Chester Clinic

 

5th coas research conference program

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. 9:30 a.m.—10:00 a.m. Mark Hoyert, Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences l0:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
Session I- Retention and Assessment of Student Learning, LCC 105AB
Moderator: Karl Nelson, Department of Psychology, IU Northwest
Assessing the Impact of Geoscience Laboratories on Student Learning.
Karl Nelson, Department of Psychology, IU Northwest, Kristin Huysken, Department of
Geosciences, IU Northwest, and Zoran Kilibarda, Department of Geosciences, IU
Northwest
Faculty Web Pages: Obsolete or Still a Viable Technology? Judy Donovan, School of Education, IU Northwest Student's Retention and Assessment in Finite Mathematics Class (M118) Vesna Kilibarda, Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Science, IU Northwest, Bogdan Vajiac, Department of Mathematics, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Henry Wyzinski, Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Science, IU Northwest Working Students Attitudes toward Service-Learning Judy Donovan, School of Education, IU Northwest, and Ju Park, CETL, IU Northwest Session II- Boys, Girls, and the Rest of Us: Gender on Display in Popular
Culture LCC 110
Moderator: Patricia Buckler, English Department
Fantasy Tough Girls
Anne Balay, English Department, IU Northwest
To Do or Die Manfully—Representing Classical Masculinity in Recent Epic Films
Jerry Pierce, History Department, IU Northwest
Birth, Death, and Rebirth in Games to Keep the Dark Away, by Marcia Muller Patricia Buckler, Department of English, IU Northwest Listening for a Change: The Sexual Revolution in French Pop Music J0nathyne Briggs, History Department, IU Northwest Noon – 2:00 p.m. LCC 105 AB Plenary Session: "IU Northwest's History: From Gary Extension Center to
Self-Standing University: Years of Growth, 1958-1968"
Moderator: Alan Barr, Department of English, IU Northwest The Controversy over the Move to Glen Park Paul Kern, Professor Emeritus of History, IU Northwest Jack Buhner, IU Northwest's First Chancellor James B. Lane, Professor Emeritus of History, IU Northwest IU Northwest's Early Years William Neil, Professor emeritus of History and former acting director of IU Northwest The remainder of the program will include reminiscences by former students, faculty and administrators, including Angie Komenich (former IUN student and Modern Languages professor), former student Bette Roberts, Peggy Elliott (who started as an associate faculty and rose to become Chancellor), IU President emeritus John Ryan, and others. 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Session III – Navigating a Republic, LCC 110
Moderator: Christopher Young, Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest
John and Abigail Adams: Their Transatlantic Relationship Brandy Lynn Cripe, Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest The Adams-Jefferson Correspondence: Their Thoughts on Aristocracy in Early America and the Atlantic World Kristel Rey, Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest President George Washington and the Kentuckians Christopher Young, Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest 2:15p.m. -5:00 p.m.
Session IV--Following the Scientist from Black Holes to Salamanders,
Sand, Cytokines and Soils — with Posters, LCC 105 A,B
Moderator: Zoran Kilibarda, Department of Geology, IU Northwest
Extra Dimensions and Moduli Near Exploding Black Holes John Morris, Department of Chemistry, Astronomy, and Physics, IU Northwest Current Rates of Mt. Baldy Dune Migration Inland, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Zoran Kilibarda, Department of Geosciences, IU Northwest, and Diane Taylor, Villanova University Long-Term Intraguild Predator-Prey Dynamics Among Salamanders Spencer Cortwright, Department of Biology, IU Northwest The Effect of Desloratadine and Nortriptyline on T Helper Cell Proliferation and Cytokine Production Joshua I. Garza, Northwestern University-Feinberg School of Medicine
Does Air Pollution Impact Soil Fungi?
Frances Seller, Department of Biology, IU Northwest
15 minute break
Poster Session: Bacteria in Beach Ridges and Floods in Ecuador

A Study of the Relationship Between Clay Minerals and Bacterial Diversity in Spodosols
in Beach Ridges at Tahquamon Bay, Michigan.
Erin P. Argyilan, Department of Geosciences, IU Northwest, and Mark Krekeler,
Department of Geology, Miami University, Hamilton Severe Climatic Events in Prehistoric Coastal Ecuador and their Human Impact James Wesolowski, Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Department of Geosciences, IU Northwest 4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Session V—From Plain Words to the Language of Passion, LCC 110
Moderator, Doug Swartz, English Department, IU Northwest
No Thank You. We Do Not Want to Be Romans. We Only Want Your Words
Suzanne Jones, IU Kokomo
Masculine Struggle and Rhetorical Rape in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Anthony Monda III, IU Northwest "Enormous Bliss": Sex, the Sublime, and Speculation in Milton's Paradise Lost Doug Swartz, English Department, IU Northwest Session VI – The U.S. War and Occupation of Iraq: Imperialism,
Democracy, and American Democracy, LCC 110
Moderator: Raoul Contreras, Department of Minority Studies, IU Northwest
Past, Current, and Future Issues and Research on the U.S. War and Occupation of Iraq:
The impact on U.S. institutions, culture, political institutions, and "American
Democracy"
Raoul Contreras, Department of Minority Studies, IU Northwest
Reconceptualization of the "American Hero"; Confronting Imperialist Role Models from
American History
Mary Jenkins, IU Northwest
The War in Iraq: The Impact of War and Occupation on Domestic and International
Social Inequality
Barbara Sullivan, IU Northwest
The impact of U.S. Foreign Policy on the Deteriorating Quality of Life for Palestinians
Moanes Khwalid, IU Northwest
Thursday, November 13, 2008

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Session VII: Rhetorical Analysis, Consciousness, and American Culture,
LCC 105AB
Moderator: Dorothy W. Ige, Department of Communications, IU Northwest
Bynum & Myer: Thematic Rhetorical Analysis of Black and White Female Preacher
Evangelists
Dorothy W. Ige, Department of Communications, IU Northwest and Lori Montalbano,
Department of Communications, IU Northwest
From the Songs of the Rhapsodes to Auto-ethnographical Performance: Investigating the
Life-long Dialogic Engagement of Self and Other
Lori Montalbano, Department of Communications, IU Northwest
Sold: High Expectations, HGTV and Sub-prime Mortgages
Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, College of Communication, Media, Culture and Society,
DePaul University
Session VIII- Philosophical and Religious Belief Systems: From Abstract
Arguments to Rhetoric and Practice, LCC 110
Moderator: Gianluca Di Muzio, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, IU
Northwest
The Development of the Philosophy Departments at Peking and Tsinghu Universities (1910s-30s) Xiaqing Diana Lin, History Department, IU Northwest Epistemic Internalism and Empirical Knowledge Christopher Weaver, Chicago State University and Northern Illinois University Voudou: The Traditional Religion of Haiti Debra L. Towasnicki, IU Northwest Anxiety of Wealth? Early American Evangelicals, Prosperity and the Middle Class Ryan E. Henke, University of Illinois at Chicago 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Session IX: Cadaver Prosection, Triglycerides, Soil Fungi and Disaster
Recovery, LCC 105AB
Moderator: Ernest Talarico, Indiana University School of Medicine-Northwest
The National Human Cadaver Prosection Program
Ernest F. Talarico, Indiana University School of Medicine-Northwest
Three Dimensional Imaging of Intramyocellular Triglyceride Accumulation in Skeletal Muscle of Ossabaw Swine Derrick del Rosario, Indiana University School of Medicine-Northwest Assessing the Impact of Increasing Soil Nitrogen on Soil Fungi Brian Genovesi, Department of Biology, IU Northwest New Orleans – Disaster Recovery after Katrina Chioma Anokwute, Islam Baghdady, Joshua Garza, Brian Genovesi, Daniel Grabarek, Rubiya Multani, Sukhmani Multani, Aditya Shah Session X—An Ambiguous American Frontier—from Founding
Documents to Film, LCC 110
Modertator: Alan Barr, English Department, IU Northwest
The Constitutional Issue of Indian Removal During George Washington's and Andrew
Jackson's Administrations
Douglas Blouir II, Department of History, IU Northwest
King Andrew and the Jacksonian Assault on the Constitution
Larry Park, Department of History, IU Northwest
John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Inhabits Film Noir
Alan P. Barr, English Department, IU Northwest
2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Session XI - Race, Class and Ethnicity: Coalition Building, Splits and
Schisms, LCC 105 AB
Moderator: Jack Bloom, Sociology Department, History Department, Department of
Minority Studies, IU Northwest
Unknown Giants: Race and the 1919 Steel Strike in Gary
Ruth Needleman, Division of Labor Studies, IU Northwest
Class, Race, Ethnicity and the South African Liberation Movement
Jack Bloom, Department of Sociology, History Department, Department of Minority
Studies, IU Northwest
Historic Preservation, Schools and Community Development
Earl Jones, Department of Minority Studies, IU Northwest

Conference Keynote Address: PUBLIC HEALTH: FOR OUR FUTURE
Linda P. Fried, Dean, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Conference Abstracts
Abstracts appear in alphabetical order by first presenter's last name Anokwute, Chioma; Baghdady, Islam; Garza, Joshua; Genovesi, Brian; Grabarek, Daniel; Multani, Rubiya; Multani, Sukhmani; Shah, Aditya Preprofessional Studies Club, Departments of Biology and Chemistry, IU Northwest Sponsors: Tuncay, Atilla Department of Chemistry, IU Northwest Fulk, Scott, Office of Student Life "New Orleans – Disaster Recovery after Katrina" Despite the damage caused by hurricane Katrina which happened more than three years ago, much of the rebuilding is far from complete. To be a part of the rebuilding process, several students began to organize and coordinate a mission to the Greater New Orleans area. Immediately following finals in the spring semester of 2008, eight students from Indiana University Northwest traveled to New Orleans for one week. This was a great opportunity for us to apply our leadership abilities while also using past work experiences to assist those whose homes were destroyed. While in New Orleans we stayed at a local church approximately ten minutes from the heart of the destruction and also the worksite. Not only was this experience a benefit to the people we assisted, but we left there with a better understanding of what the people of New Orleans have experienced. Seeing the progress made by our small group in the week we spent there also helped us recognize the impact we can have on the lives of others. The particular house we worked at was a parsonage that had been damaged mainly by flooding. Most of the major repairs had already been completed and only finishing work remained. Some of the projects we were assigned was grouting floors, painting, installing trim and base boards, caulking, sanding, and installing windows and window sills. Argyilan, Erin P. Department of Geosciences, IU Northwest; Mark Krekeler, Department of Geology, Miami University-Hamilton, Hamilton OH A study of the relationship between clay minerals and bacterial diversity in spodosols in beach ridges at Tahquamnon Bay, Michigan.
The relationships between minerals and bacteria in soils have been intensely investigated over the past few decades. Most studies have focused on comparative analysis of the bulk properties of soils or specific biological parameters. This contribution investigates the relationship between clay minerals and bacterial diversity in an indurated hardpan (Bs) or ortstein found within spodosols in beach ridges of variable ages within a strandplain adjacent to Tahquamenon Bay, in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The clay mineralogy and diversity of bacteria were investigated in soils sampled from five individual beach ridges. Optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL) of quartz grains from the foreshore facies of individual ridges yields ages of 1000 to 4200 years. The homogeneity of the beach sands (substrate) within individual ridges presents the ideal environment to evaluate the relation between clay mineral content, ridge age, and bacterial diversity. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns from oriented zero-background quartz slides of the <2 m size fraction show no peaks indicating that materials are dominantly X-ray amorphous. We used LH-PCR to investigate the relative abundance and diversity in the Bs samples. The average concentration of each component of clay particles was compared to the diversity of bacteria as this was the only property that exhibited wide variation in the Bs horizons investigated. A linear relationship between average K content in the iron oxide particles and the number of species observed using LH-PCR suggests a strong control of clay mineral composition on bacterial diversity. This relationship is interpreted to arise from stochastic interactions with K-rich regions of clay particles observed using STEM techniques. Our results indicate that K content in amorphous oxides may be a major control on bacteria diversity in some soils. Balay, Anne Department of English, IU Northwest Fantasy Tough Girls When Lissa Paul calls fantasy heroines "heroes in drag" she is pointing out that, if books do nothing beyond change the sex of the protagonist, they are not transforming gender roles in any meaningful, feminist way. Paul's insight points to a serious and important limitation in YA fantasy fiction. My goal is to add to her analysis the queer fact that masculinity is produced and performed by women and girls as well as by men and boys. Drag, whether literal or figurative, is not reducible to male impersonation – female masculinity can be seen as a separate gender and, if fantasy fiction for children and young adults is any measure, it's a common, lively, and really fun gender to be. Children's fantasy fiction is saturated with girls in drag, with tomboys, and with distortions of the binary gender system. I focus on two examples – the epic fantasy trilogy inaugurated by The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewedding, and the short fantasy thriller Coraline by Neil Gaiman. These texts provide extreme versions of what I mean by fantasy female drag. In Flewelling's series, the hero is a girl who literally inhabits a boy's body. At the adolescent crisis, where most tomboys are coerced into more conventional femininity, her body physically transforms form male to female, in full view of her assembled countrymen. But loosing her penis is not the same as loosing her masculinity, since she is still the same person who was raised a boy, and both her psychology and her behavior present an ongoing challenge to appropriate roles for women. Less graphic but equally effective is the hero Coraline, whose relative youth makes her female masculinity less threatening. Yet in this psychological thriller, gender roles are constructed through books, domestic space, and the parental gaze, and adult female masculinity, since it serves as a threat to male privilege, must play with, challenge, and subvert these structures in order to persist into adulthood. Both of these texts offer models of female masculinity in which girl characters gain control by acting masculine-ly. Judith Halberstam argues that female masculinity, very common in books for young readers, offers the potential to erode male privilege, and thereby improve the situation for women and girls. When Michelle Ann Abate regrets that gender role variations are rare in books for young readers, she makes an exception for historical and fantasy fiction (54) in which gender norms escape from the stranglehold of the everyday. Yet her account of tomboyism in realist fiction assumes that knowing a role is constructed deprives it of its power to control us (47). Outside of fiction, this has not proved true so far. Fantasy fiction, I argue, tries to imagine a way out of gender roles by making an alternative existence – a different way of being embodied – an other mother – possible. Creating a new gender that lasts into adulthood involves a large and protracted imaginative leap, towards which Coraline and The Bone Doll's Twin series take exciting steps. Barr, Alan P. Department of English, IU Northwest John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Inhabits Film Noir In 1962 John Ford directed and released a Western film that was as unusual as it was accomplished. This was at the end of a period in film history that had seen the explosion of what became known as Film Noir: films like Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Pickup on South Street, and The Killers. As the French-inspired name conveys, these movies, responding to the post-Depression, post World War II, and Cold War cultural environment, were characteristically dark, anxious, with cramped, angularly-shot frames, and clearly reflected an ethically uncertain or dubious ethos. By contrast, the far more extensive genre of the Western, from the very beginnings of film history, had traditionally been associated with wide open spaces, challenging a frontier that could foster heroism, and, as soon as it became technically feasible, exploiting color as well as space. In his emphatically black and white film, Liberty Valance, with its iconic Western star, John Wayne, Ford, the maker of Westerns, subverted the genre to include many of the features of film noir. The result is not only a "dark Western," but one that specifically conveys the uncertainties of the period and Ford's own misgivings about the triumphant progress of democracy and the American enterprise. Bloom, Jack M. Departments of Sociology and Anthropology, Minority Studies and History, IU Northwest Class, Race, Ethnicity and the South African Liberation Movement Organized civil disobedience to combat racial oppression began in 1960 in the United States and in South Africa. In South Africa, that movement was met with violent suppression, making the kind of campaign carried out in the US impossible. This essay explores why the South African experience was so different from ours at its inception, but ultimately surprised many by also producing a peaceful transition. Its focus is on the interrelationship between class, race and ethnicity. While in the US, the racial system obstructed the growth of the economy, in South Africa the apartheid state was expanding. Moreover, whereas African-Americans were a minority in the US, in South Africa Africans were the large majority, and political equality would transform who occupied the positions of power. Significantly, in South Africa, intra-racial conflicts between whites concerning political and economic hegemony complicated the conflict. Apartheid was not only a racial policy, but one designed to improve the class position of the Afrikaner people. Once that was accomplished, reforms became more feasible. In each country, the business class was vulnerable to pressures and had the power to bring about change, supported by middle class whites. Blouir II, Douglas M. Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest The Constitutional Issue of Indian Removal during George Washington's and Andrew Jackson's Administrations Faculty Sponsor: Young, Christopher Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest This presentation explores how the issue of Indian Removal by both the states and the federal government shaped and was shaped by the executive office. Of particular interest is George Washington's administration's inability to create an effective national policy regarding Indian Removal by? state governments. In contrast to Washington's failed policy is Andrew Jackson's administration's ability to carry out Indian Removal despite political pressure and rulings made by the Supreme Court that declared it illegal. Each president argued his position on Constitutional grounds, thus rendering the morally troubling issue of Indian Removal a legal question. By examining this as a legal issue, it becomes clear that during Washington's tenure as president, the federal government did not have the power to force a cohesive national agenda when states' rights were in question, and by Jackson's presidency, the executive office had the power not only to challenge the Supreme Court, but effectively to cripple the doctrine of judicial review as established by Madison v. Marbury(1803). Briggs, Jonathyne History Department, IU Northwest Listening for a Change: The Sexual Revolution in French Pop Music The 1960s have often been thought of a time of great change throughout the world. One of the critical transformations of this period was the configuration of the meaning of sexuality in western society, a move away from its valuation solely in terms of procreation to one that emphasized its value as a form of pleasure. While the impact of the so-called sexual revolution was apparent in the appearance of the mini-skirt and the Pill, one should recognize the emergence of young women in popular music as another marker of the change in gender norms. Nowhere were these young women more visible than in France, where teenaged girls took over the airwaves with their songs about the lives of youth. Young women were positioned to take on new roles in French society. Yet these young women, the copines, instead opted for more traditional roles and saw their entertainment careers as temporary while awaiting matrimony and childrearing. How, then, do we explain the disconnection between the increasingly sexualized young woman and the persistence of traditional gender roles? And what role did these young women have on the ‘long sexual revolution'? This essay will respond to these questions by examining the careers of three French singers—Sylvie Vartan, Françoise Hardy, and Sheila—as an indication of how the sexual revolution affected the lives of young women and how they shaped its meaning. Buckler, Patricia P. Department of English, IU Northwest Birth, Death, and Rebirth in Marcia Muller's Games to Keep the Dark Away In the fourth novel of her Sharon McCone series, Marcia Muller takes her detective to a new level, transforming her tentative and limited character to one with increased independence and a broader territory for her investigations. My essay will analyze this process of change. McCone is restless and discontented in this story, rebelling against the routine work she must do for the Legal Cooperative that employs her. She still has mixed feelings about shedding her old boyfriend, and she's anxious about finding a new apartment. She even seriously questions her own career choice, wondering whether she is really fit to be a private investigator. Resolving these issues is painful for her, but it transforms her character. Muller's series is also altered by this novel, and her writing becomes more confident and her handling of McCone's character is much more nimble. The use of water as a means of birth and rebirth, both for McCone and the series, predominates. My analysis will focus on these water images and their significance in carrying the book's actions forward. Contreras, Raoul Department of Minority Studies IU Northwest; Jenkins, Mary IU Northwest; Khwalid, Moanes IU Northwest; Sullivan, Barbara IU Northwest The U.S. War and Occupation Of Iraq: Imperialism, Democracy, and American Democracy During 2005-2008 Professor Raoul Contreras integrated his post-September 11, 2001 academic research, teaching, and service activities into a spring semester class that critically studied the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq. Each year a specific focus of the class has been the effect and impact of the war and occupation on domestic U.S. institutions and culture. In spring 2009, this focus will be on the war and occupation's relationship to U.S. political institutions and practices and to "American Democracy". The panel's faculty presentation by Contreras will summarize the research for the spring 2009 class. The panel's student participants each took the class between 2005-2008. Their presentations will summarize an individual research interest that was cultivated in taking the class. Mary Jenkins' paper poses a new conception, an anti-imperialist one, of an "American Hero" and role model from U.S. history. Barbara Sullivan's research looks at "cause and effect" relationships between the war and occupation of Iraq and intensifying degrees of social inequality both domestically and internationally. Moanes Khwalid, an Israeli-Palestinian, explores the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and the deteriorating conditions of life for Palestinians. Cortwright, Spencer Department of Biology, IU Northwest Long-Term Intraguild Predator-Prey Dynamics Among Salamanders Most predator-prey interactions feature species with highly divergent life histories. For example, predators are typically larger, longer-lived, less abundant, have slower population growth potential, etc. than their prey. However, a surprising number of predator-prey interactions feature species of similar life histories, especially those in freshwater systems; in fact, some predators and prey are in the same feeding guilds and hence these are known as intraguild predator-prey interactions. The dynamics and persistence of intraguild predator-prey systems are not well-studied. I studied dynamics and persistence of 27 such interactions over a 25 year period. The larval stage of the salamander, Ambystoma jeffersonianum, feeds on the larval stage of the salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, for one to two weeks during lifespans (including juvenile and adult periods) often reaching five or more years. My results show that even though the intraguild predator-prey interaction is of very short duration, 78% of the interactions were of high importance to population dynamics of the prey; most of those featured early colonization by prey and fast population growth, others featured later colonization by prey and stunted population growth due to intraguild predation. Only 22% of interactions did not feature intraguild predation as an important contributor to long-term prey population dynamics. Cripe, Brandy Lynn Department of History and Philosophy, School of Nursing, IU Northwest John and Abigail Adams: Their Transatlantic Relationship Sponsor: Young, Christopher Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest The essay that I will present is based on the transatlantic relationship between John and Abigail Adams during the late eighteenth century. This couple was distinct and unique because their devotion to their country took precedence over their own marriage. From the time they met, when John was a young Boston lawyer, through his presidency and his retirement, their love for one another grew in strength despite the geographic differences between them. The toughest battle for them was their time apart, when John negotiated treaties and sought financial security in Europe for the infant United States. The intimacy shared by John and Abigail during a time when communication was done by hand-written letters and carried over the Atlantic Ocean via ships was astonishing. They never gave up hope that one day they would again see each other. They understood how critical it was that the stability of the nation and the freedom that they fought so hard for be maintained, even if it meant sacrificing their time together. When John and Abigail Adams were reunited in London in 1794 it was the first time since John's initial departure to Europe in 1778 that they were in each other's company for a significant length of time. With all the time they spent apart, their love for one another never declined; their relationship strengthened as time passed. del Rosario, Derrick, Indiana University School of Medicine - Northwest Three Dimensional Imaging of Intramyocellular Triglyceride Accumulation in Skeletal Muscle of Ossabaw Swine Faculty Sponsor: Tatiana Kostrominova, Ph.D., Indiana University School of Medicine - Northwest Image analysis software (Fluoview, ImageJ and Voxx2) and confocal microscopy were used to construct and manipulate two and three dimensional images to determine the distribution of intramyocellular triglycerides (IMTG) in the skeletal muscle of Ossabaw swine. A correlation exists between obesity, IMTG accumulation and development of type II diabetes. The exact pathway is not fully understood. Increased understanding is one of the goals of this study in the swine model, which will draw a parallel with the human body. Two types of skeletal muscle were compared: extraocular muscle (EOM) of the eye and plantaris muscle of the lower limb. Muscle samples were supplied by Dr. Sturek at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Swine used as control (C) were fed a balanced diet of protein, fiber and carbohydrates, while experimental swine (H) received a diet high in fat and fructose. Slices of muscles were stained using Bodipy 493/503 lipid stain and scanned under a confocal microscope yielding digital images for analysis. Results showed increased accumulation of IMTG in plantaris muscles of swine on (H) diet when compared with swine on (C) diet. Visually, EOM of swine had higher amounts of IMTG than plantaris muscle. There was no obvious difference in IMTG accumulation in the EOM of swine on (C) and (H) diets. Future work includes quantitative analysis of IMTG in the EOM to confirm visual results. Investigation of IMTG in a variety of skeletal muscles could suggest distinctive lipid turnover characteristics between fibers with different functions. Donovan, Judy School of Education, IU Northwest Faculty Web Pages: Obsolete or still a Viable Technology? This study examines faculty web pages at ten comparable institutions to determine if faculty web pages are used by faculty or if they are becoming (or are already) obsolete, given newer technologies such as blogs and social networking sites. The research questions are: What percent of Education faculty at comparable institutions have web sites, and how up-to-date are these sites? What purposes do faculty web sites serve? What information is included on the sites? Do faculty administrators, such as Chairs set an example by more often having sites posted than other faculty? Is there a correlation between faculty rank and having a web site? Results show few faculty create and maintain up to date web pages, though some exemplary examples are found and will be shared. Solutions, or options for addressing this issue are discussed. Donovan, Judy School of Education, IU Northwest; Park, Ju CETL, IU Northwest Working Students Attitudes Toward Service-Learning This study surveys IU Northwest students engaged in service learning in the 2007-8 school year to determine if students who worked long hours have a harder time accommodating service learning into their schedules, and if they differed in their perceptions of the value of service learning, based on hours worked, gender, level (graduate or undergraduate), full time or part time status, and other demographic variables. Results indicated students who work 30 hours or more a week do have concerns about accommodating service learning into their schedules, but when they complete the service learning they are among the strongest supporters of these activities. Some student characteristics (such as living in a rural area, being of minority status) do impact their attitudes toward service learning. Fried, Linda P. Dean, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Public Health: For Our Future Linda P. Fried, M.D., M.P.H., is Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health and DeLamar Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Columbia University. She is an epidemiologist and geriatrician, and an internationally- renowned scientist who has contributed extensively to our knowledge about how to help people stay healthy as they grow older, in our aging world. Dr. Fried has received numerous honors and awards, including being named one of the Top 100 Women in Maryland, and a "Living Legend in Medicine" by the U.S. Congress. She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine. Garza, Joshua I., Northwestern University-Feinberg School of Medicine The Effect of Desloratadine and Nortriptyline on T Helper Cell Proliferation and Cytokine Production Sponsor: Castaneda, Carol Department of Biology, IU Northwest Relapsing remitting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (R-EAE) in SJL mice is an artificially induced animal model that is useful for the study of the human demyelinating disease multiple sclerosis (MS). The disease follows a relapsing-remitting course with T helper-1 (TH-1) lymphocytes targeting different elements of myelin to produce a relapse. Combinational therapy with the antihistamine desloratadine and antidepressant nortriptyline has been shown to reduce the severity of disease while concurrently reducing the proliferation of newly activated autoreactive T cells. The goal of these experiments is to further investigate the efficacy and mechanism of desloratadine and nortriptyline in the treatment of R-EAE. The effect of desloratadine or nortriptyline alone and in combination altered CD4+ T cell response in vitro. Both cellular proliferation as well as TH 1 and TH17 cytokine production were reduced in a dose dependant manner, while TH 2 cytokine production was increased in a dose dependant manner. The ability of desloratadine and nortriptyline to alter naïve CD4+ differentiation was also observed. A dose dependant decrease in TH 1 cytokine (inflammatory) was found whereas TH 2 cytokine production (anti-inflammatory) was increased. These findings suggest that desloratadine and nortriptyline may play a role in the differentiation of naïve CD4+ cells into TH 2 cells. Future experiments to determine the mechanisms by which desloratadine and nortriptyline ameliorate R-EAE are needed. The promise of these drugs for the treatment of multiple sclerosis remains to be seen. Genovesi, Brian Department of Biology, IU Northwest Assessing the impact of increasing soil nitrogen on soil fungi. Sponsor: Avis, Peter Department of Biology, IU Northwest Nitrogen is an important element for all life-forms, including fungi. But too much available nitrogen could alter how fungi grow. Fungi, like pathogens and decomposers that depend on other organisms like plants for their carbohydrates, may benefit and grow more if increased nitrogen supply causes more plant growth. However, not all fungi parasitize the living or decompose the dead. Some fungi grow by trading with plants instead. A group of mutualistic fungi typically trade nutrients like nitrogen to plant roots for sugars. But, if nitrogen is added to the soil environment, these mutualistic fungi might lose their trading status (since the added nitrogen gives the plants a free supply of nitrogen) and grow less because they lose their source of sugars. This is important to know because reactive forms of nitrogen (e.g., oxides) are increasingly common in air pollution today and thus large amounts of these forms of nitrogen can enter soils by precipitation. This presentation will describe our research that tests if the addition of nitrogen in reactive forms increases the numbers (species, frequency) of pathogenic and decomposer fungi but decreases the amount of the mutualistic fungi in three on-going nitrogen addition experiments (two in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park, and one at the Cedar Creek Natural History Area in Minnesota). Soil samples were collected in each site from replicate experimental (nitrogen addition) and control (no nitrogen added) plots and we are currently measuring the numbers and frequencies of fungi in these samples by using a molecular technique that identifies fungal species by their DNA sequences. Henke, Ryan E. Department of Communications, University of Illinois at Chicago The Anxiety of Wealth? Early American Evangelicals, Prosperity, and the Middle Class This essay presents a historical analysis in progress, exploring the economic rhetoric of American evangelicals. In his book The Embarrassment of Riches (1987), Simon Schama describes a middle-class anxiety regarding wealth in Holland during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Calvinist Dutch feared destitution and poverty, but they also fretted about the effects wealth would have on their prospects for salvation. Although the Dutch bourgeoisie enjoyed their growing material comfort, they feared damnation and soothed their guilt through philanthropy. My work attempts to see whether middle-class Americans have also evinced an anxiety over riches. Using evangelical Protestant leaders as social barometers for the
bourgeoisie, I look at the colonial and antebellum periods in the United States. We see
ambivalence toward wealth in the colonial period, with the Puritans cautiously extolling
the fruits of labor while expressing concern over the potentially disastrous moral
consequences of riches. Tempered by the Market Revolution and growing middle-class
prosperity, anti-riches rhetoric and ambivalence toward wealth began to fade as the 19th
century progressed. As evangelical leaders became more dependent upon the middle
class, they lauded the hard-earned material fruits of disciplined, individualistic efforts in
the marketplace. Both Methodist and Baptist leaders showed an increasing tendency
toward celebrating wealth. Some, such as Francis Wayland, justified accumulating riches
through a "work or starve" doctrine. Many antebellum Americans did engage in charity,
but it is hard to say whether they did so out of benevolence or a desire for class separation
and social control.
Ige, Dorothy W. Department of Communications, IU Northwest; Montalbano, Lori
Department of Communications, IU Northwest
Bynum & Myer: Thematic Rhetorical Analysis of
Black and White Female Preacher Evangelists
Juanita Bynum and Joyce Myer are included on most lists of prominent, contemporary female preacher evangelists in the United States. African American
preacher evangelist and singer Bynum, and Caucasian American preacher evangelist
Myer reach diverse audiences using dynamic messages. A rhetorical analysis of the key
thematic message contents will provide insights regarding the popular appeal of the
public communicators. The study will inform scholarly and lay audiences as to which
thematic elements may contribute to success in religious rhetoric.
This work will uniquely contribute to extant communication literature through
highlighting established communication theories, and through identifying, comparing and
contrasting symbolic themes of Bynum and Myer in major sermonic books, speeches, and
recorded messages. Pivotal research questions are posed and will be analyzed: 1) Do
Bynum and Myer establish key themes? If so, what are the themes and are they similar
or different? 2) Are there cultural and gender implications, or other implied effects that
can be analyzed in Bynum and Myer's rhetoric? 3) Does the rhetorical communication
analysis suggest implications for future research or future messages of Bynum and Myer?
Are there implications for other speakers and listeners? This discussion suggests future
related investigation of religious disco
Jones, Earl R. African American and Minority Studies, Department of Minority Studies,
IU Northwest

Historic Preservation, Schools and Community Development
Many underserved neighborhoods and communities throughout the United States are undergoing a process of incumbent revitalization. This is a process where members of
a local community initiate actions to bring back their communities. Central to this process
is preservation of culturally significant structures, housing and places. Related is a sharp
awareness of high levels of unemployment and limited educational opportunities. This
research will discuss the role of schools in prompting revitalization. Schools can be a
critical stimulus for revitalization. Schools and community development initiatives that
offer learning opportunities for students (particularly for at risk students) that are directly
tied to revitalization can increase educational attainment of students and revitalize
neighborhoods. Implications for revitalization of seriously underserved communities are
presented. Research for this project in part builds on several preliminary observations
from the American Planning Association, Planning in the Black Community Division's
National Conference held in Gary, summer 2007. This conference was initiated by the
Historic Midtown Project of the Department of Minority Studies and hosted by the City
of Gary, the Gary, Hammond, East Chicago Empowerment Zone and the Historic
Midtown Project.
Jones, Suzanne Master of Liberal Studies, IU Kokomo
No Thank You, We Do Not Want to be Romans, We Only Want Your Words
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ann Cameron
Travel to any café and the native speakers will not converse in Latin. For this reason, Latin is labeled as a dead language. But though it is not a medium of conversation spoken in any single location in the world, Latin does survive in altered forms throughout the Romance languages and in the vast vocabulary of English. Since the majority of English vocabulary comes from Latin, should English not be called an Anglo-Latin language rather than an Anglo-Saxon language? In order to better understand why the English language is truly an Anglo-Saxon language, this essay investigates Latin immigration into the English language in three chronological periods. The first period, from the Roman Invasion to the Norman Conquest, reveals that even after a long Roman occupation, Latin did not conquer the rugged Anglo-Saxon language. The second period, from the Norman Conquest to the Renaissance, reveals that the sophisticated Norman French prepared the English language for the subsequent influx of scholarly Latin words. The third period, from the Renaissance to the present, reveals that English scholars used Latinate words to produce uniquely English works, and currently, modern scholars and scientists alike continue to coin words from ancient Latin. All of these elements of our linguistic history have been expressed in Germanic, Anglo-Saxon English with the secondary broadening, scholarly influence of Latin. Kern, Paul Professor Emeritus of History, IU Northwest The Controversy over the Move to Glen Park IU Northwest grew out of the Extension Division of Indiana University, which started offering classes at various Gary sites around 90 years ago. In 1932 Gary College was started operations at Horace Mann School, and IU shifted its emphasis west to Hammond and East Chicago. In 1948, however, IU took over Gary College and moved classes to Seaman Hall, the institutional annex of City Methodist Church. IU's Gary Center soon outgrew its facilities, and in 1954 IU started looking for a suitable site for a new million-dollar building. Gleason Park became the leading candidate, but before the city of Gary deeded over the land (the price was one dollar), it encountered opposition from local Glen Park residents. This paper will examine the nature of the opposition and how it was overcome. Kilibarda, Vesna Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Science, IU Northwest; Vajiac, Bogdan Mathematics Department, Saint Mary's College; Wyzinski, Henry Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Science, IU Northwest Students' Retention and Assessment in M118 Finite Mathematics Class With a recent increased focus on general education in our university, the Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Science revisited our two main general education classes, M100 and M118. We noticed that the DFW rates in M118, a Finite Mathematics class, were significantly higher than in the other 100-level mathematics classes. Topics such as probability and linear programming, which are part of the M118 curriculum, are usually challenging for students. In the Spring of 2006 we started several interventions to improve students retention: we enforced prerequisites, we created additional class-specific pretests and practice tests available on the departmental web site, we created common midterm and final exams preceded by practice exams. We trained and employed additional tutors specifically to help with M118 classes. Our first assessment of students' performance on mid-term and final exams is encouraging. We looked at a typical six questions from mid-term and final exams as a sample of students from M118 classes in the fall of 2007. The average score for mid-term questions was 84% vs. 76% for the final exam ones. This was somewhat unexpected, given the fact that the material about probabilities on the midterm is more challenging. Based on these results, we are confident that the students who passed the course achieved the goals of the class. The DFW rates for the course are also dropping. We plan to put more emphasis on linear programming and on preparation for the Final Exam in the future. Kilibarda, Zoran Department of Geosciences, IU Northwest, and Diane Taylor, Villanova University Current Rates of Mt. Baldy Dune Migration Inland, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Developments of the Michigan City pier (1908) and seawall (1930s), which are up current from the Mt. Baldy dune, dramatically altered coastal processes in the NE part of IDNL. Since 1974, over 1 million tons of sand have been nourished near the Mt. Baldy beach, to slow beach erosion. Previous estimates of Mt. Baldy dune migration ranged from 1-2 m/year. Our studies of georeferenced historical aerial photographs indicate that in last 70 years, the southern edge of Mt. Baldy dune has migrated 220 m inland, at an average rate of 3.1 m/year. We began monitoring Mt. Baldy dune migration in May 2007, by establishing 26 stations along the southern edge of the dune. Wind data from Michigan City, as well as temperature and precipitation data from IDNL weather stations, were analyzed in this study. Our observations show that the average migration of Mt. Baldy was 2.12 m between May 13, 2007 and August 29, 2008. The maximum Mt. Baldy dune advancement occurred at its central part (4.3 m at station 11), where 11 stations recorded over a 3 m advance. The minimum advancement (0.3 m at station 18) occurred next to the now inactive path up the dune's slip face. Migration of Mt. Baldy is erratic, and mostly occurs when strong northerly winds coincide with dry weather and there is no snow cover on ground. During two observation periods (Oct. 21 – Nov. 17, 2007, and March 23 – April 27, 2008, 13 % of the total time) almost half of total dune migration occurred. Lane, James Professor Emeritus of History, IU Northwest Jack Buhner, IU Northwest's First Chancellor In 1952 32 year-old Political Science professor John C. Buhner became director of the IU Gary Center and for 17 years guided IU Northwest during its formative years. This paper will explore his leadership style and the problems the fledgling university faced as it groped toward home rule within the IU system. A native of Seymour, Indiana, and 1942 graduate from Franklin College, Buhner earned a masters degree from IU in 1949 after serving in the air force during World War II. After teaching classes at IU's Calumet Center in East Chicago, he quickly rose to the position of assistant director. As director he continued to teach, work registration, and counsel students, in addition to his administrative duties. He instituted monthly meetings of the faculty and sought their advice and consent when hiring new faculty. During the 1960s the university became a four-year institution and held its first baccalaureate degree graduation ceremony in 1967. In 1969, the year Buhner resigned to take a position as vice chancellor at IUPUI, IU Northwest was accredited by the North Central Association and offered 14 degree programs. This paper will discuss some of the controversies that Buhner faced during the stormy Sixties. Le Beau Lucchesi, Emilie College of Communications, Media, Culture and Society, DePaul University Sold: High Expectations, HGTV and Subprime Mortgages. Thesis Advisor: Dr. Camilla Fojas, DePaul University Winning in the United States is everything and the type of home owned by an individual is seen as a symbol of his or her success. A successful individual, for example, owns a home, a big home. This emphasis on homeownership as an indicator of cultural capital is part of an anomie currently experienced by Americans. Anomie, as defined by Robert K. Merton in Strain Theory, is the situation that results from a society possessing endless expectations for achieving personal goals. These expectations cannot be realistically met and the disgruntled turn to deviance. In the current housing market, some unqualified buyers knowingly pursued subprime loans to achieve a high expectation. While adjustable loans reset and foreclosures increase, Home & Garden Television (HGTV) continues to air lifestyle "reality" shows that detail the financial information of homebuyers. Not all of the potential buyers qualify for a loan but the mortgage is magically granted. Thus, the high expectations continue to build despite the crumbling housing market. My essay, Sold: High Expectations, HGTV and Subprime Mortgages, explores the societal emphasis on homeownership and how this message has been presented by lifestyle programming on HGTV. I also consider how these messages are consumed by educated, young professionals who are eager to buy and pursue subprime lending options in an act of deviance.
Lin, Xiaoqing Diana Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest
The Development of the Philosophy Departments at Peking and Tsinghua Universities
(1910s-30s)
Academic disciplines were a new phenomenon in early 20th century China. Historically, what would be specialized into history, philosophy and literature were integral parts of a scholar's study, with the ultimate goal of ethical development. This essay examines the development of the discipline of philosophy in China, with a special focus on the Philosophy Departments at Peking and Tsinghua Universities, two leading Chinese universities in the early 20th century. These two philosophy departments employed many leading Chinese philosophers and produced students who exerted great influence in Chinese society. This study is both an institutional study of academic policies, including the university's pronounced mission and academic structure, and how individual faculty's input affected the development of that particular department. I will examine the following issues: 1) what was the rationale for establishing a philosophy department at Peking and Tsinghua Universities (versus a Chinese studies department), 2) how did university funding, policies and hiring affect the composition, curriculum and research output of faculty members in both, 3) what distinct characteristics did these two departments have, and what indigenous and foreign influences contributed to these characteristics, and 4) what common characteristics did these two departments have and how one can generalize about the development of the academic discipline of philosophy in China based on their histories. Monda, Anthony J. III English Department, IU Northwest Masculine Struggle and "Rhetorical Rape" in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Faculty sponsor: Dr. Douglas Swartz, English Department, IU Northwest Some scholarship has pointed towards Chaucer's regard for creative power as a male power. As Carolyn Dinshaw has pointed out, "An act of generative penetration inaugurates [Chaucer's] work, an act which links humankind to the generative cycle of nature." To say that the opening lines of the General Prologue are centered around a "generative penetration" links this construction of the male body's function to Chaucer's creativity and poetics, suggesting a larger connection between the language of his Tales and the physical body. Many of the pilgrims' tales also contain acts of penetration, often to a much more destructive, as opposed to a generative end. I will be looking at four tales in particular—the Miller's and Reeve's, and also the Monk's and Summoner's—under two lenses. First, I will employ various studies that have been conducted in masculine theory to examine the motivation behind these particularly vengeful tales, and, second, I will examine the nature of rape in both its historical understanding in the context of the middle ages, as well as from a modern psychological perspective, relating these perspectives back to the tales and their tellers. My essay will illuminate the running commentary on the nature of "masculinity" present within these tales, as well as the caustic nature of storytelling Chaucer presents. Montalbano, Lori L. Departments of Communications and Performing Arts, IU Northwest From the Songs of the Rhapsodes to Auto-Ethnographical Performance: Investigating the Life-Long Dialogic Engagement of Self and Other. The process of performative inquiry, today identified as performance studies, has rich traditions and a history grounded in the performances of ancient Greek tragedies, and in the oral traditions passed down from the "giants" of the Roman Empire, In more contemporary history, an evolution from the discipline of oral interpretation, facilitated by a paradigmatic shift in the methodology proposed in the 1970s. Throughout its western history, performance as a methodological tool has evolved from the great elocutionists, imitative acting, into now, the process of performance as a way of knowing. Through its history there have remained a few constants. These include the performers desire to connect with character, self and audience. Pelias (1999) contends, "the central interest of performance studies is the process of dialogic engagement with one's own and other's aesthetic communication through means of performance". In this essay, I will examine the evolution of performance theory regarding dialogic engagement as it relates to self presentation and embodiment of the other, through reflections and analyses of three productions that involved a positioning of self and other onstage, in the text, and within the audience. Additionally, I will examine the multiple voices that intersect through the performative act, by focusing on the connectedness of dialogic engagement, performer and author intentionality, catharsis and the collective story facilitated by traditional and nontraditional aesthetic performances. Morris, John Department of Physics, IU Northwest Extra Dimensions and Moduli Near Exploding Black Holes If the universe has extra spatial dimensions which have compactified to microscopic sizes, they may appear as fields called moduli that permeate our three dimensional space. Speculative, but possible, observable effects associated with moduli fields near exploding black holes are considered. Needleman, Ruth Division of Labor Studies, IU Northwest "Unknown Giants: Race And the 1919 Steel Strike in Gary" This paper opens new perspectives on how we understand the role of race in Gary's history. Newspapers, including The Gary Post-Tribune, have always referred to the 1919 Steel Strike as the event that divided white against black. The most important documents and historical studies of Gary and the 1919 steel strike went along with this view. Through interviews and research, I found a very different story, one that makes Gary an exception to the racial conflict that broke out in other parts of the country. In Gary, organizers made concerted efforts to bridge racial divides. This story, however, was a local story that got lost in the national coverage and the vicious accusations brought up by the steel industry and spread by the media against the workers. What I uncovered, with help from two dissertations, archival material and newspaper accounts, were systematic efforts to build interracial unity in NW Indiana. Eight months before the strike, Gary's local papers carried advertisements for special meetings for negro, Mexican, and Slovak iron and steel men. A local council formed in advance included two African Americans, who spoke at every protest and rally before and during the strike, calling on the black community to support the strike and calling on the white workers to stand arm-in-arm with their black brothers. This advanced preparation and organization, these continual appeals during the strike, made Gary a stronghold for inter-racial labor unity. The incident that sparked state and federal intervention was not racial in character, according to observers who were there and other reports. The serious racial divide came after the strike, as the industry and the media tried to blame the strike's failure on black strikebreakers, hoping to deepen divisions among workers. Neil, William Professor Emeritus of History and former acting director of IU Northwest IU Northwest's Early Years After graduating from Gary Emerson in 1937, Bill Neil attended Gary College evenings while working as a bank messenger. He finished the two-year program in three years and obtained a scholarship to the University of Chicago. After serving during World War II, he completed his B.A degree at Chicago and started teaching history courses while working on advanced degrees. Thus when IU took over Gary College, he was one of six original faculty members. Part of Director Jack Buhner's inner circle, he became interim director in 1959 when Buhner took a two-year leave of absence. In his reminiscences Neil will talk about his long association with IU Northwest and some of the problems facing the university upon its move to Glen Park. Nelson, Karl Department of Psychology, IU Northwest; Huysken, Kristen Department of Geosciences, IU Northwest; Kilibarda, Zoran Department of Geosciences, IU Northwest Assessing the Impact of Geoscience Laboratories on Student Learning. Professors have long viewed laboratories as an integral part of science education at colleges and universities. They provide students with hands-on and problem-solving skills commonly absent from lecture-based science courses. While anecdotal evidence suggests the beneficial impact of laboratories on science class learning, little quantitative research supports this statement. This study examined data from surveys comparing students (N = 108) who completed a geoscience laboratory in conjunction with an introductory-level lecture-based course to those who completed the lecture course only. The data show that lab-enrolled students performed better in three areas: 1) quizzes, 2) examinations, and 3) homework exercises, resulting in an increase of 5.5% in their final lecture class score. Even after controlling for GPA, laboratory enrollment accounted for a statistically significant proportion of the variance. Nontraditional students benefited most from the laboratory. Traditional students enrolled in lab performed 2.1% higher overall in the lecture course. Nontraditional students enrolled in lab performed 21.1% higher overall than their lecture course only counterparts. Our results indicate that geoscience laboratories play a significant role in student learning for all student populations and appear particularly beneficial for nontraditional students. Park, Larry Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest King Andrew and the Jacksonian Assault on the Constitution Sponsor: Dr. Christopher Young, Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest With the advent of universal white male suffrage between the 1828 and 1832 presidential elections, the common man at long last grasped the reigns of democracy and asserted his interests on the American political stage. Having thrown off the yoke of aristocracy and foreign subjugation, standing poised to expand west and claim a transcontinental "empire of liberty," the young and vigorous American republic was witnessing the birth of mass politics: it was the Age of Jackson. As the original Washington outsider, Andrew Jackson was swept into the executive office on the crest of an unstoppable wave of democratic nationalism that empowered him with a tremendous mandate to reshape the institutional framework of government on behalf of an expanded electorate, taking the United States seemingly one step closer to the fulfillment of the egalitarian promise of the Declaration of Independence. But, as this essay argues, the Jacksonian conception of the presidency was fundamentally at odds with the Constitution from which its powers were derived. For Jackson, Constitutional interpretation was subordinate to ideology. The Constitution was not to be upheld, but politicized; in the Age of Jackson, the Constitution was not the legal bedrock of the American republic, but a political truncheon. Pierce, Jerry B. History Department, IU Northwest "To do or die manfully": Representing Classical Masculinity in Recent Epic Films recent (2000-present) cinematic representations of masculinity in the ancient world in the films Gladiator, Troy, and 300. These films, intended for a mass audience, tend to share a common patriarchal characterization of the male protagonist as a hero who is ready "to live and die manfully:" he is strong, active, and above all, heterosexual. Each film represents this powerful standard of masculinity through the main characters' familial and/or sexual relationships, their agency, moral fortitude, and the "safe" hetero-sexualizing of their bodies. These representations of masculinity are in stark contrast to other male characters in the same films (often the antagonists) who appear as feminized, weak, and cowardly and who often tend to exhibit "aberrant" sexual behavior such as incest and possible pedophilia or who blur traditionally-held concepts of gender, or who simply fail to act "manfully" enough. In some cases, the filmmakers have gone out of their way to make their depictions of ancient masculinity "safe" and hetero-normative by altering or inverting evidence from the historical sources. Therefore, these recent films present traditional masculinity and heterosexuality as positive, heroic, and admirable. This depiction of masculinity in Gladiator, Troy and 300 is likely related to their commercial success. These trends suggest a popular desire among the movie-going public for hetero-normative masculine characters that reinforce traditional patriarchal roles in the face of radical changes to gender and sexual categories in the early twenty-first century. Rey, Kristel Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest The Adams-Jefferson Correspondence: Their Thoughts on Aristocracy in Early America and the Atlantic World Sponsor: Dr. Christopher Young, Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest The Founding Fathers of the United States fought to preserve liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness for all their fellow countrymen. Each of the Fathers had his own personal vision for how the country should be governed, but they all at least agreed that a break with Great Britain was a must. The United States must be a free and independent nation state. To achieve this particular goal, some of the Founders felt that a complete break from their mother country's aristocratic ways was necessary. Two of the Founding Fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, had very strong feelings and opinions on this subject. They expressed their thoughts to each other in great detail throughout their life-long relationship. In their correspondence, they frequently discussed the role of an aristocracy in America. This essay focuses on the correspondence of Adams and Jefferson in their retirement, exploring their views on this subject. Their contrasting attitudes toward the place of an aristocracy in the New World illustrate the different meanings these founders gave to the momentous Revolution they helped architect. Swartz, Doug Department of English, IU Northwest "Enormous Bliss": Sex, the Sublime, and Speculation in Milton's Paradise Lost Books V-VIII of Paradise Lost, the central third of the epic, consist of an extended scene of instruction, admonishment and forewarning. According to the prose argument that precedes Book V, in order "to render man inexcusable," God dispatches the archangel Raphael, the "sociable spirit," and supplies him with the central talking points of the poem's theodicy, but also includes a further charge to communicate "what ever else may avail Adam to know" about his situation, the imminence of his satanic foe and the sufficiency of his free choice in the matter, which divine foresight has seen will be unavailing. However, the stern and even slightly irascible tone with which God commissions the visitation does not prepare the reader for the extravagantly lavish and eroticized scene of pastoral otium into which Raphael enters, "the field of bliss," a profuse landscape of scents, sounds, sights, and sensations, nor for the mutually curious and desirous colloquy that he enters into with the human pair and the extent to which their discourse speculates on matters about which neither can be fully informed. In this essay I argue that these passages lead, or speculatively "may" or "perhaps" lead, a reader further into the sublime than critical schemes of the poem's subordination of delight to instruction, or the instrumentality of poetry to pedagogic purpose, suggest. Reading closely passages in books V and VIII, I show the complexity of the relationship between moral precept and the perceptible qualities and "enormous bliss" of the poetry. Seller, Frances Department of Biology, IU Northwest Does air pollution impact soil fungi? Sponsor: Peter Avis, Department of Biology, IU Northwest Air pollutants can have a significant effect on the growth and reproduction of fungi. We are examining how air pollutants emitted from steel mills affects fungi in an adjacent, down-wind oak savanna, by measuring the diversity (numbers of species and frequency of each species found) of soil fungi along a pollution gradient found at a site in Gary, Indiana (the Miller Woods portion of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park which is immediately adjacent and downwind the US Steel facility). In the summer of 2008, soil was sampled at specific points arranged in transects starting from as near to the border of the oak savanna and US Steel as possible and extending east into the oak savanna. This sampling strategy was selected to cover a spatial gradient in pollution. From these soils, we have extracted total DNA and are currently identifying fungi in these soils using a DNA fingerprinting and sequencing approach to test the hypothesis that high levels of air pollution (as measured by nearness to pollution source) are associated with lower numbers (the numbers of species and abundances) of fungi. Talarico, Jr., Ernest F. Indiana University School of Medicine-Northwest The National Human Cadaver Prosection Program Human cadavers are used in basic sciences, medical education and various specialties. There is a growing need for specially trained experts in anatomy and dissection. The National Human Cadaver Prosection Program recruits individuals in the U.S. interested in clinical/basic sciences, giving them practical experience with human cadavers. This program culminates in cadaver prosection, stressing the need for competent professionals in academia and medicine. Prosectors are selected through an extensive application process. Each receives certification in Universal Precautions, and attends sessions focusing on terminology, gross anatomy and radiography. A seminar, "Introduction to the Cadaver Experience," discusses the multiple uses of cadavers and introduces the gross anatomy laboratory. Following acquisition of dissection skills, prosectors complete an intensive, 2-day cadaver prosection, and an orthopedic workshop, using surgical instruments and orthopedic implants. Prosectors communicate their knowledge through discussion at the cadaver-side, reflect upon the experience during a memorial service, and complete an evaluation of the program. For years 2004-2007, applicants consisted of 40-160 individuals representing anatomy instructors and professors, morticians, physicians, paramedics, anthropologists, dentists, nurses, veterinarians, pharmacists, high school teachers, pharmaceuticals and counselors. Prosectors represented a cross-section of diverse ethnic, professional/nonprofesional backgrounds. A class of 24-35 prosectors was selected. All completed the program. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive: stating a high-degree of learning; a positive influence on career choice, and requesting program expansion. This program is applicable to other schools seeking to increase the knowledge of human cadaver prosection. Support: Zimmer, Inc.; Indiana University School of Medicine - Northwest; Northwest Indiana Area Health Education Center Towasnicki, Debra L. Afro-American Studies, IU Northwest Voudou: The Traditional Religion of Haiti Sponsor: Dr. E. Scooter Pegram This essay examines the origins of Voudou, carefully tracing this traditional religion of Haiti back to Africa. The Fon, Mahi, and Nago from old Dahomey, as well as the Yoruba and Kongo peoples were instrumental in the formation of the Voudou culture in Haiti. The African slaves' religious traditions journeyed with them across the ocean into unfamiliar worlds, as many were taken as a labor supply to the sugar plantations of Haiti. Voudou encompasses a variety of traditional beliefs that give meaning and purpose to the slave's life, thus allowing them an avenue to spiritually express themselves. Roman Catholicism is visual and official, Voudou is unofficial and at times, largely secretive, yet, in many instances, they have been practiced simultaneously. Parallels have developed between Voudou spirits (loa) and Catholic saints. The Voudou sanctuary as well as the Voudou priest (hougan) and the Voudou priestess (mambo) are vital elements to understanding spirit invocation and possession. The Voudou ceremony itself encompasses a wealth of ritual and sacrifice. Historically, the practice of Voudou has provided a connection or sense of commonality, uniting Africans to their ancestral home. Weaver, Christopher Chicago State University and Northern Illinois University Epistemic Internalism and Empirical Knowledge This presentation is about what some have called the Sellarsian dilemma. This dilemma locates the problem of empirical knowledge around the question: how are basic beliefs possible according to internalist foundationalism? If our apprehension of experience as cognizers is construed or understood as propositional or judgmental in character, (as having as its content the conceptual claim or thesis that the experience is of a certain specific sort), then it becomes relatively easy to see how it could provide justification for a belief with that same content. The problem is that it is quite difficult to see why it does not itself require some sort of justification, some independent reason for thinking that the relevant proposition is true. Thus, one horn of the dilemma appeals to a higher-order propositional awareness understood in terms of judgments. A quite different horn of the dilemma recommends that the justification for the belief in question requires no such judgmental awareness at all, and is therefore nonpropositional in nature. I want to address this problem for BonJour's internalism in such a way that it not only lays to rest worries about the Sellarsian dilemma, but also (in the sphere of empirical knowledge) in such a way that it keeps internalists from being impaled on either horn of a newer, more serious dilemma (viz. the Bergmannian dilemma). Wesolowski, James H. Departments of Sociology and Anthropology and Department of Geosciences, IU Northwest Severe Climatic Events in Prehistoric Coastal Ecuador and their Human Impact Sponsors: Dr. Bob Mucci, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Dr. Erin Argyilan, Department of Geosciences An archeological site located on an alluvial terrace in the Salango River valley of coastal Ecuador contains two occupational horizons with a gravel deposit between them. This layer suggests that occupation of the terrace was interrupted by a climate-driven event, and the gravel has been attributed alternatively to two sources: either mass wasting from the adjacent slopes of the Chongón-Colonche Cordillera or stream flood deposits. Determining the source of the gravel is the primary focus of this study. By evaluating sediment characteristics and mapping sediment distribution across the terrace, the source and extent of the gravel will be established. Seventy-three sediment samples were obtained from ten locations laid out in a grid on the terrace surface. The samples were collected using a soil auger between the modern surface and a depth of 1.5 m, and are representative of the distinct sediment characteristics observed in each location. The extent, depth, and thickness of each stratum is mapped and correlated to determine if a sediment source, either on the adjacent hill or upstream, is more probable. The consistency of the thickness and distribution of the gravel suggests an alluvial origin, likely overbank deposits associated with heavy flooding. Ongoing work includes correlation with other area sites to determine if widespread climatic events related to the El Niño Southern Oscillation are associated with the deposits. This will provide information about the sensitivity of the landscape and human settlements to climatic variability as well as how climate drives changes in human occupation. Young, Christopher J. Department of History and Philosophy, IU Northwest President George Washington and the Kentuckians My larger project considers the relationship between President George Washington and the people of the United States of America. As the French Revolution intensified with the execution of the French Monarch in 1793, so did the American public's interest in foreign affairs. Since the Washington administration seized the initiative in foreign affairs (rather than Congress, as was expected by many at the time), the executive became the focal point of the developing relationship between the American public and the newly established federal government. Not surprisingly, much of the focus for historians of this period is on New England and Virginia since the strength of each (proto) party—Federalist and the Republican respectively—hailed from these regions. In my paper I will move away from these areas and focus instead on the new western state of Kentucky. Kentucky was experiencing its first year of statehood when the increasingly radical French Revolution spilled over its borders. As the Washington administration struggled to keep the United States out of the European war, another foreign policy crisis loomed in the west between the United States and Spain over the use of the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans. The manner in which Washington and his administration dealt with this potential crisis placed the newly established office of President of the United States squarely at the intersection of foreign affairs and popular politics. Acknowledgements: Alan Barr, Zoran Kilibarda and Stephanie Shanks-Meile, the organizers of the COAS 5th Annual Research Conference, gratefully acknowledge the following people: Chancellor Bruce Bergland and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs Kwesi Aggrey, for their continuous support of academic research; Dorothy Ige former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and founder of this conference; Mark Hoyert, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, without whose support the conference could not continue; Dean Patrick Bankston and the College of Health and Human Services for their enthusiastic participation and generous financial support; Toni Lieteau, Associate Vice Chancellor for University Relations and James Lane, Professor Emeritus, Department of History for their work and contributions to the Plenary Session; Stephen McShane of the Calumet Regional Archives for help with photos; and Paula James, John Rudolph, Ryan Shelton, Mary Hackett and Linda Sharma for their help in the organizational aspects of the conference. Financial support was provided by the Office of the Chancellor, Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Health and Human Services.

Source: http://www.iun.edu/~nwacadem/asrescon/conf_program/pdf/conf_program_2008.pdf