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CAS Online Media Archive

Data Analysis Without Theory Is Not Science

Posted: May 21st, 2013 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

Daniel H. Krymkowski, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Sociology

Daniel H. Krymkowski, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Sociology

In his classic book, The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills coined the phrase “abstracted empiricism” to describe research in the social sciences that failed to address important theoretical issues. Although it has been more than half a century since this book was published, far too much current research remains in this category. Professor Krymkowski critiques modern examples of “abstracted empiricism.” discusses how social scientific investigations should be conducted, and provides an illustration of such research from his current work on ethnic and racial differences in outdoor recreation.

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A mathematical sociologist with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Krymkowski’s current research focuses on class, ethnic, gender, and racial inequality in the contemporary United States. Recently published articles feature collaborative work with Professor Beth Mintz in the Department of Sociology and Professor Robert Manning in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. These papers have appeared in Evaluation Review, International Journal of Sociology, Leisure Sciences, Race and Social Problems, Research on Social Stratification and Mobility, and The Sociological Quarterly.

The College of Arts and Sciences Full Professor Lecture Series was designed to give newly promoted faculty an opportunity to share with the university community a single piece of research or overview of research trajectory meant to capture the spark of intellectual excitement that has resulted in their achieving full professor rank. The next lecture in this series will be presented by Dona Brown (Department of History).

Home, Land, Security: The Cultural Politics of American Back-to-the-Land Movements

Posted: April 9th, 2013 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

Dona Brown, Professor of History

Dona Brown, Professor of History

For many of us today, the phrase “going back to the land” may bring to mind a vision of the 1960s: yurts and domes, communes and co-ops. But Americans have been dreaming of returning to the land for over a hundred years, and earlier back-to-the-landers were often motivated by dramatically different beliefs, hopes, and fears. What sorts of people dreamed of “returning to the land” in 1900, and why? Who left the city, and who helped other people to leave? Professor Brown discusses the cultural politics of the first back-to-the-land movement and considers the legacy it bequeathed to movements in the 1930s, 1970s, and beyond.

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Dona Brown has been on the faculty in the History Department at the University of Vermont since 1994. Her first book, Inventing New England: Regional Tourism in the Nineteenth Century (Smithsonian Press, 1995), explored the significance of the tourist trade in shaping New England’s regional identity. She has published widely on both tourism and American regionalism, and she was director of the Center for Research on Vermont from 2003 to 2006. Her new book, Back to the Land: The Enduring Dream of Self-Sufficiency in Modern America (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), explores the long history of back-to-the-land movements in the United States.

The College of Arts and Sciences Full Professor Lecture Series was designed to give newly promoted faculty an opportunity to share with the university community a single piece of research or overview of research trajectory meant to capture the spark of intellectual excitement that has resulted in their achieving full professor rank.

Gay Identity and the Act of Reading in The Well of Loneliness

Posted: March 12th, 2013 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

Valerie Rohy, Chair and Professor, Department of English

Valerie Rohy, Chair and Professor, Department of English

This lecture examines the retroactive formation of gay identity through the act of reading in a famous lesbian novel of the 1920s, Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness. Appealing to sexologial theory, Hall argues that homosexuals are naturally and immutably different–as we say now, “born this way”–yet the novel’s scene of reading opposes that claim, showing something like the queer influence of which the text itself would be accused. In doing so, it leads us to question theories of biological determinism, reframe paranoid notions of queer increase, and consider new forms of gay identity.

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Professor Rohy is the author of Impossible Women: Lesbian Figures and American Literature (Cornell, 2000) and Anachronism and Its Others: Sexuality, Race, Temporality (SUNY, 2009), and the co-editor (with Elizabeth Ammons) of American Local Color Writing, 1880-1920 (Penguin, 1998). She has published essays on sexuality, race, and American literature in such journals as GLQ, Genders, and Modern Fiction Studies. In 2006 she won UVM’s Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award.

The Dean’s Lecture Series was established in 1991 as a way to recognize and honor colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences who have consistently demonstrated the ability to translate their professional knowledge and skill into exciting classroom experiences for their students — faculty who meet the challenge of being both excellent teachers and highly respected professionals in their own discipline. The Award is a celebration of the unusually high quality of our faculty and has become an important and treasured event each semester.

From Snowflakes to Semiconductors

Posted: February 5th, 2013 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

Professor Randall Headrick, Professor of Physics

Professor Randall Headrick, Professor of Physics

Crystallization is the name for processes by which atoms and molecules organize themselves into patterns ranging from simple to intricate.  In modern science and technology, the natural processes behind crystallization are harnessed to produce useful materials, and these processes are visualized at the mesoscopic scale.  As traditional materials (such as silicon) approach their ultimate limits of performance at an exponentially increasing rate, there is a great need to develop new functional materials and improved processes.  Professor Headrick will give a brief description of several classes of materials of current interest.

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Randall Headrick  has been a faculty member at the University of Vermont since 2001.  His research interests are in the areas of thin film materials and the synthesis and processing of materials relevant to information technology and consumer electronics.  He has published over 60 journal articles and has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.  He has taught courses in physics, nanoscience, and materials science.  He currently serves as the program director for UVM’s Materials Science graduate program.

The College of Arts and Sciences Full Professor Lecture Series was designed to give newly promoted faculty an opportunity to share with the university community a single piece of research or overview of research trajectory meant to capture the spark of intellectual excitement that has resulted in their achieving full professor rank.

Demystifying Chinese Characters

Posted: December 4th, 2012 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

John Jing-hua Yin, Chair and Professor, Department of Asian Languages and Literatures

John Jing-hua Yin, Chair and Professor, Department of Asian Languages and Literatures

Chinese characters, unlike the writing system of any Indo-European language, are formed with no letters or combination of letters to represent the sounds of the Chinese language. Chinese characters have been a highly developed writing system for at least 3,300 years. How were the Chinese characters formed? What changes have Chinese characters undergone? How can native English speakers effectively learn and appreciate Chinese characters? Professor Yin addresses these questions, drawing on his studies and research.

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Professor Yin has been a faculty member at the University of Vermont since 1997. His research interests are in the area of teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language, focusing on the Chinese writing and tonal system. He has published Fundamentals of Chinese Characters and Practical Rhythmic Chinese as well as a co-edited book, Chinese as a Foreign Language Teaching Practice and Reflections. He has also published over 20 book chapters and journal articles. He is currently chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures.

The College of Arts and Sciences Full Professor Lecture Series was designed to give newly promoted faculty an opportunity to share with the university community a single piece of research or overview of research trajectory meant to capture the spark of intellectual excitement that has resulted in their achieving full professor rank.

Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution: Will Democracy Betray Women?

Posted: November 28th, 2012 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

Jan Feldman, Professor of Political Science

Jan Feldman, Professor of Political Science

Tunisia, the original site of the Arab Spring uprisings, was regarded by many as having the best chance of bringing its democratic aspirations to fruition. But as the Jasmine Revolution enters its second year, there are signs that have produced dismay in the camp that views Islam as inimical to democracy. Particularly concerned are those who fear that Tunisian women’s rights may be reversed by the legal and cultural entrenchment of Islamist law in the next round of democratic elections. The striking irony is that Tunisia and several other Muslim countries, women have had dictators, emirs, and monarchs to thank for their legal, social, and economic rights. Will women be betrayed by democracy?

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Jan Feldman  has been a member of the Political Science Department at the University of Vermont since 1982. Her research projects have taken her to Russia, Kuwait, Israel, Tunisia, and Morocco.  She has held fellowships at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government: Women and Public Policy program and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute for the Study of Gender, Religion, Law, and Culture. Profesor Feldman’s publications include numerous articles as wel as two books, Lubavitchers as Citizens: A Paradox of Liberal Democracy and Citizenship, Faith and Feminism: Jewish and Muslim Women Regain Their Rights.

The College of Arts and Sciences Full Professor Lecture Series was designed to give newly promoted faculty an opportunity to share with the university community a single piece of research or overview of research trajectory meant to capture the spark of intellectual excitement that has resulted in their achieving full professor rank.

Saving American Elections

Posted: October 16th, 2012 by Andrew Edwin Hendrickson

Jack (Anthony) Gierzynski, Professor of Political Science

Jack (Anthony) Gierzynski, Professor of Political Science

Elections in the U.S. are in an unhealthy state. But, what, exactly, is wrong with elections and why?  And what can we do to restore to health both elections and the democracy that relies on them?  Professor Gierzynski addresses these questions by discussing the diagnosis and prescriptions outlined in his 2011 book, Saving American Elections: A Diagnosis and Prescription for a Healthier Democracy.

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Jack (Anthony) Gierzynski, Professor of Political Science   has published three books: Saving American Elections (Cambria Press 2011); Money Rules (Westview Press 2000); and Legislative Party Campaign Committees in the American States (University of Kentucky, 1992).  He has written over a dozen articles and book chapters on campaign finance, political parties, and elections.  He is the Director of the James M. Jeffords Center’s Vermont Legislative Research Service. His current project is a book on the effects of the Harry Potter series on the Millennial Generation (due out early 2013, Johns Hopkins University Press).

The College of Arts and Sciences Full Professor Lecture Series was designed to give newly promoted faculty an opportunity to share with the university community a single piece of research or overview of research trajectory meant to capture the spark of intellectual excitement that has resulted in their achieving full professor rank.

Sustainable Environment, Sustainable Democracy, Sustainable Politics

Posted: October 3rd, 2012 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

Robert V. Bartlett, Gund Professor of Liberal Arts, Department of Political Science

Professor Robert V. Bartlett, Gund Professor of Liberal Arts, Department of Political Science

Professor Robert V. Bartlett, Gund Professor of Liberal Arts in the Political Science Department.

Sustainability politics has been around for three decades; environmental politics for five (under that label).  Over the same period, the political world has become considerably more democratic.  More societies and institutions have embraced various democratic processes, more people have become deeply engaged with the ideas of democracy, and there has been an explosion of scholarship and theorizing about democracy.  But are there any necessary linkages among environmentalism, sustainability, and democracy?  Professor Bartlett addresses this question, drawing on his research on ecological rationality, deliberative democracy, and environmental governance.

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Professor Bartlett is the Gund Professor of Liberal Arts in the Political Science Department.  He has twice been a Senior Fulbright Scholar (New Zealand and Ireland).  In 2007 he was the Distinguished Fulbright Chair of Environmental Policies at the Turin Polytechnic Institute and University in Italy.  He teaches courses on environmental politics and policy and is the author and co-author of many books and research articles, including Global Democracy and Sustainable Jurisprudence: Deliberative Environmental Law, MIT Press, 2009.

The Dean’s Lecture Series was established in 1991 as a way to recognize and honor colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences who have consistently demonstrated the ability to translate their professional knowledge and skill into exciting classroom experiences for their students — faculty who meet the challenge of being both excellent teachers and highly respected professionals in their own discipline.The Award is a celebration of the unusually high quality of our faculty and has become an important and treasured event each semester.

Agamemnon in Africa, Ulysses in Ulaanbaatar: Classics Gone Global

Posted: April 3rd, 2012 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

M. D. Usher, Chair and Professor of Classics

M. D. Usher, Chair and Professor of Classics

Two Continents.  Two Epic heroes. Two classical scholars.  Classics Professor Mark Usher discusses how the work of maverick Classicists Milman Parry (1902-1934) and George Thomson (1903-1987) revolutionized the field of Classics in their day and how their scholarly discoveries and vision brought him recently to Africa and Mongolia in pursuit of the study of two landmark texts of the classical canon–Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Homer’s Odyssey. In particular Professor Usher speaks about his research on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1970 film “Notes for an African Oresteia” in Zomba, Malawi, where he was inadvertently caught up in a sub-Saharan version of the Arab Spring.  He also discusses the rich living heritage of Mongolian oral epic and its relationship to Homeric poetry, and relate a unique experience he had in Ulaanbaatar with a modern performer of that ancient tradition.

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Professor Usher is Chair of the Classics Department and teaches courses in Greek and Latin language and literature.  He also teaches for the Integrated Humanities Program and the Honors College.  In addition to scholarly books and articles in the field of Classics, he has published three acclaimed books for children and an opera libretto in Latin.

Evolution, Etiology, and What’s Wrong with ‘Born Gay’

Posted: December 6th, 2011 by Arts & Sciences Computing Services Office

 Valerie Rohy, Professor of English

Valerie Rohy, Professor of English

We have all heard the charge that gay men and lesbians seek to “recruit children to their lifestyle”–a claim based on the old belief that homosexuality can be caused, like other bad habits, by dangerous influences. In response, queer communities increasingly cite theories of biological determinism to argue that homosexuality is physiological and innate: we are “born gay.”

But why should etiology–the science of causes–dominate the question of gay and lesbian rights? Rohy will address these questions through a rhetorical analysis of anti-gay and ostensibly pro-gay arguments, showing how both sides deploy the vocabulary of evolutionary theory: fertility and sterility, survival and extinction.

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Valerie Rohy is the author of Impossible Women: Lesbian Figures and American Literature (Cornell, 2000) and Anachronism and Its Others: Sexuality, Race, Temporality (SUNY, 2009), and the co-editor (with Elizabeth Ammons) of American Local Color Writing, 1880-1920 (Penguin, 1998). She has published essays on sexuality, race, and American literature in such journals as GLQ, Genders, and Modern Fiction Studies. In 2006 she won UVM’s Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award.

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