Kudos

John Confer, biology, coauthored a paper, "Managing for Golden-Winged Warblers and Other Shrubland Birds," which was presented by Shelagh Tupper ’01 and Alison Wright ’01 at the annual meeting of the Federation of New York State Bird Clubs. The students also received the Lillian Stoner Award, the federation’s student scholarship.

Chip Gagnon, politics, was awarded a grant from the United States Institute of Peace to work on a book manuscript, "Ethnicity and Post-Conflict Societies: The Future of Bosnian Pluralism." The grant allows him to take an unpaid leave of absence next spring to work on the book.

Bill Hastings, Harry McCue, and Susan Weisend, art, exhibited their work last summer at Made in New York, a show at the Schwein-furth Memorial Art Center in Auburn.

Jack Hrkach, theater arts, recently returned from a sabbatical spent traveling to approximately 10 theater capitals in Europe. He spoke to theater professionals and educators, photographed and videotaped exteriors and interiors of famous European theaters, and attended more than 25 plays. His efforts increased the department’s slide collection by a third and provided the start for a video collection of theater interiors. His trip was funded by an Instructional Development Fund grant.

Cyndy Scheibe, psychology, was elected to the board of Partnership for Media Education, an organization formed in 1997 to stimulate collaboration and professional development in the field of media literacy. Scheibe, one of six new members chosen after an extensive national screening process, will begin her three-year term on January 1, 2000. "The new members reflect the continued expansion of the media literacy field in the United States and the widening commitment to empower young people to think critically about today’s media culture," said Frank Baker, vice president of PME.

Garry Thomas, anthropology, spent the fall semester of his 1998–99 sabbatical in Tanzania, training 50 new Peace Corps volunteers and working with 20 Tanzanian staff as a cross-cultural training coordinator. In the spring he lived in Rome and was employed as a community-based natural resource management consultant for the United Nations’ planning and policy division. He was responsible for bringing an anthropological perspective to the area of conflict management.