News

Faculty News: September 2023

Written by Karen L. Bystrom
September 25, 2023

Arts and Sciences faculty were busy over the summer into the beginning of fall, presenting, publishing and more.

Harmony Arnold, MFA, Associate Professor, Performing Arts & Arts Leadership, is featured in “Harmony Arnold’s Style Leads by Example” in the latest issue of 425 Magazine. The article was written by alum Andrew Hoge, Strategic Communications ’14.

Byron Au Yong, MFA, Director, MFA in Arts Leadership and Interdisciplinary Arts-Arts Leadership, Associate Professor, Performing Arts and Arts Leadership, is quoted in the New York Times article “Choreographers Make Their Own Kind of Administrative Dance.”

P. Sven Arvidson, PhD, Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies, edited a special section on the work of Julie Thompson Klein to honor her career and passing in 2023 Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies, 41(1).

Claudia Bach, MA, Lecturer, Arts Leadership, published the chapter “Passion and Profession: Individual Artists, Professional Development, and the Role of Foundations” in the book Professionalization in the Creative Sector Policy, Collective Action, and Institutionalization coming out in October.

Onur Bakiner, PhD, Interim Chair and Associate Professor, Political Science, published “Pluralistic sociotechnical imaginaries in Artificial Intelligence (AI) law: the case of the European Union’s AI Act,” Law, Innovation and Technology (Autumn 2023),

Caitlin Carlson, PhD, Chair and Associate Professor, Communication and Media, presented a paper with Kyla Garrett Wagner from Syracuse called  "Taming the Shrew: How Freedom of Expression Subjugates Women."

Claudia Castro-Luna, MFA, MA, Adjunct Professor, Matteo Ricci Institute, last book of poems, Cipota Under The Moon, is a finalist for the Washington State Book Awards in poetry and was selected as an honorable mention in the English Poetry category for the International Latino Book Awards 2023.

Serena Chopra, PhD, Assistant Professor, English/Creative Writing, published a new poem, Garden Variety with Lesbians, with the Academy of American Poets.

Leann Conley-Holcom, DMA, Assistant Professor, Director of Choral and Vocal Activities and Music Program Director, Performing Arts and Arts Leadership, had a creatively busy summer! She sang in the professional choir of the 2023 Oregon Bach Festival from June 27- July 16 in Eugene, performing under esteemed international conductors Jos Van-Veldhoven (Netherlands Bach Society), Anna Sulkowska-Migon (Poland), Eric Jacobsen (The Knights) and Gemma New (New Zealand Symphony Orchestra). She returned for a second year as Resident Artist with the Tacoma Bach Festival in July 2023, performing Caroline Shaw's To The Hands and Bach cantatas 61 and 150 on the campus of the University of Puget Sound. Finally, as Collegiate & University Repertoire & Resources Chair of the Washington state chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (WA-ACDA), she was part of the team that organized and ran the 2023 ACDA Summer Insitute, an annual three-day conference of choral conductors from across the state, with headliner Dr Jace Saplan of Arizona State University.

Kathleen Cook, PhD, Professor, Psychology, and her collaborators at Seattle University’s Mechanical Engineering Department are presenting a workshop this month for the National Science Foundation’s Revolutionizing Engineering and Computer Science Departments (RED) conference in Alexandria, VA.  The workshop, “RED Stories and a RED Inspiration Kit: Exploring a Supplemental Dissemination Approach for RED Projects,” helps researchers, educators, and funding agencies explore alternatives to dissemination beyond academic journals.

Amelia Seraphia Derr, MSW, PhD, Chair and Associate Professor, Social Work and Director, Bachelor of Social Work Program, presented “Preventing Caregiver Burnout: A Workshop on Building Resilience” at the STXBP1 Summit 2023 in Denver in July.

Fade Eadeh, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychology, presented an invited symposium called the "Differing Forms of Discrimination" at the International Society for Justice Research this past July in Munich, Germany. He was interviewed for "Inside the small, delicious acts of revenge carried out by heartbroken exes" published by The Independent.

Christie Eppler, PhD, LMFT, Program Director and Professor, Couples and Family Therapy, co-edited Social Justice and Systemic Family Therapy Training. The book examines the lived experiences of systemic family therapy educators. It addresses the issues of power and justice that they face in family therapy training programs, including their teaching experiences with students, interactions with faculty, and challenges within academic institutions. She traveled to The University of Glasgow in Scotland to present "Outlander’s Threads of Systemic Resilience," Eppler, C., & Cobb, R. A. (July 2023).

Claire Garoutte, Associate Professor, Art, Art History, and Design and Interim Chair, Performing Arts and Arts Leadership, worked with the Yesler Terrace Youth Media Program this summer. Watch their video documentary, Redevelopment.

David Green, PhD, Clinical Professor in International Studies and Director of the Center for Faculty Development, and co-author Deandra Little, PhD, of Elon University (NC) received the award for 2022 best article of the year from the journal Higher Education Research and Development. Their article, “Credibility in educational development: Trustworthiness, expertise, and identification,” is now available via open access for the next twelve months.

Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, PhD, Professor, Modern Languages and Women Gender, and Sexuality Studies, is the first edtior for "Indomitable / Indomables: A Multigenre Chicanx/Latinx Women's Anthology," which includes several SU faculty members and has just been published. (See the "Collaborations" section for more.) She interviewed Jesse León on his memoir: I am not Broken, for the King County Library. She was interviewed by the Cascadia Poetics Lab. Listen to the interview and her reading her poems here. She will appear in the 7th Cascadia Poetry Festival, October 6-8. She was also interviewed by Sociology Group about her book, "¿How Many Indians Can We Be?" She completed two manuscripts this summer. Her memoir, Fresh as a Lettuce: A Memoir, will be published with El Martillo Press in December 2023. She produced an anthology of Latinx poetry from the reading we held at SU- Off Site AWP, in Pigott, where 26 Latinx poets attending AWP read, this anthology will be published with FlowerSong Press in the fall of 2023. This summer she gave poetry presentations again in Durago, Mexico, and recently for the “Home and Homeless” Conference where scholars from the entire nation joined, The Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition (PACT) organized by Dr. Jason Wirth, held at Seattle University from September 7-9. She will be participating in the International Conference dedicated to Gloria Anzaldúa in Mexico City in November 2023 at Mexico’s major university, UNAM.

Steen Halling, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Psychology, presented a paper, “Pathways to Forgiveness and Beyond,” on August 9 at the International Human Science Research Conference at Tokai University, Tokyo.

Brittany Heintz Walters, PhD, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, gave an Invited Plenary Talk on a collaborative project with Yen-Lin Han, PhD, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, titled, "Developing a thermally actuated soft robot for hand rehabilitation" at the American Society of Biomechanics Annual Meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Jacqueline Helfgott, PhD, Professor, Criminal Justice and Director, Crime and Justice Research Center, published her book ,Copycat Crime: How Media, Technology, and Digital Culture Inspires Criminal Behavior and Violence. She hosts associated TikTok and Instagram accounts that feature copycat crime cases and will be teaching a revamped version of her course CRJS 4810-5810 Murder Movies & Copycat Crime Fall 2023 where she will be using the book. She is featured in:

Nalini Iyer, PhD, Professor, Department of English, reflects on working with the International Examiner on their 50th anniversary in “The IE turns 50: A longtime arts writer looks back.”

Hye-Kyung Kang, MSW, PhD, Professor, Social Work, won the Readers Choice Award in the 2023 Summer Writing Contest by the Under the Sun literary magazine with her essay, “Mountain-keeper.” The essay explores classism, tradition, privilege, and erasure; it will be published in the next issue.

Tyrah Majors, MSJ, Adjunct Professor, Communication and Media, talked about her children’s book, Grammy and Me, in an interview on WJLA. “This book is all about a young girl's close relationship with her grandmother. Majors said she wants people to see the importance in relationships and cherishing the people you have in your life because you never know when you may lose them.”

Kira Mauseth, PhD, Senior Instructor, Psychology, is supporting the recovery from the Maui fires through WRAP-EM (Western Regional Alliance for Pediatric Emergency Management). She is part of the mental health deployable asset team, working with state officials to develop and implement a large scale behavioral health triage tool to get the adults and children at the highest risk (based on what they have been exposed to) the help they need.

James Miles, MFA, Assistant Professor, Performing Arts and Arts Leadership, co produced the Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival on September 2nd and 3rd, reinvigorating the community and artistic spirit of the Puget Sound Region. Over 40,000 people attended the two day festival, thousands of artists were employed, and the 17 to 26 year-old interns from the program worked alongside the professionals in the field. His role in bringing Bumbershoot back to Labor Day weekend is featured in the SU Newsroom story, “Let The Music Play.” Professor Miles also delivered a keynote at the Western Arts Alliance Conference titled “A Fresh Perspective,” on September 5. He facilitated a workshop on Hip Hop educational practices at the University of Alabama on September 19.  He was interviewed for the Seattle Times article, "Why Seattle is seeing more people of color-centric arts and crafts markets." 

Julius Moss, EdD, Interim Chair, Kinesiology, and Interim Program Director, Center for Social Transformation and Leadership, is also the co-chair of the Puget Sound Regional Council. The council released the Legacy of Structural Racism Interactive Report.  “This work will have a profound impact on the lives of all our region’s residents,” he said in the news story, “Centuries-old discriminatory policies cast long shadow on Puget Sound region.”

Michael Ng, PhD, Instructor, History, presented a paper, "RMD III 139: An Urban cohort on the Danube?" at the symposium, "On Edges: Frontiers and Coasts From Literature to Philosophy; from Philosophy to Literature."

Trung Pham, SJ, Chair and Associate Professor, Art, Art History and Design, was commissioned to make a 6-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Pope John XXIII for a Catholic parish in Tacoma.                                               

Carmen A. Rivera, MS, Assistant Teaching Professor, Criminal Justice, Criminology & Forensics, published two op-eds, " Police, Privilege, and Pride” in South Seattle Emerald and “Collaboration, communication and the facts are critical” in the Renton Reporter. She was also featured in the Renton Reporter in her role as Renton City Councilmember, where she talked about how her teaching is connected to that work.

Jeannette Rodriguez, PhD, Professor: Theology and Religious Studies and Couple and Family Therapy, and Director, Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, presented “Cultural Memory, Resistance, and a Return to ‘Original Instruction’” at the Canadian Theological Society, organized by their Dignity, Equity, and Justice Committee.

Patrick Schoettmer, PhD, Associate Teaching Professor, Political Science, appeared in a number of media interviews this summer:

Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa, PhD, Assistant Professor, Film and Media Studies, talked about his new book, The Celluloid Specimen: Moving Image Research Into Animal Life, on the podcast, History Roundup.

Randall Souza, PhD, Assistant Professor, History, published a chapter, "Citizenship in the Classical and Hellenistic western Mediterranean" in a new book out this summer, Citizenship in antiquity: civic communities in the ancient Mediterranean (London: Routledge) edited by Jakub Filonik, Christine Plastow, and Rachel Zelnick-Abramovitz. He also published a book review of Claudia Moatti and Emanuelle Chevreau (eds.), L’expérience de la mobilité de l’Antiquité à nos jours, entre précarité et confiance (Bordeaux: Éditions Ausonius, 2021). Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2023.08.02 (https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2023/2023.08.02).

Sharon Suh, PhD, Professor of Buddhism in Theology and Religious Studies, traveled to Seoul in June 2023 as president of Sakyadhita: Internationa;l Association of Buddhist Women where she presided over the 18th international conference that convened 2800 Buddhist nuns and lay women from 31 countries over five days. It was the largest event yet. She also traveled to Bangkok in August to begin research for a new book, Sakyadhita: A Living Archive of Women Transforming Buddhism.  She also completed her first 50k ultramarathon in June and finished first in her age group.

Charles M. Tung, PhD, Professor, English, was invited to give a plenary lecture, “Literary and Cultural Studies in an Age of Existential Risks: the Classroom as a Site of Hope,” at the Towards a Pedagogy of Hope and Transformation symposium, hosted online by St. Joseph’s University, Bangalore, India, June 10, 2023.  Earlier last spring he offered a two-hour online graduate seminar presentation, “Ethnofuturisms in US Literature and Culture,” at the Université Rennes 2 in their Master Amériques course, March 8, 2023.

Sharon Nyree Williams, MFA Arts Leadership '09, Adjunct Faculty, Performing Arts and Arts Leadership, discusses "Seattle arts undergoing a ‘once-in-a-generation’ leadership change" in the Seattle Times.

Zachary D. Wood, PhD, Assistant Professor, Institute of Public Service, talked with KOMO News as part of their story, “Homelessness surges by 11% nationwide largely due to cost of living, evictions, report says.”