links:

• Read more about these students.

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New research by Andy Taylor, chair of the Department of Political Science, shows that states may have good reason to push for early presidential primaries and caucuses.

Related Links:

• Read the news release

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"The quality of understanding about the stigma that veterans and others with PTSD experience was remarkable. Speaker after speaker spoke about destigmatizing the traumatic responses, recognizing that they are natural responses to extraordinary situations. ... "

Related Links:

• Read the WRAL blog entry

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Two English Department lecturers are organizing a new reading series in Raleigh. The So and So Reading Series organized by Chris Salerno and Chris Tonelli, will host national and regional poets at quarterly readings in downtown Raleigh. The series is being transplanted from its Boston origins.

Integral to the So and So series is a new print journal, The Raleigh Quarterly that will print work from the visiting poets, from visual artists, and from other poets.

Salerno and Tonelli will run the series and edit the poetry element of Raleigh Quarterly. Readings began in February and are held on Saturdays, 8:00 pm, at The Morning Times Cafe on Hargett Street in Raleigh.

2009 So and So Schedule
February 21: Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Elisa Gabbert, and Tony Tost
May 16: Justin Marks, Kate Pringle, and Chris Vitiello
August 15: Emily Frey, Jim Goar, and Zach Schomburg
November 21: Farrah Field, John Gallaher, and Kate Greenstreet

More information: rqpoetry@gmail.com

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Nearly 140 NC State graduate students shared their research at this month's fourth annual Graduate Student Research Symposium. CHASS was well-represented by 29 graduate students.

Two CHASS graduate students were recognized among their peers in the poster session competition: Erin Rasheedah Banks (Psychology in the Public Interest), for her investigation of health behavior among participants in a diabetes prevention and health promotion program; and Roxana Toma (Public Administration), whose research focused on perceptions of corruption in the Romanian civil service and the factors that facilitate such perceptions.

Among the other CHASS research topics were the variables affecting African-American women's decisions to earn undergraduate degrees in the sciences (Felysha Jenkins, Psychology); who looks at art, where, and why (Jon Burr and Karla Lyles, Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media); and explaining evangelicals' support for the war in Iraq (John Willingham, International Studies and Political Science).

'It was most gratifying to see the extent to which faculty, students, and administrators from across campus were engaged by the posters and research presentations of our CHASS graduate students,' says Vicki Gallagher, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for the college. 'The projects presented by our students provided a strong indication of the breadth, depth, and significance of graduate education in CHASS. Congratulations to all participants for engaging the larger campus community in significant scholarly discussion.' See pictures from the graduate symposium.

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Interim Dean Jeff Braden has named Dr. Heidi Hobbs to serve as CHASS Director of International Programs. Hobbs will chair the college’s international programs committee, oversee CHASS participation in the Alexander Global Village project, develop and promote study abroad programs for the college, international programming, and exchanges. She will represent CHASS on NC State’s International Operations Council and promote CHASS involvement in internationalization opportunities across the campus and beyond. Hobbs will continue in her role as director of the Master of International Studies in the School of Public and International Affairs, a position she has held for the last seven years. Hobbs has brought together faculty from across the university to work with students on international issues. She has developed an international affairs summer study abroad program in Prague and initiated a dual degree program with the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK. She is also a member of the Committee on International Programs. In her new role, Hobbs will focus on expanding coordination among the college’s various units on international issues. This spring, she is establishing a network of international liaisons from each departments. She will use the information she gathers from this group regarding CHASS faculty and student international travel, research, and study abroad programs to create a CHASS international website that can serve as a resource to the college and the university. Hobbs earned her doctoral degree in international relations from the University of Southern California. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Georgia.

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Cameron Hendricks, a senior in Mechanical Engineering, took the top prize in the second annual "Wolfpack Speaks" public speaking tournament held by the Department of Communication and sponsored by CHASS alum Brad Crone (Poli Sci, '85) of Campaign Connections.

Hendricks' speech "urging his audience to get off the phone while driving" earned him a $150 scholarship. He beat out 38 competitors who were chosen from among the 800 students taking public speaking classes in CHASS. Students designed persuasive "call to action" speeches to motivate audiences to enact particular policies. After the qualifying rounds, six competitors remained. "The judges thought Cameron had a very personable delivery and a simple solution to a big problem," says Christie Moss, assistant professor of communication, who helped organize the Wolfpack Speaks contest. "The audience could easily relate to cell phone drivers and the potential for car accidents. I doubt anyone talked on their phone while driving home from the contest!"

Wolfpack Speaks winners were:
1st Cameron Hendricks (Sr. Mech. Engineering)
2nd Risa Chavez (So. Psychology)
3rd Sara Rowell (So. Microbiology)
4th Faeben Fulford (Fr. Communication)
5th Jake Sigler (So. Management)
6th Lance Jamison (Jr. Microbiology)

See pictures from the Wolfpack Speaks tournament.

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Prof. Michael Cobb joined Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University, and 12 other recognized scholars studying societal implications of nanotechnology to brief the U.S. Congressional Nanotechnology Caucus, with an estimated attendance of 40 congressional staff and other federal policymakers on March 9. Sen Richard Burr (R-NC) is a co-chair of the caucus. The briefing was organized by the NSF-funded Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU), in collaboration with the Congressional Nanotechnology Caucus and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Michael D. Cobb’s briefing presentation reported on data from both the National Citizens’ Technology Forum and the subsequent national public opinion poll about public values toward nanotechnology and human enhancement. These data suggest, among other findings, that the public remains hopeful about potential therapeutic advances but that upon deliberation they disfavor many particular potential enhancements. Cobb is associate professor of political science at North Carolina State University and a senior investigator with the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU), where he was a leader on the team that conducted the National Citizens’ Technology Forum in March 2008 and the subsequent national survey on nanotechnology and human enhancement. He is studying how public perceptions of emerging nanotechnologies are affected by learning, framing and deliberation.

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Assistant Professor of Political Science Lada V. Kochtcheeva explores how policy actors in the United States and Russia have developed flexible incentive-based instruments for environmental protection in her newly-published book, Comparative Environmental Regulation in the United States and Russia: Institutions, Flexible Instruments, and Governance (SUNY Press, 2009). Kochtcheeva analyzes the introduction of flexible laws and regulations in both air and water quality policies in the United States and Russian Federation from the 1960s to the present, highlighting the replacement of command and control systems with flexible instruments such as incentive programs, tradable permits, and pollution charges.

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A dissertation written by Seth Murray, a faculty member in International Studies, was recognized as the best of the year. The award was coordinated by Eusko Ikaskuntza (the Basque Studies Society in the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain) and the city of Bayonne, France.

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Dr. Patty McCall, professor of sociology, has received a grant from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation that will fund an 18-month study examining violent crime in the European Union. The cross-national study will evaluate the influences of social and economic factors on homicide at the subnational level. The findings will provide policymakers with information on the relationship between welfare policies and violent crime.

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Ginnie Aldige presented with Brad Ray "Criminal Justice Outcomes of a Mental Health Court" at the American Psychology and Law Society meeting in San Antonio, March 6, 2009.

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February 2009 CHASS-Newsletter .

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U.S. policy toward Cuba has been frozen since the 1960s. What are the prospects for change? Nicholas Robins, history, featured in Q section.

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The Provost’s office has named four finalists for the CHASS dean position. As part of their campus interviews, the candidates will give public presentations about the future of CHASS. They will also meet with various groups of faculty, students, staff, and administrators. To learn more about the candidates and check the complete schedules, visit the Provost’s Web site.

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The NC State First Year Writing Program (FYWP)has been awarded a Writing Program Certificate of Excellence by the Conference on College Composition and Communication. According to FYWP Director Susan Miller-Cochran, the selection committee cited many noteworthy aspects of the program, including small class sizes, renewable full-time contracts for faculty members, the TA training program, and professional development opportunities provided by the program.

More information about the award can be found at: http://www.ncte.org/cccc/awards/writingprogramcert

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Tequila Boom Triggers Social, Environmental Hangover in Mexico

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http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i18/18a00604.htm

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http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/the-state-of-the-union/view

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http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/12/a_cohabitation_of_religions.html#more

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http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2008/12/wmsallairebp.php

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http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4065938/

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http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2008/12/wmssmconlineinfo.php

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http://www.hfes.org/web/Default.aspx

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