The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the National English Honor Society, held the Second Annual Graduate and Undergraduate Student Conference on Literature, Composition, and Rhetoric on October 16 and 17.  Two Lee University students, Emily Carlisle and Mallory Leonard, were accepted to present their papers at the convention.

Carlisle presented her paper “The Eternal Poet” in a panel on Studies of American Literature.  Her paper, which she wrote for 20^th Century American Drama, focuses on Tennessee William’s play Suddenly Last Summer, and she subverts the protagonist’s perceived death.  The reading slot for her was 7:30 a.m., and she says, “If you have to read your paper before the sun also rises, it is always a good idea to discuss Tennessee Williams’ religious hauntings in order to get the synapses firing.”

In her paper, “Struggle Against Water: A Deeper Look at Queen Gertrude in Hamlet,” Leonard uses feminist literary criticism to claim that Gertrude’s character serves as a warning to women who may give into patriarchy and deny their own femininity.  She claims that Ophelia and Gertrude are opposites: Ophelia embraces her feminine nature and escapes the patriarchal structures around her through suicide, but Gertrude fears to follow and remains trapped in the world of men which destroys her.

This is the first conference at which either has presented, and both found the reading useful.  Leonard says, “Overall, the experience was beneficial.  This was my first experience reading one of my papers in front of anyone else, and I’m very glad I did it.  I look forward to participating in more conferences in the near future.”

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.”

Earlier this month, Dr. Christie Kleinmann partnered with Oak Gove Elementary School to give the students in her Public Speaking class first-hand experience.

Students Taylor Presley (left) and Jared Powers (right) reading to their group

In order to teach delivery, phrasing, and voice inflection, Kleinmann took her students to Oak Grove Elementary to read children’s books to the Kindergarten class.  Kleinmann says that she always uses children’s books for this lesson because you have to focus on vocal variety for it to work.

Students Vicente Nudman (left) and Matt Bryant (right) learning how to overcome a kindergartner's eagerness

Oak Grove was especially interested in this partnering because some of the children there have parents who may not read to them.  This way, they were able to see older students showing them that reading is worthwhile.

The Lee University students were able to work on audience adaptation.  While a college student may have a short attention span, a kindergartner’s is even worse.  Students worked on their vocal variety, facial expressions, and began learning how to think on their feet, all while helping others.  Kleinmann says, “These are the gifts God has given us to help others.  We don’t have to do the great and grand, but it’s the little things.”

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.

This past July, nine Lee University students participated in the survey and excavation of an important historical site in eastern Tennessee.  Each summer for the past three years, anthropology professor Dr. Richard Jones, and Quentin Bass, Archaeologist for the U.S. Forest Service, have teamed up to teach the Archaeology Field Methods course as an archaeology field school doing real culture resource management projects in the Cherokee National Forest.

This year, Quentin Bass arranged for Dr. Jones and the students from Lee to work under the direction of Brett Riggs and Stephen Davis, both well-known archaeologists from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  The site they worked on was established in the 1830’s as a military camp to keep settlers lured by the gold rush out of Cherokee lands.  During the same decade the fort was used to collect the Cherokee for removal, and, in that sense, it is part of the beginning of the Trail of Tears.

The summer field school participants. Back row, from left to right: Quentin Bass, Stephen Davis, Johann Furbacher, Ward Jones, Lance Greene, Brett Riggs, and Richard Jones. Front row: Sarah Anderson, Ali Carlton, Felicia Wright, Tona Headrick, and Stacy Cohl.

Lee students were trained in a variety of archaeological techniques, after which they assisted in detailed surveying and mapping of the site, and assisted in the excavation of several site features.  One student participant, Stacy Cohl, said about the experience, “We were able to actually dig in the dirt.  What I was expecting was a lot of fetch and carry work.  A lot of ‘Hey you, inexperienced student, haul this dirt over there!’  What I got was completely the opposite.  We, the students, were the ones getting down in the dirt and doing the digging.”

Students also learned that excavating in the Cherokee National Forest involved digging through thick root mats, avoiding yellow jacket nests, getting chigger bites, doing a tick check at the end of each day, and always smothering oneself in insect repellent, which did not seem to deter the mosquitoes. Cohl said, “Despite all the ticks and gnats and rain—and partially because of them—we were able to really experience the field and understand what this ‘archaeology’ thing was all about.  We could actually call ourselves archaeologists by the end of it.”

Dr. Jones said, “Being invited to participate in research at such an important historical site offers an extraordinary opportunity for our students to be involved in significant archaeological research.  At most institutions, undergraduates are rarely afforded such opportunities.”

Students at the salt mines in Germany

This past summer, thirteen trips from various departments inside the College of Arts and Sciences participated in a cross-cultural experience.  Dr. Jeffrey Sargent co-led the third annual Psychology trip to Europe with Dr. Heather Quagliana.  Twenty-nine students visited Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, and were able to see the salt mines of Germany, visit Freud’s office, and attend a lecture at the Carl Jung Institute.  The Italy trip, led by Dr. Matthew Sims and Professor John Simmons, took twenty-two students to Rome, Orvieto, Florence, Venice, and Milan to study Renaissance art, Baroque Italy, and Ancient Rome.

Dr. Donna Summerlin led nine students on the American Ethnic Studies trip which focused on the ethnic diversity of the South, including African American history and the Civil Rights movement.  The Modern Europe trip, led by Dr. Steve Swindle and Dr. Jeff Golden, took twenty-four students to Brussels, Paris, Munich, Salzburg, and Budapest to study Humanities and Political Science; while there they were able to see NATO, the Eagle’s Nest, Dachau, and many museums.

Students at a grill in Hiroshima

Dr. Trevor Milliron and Dr. Robert Fisher led another psychology trip to Japan; twenty-five students traveled for eleven days to Tokyo, Osaka, and Hiroshima, along with some trips into the countryside.  Twenty-five students participated in the Argentina Spanish Institute trip led by Dr. Alexander Steffanell and Professor Carmen Guerrero to Montevideo, Uruguay, and Buenos Aires.  There, they visited museums and held a language café at the Universidad de la Empresa.

On these trips, students are able to experience life outside of Lee University, as well as become more acquainted with their professors.  Beth Thompson, Director of the Global Perspectives program says, “What better academic pursuit is there than having a student learn hands-on the meaning of their own Christian values and how those relate to another cultural perspective.  As faith based educators we have an ethical responsibility to teach our students there are other ways of knowing and thinking.”

Lee University’s annual Ireland trip during spring break went off without a hitch.  The twenty-one students, accompanied by Director of Global Perspectives Beth Thompson and Dr. Jeff Golden, enjoyed their 10 day journey.  They traveled to Dublin, Killarney, Galway, and Westport.  The students received credits for Humanities and Global Perspectives.

Dr. Golden, who was visiting Ireland for the first time, was enthralled.  He called the trip a resounding success that he fully enjoyed.

Dr. Richard Jones of the Lee University anthropology program recently published two articles in Twenty-First Century Anthropology: A Reference Book.  The collection, which is edited by Jamie Birx of the Encyclopedia of Anthropology, is put out by Sage Publications and serves as a reference text for undergraduate students seeking a topical overview.  The two-volume collection contains 107 planned essays.

Jones has two essays ready to be published in the collection.  The first, “Kinship Systems”, is an overview of how kinship studies have changed and developed between the late nineteenth century and now.  It deals with marriage, family, and kinship classification systems.  

Jones’ second article, “Values in Anthropology”, discusses what makes anthropology what it is, arguing for it as a science.  Anthropology began as a science and remains one, although it contains humanistic elements.

Dr. John Gulledge of Lee University’s psychology department recently had  his article, “What Monkeys Know About Number” published in the June edition of the APA journal.  The article deals with how well non-human primates, especially monkeys, comprehend symbols.  

The article reported the findings of a study Gulledge helped coordinate, which tested the symbolic distance effect.  The study found that the rhesus monkeys used did, in some ways comprehend numbers, although they struggled a bit more with analog stimuli.

English professor Dr. Kevin Brown has recently had a few publications.  He was nominated for the Spotlight Poet in the first issue of the online literary journal g22.  Five of his poems were published in the journal, which went live February 1.  

Harold Bloom recently published a collection of articles about Kurt Vonnegut.  Brown’s article, “Kurt Vonnegut”, dealt with the book Slaughterhouse Five.  The book was published by Chelsea House Publishing and came out at the end of last year.

Brown was also involved with the Sigma Tau Delta Symposium, which boasted fifty people in attendance.  There were two readers from Covenant College, and five from the Atlanta Christian College, where Brown helped start a Sigma Tau Delta chapter.