A Message from the Dean - May 2020
What a long, strange semester it’s been! The sheer onslaught of dealing with the twists and turns of the COVID-19 pandemic has produced, I must admit, a psychological exhaustion I have never before experienced. I’m quite sure I am not alone in this. My sincere thanks and deepest appreciation goes out to all of our faculty and staff for the enormous effort involved in the rapid adaptation that was necessary.
Among the disappointments associated with the pandemic were the many celebrations that were cancelled. CAS Honors Day 2020 was one such event. However, thanks to Cindy Scarsdale and her team of students, we created a website for Honors Day, which you can visit to see all of the outstanding students who received scholarships and awards for the College this year. As I wrote to the students, “While we could not physically gather to celebrate, please know that you will always have this achievement as part of your record, and this can never be taken from you.”
Another event that was a victim of the pandemic was the 25th anniversary dinner-gala that was scheduled at the end of June. Yet, with each challenge comes an opportunity. As a physical event, the anniversary gala had space limitations. As a virtual event, those limitations no longer exist. Details concerning a virtual 25th anniversary event are being developed and will be forthcoming. I hope you all will be able to join us to celebrate the College’s anniversary!
But that is not all we have to celebrate. Our students, faculty and alumni continue to achieve great things!
Our student spotlight falls on Shannan Mason, PhD student in the Department of Historical Sciences, who was awarded the François André Michaux Fund Fellowship at the American Philosophical Society (APS) Library and Museum in Philadelphia. This four-week residential fellowship will support her PhD dissertation research on John Bartram, a Philadelphia native who generated a burgeoning trans-Atlantic 18th-century horticultural exchange. The APS houses a large collection of Bartram’s letters and research.
CAS faculty continue to garner awards and produce important scholarship. Department of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Susanne DiSalvo, PhD, has been honored with the Graduate School’s 2020-21 Vaughnie Lindsay New Investigator Award for her outstanding research contributions. The award supports DiSalvo’s research project in microbiology studying a bacteria-amoebae host system, to investigate the mechanisms and outcomes of bacterial colonization. Department of English Language and Literature Professor Howard Rambsy, PhD, has released a new book “Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers” exploring how living radical lives of resistance has inspired the creativity of numerous writers and artists throughout the years.
One positive outcome that has emerged from the pandemic is the honor and respect our country’s teachers have received from parents across the country who are suddenly faced with distance learning. SIUE alumni Marie Gipson, who earned a bachelor’s in chemistry, with secondary education licensure in 2018, and Benjamin Scamihorn, who earned a bachelor’s in biology in 2018, with secondary education licensure, and a master’s in biology in 2019, are among the numerous educators creatively adjusting their communication and teaching to maintain relationships with their students and ensure positive learning experiences.
Finally, the thought-provoking and eye-catching works of SIUE’s Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) candidates are now on display in the Department of Art and Design’s MFA and BFA Virtual Exhibition, developed by SIUE Digital Photography Professor Abbey Hepner. Each spring, the creative talents of BFA and MFA candidates are showcased in the Art and Design West Gallery, culminating years of hard work and dedication. This year, event cancellations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to the reimagined, alternate exhibition in a virtual format.
Here is the May edition of This Month in CAS!
Greg Budzban, PhD
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
