Dear A&S Faculty and Staff Community,
Here we are, at a time that would usually be the second full week of classes but is now midterms, and the accomplishments of the A&S community roll on in the midst of everything we are facing together. Please take a moment look at the amazing work that you are all doing. If you come across a name of someone you haven’t seen as much as you used to, send them a quick email to congratulate them, share how you’re doing and ask how they’re doing.
Also, note the new alumni/student mentoring site, Redhawk Landing, Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal, and Student Assistantship opportunities coming up. Last but certainly not least, look at the Recruitment and Retention section and think about how your department/program can help us reach out to potential students for Fall 2021.
Everything we do makes a difference, thank you for your work.
Shared Governance
David V. Powers, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Seattle University
The audio recording of Dr. Kira Mauseth's recent presentation is available online. Listen to it here.
Eighteen of the 24 Naef Scholars are College of Arts and Sciences students. The list below, in the Students section.
College of Arts & Sciences funds a number of student assistantships each year. The tradition continues for this academic year, although students will work remotely. Six assistantships will be offered for 50 work hours each.
These assistantships are intended to support faculty scholarship and creative work. To be considered for one of these assistantships, please submit in electronic form the following:
Applications will be assessed by a faculty committee (past recipients of these assistantships) using the following criteria:
Please send your application to Sonora Jha, and cc: Kate Reynolds, by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 23. Recipients will be notified by mid-November.
The Career Engagement Office (CEO) and the Seattle University Alumni Association (SUAA) are excited to move into the next phase of onboarding students onto Redhawk Landing and ask faculty to help spread the word to students.
Briefly, Redhawk Landing’s mentoring and networking platform brings alumni and students together for short- and long-term mentorship—alum to alum or alum to student. Members network within the community to meet alumni in their city, industry, former student club, and campus affiliation or to browse career resources and programs. Groups support participants in building community around shared interests. Redhawk Landing was launched late spring, with alumni being invited onto the platform, first.
SUURJ is now soliciting research-focused essays in any field, and on any subject, for its May 2021, Volume 5 issue. Deadline for submissions is October 26, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Information, formatting requirements, and application may be found on the website.
The editorial team seeks undergraduate research in the following categories:
We want to accommodate student research affected by COVID
This year, we will especially welcome shorter research-based submissions, and will be flexible in imagining Volume 5. We encourage you to apply!
The Writing Center is accepting submissions from all SU students, staff, and faculty. Only one story can be entered per person, and entries should be between one and five pages. Submissions can be sent to The Writing Center by email, through October 13, at 11:59 p.m.. Additionally, winners will be featured on the Hoo’s at the Writing Center podcast.
As expected, Admissions has drastically changed the event to allow for the online format. CAS departments/programs will participate in these components:
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.: Virtual Fair/Workshop/drop-in. CAS Advising will meet with prospective students and their families who are interested in CAS for a brief presentation and then send them off to individual department/program zoom sessions for the remainder of the hour.
In order to coordinate this event, Kate Elias needs programs to create a Zoom meeting for their departmental/program session and set themselves as the host. Make sure to review the attached instructions about how to set up the meeting with our updated zoom security protocols. Create the Zoom link and event, setting the time from 3:30-4:30 p.m. and upload it to this document by Tuesday, October 20. More details about what to expect during the virtual fair will be sent in the next few weeks.
Pre-recorded Videos - Admissions will be hosting pre-recorded videos on their website for all programs and departments that can provide them. If you have an existing video that you would like to feature, let us know by October 16.
For those who have the capacity to film a (very) short introduction, Karen Bystrom has a concept for videos combining slides and photos with that introduction and is willing to produce as many as she can within the time frame possible.
Video concept:
To participate:
Communicate commitment to Karen by Thursday, October 15 - so far, only one program has signed up, so this offer is extended!
Submit these items to Karen Bystrom by Friday, October 16:
Karen will:
Thanks for your help with this important recruitment effort! Kate will share additional event details soon.
Sullivan Leaders’ Day: January 23, 2021: This event is for admitted Early Action students (and their families) who have applied for the Sullivan Leadership Award to move forward in the selection process.
Admitted Students of Color Reception: Saturday April 10, 2021: This event is for admitted FTIC students of color (and their families) to connect with our campus community.
Admitted Student Days (formerly Admitted Student Open Houses): Sunday April 11 and Saturday, April 17, 2021: These events are for admitted FTIC students (and their families) to connect with our campus community and get all of their questions answered prior to making their final college choice.
Admitted Transfer Student Evening Reception, College of Arts and Sciences: Tuesday, June 2, 2021: These events are for admitted transfer students (and their families) to learn more about their college, and connect with advisors, faculty, and current students within their college.
Other Colleges and Schools Transfer Student Receptions:
Summer Preview Day: August 18, 2021: This event is for rising high school juniors and seniors, and prospective transfer students to learn more about Seattle U as they launch their college search and prepare to apply.
Check out our page listing potential sources of funding for research and scholarship, including those with specific and rolling deadlines.
Selected Upcoming Deadlines
Russell Sage Foundation – Next Deadline: November 11, 2020
The Russell Sage Foundation is an operating foundation dedicated to programs of social science research. RSF rarely considers projects for which the investigators have not already fully-developed the research design, the sample framework, access to data, etc. Investigators are encouraged to submit an LOI after they have developed and pre-tested survey instruments, completed preliminary data analyses if the data are publicly-available or conducted some preliminary interviews for qualitative studies. Funding priorities for the November deadline include: Future of Work, Race, Ethnicity and Immigration, Social, Political and Economic Inequality, and Immigration and Immigrant Integration.
NEH’s Collaborative Research Program– Deadline: December 2, 2020
Debate, exchange of ideas, and working together—all are basic activities that advance humanities knowledge and foster rich scholarship that would not be possible by researchers working on their own. The Collaborative Research program aims to advance humanistic knowledge through sustained collaboration between two or more scholars. Collaborators may be drawn from a single institution or several institutions across the United States; up to half of the collaborators may be based outside of the U.S. The program encourages projects that propose diverse approaches to topics, incorporate multiple points of view, and explore new avenues of inquiry in the humanities for scholars and general audiences.
The program allows projects that propose research in a single field of study, as well as interdisciplinary work. Projects that include partnerships with researchers from the natural and social sciences are encouraged, but they must remain firmly rooted in the humanities and must employ humanistic methods. Partnerships among different types of institutions are welcome. For example, research universities might partner with teaching colleges, libraries, museums, or independent research institutions. Proposed projects must lead to tangible and sustainable outcomes such as co-authored or multi-authored books; born-digital publications; themed issues of peer-reviewed journals; a series of peer-reviewed articles in academic journals or articles in general audience publications or both; and open-access digital resources. All project outcomes must be based on and must convey interpretive humanities research.
National Science Foundation Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) Program – January 15, 2021 deadline
The Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) Program supports basic scientific research that advances knowledge and understanding of issues broadly related to attitudes, behavior, and institutions connected to public policy and the provision of public services. Substantive areas include (but are not limited to) the study of individual and group decision-making, political institutions (appointed or elected), attitude and preference formation and expression, electoral processes and voting, public administration, and public policy.
The Co-Chairs of the A&S Strategic Planning Implementation Committee are Dr. Natalie Cisneros in Philosophy and Dr. Joseph DeFilippis in Social Work. Natalie and Joseph both served as members of the Strategic Planning Committee for the past two years, providing them with deep understanding of the very comprehensive input and planning that went into the overall Strategic Plan (available here).
Given that extensive foundational work, we expect the Implementation Committee will develop the action steps and process outlines for those steps by the end of the current academic year. The next step is for the Co-Chairs to reach out to the shared governance bodies and other committees in the college to request nominations for the committee. You may also contact them directly if you are interested in serving. We aim to have a broadly representational committee across a variety of dimensions.
Associate Dean of Academic Community Sonora Jha will continue as the Dean’s Office liaison to the committee. We will also be moving forward on components of the plan during the year even as we map out the work of the next three to five years.
Pete Collins, PhD, and Brooke Gialopsos, PhD, Criminal Justice, recently completed a report for the Washington State Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission entitled “An Analysis of Disparities in Jury Summons/Pool Participation in Washington State.” It provides the very first empirical study of jury summons participation in Washington and focuses on the barriers that people, especially women of color, face in participating in jury service.
Seattle U Gives is back: February 25, 2021
Katie Chapman will soon be in touch with departments and programs that want to have a presence with SU’s 24 hours of online giving, our largest means of inviting alumni participation in giving. If you would like to get a head start on the process, you may complete this brief CAS SU Gives 2021 Survey by October 30.
We look forward to working with programs to offer a way to feature your program and receive funding, while also helping to unlock a College-wide challenge grant.
For more information or questions about donations and fundraising in the College of Arts and Sciences, please reach out to Kathleen Jones or Katie Chapman.
Robert Andolina, PhD, Associate Professor, International Studies recently released a book chapter: “Argentina’s Enigmatic Wall on the Paraguayan Border,” in Andréanne Bissonnette and Élisabeth Vallet, Eds., Borders and Border Walls: In-Security, Symbolism, Vulnerabilities. Published September 17, 2020 by Routledge. Available here.
María Bullón-Fernández, PhD, Professor, English Department, and Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities, published the article, "Gower's Queer Poetics in the Mirour de l'Omme" in Accessus: A Journal of Premodern Literature and New Media (2020) Vol. 6, Iss. 1, article 3.
Caitlin Ring Carlson, PhD, Associate Professor, Communication, an article in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Carlson, C.R. & Cousineau, L. (2020) Are you sure you want to view this community? Exploring the ethics of Reddit’s quarantine practice. Journal of Mass Media Ethics. Her research was cited in VentureBeat, “Facebook’s Dynabench aims to make AI models more robust through distributed human workers,” by Kyle Wiggers. Sept. 24, 2020. She was quoted in “The Supreme Court Will Reshape TV’s Megamerger Future” in the Hollywood Reporter.
Dr. Carlson and Eric Severson, PhD, Instructor, Philosophy, were both named fellows in the inaugural IETT (Initiative in Ethics and Transformative Technologies) cohort here at SU.
Dawn Cerny, MFA, Adjunct Faculty, Art, Art History, and Design, won the 2020 Betty Bowen Award, receiving $15,000 and a solo exhibition at Seattle Art Museum in 2021.
Yancy Hughes Dominick, PhD, Senior Instructor, Philosophy presented a paper at the West Coast Plato Workshop (Sept. 18-20, hosted by Lewis & Clark College). The title was "Gender and Discourse in Plato's Lysis." In the paper, he discuss some of the ways in which the dialogue exhibits the occasional breakdown of rational discourse, and at the same time the ways that the dialogue subtly unsettles traditional Greek ideas of masculinity. He also revised the paper to reflect a commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement, and so spent some time talking about Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, who taught himself to read by reading Plato's Republic over and over again. In the future, he is hoping that all of his research on Plato will remain mindful of the ways that Plato has been a source of inspiration for liberatory thinkers and activists like Huey P. Newton.
Jacqueline Helfgott, PhD, Professor, Criminal Justice and Director, Crime & Justice Research Center, was interviewed by KOMO News for “Crime fears mount in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood.”
Rosa Joshi, MFA, Professor, Theatre and Chair, Performing Arts and Arts Leadership, did a talk for for American Shakespeare Center. The video will go live on ASC's Facebook at 5pm this Friday; you can find the event here or on the series page on their website.
Paul Kidder, PhD, Professor, Philosophy, delivered a series of three lectures to the Mirabella Seattle retirement community on “Philosophies of Race, Gender, and Identity,” contrasting classic liberal ways of framing these issues with more recent approaches. This was the eleventh series that he has presented to Mirabella residents.
Kira Mauseth, PhD, Senior Instructor, Psychology, and co-lead for the Behavioral Health Strike Team for the WA State Department of Health, shared common responses to the pandemic, including symptoms, and challenges over the next few months that we will be facing, and what you can do to prevent burnout and increase resilience factors. Listen to the audio recording here.
She participated in a number of media interviews:
Allison Machlis Meyer, PhD, Associate Professor, English, published “Bringing Down the Bard’s House: Pedagogy, Representation, and the All-Female Cast” in issue 20.3 of Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition and Culture. The article is about teaching Theatre Professor Rosa Joshi’s 2017 production of Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays, Bring Down the House, in Dr. Meyer’s Shakespeare course.
Susan Meyers, PhD, Associate Professor, English and Director, Creative Writing Program, published an essay entitled "The Club" out in the September issue of Snapdragon: A Journal of Art and Healing.
Christopher Paul, PhD, Professor, Communication had a new book released October 13, “Free-to-Play: Mobile Video Games, Bias, and Norms.” Learn more here.
Patrick Schoettmer, PhD, Instructor, Political Science, discussed the potential political impact of President Trump testing positive for COVID-19 on KOMO News. Watch the interview here.
Kirsten Moana Thompson, PhD, Professor and Director of Film Studies was the moderator for the Indigenous Futures Panel Social Justice Film Festival, Transform: Another World is Possible, October 8, 2020. Her latest publications include:
Nolan Jekich, IDLS ’20, wrote “1 Step to Reducing Health Disparities, Life Science Washington Says All Can Take.”
Bryce W. Rassilyer, Humanities/Matteo Ricci and BABA Accounting ’07, and Masters in Accounting ’08, is one of the Puget Sound Journal’s “40 Under 40” this year. Read about him here.
Martha (Marty) Wine, MPA ’98, is the new City Manager in Monmouth, Oregon. Read about her here.
Casey Davis, MNPL ’22, Edmonds Food Bank Executive Director and volunteers were chosen as the 2020 Edmonds Citizen of the Year. Read about the award here.
The Naef Scholarship Program provides support and enrichment for upper-level undergraduate students of Seattle University who demonstrate commitment to social justice leadership in their communities. Made possible by an endowment gift from the estate of Sue M. Naef (+1982), the program recognizes outstanding students from diverse backgrounds in the undergraduate schools and programs of the University. Each Naef Scholar receives a need-based award of $3,000 or $4,500 and joins a tight-knit community of peers in conversation with one another and the communities to which they belong.
Congratulations to our College of Arts and Sciences students.
We also congratulate the rest of this year’s scholars:
* Returning Naef Scholar
Thursday, April 25 at 12:00 PM
Monday, May 6 at 9:00 AM
Wednesday, May 8 at 12:30 PM
Monday, May 13 at 5:00 PM
Tuesday, May 14 at 12:00 PM
The Dean’s Monthly Memo is published the second full week of the month, September through December and February through June. Send your updates to Karen Bystrom.