SPRING 2008

A + Faculty Accomplishments

Dr. Sam Baltzer, professor of music, conducted the Clock Tower Jazz Ensemble in concert as part of the Rome Symphony Orchestra Subscription Pops Series, conducted the Northwest Georgia Winds “Pirates of the Oostanaula” concert, and produced a city-wide Christmas Lessons and Carols program featuring the Northwest Georgia Winds and mass choir.

Dr. Baltzer performed with Ceilidh Celtic Ensemble at all eight Rome City elementary schools and Montessori School of Rome during the fall; he arranged all music for these performances. He also took a lead role in producing the Young Audience concerts ( Polar Express and Charlie Brown Christmas) involving the Northwest Georgia Winds, Shorter students and Montessori School of Rome.

Lisa Bohn, assistant professor of theatre, adjudicated productions at West Georgia College and Kennesaw State University on behalf of the American College Theatre Festival. Two short plays she wrote will be performed as part of the Studio Theatre series at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Dr. Carmen Acevedo Butcher (’82), scholar-in-residence and associate professor of English, was nominated for a 2008 Georgia Author of the Year award in the category of creative non-fiction/history for her Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader (Paraclete Press, 2007). In addition, Dr. Butcher’s Incandescence: 365 Readings with Women Mystics (published in 2004 and reprinted in 2005) will be re-issued by Paraclete Press.

She had three Old English illustrative quotations for the word Lent accepted for inclusion in its definition in the Oxford English Dictionary. She saw the collected poems of award-winning poet Mildred Greear (wife of former Shorter professor Dr. Philip Greear) published as Moving Gone Dancing. Dr. Butcher and Shorter student Heather Michot edited the collection.

Dr. Butcher delivered a 30-minute lecture, “Are the Medieval Women Mystics Relevant Today?,” as part of an interdisciplinary forum sponsored by the Center for Justice Ministries and Women’s Studies Department at North Park University in Chicago. While at North Park, she also gave a 60-minute evening lecture for the Campus Theme Lecture Series; her lecture was titled “Life Lessons from Wise Women: Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, and Clare of Assisi.” At Berry College, Dr. Butcher gave a reading of creative non-fiction titled “Embracing the Global Home: A Southerner’s Fulbright Seoul Adventures” as part of the 2007 Southern Women Writers Conference.

Dr. Richard Cowan, professor of mathematics, was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics site visit team to Life University. While there, he conducted an eligibility workshop and reviewed eligibility compliance regulations. He was a member of the doctoral dissertation committee for Vickie Duke, who received her Ph.D. from Capella University; he also is serving as a mentor for Orville Adams, who is working on his doctorate from the United States Sports Academy.

Dr. Robert Darville, dean of the School of Business Administration and professor of accounting, traveled to Ivanovo, Russia, to establish a partnership agreement with Ivanovo Power State University. Preliminary discussions were also held with the Music College concerning a student-exchange program.

Dr. Darville was selected to coordinate a symposium for the Southeast American Accounting Association meeting. He also traveled to Greenville, S.C., with the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce to examine how private/public partnerships have transformed that city.

Tom Earp, associate professor of communication, facilitated ropes course sessions for a Northpoint Church missions team, a group of MBA students from Emory University, married couples participating in the WinShape Marriage Retreat, a group of new employees for Chick-fil-A and a group of “seasoned leaders” from Chick-fil-A. He also conducted several DISC personality workshops with students in Shorter’s SDV courses and teambuilding workshops with the School of the Arts faculty and staff, the Student Government Association, Berry College’s Office of Information Technology and BB&T Payroll Services.

Dr. David Fillingim, associate professor of religion and philosophy, attended the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association in the South/American Culture Association in the South, where he presented a paper on spirituality in My Name is Earl. He also completed his term as president of the association. His review of Practicing Protestants: Histories of Christian Life in America, 1630-1695 by Leigh Schmidt et al. was published in Students in American Culture.

He was invited to participate in a panel on religion and country music at the Christian Scholars Conference in Nashville. He continues to serve on the editorial boards of Studies in Popular Culture and Studies in American Culture. In November, he presented a program on the history and theology of country music at First Baptist, Cedartown.

Allison Hattaway, assistant professor of communication, facilitated a three-hour training workshop for all SDV instructors on the DISC Model of Human Behavior during faculty training and held four seminars on personality studies for all SDV classes.

Dr. Alan Hix (’82), assistant professor of religion, spoke at the Floyd County Baptist Association Executive Committee meeting in August and at the association’s annual meeting in October. He has served as a supply minister for Everett Springs Baptist Church. He also led a Bible study workshop for area ministers on the Book of Romans.

Dr. Matthew Hoch, assistant professor of music, performed at the 38 th annual Oregon Bach Festival. He appeared as a soloist for Haydn’s Theresienmesse in Rilling’s “Discovery Masterclass” series. As a member of the festival’s professional chamber choir, he recorded Haydn’s Theresienmesse for the Hänssler Classic label.

In July, Dr. Hoch earned three levels of certification in Somatic Voicework Training at the 2007 CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. In August, he made a virtual presentation of his doctoral research on Richard Strauss to the Second International Conference on the Arts in Society at the University of Kassel in Germany.

From Sept. 19-22, he had a four-day residency in Greenville, S.C., where he performed recitals at Converse College and North Greenville University. He also presented a masterclass for undergraduate voice majors at North Greenville University. On Oct. 21, Dr. Hoch presented a session at the Georgia state conference for Collegiate MENC at Columbus State University. His session was titled “Selecting Quality Repertoire for the High School Choral Program.”

Mary Ann Knight, professor of music, delivered a session called “Judge Not the Wrong Way, Lest Ye Be Judged” at the Georgia Music Teachers’ Association meeting in Dahlonega, Ga.

Dr. Barbara Knox, assistant professor of education, made a presentation at the GATE Conference in Savannah. Her presentation was titled “Online Portfolios: Benefits to Students and Teacher Education Faculty.”

Dr. Linda Lister, assistant professor of music, had some of her compositions performed during Shorter’s first New Music Concert; she also wrote two songs for Shorter students to premiere during their student recitals. She performed during the R.O.M.E. “Pirates of the Oostanaula” concert on Oct. 9. Also, she spoke to choral directors at Chapel Hill High School about preparing their students for college auditions.

Dr. Dinty Musk Jr., assistant professor of chemistry, revised and resubmitted the manuscript for a paper titled “Chelated Iron Sources Are Inhibitors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms and Distribute Efficiently in an In Vitro Model of Drug Delivery to the Human Lung,” which will be published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology.

Dr. Fred Tarrant, assistant professor of music, received intensive private training in December with Indonesian Gamelan master Sumarsam at Wesleyan University. This training will aid in his work as director of the Shorter College Javenese Gamelan Ensemble.

Brian Taylor, associate professor of art, presented artwork in one-person exhibitions at the Center for Contemporary Art and Science in Sydney, Australia; the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio; and at the National Academy of Design in New York, N.Y. His artwork was also part of a group exhibition at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, Ga. In addition, Mr. Taylor recently presented lectures at Warsaw University and at The Chopin School of Music and Art, both in Warsaw, Poland, and at Copernicus University in Turin, Poland.

Dr. Robert Wallace, director of international programs and assistant professor of religion, has had a monograph, The Narrative Effect of Book IV of the Hebrew Psalter, published by Peter Lang Publishing as part of the Hemchand Gossai’s edited series, Studies in Biblical Literature. He presented “Back to the Beginning: Yahweh as King, Moses as Mediator and Psalms 104-106” at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in San Diego, Calif., in November.

In addition, he led a three-week seminar at Wieuca Road Baptist Church on “Standing Up For (and to) God: The Prophets.” In September, he finished an interim pastorate at First Baptist, Tucer.

Dr. Sherri Weiler, assistant professor of music, serves on the executive board for the Georgia chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing as state membership chair. In November, she took her voice studio students to the Winthrop Court Retirement Center to present a musical concert of songs and arias for the residents.

Michael W. Wilson, librarian for Professional Studies, was an organizer and co-presenter of “Creating Effective Active Learning Activities: Lessons Learned from Successful and Not-So-Successful Library Instruction Sessions” at the Georgia Conference on Information Literacy.

Dr. Charles Wynn, associate professor of education, presented “Constructing Meaning and Cognitive Growth Through Social Studies Instruction” at the annual meeting of the Georgia Council for the Social Studies. Also, he presented along with fellow education faculty members.

Dr. Sandra Leslie, Dr. Wayne Sanders and Dr. Barbara Knox a session titled “Online Portfolios: Benefits to Students and Teacher Education Faculty” at the Georgia Association of Teacher Educators meeting in Savannah.