Class Notes

Victor Ashear (PhD, Psychology) and co-author Matt Gray had their article “An Open Trial of a Novel Acceptance-Based Group Designed to Increase Self-Esteem in Patients with Serious Mental Illness” accepted by the American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation.

Bruce Bond (MA, English) was bestowed the Nicholas Schaffner Award for Music in Literature. Independent publisher Schaffner Press has announced that Bond is the winner for his poetry collection Liberation of Dissonance. As a result, the collection will be published by Schaffner Press in 2022. In addition to his performing classical and jazz guitar in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Bond is the author of twenty-eight books and teaches part-time as a Regents Emeritus Professor of English at the University of North Texas.

A Coin for the Ferryman (Imbrifex Books) is Megan Edwards’s (MA, Education) extraordinary saga in which Julius Caesar is kidnapped right before his assassination in 44 B.C. and transported to Los Angeles at the turn of the 20th century.  The novel embarks upon a wildly imaginative journey with captivating characters and a diversity of settings that offers its readers a glimpse of time travel and its potential ramifications. A gripping thriller, an ambitious thought experiment, and a heartbreaking love story, A Coin for the Ferryman seamlessly weaves together several genres, including historical fiction, philosophy, science, and romance!

Margreta Klassen (PhD, Education) has three featured stories in the collection, Twenty of Today’s Best Short Stories published by Commonwealth and edited by Larry Parr.

Families with infants and toddlers across Philadelphia have begun to receive a new book during their pediatric visits. The book, entitled I’ll Build You a Bookcase, is inspired by Philadelphia families and carries an important message for adults within its sweet rhythm and rhyme: You are your child’s first and most important teacher. Written by Jean Ciborowski Fahey (PhD, Education) and designed for children from birth to age three, the book was born from an unconventional collaboration and contest for children’s book manuscripts that yielded entries from around the world.

Wayne Bethanis’s (MA, PhD, Musicology) album, Measures of Light, was month at #1 on the worldwide New Age Music Charts for at least two months running.

Nancy Pine (PhD, Education) held a July 6 public conversation with author Michele Zack about “One in a Billion: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey Through Modern-Day China.”

Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante (MA, PhD, Philosophy of Religion and Theology) was elected Chairman for the Christian Council of Ghana.

James Shaw (PhD, Education) designed a document containing over 100 questions for law enforcement officers titled “Survey of Police Service” or S.O.P.S. It is designed to help officers put themselves in the minds of the community members they serve.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has named Charmaine Jackson Mercer (MA, Politics; PhD, Education) as its first Chief of Equity and Culture, a newly created senior role.  A leader in education, government, philanthropy, and nonprofit arenas, Mercer will oversee external grant-making related to racial equity, including a new 10-year, $150-million racial justice initiative. Read the full announcement about Mercer in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

California Botanic Garden Director of Conservation and Research Assistant Professor of Botany Naomi Fraga’s (MA, PhD, Botany) project to save the Amargosa niterwort (Nitrophila mohavensis) was featured on the front page and the entire back page of section A of the LA Times in August. Reporter Louis Sahagun joined Fraga and recent grad student Maria Jesus on a seed-collecting trip to the salt flat of the Amargosa River Basin in the Mojave Desert. The report tells of the efforts of conservationists and biologists in the fight against worsening climate change.

Julie A. Vitale (PhD, Education) has been named a 2021 Equity Champion by the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE).