Faculty News
New Directors Take Reins
Alison Dundes Renteln, professor of political science and anthropology, has been named director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. She hopes to create programs that have more of a global focus, such as internships with the United Nations. USC College has named Hanna Damasio director of the Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center. Damasio, professor of psychology and neuroscience, has pioneered the use of brain imaging methods in the study of brain lesions. In addition, Bruce Zuckerman, professor of religion, was appointed the Myron and Marian Casden Director of the USC Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life.
Eliasoph and Lichterman Win Award
Associate Professors Nina Eliasoph and Paul Lichterman won the 2005 Best Article Award from the American Sociological Association Section on the Sociology of Culture for their paper “Culture in Interaction,” published in the January 2003 issue of the American Journal of Sociology.
Waterman Joins French Academy
University Professor Michael Waterman, professor of biological sciences, computer science and mathematics, was elected a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences in the biological division. Waterman was selected among a group of the world’s most eminent scientists.
ACS Honors Prakash Second Time
Last time, it was for his work with fluorine chemistry. This year, chemist G.K. Surya Prakash received the 2006 American Chemical Society Award in Hydrocarbon Chemistry. It is the second national ACS award won by Prakash, the George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry, in the last two years. USC Distinguished Professor George Olah, the Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Chair in Organic Chemistry, termed his colleague’s recent honor “a truly stellar and practically unprecedented achievement.”
Chemists Elected AAAS Fellows
In addition, Prakash and Charles McKenna, professor of chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences, were elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Prakash was cited for “outstanding contributions to organofluorine, carbocation, superacid and hydrocarbon chemistry and for pioneering work on the revolutionary liquid-feed, direct oxidation methanol fuel-cell technology.” The AAAS recognized McKenna for “important studies in bioorganic chemistry, particularly creation of innovative chemical probes of nitrogenase, highly useful and biologically important fluorinated phosphate analogs and novel antiviral prodrugs.” His research in organophosphorous chemistry led to a new class of antiviral agents.
McKenna honored at Latina/o Symposium
At USC’s first Latina/Latino Studies Symposium, organizers honored USC College’s Teresa McKenna, associate professor of English and American studies and ethnicity, for her commitment to diversity and serving as a role model for minority faculty throughout the university. For McKenna the recognition was a clear sign of how much USC has changed in the last 15 to 20 years. “We can see the commitment USC has to diversity in the range of minority professors from assistant to associate to full professors. All of that is due to a lot of work by people that had a vision, and I became part of that vision,” she said.
Good Neighbors
As of Dec. 7, some 56 USC College faculty and staff members had pledged 1 percent or more of their salaries to the 2005 USC Good Neighbors Campaign — a strong increase from the 35 who joined this top-rung of giving last year, according to Tammara Anderson, the College’s Campaign coordinator.
American Studies Coup
USC College faculty had a high profile at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Studies Association (ASA), held November 3–6 in Washington, D.C. Karen Halttunen, professor of history and American studies and ethnicity, is president of the ASA, making her the third USC professor to be elected to this academic leadership post. Lois Banner, professor of history and American studies and ethnicity, served as the ASA’s first female president in 1986–87. At the meeting, Banner received the Bode-Pearson Award for lifetime achievements to the fields of American studies, gender studies, and women’s history. What’s more, George Sánchez, professor of history and American studies and ethnicity, received the 2005 Constance Rourke Prize for best article written in 2004. Sanchez’s article, “What’s Good for Boyle Heights is Good for the Jews: Creating Multiculturalism on the Eastside during the 1950s,” appeared in the American Quarterly, the ASA journal currently housed at USC.
Three Named Fulbright Scholars
In recognition of their academic achievements and extraordinary leadership potential, three USC College faculty received Fubright awards this academic year.
Vern L. Bengtson, professor of sociology, was awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant for research and teaching in Sweden from January to June 2006. Working at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, his research focuses on cross-national developments in social gerontology, consequences of population aging for family relationships and theories of aging.
Carolyn Cartier, associate professor of geography, was awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant for research and teaching in the department of geography at Hong Kong Baptist University during the 2005–2006 academic year. In her research project, “Hong Kong and Urban Space: Redefining the World City,” Cartier focuses on intersections between the new arts and political movements in the city and its linkages to other cities.
Susan McCabe, associate professor of English, received a Fulbright Scholar grant for research and teaching in Sweden from January to June 2006. She is teaching a creative writing workshop at Lund University and working on her next book project, a biography of writer Bryher (1884–1983). The author of 14 books, Bryher was a benefactor of modernist writers and thinkers, and founder and publisher of the film magazine Close Up. Bryher helped dozens of Jewish and German intellectuals escape Nazi persecution during World War II.
Historical Accomplishments
Professors Lois Banner and Nancy Lutkehaus, associate professor of anthropology and gender studies, have written new forewords for Margaret Mead’s Ruth Benedict: A Humanist in Anthropology, 30th anniversary edition (Columbia University Press, 2005). Philip Ethington, professor of history, had two works in a show recently at the Getty Research Institute: “Julius Shulman: Modernity and the Metropolis” and a large panoramic portrait of Shulman. Carole Shammas, the John R. Hubbard Chair in History, wrote the introduction and co-edited a new book, The Creation of the British Atlantic World (Johns Hopkins, 2005). Peter Mancall, professor of history and director of the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, has been appointed to a three-year term on the editorial board of the Journal of American History.
International Affairs Expert Honored
Abraham Lowenthal received the Edward J. Perkins Award from the Institute for International Public Policy at the UNCF Special Programs Corporation. He was chosen “in recognition of [a] demonstrated commitment to promoting Cultural Competence and Diversity in International Affairs.” In August, Lowenthal, professor of international relations, was installed as the inaugural Robert F. Erburu Chair in Ethics, Globalization and Development in USC College.
College Faculty Join Provost’s Team
Barry Glassner, professor of sociology, has been appointed the executive vice provost, serving as new USC Provost C.L. Max Nikias’ chief deputy and chief of staff.
Michael Preston, professor of political science, is the special advisor to the provost on diversity issues as well as other opportunity areas.
Gene Bickers, professor of physics and astronomy, is responsible for all programs related to undergraduate education as the new associate vice provost for undergraduate affairs.
Jonathan Aronson is the executive director of the Annenberg Center for Communication and reports directly to the provost. Aronson holds joint appointments in international relations and the Annenberg School.
Howard Gillman, professor of political science, history and law, is associate vice provost for research advancement – social sciences, and is responsible for overseeing the campus research environment as it relates to work in the social sciences.
Jean Morrison, professor of earth sciences, is associate vice provost for graduate affairs and has responsibility for the Graduate School, as well as the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) program.
Kamieniecki and Devinny Share Water Quality Prize
USC political scientist Sheldon Kamieniecki and engineer Joe Devinny teamed up with UCLA engineer Michael Stenstrom to think of new, more cost-effective ways to clean-up local stormwater. Their report, “Alternatives for Stormwater Control,” earned the trio a prize from the L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board, which they received Oct. 20 at the board’s annual dinner. Published in August, the report reexamined strategies for cleaning up the torrents of winter rainwater that rush into the ocean off urban Southern California via storm drains, picking up chemical and biological pollution on the way.
Raubenheimer Awards
USC College awarded the 2005 Albert S. Raubenheimer Outstanding Faculty Awards recognizing exemplary teaching, research and service to: Thomas Habinek, professor of classics; Clifford Johnson, professor of physics and astronomy; and Sarnoff Mednick, professor of psychology. Roumyana Ivanova Pancheva, assistant professor of linguistics and Slavic languages and literatures, received the Raubenheimer Award for junior faculty.
Habinek studies cultural history, with particular emphasis on archaic and classical Rome, and examines literature’s involvement in the construction of social authority and distribution of power within traditional societies. He is currently studying the role of song in Roman culture.
Johnson focuses on the development of theoretical tools to better understand and describe the basic fabric of nature. He is part of an international effort attempting to describe the past, present and future of the universe. He’s also the co-creator of a wide-ranging blog about the scientific life called cosmicvariance.com.
For decades, Mednick has studied the links between pre-natal environmental exposures and mental illness, especially adult schizophrenia. His research has led to better understandings of the biological causes of schizophrenia and antisocial behavior, among other topics.
Pancheva has been at USC since the fall of 2000. Her research in theoretical linguistics focuses on syntax, semantics and the interface between syntax and semantics.
G.E. Teachers Honored
Winners of the College’s General Education Teaching Awards for courses taught in the 2004-2005 academic year were:
Emily Hodgson Anderson, assistant professor of English, for “Plays and the Question of Performance;”
Gregory A. Davis, professor of earth sciences, for “Crisis of a Planet;”
Douglas E. Hammond, professor of earth sciences, for “Earth History: A Planet and Its Evolution;”
Natania Meeker, assistant professor of French and Italian, for “Reason and the Passions: Human Beings in Enlightenment Contexts;”
Steven J. Ross, professor of history, for “Film, Power and American History” (see Film, Power & American History);
George J. Sánchez, professor of history and American studies and ethnicity, for “Race and Class in Los Angeles;”
Boris Wolfson, assistant professor of Slavic languages and literatures, for “Russian Thought and Civilization;” and
Janelle Staci Wong, assistant professor political science and American studies and ethnicity, for “America, the Frontier, and the New West.”
Roosevelt-Wilson Award to Spielberg
The American Historical Association awarded the 2005 Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Award to director and USC Trustee Steven Spielberg for his work as founding chairman of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. At the Jan. 5 ceremony, Doug Greenberg, executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, accepted the award on Spielberg’s behalf.
Introducing Computational Genomics
For more than a decade, professors Richard Deonier (now emeritus), Simon Tavaré and Michael Waterman have taught an introductory course on interdisciplinary fields they helped to pioneer — computational molecular biology, bioinformatics and genomics. Now, they have transformed their carefully honed course notes into a book targeted at advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students who, like the authors themselves, may have backgrounds in biology, statistics, math or computer science. In the front pages of Computational Genome Analysis: An Introduction (Springer, 2005), the USC College authors thank their students “particularly those who learned with us in BISC499 and BISC478.” They write, “This book is a ‘roll up your sleeves and get dirty’ introduction to the computational side of genomics and bioinformatics.” |
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