Jewell professor visits Morocco as part of Fulbright-Hays program

Dr. Ian Munro, professor of English at William Jewell, was one of 16 teachers and college professors participating this summer in a Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad program in Morocco . The seminar was designed to give participants the chance to develop a broad appreciation for the history and Arabo-Islamic culture of Morocco . Specifically, the seminar focused on the changing role and status of women in Morocco . Topics explored included the traditional roles of Moroccan women, new opportunities for women following the country's independence from France and the major cultural, religious, legal and political factors that influence the role and status of women in Morocco today.

The seminar began with a two-day pre-departure orientation at George Washington University , during which participants were given a general introduction to North Africa with emphasis on placing gender-related issues within the broader context of the Arab and Islamic worlds. The first week in Morocco was devoted to an intensive language and cultural orientation program designed to prepare participants for the three weeks of travel which followed. The travel phase of the seminar included lectures and site visits in both urban centers and rural villages. A four-day home stay with a Moroccan family provided participants with an insights into Moroccan family life, culture and customs.

“ Morocco is a fascinating, amazingly diverse country,” says Dr. Munro. “There's no Moroccan ‘type.' On any street you can see young women wearing traditional head-to-toe covering walking with female friends wearing clothing you might see on any campus in the U.S. Moroccans are comfortable with paradoxes.”

Geilker gives Willard Lecture

Dr. Don Geilker, Emeritus Professor of Physics, presented the 2004 Carl F. Willard Distinguished Teacher Lecture October 25 on the William Jewell campus. Geilker's presentation, “The State of the Universe: How It Got That Way and What's Next,” illuminated the field in which cosmologists work and described the present view of the universe as seen through their eyes. Geilker noted that William Jewell College counts among its alumni two world-class cosmologists: Don Page '71 and Don Marolf '87.

“During the past 10 years, new tools and new discoveries in astronomy have appeared at such a rate that a textbook printed even two years previously is hopelessly out of date,” Geilker said. “With each of these advances our view has become both more extensive and more bizarre. Observations by spacecraft and by terrestrial instruments larger than we ever imagined possible have provided a basis for understanding the progress of the universe from almost the instant of its creation to its possible ultimate fates.”

Jewell's retention programs receive national recognition

Shelly King, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, and Rick Winslow, Dean of Student Affairs, presented details of William Jewell's retention programs at the Best Practices in College Retention conference recently in Rockport, Maine. The conference was designed to educate approximately 300 college personnel from 32 Maine colleges about how to structure and administer an effective retention effort and to assist them in developing their future grant proposals.

Chasteen presents paper

Debbie Chasteen, professor of communication, recently presented a paper at the International Communication Association Meeting in New Orleans . The paper was entitled “The Globalization of Public Relations: Rethinking Public Relations Education for the Chinese University .”

Nursing professor is published

Nancy Crigger, Associate Professor in the Department of Nursing, has published the following articles:

Crigger , N.J. (2004). A review of current health care funding models, JONA's Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation, 6(4); 1-9.

Crigger, N. (2004). Always having to say you're sorry: an ethical response to making mistakes in professional practice, Nursing Ethics, 11(6), no page numbers yet.

Crigger , N.J. , Holcomb, L., Grogan, R., Vasquez, M., Prachment, C., Almendares, J., Lagos , D. (2004). Development of the Choices and Acquisition of Antibiotics Model from a descriptive study of a lay Honduran population, International Journal of Nursing Studies, 41; 745-753.