|
This spring Holy Cross announced the first recipients
of the Arthur J. O’Leary ’20 Faculty Recognition Awards.
In acknowledgment of their outstanding work and in recognition
of their special contribution to Holy Cross through their
teaching, scholarship, and/or service, four members of
the faculty: Charles Anderton of economics, Karen Turner
of history, Amy Wolfson of psychology, and James Kee of
English, were awarded the $10,000 honoraria by Provost
Frank Vellaccio.
Charles
H. Anderton of the economics department has been at Holy Cross since 1986.
His areas of expertise are arms trade and proliferation, and the defense industry.
According to Anderton, “The faculty recognition award will enhance my teaching
and research in new ways. The award provides a special opportunity to initiate
collaborative research with students and to acquire teaching and research materials
that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. One of the unique benefits of the
O’Leary award is the flexibility it offers the professor. Within a few parameters,
I am free to envision and carry out new initiatives that are tailored to my particular
teaching and research fields.”
Karen
Turner of the history department has been at Holy Cross since 1987. She specializes
in classical Chinese and comparative legal history, Vietnamese history and women
in war. She says the O’Leary
award comes “at a critical juncture in my professional life and will enable me
to complete two ongoing projects: a book on the origins of Chinese law and a
documentary film on war trauma in Vietnam.” The O’Leary award allows Turner to
return to China and Viet Nam to continue work under way in both places. Turner
adds, “All of this work has been inspired by and in turn enriches my teaching
at Holy Cross. My students over the years have helped me learn how to translate
my scholarly training in Asian history into more human and contemporary-focused
presentations. They have asked the hard questions and have served as appreciative
audiences and (mostly) gentle
critics.”
Amy
R. Wolfson of the psychology department has been at Holy Cross since 1992.
Her areas of expertise are the sleep-wake patterns of adolescents and children,
and women’s physical and mental health. She has also served as director of the
women’s studies concentration. Wolfson
says she was “honored and touched by her colleagues’ responses to this
happening.” She is happy that the College has found a new way to recognize faculty.
Wolfson explains that sleep research requires expensive laboratory equipment
and research assistants, and the honorarium will allow her to get started building
a small actigraphy lab. She says, “such a lab will enable me to begin to gather
pilot data … and to train students on measurement
techniques … as well as for future sleep research projects.”
James
M. Kee of the English department has been at Holy Cross since 1981. His areas
of expertise include contemporary literary theory, medieval literature, and religion
and literature. Kee says the
timing of the award is “most fortuitous for me. I will soon be beginning a sabbatical
that is, without question, the most important research opportunity I have ever
had … The award will help me materially, of course, but the institutional encouragement
it offers me is at least as important—perhaps
more so.” Kee continues, “In his letter informing me that I had been selected
to receive an O’Leary Faculty Recognition Award, Frank Vellaccio wrote, ‘The
award is being given to you in recognition of your dedication to students at
Holy Cross.’ I can’t tell you how touched I was by this statement of
the rationale.”
|
