Faculty News : Simmons College

Paul Abraham, director of the MATESL Program and chair of the education department, was recognized in May by the Massachusetts Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages during its annual spring conference in Leominster, Mass. Abraham received the Ann Dow Award for Creativity and Excellence in Professional Development for promoting professional development within the field, based on his "day-to-day practice in the running of the program and the concrete experiences of individuals who participated."

A new study about promoting oral hygiene was co-published by School of Management Professor Shuili Du in the October issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. The study, "Exploring the Social and Business Returns of a Corporate Oral Health Initiative Aimed at Disadvantaged Hispanic Families," evaluated the effectiveness of an oral health outreach program in disadvantaged communities. Research showed that the social benefits of having an attractive smile was the most effective strategy for improving dental hygiene habits, with new immigrants being the most receptive to oral health messages. Du and his fellow researchers found that families that had been in the U.S. longer were less responsive to the program's messages than new immigrants.

Sari Edelstein, associate professor of nutrition, recently co-authored Food and Nutrition at Risk in America: Food Insecurity, Biotechnology, Food Safety and Bioterrorism (Jones and Bartlett, 2008). The book addresses current food and nutrition issues, from the likelihood that our food supply may become tainted to food insecurity within our borders, to crop manipulation's effects on health. The text offers readers the opportunity to consider the types of assistance and policies needed in the future to ensure our health and welfare.

Graduate School of Library and Information Science Professor Peter Hernon will speak at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 14th national conference, "Pushing the Edge: Explore, Engage, Extend," March 12-15, 2009 in Seattle, Wash. ACRL is the largest division of the American Library Association.

During the 2008/2009 academic years Theresa Perry, professor of Africana studies and education, will begin an intervention/research project at a high school in Boston. She will work with John Diamond of the Harvard Graduate School of Education to provide a textured and grounded understanding of the high school dropout rate in an urban school and the achievement gap, which will inform the reengineering of the school's culture. The project will rely on ethnographic research, in-depth interviews with high- and low-achieving students, and an examination of how teachers and administrators discuss challenging students. Their work is funded by the Edvesters, a network of philanthropist and foundations that work to fill the public school-funding gap in the Boston area.

Assistant Professors of Biology Liz Scott and Vladimir Douhovnikoff have received a $15,000 grant from the President's Fund for Faculty Excellence, in support of their collaborative microbial ecology project on the microbial ecology of inanimate surfaces and the effects of disturbance. Their project combines ecology and microbiology to study the community dynamics of bacteria on the surface of inanimate hand-contact objects, such as public computer mice. Scott also received a $1,500 travel award from the Society for Applied Bacteriology to attend its annual conference in Belfast, UK in July. The conference topic was the Microbiology of Water in Work, Rest and Play.

A research and theory paper co-authored by Edward T. Vieira, associate professor of communications, has been accepted at the 2008 Annual Convention of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology Annual Conference in Sacramento, Calif., Oct. 23. The paper is titled "Dominance Versus Submission as the Ecological Context for the Emergence of Social and Moral Emotions." The annual conference is a prestigious event that accepts only new or timely work in the field.

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