Staff Convocation Honors Dedicated Employees

Four members of the Manhattan College community were recognized for their dedication to the College at the annual staff convocation on Nov. 20 in the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers. Lisa Juncaj, associate director of student financial services, was presented with the Lasallian Administrative Award, and Angelo Pinto, a retired physical plant employee, was given the Lasallian Staff Award. Honored for their 25 years of service were Neptali Sanchez (physical plant) and Ann Scanlon (HEOP).

 

Faculty and Staff Accomplishments

Judith Slisz, director of assessment, has been appointed to a two-year term on the new editorial board of The Journal of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness, effective Nov. 7. The journal is a national periodical, which publishes current significant scholarly contributions about assessment or institutional effectiveness in higher education. Articles are submitted by assessment investigators in every field relating to student learning outcomes, assessment processes in academic disciplines, institutional effectiveness planning, public policy, or other research-based or theoretical analyses.

Dr. Margaret Groarke, assistant professor of government, appeared on BronxNet on Monday, Nov. 11 from 9:00-9:30 p.m. She spoke to host Gary Axelbank about the Nov. 4 election and her new book Keeping Down the Black Vote: Race and the Demobilization of American Voters.

Dr. Natalie Imperatori-Lee, assistant professor of religious studies, presented the paper “The Significance of Mestizaje in 21st Century Theology” at the L’Institut Catholique de Paris in Paris, France, this past October.

Dr. Michelle Saracino, associate professor of religious studies, presented the paper “Beyond Magical Thinking: Maternity as a Metaphor for Theological Anthropology” at the Catholic Theological Society of America in Miami, Fla., this past June.

Dr. Claudia Setzer, professor of religious studies, presented the paper “Woman Learners in the Ancient World” at the Columbia University New Testament Seminar this past September.

Dr. David Shefferman, assistant professor of religious studies, presented the paper “Transforming Tourism: Religion, Visual Culture and the Exuberance of Cuban State Spectacle” at the American Academy of Religion’s annual meeting in Chicago this past November.

Dr. Robert Geraci, assistant professor of religious studies, authored the book Human Nature and the Ethics of Progress: Power and Purpose in the 20th Century Religion, Science and Art.

Dr. Jonathan Hartman and Dr. Yassir Samra, assistant professors of marketing, published the paper “Crisis Management: An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of Improvisation on New Product Development in the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Industries” in the journal Insights to a Changing World. In addition, Hartman and Samra published “Effect on an Improvisational Approach to New Product Development During a Crisis: An Empirical Study of NPD Teams in the Field of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,” which Samra presented at the Proceeding of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Philadelphia this past November.

Dr. Nicholas De Lillo, professor of mathematics and computer science, recently authored the paper “Simulation of Finite-State Automata Using Java 6.0. Part One: Preliminaries” as Technical Report 256, November 2008, which appears in the Technical Report Series of the Ivan G. Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Pace University.

Dr. Frederick Zenz, professor emeritus of chemical engineering, was listed among the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ top 100 chemical engineers of the modern era (post World War II). Zenz was recognized for pioneering fluidization work. He is the founder of the Particulate Solids Research Institute and the author of Fluidization and Fluid-Particle Systems.

Dr. Richard Carbonaro, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Dr. Robert Sharp, professor of civil and environmental engineering, have received a research grant of $145,000 from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) to study manganese deposits in aquifier systems. Read. The 18-month study will support up to two graduate research assistants and one undergraduate research assistant. For more information on NYCDEP, click Here.

James Suarez, dean of the school of business, and Richard FitzPatrick, professor of management, were recently honored at the annual conference of the Association on Employment Practices and Principles (AEPP) on Oct. 2-4 in Chicago. Suarez was awarded a Lifetime Service Award in recognition of the school of business’ sustained and generous support of AEPP’s activities. FitzPatrick received the same award for 15 years of service to AEPP, for which he has served as treasurer, executive board member and conference chair. Manhattan College hosted AEPP’s conferences in 2002 and 2006 and remains one of its prime institutional sponsors.

At the same conference, FitzPatrick chaired a session on executive compensation, at which Hung (David) Chu, assistant professor of management, presented the paper “An Overview of Executive Compensation: Case Studies of Extremes.” During another session, Carolyn Predmore, professor of marketing, presented the paper “The Use of Role-Playing Games and Role-Playing Environments to Instill Business Culture in New Employees,” which she wrote along with Faraj Abdulahad, professor of economics, Alfred Manduley, assistant professor of marketing and Ahmed Goma, associate professor of accounting.

Dr. Anirban De, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, received a research grant as a co-principal investigator from the National Science Foundation titled NEESR-II: Advanced Site Monitoring and Effective Characterization of Site Nonlinear Dynamic Properties and Model Calibration. The three-year grant is for collaborative research with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and will involve faculty and student researchers from both Manhattan College and RPI.

Dr. Thelma Baxter, assistant professor of education, presented the paper “Learn Experientially and Renew Neighborhoods” at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) national conference in Birmingham, Ala., on Oct. 2. ASALH was founded by Carter G. Woodson, who is the originator of Black History Day/Month in the United States. There were more than 1,000 people in attendance at the conference, mostly college professors and secondary teachers who are being trained to give black history lessons. Baxter is a founding member of the ASALH chapter on Martha’s Vineyard.

John Kruth, adjunct professor of music, is among the winners of the 41st annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for outstanding print, broadcast and new media coverage of music. He will be honored at a special reception on Dec. 9 at The Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Kruth is the author of To Live’s to Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt, published by Da Capo Press. His courses at Manhattan College include History of Rock ‘n’ Roll and History of Jazz.

Dr. Joseph Capitani, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, completed the New York City Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 2 in a time of 3:45:19.

 

Welcome New Employees

Manhattan College welcomed three new employees in November: Jannette Cotto, security; Elizabeth McKiernan Healy, controller’s office; and Robert Sassone, security. For a full list of recent new employees, click Here.

 

Manhattan College Milestones

Congratulations to Gail Conklin (15 years), events officer in college relations, and Pedro Toribio Sr. (20 years), physical plant, who celebrate service anniversaries in December. For a complete list of recent anniversaries, click Here.