Education requires flexibility.  This was proven during the Summer Semester of 2011 when the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures stepped out of the traditional format to teach Spanish to students from a seminary in Wichita.

Six Diocese of Wichita seminary students plunged into a Spanish immersion program in Pittsburg. The program was a joint effort between the diocese and Pittsburg State University, according to Fr. Mike Simone, director of vocations for the Catholic Diocese of Wichita.

Left to right, Back row: Mr. Brett Smith, Dr. Judy Berry-Bravo, Rickey Kotrba, Zac Pinnaire, Jason Knauff, Andy Walsh, Father Mike Simone, Dr. Grant Moss, Anatolia Ruiz, Front row: Eric Nichols, Sam Brand

"The seminarians are taking intensive Spanish classes at the university, and have recently gone from a 200-level conversation class to a 500-level literature class," Fr. Simone said. "Two of the Missionary Catechists sisters here are also taking intensive English classes."

Seminarians participating are Eric Nichols, Zachary Pinaire, Jason Knauff, Sam Brand and Andrew Walsh, all students at Kennrick-Glennon Seminary, St. Louis, and Rickey Kotrba, who attends Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md. All are preparing to eventually become priests in the Diocese of Wichita.

"For their first weekend in Pittsburg, they were dumped on the doorstep of Hispanic families," Fr. Simone said. "They were brought back to the church for Sunday Mass."

The experience was eye-opening to the students.

"I'm probably the one of the six of us with the least language training," said Pinaire. "In the family I was with, the parents spoke broken English and one of the children, a 9-year-old daughter, spoke better English than her parents. It was pretty nerve-wracking, and gave me a feeling of what any immigrant would feel coming to the United States and knowing no English. It was scary and kind of mortifying."

"People are coming here to better their way of life, and it's very moving," Walsh said. "This program is helping us learn Spanish and learn about other cultures. This is a major issue in our society and in the church as well."

In addition to attending PSU language classes, the students are also continuing their cultural contacts, including meeting weekly with the Missionary Catechist sisters.

"One week we'll meet and share our North American culture with them, and the next we'll meet and they'll share their culture with us," Fr. Simone said. "We're also going to be meeting with community leaders, including Penny Armstrong and Pittsburg Police Chief Mendy Hulvey."

"One of the things that makes Pittsburg so appealing is that it's more welcoming to immigrants than many communities," said Fr. Simone, originally from Weir. "Pittsburg has made this appealing on all kinds of levels."

He praised Dr. Judy Berry-Bravo, chairman of the PSU modern languages department, and other faculty members.

"PSU is a very good it," Fr. Simone said.

--This story was adapted from a story by Nikki Patrick in the Pittsburg Morning Sun

Dean Karl Kunkel with the 2011-12 Arts and Science Student Advisory Council.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Spring 2012 edition of the College of Arts and Sciences newsletter, Universitas.   I am delighted to serve as the fourth Dean of the College, beginning my term this past summer.   Arts and Sciences at Pittsburg State is the largest college at Pittsburg State University and includes a wide variety of exciting academic programs and initiatives.  I first want to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation for the warm welcome I received from students, faculty, alumni, staff, administrators, community members, and friends of the College.  The graciousness of these groups created a very smooth transition to Pittsburg State and the Pittsburg community for both my family and me.

You will see this newsletter contains many of exciting events from the past year.  In addition to these items there are a few initiatives I specifically want to mention- our strategic planning process, an increase in the number of Arts and Sciences online courses, the Polymer Chemistry initiative, the Fine and Performing Arts Center, and our new Facebook page. 

We are working on a comprehensive strategic plan for the coming years.  When completed, this plan guides and coordinates future activities and initiatives for all units and departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.  If you want to see ideas being considered, click here for the current draft of our developing unit plan.  Any comments are welcome using the available response box. 

In addition, we are making an effort to increase student accessibility by delivering additional courses online.  This summer, we plan to offer thirteen general education online courses along with various courses from particular undergraduate and graduate programs.  A complete list of our summer online offers can be found on the College of Arts and Sciences homepage.

The College of Arts and Sciences is involved in an exciting proposed collaboration between the Department of Chemistry, the Plastics Engineering Technology Program, and the Kansas Polymers Research Center to propose a new academic program in Polymer Chemistry.  If approved and funded, this program creates a unique opportunity in this region for students along with a vehicle for economic development in the state of Kansas.

Planning and fundraising for the new Fine and Performing Arts Center at Pittsburg State are progressing very well.  This center provides a state-of-the-art venue for our music, theater, and art programs; a unique academic space for students to learn about production and performance as well as a significant cultural center for southeast Kansas.  Please click if you would like to learn more about the plans for the Fine and Performing Arts Center or contribute to the construction of this outstanding facility.

The College established a new Facebook page where you can learn about coming events as well as student and faculty accomplishments.  If you are a Facebook user, or even just a Facebook “lurker,” visit and “like” our page so you can receive notification of new postings.  We use this page to post announcements as well as pictures and videos of our student and faculty activities.  We also post news stories concerning topics relevant to Arts and Sciences fields.

If you are an alum of one of the Arts and Sciences department, please keep your us updated on your activities and accomplishments by sending an email to the Dean’s Office at artsc@pittstate.edu.  We want to brag about what you have done and appreciate you keeping us updated.

As you can see from the items briefly mentioned above and the articles in this edition of Universitas, it is an exciting time to be a Gorilla and part of the College of Arts and Sciences at Pittsburg State University!

Karl R. Kunkel, Dean

 It has recently been noted by certain historians that Crawford County experienced several small battles that were noteworthy and in need of illumination.  Three PSU alumni-- Steve Cottrell, of Carthage, Missouri, Jerry Lomshek, of Chicopee, and Mark Dulek, of Pittsburg--sifted through historical data and discussed the key points of the battles.

“ The largest skirmish ran roughly up the current bypass from near Centennial Street to the north, going past Lincoln Park and ending near Atkinson Street,” said Mark Dulek. “It was known as the Cow Creek Skirmish. “

Other violent acts involving bushwackers, homesteaders and army personnel were carried out in Cato, which is the oldest town in Crawford County.  Another raid was carried out on Lightning Creek, south of the original county seat of Crawfordville, and around various towns close to the Missouri border, but are scarcely mentioned in historical texts.

“ Last year PSU’s Department of Construction Management and Construction Engineering Technologies teamed up with members of the Graphics and Imaging Technologies department to build an exciting new Civil War display for the Crawford County Museum,” says Dulek.  “The portable kiosk they created helps to explain several aspects of the Civil War violence and skirmishes that happened in Southeast Kansas. This timely project meshes with the upcoming 150^th anniversary of the Civil War.             “

                The second phase of the museum’s current Civil War acquisitions is a stone historical marker which formally acknowledges the Cow Creek Skirmish for Pittsburg. It is currently being displayed on the museum grounds where the public may view it at any time. The marker’s placement is as close as we can get to the final battle site as listed in historical documents, which was known to be relatively close to the current museum grounds and may still be discovered someday.

                The marker is a flat polished slab of orange-red granite. It took about two months to get the following inscription cut into the stone’s face:

Near this Site
COW CREEK SKIRMISH
October 23, 1864
In Memory of the Fallen

                The stone monument in remembrance of the Cow Creek Skirmish and those who fell there was donated to the museum by Park Cemetery and Mausoleum, which includes a monument company, of Carthage, MO.  Neel Baucom, who also is owner and general manager of Knell Mortuary, graciously offered to donate the stone itself. Denzel Davidson, the museum’s curator, paid for the cost of engraving of the four-line inscription by the monument company.

                Acquisition of the stone monument was arranged by Steve Cottrell, of Carthage, MO, who also conceived the original idea of the new museum kiosk display. He also delivered the completed stone marker to the museum, where it was placed in a brick-lined enclosure near the front door of the museum.

                A dedication ceremony was held at the museum Sunday October 30, 2011 at 2:00. The ceremony will include several Civil War reenactors, who will acknowledge the fallen soldiers this marker represents.

Pittsburg State University students are winners off the athletic field as well as on it.  This was proven yet again as students from the Department of Communication made a strong showing at the PR Competition of the 84^th Annual Oklahoma Speech Theater Communication Association (OSTCA) Conference in Oklahoma City, OK in September.

“This year the conference organizers changed the competition format, which made the event a bit more challenging,” said Alicia M. Mason (Asst. Prof., Dept of Comm). “Instead of sending “teams” of students to represent the university, upon arrival the students were divided into groups of 3-4 intercollegiate teams, who worked together on behalf of the client.”

Seven students from the Department of Communication competed in the 2^nd Annual OSTCA sponsored PR Competition.   They were joined by students from Rogers State University, Cameron University, Oklahoma Christian University, among others. The teams developed promotional campaign solutions for the client Big Truck Tacos, recently featured on the Food Network. Students were briefed on the client, and given just a few hours to construct and present their promotional campaign solutions and strategies.

“Going to Oklahoma was something I was really excited for because I was ready to see just where I stood against other students in my field of study,” said Nadia Marji, (Sr.- Comm). Pittsburg State swept the competition, placing 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in the PR Competition.

“We were well prepared and received multiple compliments on our presentation skills, and the ideas we presented to our peers and the judges,” said Kasey Hockman (Sr.- Comm). “Pitt should be proud of the communication department and the great success we had, no other school was represented in each of the top three spots.”

In addition to the PR Competition, PSU Department of Communication students Jason Manhke (Sr.- Comm), and Rodney Kimlin (Grad Student, MBA), took the top prize in the poster session, which featured the applied academic undergraduate research students engaged in last fall, related to resource and waste management within the City of Pittsburg.

“This competition was a chance for me not only to apply the skills I have been taught inside the classroom, but an opportunity to learn from others and gain firsthand experience,” Kimlin said.

The Pittsburg State students who represented PSU at the OSTCA competition include: Katie Casterline (Sr.- Comm), Daniel Kilby (Sr.- Comm), Thomas Gregory (Sr.- Comm), Nadia Marji, (1^st place in PR), Kasey Hockman (2^nd place in PR), Jason Mahnke (1^st place poster presentation), and Rodney Kimlin (3^rd place in the PR, and 1^st place in the poster session).

The Department of Communication at Pittsburg State University offers the Bachelor of Science (B.S.), the Bachelor of Science in Education (B.S.E.), and the Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees within a collaborative and collegial environment. Our top-ranked faculty are highly active in their professions and stress the importance of fusing theory with applied skill. Our majors number more than 250 spread across the seven emphasis areas of advertising, broadcasting, communication education, journalism, photojournalism, public relations, and theatre.

The department stresses an integrated and active approach to learning. The activities and programs uniquely available from the department reflect a multicultural and interdisciplinary perspective commensurate with the goals of a liberal education for students. For more details on the degree programs in the Department of Communication at Pittsburg State University visit the website: http://www.pittstate.edu/department/communication or feel free to contact the department office at 620-235-4716, or e-mail comm@pittstate.edu.

Dr. Leah Childers, Mathematics Department, would like to "brag" on some of our mathematics students who presented their undergraduate research projects recently.

“I think our students did a really great job,” says Childers, who is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Pittsburg State University.

She is talking about Lara Ismert and Jae Min Lee who represented Pittsburg State University and the State of Kansas at the Missouri-Arkansas-Kansas-Oklahoma (MAKO) Undergraduate Research Conference which was held at Missouri State University on November 12, 2011.

Ismert and Lee, who both worked under Childers’ supervision, presented their original research.

Lara Ismert, who is seeking bachelors degrees in math and English, gave a presentation titled “Rusty Compass Constructions” in which she described which numbers were constructible if a compass was “rusted” to a fixed opening.

“By relating geometric constructions to fields of numbers,” says Ismert, “we can determine what geometric objects cannot be constructed.”

Jae Min Lee, who graduated with a degree in mathematics in December, presented “Using Tangent Circles to Find a Practical Approach to an Ellipse and Hyperbola.” In that paper, he showed that, given two circles, the locus of the centers of circles tangent to the two given circles formed either an ellipse or a hyperbola. 

“By presenting my research at the conference,” says Lee, “I gained a deeper understanding about my topic. Feedback from attendees encouraged me to develop it further.” Growing philosophical Lee added, “The nature of mathematics is not just following the intellectual traces of past, but perpetually casting doubts on and develop them. This experience set me free from the mathematics textbook and helped me find my true passion in studying mathematics.”

From left to right: Dr. Alex Konopelko, Brandon Wolak, Melissa Churning, David Heins, Stephanie Powers, Allen Fluck, Stevynn Cutshall, Aaron Flood, Josh Silvers, Katie Whitbeck

Pittsburg State students of physics had a rare opportunity to visit the Max Plank Institutes of Astronomy and Nuclear Physics  this summer on a trip led by Dr. Alex Konopelko.

Konopelko, who is an assistant professor of the physics, took nine students to Heidelberg, Germany, in August for a behind the scenes look the famous institutes.  Dr. Konopelko applied for and received support for the program from DAAD —the German Academic Exchange Service—an organization akin to the Fulbright Program in the United States.  DAAD awarded PSU a “Group Study Visit Grant” which covered virtually all the on-the-ground costs for a group of students to spend 10 days on the faculty –led academic program in Germany.

 “Heidelberg University is one of the top-ranking institutions in the world of international science and scholarship,” says Konopelko.  “With its six-hundred-year history, it is Germany's oldest seat of higher learning.”

The visit provied a wide variety of opportunities for advanced learning that perfectly complements the physics curriculum at PSU. The group of physics students traveling to Heidelberg in summer, 2011 took a Study Abroad course entitled Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. The goal of this course is to introduce students who have a serious interest in the physical sciences to the breadth of modern Astrophysics and prepare them for more advanced topical courses in the future.

“The Department of Physics and Astronomy of Heidelberg University was very kind to agreed to serve as a host for the group,” says Konopelko. “Stefan Wagner was willing to help this group with local arrangements.”

The group of physics students from PSU will visited the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPI-K), Heidelberg, which is leading a large-scale European project in Astrophysics, which is called CTA.

“Werner Hofmann, who is one of the directors of this institute and spokesperson for CTA, supervised the classes at the MPI-K. Professors Wagner and Hofmann lectured to our students.” Says Konopelko.  “In addition, a number of other professors of Heidelberg University also gave lectures in the Modern Astrophysics course. Among them are Wolfgang Kraetschmer, who together with Donald Huffman from the University of Arizona developed the world famous Kraetschmer-Huffman procedure for the synthesis of fullerenes, and Oxford-educated John Kirk, who is one of the best theoretical astrophysicists in the world.”

In addition to the opportunities in physics, foreign travel also opened educational doors for our students.

“I had never really had Germany on my list of places I wanted to visit,” says Katie Whitbeck, who is a Communication major and an Earth and Space Science minor, “but I constantly checked the study abroad listings for a good, yet cheap, trip, and the Germany trip was perfect! It fit perfectly with what I was interested in.

“Before this trip, I had only gone to Canada, and I didn't know any of the other students, but we became a tight group quickly. I enjoyed every moment and adventure over there.”

 “I got a better understanding of the German culture,” says Melissa Churning, who has a double major in French and Mechanical Technology. “The culture is much different than from ours. I learned to adapt to unusual surroundings. I also learned how to understand some of the German language by reading the street signs and food menus; I learned to adapt to living with strangers in a youth hostel.”

Biology

 Daniel Haines, who works in Peter Chung’s lab, was notified that he has been admitted to KU Medical School “ahead of the rest of the pack.” KU only allows about 20 students advance admission, while the rest have to wait until spring to find out if they qualify.  So this is a big honor!

 Molly Bergkamp was accepted to KU Physical Therapy School.

 Whitney Baldridge’s abstract has been chosen for oral presentation at the K-INBRE meeting in January.  Only a few student presentations are selected for oral presentation. 

“When I went to Costa Rica, my main aim was to present some of my academic research to the professors and students there and to develop an understanding of the methods and approaches employed by my Costa Rican colleagues,” says Philip Rudd, Assistant Professor of English at Pittsburg State University. “I was also very interested in gathering information for the possibility of our two universities establishing an exchange program so our students and instructors could visit each other's campus and gain international experience.”

Rudd did this at a workshop addressing the issues of conferences, publications, grants, and fieldwork which was held on the Monday, the 23rd of May at Universidad National (UNA), San Isidro, Costa Rica and at a similar but smaller workshop held at UNA, Coto on Thursday, the 26th of May.

“In order to investigate the possibilities of creating a joint program for our two universities,” says Rudd, “I ran an International Affairs talk on the evening of May 23rd. I presented a short film in Spanish and I gave a quick PowerPoint presentation over the basic requirements for international students at Pittsburg State University.”

Afterwards, Rudd held a question­-and-­answer session to address any questions or curiosities there might be from my hosts, from both the instructors and the students alike.  He later also led a large group session on American culture and student issues at Pittsburg State University.

“They were curious about American culture and language,” according to Rudd.

As a part of his visit, Rudd lectured on Second Language Acquisition for both teachers and students.

“We separated the concepts of ‘acquisition’ of a language and ‘learning’ of a language,” says Rudd. “We also viewed a short film clip on the case of the famous ‘wild child’ Genie, which always astounds audiences”

On perhaps a lighter note, Rudd lectured on “Slang in the United States.”

“I gave a history of common slang in the United States during the 20 century and quizzed the audience over the top twenty slang words used by students on university campuses in the United States.”

As a reward, the top four performers were each given a copy of the 50th issue of the Cow Creek Review, Pittsburg State University's literary magazine.

Rudd says he will continue to pursue the possibilities for exchange between PSU and UNA.

“I am extremely thankful to UNA for their encouragement and support without which, I would not have been able to have such an enjoyable and enlightening visit.”

English

Jamie McDaniel, English Department has been chosen to be the editor for the CEA Forum. Here is the link to the College English Association's site that takes you to an article with all the details: http://www.cea-web.org/

The Distinguished Visiting Writer Series at PSU hosted a reading featuring twelve Kansas poets on Dec. 8, in the Governor’s Room of PSU’s Overman Student Center. This reading was part of a twenty-city reading tour to commemorate the publication of Begin Again: 150 Kansas Poems. Here’s a link to the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n_4Cu2LGds

Laura Washburn's poem "Cheyenne Valley, Autumn" is featured in the Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Professors teach, of course, but what else do they do.  Well, they are supposed to be scholars. As a part of being a scholar, Don Viney, who holds the title of University Professor,  has with the aid of Jincheal O. edited a book by Charles Hartshorne entitled Creative Experiencing.

Hartshorne, who died in 2000 at the age of 103, graduated from Harvard in 1923 and taught at the University of Chicago, Emory (in Georgia), and the University of Texas-Austin. He is considered one of the twentieth century’s premier philosophers, with over twenty books and hundreds of articles to his credit.

“His emphasis in philosophy was metaphysics,” according to Viney, “but his first book was on the philosophy and psychology of sensation and his twelfth book was in ornithology”

 One of the measures of Hartshorne’s importance to philosophy is that the twentieth volume of the Library of Living Philosophers was devoted to his life’s work—The Philosophy of Charles Hartshorne, edited by Edwin Hahn (Open Court, 1991).

“An interesting tidbit that I got from the editor at SUNY is that the press doesn’t lose money on Hartshorne’s books,” says Viney. “Prior to Creative Experiencing they published five of his books and six books about his thought, including one that I wrote.”

            Hartshorne’s daughter, Emily Schwartz, invited Viney to Austin in the summer of 2001 to help prepare her father’s papers to be sent to the Claremont School of Theology.

“At that time I discovered the manuscript of Creative Experiencing and made a note to the archivist that this was an important manuscript, a complete but unpublished book,” he said.

Four years later Viney received a request from John B. Cobb, Jr. at Claremont, to serve as chief editor of the book, aided by Jincheol. Cobb was Hartshorne’s student at Chicago and went on to become a well-known theologian as well as the directed of the Center for Process Studies at Claremont. Steve Hulbert, a graduate of PSU’s geography program who studied philosophy with Viney, was also involved in the project. Steve was doing graduate work at Claremont and working in the Hartshorne archives.  

            Eight chapters of Creative Experiencing were previously published articles and five chapters appear for the first time. Hartshorne completed the book in the late 1980s.

“In those days,” says Viney, “his wife of over fifty years was suffering the effects of Alzheimer’s. In addition, many other projects demanded his attention and he was quickly getting to the point that he could no longer shepherd a book to publication. I believe the last book of his that he saw to publication was his autobiography, The Darkness and the Light (SUNY, 1990). He lived at home until his death but in the final years he had a live-in caretaker. His mental powers diminished somewhat, but he was quite lucid until the end.”

            While Professor Viney was a graduate student in the early 1980s, he had a conversation with Hartshorne about a book he was working on.

“I now realize this was Creative Experiencing, so it was a tremendous honor for me to work on this project.”

Viney says that he learned from this task that editing a book is every bit as difficult and time consuming as writing one.

Much of the editorial work done by Viney and Jincheol came in the form of tracking down every quote that Hartshorne took from another philosopher.

“Hartshorne often quoted from memory, assuming that his readers would know where to find the quote. Jincheol and I pinned these quotations down in our endnotes to the book. We discovered that occasionally Hartshorne would get the wording wrong, but not in a way that misrepresented what the person said. Yet, Hartshorne’s wording, when different, was more memorable than what the original author had written! “