Kudos - Fall 2021
Certifications
Dr. Michael Hicks, assistant professor of education, received certification as an ABLE instructor from Georgetown University Law Center Innovative Policing Program on May 7, 2021. The ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement) Project was created to prepare officers to successfully intervene to prevent harm and to create a law enforcement culture that supports peer intervention. ABLE certification authorizes Dr. Hicks to teach the official version of the ABLE curriculum to any law enforcement agency accepted into the ABLE program.
Dr. Hicks also earned certification as a Calibrated Scorer for Intercultural Knowledge and Competence from the Association of American Colleges and Universities VALUE program on April 7, 2021. VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) is a campus-based assessment approach developed and led by AAC&U. They provide a tool to assess student work produced across diverse learning pathways, fields of study, and institutions to determine if students are meeting levels of achievement in learning outcomes considered important by both faculty and employers. They help institutions demonstrate, share, and assess student accomplishment of progressively more advanced and integrative learning.
Commissions & Compositions
Dr. James Eakin, assistant professor of music, has received six commissions since the end of May:
San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus to arrange their definitive version of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”
Lyric Consort to compose an a capella piece with Tony Silverstri lyrics titled “Our Voices Linger”
Te Deum to compose an a capella work with Tony Silverstri lyrics about our shared experiences during Covid lockdown titled “Needful Gifts”
First United Methodist Church-Shreveport to compose a work in honor of Will Andress’ 50 years of service to the church titled “Holy,” scored for SATB, Piano, (optional Violin and Cello)
Te Deum to compose an a capella work with Tony Silverstri lyrics titled “Cold, Clear Voice of the Falling Snow.”
San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra to compose a new version of “I Will Fly” for TTBB and Orchestra
Dr. Eakin’s commissioned piece “Our Voices Linger” will be published by Hal Leonard with release in the next cycle, after which, it will always be available in print.
Dr. Eakin has also composed the score for the film Hit, directed by Blayne Weaver and premiered at Louisiana Film Prize.
Grants
Dr. Matthew Jennings, assistant professor of biology, has been awarded funding as part of a National Science Foundation Partnerships for Innovation grant. Dr. Jennings will be working with a collaborator from the University of Akron on this three-year project.
Presentations
Dr. Andia Augustin-Billy, associate professor of French and Francophone studies, presented “La chasteté et la transgression dans le discours féminin du 16e siècle” at the 70th Mountain Interstate Foreign Conference (MIFLC) on October 7, 2021, at Furman University. She presented her paper in the session French Studies III: Female Bodies, Voices and Contraints.
Dr. L. Bellee Jones-Pierce, assistant professor of English, spoke as part of the Intersectionality Talks series at Plymouth State University. Speakers invited to this series make their work available ahead of time and the event itself is a conversation shaped by questions from PSU students and the broader academic community. Dr. Jones-Pierce submitted several short pieces on disability poetics in Shakespeare and Milton to inform her conversation.
Dr. David Kordahl, assistant professor of physics, presented “Historical Flirtations with the Physics of the Paranormal” at the 2021 American Association of Physics Teachers Summer Meeting. In a session devoted to the history of underrepresented groups in the history of physics, Dr. Kordahl argued that recent work in the history of science shows that physicists have not, historically, been of one mind regarding what questions are and are not out of bounds for physics and that this matters for conversations surrounding inclusivity and the future of physics.
Publications
Dr. Matthew Jennings, assistant professor of biology, was a co-author on “Synergism between Rifampicin and Cationic Polyurethanes Overcomes Intrinsic Resistance of Escherichia coli” which was published in Biomacromolecules, June 4, 2021.
Dr. David Kordahl, assistant professor of physics, was a co-author on “Spatially-resolved STEM-EELS of waveguide modes,” which was published online by Cambridge University Press July 30, 2021. His co-authors presented the work at the 2021 Microscopy and Microanalysis conference.
Dr. Emily Leithauser, assistant professor of English, published her poem “Amniotic” in The Cortland Review, Issue 88, October 27, 2021.
Dr. Cory Wikan, dean of the Hurley School of Music and associate professor of music, created a scholarly performance edition of Robert Shaw’s English translation of the Brahms Requiem that has been accepted for publication by GIA Publications, Inc. It is expected to go to press in early 2022.
Emeriti Faculty
Professor Emeritus Bruce Allen designed, fabricated, and installed a public sculpture for permanent display in Caddo Common Park. The public art trees, “Diamonds for Jim,” are named in memory of the late Jim Hayes who worked with Allen on the initial design. The installation of the Artistrees launched Phase II of the community greenspace located at the center of Shreveport Common in downtown Shreveport. A dedication for the sculptures was held on November 10, 2021.
Professor Emeritus David Havird published two poems, “Bed of Clay” and “Catching Fire,” in the fall 2021 issue of Literary Imagination, the print journal of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers.
Professor Emeritus Earle Labor, though officially retired for the past decade, has been a steady participant in the World of Jack London. “My One Deception: Charmian’s Diaries” appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of THE CALL: The Magazine of the Jack London Society. This is the story about the discovery of Charmian London’s missing diaries when Dr. Labor and his son Royce visited the Jack London Ranch in January 1978—and their subsequent transfer to the Huntington Library in 1974.
“Celebrating the Golden Anniversary of The Wolf” will be featured in The Wolf—22 (edited and published by David Schlottmann, founder of LONDON NORTHWEST). This annual will be released in January. Labor surveys the noteworthy contributors to that journal over the past fifty years—including several Centenary alumi: Isabel Labor Hamiter, Earle Kyle Labor, Phillips Kirk Labor, and Jeanne Campbell Reesman, as well as President Emeritus Donald A. Webb.
Although no longer in the classroom, Dr. Labor is still following his call as a teacher via the Internet. Most recently he assisted Marcia Ferreira with her Master’s Thesis on “Naturalism in Jack London’s The Iron Heel.” This past summer Ferreira was awarded her M.A. by the University of Oporto, Portugal.
Appointment
Ms. Monica Powell, controller, was appointed President of Louisiana Banner’s User Group on July 1, 2021.
Presentation
Dr. Edward Ragan, student support counselor, presented “Anglo-Indian Treaty Relations in Seventeenth-Century Virginia” at the Sovereign Nations of Virginia Conference: Building Government-to-Government Relations on September 24, 2021. Find more information about the conference and Dr. Ragan’s presentation here.
Mr. Chris Brown, archivist of the college and Louisiana UMC, presented a guest lecture entitled “Music in Shreveport: three historic business owners,” to members of the Rotary Club of Shreveport on October 4, 2021.