New faculty to showcase research during Brown Bag Symposiums

September 24, 2009

New faculty members in the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will have the opportunity to share their research interests with campus beginning Monday, Sept. 28, during its Brown Bag Symposium on Research.

George Savage, associate professor of languages and literatures, organized the series to allow the campus community an opportunity to hear about some of the research newly hired professors have brought with them to campus.

Savage said that oftentimes dialogue about academic research takes place in specialized groups. “This research series is an attempt to move in the opposite direction, to broaden the audience in the belief that many of the best insights come from a multidisciplinary perspective,” Savage said.

Mary Pinkerton, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, thinks this series will encourage a greater sense of community through interdepartmental and interdisciplinary activity.

“The series will be a chance for all of us to get together, to find out about some new directions of research, and to engage in intellectual discussion,” she said.

Both Savage and Pinkerton feel that this series will help promote liberal education on campus by encouraging faculty to make connections between subjects while also boosting critical thinking and helping faculty further develop a broad base of knowledge.

Anticipation is high for the talks. “I plan to be there for all of them. Our first year faculty are totally amazing,” Pinkerton said.

Deborah Fratz, assistant professor of languages and literatures, will present at 12:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28, in room 261 in the James R. Connor University Center. Her presentation is titled, “Disability in Victorian Fiction: Cultivating Ethical Paradigms.”

The complete series schedule:

  • 12:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, UC 261, Michael Illuzi, Department of Political Science, “The French Aristocrat Still Has Lessons to Teach Democrats about Equality”
  • 12:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, UC 261, Chris Calvert-Minor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, “How Epistemic Agency Can Thwart Good Epistemology”
  • 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 22, UC 261, Eric Brown, Department of Biology, “Nanomedicine: Using Nanoparticles to Enhance Detection and Treatment of Human Diseases”
  • 11 a.m. Monday, March 15, UC 261, Jennifer Flad, “Managed Care and the Terminally Ill Patient”
  • 11 a.m. Monday, April 19, UC 261, Roderick Wilson, Department of History, “Reframing the Rivers of Japan, 1875-1910”
Could not select DB