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Eberly College Magazine Fall 2006 New professors in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences are Reaching for the Stars Dr. Duncan Lorimer and Dr. Maura McLaughlin Dr. Duncan Lorimer and Dr. Maura McLaughlin

Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

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West Virginia University Alumni Magazine for the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences. Fall 2006. New professors in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences are Dr. Duncan Lorimer and Dr. Maura McLaughlin.

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Page 1: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Eberly CollegeMagazineFall 2006

New professors in theEberly College of Artsand Sciences areReaching for the Stars

Dr. Duncan Lorimer and Dr. Maura McLaughlinDr. Duncan Lorimer and Dr. Maura McLaughlin

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The Eberly College Reaches for the Starsby Michael Alden Winser

Prophecies of a Mothman: Turning Science Fiction into Real Researchby Katherine E. Kline

Summer Fun in Strasbourg: Comparative Politics with a Twist by Sarah Braswell

The Bread and Butter of Healthier Living by Katherine E. Kline

Interesting Research, Irritating Rash by Katherine E. Kline

Divided We Stand: Understanding Appalachian Dialects in West Virginiaby Sarah Braswell

The Sociology of Football: Helping Us Navigate Our World by Jane Donovan

Becky McCauley: A Rare Breedby Michael Alden Winser

The War Followed Me Home by Christopher Lotspeich Two Ways to Serve by Michael Alden Winser

Social Work Scholarships Enable Service to West Virginia by Sarah BraswellPoetry, Publishing and Professorship by Sarah Braswell

Faculty AuthorsFunding the Future of WVU

Recognizing Alumni Achievement by Jane Donovan

Message from the Dean

Around the College

Dispatches from the Diaspora: Adventure and Service in Seoul by Daria Darnell

A Student’s Eye View: Confessions of an MFA Student by Renee Nicholson

Keeping your mouth shut? by Rudolph P. Almasy

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Eberly College of Arts and SciencesWest Virginia UniversityPO Box 6286, 201 Woodburn HallMorgantown, WV 26506-6286304-293-4611(t), 304-293-6858(f)www.as.wvu.edu

To make sure that you don’t miss thedean’s monthly email letter to alumniand friends of the Eberly College,please keep us updated on new andchanged email addresses. Send your information to

[email protected]. Thank you.

Jane DonovanMagazine Editor

Michael Alden Winser Sarah BraswellKatherine KlineWriters

Heidi SpechtDesign

Contents

West Virginia University is governed by the Board of Trustees of the University System of West Virginia: Dr.Brian E. Noland, Chancellor; Mary Clare Eros, Chair.

Mary Ellen Mazey, Ph.D.Dean of the College

Joan Gorham, Ed.D.Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Fred King, Ph.D.Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies

Rudolph P. Almasy, Ph.D.Associate Dean for Development

Nicholas G. Evans, Ed.D.Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education

Asuntina S. Levelle, J.D.Assistant Dean for Financial Planning and Management

ON THE COVER

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

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Arts & Sciences | 1 | Fall 2006

Vermont Senator Justin Smith Morrill first introducedlegislation 149 years ago, in 1857, that would provide for theestablishment of land-grant colleges across the United States.His first two attempts failed, but finally, on July 2, 1862,President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law.West Virginia University was created as a result of the MorrillAct, and, along with the other land grant colleges, given aspecial mission: to make higher education accessible to morethan just the wealthy elite, to conduct research, and to servethe public. As WVU implements a new strategic plan, weaffirm and continue our commitment to fulfill that original“promise” of scholarship, research, and service. This issue ofthe Eberly College Magazine will show you some of the waysin which this College is involved in that fulfillment.

One of the ways in which the Eberly College is serving thepublic is through our responses to the foreign policy andhomeland security needs of the nation. You will read aboutDr. Kevin Daly of the Department of Biology and his efforts totrain moths to sniff out plastic explosives. The PoliticalScience and International Studies programs report on theirnew study abroad program in Strasbourg, France and theunprecedented opportunities for WVU students to increasetheir understanding of the European Union and internationallaw and politics in the seat of the European Parliament. Our“Dispatches from the Diaspora” column is from Daria Darnell,a U.S. Foreign Service Officer currently assigned to theAmerican Embassy in Seoul, Korea, an area of the world wheresecurity concerns are growing ever more urgent.

We are also featuring the experiences of two Eberly Collegestudents who have interrupted their education to heed theircountry’s call to military service in Iraq, Jeff Genda and ChrisLotspeich. Jeff ’s accomplishments are impressive, while Chrisreminds us that the human toll of warfare is never limited todeaths and injuries. His willingness to share his story ofservice and suffering is in itself an act of bravery.

Beyond the demands of war and diplomacy, the EberlyCollege’s horizons continue to expand in ways that Oliver P.Chitwood and Marmaduke Dent never would haveanticipated. Our faculty members are reaching for the stars,literally, as Duncan Lorimer and Maura McLoughlin of thePhysics Department develop a new program in radio

astronomy in conjunction with the Green Bank Observatory.Richard Thomas of Biology studies the effects of globalwarming on that ever-present pest, poison ivy. WoodburnProfessor Kirk Hazen of the English Department explores thenuances of Appalachian dialects in this most Appalachian ofstates, and Melissa Latimer, the new chair of Sociology, showsus that sometimes Mountaineer football can be more than justa game. Melanie Booth-Butterfield, the first Peggy RardinMcConnell Chair of Speech Communication maps a plan forpersuading West Virginians to eat a healthier diet.

Finally, we focus on student achievement.From the English Department, MFAstudent Renee Nicholson “confesses” herballet background, and theaccomplishments of recent graduateKristen Abraham are celebrated. We arethrilled to be the home College of the firststudent in WVU history – and the onlyone in the nation in 2006 – to win both theTruman and Goldwater Scholarships in thesame year. The “Pride” of Morgantown,Becky McCauley, is the subject of ourcenterpiece. She’s already reached the summit of collegeachievement and now she’s aiming to go where no human hasgone before: Mars.

Being a land grant college puts WVU in good company.Among our colleagues in this mission are the Universities ofConnecticut, Georgia, Arizona, and Maryland, as well asinstitutions such as Ohio State, Penn State, Auburn, Purdue,Rutgers, Virginia Tech, and Cornell. We are proud to be acharter member of the movement that brought highereducation within the reach of millions of students andchanged our nation forever. We continue to reach out to thestate, the region, the nation, and the world with our education,research, and service – and we continue to plan strategicallyfor ways to expand and further develop our land-grant goals.

Mary Ellen Mazey, Ph.D.Dean of the College

Mary Ellen Mazey, Ph.D. Dean of the College

FROM THE DEAN

The Promise of the Land Grant Mission

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Turning Science Fictioninto Real Research

Arts & Sciences | 2 | Fall 2006

Prophecies of a Mothman

We all know what they are, fluttering around our porch light inthe summer time, but who would ever have suspected thatmoths, overabundant in West Virginia, could serve in themilitary or take commands from a general? Or that mothscould differentiate between the smell of an apple and the smellof cyanide? Dr. Kevin Daly, WVU’s evolutionary biologist andmothman extraordinaire, has been training moths to do justthose tasks.

Training German shepherds is one thing, but moths are awhole different animal, invertebrate to be exact. Daly has beenexperimenting with moths since 1997. Since then, his researchhas become more extensive with the process of odor detection,discrimination and olfactory learning and memory. He usesneurobiological and behavioral experimental methods inmoths.

His best known study involves training moths to respond toodor signatures from explosives. With national security of vital

importance, Daly and other researchers believe that naturemay be the key to safety. As he explains, “Throughevolutionary adaptation, some species of animals havebecome exceedingly sensitive to certain odors.” UsingPavlovian conditioning, the rewarding of food after the targetodor has been presented, moths develop a learned response offeeding behavior whenever the odor appears. It’s not muchdifferent than a human salivating at the smell of a juicy steak.

The moths require about 30 minutes of individual training.Once a moth learns the behavior, they will remember theodor for their entire lifespan, about two to three weeks. “Oncetrained, the conditioned feeding response will generalize fromthe odorant used in conditioning to other odorants that arestructurally related,” Dr. Daly explained. He and his studentsreward the moth with food when the feeding behavior occursafter the presentation of the target odor, and do not rewardthe moth when the feeding behavior is exhibited without theodor present. Using this method, the moth’s olfactory system

by Katherine E. Kline

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is fine tuned to recognize different odors, including chemicalsfound in certain plastic explosives.

Daly demonstrated a prototype of the device created to trainthe moths at a 2001 Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency (DARPA) conference. To better equip the moths forbattle, and to simplify the moth’s signal patterns, he plans tocreate a format detailing which feeding behaviors indicate thepresence or absence of certain odors the moths detect. Thisformat would allow a military commander to clearly readmoth behavioral patterns in the presence of odors, indicatingdifferent chemicals.

In the meantime, Daly is also working on neurologicalresearch. “What we are trying to find is how, neurologically,the moth can discriminate between odors closely related toeach other,” he explained. “The neurobiological basis of smellsis organized very similar to our own olfactory system.Animals can, therefore, be used as models for biomedicalresearch this way.”

In vertebrates, such as humans, odors are detected within thenasal cavity and processed by the olfactory bulb, butinvertebrates sense odors by sensilla on the antenna which areprocessed by the antennal lobe. To access such a complicatedsystem, Dr. Daly must perform brain surgery on each moth.The process is intricate and delicate, so the surgeon must haveextreme focus.

Dr. Daly must first secure the moth in a cocoon-like metaltube. Using a microscope, he removes the back of the moth’shead and snips the esophageal tubes that supply nutrients tothe moth’s body. “Their circulatory system is different fromours. Our arteries supply not only nutrients to our body butalso oxygen,” Daly states as he clears a path to the moth’sbrain. “Unlike humans, a moth can live for a while withoutthese arteries because they receive oxygen from a system oftubes called trachea which extend from the exoskeleton to thetissue.” Dr. Daly then drips small amounts of saline solutioninto the moth’s head while he gently inserts two electrodearrays, a fraction of the size of a pinhead, into the brain.These electrodes will detect electrical activity near where theyare placed. Then, odors are introduced to the moth, creatingjolts of electricity in different regions of the olfactory brain.The electrical activity is converted into data which are thenused to assess the moth’s olfactory system.

Daly earned his bachelor’s degree in biopsychology fromWestern Washington University and his Master’s and Doctoraldegrees in Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology from theUniversity of Arizona. All of his hard work has helped him toappreciate the significant role his students play in his research.

“The undergraduate students are both the key workforce anda real intellectual asset in my lab,” he states. “Many of the

ideas we test are driven by them in lab discussions.” To assistin Daly’s research advancements, undergraduates ShreejoyTripathy (Shepherdstown, WV), Oakland Peters (Ripley, WV),Matthew Duval (Morgantown, WV), and Herbert Parsons(Beckley, WV) research neural computational aspects ofolfactory detection and discrimination, while the graduatemembers of the team, Esther Staudacher (M.A.), fromNairobi, Kenya, and Dr. Chitrita Ghatak, from Calcutta, India,explore the pharmacology of antennal lobe function. Dr.Erich Staudacher, postdoctoral associate from Munich,Germany, is tasked with establishing response properties ofidentified neurons within the antennal lobe using intracellularmethods.

The research team moves closer everyday to attaining a fullunderstanding of our own olfactory systems, and how we asmammals recognize and distinguish among odors. KevinDaly’s cutting edge research is discovering throughinvertebrates knowledge of the human mind previouslyconsidered science fiction. It’s something to think about thenext time the scent of fresh baked apple pie brings backchildhood memories.

Dr. Kevin Daly

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Although the students spent most of their timeduring the week in class, they had theirweekends free to relax at their residence,Chateau du Pourtales, or to explore Strasbourgand its surrounding areas. Skinner said thatshe and some of her classmates traveled toSwitzerland and Italy in their free time. “Manystudents had a Eurail pass, and they just wenteverywhere,” Kilwein said.

Any trip of this magnitude—three weeks’room and board at a chateau, airfare, tuition,and spending money— will, of course, comewith a hefty price tag. However, in order tohelp reduce the cost to the students, the EberlyCollege provided $500 Academic EnrichmentGrants to each of the program participants.“During my academic career I have had thepleasure of taking a group of college studentsto Brazil, and I know first-hand what a lifechanging experience study abroad can be. Iam so pleased that the Eberly Collegefinancially supports the opportunity for ourstudents to experience and learn in anothercountry and culture,” said Mary Ellen Mazey,Dean of the Eberly College.

Though these study abroad students gave up afew of their lazy summer days at home, theygained course credit, experience, hands-onlearning, and the opportunity to travel Europe.They also gained memories that will last alifetime.

Arts & Sciences | 4 | Fall 2006

For most WVU students, summer is a chanceto exchange books for beachwear and toremember what “sleeping in” means. For tenpolitical science and international studiesstudents, it meant broadening their culturaland political horizons as they traveled toStrasbourg, France, for the inaugural“Comparative Law and Institutions: Europeand the European Union” study abroadprogram.

The program was established this year by theDepartment of Political Science with a uniquepurpose in mind. “This trip was designed forpre-law students who don’t speak a foreignlanguage but want to study abroad,” politicalscience professor John Kilwein explained.

The program was designed to give studentswho might otherwise study only Americangovernment and policy the opportunity tocompare our system with those of theEuropean nations. “We want to give them theexperience to learn more about our own legalsystem in a comparative way,” said Joe Hagan,chair of political science and director of theinternational studies program.

Once the idea was born, the next decision wasto choose a location. Strasbourg became anobvious choice for the program because it ishome to many important institutions of theEuropean Union, including both the EuropeanParliament and the European Commission(the executive branch of the EU). Othernearby European Union bodies include theEuropean Court of Justice in Luxembourg andthe European Central Bank in Frankfurt,Germany. Another reason for selectingStrasbourg was that the University ofStrasbourg, a major European university, islocated there.

Students agreed that Strasbourg was perfectfor the program. “I enjoyed the distinct socialculture Strasbourg offered, as it was on theborder between France and Germany, and hasbeen owned by both countries in the past,”Toby Buel, a senior political science majorfrom Cross Lanes, WV, said.

Students took two three-credit classes to earnsix credits total during the program, whichwas held from June 9 to July 2. One course,Political Science 493A: Comparative EuropeanLegal Systems, was taught by Dr. Kilwein. Itexamined and compared the United Statesgovernment with those of England, France,and Germany.

“The class taught by Professor Kilwein gaveme a detailed understanding of how thecountries of Great Britain, Germany, France,and the United States are all similar anddifferent on a global scale,” said AndrewWalker, a senior political science major fromFoxborough, Mass. “The classes that weretaught were amazingly insightful and gave mea wealth of knowledge about Europeanpolitics.”

Political Science 493B: European Union: Law,Institutions, and Integration was taught by theUniversity of Strasbourg’s Patrick Dollat. Hisclass introduced the students to the EuropeanUnion’s historical evolution, constitutionalframework, and institutions. Kayden Skinner,a junior political science major from NewMartinsville, WV, particularly enjoyed thecourse. “I was able to gain a considerableamount of knowledge about the EuropeanUnion and its growing importance in theworld. I also enjoyed learning from aEuropean perspective,” she said.

Buel liked having a European instructor aswell. “[He] was a lot of fun. We taught himalmost as much English as he taught uspolitical science.”

Students also took field trips in order to enrichtheir classroom experiences. They visited theCouncil of Europe, attended an EU Parliamenthuman rights hearing, toured the EuropeanCentral Bank in Frankfurt, visited theEuropean Court in Luxembourg, and went tothe World War I battlefield of Verdun. “Thistrip was excellent in the sense that you can onlylearn so much in a classroom, but to get thefull spectrum, hands-on experience is alwaysthe best way to learn a subject,” said Walker.

Summer Fun in Strasbourg:Comparative Politics with aTwist

by Sarah Braswell

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Three years ago, Duncan Lorimer andMaura McLaughlin were involved in thediscovery of one of the “holy grails” of radioastronomy and indeed all of astrophysics.

The husband and wife duo, recent hires tothe Department of Physics and radioastronomers by profession, were on an international team that inlate 2003 discovered the first known double pulsar some 2,000light-years away from Earth. A double pulsar is a systemconsisting of two massive, highly compact neutron stars orbitingone another, each weighing more than our Sun but only 12 milesin diameter. Each pulsar produces a beam of radio waves whichsweeps across the sky like a lighthouse beacon, except at very fastrates of up to hundreds of times per second. Radio telescopesreceive a regular train of pulses as the beam repeatedly crosses theEarth so that the object is observed as a pulsating radio signal.

An object of this kind is of revolutionary importance because ithas enabled precise testing of Einstein’s Theory of GeneralRelativity. In 1916, Einstein proposed that matter causes space tocurve. An easy way to visualize this is to think of a flat rubbersheet with a bowling ball sitting on it. The sheet is curved andany object less massive than the ball will roll toward it. If thesheet is space-time, then we have a crude but effective method ofunderstanding Einstein’s model of gravity.

Their discovery helped solidify the evidence for Einstein’s theory.“This is the most stringent test ever made of GR in the presenceof very strong gravitational fields – only black holes show strongergravitational effects, but they are obviously much more difficult toobserve,” says Maura. Black holes are so massive that not evenlight can escape their gravitational pull.

Despite being part of such an epic discovery, the good-naturedcouple is humble, focusing instead on the exciting possibilitiesthat the discovery has opened up. Maura continues, "The doublepulsar is really quite an amazing system. It not only tells us a lotabout general relativity, but it is a superb probe of the extremephysics of super-dense matter and strong magnetic fields and isalso helping us to understand the complex mechanisms thatgenerate the pulsar's radio beacons.”

Duncan adds, “We have only just begun to exploit its potential!”

Speaking of potential, that’s what the couple sees in Morgantown.“WVU has the potential to be the largest pulsar group in the USin the next 5-10 years,” says Duncan.

Arriving in Morgantown in May, they have worked hard to lay thefoundations for what they hope will be another internationallyrenowned program for the University: Radio Astronomy.

“There are great opportunities for growthboth within the department and with GreenBank Observatory. We’ll be building thisprogram from the ground up,” said Maura.

And building they are. They have alreadyestablished a graduate program in the

department for Radio Astronomy, and in September added totheir team Vlad Krondratiev, a postdoctoral researcher fromRussia, to assist them in their research. They’ve been coordinatingwith scientists at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Observatory toperform cooperative research as well as take trips with studentsdown to the telescope. Located in Pocahontas County, just over100 miles south of Morgantown, Green Bank is the world’s largestfully steerable radio telescope.

Duncan and Maura have begun teaching this year, and will use theclasses to gauge current student interest in astronomy. Duncanbelieves that as more classes are added, interest in astronomy willgrow, and more faculty could be hired. With a larger program,they could develop a minor or area of emphasis with Physics andperhaps eventually build a stand alone major program.

Dr. Earl Scime, chair of the Department of Physics, comments onthe couple, “We are ecstatic to have Duncan and Maura here inthe department. They are already attracting students and grantsas well as developing strong opportunities to work with GreenBank.”

The couple originally met at the Arecibo Observatory in PuertoRico, which happens to be the world’s largest stationary radiotelescope at 305 meters in diameter – more than 3 football fieldsacross. Duncan was a staff scientist at the Observatory and Maurawas a graduate student from Cornell. They left Arecibo in 2001and were married 2 years later when they were researchers at theJodrell Bank Observatory of the University of Manchester,England. It was there that they helped discover the double pulsar.After Jodrell, they were looking for positions at a university wherethey could still continue their research, but also where they couldteach.

Morgantown’s proximity to Green Bank and the opportunity tobuild an astronomy program from scratch helped make WestVirginia University the perfect fit for Duncan and Maura.

For the fledgling astronomy program and ground-breakingresearchers like Duncan and Maura, only the sky is the limit. Orrather…

The sky is not the limit.

StarsReaching for the

by Michael Alden Winser

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Bread & ButterAAccording to the West Virginia Department

of Health and Human Resources, “about16.3% of middle school students and 33.7%of high school students in West Virginiacurrently smoke cigarettes (an estimated38,558 students) and about 12.9% ofmiddle school boys and 21.5% of highschool boys currently use smokelesstobacco.”

Statistics like these have prompted one WestVirginia University professor to want tomake a difference. Dr. Melanie Booth-Butterfield, the first Peggy RardinMcConnell Chair of SpeechCommunication in the Eberly College ofArts and Sciences at WVU, wants toinfluence students and others to make thedecision to lead a healthier life.

She has found that influential healthcommunication, in and out of theclassroom, is the key to changing society'sattitudes about leading healthier lives.“Many studies show that most people knowwhat they should be doing,” remarked Dr.Booth-Butterfield, “but we want toinfluence their behavior, as well. Overall, asa society, we tend to rely too much onstraight education. We need to usepersuasion to change people's attitudes andbehaviors about health.”

In her textbook, Influential HealthCommunication, she described the problem:“As much as we like to, we cannot wave amagic wand and make people be morehealthy. It’s also certain that we can’t justtell someone to quit doing unhealthyactivities and have them stop.”

The Peggy Rardin McConnell Chair inSpeech Communication is intended toprovide the resources needed to enhancespeech communication among WVUstudents. The position was created in 2003when John McConnell, Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer of WorthingtonIndustries, Inc., donated $1 million to theWest Virginia University Foundation, Inc.,to endow a faculty position to honor hiswife, Peggy Rardin McConnell. With the

The

of

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support from the McConnell Chair endowment, Dr. Booth-Butterfield will develop an advanced Health Communicationcourse in which students will use tactics to influence others inthe way they think, feel and behave about health.

With this honor, she will also research new ways to supportpeople’s good decisions, deter them from wrong ones, and passher knowledge to a new generation of students interested inbecoming influential health communicators. Students can enrollin an advanced, year-long health communication course that isseparated into two sections: in the Fall semester, students create,test and conduct campaigns, and in the Spring semester, theypresent their findings to public audiences. The course concludesat the McConnell Communication Conference which will focuson a different theme each year and include expert speakers,instructional seminars and venues for students to present theirresults from the previous semester. The conference will be opento West Virginia citizens interested in improving their ownhealth.

“Projects that students have done in the past revolve around thestrategic use of influential messages,” she explained. “Forexample, there were two studies the students designed whichused communication information tactics to influence others touse stairs instead of elevators.”

West Virginia often ranks poorly in positive health behaviors,with high scores in tobacco use, smoking during pregnancy, andobesity and low scores in areas such as preventive health care,flu shots, and seat belt usage. With the help of the McConnellproject, Dr. Booth-Butterfield and her students can developawareness of health and influence citizens to make the rightdecisions to lead a healthier life.

The research projects articulate how communication can changehealth behaviors in everyday lives. “The students are guidedthrough the steps to conduct pedagogically-sound, teamresearch intervention projects, enact the ground-work, projectplanning, and set-up,” wrote Dr. Booth-Butterfield. “Theyengage in message development and testing, implementingcommunication influence principles to the specificapplications.” These will take place, with varying topics, indifferent settings: shopping malls, campus residence halls,community businesses, fraternities and sororities, and non-profit agencies.

Dr. Booth-Butterfield is committed to giving the students asmany resources as possible so that they can turn their proposalsinto applied research. To receive funding to work with non-profit, health-related organizations in the state, students willneed to write a grant proposal. “Students gain the advantage ofhaving introductory grant-writing experiences,” she wrote in her

application to be considered for the McConnell Chair, “and theprojects benefit from receiving the additional resourcesavailable.”

“A large part of the grant supported by resources from thePeggy Rardin McConnell Chair will go to defray expenses forstudents when they give presentations and attend professionalconventions. This way, they can actually get out there and getthe high level professional opportunities,” she said. “This grantwill be the difference between a research proposal that fails andresearch that is truly worthwhile to the community.”

Results will reach people at a regional level through the EasternCommunication Association, Central States CommunicationAssociation and National Communication Association. WVUwill partner with groups such as the Chamber of Commerce,Community Medicine, Injury Prevention Center, Injury ServicePrevention Center and state high schools to organize varioushealth conferences. Students will also attend the West VirginiaUndergraduate Research Conference at the State Capitol.

Dr. Booth-Butterfield described the impact of this research onWVU students: “Not only does this agenda provide visibilityand experiences for students, but professional networking isenhanced as students conduct and explain research that issufficiently expert to be presented in competitive arenas.” Butthis research will impact West Virginians as well by providingalternatives to unhealthy decisions. For example, by making thebackyard the only smoking-allowed area in a household, parentscan reduce children’s second-hand smoke exposure. Thepromotion of these alternatives in health conferences willencourage citizens to take new approaches to reducingunhealthy activities.

As Dr. Matthew Martin, Chair of the Department ofCommunication Studies, explained: “The work Dr. Booth-Butterfield has done in the past and has proposed for the futurehas a direct impact on the health and welfare for the citizens ofWest Virginia and beyond.”

Healthier Living

“Many studies show that most people know what they should bedoing, but we want to influence

their behavior, as well.”

by Katherine E. Kline

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by Katherine E. Kline

Interesting Research

Irritating RashFrom above, the vast circles of white towers risingfrom the tree tops appear extraterrestrial. But on theforest floor, it is apparent that Dr. Richard Thomasis experimenting with something all too familiar:poison ivy.

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can grow up through the canopy and choke out other plants,”he added. “If poison ivy or other vines gain an advantage overother plants, the world will certainly get weedier.”

Thomas earned his Ph.D. from Clemson University workingon plant responses to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxideand climate change. For his post-doctoral research, he and apioneer in this type of research, Dr. Boyd Strain, developed aproject that examined the interaction between soil fertility andelevated atmospheric CO2 on tree growth and physiology.They grew trees in 15-foot high outdoor chambers. As the treesgrew taller, they became too large for the chambers. Thislimitation and the need to incorporate ecosystem responses tothe analysis, led to the development of FACE and his currentresearch at WVU.

“The Department of Biology at WVU has a small but verystrong group of faculty whose research is focused on ecologicalissues, including global environmental change,” Thomasreflected. “This provides a very supportive atmosphere toconduct my research and helps attract excellent graduatestudents.”

“I’ve been very lucky to have had excellent graduate students atWVU,” Dr. Thomas continued. “I currently have researchprojects at Duke Forest in North Carolina, the FernowExperimental Forest in Parsons, West Virginia and SoyFACE atthe University of Illinois. Since I am unable to go to theseplaces all of the time to do the research myself, I look forgraduate students who are intelligent, self-motivated andindependent. I’ve had students in whom I have a tremendousamount of confidence, and I don’t worry when I send one toNorth Carolina or Parsons, West Virginia on a researchcampaign. In turn, this independence leads to students whocan think for themselves and who can eventually develop theirown science programs. I give all the credit to my students formy research successes.”

The hope is that Dr. Richard Thomas’ research will encouragestudent growth in the WVU Department of Biology.

Approximately 80 percent of humans develop Toxicodendrondermatitis, the common rash that leaves us running for thecalamine lotion. It is caused by the human immune system’sreaction to urushiol, the active component in poison ivy.Annually, poison ivy causes more than 350,000 reported casesof the rash. As bothersome as poison ivy can be today, a studyco-authored by Dr. Thomas reports that by 2050, it could get alot worse.

Dr. Richard Thomas’ six-year study of the effects of globalwarming on the growth of poison ivy was published in theJune 2006 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy ofScience. His research was conducted in the experimental DukeUniversity Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) forest, locatednear Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

“Carbon dioxide is released through large pipes in a ring oftowers in the forest, monitored and controlled by computers tobe the approximate concentration that is expected in the year2050,” said Thomas. This experiment was the first tomanipulate an intact forest ecosystem. “It builds on manygreenhouse and chamber experiments where individual plantswere examined under different conditions of climate change,”he continued. “Now there is a whole network of FACEexperiments worldwide that examines many types ofecosystems.” The main objective of FACE research is tounderstand the role of forest in the global carbon cycle.

The findings indicated that under levels of atmospheric CO2predicted for the year 2050, poison ivy may grow larger andbecome more noxious. The study compared poison ivy at CO2levels of 2050 to poison ivy at the current CO2 levels. By 2004,measurements showed poison ivy exposed to the elevated-CO2had an increased concentration of 153% more urushiol andhad grown 150% larger than the poison ivy’s growth at currentCO2 levels.

“Our research on poison ivy is one of the first that linksincreasing atmospheric carbon dioxide with a change inhuman health, but it also indicates a potentially strongnegative effect on forest health,” he said. “We found thatpoison ivy responded to elevated CO2 to a greater degree thanalmost any other plant species in the forest, including trees.”

What does this mean for the future? One likely scenario is thata vicious cycle will ensue. Higher levels of CO2 will increasepoison ivy reproduction, which will increase tree mortality,which will decrease CO2 consumption, and we all will becomea little itchier.

“Many policy makers hope that forest trees will take up muchof the carbon added to the atmosphere from burning fossilfuels and thus ameliorate climate change by absorbing thisgreenhouse gas. This research suggests that forests will take upsome but probably not enough to mitigate climate change,”Thomas stated. “Vines can severely affect forest structure andfunction because they use other plants as their support and

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Understanding Appalachian Dialects in West VirginiaDivided We Stand:

By Sarah Braswell

Whether one is a native West Virginian or someone whoseloyalty was established later in life, nearly every West VirginiaUniversity student and alum is familiar with the many stereotypesthat come along with that Mountaineer status. One of the mostcommon is that of the statewide “West Virginia twang.” OneEberly College professor is working to challenge misconceptionsabout dialects in Appalachia, one West Virginian at a time.

Professor Kirk Hazen is the English Department’s linguist anddirector of the West Virginia Dialect Project (WVDP). Hazen,along with Sarah Hamilton, an English graduate student fromCincinnati, Ohio, is studying Appalachian dialects in West Virginiain order to better understand how language works and toeducate the public about it. “There is so much misconceptionabout how language works,” said Hazen. “We are, in the study oflanguage, where biology was 100 years ago.”

Hazen defines linguistics as the science of language and is quick topoint out that dialect study is an empirical field. His own interestslie in the study of variation and change in dialects. Though hepresents his findings through quantitative statistical analyses, thefield has not always operated that way. “The downside to thestudy of Appalachian English is that much of what is said is basedin scholarship from the 1970s, before it was mathematical, so wedon’t have a lot of findings,” Hazen said.

Hazen and Hamilton have interviewed 129 West Virginia residentswith the help of undergraduates Ross Israel of Clarksburg, andAshley Wise and Kylie Edmond of Morgantown. They have alsobeen assisted by numerous volunteers. The purpose of theinterviews is to gather information about West Virginia dialectsand how language is changing in this area of Appalachia. Theinterviews are informal, and the subjects are questioned abouttheir lives and their communities. In this way, not only canregional dialects be studied, but the rich oral traditions of WestVirginia communities can be passed on.

The project has found that dialects vary greatly throughout theMountain State. “West Virginia is very diverse,” Hazen said.According to Hazen, dialect maps of West Virginia divide the stateinto four distinct regions— north, south, eastern panhandle, and

northern panhandle. The divide among regions most likelyresulted from many different factors, including settlementpatterns, the Civil War, and identification with similar people.However, the single most influential factor in dialect formation isone’s peer group from ages 8 to 18. This can explain why twopeople who have lived in the same region can have completelydifferent dialects.

Hazen has found that there are some distinct differences betweenspeakers in northern and southern West Virginia. Throughout thestate, people exhibit the “low-back merger,” where they will, forexample, pronounce the words “caught” and “cot” the same way.However, southern speakers will have the “prenasal front-laxmerger,” where the pronunciation of “pin” and “pen” are thesame, much more often than northerners will. Another noticeabledifference is the tendency of northerners to pronounce the “-ing”at the end of a verb such as “walking,” while southerners willpronounce it as more of a “-in” sound, so that the word willsound like “walkin’.”

Because of these differences, many non-Southern speakers believethat those with these particular speech patterns are speakingEnglish incorrectly. Through his involvement in the project, Hazenwants to dispel this myth. The WVDP website states that “dialectsare part of our daily culture, as much as the foods we eat and theclothes we wear. We form our identities through the ways wespeak, and our dialect represents who we are. Bad mouthingsomeone’s dialect is in effect attacking who they are.”

Hazen hopes that through his presentations and publicationsabout Appalachian dialect he will help the public to understandthat there is no such thing as a “right” or “wrong” dialect.“Correctness is not measured in absolutes,” he said. He alsohopes to be an advocate for those who are discriminated againstbecause of their dialect.

Hazen is the author of Identity and Ethnicity in the Rural South(Duke University Press, 2000) and numerous articles including“Mergers in the Mountains,” “The Final Days of AppalachianHeritage Language,” “Migration and the Appalachian Diaspora,”and “A Modern Sociolinguistic View of Appalachian English”. Hehas given lectures and dialect awareness programs to civic groupsand schools for twelve years and has served on the NSFlinguistics panel and as an associate editor for the journalLanguage. He was also selected for a Woodburn Professorship, atwo-year appointment from the Eberly College which recognizesmid-career excellence.

It is no secret that West Virginians are proud of who they are andwhere they come from. With people like Hazen working tounderstand and promote the language and culture of WestVirginia, there is no doubt that West Virginians and their manydialects will soon be seen in a much different light by outsiders—and by each other.

Graduate student Sarah Hamilton and Dr. Kirk Hazen

Page 13: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

The Sociology of Football:Helping us Navigate our World

depending upon the identity of the opposing team? Are thererules unique to WVU football?

Another sociological study of football might includeconsideration of the “actors” in the game – coaches, players,band members, cheerleaders, Mountaineer Maniacs, facultymembers, ticket takers, security guards, and the roles eachplay. “Are there patterns in terms of who is most likely to takeon one of those well-defined roles?” Latimer asked. “Havethose patterns changed over time?”

What about the financial impactof football on the neighborhoodssurrounding the stadium, the cityof Morgantown, MonongaliaCounty, and even the State ofWest Virginia?

A question that sociologistswould love to explore, and to

which Dr. Latimer gets enthusiastic responses from WVUalumni, has to do with couch burning. When and how did itget started? How does it get constructed as a social problem?“I know, I know, the answer to the when and how question isimmediately following the 17-14 WVU victory over the thentop-ranked Pitt Panthers starring Tony Dorsett, in 1975,” shelaughs. “But why did it continue? Why is it associated withWVU when it and far more destructive behaviors occur onmany campuses across the country?”

And finally, where does all that trash go?

“We hope to engage our constituents – students, potentialstudents, alumni, community members – in a dialoguethrough our website, beginning with the case study of WVUfootball this fall. If this goes well, next year we’ll try adifferent issue,” Latimer stated. “We’re using somethingspecific to WVU yet universal to American culture to explainsociology and, hopefully, to attract students whofind this way of studying human behavior tobe thought-provoking and intellectuallystimulating. In this global society, sociologyis more important than ever in helping ussuccessfully navigate our world.”

The Division of Sociology andAnthropology website can be found athttp://www.as.wvu.edu/soca/

As revered as Andy Griffith is these days – especially inMorgantown, the hometown of his late sidekick, EberlyCollege alumnus Don Knotts – Andy may not be completelyright on this one.

Sometimes football isn’t just a game. Sometimes, it’s morethan that – it’s an opportunity to study the unspoken rulesthat guide human behavior.

“There is a sociological aspect to every part of our lives, evensomething as simple and routine as going to a football game”said Dr. Melissa Latimer, thenew Chair of Sociology andAnthropology. “Thesociological perspective helpsus see the layers of factorsaffecting our everyday, taken-for-granted experiences and ithelps us to see the ‘everyday’from the perspective of anoutsider or a stranger. Since humans are social beings, almostanything can be scientifically studied using sociology – race,ethnicity, inequality, social policy, education, crime and socialproblems, family, aging, religion, even Mountaineer football.”

The newly-redesigned Sociology and Anthropology website isusing WVU football, with all its national media attention thisfall, to make the academic point. As Dr. Latimer recognized,“On game days, Morgantown, a city of about 27,000 residents,receives 60,000 football fans, becoming, for a moment in time,the largest city in West Virginia, full of opportunities to studythe way humans behave in this particular social situation.”

From a photo of a full Milan Puskar Stadium, with The Prideof West Virginia in the midst of its pre-game show, forming amap of the state, the website turns to a series of questions:

• What do you see in this picture?• How might a sociologist or anthropologist help you see this

football game differently?• What might a criminologist ask about this game?• What might a graduate student in our applied Master’s

degree program ask about this game?

“We have a list of our own answers to these questions,”Latimer said, “but we’re looking forward to seeing how thepeople who visit our website respond.”

For example, a sociologist and/or anthropologist might beinterested in the rules that govern fan behavior at a game andhow they differ from the rules that govern classroom behavior.Who makes those rules? How are the rules learned? Whathappens if the rules are violated? Do the rules change

Arts & Sciences | 11 | Fall 2006

By Jane Donovan

“What it was was football.”– Andy Griffith

Page 14: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

A Rare BreedA True Scholar to Change the World

Arts & Sciences | 12 | Fall 2006

Patricia Miller Stultz Chemistry Scholarship, and also took

advantage of the Eberly College Undergraduate Academic

Enrichment Program, which awards up to $500 to students to

further their education.

In addition to being a double scholar, Becky is also a double

major in Biology and Chemistry with a minor in Geology.

Though this may seem to be an odd configuration, it fits

perfectly with Becky’s career goals. She wants to study

terraforming.

Terraforming is the science of changing another planet or moon

so that it can sustain human life from Earth, a process that was

previously thought to be nothing more than the subject of

science fiction. Scientists have theorized a variety of means to

change a planet’s atmosphere, temperature, and other aspects in

order that it sustain life. For instance, certain vegetation could

make a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere more habitable by

producing more oxygen, or ice asteroids could be diverted to

collide with the planet to release important elements into its

atmosphere, such as nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen.

McCauley’s interest in terraforming stemmed from a high

school internship with the Eberly College’s own Dr. John

Littleton, professor of Physics, through NASA’s Science and

Engineering Apprentice Program.

“It’s my biased opinion that it’s the destiny of the human race to

go out into the stars and explore,” she explained. “I also think

we’re injuring our planet and it’s important that we look at

other means of sustaining humanity. There are lots of reasons

to do so: resource depletion, human population growth, etc.

Eventually there will be a meteor impact that could cause mass

extinctions, and humanity doesn’t really have a defense for

something like that. Inhabiting another planet would be a

don’t-put-all-your-eggs-into-one-basket kind of thing.”

With Dr. Jonathan Cumming, chair of the Department of

Biology, she studied how plants respond to and protect

themselves against aluminum, a soil toxin originating from

mine drainage and acid rain. She used her work from that

experience as the centerpiece of her application for the first of

her awards, the research-based Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship,

which pays undergraduate tuition and expenses of up to $7,500

a year.

by Michael Alden Winser

IImagine this: One minute you are hard at work in the lab, and

the next minute camera crews and reporters burst in the door

offering congratulations and asking questions. Weeks later, you

introduce the President of WVU to a crowd of supporters in

Washington, D.C. Your name gets engraved on multiple plaques

and nearly all your teachers have heard of you.

A. Did you win the lottery?

B. Are you a national hero?

C. Are you another

sophomore sensation from

the football field?

The answer is D. None of

the above. You are

Morgantown native

Rebecca McCauley, who

made WVU history this

spring when she was named

both a Goldwater Scholar

and Truman Scholar,

something never before

achieved at this University

Double scholars are a rare breed and, indeed, she is the only

student in the nation this year to receive both awards.

Even more impressive, Becky is a first-generation college student.

“You come in and almost feel like you’re at a disadvantage

because your parents weren’t doctors; you really don’t know what

college is going to be like. To come in and excel is huge,” said

McCauley.

Becky didn’t come to college just because that is what was

expected of her. She came because she is personally driven to

achieve her dreams. She worked hard to get scholarships and

grants so that she could afford to attend.

“I hope this can send a message to other kids: No matter who

you are, or what your background, you can get through college

with full financial support and without having to take out loans.

There are so many scholarships and grants out there. All it takes

is the time and effort to find and apply for them.”

Becky is a two-time Eberly Scholar, a PROMISE scholar and

Presidential scholar. She’s a past recipient of the Robert and

Page 15: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Arts & Sciences | 13 | Fall 2006

The service-oriented Harry S. Truman

Scholarship is worth $30,000 and Becky

plans to use the money to pursue her

Ph.D. She applied to the Truman

Scholarship Foundation by expressing

her concerns about NASA’s priorities.

“In (President George) Bush’s vision for

space exploration, they’re going to phase

out the shuttles, go to the moon and

then to Mars. I wrote that a better way

to go about it would be to cut the

amount of money that’s being spent on

the initiative and go straight to Mars,

which cuts the budget tremendously

and would allow more programs to

continue at NASA.”

Becky doesn’t just want NASA to go to

Mars; she wants to go there herself.

She’s currently researching doctoral

programs for astrobiology, and after

earning her Ph.D., she wants to become

an astronaut.

Becky is sad to have to leave

Morgantown though. “I really wish

there was a job market for astronauts

here. I’m really sad that I’ll have to

leave to go to graduate school and get

the career I want. I’ve grown up here. I

like that I can walk down the street and

see people I know. You can’t get that in

bigger cities.”

“After I’ve landed on Mars and I come

back, hopefully, there’s always the

possibility of teaching at WVU.”

Wherever she ends up, McCauley is

certain to change the world.

Or at least Mars.

Page 16: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Several hundred WVU students – along with thousands of othercollege students across the nation – are interrupting their educationto serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are no college defermentsfor members of the National Guard and the Reserves during thistime of conflict. We asked a student in the Eberly College to sharesome of his experiences with our readers.

I was attending the last few lectures of the semester and preparingfor final exams in December 2002 when my cell phone rang. The646th Quartermaster (Qm) Company was calling to announcethat I would be mobilizing in January. My immediate reactionwas that it would be an exciting adventure. “Hey, they are goingto take a few college boys out of school to go fight a war,” Ithought. It took some time for the enormity of what washappening to dawn on me.

We were transferred to the 233rd Qm Co near Philadelphia,where we readied equipment to go overseas. From there, we wentto the bitterly cold and snowy Fort Drum, NY. We trained fortwo months, learning how to set up perimeters around our areaof operation, how to pull convoy security, and the basics of firstaid. We landed in the Middle East, watched the statue of SaddamHussein fall, then spent a week in Kuwait City preparing to set upa battlefield support fuel system in Gharma, northwest ofBaghdad, a station to be known as Camp Resolute.

At Camp Resolute, we installed a 700,000 gallon diesel FuelSystem Supply Point. It covered an area about the size of Milan

Puskar Stadium with miles of hard and soft hose, 350 gallon perminute fuel pumps, and 50,000 gallon plastic fuel bags. Fuelarrived in 5,000 gallon tanker truck convoys that came and wentall day long, 20 trucks at a time, from Kuwaiti refineries, pumpedby pipeline to a Tactical Petroleum Terminal (TPT) in an Armycamp on the border of Kuwait and Iraq. During the first pushinto Iraq, the Army laid 167 miles of pipeline to Nasiriyah, toanother TPT. From there, the diesel came to us and we directedit to the front.

At night, I sat on my truck and watched the tracers and flares ofnearby infantry battles. One day, we were ordered to buildshelters and fighting positions on the perimeter of our camp. Weremained calm, doing our best to prepare in case of the worst.We stayed out there all day, but nothing happened and wereceived orders to tear down the camp. For the rest of our time,we patrolled the pipeline in southern Iraq, ran existing TPTs, andtore down other TPTs. After an exhausting nine months,thankfully, everyone in my unit made it home safely. CampResolute only existed for a month and a half, but our unit holdsthe record for handling the most fuel for any war in U.S. history,nearly 2.3 billion gallons.

My experience in Iraq was not over just because I came home. Mymother soon realized something was wrong, but I moved back toMorgantown, into an apartment with two of my Army buddies. Icouldn’t wait to start school, but about a month into thesemester, things fell apart. I moved in with my dad and tried to

Arts & Sciences | 14 | Fall 2006

by Christopher Lotspeich

Chris Lotspeich is a junior religious studies major from Mount Morris, Pennsylvania.

The WarFollowed

Me Home

Page 17: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Two WaysTo Serve

From Flight Medic to Medical School

Arts & Sciences | 15 | Fall 2006

work with him, but I was unmotivated andshort-tempered. I wanted to go backoverseas. I tried to join the Army, but mypaperwork was delayed, so I thought I’dfinish my degree and then enlist.

The fall semester of 2004 was awful. Icouldn’t sleep. I was trying to study, but Ibegan having terrible panic attacks. Twice Iwent to the emergency room and tried toconvince the doctors, wrongly, that I washaving a heart attack.

As the semester ended, I became delusional. Ithought that people were chasing me. Ididn’t understand where my next meal wouldcome from. I thought that I was someoneelse. Finally, I checked myself into thePittsburgh Veterans Administration hospitalwhere I was diagnosed with psychosis. Icouldn’t believe it. I never thought anythinglike that could happen to me.

My experiences in Iraq came rushing backand hit me like a ton of bricks. I saw tracerrounds flying across the road. I saw fightingand felt explosions. I thought there was aminefield around the hospital.

When I was released from the hospital, Isought counseling at the MorgantownVeterans Center, which was extremely helpful.My family and friends were there for me, too.I never realized that so many people caredabout me.

After a year, I started feeling like my old selfagain. I realize now that I should have gottenhelp as soon as I returned from Iraq.Everyone who comes home from the warshould have some counseling. With the helpof the wonderful VA counselors, I’ve beenable to make peace with my experiences andassimilate them into the whole person I ambecoming.

I’m not the only veteran of the Iraq War whohas returned to campus after time in thedesert. We join a long line of Mountaineerswho have served our country. We comehome to WVU valuing our education, ourfreedom, and our opportunities more thanwe ever dreamed possible.

by Michael Alden Winser

For most, after serving in the military in Iraq, just getting back alivewould be a gift in itself. Jeff Genda returned home to another gift: theLloyd R. Gribble Award. While serving in Iraq, Genda was selected byAlpha Epsilon Delta, the pre-med honorary, to receive the $2000 awardfor 2005-06.

A Staff Sergeant in the Air National Guard, Genda was deployed inSeptember of 2005 and served as a Flight Medic at Balad Airbase inNorthern Iraq. Only forty-two miles north of Baghdad, Balad is one ofthe largest airbases in Iraq. While there, he received word that he hadbeen selected for the Gribble Award but he could not receive his awarduntil February, when he finally returned to WVU.

Alpha Epsilon Delta annually presents the Lloyd R. Gribble Award tooutstanding undergraduate students who have completed 70 or morehours of course work and who plan to seek entrance into medical, den-tal, or optometry school.

A senior Chemistry/Biochemistry double major on the pre-med track,Genda is also a Resident Assistant (RA) at Pierpont Apartments and hasbeen with the RA program for 4 years. He will graduate this spring andhas put the $2000 toward books and also into his savings for medicalschool.

“It’s a big honor to receive such an award and I am very thankful to havesome financial support to help with medical school costs,” he said.

Page 18: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Social Work Scholarships Enable Service to West VirginiaSSince the 1960 Kennedy campaign, the precarious nature of life

for some West Virginians has been well-documented. There aremany ways to assist those in need, but one of the best ways is byproviding social services. West Virginia needs social workers todo this, and Betty Barrett is helping to make that happen.Barrett’s enthusiasm for community development and for thewelfare of the state led her to establish a scholarship for studentsin the School of Applied Social Sciences, housed in the EberlyCollege of Arts and Sciences.

“My passion is community development, especially the relatedissues of poverty, housing, economic development andeducation,” Barrett said in a 2001 testimonial. “That is why myhusband and I endowed a scholarship.”

Barrett and her husband Eddie established the BarrettCommunity Development Scholars Fund in 2001 to providescholarship funds to graduate students in fields within the School

of Applied Social Sciences. The Huntington residents wanted tosupport individuals who will work with West Virginiacommunities to improve the quality of life for citizens.

“By creating this endowed scholarship, the Barretts havedemonstrated their commitment to community development inWest Virginia. The scholarship gives the Division of Social Workthe opportunity to recognize students who have the potential tobe a positive force at the community level,” said Ginny Majewski,Chair of the Division of Social Work.

This year’s recipient is unique in that she is enrolled in the off-campus MSW program in Martinsburg. "I am very honored tohave been selected as a scholarship recipient,” Alicia Moreno Billysaid. “Every little bit helps financially. This scholarship hashelped me be accountable to people who really care aboutcommunity organizing in West Virginia communities. I want tomake the Barretts proud,” she smiled.

by Sarah Braswell

This gentleman and his wife have run a fruit stand in Philippi,WestVirginia for several years. Prior to this,he worked on the railroad for many years, where he earned his living splitting chestnut trees into rails.Photography by Neal Newfield, Associate Professor of Social Work

Arts & Sciences | 16 | Fall 2006

Page 19: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Betty Barrett’s contributions to the community have been recognized by severalorganizations. In April 2006, she was selected for induction into the First AnnualWest Virginia Affordable Housing Hall of Fame. She was the first “Tri-State Citizenof the Year,” is a former Huntington City Council member, and has been director ofthe West Virginia Education Alliance and West Virginia Kids Count. She has alsobeen named “Citizen of the Year” by the Huntington Herald-Dispatch.

Part of the reason Barrett wanted to establish a scholarship at WVU is because of theunique approach the School of Applied Social Sciences takes to the study ofcommunity development and social work. “I know that community development isnot a one-person or one discipline activity,” she said. “It requires many people usinga collaborative approach. This School includes social work, public administrationand sociology— a natural partnership.”

Betty and Eddie Barrett encourage other alumni to contribute to any of theprograms at West Virginia University. “For most of us, West Virginia University wasthe turning point in our lives. And, how can I leave my imprint on this institution?You can set up an endowment to benefit your particular areas of interest,” said EddieBarrett during the Building Greatness campaign.

Betty Barrett has high hopes for the future of the student recipients of thescholarship. “I like the prospect of Barrett Community Development Scholarscoming to communities across the state with skills in all these areas, to work withand build organizations to improve health and welfare where they live. They willhave the potential to expand what I do across the state and carry on when I am nolonger here. This is a kind of legacy Ed and I want to give to our state throughpartnership with West Virginia University.”

Her style is unique. Her words, undeniably

intriguing. Her talent— unmistakable. It is the

combination of all three that has catapulted her to

success in the poetry world.

Kristin Abraham graduated from the Eberly College

in May 2006 with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree

in poetry and is quickly gaining recognition as one of

the nation’s most gifted emerging poets.

Abraham’s poem, “Little Red Riding Hood Missed

the Bus,” was selected for inclusion in Best New Poets

2005, an anthology that includes poetry by fifty up-

and-coming writers. She also won the 2005 Elixir

Press Chapbook Competition for her manuscript

Orange Reminds You of Listening, and her novella

manuscript “Cog” was a semifinalist in the 2005

Bullfight Little Book Prize. Abraham’s poetry, along

with her lyrical and critical essays, can be found in

several prominent journals, including The Journal,

Delmar, Harpur Palate, Elixir, and Phoebe.

She credits the diverse offerings of the MFA program

with helping her to expand her skills. “The WVU

MFA Program isn’t just a creative writing program; it

allowed me to become a well-rounded degree holder:

not only did I take writing classes and meet

wonderful teachers and peers in my field, I also took

literature and teaching classes, which gave me the

chance to work with excellent professors and

colleagues outside of the creative writers. In the end,

my entire experience at WVU has contributed to my

writing achievements and my dedication to my

profession.”

Perhaps Abraham will have the opportunity to give

back to others what she has gained from her

experience at WVU —she recently accepted a

position as an assistant professor of English at Adrian

College in Adrian, Michigan.

“Kristin is a wonderful young poet and was a real

force in our MFA program,” said Mary Ann Samyn,

an assistant professor of English who directed

Abraham’s Master’s thesis. Samyn, herself a published

poet, believes that Kristin’s journey into the poetic

and academic worlds is just beginning. “I expect we’ll

continue to hear good things about Kristin.”

KristinAbraham

Poetry,Publishing,and Professorship

This West Virginia resident’s house was condemned anddeemed unfit to be inhabited. She was required to haveit repaired in order to raise her children there.

Arts & Sciences | 17 | Fall 2006

Page 20: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Libby Chitwood Appel’s latest book, Dancing with GIs, isgarnering excellent reviews and selling well. A memoir of herexperiences as a Red Cross volunteer during World War II inWashington, D.C., India, and Pakistan, the volume is available forpurchase at amazon.com. Libby is a 1934 graduate of the EberlyCollege and the daughter of well-known history professor OliverP. Chitwood.

Andy Richardson of Charleston WV, Vice President forNational Development and Administrative Services for AcordiaEmployers Service, is the newest member of the Eberly CollegeAdvisory Board. He was the first Commissioner of the WVBureau of Employment Programs, responsible for administeringthe state job service system, job training programs,unemployment compensation system, and workers'compensation system. During his tenure as Commissioner, thestate Workers' Compensation Fund received its first clean auditopinion in the program's 80-year history, establishing thegroundwork that has led to privatization of the system. Andyholds a BA in political science from the Eberly College and a JDfrom the WVU College of Law. He has served as an assistantprosecutor, staff counsel and acting commissioner of the WVDepartment of Employment Security, in private practice, and asan executive with McDonough Caperton Insurance Group. Heis a former member and finance chair of the South CharlestonCity Council. Andy is active in a number of communityprograms, including WVU, his church, the Boy Scouts of America,and Leadership West Virginia. He is the father of two sons,Chris, a junior at WVU, and Coleman, a sophomore at WestVirginia State University.

Gerald Pops, professor of Public Administration, has receivedoutside financial support and a sabbatical from WVU to write abiography of General George C. Marshall, a native of UniontownPA. “Public service lacks heroes,” Pops noted, “and Marshall isone of the profession’s best heroes.”

Arts & Sciences | 18 | Fall 2006

The eight students who received the 2006 Order of Augusta,WVU’s highest academic honor for undergraduates, included fivefrom the Eberly College: Jennifer Audia of Salem WV (politicalscience); Daniel Carrier of Morgantown WV (chemistry);Christopher Deskins of Pineville WV (biology); John Estep ofSistersville WV (political science) and Johannes Herber ofDarmstadt, Germany (political science). The Order of Augusta wasestablished by the WVU Foundation in 1995 to recognize a highlyselect group of students based on their superior scholarship,demonstrated leadership, and record of community and publicservice. Each student received a medallion and each name will beengraved on a plaque at WVU’s Scholars Walk, in front of the WiseLibrary on the Downtown campus.

Marshall S. Miller, founder and owner of one of the nation’sleading engineering and geological consulting firms, Marshall Millerand Associates, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Sciencedegree during WVU commencement activities in May 2006. Millerholds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from the EberlyCollege and serves on the College Advisory Board. StuartRobbins and Vaughn Kiger, alumni of the Department ofHistory, were inducted into the Order of Vandalia duringcommencement weekend as well. Robbins is retired managingdirector of global equities for Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, aleading Wall Street investment firm. Kiger is a long-timeMorgantown businessman who has served WVU in manycapacities. The Order of Vandalia is reserved for those who havedemonstrated extraordinary service, loyalty, and dedication toWVU.

Three Eberly College professors were among the five selected forthis year’s WVU Foundation Outstanding Teacher Awards:Katherine Aaslestad, associate professor of history; AaronGale, associate professor of religious studies; and Hong-Jian Lai,professor of mathematics. Each award winner received a $2,500honorarium or a $5,000 U.S. savings bond from the WVUFoundation.

EBERLY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

CollegeAround the

Page 21: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

A new limited-edition book documents the history andsignificance of the WVU “Peace Tree,” which was first plantedby the Native American Studies Program between WoodburnCircle and E. Moore Hall in 1992. The Peace Tree representsthe Great Tree of Peace planted in Onondaga NY about 1,000years ago, to symbolize the peace achieved among the warringSeneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk Nations. Thebook, White Pine Spirit of Peace: The WVU Peace Tree, is availablefrom University Librarian Anna Schein, who edited thework, at 304-293-4040 ext 4065 or Betty Matlick, WVUBookstores, at 304-293-7464.

Dean Mary Ellen Mazey has announced the appointment oftwo department chairs and a program director in the EberlyCollege. Dr. Melissa Latimer is the new Chair of theDivision of Sociology and Anthropology and Dr. DonaldHall is the new Chair of Foreign Languages. Dr. SuzanneBell is the new director of the Forensic and InvestigativeScience Program.

A number of persons affiliated with the Eberly College havebeen appointed to the 17-person search committee that willhelp select WVU’s next president. Committee membersinclude Dean Mary Ellen Mazey; current studentsElizabeth Belch, a senior from Uniontown PA who ismajoring in international studies and political science andserves as vice president of the WVU Student Governmentand Meg Bulger, Pittsburgh PA, a senior majoring inmultidisciplinary studies; Eberly College alumni WV CircuitCourt Judge Irene Berger, Dr. James Brick, Dr. ThomasClark, Ron Justice, Terry Nebel, and Robert Wells.Clark and Wells are members of the WVU Board ofGovernors. Brick is chair and professor of medicine at WVU.Nebel is Chair of the WVU Staff Council. Justice is mayor ofMorgantown and assistant dean of students at WVU.

Jacki Englehardt is the new Coordinator of Professionaland Community Education in the Division of Social Work.She brings extensive practical experience to the position,having spent the last 6 years as Director of the Scott’s RunSettlement House in Osage, and, for the 7 previous years, as asocial worker with Morgantown’s Health Right.

Arts & Sciences | 19 | Fall 2006

Dr. Barbara Howe, director of the Center for Women'sStudies in the Eberly College, was elected president of theNational Women's Studies Association. Howe will serve atwo-year term, during which she hopes to promote diversityand open leadership roles to new members within theorganization.

A team of Morgantown-area middle schoolers coached byPhysics Department Chair Earl Scime and PhysicsDepartment electronics technician Phil Tucker placed thirdin the Technical Robot Programming portion of the FIRSTLEGO League World Festival at the Georgia Dome in Atlantain April. The event featured 50 teams from across the U.S.and 30 teams from other nations, including China, Australia,Mexico, and Italy. The Morgantown Roboteers were also oneof 10 teams to receive the Gracious Professionalism Awardfor displaying exceptional conduct and sportsmanship.

Dr. Thomas H. Myers, professor of physics and co-directorof the WV Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and EducationInitiative (WVNano), is one of this year’s two recipients ofthe Robert C. Byrd Professorship Awards. Funded throughthe WVU Research Corporation, the Byrd Professorshipsacknowledge outstanding professional accomplishments andleadership among WVU faculty. Myers was previouslyrecognized by the Eberly College for his significant researchcontributions in the field of gallium nitride films and hasreceived outstanding teaching awards from both the EberlyCollege and the WVU Foundation. He recently returned toMorgantown after spending a sabbatical at the University ofCanterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he wasawarded a Visiting Erskine Fellowship.

Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Myers in New Zealand.

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Arts & Sciences | 20 | Fall 2006

Tammy Carrico, Tom Milam, and Diana Hammackare the recipients of this year’s Eberly College OutstandingStaff Awards. Carrico, administrative associate in theDepartment of Psychology, received this year’s award in theProfessional category. Carrico was nominated by ten facultymembers in the Department of Psychology for herprofessionalism, positive attitude, dedication, anddependability. “Tammy gracefully juggles a complex andever-changing set of challenges with consistently excellentresults,” said Dr. Michael Perone, Chair of the Departmentof Psychology. Senior Laboratory Instrument SpecialistTom Milam is known by Physics students and faculty as theDepartment’s “do-it-all” handy man. The recipient of theaward in the Technical category, Milam helps to designprojects and to repair equipment in the Department ofPhysics, as well as other Eberly College departments,including biology and psychology. “What sets Tom apart ishis willingness to work with faculty and students when theymake requests for projects to be completed,” said PhysicsChair Earl Scime. Hammack, Accounting Clerk in theDepartment of Biology, is the recipient of the award in theClerical category. “Diana can be counted upon to dowhatever needs to be done,” said Marlene DeWitt,administrative associate in the Department of Biology

Dr. James N. Shafer, retired professor of psychology,passed away in late August. Shafer taught at WVU from1953 to 1993. “Jim was a leader in the development of thedepartment’s master’s and doctoral programs,” said thecurrent chair of psychology, Michael Perone. “He directedthe Ph.D. program in experimental psychology and was aninfluential teacher at both the graduate and undergraduatelevels.” A native of Ohio, Shafer held a Ph.D. from OhioState University, and was a veteran of World War II.

Beverly Shumaker and members of the Campus Club aregathering information and photographs for a book about the club,which will observe its 100th anniversary in 2012. The CampusClub is thought to be among the oldest nonstudent organizationsat WVU. Contributions can be sent [email protected].

Several distinguished faculty members retired from the EberlyCollege this year. James B. “Doc” Whisker, professor ofpolitical science, retired in January after 38 years of service.Political Science chair Joe Hagan commented that “Students andalumni are devoted to what and how [Whisker] teaches.”Thomas H. Miles, professor of English, retired in May after 29years. “Since 1976, his first year at WVU, Tom Miles served theEnglish Department through on-line teaching innovations and aseries of important administrative positions, beginning asCoordinator of the Undergraduate Writing Program for 8 years,followed by an appointment as Supervisor of Scientific andTechnical Writing, a post he held for 16 years,” reported EnglishDepartment chair Timothy Dow Adams. The HistoryDepartment lost two key faculty members to retirement thisyear. “A specialist in early American political history andbiography, Mary Lou Lustig was only the second female facultymember to be promoted to the rank of Professor in the historyof our department. Her contributions to the department’sgraduate program were particularly noteworthy,” History ChairRobert Blobaum stated, “and Stephen McCluskey was apioneer in bringing computer technology to the HistoryDepartment, the Eberly College and West Virginia. His bookAstronomies and Cultures in Early Medieval Europe, publishedoriginally by Cambridge University Press in 1998, also appeared inpaperback and remains very highly regarded by the profession.”Of retiring Statistics Professor Dan Chilko, department chair JimHarner said, “Dan Chilko willingly and enthusiastically assistsstudents and faculty in solving difficult statistical computingproblems using his expansive knowledge of SAS and JMP.”

Tammy Carrico, Tom Milam, and Diana Hammack

CollegeAround the

continued

Page 23: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Arts & Sciences | 21 | Fall 2006

FundingFutureWVU

theof

BOOKSby Eberly College faculty members published in 2005-2006:

Katherine Aaslestad, associate professor of history, Local Identity, Civic Culture,and German Nationalism in North Germany during the Revolutionary Era (Brill,2005).

Theodore A. Avtgis, associate professor of communication studies, and A. S.Rancer, Argumentative and Aggressive Communication: Theory, Research andApplication (Sage, 2006).

Robert Blobaum, ed., Eberly Family Professor and chair of history, Antisemitismand its Opponents in Modern Poland (Cornell University Press, 2005).

Melanie Booth-Butterfield, professor of communication studies, InfluentialHealth Communication (Allyn and Bacon, 2006).

Mark Brazaitis, assistant professor of English, An American Affair, winner of the2004 George Garrett Prize in Short Fiction, (Texas Review Press, 2005).

Jonathan Burton, associate professor of English, Traffic and Turning: Islam andEnglish Drama, 1579-1624 (University of Delaware Press, 2005).

Cynthia Chalupa, assistant professor of foreign languages, Gearing Up in theTwenty-First Century: An Instructor’s Guide to Teaching German TV and MediaLiteracy (American Association of Teachers of German/Goethe Institut, 2005).

Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, professor of history, Waves of Opposition: Labor and theStruggle for Democratic Media (University of Illinois Press, 2006).

Kenneth Fones-Wolf, professor of history, Glass Towns: Industry, Labor, andPolitical Economy in Appalachia (University of Illinois Press, 2006).

Aaron Gale, associate professor and coordinator of the Religious StudiesProgram, Redefining Ancient Borders (Continuum Press, 2005).

Julie Hicks-Patrick, associate professor of psychology, and B. Hayslip, CustodialGrandparenting: Individual, Cultural, and Ethnic Diversity (Springer, 2005).

Kevin T. Larkin, professor of psychology, Stress and Hypertension: Examining theRelation between Psychological Stress and High Blood Pressure (Yale UniversityPress, 2005).

Nancy Lohmann, professor of social work and Roger Lohmann, professor ofsocial work, eds., Rural Social Work Practice (Columbia University Press, 2005).

Steven Zdatny, associate professor of history, Fashion, Work, and Politics inModern France (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).

The paid-up life insurance policy you purchased

years ago for an important purpose may now be

a tax-wise way to help the Eberly College of Arts

and Sciences carry out a special goal you have in

mind. Whether you’ve wanted to create a

scholarship, faculty support fund, library

resources, facility improvement fund, or

something else to benefit the College, a paid-up

policy can help you accomplish that.

It’s easy to do. Simply secure a “change of

owner” form from the insurance company’s

agent and fill it out. To help the Eberly College,

you’ll make the West Virginia University

Foundation, Inc. the new policy owner. The

Foundation staff at 1-800-847-3856 can help

you with other details of making this gift. Be

sure to mention that the gift is intended to

benefit the Eberly College, and a written

agreement listing the specific terms of your gift

can be prepared.

Donating a paid-up policy will provide a

current income tax deduction for you. The

Foundation staff can also secure the right forms

to establish that.

Another source for such a gift may be an

employment-related policy. If your employer

provides permanent life insurance which

continues after you retire, you may name the

WVU Foundation, Inc. as its beneficiary. Once

you’ve done that, a written agreement about

your gift fund is also appropriate to assure that

the policy’s proceeds will aid the Eberly College

in the way you feel is important to its future.

Truly, a life insurance policy can help carry out

your dream for the Eberly College – and we

appreciate that so much!

Page 24: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Arts & Sciences | 22 | Fall 2006

WWhat do these people have in common?• A Pittsburgh attorney who is one of the nation’s leading

experts on insurance law

• An award-winning children’s author whose books are set inrural West Virginia

• A justice on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals

• The president of the National League of Women Voters

• A Virginia Congressman

All these people hold degrees from the Eberly College of Artsand Sciences at WVU, but they also share something more:they are past recipients of the Eberly College AlumniRecognition Award. Beginning with West Virginia PoetLaureate Irene McKinney in 1999, the College hasacknowledged 29 of its most distinguished graduates with thishonor.

“The award was established to bring to the attention of theWVU campus, the community, and the nation the value andimportance of an arts and sciences education,” said DeanMary Ellen Mazey, herself an award winner during her tenureas dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Wright StateUniversity. “We want to honor alumni whose lives reflect thecommitment and excitement which broadly-educated artsand sciences graduates bring to their civic leadership, socialwelfare activities, professional or business life, intellectualpursuits, and cultural pursuits.”

The Eberly College Alumni Recognition Award is intended tocelebrate living college alumni, regardless of major or degreelevel, who are making important contributions to theircommunity or profession, who demonstrate the value oflifelong learning, and whose lives, in one way or another,reflect the value and diversity of a liberal arts and scienceseducation. Recipients demonstrate the full development of aperson as an individual and a member of society, theimportance of knowledge and truth-seeking as characteristicsof the educated citizen, and the nurturing of self-appraisal,open-mindedness, respect for others, service to others, and anunderstanding of one’s ethical obligations.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Eberly College AlumniRecognition Award,” said Peter J. Kalis, that Pittsburghattorney listed above. "My fondness for WVU and the Eberly

College of Arts andSciences is exceededonly by myappreciation for whatthey have meant inmy life.” Kalis,WVU’s 17th RhodesScholar and formerstudent bodypresident, is theChairman andManaging Partner ofKirkpatrick &Lockhart NicholsonGraham LLP and wasselected by his peers

for inclusion in The World's Leading Insurance andReinsurance Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, andLawdragon Magazine’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America.”

The other award-winning alumni mentioned above areCheryl Ware, Larry V. Starcher, Rebecca C. Cain, and G.William Whitehurst. Ware is the author of four delightfulchildren’s books, three of which are set in Belington WV. Herwork has been judged as outstanding by the Junior LibraryGuild and has appeared on amazon.com’s top 20 list of bestnew books for older readers. Justice Larry V. Starcher hastwice served terms as Chief Justice of the WV Supreme Courtof Appeals. At the completion of his current term, in 2008, hewill have served 32 years as an elected judicial official in WestVirginia. Rebecca Cain served three terms as president of theNational League of Women Voters, during which she led thesuccessful push for the National Voter Registration Act or“Motor Voter Act.”

Congressman Whitehurst, currently the Kaufman Lecturer inPublic Affairs at Old Dominion University, said that “My 18years in the U.S. House of Representatives saw me betterprepared for the responsibilities of office as a result of myPh.D. in history from WVU. Perhaps the finest complimentthat I received came from several European parliamentarianswith whom I served as delegates to the North AtlanticAssembly. They told me that I was the only American delegatewho 'thought like a European.' For that West VirginiaUniversity can claim at least partial credit.”

Recognizing AlumniAchievement

by Jane Donovan

Peter J. Kalis

Page 25: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Arts & Sciences | 23 | Fall 2006

A full list of past recipients is available on-line athttp://www.as.wvu.edu/newroot/alumni/year.html.

If you know someone who might qualify, please send in anomination. A nomination should include the name andaddress of the nominee and a statement of one or twopages explaining why that person should be recognized.Appropriate supporting material will be welcomed. TheOffice of the Dean, in consultation with the Dean’sAdvisory Committee (a standing committee of Collegefaculty), will recommend candidates to the EberlyCollege Advisory Board. The Board will approverecommendations at its regular meetings. Nominationforms are available on-line athttp://www.as.wvu.edu/New_Folder/alumni/awards/nominationform.html

“It’s simply about recognizing excellence.

The Eberly College has alumni who have

accomplished extraordinary things and

provided extraordinary service to the state,

the nation, and the world.”

—Dean Mazey

Funding NeedsAs the year draws to a close and you’reconsidering a gift for the Eberly College, pleasekeep in mind these specific needs:

WVU Debate Team

Calliope, WVU’s student literary magazine

Tomchin Planetarium

WVU Press

College-wide named Professorships

Program funds for Ethics Day

WVU Writing Center

Formore information, please contact Dr. Rudolph P. Almasy at 304-293-4611 [email protected]

CALLING ALL DEBATERS!We’re trying to identify former members

of the WVU Debate Team. If you were

ever on the Debate Team at WVU, please

contact Dr. Rudolph P. Almasy at

[email protected] or

304-293-4611.

Books of AlumniRecognition AwardeeCheryl Ware

Page 26: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Arts & Sciences | 24 | Fall 2006

With WVU Mountaineers everywhere, I cheered for ourfootball team during the Sugar Bowl. It’s just that in my case,it was from my office and it was already Tuesday morning onmy side of the world. I work at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul,South Korea, and I am grateful that the Armed Forces Networkmade it possible for me to participate in that thrilling gamefeaturing my alma mater.

I’m a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department ofState. I graduated from WVU’s College of Arts and Sciences in1993, went to graduate school for one year, and joined theState Department in June 1994. Over the course of the pasttwelve years, I’ve lived and worked in four countries(Macedonia, Colombia, Slovakia, and now Korea), visitedmany more, and can now speak Spanish, Slovak, and asmattering of Korean.

Probably the question I am asked most often about life in theForeign Service is, “Don’t you miss your home?” Not only didI graduate from WVU, I’m a native West Virginian, born andraised in Martinsburg, and sometimes I do miss my homestate. I miss the beautiful colors of leaves in the autumn, andseeing Woodburn Hall decorated with lights in the winter, andreally good biscuits with sausage gravy. But then I think abouteverything I’ve done since graduating WVU! I’ve walkedaround Machu Picchu at dawn, sunbathed on an almost-empty beach in Greece, and visited the largest seated outdoorBuddha in the world. I’ve seen opera in Vienna and soccer inSkopje and baseball in Seoul. And about once a year, I do getto come home and reacquaint myself with life in the U.S. andmy hometown.

The second-most frequent question is “Don’t you get tired ofmoving?” To be quite honest, yes, every time I move into anew home and see the giant pile of boxes that needs to beunpacked, I mutter something under my breath about howthis is positively the last time I am going to move! But then it

gets close to the end of my tour, and it’s time to look for a newassignment, and I see a world map with so many unexploredplaces . . . and I fall in love with my career all over again.

My particular specialty within the Foreign Service is consularwork, which I’ve been doing for all but two years of my career.Consular officers assist American citizens with routine(passport renewal) and non-routine (prison visits) services.We also process visa applications for both intendingimmigrants and people who plan short stays in the UnitedStates for tourism or business or study. Occasionally I’ ll see astudent applying for a visa to study at WVU, and I’mreminded of how interconnected our world is.

Keeping in touch with WVU isn’t always easy when you live farfrom Morgantown. When I was posted to Washington D.C.,from 1999-2002, I could travel to University events andfootball games and feel that sense of connection with WVU. Ieven gave a presentation to a group of freshmen majoring inPolitical Science about the joys and challenges of the ForeignService. Now that I’m back overseas, my dad – also a WVUalumnus – keeps me in touch during our weekly phone calls bypassing along news from his trips to Morgantown. I drinkcoffee every morning from a WVU mug, keep a WVU notepadon my desk, and have a WVU plaque on my wall at home. Inever pass up an opportunity to recruit a high school studentwho is undecided about his or her choice of college – whatbetter place to study than a world-class university in abeautiful setting with excellent professors? I am truly indebtedto the professors who made such a difference in my life – Dr.Hammock, Dr. Hagan and Dr. Brisbin in the Political ScienceDepartment and my Russian professor, Dr. Bendena – and Iwant other students to have that same experience.

I hope other WVU grads will join me in the Foreign Service.You don’t need to have a Political Science or InternationalRelations degree – any background is welcome. You don’t haveto join straight out of college or graduate school – the averageage of a new Foreign Service class is around 30, and officersbring diverse work and life experiences to the StateDepartment. If you have a sense of adventure, a strong desireto serve the United States, a willingness to live in sometimesdifficult conditions, and an interest in how U.S. foreign policyis made and carried out, then you have everything you need –that and the knowledge that your time at WVU has preparedyou for any challenge anywhere in the world.

Dispatches from the Diaspora is an occasional column written by WVU alumni who areliving outside the boundaries of West Virginia, but who remain committed to WVU and theEberly College and find creative and thoughtful ways to stay connected.

Adventure and Servicein Seoul

Dispatches from the Diaspora

by Daria Darnell

Page 27: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

It comes out like a confession: I was once aballet dancer.

When I was young, my parents took me toa Japanese steak house. I was surprised anddelighted by the chef, who sliced our meatright in front of us in swift, sure strokes. Iremember the glint of the knives as heworked, the steak thinned and thensizzling. There was something energetic,almost manic to the whole thing, dinnermade into a spectacle.

It may seem strange to remember – a nightout to eat – when recalling my past as aballet dancer. But I was the kind of dancerthat was like the chef wielding the knives,my legs fast and sure as they cleaved the airinto thin, precise slices. One of my oldinstructors called me “Fancy Feet” as Itossed myself into a combination of quickjumps and clean beats. Sissone—likescissors snipping across the studio floor.The brisk glissade assemblé. This was thelanguage of the petite allegro, my favoritepart of my daily ballet classes.

Ballet begins very young, and I had spentmy elementary, middle school and highschool years in a studio lined with mirrorsand barres. It wasn’t easy to train as adancer; hours of keeping up schoolworkwere followed by greater effort every day inballet classes and rehearsals. But as a dancerI had this one convenience – I definedmyself within the world of classical ballet.When I was stressed, there was technique,when I was happy there was the soaringfeeling of a grand jété, a split in the air anda few seconds of flight.

I don’t dance anymore because I can’t.Shortly into my career as a ballet dancer, Iwas diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.It felt like all those years of intensity hadled to nothing. When I couldn’t danceanymore, it wasn’t just losing the steps; itwas the loss of an entire identity.

I found myself searching for what I mightwant to do next. I explored: science,psychology, history, languages, anything

new. One such class was an introductorycourse in creative writing. Over a semester,I found in words the same drive that I didin ballet’s steps. There was the desire toexpress something just the right way, topractice how sentences worked and rolledtogether into paragraphs, how thosebecame thoughts and images on a page.Characters arced and swelled, coming tolife and establishing voices.

I have to be honest. Those early stories aresometimes painful to reread, but in themwas a glimmer of hope, the promise thatthe writer might develop. Like dancing,writing requires years of practice, ofexposure to teachers and workshops andtechnique. I had to be willing to come to itevery day, just like in the studio. Progressis slow. To be a dancer or a writer, youmust be a person who lovesthe process of those art forms,the kind of person who canfocus on the tiniest of detailsand still step back and see thework as a whole.

Dancing has rhythm andlyricism. As I continued tostudy writing, I saw thatwords on a page have arhythm too. Stories and essaysare more than just forms.They are constructed withpatterns and words, creating ashape. It may sound dauntingand it is, just like learning the“Rose Adagio” for SleepingBeauty is a lesson in patience,artistry, authority, and grace,but when you get it, when itworks, there is nothing likethat feeling.

I came to WVU to work on aMFA and to seek out mentors.As a dancer, I was alwayslooking for the best teachersand coaches, spending mysummers at various companyschools where I could train

and progress. I came here with a similargoal: to develop a different art.

I say it like a secret: I am a writer.

It’s been more than ten years since I’vebeen on the stage, but since I’ve been inthe MFA program at WVU, the stories ofmy past life have emerged. They aresometimes dark or sad or tinged withregret, but always they are filled withredemption. When I write, I have thechance to remember that world ofmovement, and to feel again the littleglint between sharp knives that really aremy feet, carving a combination of leapsacross a studio floor. On the page, I amalways a ballerina, yet always a writer, too.

Arts & Sciences | 25 | Fall 2006

A Student’s Eye View:

CONFESSIONS OF AN MFA STUDENTby Renee Nicholson

Renee Nicholson is an MFA studentfrom Columbus, Ohio.

Page 28: Eberly College of Arts & Sciences: Fall 2006

Nonprofit OrganizationUS Postage PAID

Morgantown, WV 26506Permit No. 34

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences201 Woodburn HallWest Virginia UniversityPO Box 6286Morgantown, WV 26506-6286

Change Service Requested

Keeping Your Mouth Shut?Are you thinking of including West Virginia University’s Eberly College in your will? Perhaps you already have. Well, read on!

Research on philanthropy indicates that almost 70% of bequest donors do NOT notify the charitable beneficiary of theirintended gift. Perhaps there are good reasons for not sharing such information. But there are certain things to consider.

First, the language of a bequest is important so that the gift actually does what the donor wants it to do. The language WestVirginia University encourages you to use for a gift to the Eberly College goes something like this: I bequeath X to the WVUFoundation, Inc. for the benefit of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences for Y purpose. So if you are one of the 70%, pleasedouble check the language.

Second, you might want to work on an agreement now with the Eberly College which will determine how your bequest will beadministered. Together we would determine the name of the fund and the restrictions you prefer. An agreement also enablesyou to include information on yourself as the donor and why you have made the decision to support WVU this way. Forexample, if you intend to create a scholarship, we believe future scholarship recipients should know something about you andyour relationship to WVU. After all, they are probably following in your footsteps.

Third, notifying us now enables us to extend a sincere invitation for you to join the Irvin Stewart Society. Membership in thissociety sends a strong message to others to consider supporting their alma mater as you are doing. The Irvin Stewart Societyalso gives you a special connection to WVU.

If you have a bequest coming to WVU, don’t be in the silent 70%. Notify the WVU Foundation or Associate Dean RudolphAlmasy ([email protected] or 304-293-4611). Everyone benefits that way. Dr. Almasy is eager to hear from you.