Month: April 2016

Students Present Research at Psychology Conference

The following psychology students presented their research at the ILLOWA Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference held at Western Illinois University on April 16.

Kyle Baacke
Title:
Privacy’s influence on anxiety and cognitive performance

Chase Skarda
Title:
What do you know about lymphoma?: Effects of prior knowledge query upon doctor-patient relationships

Emily Corwin-Renner, Stephanie Nguyen, & Shashank Neelagiri
Title:
Women feel threatened by a woman wearing red, especially if she is seeking a mate

Campus water quality update

Over the weekend, some of you may have seen the Associated Press (AP) article regarding lead in Galesburg’s drinking water, as well as additional coverage in our local and regional media. Facilities Services has received a few questions from members of the community regarding Knox’s water, and I’d like to provide the full campus with an update regarding this issue.

As has been stated in the various media accounts, the issues concerning lead in Galesburg’s drinking water are focused on lead intake pipes into individual residences. City water service lines do not contain lead, but many of the older homes in town do have lead service pipes. Concern over the City of Galesburg’s most recent test results originate from the fact that four of the 30 homes tested in 2015 had levels of lead in the water that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level.The action level does not indicate that there are unacceptable levels of lead in the water, but, instead, that the levels are such that action should be taken to further investigate and address the issue.

While Knox is a historic campus with many older buildings, we know with certainty that more than 95 percent of buildings on campus, including administrative and academic buildings and residence halls, do not have lead service lines. We have initiated testing in specific locations on campus with older service lines to determine if the lead levels in the water supply rise above the action level noted by the EPA. We are in the process of contacting individuals in the locations where tests are taking place and are working with them to address any issues or questions they may have. The health and safety of the Knox College community is, of course, our topmost priority, and we will take all actions necessary to ensure the safety of the College’s water supply should the testing reveal any concerns.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me or Scott Maust, director of facilities services.

Sincerely,

Keith Archer

Vice President for Finance and Administrative Services

Fernández’ monograph published

Claudia Fernández (Modern Languages & Literatures) published a book titled Input destacado y adquisición de la gramática (Enhanced Input and Grammar Acquisition) with the Spain-based publisher Arco/Libros, S.L. She describes the theoretical and empirical bases of four teaching techniques and how they facilitate the process of grammar acquisition in the classroom. Written in simple terms and in an approachable way, the book is part of the collection Cuadernos de Didáctica (Teaching notebooks) targeted to both experts and not-so-experts in teaching Spanish as a second language.

Reminder: Knox 101, April 12

Dear Knox Community,

This special session of the Knox 101 series will focus on a broader liberal arts college landscape and how the Knox educational experience fits within it. Why do students choose one college over another? What more can Knox do to attract and retain students? How are other schools innovating to integrate learning across experiences and disciplines? Brian Zucker from the Human Capital Research, the firm with whom Knox has consulted for financial aid modeling, market development, and data analysis for the last 15 years, will present conditions of the higher education landscape, followed by examples from other institutions that are implementing innovative curricular and co-curricular ideas. There will also be plenty of time for questions and answers.

Please join us on Tuesday, April 12 at 4:00 p.m. in the Trustees Room in Alumni Hall for this important discussion of the liberal arts landscape.
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The Knox 101: Brown Bag series is sponsored by the President’s Council and Human Resources.

We look forward to seeing you on April 12.

Best,

Teresa

Berlin Poems Published

Monica Berlin (English) has published two new poems. “[Let the day make its own]” and “[Pressed against these days, & against]” appear in the latest issue of Crazyhorse 89 (spring 2016).

Hoyt was Plenary Speaker at Mizzou Symposium

Helen Hoyt (Chemistry) was one of four invited speakers at the 29th Organic Chemistry Day Symposium at the University of Missouri-Columbia, giving a talk entitled:

“A green chemical approach to catalysis using iron complexes: Synthesis, X-ray and electronic structure, and catalytic hydrosilylation activity.”

Website

Gonzales Presented Paper

Teresa Gonzales (Sociology) presented a conference paper at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting in San Francisco, March 29-April 2.

The title of her talk was: “Promoting Fun: The Importance of “Play” in Cultivating Black and Latin@ Counterpublics within Chicago.”

This paper discusses how local community-based groups within two impoverished neighborhoods of Chicago, IL responded to the large-scale public-private redevelopment initiative, the Local Initiative Support Corporation/Chicago’s (LISC/Chicago) New Communities’ Program (NCP). Much of the literature on economic development focuses on place-based policy and civic engagement via targeted action in order to transform disenfranchised communities. Drawing on 24 months of ethnographic research and interviews with 32 key-informants I show that community leaders in these neighborhoods created resident-led and resident-owned spaces, where counter-publics emerge to counteract the denigrative and deficiency-based narratives and social provisioning that city officials, nonprofit executives, and the local media promote regarding these areas. Scholars have described these spaces for participatory governance as invited, emotional, deliberative, contested, or co-opted. In Chicago, however, these spaces grew out of a desire to both create counter-narratives and build community through playful, interactive, and joyous moments of celebration that honor resident strengths and assets. This presentation will highlight the playfully creative responses that community leaders implemented in order to increase civic and political action, implement development plans that increase community development, improve local infrastructure, and provide models for a more equitable urban setting. These initiatives can be understood as extending Earl Lewis’ idea of making congregation out of segregation, and include reconverting abandoned buildings into community centers, using vacant lots as places of community building through positive loitering, and taking over public parks and hosting community parties.