Faculty Notes for October 2016: Publications, Quotes and More

 

In September, Professor Katherine Abriam-Yago, Valley Foundation School of Nursing, spoke at a gathering of California minority nurses at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, addressing the role of nurses in patient advocacy and leadership.

Former SJSU President John Bunzel, who began performing a stand-up comedy routine titled “From Here to Hilarity” at Stanford University during alumni weekend in the 1990s, is still at it, comedy-wise, at age 92. Considered “comedian in residence” at his senior living residence in Mount Pleasant, S.C., he performed his latest gig in September. “The trick is to make it look easy,” he explained. “The great comedians put a lot of hard work into rehearsing their routines so that it looks casual and fresh.” After serving as SJSU’s president, Bunzel became a research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and in 1982 served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, appointed by President Ronald Reagan.

On October 2, Department of Theatre Arts Lecturer Nancy Carlin directed a one-night-only reading of Jerome Kilty’s play Dear Liar, starring Annette Bening, at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater. The play is based on letters exchanged between playwright George Bernard Shaw and his leading lady, Mrs. Patrick Campbell. The event kicked off a series of special events for A.C.T.’s 50th anniversary season. Both Bening and Carlin are American Conservatory Theater alumni.

Kepler’s Dream, Department of Theatre Arts Professor Amy Glazer’s latest film, will premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival this month. Based on a coming-of-age novel by Juliet Bell, the film stars include Kelly Lynch, Holland Taylor and cinematic New Mexico. The film is also a Julien Dubuque International Film Festival “Best Film” nominee.

Assistant Professor Elizabeth Gross, Department of Mathematics, co-organized the 2016 Mathematics Research Community’s workshop in algebraic statistics in Utah. The MRC program, started in 2008 by the American Mathematical Society, brings together groups of early-career mathematicians for research and mentoring by established faculty.

Department of Art and Art History Professor Robin Lasser, in collaboration with her former student Adrienne Pao, created what has been dubbed by the press as a “fun and fantastical exploration of female identity and politics” in their “Dress Tents: Nomadic Wearable Architecture” series. The tent dresses are constructed for interactive viewing. “Edible Garden Dress Tent,” a recent installation at the Montalvo Center for the Arts in Saratoga, includes a swing and garden inside. Other dresses from the series were on display at the Center for Photographic Art in September.

Navajo Math Circles, a documentary based on a project co-founded by Department of Mathematics Professor Tatiana Shubin, aired nationwide on PBS in September. Shubin introduced the math circles method of teaching to the Navajo community in 2012 with the goal of attracting more Navajo students to the field of mathematics. The documentary by George Csicsery was a 2016 official selection of the One Nation Film Festival, the Arizona International Film Festival and the Vision Maker Film Festival. Learn more online.

iSchool Lecturer and San Antonio Public Library teen services coordinator Jennifer Velasquez published an article about how to attract teens to libraries in American Libraries Magazine. “A cornerstone of teen library services is the principle that teens must be actively involved in decisions about their library experience,” she writes. Velasquez is the recipient of the 2005 New York Times Librarian Award. Read more online.