Author Archives: Melissa Anderson

Faculty Tenure and Promotion: Ann Agee

Ann Agee

Ann Agee

Ann Agee

Tenure and promotion to associate librarian

Years at SJSU: 10

Department: University library

RSCA focus: Information literacy instruction and collection development

Associate Librarian Ann Agee is currently co-chair of SJSU’s “Digital Polarization: Promoting Online Civic Literacy Initiative,” an effort to help college students distinguish between credible information and misinformation online. This is just the latest research that Agee has been involved in around information literacy. She has previously published articles on the topic related to the working world as well as how to use rubrics to assess information literacy skills. Agee has also promoted alternative instructional materials for students that can be more affordable then the high cost of textbooks.

In addition to her research and scholarly efforts, Agee has served on the Accessible Technology Initiative: Instructional materials team, the Assessment Facilitation Committee, the Undergraduate Studies Committee and the University Library Board.

She serves as the library liaison for the School of Information, the School of Management, and the School of Information Systems and Technology. Throughout her career, her favorite time on campus has been “any time spent working with students.”

Note: Congratulations to the 43 faculty members who received tenure and/or promotion for 2017-18. We have invited each faculty member to participate in a series of posts profiling their teaching, service, and research, scholarship and creativity activities. Those faculty who opted to participate will be featured throughout the fall semester on the Academic Spotlight blog and the digital sign in the Administration Building lobby.

 

Faculty Promotion: Alessandro De Giorgi

Alessandro De Giorgi

Alessandro De Giorgi

Alessandro De Giorgi

Promotion to full professor

Years at SJSU: 11

Department: Justice Studies

RSCA focus: Sociology of Punishment, specifically critical theories of punishment and social control, urban ethnography and radical political economy.

Professor Alessandro De Giorgi is an avid researcher and publisher who has written or contributed to 10 books in multiple languages, as well as dozens of journal articles on his research area of justice studies. He most recently served as an editor of Neoliberal Confinements: Social Suffering in the Shadows of the Carceral State, a special issue of Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict & World Order.

He presented recent ethnographic research on the socioeconomic consequences of concentrated incarceration and prisoner reentry in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Oakland, Calif. In 2018, he gave the keynote address at the conference on “New Directions in Critical Criminology,” organized by Eastern Kentucky University’s School of Justice Studies in Richmond, KY. He has also presented at the British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences in London, the American Studies Association annual meeting, and the Stanford Criminal Justice Center and Law School.

“I could not be more grateful for the years I have spent as a faculty member at San Jose State University,” he said. “The opportunity to teach and conduct research in a public university that serves a diverse and often underprivileged student population is as fulfilling as any academic experience can be. I look forward to many more years of service at SJSU.”

Note: Congratulations to the 43 faculty members who received tenure and/or promotion for 2018-19. We have invited each faculty member to participate in a series of posts profiling their teaching, service, and research, scholarship and creativity activities. Those faculty who opted to participate will be featured throughout the fall semester on the Academic Spotlight blog and the digital sign in the Administration Building lobby.

Faculty News and Notes for September 2018: Publications, Quotes and More

Department of Film and Theatre Lecturer Kirsten Brandt directed the African-American Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard III in July at the Taube Atrium Theatre in San Francisco. Before becoming a freelance director, she served as artistic director of San Diego’s Sledgehammer Theatre for seven years.

School of Management Associate Professor Gretchen Vogelgesang Lester published “Autocratic Leaders and Authoritarian Followers Revisited: a Review and Agenda for the Future” in The Leadership Quarterly, an article that discusses why people elect leaders who restrict freedom.

An August article in The Guardian about “skim reading” in the digital age and the profound societal effects of that trend referenced the research of iSchool Professor Ziming Liu.

Department of Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor Thomas Madura spearheaded a STEM camp in Kalamazoo, Mich., for blind and visually impaired students from around the state. The camp was sponsored by the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons (BSBP), a program that helps students transition from high school to postsecondary education or employment.

Department of Economics Assistant Professor Raymond March posted an article on The Independent Institute’s blog titled “If Telemedicine Is Underachieving, Government Is to Blame.” “An unfortunate consequence of any regulation is that it restricts the number of alternative products and services available to consumers,” March wrote.

Communications Studies Professor Matthew Spangler was interviewed about SJSU’s Communications Studies program by MastersinCommunications.com in August. The site’s mission is to help students make informed decisions when planning their academic and professional goals.

The Atlantic Monthly interviewed Department of Sociology Assistant Professor Elizabeth Sweet on the culture of “stifling” masculinity. Sweet, who studies gender in 20th-century children’s toys, reported that American gender categories “are more rigid now than at any time in history.”

Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Packaging Chair Ashwini Wagle gave the keynote address at Silicon Valley’s Rise Against Hunger event in July. An international hunger relief organization, Rise Against Hunger aims to end hunger by 2030 and operates meal packaging locations in 25 cities throughout the U.S. and at five international locations. “When you package a meal with Rise Against Hunger, you are simultaneously empowering people to become nourished and live a healthy life,” Wagle said.

KTVU interviewed School of Management Professor Robert Chapman Wood about the announced closing of all Orchard Supply Hardware stores. “Somebody decided that OSH was a small problem in a company with really big problems. And so they gotta close it,” Wood said.

Faculty Promotion: Lili Luo

Lili Luo

Lili Luo

Lili Luo

Promotion to Professor

Years at SJSU: 11

Department: School of Information

RSCA focus: Reference and information services, consumer health information services, and research methods education and training for library and information professionals

Professor Lili Luo sees her area of research as critical to helping libraries and librarians facilitate user’s access to quality information and assisting them in their information-seeking process. She has been especially interested in understanding how text messaging and other new technologies can be used as a way for reference librarians to effectively communicate with users. She has also explored ways to prepare public librarians to enhance health literacy of those who visit their venues. A prolific author, she has published one book, five book chapters, 22 published or accepted articles for peer-reviewed journals and has presented at 18 conferences in the past five years.

“I truly enjoy being part of the SJSU community, especially working with our students in the Masters of Library and Information Science program,” Luo said. “They are driven and passionate about librarianship and the incredible value that libraries can bring to the community in this rapidly evolving information landscape.”

Luo has served on SJSU’s Program Planning Committee and served as the director of the College of Health and Human Sciences’ Center for Applied Research on Human Services from 2016-18, and has been a doctoral supervisor for students enrolled in the Gateway PhD program.

Note: Congratulations to the 43 faculty members who received tenure and/or promotion for 2018-19. We have invited each faculty member to participate in a series of posts profiling their teaching, service, and research, scholarship and creativity activities. Those faculty who opted to participate will be featured throughout the fall semester on the Academic Spotlight blog and the digital sign in the Administration Building lobby.

 

Faculty Promotion: Katherine D. Harris

Katherine D. Harris

Katherine D. Harris

Katherine D. Harris

Promotion to Professor

Years at SJSU: 14

Department: English and Comparative Literature

RSCA focus: Pedagogy and Digital Pedagogy, British Romanticism and Romantic-era women’s poetry, Gothic novels, Victorian novels and “Afterings”/Adaptations, Nineteenth-century culture and literature, Nineteenth-century reading practices, Bibliography, Textual Studies and History of the Book, Digital Humanities, Feminist theory and Women’s Studies.

Professor Katherine D. Harris is on sabbatical this fall to complete work on several articles associated with Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: Concepts, Models & Experiments, a peer-reviewed collection of curated teaching materials under contract with the Modern Language Association. She is also the author of two books on British literary annuals and has been integral in coordinating the “Bicentennial Celebration – Frankenstein at 200.” The year-long project has included a Spring 2018 class, a panel and student poster session on technology ethics in Silicon Valley, several student-run films, performance, and discussion events, and a recent panel in which speakers discussed Mary Shelley’s novel from different Humanities perspectives.

As a professor, she enjoys “meeting SJSU’s wide array of students and working with them towards intellectual growth.” Along with her teaching and scholarly work, Harris has been an advocate for low-cost open educational resources.

Note: Congratulations to the 43 faculty members who received tenure and/or promotion for 2018-19. We have invited each faculty member to participate in a series of posts profiling their teaching, service, and research, scholarship and creativity activities. Those faculty who opted to participate will be featured throughout the fall semester on the Academic Spotlight blog and the digital sign in the Administration Building lobby.