People Notes | North Central College

Biology major chosen to read his poetry at Chicago festival

Weien Wang ’11, a biology major, is taking full advantage of North Central’s interdisciplinary approach to liberal arts education. He will represent the College when he reads his poetry at the 11th annual Citywide Undergraduate Poetry Festival April 1 at Columbia College Chicago. Only one student from each of the 11 participating colleges and universities is invited to read his or her work at the festival.

Ryan Piers ’11 heads to Uganda to research crisis journalism

Broadcast communication major Ryan Piers ’11 will be traveling to Uganda March 13-27 to conduct research, funded by a Richter grant, for his project titled “Susan D. Moeller’s ‘Compassion Fatigue’ Preventing Journalism Methods and How They Were Applied When Reporting on the LRA.” Piers will be based in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, and staying in a house run by the Catholic Diocese. His research will involve interviewing local and international journalists, asking questions that test whether or not they used the proposed methods of “good crisis journalism” talked about in Susan D.

Viviana Kabbabe-Thompson gives poster at national conference

Viviana Kabbabe-Thompson, director of multicultural affairs, gave a poster presentation titled “Sankofa Spring Break Trips” at the Students Affairs Administrators in High Education (NASPA) annual national conference in Chicago March 8. She instituted the concept of Sankofa trips at North Central College and has led trips each spring break for three years. Her presentation highlighted the fact that North Central is the only school program that has taken the Sankofa principle and applied it to various cultural groups.

Karl Kelley appointed to editorial board of PsycCRITIQUES

Karl Kelley, professor and chair of psychology, was recognized for his contribution of seven recent papers published in PsycCRITIQUES and named to its editorial board through 2013. PsycCRITIQUES is a database of full-text reviews of books, videos and popular films and replaced the American Psychological Association print journal Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books.

Spring Break Sankofa experience heads to San Antonio March 17-27

This year’s Sankofa service trip, titled “Remember the Alamo,” will take seven students to San Antonio, Texas, where they'll explore a part of American history to better understand current day situations, various cultural groups that live there, and society's responsibilities to those groups. The Office of Multicultural Affairs, led by director Viviana Kabbabe-Thompson, is sponsoring this service trip March 17-27. Students will visit the sites of the Alamo (photo), the Mexican-American War, San Jose missions, museums and the original borders of Mexico.

Jaclyn Murawska presents workshop to K-12 teachers

Jaclyn Murawska, adjunct instructor of mathematics, presented a workshop titled “Explorations in Tessellations” to K-12 teachers at the Metropolitan Mathematics Club of Chicago's Annual Conference of Workshops Jan. 30 at York High School in Elmhurst.

WIN event features recreation news, networking opportunities

When the Women’s Interaction Network (WIN) held its winter gathering March 3, the agenda included lunch and hearing about recreational sports from Corey Bitzer (photo), coordinator of recreation and wellness programs, and comments from Nancy Peterson, professor of chemistry and recipient of this year’s Cleo Tanner Award for outstanding contributions. Since assuming the new coordinator position in fall 2009, Bitzer has initiated myriad recreational sports for students, faculty and staff, utilizing all athletic facilities.

Ann Durkin Keating gives talk to historical society

Ann Durkin Keating, Dr. C. Frederick Toenniges Professor of History, was a guest speaker Feb. 28 during the Niles Historical Society meeting at the Niles Historical Museum. She discussed Chicago area history, based on her book “Chicagoland: City and Suburbs of the Railroad Age.”

Mary McMahon addresses K-12 teachers

Mary McMahon, associate professor of mathematics and education certification officer, spoke on the topic “Where’s Math” to K-12 teachers at the Teacher Induction Academy of the Associated Colleges Of Illinois Jan. 29 at Dominican University.

Ted Lehe publishes article in philosophical journal

Robert Tad Lehe, professor of philosophy, co-authored with Daniel Kolb an article titled “Nihilistic Consequences of the Argument from Evil” in the December 2009 issue of the International Philosophical Quarterly.