About Our People
Paul Otto (History) will spend his sabbatical next year at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C., after being selected to be a fellow at the center for the 2015-16 academic year. Paul is the first George Fox professor to earn the distinction, and may be the first from a Council of Christian Colleges & Universities school. In fact, only 32 fellowships were granted this year out of a pool of 547 applications nationwide. Paul will work on his book Beads of Power: Wampum and the Shaping of Early America during the fellowship.
Paul was also one of 11 historians chosen to be part of Historic Huguenot Street’s newly formed Scholarly Advisory Board, a group of scholars who will help to ensure historical accuracy of the interpretive programming at the museum and National Historic Landmark while guiding interpretive goals for the future. Historic Huguenot Street is a nonprofit based in New Paltz, N.Y., that encompasses 30 buildings across 10 acres that was the heart of the original 1678 settlement, including seven stone houses that date to the early 18th century. In addition, Paul’s article “The Dutch, Munsees, and the Purchase of Manhattan Island†appeared in the January 2015 issue of the New York State Bar Association Journal.
Annette Nemetz (College of Business) published an article, “A global investigation of government and community stakeholder influences on large company engagement in sustainability,†in the International Journal of Business and Management. The piece addresses sustainability issues, social responsibility and strategic engagement in large publicly listed firms in 25 countries.
Ed Higgins (English) published a science fiction haiku, “Lost Ship,†in the October 14, 2014, edition of Clockwork Kiru: Steampunk Haiku. Another of his sci-fi poems, “The Visitors,†was included in the Oct. 24, 2014, issue of Red Sky: Anthology of Speculative Poetry.
Kevin T. Jones (Department of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts) had two essays recently accepted for publication. His article “Teaching Audience Analysis with Presidential ‘Victory’ Speeches†was accepted by Communication Teacher, a journal published by the National Communication Association. In his essay, Kevin uses presidential speeches to identify effective and ineffective audience analysis in developing a speech. President Bush’s 2003 “Mission Accomplished†speech is used as an example of poor audience analysis, and Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign victory speech on election night is shown to be an example of good audience analysis.
Additionally, Kevin had a chapter titled “Diffusing Prejudice and Fear in a Gender Studies Classroom†accepted for publication in a book titled Communicating Prejudice: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach, to be published later this year. Kevin uses a narrative approach in the chapter to help teach colleagues how to navigate prejudice and fear in a college classroom.
Laura Gifford (History, Politics and International Studies) spoke to the Newberg Early-Bird Rotary group recently, making a presentation about Herbert Hoover and World War I.