Illinois Wesleyan General Faculty Meeting Provost Report 11 January 2016

Recent Faculty Activities:

Marina Balina was the recipient of the research grant from the International Youth Library, Munich, where she spent three months working on her new research project, a comparative study of German and Russian children’s literature of the 1920s-1930s. • During her stay in Europe Dr. Balina gave invited guest lectures and conducted seminars on Russian children’s literature at the University of Strasbourg, France; University of Glasgow, Scotland; University of Padova, Italy, University of , and University of , Germany. • She presented the keynote address entitled “Soviet Children’s Literature as Illusio in Practice: Struggle for Autonomy and Strategies of Survival” at the International conference “Literary Field under the Communist Regime: Structure, Functions, Illusio”, organized by the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Vilnius, Lithuania, October 7-9, 2015. • She has published the following book chapters: “To Catch Up and Overtake Disney?” – Soviet and Post-Soviet Fairy Tale Films (with Birgit Beumers) in Fairy Tale Films Beyond Disney: International Perspectives, eds. Jack Zipes, Pauline Greenhill, and Kendra Magnus-Johnson, New York: Routledge, 2015, pp. 229 – 287 • (Auto)Biographical Prose in Russian Literature Since 1991, eds. Evgeny Dobrenko and Mark Lipovetsky. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2015, pp. 188-206, 2015. • She served as guest editor and author of the introduction to the special issue on Childhood as Device: Strategies and Practices of Auto/biographical Writing, Avtobiografia: Journal on Life Writing and the Representation of the Self in Russian Culture, v.4, Fall 2015, Padova University, pp. 20 -31.

Joanne Diaz, who had two poems published in the December issue of Poetry Magazine, will speak Thursday, Dec. 10, on "Poetry and the Archive in the 21st Century.”

Three vocalists from IWU placed in the finals of the Central Region National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition last month, competing against more than 350 singers from three states. Austin Rupert '18 and Celia Williams '17 are students of Linda Farquharson and Megan Callison '16 is a student of William Hudson. These three finalists are now eligible to compete at the 2016 National NATS Conference and Competition in Chicago.

Christina Isabelli was a panelist on the topic "Fostering Advanced Oral Proficiency: Initiatives in the Undergraduate Foreign Language Curriculum" at the Modern Language Association annual convention. Jan. 7th 2016 in Austin, Texas.

Rebecca Gearhart contributed the chapter, "Forming and Performing Swahili Manhood: Wedding Rituals of a Lamu Town Groom" in Gendered Lives in the Western Indian Ocean: Islam, Marriage, and Sexuality on the Swahili Coast, published by Ohio University Press.

Edgar Lehr co-authored, with Chávez, G., Santa-Cruz, R. & Rodriguez, D. (2015): "Two new species of frogs of the genus Phrynopus (Anura: Terrarana: Craugastoridae) from the Peruvian Andes." Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 9(1) [Special Section]: 15–25 (e105). Available under open access.

Kevin Sullivan presented his paper entitled, "Angelic Bodies and the Body of Christ," in the Mysticism, Esotericism, and Gnosticism in Antiquity Group at the Society of Biblical Literature/American Academy of Religion Annual National Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday, Nov. 23.

Gabe Spalding will give the following invited talks: • "Spreading Information of the ‘Third Age’ of Ultra-fast Imaging," Electronic Engineering & Physics Colloquium, University of Dundee, – Jan. 22 • "Sonic Screwdrivers and Tractor Beams: what the acoustics community often gets wrong about radiation pressure vs. gradient forces," Acoustical Society of America Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City – May 23-27. Session on Vortex Beams and Radiation Torque Physics, invited talk – May 26.

Director of Student Activities and Leadership Programs Colin Stewart was published in the November/December 2015 edition of Campus Activities Programming magazine. His article, “Where Creativity Intersects With Reality: Four Recommendations for Bringing the Creative Process into Your Student Activities Program,” applied his ongoing doctoral research on intersections between students' creativity and developmental trajectories.