Faculty notes for October: Publications, quotes and more

By Kat Meads

The San Jose Mercury News quoted Associate Professor Beverly Grindstaff, Department of Art and Art History, about a plan to construct two-story houses in a Sunnyvale neighborhood of one-story Eichler homes. “It’s growth for growth’s sake and a real misstep,” she said, receiving a round of applause from others attending the zoning hearing. Eichler homes, named for developer Joseph Eichler, began appearing in California in the late 1940s, the majority built in the Bay Area.

Lecturer Stephen Morewitz, Department of Sociology, published “Kidnapping and Violence: New Research and Clinical Perspectives” (Springer), an analysis that covers the use of kidnapping by individuals, governments and terrorist groups to achieve social, cultural, religious and political objectives. Morewitz is president of a San Francisco-based forensic sociology consulting firm and author of the award-winning “Domestic Violence and Maternal and Child Health,” also published by Springer.

Professor Annette Nellen, Lucas College and Graduate School of Business, was interviewed by The Nonprofit Times on the topic of taxing cloud-based services. Nellen’s blog, “21st Century Taxation,” tackles tax reform and the modernization of tax systems.

Lecturer Mary Poffenroth, Department of Biological Sciences, published “Write, Present, Create: Science Communication for Undergraduates” (Cognella), a guide for non-science majors. Poffenroth was a 2013 Salzburg Fellow.

“Tortilla Curtain,” the stage adaption of T.C. Boyle’s novel by Associate Professor Matthew Spangler, Department of Communication Studies, opened Oct. 24 at The Western Stage Studio Theater at Hartnell College in Salinas and will run until Nov. 14. The play was also recently produced by the San Diego Repertory Theatre.

Former Dean of the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business David Steele was appointed president of Woodbury University, a private university in Burbank. Steele’s “vast global business experience and extensive record of building innovative academic and other programs” distinguished him from the other candidates, according to Woodbury’s Board of Trustees chair Lawrence Hurwitz. A native of Venezuela, Steele joined SJSU’s business faculty in 2008.

Earlier this month, Professor Swathi Vanniarajan, chair of the Department of Linguistics and Language Development, gave a keynote address at the first three-day international conference of Pakistan’s linguistic association. Vanniarajan, who joined SJSU’s faculty in 1995, specializes in psycholinguistics, language testing, second language acquisition and the psychology of language processing.

Dean Lisa Vollendorf, College of Humanities and the Arts, with James Parr, published an updated edition of “Approaches to Teaching Cervantes’sDon Quixote’” (Modern Language Association of America). The Spanish novel, which has been called the first modern novel, was originally published in two volumes in 1605 and 1615.

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