Simmons College

School of Social Work Assistant Professor Dawn Belkin-Martinez testified Oct. 20 at the Massachusetts State House, in support of HB# 2127, the Single Payer Health Care Bill. The testimony was part of a social work panel before the Joint House and Senate Committee on Public Health.

School of Management Professor Stacy Blake-Beard's paper "A Qualitative Study of the Mentoring Experiences of Female Indian MBA Students" has been accepted for the University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute Conference in November. She also co-published an article with Professors Mary Shapiro and Cynthia Ingols on women and careers, titled "Canaries in the Mine Shaft," in People and Strategy.

Eduardo A. Febles, associate professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages, presented a paper titled "Revitalizing the Republic: Degeneration and Depopulation in Emile Zola's Fécondité" at the 35th Annual Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium held in Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 22-24.

An article by School of Social Work Professors Mary Gilfus and Ann Fleck—Henderson, titled "Gender and intimate partner violence: Evaluating the evidence" was accepted for publication in the Journal of Social Work Education. Gilfus also co-presented "Massachusetts domestic homicide tracking project leads to new policy and prevention strategies" Oct. 10 at the Family Violence Prevention Fund National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence in New Orleans. And she provided welcoming remarks at the Multicultural Immigrant Coalition Against Violence event Oct. 20 at Simmons College, co-sponsored by the Simmons Institute for Leadership and Change and the Mass. Office of Victim Assistance.

School of Management Professor Vipin Gupta's paper "Reaching Customers at the Base of the Pyramid: A Two-Stage Business Strategy" has been accepted for publication by the Thunderbird International Business Review. His paper "The Catholic Spirit and Family Business: Contrasting Latin America, Eastern Europe and Southern Europe" has been accepted by the Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth series. Additionally, his paper with Professor Lynda Moore titled "The Spirit of Family Business: A Comparative Analysis of Anglo, Germanic and Nordic Nations" has been accepted by the International Journal of Cross-cultural Management.

Warburg Professor Thomas Hull has received a Presidential Meritorious Service Award from the U.S. Department of State, approved by President Barack Obama, for his accomplishments as U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone from 2004 to 2007. This is Hull's second Presidential Meritorious Service Award; he received his first from President Clinton in 1993 for his work in transforming communist Czechoslovakia into the democratic Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Presidential Meritorious Service Award is given to past and present State Department officials for leadership and advancement of U.S. foreign policy.

Sonesta Hotels and Resorts has commissioned Colleen Kiely, chair of the Department of Art & Music, to create the print Between Here and There (#3). For more than 30 years, Sonesta has commissioned one artist to create a print that is produced annually in an edition of 500 and given as an annual corporate gift to Sonesta Hotel executives and other professionals in its global business network. This print relates to work Kiely created while participating in an artist's residency program in New Delhi, India.

In recognition of her contributions to leadership research and practice, School of Management Professor Lynda Moore has been invited to become a fellow of the Leadership Trust in the UK, an educational charitable trust focusing on leadership and leadership development for the benefit of individuals, groups, organizations and communities worldwide.

Ausra Park, assistant professor of political science and international relations, presented a paper on "Political Apathy and Depression in the New EU Member States: Roots and Causes" at the International Studies Association-Northeast Conference in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 1-4. She also served as the chair and discussant on the panel titled "Developments in International Law."

On Oct. 26, Theresa Perry, professor in the departments of Africana studies and education, co-led a seminar for faculty in the School of Education at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Titled "Teaching English to All Learners," the presentation was part of the university's Teacher Education Initiative seminar series. Perry also will serve as a member of Boston School Committee's newly formed English Language Learning Task Force, providing guidance in the Boston Public Schools' (BPS) development of a plan responsive to its new student demographics, including those whose native language is not English.

Clare E. Safran-Norton, assistant professor of physical therapy, recently was selected by the American Physical Therapy Association's research department to participate in a conference on "Creating a Culture of Collaboration: Vitalizing Practice Through Research and Research Through Practice." The event will focus on the creation of an infrastructure within the APTA for physical therapist clinicians and researchers to work collaboratively to facilitate enhanced patient care. The initial meeting is planned for December in Philadelphia.