In Print
 
 
Dan Margolies' article, "Imperial Unilateralism in United States Foreign Relations Proclamations," was published in the Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 60, 145-161.
 
Kathy Merlock Jackson has published her ninth book, "Shapers of American Childhood: Essays on Visionaries from L. Frank Baum to Dr. Spock to J.K. Rowling," co-edited with Mark I. West of UNC-Charlotte. It features her essay, "Ruth Handler (1916-2002): Toys, Barbie, and Girls' Choices," as well as chapters by Sue Larkin, titled "Judy Blume (1938-): Shaping Subjects," Lisa Lyon Payne, titled "Steve Jobs: Technology for the Beginner's Mind" and Kathy Stolley, titled "Jonas Salk (1914-1995) and Albert Sabin (1906-1993): Conquering Polio."
 
President Scott D. Miller recently authored an article for University Business (" Beyond higher ed buildings," September 2018). He writes a monthly higher education column for The Virginian Pilot (" Seeking balance in cost and services," October 2018), and regularly contributes to College Planning and Management (" Enrollment Management," July/August 2018) and Enrollment Manager (" Innovation, Transformation: A Playbook for Success," September/October 2018). He edits the presidential thought series, President to President (" From Risk to Reinvention and Revival: Return on Athletics," October 2018), and he maintains a daily blog about campus life at prezscottmiller.blogspot.com. 
Presentations and Panels  
 
Mort Gamble has been invited to present a paper at the Popular Culture Association conference in Washington, D.C., in April. His topic is "The Soul of the Circus: What Animals Under the Big Top Continue to Teach Their Audiences."
 
Ben Haller was one of three invited speakers at this year's meeting of the Classical Association of Virginia on the campus of the University of Virginia. He presented a paper entitled "Intreatthem Gently, Trayne them to that Ayre: George Sandyss Savage Verses and Civilized Commentary at Jamestown," which arises from an ongoing book project.
 
Doug Kennedy presented the workshop, "COAPRT Visitor Training and Student Learning Outcome Assessment," at the National Recreation and Park Association's National Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana.   
 
The VWU librarians participated in the Virginia Library Association's 2018 conference. Sherry Matis, Stephen Leist, and Sue Erickson presented the sessions, "'You Say You Want a Revolution?': Applying the Framework to an Information Literacy Course" and "Revolutionize Your Library by Integrating Student Assistants into Your Team." Maggie Henderson presented a poster created with Sophie Rondeau called "Creating an Ebook Revolution Through Training."
 
Sara Sewell presented a paper entitled "Surveillance on the Assembly Line: Modern Production Techniques at the Stollwerck Chocolate Factory in Cologne, Germany, 1924-1932" at the University of Copenhagen's The Eyes and Ears of Power: Surveillance, History, and Privacy Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
 
Jennifer Slivka presented a paper titled "Witness to the World: Trauma and Globalization in Edna O'Brien's The Little Red Chairs," and also chaired a panel at the International Association for the Study of Irish Literature conference at Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.   
 
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS 
 
Doug Kennedy and Takeyra Collins attended the National Recreation and Park Association's (NRPA) National Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. While there Doug was elected the Vice-Chair of the Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions. Takeyra attended after receiving the 2018 Young Professional Fellowship. This fellowship provides the opportunity to explore the operation of NRPA and its governing bodies.
 
Takeyra Collins and Wayne Pollock took eight Recreation & Leisure Studies majors to the
Virginia State Therapeutic Recreation Association Workshop at the Brambleton Center in Roanoake, VA, where VWU senior Kathyrn Alvarado presented on her Junior Internship Experience, "Theory Driven Development and Implementation of a Recreation Therapy Iinterventi on in a Deployed Environment: A Student Junior Internship Experience in Guantanamo Bay."
 
Sophie Rondeau attended the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL) in Los Angeles, California. Held at Loyola Marymount University, IRDL is a grant-funded weeklong workshop intended to prepare selected librarians to develop their proposed research projects and implement their research at their home institutions.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT  
 
Wesleyan Engaged: Center for Civic Leadership and Service Learning hosted a Community Partners' Meet and Greet in Pearce Hospitality Center. The Center, under the leadership of Brian Kurisky, invited members from non-profit organizations throughout the Hampton Roads area to campus to interact with Marlin faculty, staff, and students.  This event enabled faculty to have conversations with representatives from these organizations about potential in and out-of-class engagement for students that would benefit them in their careers. 
 
TECHNOLOGY CORNER   
 
Using WordPress to Engage Students  
by Eric Mazur 
   
"Not a law journal, Religio et Lex seeks to provide a forum for graduates and undergraduates from all disciplines whose work explores the many points of contact between religion and law (both traditionally and broadly understood). To supplement that, Religio et Lex also provides a forum for scholars and practitioners whose work brings them into the intersection of religion and law (broadly understood), in or out of the classroom."
 
Using WordPress, I created this introduction to the first issue of a journal, which has a section dedicated to undergraduate submissions (recommended by sponsoring faculty), a section dedicated to graduate submissions, and a section dedicated to faculty/practitioners in the field of religion and law. I am the faculty advisor, and the new student managing editors are VWU students Jacklyn Alodia Cheely and Jake Q. Stokke. Over the course of the next year, Jacklyn and Jake will learn how to solicit and read submissions, identify and assign peer reviewers (for the graduate submissions), how to evaluate reviewer reports in the selection of manuscripts, and how to copy edit and format approved manuscripts.    
 
There is a  faculty advisory board  made up of scholars of religion and law from around the country and across areas of expertise. The journal is produced under the auspices of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom, and was made possible by a Digital Pedagogy Grant from VWU and an a nonymous donation.
 
More on Portfolium   
 
Portfolium.com issued an email to ALL existing VWU stu dents on W ednesday, October 3, asking students to set up an electronic portfolio account. This web-based platform is retained by students for life and is a place to upload artifacts, proj ects and papers from their courses, list accomplishments and skills AND record their service learning or community engagement in a digital portfolio.  
 
Portfolium is also fully integrated with Blackboard.  An instructor can link an assignment to Portfoli um under the Assessments drop down menu inside the Blackboard course.  
 
All faculty may receive a Portfolium account (to experiment with the platform) by sending an email to Robin Takacs at  [email protected]. 
Read the current issue or archives of Virginia Wesleyan University's  Faculty Focus