Faculty & Staff Notes


  • Art

    Robert Boryk, assistant professor of art and ceramics studio technician, displayed his work at Sculpted and Small at the Clay Center of New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana, and at the Eighth Annual Workhouse Clay International, at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Va.

    Monika Malewska, professor of art, was invited to give a presentation on “Aesthetics of Connections: Eclecticism and Playing with Convention as well as Identifying Traditional Elements in Contemporary Japanese Art” at The Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw, Poland.

    Gordon Stillman, assistant professor of art, was invited to participate in the Vermont Studio Center Residency program. He also published Dialectics of Seeing and Sardines.

  • Politics

    Lauren Bowen, provost and professor of politics, presented “Revising General Education: Lessons Learned” to the Annapolis Group Deans at their June 2018 annual meeting.

  • Communication

    Lynn Cockett, professor of communication, gave talks on “Student-Focused Teaching in the Liberal Arts” and “Language, Identity, and Critical Race Theory” at Shih Chien University in Taipei, Taiwan.

  • Education

    Kathleen Biddle, professor of education, accepted an invitation to join the editorial board of the Journal of Social Neuroscience.

    Kathy Jones, professor of education, was the recipient of the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association’s Honor Roll of Fellows Award.

  • Mathematics

    John Bukowski, professor of mathematics, coauthored an article, “Van der Pol’s Tablecloth,” which was published in Math Horizons magazine. The article deals with a piece of linen with a mathematical pattern woven into it.

    Kim Roth, professor of mathematics, earned the Math and the Microbiome Innovation Award for Organization of Inter- kingdom Microbial Communities from the Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State. She also published “The Grieving Mathematician and Mother” in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics.

  • Peace & Conflict Studies
    Poly Walker PACS

    Polly Walker, director of the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and associate professor of peace and conflict studies, presented a paper on “IMPACT: Designing a Global Infrastructure for Arts, Culture, and Conflict Transformation” at the 2018 Peace and Justice Conference in Philadelphia.

    Jody Althouse, director of violence prevention, Dan Cook-Huffman, associate dean of students and TITLE IX coordinator, and Matthew Damschroder, vice president for student life and dean of students, contributed to the “Pennslvania Attorney General’s 2018 Campus Safety Recommendations.” The trio also served on the EVERFI Customer Advisory Board at the Campus Prevention Network Summit in New Orleans. Althouse presented “Juniata College: Lessons Learned from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women Grant Process” at the Department of Justice Technical Training Institute in Fort Worth, Texas. She also facilitated an interactive, day-long workshop for Blair County court staff on serving with bias-free behavior and being an ally for the LGBTQ+ community.

    Celia Cook-Huffman, W. Clay and Kathryn Burkholder Professor of Conflict Resolution, presented “Identity Matters: Social Identity and Social Change” at Menno Simons College in Winnepeg, Canada.

  • International Education

    Jonathan Burns, instructor in international studies, Isaac Fisher ’19, and Hunter Winters ’21 hosted 25 combat veterans from Team Rubicon in an archaeological field session at Fort Ligonier, involving them in the process of excavation for therapy and education.

  • German and International Studies

    Judith Benz, associate professor of German and international studies, Amy Frazier-Yoder, associate professor of Spanish, and Deb Roney, assistant professor of English and director of Language in Motion, published “K-16 Educational Collaborations Expand the World for Students” in The Language Educator and “A Model for Attracting Students to College-level Language Study: Juniata’s Community- engaged Collaborations” in Pennsylvania Language Forum.

  • French and International Studies

    Michael Henderson, associate professor of French and international studies, published “Eros and Thanatos: Same-Sex desire in Julie Maroh’s Blue is the Warmest Color” at an international conference focusing on objects of desire at the Catholic University in Lille, France.

  • Chemistry

    Peter Baran, professor of chemistry, published “Structural and Magnetic Susceptibility Study of an Octanuclear MnIII-oxo-pyrazolido Complex” in Polyhedron and “Synthesis, Structures, and Biological Activity of Copper(II) and Zinc(II) Schiff Base Complexes Derived from Aminocyclohexane-1-carboxylic Acid: New Type of Geometrical Isomerism in Polynuclear Complexes” in Inorganica Chimica Acta.

    Ursula Williams, assistant professor of chemistry, published an op-ed on teaching and the Flint water crisis in The Hechinger Report.

  • Career Development

    Darwin Kysor, director of career development, copresented “Enhancing Student Employment Programs with NACE’s Career Readiness Skills” and “Conducting an Internal Audit or External Review of Career Services–Two Different Approaches” at the annual Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Employers Conference.

  • Management

    Burak Cem Konduk, assistant professor of management, published “Cognitive Foundations of Competitive Advantage Through Pricing” in Behavioral Strategy for Competitive Advantage.

  • Spanish

    Holly Hayer, associate professor of Spanish, presented “We Can Do It: Steps Toward Greater Departmental Collaboration and Program Effectiveness with Can-do Statements” at the 2018 Spring Methodology Conference on Foreign Language Teaching.

  • Biological Research

    Chris Grant,b> assistant professor of biological research, coauthored journal articles on the impacts of fracking in Environmental Science and Technology and Frontiers in Microbiology.

  • Biological Scieneces

    Gina Lamendella, Valko Professor of Biological Sciences, published “HFE Genotype Restricts the Response to Paraquat in Mouse Model of Neurotoxicity” in the Journal of Neurochemistry and “Natural Attraction of Nonionic Surfacants Used in Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids: Degradation Ranges, Pathways, and Mechanisms” in Environmental Science and Technology. Both articles were co-authored by alumnus Justin Wright ’14.

  • Biology

    Vince Buonaccorsi, professor of biology, earned a National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network Undergraduate Biology Education grant focused on “Establishing a Genomics Education Alliance: Steps Toward Sustainability.” Together with George Merovich, associate professor of environmental sciences, he earned a grant from the Mid-Atlantic Panel for Invasive and Exotic Species.

    Douglas Glazier, professor of biology, was invited to be on the advisory board of the journal Sci, which publishes articles in all fields of science. He published a chapter on crustacean offspring production in The Natural History of Crustacea: Life Histories, Volume 5. Glazier gave a presentation on “Toward a Unifying Explanation of Variation in Body-mass Scaling of Offspring Size in Animals, Plants, and Unicellular Organisms” at the Gordon Research Conference on Unifying Ecology Across Scales at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. Glazier also co-authored a presentation on metabolic scaling in squids and other cephalopods at the annual meeting of the Society of Experimental Biology in Florence, Italy.

    Norris Muth, associate professor of biology, accepted an invitation to join the editorial board of Plant Ecology.

  • Psychology

    Mark McKellop, professor of psychology, Kathryn Westcott, professor of psychology, Victoria Buser ’15, Emily Green ’16, and Kelly Bletz ’17 conducted a symposium on, “Balancing the Needs of Students, Faculty, and Programs: Ten Years of Introductory Psychology Data,” at the American Psychological Association conference in San Francisco.

  • Environmental Science

    George Merovich, associate professor of environmental sciences, received a $75,000 grant from the Degenstein Foundation to support student researchers conducting a pre-restoration analysis on two sites within the Little Juniata River watershed as part of the Susquehanna River Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies. Merovich also received a U.S. Department of Interior, Fish, and Wildlife grant through the University of Maryland on “Quantifying Multiple Ecosystem-level Threats to the Upper Juniata River System from the Invasion and Occupation of Rusty Crayfish.” He presented “Temporal and Spatial Variation in EDCs in the Upper Juniata River System, Celebration of the Freshwater Research Initiative” at Susquehanna University and “Impact of Shale Gas Development on Stream Benthic Macroinvertebrates and Water Quality in West Virginia” at the Symposium on Wildlife Responses to Marcellus-Utica Shale Gas Development and the Next Steps for Wildlife Conservation at the 25th Annual The Wildlife Society Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Merovich was also elected to the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Fisheries Society Executive Committee.

    Chuck Yohn ’83, executive director of the Raystown Field Station and instructor of environmental sciences and studies, co-led a workshop on field stations at primarily undergraduate institutions at the Organization of Biological Field Stations annual meeting at the Schoodic Institute in Winter Harbor, Maine.

  • Environmental Health and Safety

    Roy Nagle, director of environmental health and safety, published “Front- loading Life Histories: The Enduring Influence of Juvenile Growth on Age, Size, and Reproduction of Primiparous Female Freshwater Turtles” in the journal Evolutionary Ecology Research. He was also invited to be an associate editor of the journal Herpetological Conservation and Biology.

  • History

    Belle Tuten, Charles A. Dana Professor of History, was selected as one of the Boston Medical Library Fellows in the History of Medicine for 2018-2019. She also published “Power and Trauma in the ‘Maid of Arras,’ Cantigas de Santa Maria 105” in Trauma of Medieval Society.

  • Theatre

    Apollo Weaver, instructor of theatre, designed sets for Southern Utah University’s production of Richard III, Inus Nua Theatre Company’s production of The Monster in the Hall, Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s world premiere production of The Villains’ Supper Club, and the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival’s The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Henry VI Part 1.

  • Physics

    Jim Borgardt, William W. Woolford Professor of Physics, presented “Advancing the Concept of National Nuclear Forensic Libraries” on behalf of the U.S. State Department at the International Technical Working Group Conference in Switzerland. Borgardt was also elected president of Sigma Pi Sigma, the National Physics Honor Society.”

    Alison Earnhart ’07, instructor of physics, was quoted in a Popular Science article, “There’s a Goblin Lurking on the Outskirts of our Solar System.”

    Yu Gu, assistant professor of physics, received a $50,000 award from the Beijing Boyajiaofu International Education Technology Company, Ltd. of Beijing, China, to support her lab’s research into ferrofluids in the context of Lab-on-a-Chip or micro total analysis systems.

    Stephanie Lauback, assistant professor of physics, published “Real-time Magnetic Actuation of DNA Nanodevices via Modular Integration with Stiff Micro- levers” in Nature Communications. She presented a talk on the same subject at the Foundations of Nanoscience: Self- Assembled Architectures and Devices conference in Salt Lake City.

  • Anthropology

    Martina Thomas, assistant professor of anthropology, and Polly Walker, director of the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and associate professor of peace and conflict studies, facilitated a roundtable discussion at the 2018 Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference in Philadelphia in September alongside Sarah Ullom-Minnich ’18 and Savannah Parson ’18.

  • Geology

    Ryan Mathur ’96, professor of geology, published articles in American Mineralogist, Ore Geology Reviews, Journal of Archeological Science, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Mineralogy and Petrology, Geofluids, and National Archaeological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

  • Information Technology

    Loren Rhodes, Information Technology Endowed Chair, and Kim Roth, professor of mathematics, presented “Introduction to Data Science with No Prerequisites” at the Electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics.



  • Art
    Bethany Benson teaches ceramics

    Bethany Benson Burns, associate professor of art, curated and installed Palliative Pour, a juried invitational exhibition that exhibited vessels for spirit consumption. Held at Threadbare Cider House in Pittsburgh, Pa., in March 2018, the show included 32 invited artists and 27 juried artists, and was part of the annual ceramic conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts.

    Monika Malewska, professor of art, had her watercolor painting, “Tree of Life with Octopi and Tulips,” published in the winter-spring 2018 issue of The Critical Pass Review, a literary review of poetry, fiction, and visual art.

  • Politics

    Emil Nagengast, professor of politics and international studies, recently published “An Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Short-term Study Abroad and Human Rights Education” in International Research and Review, the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars.

  • Mathematics

    John Bukowski, professor of mathematics, was awarded a one-week travel fellowship to the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, Mo., during the 2018-2019 academic year.

  • Peace & Conflict Studies

    Celia Cook-Huffman, W. Clay and Kathryn H. Burkholder Professor of Conflict Resolution and assistant provost, was accepted into the HERS Leadership Wellesley Program. She also presented “Harmony or Justice? The Implications of Social Identity for Intergroup Peacebuilding” at the Psychology and Peace Conference at the University of Notre Dame in March.

    Polly Walker, director of the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and associate professor of peace and conflict studies, had her research cited in the annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

  • International Education

    Kati Csoman dean of international education, was elected to the Board of Directors for The Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA), a membership organization composed of institutional leaders engaged in advancing the international dimensions of higher education. Csoman was also appointed to the Strategic Planning Task Force for AIEA.

  • Chemistry
    chemistry class

    John Unger, associate professor of chemistry, completed a term as a member of the committee that produced the 2018 organic chemistry exam for the American Chemical Society.

  • Marketing

    Gabriel Welsch, vice president for strategic communications and marketing, co-presented “Images from the Common Wealth: Poets Writing the Keystone State,” at the Northeast Modern Language Association Annual Convention in Pittsburgh, Pa., in April. He published new poems in Word Fountain, Spring 2018; Heavy Feather Review #notmypresident publication, February 2018; Thrush, March 2018; Moon City Review, spring 2018; and Crab Orchard Review, fall 2017. He also co-presented “Beyond the Marketing Department: Building an Institution-wide Brand Team” at the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education Division II Conference in Washington, D.C., during February 2018.

  • Biological Research

    Christopher Grant, assistant professor of biological research, published a paper entitled “Latitudinal Variation in the Geometric Morphology of the Largemouth Bass, Micropterus salmoides” in the Marine and Freshwater Research journal with Elijah Hall ’18 and Ben Martin ’18.

  • Biology

    Doug Glazier, professor of biology, recently published three scientific articles in the journals Challenges, Systems, and Trends in Ecology & Evolution on how and why the pace of life (as estimated by metabolic rate) relates to the size of organisms. His research synthesizes several new and old observations and theories to help answer the age-old biological question of why small organisms usually live shorter lives than large organisms.

    Jill Keeney, professor of biology, presented a seminar on “Yeast: A Model System for Retrotransposition and Undergraduate Education” at the Molecular and Biomedical Sciences Seminar Series at the University of Montana, Missoula, in March 2018.

    biology lab

    Regina Lamendella, associate professor of biology, co-authored articles in Environmental Science & Technology, Journal of Neurochemistry, mBio, mSphere, Sci Rep, and Nature. With Kim Roth, professor of mathematics, she published “Bacterial Community Dynamics in Dichloromethane-contaminated Groundwater Undergoing Natural Attenuation” in Frontiers in Microbiology.Lamendella also helped Juniata secure its first Pennsylvania Sea grant, which will help Juniata, Gettysburg College, and the United States Department of Agriculture track the sources of pathogens like salmonella in Pennsylvania waterways.

  • Music

    James Latten, professor of music, presented a seminar to the music education majors at Mansfield University, his undergraduate alma mater, titled “Things I Wish I had Known When I Started My Career in the 1980s” in December 2017. In January 2018, he served as guest conductor of the Bedford County Senior High All-County Band, held at Tussey Mountain High School.

  • Environmental Science
    turtle research

    Roy Nagle, instructor of environmental science and studies and director of environmental health and safety, published “Abnormal Shell Shapes in Northern Map Turtles of the Juniata River, Pennsylvania, USA” in the Journal of Herpetology, along with co-authors Chris Grant, Emma Sebastian ’18, and Ben Martin ’18. Angie Ciccarelli, graphic designer, created the graphics for the publication.

  • History

    Belle Tuten, Charles A. Dana Professor of History, presented “Care of the Breast in the Late Middle Ages” at the Gender(ed) Histories of Health, Healing and the Body, 1250–1550 Conference in Cologne, Germany, in January. She also presented the same paper in February at the Southern Association of the History of Medicine and Science Conference in Augusta, Ga.

    Jim Tuten, professor of history, published an opinion article, “2 Laws of Committee Work,” in Inside Higher Ed in November 2017. And, together with Kathryn Westcott, professor of psychology, he presented “How Cultural Events Programs Build the Academic and Campus Community,” at the Conference on the First Year Experience, in San Antonio, Texas, in February.

  • Theatre

    Apollo Weaver, instructor of theatre, designed the sets for two shows that opened in Philadelphia: The Gap with Azuka Theatre and The Brownings with Orbiter 3.

  • Physics

    Matt Beaky, associate professor of physics, and Lisa McDaniels, dean of the library, presented “Looking Under the Research Hood: Opening Up the Research Process to All” at the Associated College Libraries of Central Pennsylvania spring conference in March.

    Jim Borgardt, William W. Woolford Professor of Physics, was interviewed by the Voice of America network for a broadcast aired in North Korea and South Korea on November 7 regarding North Korean leader Kim Jung-un’s threat to detonate a nuclear weapon at high altitude over the U.S., creating an electromagnetic pulse to incapacitate our electrical grid.

  • Finance

    Christine Gibson, vice president for finance and administration, was appointed to serve as a member of the Eastern College & University Business Officers Board Finance Committee.

  • Economics

    Randy Rosenberger, professor of economics and business administration, published an opinion piece, “I’m Sick of God,” in the Huffington Post on November 14, 2017.

  • Anthropology

    Tina Thomas, assistant professor of anthropology, co-authored an article, “Body Image Models Among Low‐income African American Mothers and Daughters in the Southeast United States,” in Medical Anthropology Quarterly.

  • Art History

    Jennifer Streb ’93, professor of art history, Jay Hosler, Goodman Professor of Biology, and Haven Diehl ’18 were on a panel, “Drawing Flies: Science Comics in an Art Museum,” at the annual Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association meeting in Indianapolis, Ind.

  • Information Technology

    Anne Wood, assistant vice president and chief information officer, was invited to serve on the Member Services Board for Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania.


  • Art

    Bethany Benson, associate professor of art, was invited to exhibit her work at the fifth annual “Steinfest: Present Day Interpretations” exhibition at Claymakers’ Gallery in Durham, N.C., September through November 2017. She was also invited to exhibit at “Illinois Unearthed” at Colorado Mesa University Art Gallery in Grand Junction, Colo., from October to November 2017.

    Monika Malewska

    Monika Malewska, associate professor of art, participated in group exhibitions at “UPROOT,” at Smack Mellon art center in Brooklyn, N.Y.; “‘Et Tu, Art Brute?’” at Andrew Edlin Gallery in New York City; “Another Body,” at Spartanburg Art Museum in Spartanburg, S.C.; and the “Celebrating the Creative Process: An Open Call” exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vt. At the latter, she received an Honorable Mention award. Malewska also had her painting, “Bacon Wreath with Bees and Figs,” published in Create! magazine in its December edition. Her photographs from the “The Cereal Number Series” were recently published in Vine Leaves Literary Journal.

  • Education

    Kathleen Biddle, professor of education, received a grant from the Persbacker Foundation for the Rural Outreach and Reading Clinic, which she serves as director.

  • Politics

    Lauren Bowen, provost and professor of politics, coordinated the luncheon and discussion groups with women chief academic and chief student affairs officers at the 2017 Institute for Chief Academic and Chief Student Affairs Officers of the Council of Independent Colleges held in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2017.

  • Mathematics

    John Bukowski, professor of mathematics, taught at the engineering institute at Lille Catholic University in Lille, France, for two weeks in May, where he gave the talk, “What’s that Sound? A Mathematical History of Tuning the Musical Scale.” In July, he performed on the piano at the Presidential Gala at MathFest, the summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, in Chicago.

    Henry Escuadro, associate professor of mathematics, was elected second vicechair of the Allegheny Mountain Section of the Mathematical Association of America at the organization’s 2017 annual meeting.

    Kim Roth, professor of mathematics, received the Service Award from the Allegheny Mountain Section of the Mathematical Association of America.

  • Peace & Conflict Studies

    Celia Cook-Huffman, W. Clay and Kathryn H. Burkholder Professor of Conflict Resolution, co-authored a chapter titled “Women, Leadership, and Building Peace” in the book Peace Leadership: The Quest for Connectedness.

    Polly Walker, director of The Baker Institute and Elizabeth Baker Evans Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, published “Indigenous Ceremonial Peacemaking: The Restoration of Balance and Harmony” in Promoting Peace Through Practice, Academia & the Arts. She was invited to give a talk about “Performance and Peacebuilding” at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis, Minn., in September 2017. She was also an invited presenter at the Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development, in May 2017, where she presented “How Do the Arts Contribute to Sustainable Peace?” Lastly, Walker was elected to be the liaison between the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the International Peace Research Association, and was appointed as co-chair of the Indigenous Rights Commission of the International Peace Research Association.

  • International Education

    Kati Csoman dean of international education, was elected as a board member at-large for the Association of International Education Administrators, the only association dedicated exclusively to senior leaders in the field of international education.

  • Chemistry

    Daniel Dries, assistant professor of chemistry, received a National Science Foundation grant to support “Building an Inclusive Community of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Educators to Develop Competencies for Facilitating Biomolecular Visual Literacy.”

  • Marketing

    Luke Fragello, director of new media communication, and Genna Welsh Kasun ’06, director of social media and content coordination, published “Empowering Students to Create and Share Campus Stories” in the Journal of Education Advancement and Marketing.

    Genna Welsh Kasun ’06, director of social media and content coordination, completed the Rural Urban Leadership Program, Pennsylvania’s premiere leadership program, in May 2017.

  • Spanish

    Amy Frazier-Yoder, associate professor of Spanish, published “Prison Cell and Key: Scrutiny of the Physical Self in Olga Orozco’s ‘Museo Salvaje’ and Gioconda Belli’s ‘Sobre la Grama’” in Hispanófila.

  • Biological Research

    Christopher Grant, assistant professor of biological research, gave a talk, “Fracked fish? Effects of Unconventional Natural Gas Extraction on Wild Brook Trout Salvelinus Fontinalis,” at the International Wild Trout Symposium XII: Science, Politics, and Wild Trout Management in September. Ben Martin ’18 and Elijah Hall ’18 co-authored the publication which led to the talk. Grant was also awarded a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to work on the Unassessed Waters Initiative.

  • Library

    Monika Malewska, reference and instruction librarian, presented the paper “The Brethren Central Service Committee: Noncombatant or Conscientious Objector?” at the Symposium on Remembering Muted Voices: Conscience, Dissent, Resistance, and Civil Liberties in World War I Through Today, which was held at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo., in October 2017.

  • IT, Computer Science, and Math

    Jerry Kruse, John & Irene Dale Professor of Information Technology (IT), Computer Science (CS), and Math, Loren Rhodes, IT endowed chair, and Bill Thomas, professor of IT and CS, published a chapter, “A Capstone Experience in Information Technology,” in New Directions for Computing Education.

  • Communication

    Jared LaGroue, lecturer in communication, co-authored the article “Parasocial Attributes and YouTube Personalities: Exploring Content Trends Across the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels,” which was published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. He presented the paper “Aesthetic Constellations: Adorno’s Philosophical Fragments as Musical Gestures” at the 2017 conference of the National Communication Association in Dallas, Texas.

    Donna Weimer

    Donna Weimer, Thornbury Professor of Communication, received the 2017 Robert T. Oliver Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pennsylvania Communication Association.

  • Biology

    Gina Lamendella, assistant professor of biology, Norris Muth,associate professor of biology, and four alumni coauthors, Colin Brislawn ’14, Gabrielle Cannon ’14, Jennifer Graves ’14, and David Toole ’16, recently published “Differences in Soil Fungal Assemblages Associated With Native and Nonnative Tree Species of Varying Weediness” in Biological Invasions. Together with Rebecca Drucker ’18, Kate Sabey ’16, Vasilii Tokarev ’17, Toole, and Justin Wright ’14, Lamendella also published “The Microbial Ecosystem Distinguishes Chronically Diseased Tissue from Adjacent Tissue in the Sigmoid Colon of Chronic, Recurrent Diverticulitis Patients” in Nature’s Scientific Reports.

    Norris Muth

    Norris Muth, associate professor of biology, was elected president of the Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Council, which held their 2017 biennial meeting, featuring 150 plant biologists, at Juniata.

  • Music

    James Latten, professor of music, was elected to the board of the Nittany Performing Arts Center. Latten was also recently certified as a music and drum major judge for the National Judges Association, and judged a number of fall 2017 competitive marching band events in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey.

  • Psychology

    Mark McKellop, professor of psychology, Kathryn Westcott, professor of psychology, and Kelly Bletz ’17 presented a poster on ”The Evaluation of an Intervention Used to Help Support Struggling Students in Juniata’s Introduction to Psychology Course” at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C. The presentation was selected to be included in Teaching Tips: A Compendium of Conference Presentations on Teaching published by the American Psychological Association.

  • Environmental Science

    George Merovich, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, was awarded a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation’s Freshwater Research Initiative to continue researching “Endocrine Disruptors and Small-Mouth Bass Ecology in the Upper Juniata River Watershed.” He also presented two research posters and one talk at the 12th annual Susquehanna River Symposium. Lastly, Merovich was a co-author on a recently published journal article, “Evaluating Expected Outcomes of Acid Remediation in an Intensively Mined Appalachian Watershed” in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.

  • History

    Peter Rothstein, assistant professor of history, presented a talk, “One Alum’s Reflections on why Art is, and Should be, a Fundamental Part of a Good Liberal Arts Education,” at the Oberlin College Allen Art Museum Centennial Symposium.

    Belle Tuten, Charles A. Dana Professor of History, spent two weeks in Leiden, the Netherlands, as a Brill Fellow, doing research on women and health in the Leiden University Library.

    James Tuten, professor of history, published &Ldquo;‘Mighty Sweet Rice:’ Inland and Garden Rice in the Twentieth Century” in the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation Newsletter. He also reviewed Plantation Kingdom: The American South and Its Global Commodities in History: Reviews of New Books and Let Us Now Praise Famous Gullies: Providence Canyon and the Soils of the South in Environmental History. With Steven Knepper ’06, Tuten also published “Easy Riders and Hard Roads in the Early Recorded Blues” in Music and the Road: Essays on the Interplay of Music and the Popular Culture of the American Road.

  • Career Services

    Tammy Stuber, assistant director of career services, completed Leadership Huntingdon County, and chaired the committee that planned Huntingdon’s 250th anniversary celebration, which featured more than 50 historical, community, musical, and art events, as well as multiple town beautification projects. Stuber earned Juniata’s Presidential Excellence Award for her efforts.

  • President

    Jim Troha, president of Juniata, was recently appointed to the NCAA President’s Advisory Council and was also named to the board of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, as Government Liaison Chair. Troha serves as vice chair of Pennsylvania Campus Compact organization and is also serving as chair of the board of the Landmark Conference, which consists of all the presidents from the Landmark schools. He was asked to be a book reviewer for a new book called The Challenge of Independent Colleges.

  • Theatre

    Apollo Weaver, instructor of theatre, was runner-up for the Phindie Critics’ Award for Best Set Design of 2016-17 for his set design for the play Shitheads at Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia, Pa.

  • Sociology

    Daniel Welliver ’79, associate professor of sociology, was the commencement speaker at the Academic and Vocational Graduation Ceremony of the Smithfield State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pa., on October 25, 2017. The title of his speech was “Persistence.”

  • Raystown Field Station

    Chuck Yohn ’83, executive director of the Raystown Field Station and instructor in environmental science and studies, co-led a workshop on “Management of Small Field Stations” at the annual meeting of the Organization of Biological Field Stations in September at the University of Minnesota Field Station at Lake Itasca, Minn.


  • Sharon (Simpson) Yohn ’99
    Sharon Yohn '99

    Sharon (Simpson) Yohn ’99, assistant professor of chemistry, was appointed as a research associate with the Powdermill Nature Reserve, in Rector, Pa., associated with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

    • Q: How did you get appointed as a research associate with the Powdermill Nature Reserve?
    • A: I was contacted by the director of the Powdermill Nature Reserve with an offer to apply.
    • Q: What kind of work do they do at the Reserve?
    • A: Every year, the group brings a group of ecology graduate students from Central and South America. They do a two-week stint at Powdermill, and come to the Raystown Field Station for one day. I teach them for a day about temperate ecology. These are graduate researchers who know tropical ecology, but a lot of ecological principles were determined in temperate areas, so it’s useful for them to learn about temperate ecology. We have lots of classes in the United States about tropical ecology where students go down there, so this is a chance for them to come up here.
    • Q: What are some benefits for you now that you are a research associate?
    • A: It gives me access to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s collections and libraries because the Powdermill Nature Reserve is part of that museum. So I can have access to their collections and facilities if I want to do research at the Reserve.

    —Joey DiGangi ’18, Juniata Associate for Media Relations

  • Sarah Worley ’00
    Sarah Worley

    Sarah Worley ’00, assistant professor of communication and director of community-engaged teaching and learning, received a Pennsylvania Campus Compact grant in partnership with St. Francis University to host a March 2017 conference at Juniata on community-engaged teaching and learning.

    • Q: How do you bring a conference onto Juniata’s campus?
    • A: We received a mini-grant from the Pennsylvania Campus Compact organization to host a conference in partnership with Saint Francis University. We applied for the grant by submitting a proposal to host a conference that would help to strengthen community engagement practices at our respective schools. The conference was called “Inspiring Citizenship Through Community-Engaged Learning.” Faculty, staff, students, and community partners attended.
    • Q: Why is hosting a conference important for a college or university?
    • A: It is important to bring people from other schools so that we can collaborate with others and learn from each other to strengthen and improve the implementation of community-engaged learning practices.
    • Q: How does Huntingdon benefit?
    • A: The Juniata community benefits from strong partnerships and the innovations in teaching practices that come from the partnerships and collaboration.

    —Joey DiGangi ’18, Juniata Associate for Media Relations

  • Chemistry

    Peter Baran, associate professor of chemistry, was named to the editorial board of the scientific journal Nova Biotechnologica et Chimica.

  • Politics

    Jack Barlow, Charles A. Dana Professor of Politics, spoke at the Summer Institute on the Constitution and Bill of Rights at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., in June. He also was an election-night commentator for WTAJ-TV in Altoona in November and again on Inauguration Day in January. Barlow was a panelist discussing Walter Nicgorski’s new book, Cicero’s Skepticism and His Recovery of Political Philosophy, at the Northeast Political Science Association meeting in Boston in November. He spoke to the Huntingdon Rotary Club on “The State of American Politics” in November.

  • German

    Judith Benz, associate professor of German, spoke at Penn State’s Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures Speaker Series on “The Matter of Arthur—(Why) Does Arthur Matter?” She also was an invited presenter in April at a conference hosted by the German Academic Exchange Service/DAAD at the University of Toronto: “German Studies in Dialogue: Prospects of German Language and Culture in the Sciences: Canada, USA, Germany.”

  • Physics

    Jim Borgardt, William W. Woolford Professor of Physics, gave a talk entitled, “The Efficacy of National Nuclear Forensics Libraries in Advancing a Nuclear Security Investigation” in Vienna, Austria, representing the State Department at the International Atomic Energy Agency International Conference on Nuclear Security.

  • Religion

    Donald Braxton, J. Omar Good Professor of Religion, published “The Digital Flaneur: Religion in an Information-saturated Marketplace” in an anthology on embodied technology/technologies.

  • Biology

    Vince Buonaccorsi, professor of biology, published an introduction to eukaryotic genome analysis with four undergraduate co-authors: Dallas Hamlin ’17, Ben Fowler ’16, Cassie Wisyanski ’15, and Alex Sickler ’14 in CourseSource Vol. 4. He also published, with Jacob Malloy ’16, an article on the genomic analysis of brook trout in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. In April, he gave the keynote address on the GCAT-SEEK network at the Undergraduate Bioinformatics Conference at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.

    Douglas Glazier, professor of biology, published a paper with alumnus David Paul ’15 on body-mass scaling in a freshwater crustacean in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Matthew Powell, associate professor of geology, and Glazier published a paper on “Latitudinal Diversity Gradients of Four Major Taxa of Marine Plankton” in Paleobiology. With three British colleagues, Glazier co-authored a presentation on metabolic rates in plankton at the Aquatic Sciences Meeting of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography in Honolulu, Hawaii, in February.

  • International Studies

    Jonathan Burns, lecturer in international studies, was elected board member-at-large of the Pennsylvania Archaeological Council for a two-year term, and spoke on “Documenting Pennsylvania’s Frontier Forts through Landowner Stewardship: The Case of Fort Dewart” at the 2017 Pennsylvania Archaeological Council Symposium on Public Outreach—Preserving the Past with New Technology, in Harrisburg, Pa.

  • International Education

    Kati Csoman, dean of international education, participated on a Fulbright International Education Administrators Seminar to Taiwan in March 2017. Emil Nagengast, professor of politics, and Csoman, spoke on “Are We There Yet?  Navigating Approaches to Assess Student Learning in Short-Term Programs Abroad” at the Association of International Education Administrators Conference in Washington, D.C.

  • Education

    Sarah DeHaas, Martin G. Brumbaugh Professor of Education, spoke on “Me, Myself, and I: Undergraduate Perceptions of Self-reflection in Learning” at the annual Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching in May in Washington, D.C. She also co-presented, with two area attorneys, “Walking the Thin Blue Line: The Role of Law Enforcement in Student Discipline” at the 45th Annual Lehigh University Special Education Law Conference in June.

  • New Media Communication

    Luke Fragello, director of new media communication, was awarded the Joseph W. Donovan Rising Star Award from College and University Public Relations and Associated Professionals (CUPRAP) in March.

  • Integrated Media Arts

    Ryan Gibboney, instructor in integrated media arts, was named one of “Fifty to Follow” by Pennsylvania Business Central in the September 2016 issue and named as one of “36 Pennsylvania Women Making a Difference” in the October/November issue of the business newspaper. She also received the Huntingdon County Community Improvement Award, Community Spirit Category, from the Huntingdon County Chamber of Commerce and the Huntingdon County Planning Commission. She was the keynote speaker at the first annual Youth Leadership Huntingdon County graduation in April at Mount Union Area High School.

  • Mathematics

    Gerald Kruse, John and Irene Dale Professor in information technology, computer science, and math, and assistant provost, spoke on “Interpolation Techniques to Generate Closed Formulas for Series” at the Mathematical Association of America’s Allegheny Section meeting at Duquesne University in April.

  • Art

    Monika Malewska, associate professor of art, exhibited her art at “Food for Thought 2017,” a juried exhibition at Sechrest Art Gallery at High Point University in High Point, N.C., and at “Positive/Negative 32nd,” a national art exhibition at Tipton Gallery at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn.

    Jack Troy, professor emeritus of art, was one of four U.S. ceramic artists honored at “Clay Gulgong” in Gulgong, Australia. He also was interviewed for a two-part article in Yarrobil, an Australian ceramics magazine. He taught a salt glazing workshop at Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts in Maplecrest, N.Y., sponsored by the Catskill Mountain Foundation in July. Troy’s “Porcelain Jar” won First Prize and the Attorneys’ Award at the Strictly Functional Ceramics national exhibition in Lancaster, Pa. Other Troy artworks were displayed at Feats of Six Hands, at Sordoni Gallery at Wilkes College in Wilkes Barre, Pa., and, After All These Years, at the University Art Gallery at Eastern Michigan University, in Ypsilanti, Mich. He was also one of 30 U.S. potters selected to participate in the 42nd Annual Ceramics Exhibition at the Art School at Old Church in Demarest, N.J. in December.

  • Environmental Science

    George Merovich, assistant professor of environmental science, presented a half-day workshop at the 2017 Joint Technical Meeting of the Pennsylvania and West Virginia Chapters of the American Fisheries Society in February at the California University of Pennsylvania, in California, Pa. Merovich was recertified as a certified fisheries professional in April.

  • Geology

    Matt Powell, associate professor of geology, Norris Muth, associate professor of biology, and Katie Jeffress ’17, of Corpus Christi, Texas, received a TreeVitalize grant to plant 250 trees around Huntingdon for the town’s 250th anniversary.

  • Accounting

    Randy Rosenberger, professor of accounting, business, and economics, published “The Irrational Fear Predator: A Hidden Terrorist” in the Huffington Post.

  • History

    Belle Tuten, W. Newton and Hazel A. Long Professor of History, published “The Necessitas Naturae and Monastic Hygiene,” in Bodily and Spiritual Hygiene in Medieval and Early Modern Literature: Explorations of Textual Presentations of Filth and Water, which is part of the series, Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture 19. She presented “Correcting the ‘Incorrect’ Breast in Medieval Medicine” at the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science in Myrtle Beach in March, and “Jihad and Hijab: What I Wish American Christians Knew about Islam” will appear in the journal The Fourth R, edited by Robert Miller, Rosenberger Professor of Religion.

  • Advancement and Marketing

    Gabriel Welsch, vice president of advancement and marketing, was elected president of College and University Public Relations and Associated Professionals (CUPRAP) at the group’s March 2017 annual meeting for a two-year term. Welsch has served on the board of directors since 2011, and previously served as vice president (2015-2017) and treasurer (2013-2015).


  • Environmental Science
    George Merovich

    George Merovich, assistant professor of environmental science, with students Ryan Heisler ’18 and Logan Stenger ’18, presented a paper on smallmouth bass health in the upper Juniata River watershed at the 11th Annual Susquehanna River Symposium at Bucknell University in November.

    • Q: Do you plan on continuing your research?
    • A: Yes. We need to know what’s going on in the waters first, and I’m glad we’re doing that. I have plans of continuing this on in the spring.
    • Q: What was it like having students assist you with your research?
    • A: They’re great. I actually started recruiting them in my class. They stood out to me in my fish management class last spring. I expressed interest to them, and they were on board. I was glad I hired them—they did a great job.

    —Joey DiGangi ’18, Juniata Associate for Media Relations

    Roy Nagle, director of environmental health and safety, published with a co-author an article on the reproductive ecology of map turtles in the Juniata River in Herpetological Conservation and Biology.

  • Physics

    Jim Borgardt, Woolford Professor of Physics, presented the talk, “Results from the Galaxy Serpent Web-based Table Top Exercise Utilizing the Concept of Nuclear Forensics Libraries” at the International Conference on Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry in April in Budapest, Hungary. Borgardt presented “The Nuclear Security Summits: Prospects for Abolition” at Council on Christian Approaches to Defense and Disarmament in Bratislava, Slovakia, in August.

    Yu Gu, assistant professor of physics, transferred funding from a Research Corporation for Science Advancement Cottrell College Scholars Award to Juniata. The grant will fund summer research students and well as major equipment purchases.

  • Mathematics

    Kristin Camenga, assistant professor of mathematics, was asked to join Pro Mathematica Arte Council for a three-year period. The board advises handling the U.S. operations of the study abroad programs Budapest Semesters in mathematics and Budapest Semesters in Mathematics Education.

  • Chemistry

    Daniel R. Dries, assistant professor of chemistry, with four co-authors, published a paper on teaching biomolecular visualization in August in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. He also published an article on how loss of a protein, Nicastrin, can result in schizophrenia and hypomyelination. Dries’ 16 co-authors included Jennifer Arbella ’13.

    Richard Hark, Foster Chair of Chemistry, gave the keynote talk at the Pennsylvania Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, “Analysis of Pigments and other Materials Found in Cultural Heritage Objects” in March and spoke on the same topic at Albright College in February. Hark spoke about pigment analysis at the International Geological Congress in South Africa. Hark and Jennifer Streb ’93, associate professor of art history, attended the Summer Teacher’s Institute for Technical Art History at Yale in July.

  • Business

    Ann Echols, associate professor of business, made a presentation on predicting success in business statistics courses at the annual conference of the Northeastern Association of Business, Economics, and Technology in State College, Pa. in October.

    Wei-Chung Wang, associate professor of business, received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Shih Hsin University in Taipei, Taiwan in October.

  • History

    David Hsiung, Knox Professor of History, published the chapter “Environmental History and the War of Independence: Saltpeter and the Continental Army’s Shortage of Gunpowder,” in the book The American Revolution Reborn, published by the University of Pennsylvania press.

  • Athletics

    Caroline Gillich, head coach for field hockey was inducted into Lock Haven University’s Sports Hall of Fame in December.

  • Biology

    Douglas Glazier, professor of biology, lectured on “Clash of the Titans: Competing Influences of Newton and Darwin in Biology” at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, Fla., in November. Glazier, with co-authors, published a paper on excretion rates in aquatic animals in the journal Limnology and Oceanography.

    Christopher Grant, assistant research professor of biology, published a paper on the effects of fracking on Pennsylvania streams in the journal Ecotoxicology with three co-authors from the Class of 2016: Allison Lutz, Aaron Kulig, and Mitchell Stanton.

  • Library

    Jacob Gordon, reference and instruction librarian, published “In the Flesh? Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Verification and Its Implications,” about human-skin-bound books, in RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage.

  • Mathematics

    Kim Roth, professor of mathematics, spoke on “Reviewing Precalculus in Calculus: Integrated vs. Beginning of Course” at Mathfest, sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America, in Columbus, Ohio in August. She also earned a master’s degree in applied statistics from Penn State University in Fall 2016.

    • Q: Why did you decide to pursue a master’s in applied statistics?
    • A: Like a lot of mathematicians, because I have a Ph.D. in mathematics, I was very theoretically trained. I know a lot about the pure mathematics, but not so much about applications. I had never taken a statistics course as an undergraduate before I taught it. I felt like I need some help figuring out how to learn that because I can do the theory, but the applications are harder for me. I took a couple courses, most of which were on things I wanted to do with students, and they did help with going into depth at the introductory level, and I did some projects with students based on stuff I had learned. I enjoyed it so much that I thought I’d earn the credential.
    • Q: What kind of projects do you do with students?
    • A: I do a lot of work with students in bio labs. I share students with biologist Gina Lamendella. Most of the projects are statistical analyses of genomics information for bacteria. Currently, I have someone who is working on the gut microbiome and micobiomes. We did some work on that in the summer, and we will do some more work this spring.
      We did some time-series analysis that’s trying to predict things that happen over time for a company in China. One of my students had done an internship there over the summer and then came back and we did this project in her senior spring.
    • Q: What was it like going back to school to earn your master’s in applied statistics?
    • A: I’ve taken one online class a summer, with the exception of the summer of 2010, since 2008. I also took a few more over my sabbatical. I really enjoy it and I learn a lot from the classes.

    —Joey DiGangi ’18, Juniata Associate for Media Relations

  • Philosophy

    Wade Roberts, associate professor of philosophy, recently published the article “Technocracy and Organization: Utopia and the Question of Value-Pluralism” in Selected Conference Proceedings of University of Northern Georgia Humanities conference on Utopia in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

  • Art History

    Jennifer Streb ’93, associate professor of art history, and Emma Campbell ’16 spoke on “Interdisciplinary Collaboration in an Academic Art Museum” for a panel at the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Conference in October in Wilmington, Del.

  • Spanish

    Henry Thurston-Griswold, professor of Spanish, published “El indiscreto encanto del desencanto: el narrador equívoco de El dueño del secreto” (The Indiscrete Charm of Disenchantment: The Unreliable Narrator of Spanish Novelist Antonio Muñoz Molina’s Novella The Secret Keeper,” in Hispanic Journal.

  • Psychology

    Kathryn Westcott, professor of psychology, Philip Dunwoody, professor of psychology, and Mark McKellop, professor of psychology, conducted a symposium on American Psychological Association learning outcomes at the association’s annual meeting in Denver, Colo., in August. At the same conference, Westcott, McKellop, and student Shayna Yeates ’15 presented a paper on using introductory psychology courses in a general education assessment.

  • Art
    Monika Malewska

    Monika Malewska, associate professor of art, was a Visiting Fellow Artist and presented “From Chardin’s Rabbit to Edward Bernay’s Bacon and Eggs: Representation of Bacon and Other Not-So Still-Lifes in Monika Malewska’s Work” at the Institute for American Universities, Resident Summer Fellow Program in June in Aix-en-Provence, France. Malewska also exhibited a painting at “Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All” at Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, Calif., and in the show “Synesthetica” in the Parallel Space Manifest Gallery, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

    • Q: Can you tell us about the Institute for American Universities?
    • A: IAU College was founded as the Institute for American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, France in 1957 by academics and former diplomats. It provides international educational opportunities for U.S. students interested in studying abroad. Students can study in a number of disciplines such as social sciences, humanities, and visual arts during fall, spring, and summer semesters. The IAU College hosts a Resident Fellows program for scholars and artists with the intention of enhancing the IAU academic curriculum through lectures and on-campus interactions with the students and academic staff. The IAU College also incorporated the Marchutz School of Fine Arts in 1966. The program offers a vibrant studio art curriculum for students interested in studying visual art (painting, drawing, photography, and art history) in the beautiful setting of Provence.
    • Q: What kind of work did you do in the Resident Summer Fellow Program?
    • A: I had an opportunity to spend time researching and gathering visual information on aspects of the regional cuisine of Provence. I am planning to use my photographs and sketches as source material for my larger painting compositions this summer. I also completed two watercolor food compositions that I started working on during my IAU fellowship.
      I participated in a painting and drawing seminar class every Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. that focused on the work and techniques of painters such as Cezanne and Van Gogh and explored the relationship between text and image. The seminar included two field trips to Arles and a fieldtrip following the “Cezanne Route” in Aix-en Provence. I participated in the Fellow Lecture series and attended an introductory level French class. The IAU College’s unique geographic and cultural location provided me with valuable visual resources and the opportunity to grow as an artist.
      Finally, I was able to explore the possibility of short-term, faculty-led programs for Juniata students as well as semester and year-long study abroad options. Having the opportunity to see the studio art facilities and talk with IAU administrative staff and faculty enabled me to envision collaboration opportunities and possible educational programs that might be suited for Juniata students. In short, this was a very productive and educational experience with potential long-term positive outcomes for Juniata.

    —Joey DiGangi ’18, Juniata Associate for Media Relations