Stay Connected
Faculty Speakers 08-09
To schedule a speaker, club presidents and their executive boards should generate a list of three or four names in order of preference and contact the director of the Faculty Speakers Bureau, Philip C. Rule, S.J., by email (prule@holycross.edu) or at 508-793-2561.
American Sign Language
Judy Freedman Fask, Lecturer, Deaf Studies
American Sign Language and Deaf Studies
Making Connections and Forming Partnerships in the Community
Holy Cross Students and Community Based Learning
Biology
Mary Lee Ledbetter, Professor
Teaching Biology in the Genomics Era
Why Scientists Study Stem Cells and Cloning
New tools for Imaging Cells in Action
Robert M. Bellin, Associate Professor
Biochemistry of Human Nutrition
Molecular Basis of Cancer and Cancer Therapy
How Evolution Relates to Human Health and Disease
Robert Bertin, Professor
Ecology, Environmental Biology
Global Warming—A Scientist’s Perspective
Chemistry
Jane M. Van Doren, Professor
Remediating Arsenic from Our Environment
Global Warming and Global Climate Change
Environmental Chemistry
Topics relating to chemistry of the atmosphere, e.g. air pollution
Richard S. Herrick, Professor
The Story of Iron as Told by History, Astronomy, Geology, and Biochemistry
Kenneth V. Mills, Associate Professor
[Available in greater Boston area only]
Protein Splicing
Mad cow disease
Classics
Nancy Andrews, Associate Professor
Classical Mythology and Art
Mary K. Ebbott
Homeric Epic (The Iliad and the Odyssey)
Greek Tragedy
Thomas R. Martin, Jeremiah W. O’Connor Jr., Chair in the Classics
The Idea of Freedom in Ancient Greece
Comparing the First Great Historians of Ancient Greece and
Ancient China (Herodatus and Sima Qian)
Blaise Nagy, Professor
Greek and Roman History, Ancient Sicily, Parthenon Frieze, Thucydides’ Histories
Ellen E. Perry, Associate Professor
The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Rome’s most important temple during the Republic
Economics
Thomas R. Gottschang, Professor
The Chinese Economy in the 21st Century: Potential and Problems
Challenges of Globalization for China
Challenges of Globalization for Vietnam
Katherine A. Kiel, Associate Professor
Overview of Environmental Economics
The Impact of Superfund Sites on Local Property Values
Victor Matheson, Associate Professor
Economics of Sports
Economic Impact of Sporting Events, Teams, Stadiums
Economic Impact of Mega-events and Conventions
Economic Impact of Disasters
Economics of Lotteries and Gaming
Nicolas Sanchez, Professor
U.S. Economy and the Problems We Face Ahead
Economic Problems in Africa
Economic Problems in Latin America, Especially Cuba
David J. Schap, Professor
Economics in the Courtroom
English
Patricia L. Bizzell, Professor
19th-Century American women writers: fiction
19th-Century American women writers: social action and oratory
Sarah Luria, Associate Professor
American Literature and Architecture
American Literature and Washington D.C.
Edith Wharton, John Singer Sargent and the Architecture of the Gilded Age
Henry David Thoreau, Land Surveyor
Richard E. Matlak, Professor of English and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies
Biographical and historical readings of 19th-century literature.
Bringing literary characters and their literature to life on the
Screen (The making of a biopic entitled “Immortal Sea”)
James J. Miracky, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for
Faculty Development
Developments in the Contemporary Novel or Contemporary Drama
What is Postmodernism Anyway and How Does it Influence Contemporary Culture?
Gender and Literature
Jonathan D. Mulrooney, Associate Professor
British Romantic Literature; Shakespeare; Popular Culture
Film; Fantasy Literature (Tolkien) James Joyce
Lee Oser, Associate Professor
Christian Humanism
Paige Reynolds, Associate Professor
19th-, 20th-, and 21st-Century Irish Literature and Culture
James Joyce
Irish Women Writers
Modern and Contemporary Irish Theatre
Helen M. Whall, Professor
Shakespeare Now and Then
Shakespeare’s Religion(s)
King Lear and the Bible
The History of Women at Holy Cross
Revising Prose for Any Kind of Writing
History
Anthony J. Kuzniewski, S.J., Professor
Perspectives on the Civil War
Holy Cross History and Lore
United States Jesuit History
Mark E. Lincicome, Associate Professor, Director of Study Abroad Program
Japanese History and related topics, Asia-Pacific region including Southeast Asia and Australia
Current Trends in Study Abroad and Future Goals for Our Program
Theresa M. McBride, Professor
French 19th- and 20th- Century History
Italian 19th- and 20th- Century History
Edward T. O’Donnell, Associate Professor
American History—especially 1850-1930
Irish American History
History of New York City
History of American Immigration
Now That We Are Free: The Triumph and Tragedy of Reconstruction
The Gilded Age & Progressive Era: Robber Barons, Radicals and Reformers
A Nation of Immigrants: How America Became a Multicultural Society (option: The Irish American Experience)
Streets of Fire: The New York City Draft Riots of July 1863
The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall, NYC’s Notorious Political Machine
The Making of the Empire City: How NYC Emerged as America’s Leading Metropolis
Karen L. Turner, Professor
Chinese Women in Transition
Vietnamese Women Soldiers
Thomas W. Worcester, Associate Professor
Jesuit History (recently published Cambridge History of the Jesuits)
Preaching as Cultural History
The Plague and Piety, 1350-1750 (curated exhibit at the Worcester Art Museum)
Stephanie E. Yuhl, Associate Professor
Twentieth-Century U.S. History
American Women’s History
Historic Preservation/Tourism/Historical memory
The American South
Mathematics and Computer Science
Catherine A. Roberts, Associate Professor
Grand Canyon whitewater rafting—history, politics, economics, ecology, and how a mathematician came to play a role.
Environmental studies at Holy Cross—about our program and the impact it is having on our students and the Worcester community
Constance S. Royden, Associate Professor
Interests in area of human and machine vision—how we see and can build machines that see
How do we see where we are going? A look at how the brain processes motion information to interpret the world around us.
Human and machine vision: A general introduction to how we see
Edward J. Soares, Associate Professor
Medical Imaging (including image formation, processing, reconstruction, and assessment)
Statistical Analysis of Date
The History and Development of Diagnostic Imaging
Modern Languages and Literatures
Claudia N. Ross, Professor of Chinese Language
She has lived extensively in China and in recent years has organized study tours to China for Holy Cross students. She teaches about contemporary Chinese culture through courses on Chinese Cinema and Chinese language.
Music
Carol Lieberman, Associate Professor
Violin and Baroque violin performance
17th-and 18th-century chamber music
Operas of Mozart and Verdi
Aspects of Baroque and “Modern” violin performance: sonatas concerts of J.S. Bach, Mozart and Beethoven
Mozart’s Vienna and the composition of his greatest operas while living in that city: “The Marriage of Figaro,” Don Giovanni” and the “Magic Flute”
String quartets of Franz Josef Haydn and their influence on the composition of string quartets by Wolfgang Amadaeus Mozart (He composed a set of string quartets dedicated to Haydn!)
Philosophy
Lawrence E. Cahoone, Associate Professor
Modernism and Postmodernism
Conservatism and Liberalism
Ethics of War
Ethics of Hunting, Animal Rights
Science and Religion
Race, Culture, Ethnicity and the Politics of Identity
Predrag Cicovacki, Associate Professor
Terrorism: Political and State Terrorism
Globalization and its Values
Kant’s Ethics
Philosophy as a Way of Life
Literature as a Source of Philosophy
Joseph P. Lawrence, Professor
The Relevance of Philosophy in the Contemporary World
The “Clash of Civilizations”
Philosophical Reflections on the Idea of an Emerging “Global Order”
Convergence of Philosophy and Religion
On Death and Dying
On Comedy and Tragedy
May Sim, Associate Professor
Human Rights in Confucianism
Virtue-Oriented Politics: Confucius and Aristotle
Is the Liezi (late Daosit text) an Encheiridion?
Karsten R. Stueber, Professor
Empathy and Other Minds
Physics
Matthew B. Koss
The Rise and Fall of Science on Orbit
The Future of Human Space Flight
The Ted Williams Red Seat Home Run
Communicating Science: Some Unsolicited Advice
Political Science
Donald R. Brand, Professor
American Presidency
The 2008 Presidential Election
Congress
Loren R. Cass, Associate Professor
The Politics of American Climate Policy
Negotiating the Kyoto Protocol
Addressing Ozone Depletion—The Environmental Success Story?
The Market and Environmental Protection
China and the American Trade Deficit
The Rise of China and the Future of International Economic Institutions
Oil and the Future of the Global Economy
Sweatshops and Global Production
The World Trade Organization and the Future of American Trade Policy
B Jeffrey Reno, Associate Professor
Biotechnology
Private Property and U.S. Public Policy
Land Use, Urban Planning, and Redevelopment in Major U.S. Cities
Sustainable Land Use Practices
David L. Schaefer, Professor
The Supreme Court and the Constitution: Returning to the Intent of the Founders
The Decline of Liberal Political Philosophy: The Disastrous Influence of John Rawls on American Jurisprudence
Lincolnian Wisdom: Understanding the “Gettysburg Address” And “Second Inaugural Address”
Religion and the American Constitution
Introducing Montaigne’s Essays as a Work of Political Philosophy
Culture Versus “Multiculturalism”
Leo Strauss’s Contribution to the Study of Political Philosophy
Ward J. Thomas, Associate Professor
ROTC and the Catholic Campus
Moral Choices in Modern Warfare: Hard Cases in Military Ethics
Psychology
John F. Axelson, Professor, trained as a neuroendocrinologist
Issues Related to Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Mark Freeman, Professor
Memory and Autobiography, Autobiographical Memory
Religion and Science
The Question of Human Nature (including issues related to Violence, War, etc)
The Self
Psychology and Modern Art
Understanding the Creative Process
Mark C. Hallahan, Associate Professor
Social Psychology—a range of topics
Violence, Politeness, and Cultures of Honor
Irrational Decision Making: How Behavioral Research Challenges Basic Assumptions of Economic Theory
Charles M. Locurto, Professor
Evolution and Human Nature
Amy R. Wolfson, Professor
Sleep/Wake Patterns in Children and Adolescents
School Start Times and Adolescents’ Sleep and Behavior
Women’s Sleep: Sex Differences in the Study of Sleep and Sleep Disorders
Pregnancy, Postpartum Sleep and Mood
Religious Studies
Alan J. Avery-Peck, Kraft-Hiatt Professor of Judaic Studies
Judaism in the Time of Jesus
Rabbinic Judaism
American Judaism
Jewish Ethics
Alice L. Laffey, Associate Professor
Gender, Race, and Class: Women in the Church
Ecology and Theology
Women in the Bible
Power in the Bible
Liberation-Critical Readings of the Old Testament
Todd Lewis, Professor
Islam and Asian Religions in the Global Liberal Arts Education
The Holy Cross Campus Japanese Garden and Teahouse Initiative
Asian Religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, Confucianism)
Modernization of Religion
Theories of Religion and Methods of Religious Studies
Himalayan Traditions
Gardens and World Religions
Matthew N. Schmalz, Associate Professor
Catholicism in a North Indian Village
The Indian Rite Catholic Mass
The Audrey Santo Phenomenon
New Religious Movements like Scientology, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Passion of Christ (Mel Gibson Film)
The Future of the Catholic Church in the Developing World
Sociology and Anthropology
David M. Hummon, Professor of Sociology
Sociology of culture, American culture
Sociology of Childhood
Jacob’s Ladder in American Art, Music, and Popular Culture: An Illustrated Talk
Childhood Lost or Transformed?—Sociological Research on
The Lives of Contemporary Children
Jerry L. Lembcke, Associate Professor of Sociology
Presentation for his book “The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam”
Presentation for his book “CNN’s Tailwind Tale: Inside Vietnam’s Last Great Myth”
Presentation for forthcoming book “Hanoi Jane: Vietnam and the Gendering of America’s ‘Great Betrayal’ Narrative”
Ann Marie Leshkowich, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Gender and Entrepreneurship in Contemporary Vietnam
Vietnamese “Family Values”: Kinship and Gender in the Midst of Social, Cultural, and Economic Transformation
Postwar Experiences in Urban South Vietnam
Transnational Adoption between Vietnam and the U.S.
Susan Rodgers, Professor of Anthropology
Indonesia beyond the newspaper headlines: an anthropologist’s report
Village Asia: Poverty and Promise
Islam and Christianity in Indonesia
Art in Indonesia
The Anthropology of Food
Edward H. Thompson, Jr., Professor of Sociology
Gerontology: e.g. masculinities and older men’s religiousness
The Invisibility of Older Men
Medical sociology: e.g. men, women, and medicine
Theatre
Lynn Kremer, Professor
Acting, Voice in Acting
Balinese Secular and Sacred Performance Traditions
Role of Performance in Balinese Life
Steve Vineberg, The Monsignor Murray Professor in Arts and Humanities
Theatre and Film
Critique and Discussion of Recent Films
High Comedy in American Movies
Assessment of Recent Movies
Visual Arts
Virginia C. Raguin, John E. Brooks, S.J., Chair in the Humanities
Stained Glass, Church Architecture, Preservation of Historic Structures, Pilgrimage
Tours of Worcester Art Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
All areas of Western Art
Religious Themes in Film
Joanna E. Ziegler, Edward A. O’Rorke Professor in the Humanities
Religious Art of the Later Middle Ages
History of Architecture, especially Modern
Philosophy of Art, Contemplative Practice
Changing Face of Christ in the history of Art
Campus Ministry Center
Paul Covino, Associate Chaplain, Director of Liturgy
Issues of pastoral ministry, sacramental celebrations, campus ministry, ministry in the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Common Ground Initiative