To:
From:
Date:
RE:
Graceland University Board of Trustees
Steve Anders, Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
February 22, 2014
Report on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
________________________________________________________________________
Division of Visual and Performing Arts
 Art Department:
 Senior Shows are being put up every two weeks.
 Robert Stephens:
- Showed work at the San Francisco Zine Festival
- Taught a workshop at Grand View University in Des Moines, IA
- Gave a lecture at Drake University in Des Moines, IA
- Participated in the Fitch Building Studio Open House Show in Des Moines, IA
- Had a solo show in the Constance Art Gallery
 Zane Vredenburg:
- Conducted a drawing workshop for 60 local 9th grade students
- Work will be on display at Luther College in Decorah Iowa
 Music Department:
 October 17th - Symphonic Band & Jazz Band Concert “An American in Paris”
 The Symphonic Band performed selections from Gershwin’s An American in Paris.
 The Jazz Band also performed. Audrey Lai and Jessica Dotson made their debut as the new Jazz
Band Vocalists.
 November 22 - Frank Perez presented at the Iowa Music Educator’s State Conference in Ames,
IA. The session was titled “Recording 101: How to Record Your Ensembles”
 November 23 - 10 GU Band students were selected to perform at the Iowa Collegiate Honor Band
Concert in Ames, IA. Guest Conductor was Robert Ponto from the University of Oregon.
 In December, Frank Perez gave several performances as part of regular warship services at the
First Presbyterian Church of Leon.
 December 2nd - Symphonic Band & Jazz Band combined concert with Lamoni High School Jazz
Band and Concert Band. Over 80 musicians on stage! Both LHS and GU performed three pieces
together and all bands performed their own selections. This was a wonderful collaboration and
recruiting event.
 December 5 - Music Department Concert in Charition, IA. The GU Music Department was
invited to perform in the distinguished Vredenburg Performing Arts Series. The concert featured
the GU Drumline, Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Orchestra and Choirs.
 December 6 - Christmas at the Shaw Concert. Music ensembles performed our annual Christmas
Concert. Featured were the new GU Drumline, Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Choirs, Orchestra
and Flute Choir. This concert also featured faculty performance by Adam Groh and Frank Perez.
 January 18 – Frank Perez will be guest artist and clinician for the Mt. Pleasant Jazz clinic.
 January 20 – Frank Perez will be the guest clinician for Grandview University Symphonic Band.
 January 29th – Frank Perez will be the guest conductor and clinician for the South Central Iowa
Honor Band.
 Theatre Department: Tracy Salter attended the Kansas Thespian Conference in Wichita, KS. All
Thespian troupes in the state of Kansas are invited to participate in workshops and compete in acting
competitions. Tracy presented two Dialect workshops for over 100 students.
 Performing Arts Series: The Performing Arts Series features one of the most stunning groups to ever
come to our campus, LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO, on Thursday, February 13th at 7:30 p.m. They
are celebrating a Grammy nomination in the category of Best World Music Album (for Live: Singing for
Peace Around the World). A special tribute to Nelson Mandela will be presented.
Division of Health and Movement Science
 In connection with the Corrective Exercise and Performance Enhancement major, Dr. Jay Hoffman has
earned certification as a Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) and Mr. Tommy Lewis has earned
certification as a Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES).
 Seven students from the Wellness Assessment and Prescription class challenged and passed the PES test,
earning their PES credential through the National Association of Sports Medicine (NASM).
 John Bartholomew and Dr. Jay Hoffman completed the Certified KinesioTape Practitioner (CKTP)
program. Graceland hopes to be the first athletic training program in the country to offer the KinesioTape
training, including certification, to undergraduate students.
 Dr. Stew McDole continues to be active with American Volleyball Coaches’ Association. This fall he was
appointed an interim member of the Board for the AVCA. At the December 2013 AVCA Convention he
was a member of two panel presentations: “Guiding Your Daughter Through the Recruiting Process” and
“Recruiting Rules You Must Know.”
 Dr. Diane Bartholomew applied and received approval for Graceland University to offer continuing
education units for the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Board of Certification (BOC). She will
serve as the contact agent and record keeper. Two events are already scheduled for January 2014.
Division of Humanities
 Bob Mesle:
 Teologia do Processo, the Portuguese translation of my book, Process Theology: A Basic
Introduction has been published by Paulus in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2013.
 The Chinese journal, Modern Education Management 1 (2013) has published my essay, "Creative
Transformation: The Application of Process Philosophy in Curriculum and Classroom," trans.
Hang Yins. This is a keynote address I gave at conference at Beijing Normal University in
2011. I'm very grateful to the organizer of our work in China, Wang Zhihe, for his support in all
these projects.
 I published a letter in the Salt Lake Tribune on the issue of gay marriage. The topic was in the
news over Christmas because a Federal judge threw out the Utah ban on gay marriage. The
Tribune titled the letter “Former Reorganized LDS Church embraces diversity,” Dec. 29,
2013. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/57322745-82/lds-church-conferences-cousin.html.csp
 I have been invited to serve as a featured writer for the website, Jesus, Jazz, and Buddhism
http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/ . I've agreed to send about one essay a month on varied
topics. JJB is a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural, inter-faith website developing and sharing
ideas, poetry, and art works related to process-relational thinking. Some essays appear in Chinese
because of our strong links to Chinese universities.
 Freedom and Courage in Terry Pratchett’s The Carpet People, Dec 16, 2013
http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/freedom-and-courage-in-the-carpet-people.html
 A Christmas Carol: And the Hope of Process Thinking, Dec. 12,
2013 http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/a-christmas-carol-and-the-hope-of-processthinking.html
 Chinese translation by Han Sun, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China.
 Relational Power, Nov. 11, 2013. http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/relationalpower.html Chinese translation by Han Sun, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China.
 Creative Transformation: Three Reflections. The pieces are Compassionate
Humility; Infidels and Demons; Hiding from Grace. Nov. 2013 They derive from a
longer talk I gave at the Claremont Lincoln University last March titled "For they are
without excuse: The problem of self evident truth in interfaith
dialogue." http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/creative-transformations-threereflections.html
 A Soul is not a thing: A Process-Relational Wedding. Oct.
2013 http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/a-soul-is-not-a-thing-a-process-relationalwedding.html




 Teaching Innovation: In my class, Process Philosophy & Theology, I arranged to Skype with
scholars in the field: Rabbi Artson is Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies and VP of
American Jewish University in LA; Monica Coleman is Associate Professor of Theology at
Claremont School of Theology; Patricia Farmer is a novelist living in Peru; and Jay McDaniel is
Professor of Religion and Director of the Steel Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy at
Hendrix College, and editor of the website, Jesus, Jazz & Buddhism. I also Skyped with Dr.
McDaniel’s class on process theology.
Jerry DeNuccio:
 The following essays were published in Fictionique and crosslisted in Medium.com:
 “Bead Counter" Nov. 11, 2013
 "Replay It, Sam" November 30, 2013
 "Asleep and Changing" December 14, 2014
 The following short story was posted to Our Salon:
 "Halloween Tale" October 30, 2013
 The following essay was published in Punchnel's
 "The Mickey Mouse Episode" November 18, 2013.
Katie Burnett has been invited as a panelist and had a paper accepted for presentation:
 Invited panelist, “The State of Southern Literary Studies: Manifestos, Take Two.” (working title)
Society for the Study of Southern Literature, Arlington, VA, March 2014.
 “The Gothic New South: George Washington Cable’s John March, Southerner and the Politics of
Reconstruction” Society for the Study of Southern Literature, Arlington, VA, March 2014.
Priscilla Eppinger attended the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Baltimore, MD,
November 18-22, 2013.
Brian White:
 Attended the Annual National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, New Orleans, LA, 6-10
November 2013. He is an elected officer of the organization and runs the Midwest region's
Annual Business meeting.
 He also presented a peer-reviewed paper at that same conference: "What is Wilderness? Assessing
the Place as Text concept in a Partners in the Parks Adventure," with Johnny MaClean.
Division of Science and Mathematics
 I am delighted to let you know that we survived the fall semester and our record enrollments in many of
our classes. We are told that next fall our enrollments will be even larger. Planning has already begun to
handle those additional students.
 As mentioned in the last board report, Jim Jones has announced his impending retirement at the end of
spring semester. The initial search in the fall was unsuccessful. The position has been posted again and
the search will continue until the position has been filled.
 The Science and Math Division continues to do a great job of preparing students for the future:
 June Wiley graduated this past year and has been accepted into the veterinary science program at
Kansas State.
 Alex Martin graduated this past year and has been accepted into the bioscience program at the
University of Iowa and the chemistry program at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
 Anna Cleland Leighton will be graduating this spring and has begun interviewing for Medical
School at the University of Kansas.
 The Dekko-funded Mathematical Mystery Tour is an effort to increase excitement about mathematics for
junior high students. During Winter Term, Dr. Jason Smith and two or three students visited seven
(Mormon Trail, Lamoni, Creston, Chariton, Seymour, Central Decatur, and East Union) local middle
schools, primarily 7th and 8th grade. At the visits, the class was divided into three or four groups and
stations of mathematical activities set-up to engage students with fun and applicable mathematics. The
four different groups were card tricks (Logic) by Jason Smith, string tricks (Topology) by Trevor Smith,
number tricks (Algebra) by Suchit Malla, and fractions with tootsie rolls (Algebra) by Joelle Wight.
Having had success with this tour in 2013 and now 2014, we are looking forward to 2015, potentially
including schools from Missouri.
Division of Social Sciences
 Dave Devonis attended the Iowa Teachers of Psychology conference in Pella in November and, as
member of the steering committee participated in planning next year’s conference.
 Dave Devonis has been invited to participate (5th year) as a reader at the Advanced Placement
Examination Reading for Educational Testing Services in Kansas City, MO, in June.
 Dave Devonis and Brian Smith reviewed Psi Chi (honor society) undergraduate poster submissions for the
Midwestern Psychological Association annual meeting to be held in Chicago, IL in April, 2014.
 Steve Glazer attended the annual conference of the Midwest World History Association, held at
Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, September 27-28, 2013. Steve has been elected to the
Executive Committee of the MW-WHA. His four-year term begins on January 1, 2014. The MW-WHA is
the regional affiliate of the World History Association, and encompasses the region from Kansas and
Nebraska east to Ohio.