Dr. Matthew Krepps is now on the Community Advisory Panel for the Arch Chemicals, Inc. and Olin Corporation Companies.

The Community Advisory Panel (CAP) is a small, representative group of citizens who meet with plant management and employees to discuss issues of mutual interest including environment, health, and safety as it relates to the chemical manufacturing process. The CAP provides a forum for open dialogue between these citizens and plant management to better understand the risks involved with the chemical manufacturing process and address safety issues of its employees and the plant’s operational impact on the greater community.

Both companies are located in Charleston, TN, just north of Cleveland.  These discussions and presentations in bi-monthly meetings provide CAP members with information that helps them serve a vital role in community outreach.

There are about 35 members on the panel and they meet bi-monthly to receive a safety report from both companies and have a discussion or lecture from an invited guest speaker.

Krepps earned his Ph. D. in Inorganic Chemistry and is also a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Guild of Organists.

The Nillie Bipper Creative Arts Festival is held the first weekend in October.  This year was the 42^nd annual show, and it is a function of the Cleveland Creative Arts Guild.  Professor John Simmons is a Vice President in the Guild and Co-Director of the Festival.

One of the exhibitors at the Festival

There are typically about 70 exhibitors from throughout the Southeast, and as far away as Michigan, Ohio, and Florida.  The show is juried and only accepts quality handmade arts and crafts such as painting, ceramics, woodworking, fabric art, stained glass, and jewelry.

Each year there is also free musical entertainment and the exhibitors donate a sample of their work as a door prize.  The event is held at the Tri-State Exhibition center off Exit 20 on I-75.

Simmons has been involved with the festival since 1997 and was also involved from 1971-1984.  He says, “The festival is important to me because it gives craftspeople, both local and distant, a chance to show their creativity and gain some income from their talents.”

This year, new faculty joins the College of Arts and Sciences.  Professor Jeff Ringer, Dr. Wendy Steinberg, and Professor Alan Wheeler are new additions in the English, Psychology, and Anthropology discipline respectively.  

Professor Ringer, pictured middle, at his wedding

Professor Jeff Ringer is a Lee alum finishing his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition through the University of New Hampshire while teaching here at Lee.  His dissertation is on Evangelical Identity and Academic Writing, which he says is an important reason he is here.  “Part of the reason that attracted me to coming back here was teaching students who were the subject of my dissertation.  I hope to continue researching and help design courses and programs that involve students and writing majors with research.”

Dr. Steinberg teaching her Statistics class

Dr. Wendy Steinberg, who taught previously at Eastern University, feels her charge is to teach Statistics and Research Methods effectively.  The class is her passion, and as many students are afraid of statistics, her goal is “to help them find it enjoyable, fun, and useful.”  To her, that is the definition of success, and she believes it’s possible. She is the author of Statistics Alive, an introductory text on the subject.

Professor Wheeler with Byamba

If he were to accomplish anything while here at Lee, professor Alan Wheeler says, it would be to give students a broader perspective of the world while encouraging them to draw closer to Jesus.  He always felt called to be a missionary, but God had other plans.  He became an anthropologist because he has a “natural love for the exotic, the distant, the unusual.”  Here, he is pictured with Byamba in one of Mongolia’s remotest regions, only accessible traveling by moose trails for over 100 miles.  The only contact this tribe had prior to Wheeler’s visit was Hungarian scientist 40 years ago. Wheeler is working on a doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

Lee University successfully hosted a variety of events in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.  Dr. Michael Laney, who coordinated many of the events, was very pleased with the outcome of the celebrations.  The celebration was community based and extended beyond the Lee University family, including and off campus keynote speaker, Ms. Rae Lewis Thornton, who is an HIV/AIDS activist.

Additionally, the “Dream Keepers Award” was presented to African American middle school and high school students who had at least a 3.0.  UMOJA performed at the presentation, and the Harlem Gospel Choir sang that evening.  Tied into these festivities was the Inaugural Reception, which was hosted by Dr. Murl Dirksen.

Alexander Steffanell recently discovered that his article about Jeronima  Nava y Saavedra, a female mystic writer from the Colonial Spanish American period.  The article was published in the Latin American Women Writers Encyclopedia (Eds. Maria Claudia Andre and Eva Paulino) in 2008.  

The article centers around the “spiritual autobiography,” Autobiografia de una monja venerable, of Nava y Saavedra, a nun in the Convent of Poor Clares in Bogota, Columbia, who lived  from 1669-1727.  Oftentimes, being part of a convent was the only way for a woman’s voice to be heard, and Nava y Saavedra’s autobiography joins the ranks of other Spanish American female mystics’ works.  

Steffanell points out that Jeronima del Espiritu Santo “employs rhetorical and discoursive strategies as she reveals her desires, dreams, and inner conflicts.”  These are presented as discussions between herself and her confessor, and contain elements of an imaginary world laden with eroticism and explorations of her sexual identity.

Posted by Amber Mear

Lee University’s Asian Studies Program will be presenting an Asian Studies Seminar on January 26-30, 2009. The sessions will take place from 6-8 p.m. each night in room 114 of the Helen DeVos College of Education. Topics will include business, language and religion.

Monday night’s discussion of Eastern religion and philosophy will be taught by Lee’s Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies, Edley Moodley. Tuesday’s discussion of Thai language and culture will be taught by Professor of Education JoAnn Higginbotham. Wednesday’s topic will be Business in Asian Markets, taught by Assistant Professor of Business, Guy DeLoach. Japanese language and culture will be discussed on Thursday night by Associate Professor of English Arden Jensen. The week will conclude on Friday with Assistant Professor of Chinese Phebe Gray’s discussion of Chinese language and culture.

These events are free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Murl Dirksen at mdirksen@leeuniversity.edu.

Submitted by the Office of Public Information

Lee University’s play therapy center, directed by Trevor Milliron, was recently featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The program has now been in existence for twelve years, and has met a good deal of success recently.

Play therapy may be used to help children who appear to be reacting to abuse, dealing with attention deficit disorder, and confronting fears they have difficulty expressing.

The Drama department has seen much success with their fall productions this year, “Mach Band

Students acting in Trojan Women (photo courtesy of Tiffany Zajas)

 Predicament” and “Trojan Women”.  The former, written by student Linsey Retcofsky, saw a lot of positive publicity during its two-week run.  Professor Catherine Bradley said everyone in the department was thrilled at its success, and Retcofsky is still working on improvements for “Mach Band”.

“Trojan Women”, the classic play by Euripides, enjoyed its two week run, which concluded this past Sunday.  Professor Christine Williams directed the tragedy, which is based on the story of what happened to the women of Troy after its defeat at the hands of the Greeks.  Students enjoyed the production, one senior saying, “It was of course very sad, but it was very well done.”  Visiting artist Rob Rachow designed the lighting for the set.  

This Friday, the Drama department will be featuring the Director’s Showcase, which will feature several different student-led productions.

Posted by Amber Mear

Lee University students with Prof. Trowbridge at 2007 Conference

Mr. Kevin Trowbridge accompanied nine Lee University students to Nashville for the Baptist Press Collegiate Journalism Conference.  This is the second year that Mr. Trowbridge has taken students to the conference, which took place between October 9 and 11.  Between 150 and 200 collegiate journalists, professional journalists, and media advisors were present to take place in the conference’s theme, “Pursuing Excellence”.

On Thursday evening, Rudy Kaylis spoke on the theme of the conference.   Trowbridge commented that hearing a professional who is a Christian speaking about his work was a way for the students to be “challenged and spurred on to work on excelling.”  Friday morning was spent in workshops, while the evening offered the opportunity for Lee University’s publications to be critiqued.  On Saturday morning there were more sessions for participants to attend.  The weekend culminated Saturday night with the Awards Ceremony.  

Lee students won a variety of different awards.  The Lee Clarion website won first place for Best Overall Web Site for Lee Clarion Online (www.leeclarion.com).  Senior Janchai Montrelerdrasme won first place in the Feature Photograph category for his photo “Hands on Ministry.”  Lee graduate Christopher Sirico won first place for yearbook art and illustration for “Online Life” (can be found in the Vindagua).  Sirico also won third place for the Newspaper Cartoon/Art category for “Laughing at Faith”.  Alex Lisic won third place for his Individual Sports Action Photo, “Getting Wet”. Tess (Ball) Losen also won third place for her Yearbook Sports/Club Design, entitled “Jazz”.

Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society, inducted fourteen new students this semester on September 18.  The festivities were held in the Centenary Room for the so-called “neophytes”.  Many of the new members are sophomores.

Newest members of Sigma Tau Delta

Kevin Brown, Sigma Tau Delta’s faculty sponsor, mentioned that this is one of the larger groups that has been inducted in recent years.  There are about fifty members of Sigma Tau Delta, while the English major has around one hundred and thirty members.  In order to be eligible for participation in the Honor Society, a student has to have a B average at least in one upper division English course.

Posted by Amber Mear