David Geherin,
an EMU professor of English language and literature, wrote
the book "Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in
Crime and Mystery Fiction" (McFarland & Company). The
book is a finalist for an Edgar Allan Poe Award, given
by Mystery Writers of America.
 |
Geherin |
"More and more, I've become interested in how mystery
writers use setting as a character," said Geherin. "It
can add a sense of reality. It satisfies that interest
we have in different, interesting places."
The book offers an analysis of the fiction of 15 authors
for whom the setting greatly contributes to their overall
literary style. The book focuses on the many ways that
place figures in modern crime and mystery novels.
One example that Geherin cited is how author James Lee
Burke sets his novels outside of New Orleans to show the
importance of history. Geherin said the setting demonstrates
that the past is with us and we can never escape it.
Geherin has been teaching at EMU since 1969. In 2005,
he received the Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty
Teaching II Award.
Craig Dionne,
an EMU professor of English language and literature, is
the featured speaker at the University of Akron's Shakespeare
in the Spring festival in April. Dionne's lecture is entitled, "Commonplace
Shakespeare: The Bard in the Codex and its 'Table of Memory.'"
"What I look at is how some of Shakespeare's poetry is
taken out of context and used as parables," said Dionne. "I
look at how, when you make Shakespeare into parables, it
closes out interpretations."
The Shakespeare in the Spring festival offers an exciting
array of films, lectures, awards, workshops and performances.
 |
MODEL STUDENTS: Members of EMU's Model
UN
Team display their awards at the 49th Annual
Midwest Model United Nations Conference, which
took place in St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 18-21. |
Eastern Michigan University's Model
UN Team took home some hardware at the
49th Annual Midwest Model United Nations Conference
in St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 18-21. Jelani McGadney received
honorable mention as well as the Delegates' Choice
Award in the Security Council. Andrew Stefan was
chosen Outstanding Delegate in the Committee on the
Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People (CEIRPP). Cindi Redick received
the Delegates' Choice Award for her work in the UN
Environmental Program. For her efforts in the CEIRPP, Tammy
Grit received an honorable mention.
Eastern Michigan University's
Mock Trial Team placed ninth overall and won three individual top ten
awards at the Mock Trial National Championships in Kansas
City. Mo., March 14-15.
The team was in first place heading to the third round
and was in a position to win the tournament with a victory,
said Barry Pyle, EMU associate professor of political science
and a coach of EMU's Mock Trial Team.
"It was close, very close," Pyle said. "In the end, we
came up a few points short ... They really did well."
Angela Hoxie, a senior from Dexter, took a top attorney
award while teammate Adam Slingwein, a senior from Livonia,
nabbed top attorney and top witness awards.
To prepare for nationals, EMU's team traveled to seven
tournaments during the academic year and hosted two scrimmages
on campus. Before regional competition commenced, EMU's
Mock Trial Team ranked 22nd nationally out of 400-plus
teams, said Barry Pyle, an EMU political science professor.
"Without question, this was our most successful year.
The program made great strides this year and we are now
recognized as a national program that was very close to
winning our opening round of the AMTA national champion," Pyle
said. "Eastern should be very proud of its students. I
know I am.
 |
Kasenow |
Michael Kasenow, a 1986
EMU alumnus, recently had his first novel, "The Last
Paradise," published. The story is set in Galveston,
Texas, and follows two drifters, a man and his family,
and a prostitute that is the love interest of one of the
drifters. The story depicts Galveston's goals for greatness
while the city struggles with its own prejudices and hypocrisy,
and culminates with the Great Hurricane of 1900 that leveled
the city.
Ron Podell's feature-length
screenplay, "Pulp Science Fiction," was
named a finalist at the Cinema City Film Festival, which
took place in Los Angeles over Oscar weekend Feb. 21-22;
and the Paranoia Horror Film Festival in Long Beach, Calif.,
March 13-15. His short screenplay, "A Rain Remembered," reached
the final four (semifinalist status) in the International
Family Film Festival Feb. 26-March 1 in Hollywood, Calif.
Podell is assistant manager, news services in University
Communications.
Two
teams of undergraduate business students
from Eastern Michigan University's College of Business
Management Department finished second and fifth at the 2009 Society for Human
Resource Management (SHRM) HR Games state competition in
Mount Pleasant Feb. 15-16.
HR Games is a Jeopardy-style competition where teams of
three students compete against each other. The competition
tests the students' understanding of the basic body of
knowledge for the human resources profession and helps
students pursue professional certification.
Heather Kern, of Ypsilanti, captained EMU's second-place
team. Team members included Nicki Fury, of Northville,
and Nick Pacific, of Ypsilanti.
EMU's fifth-place team also won the Collegiality Award
for best team spirit and sportsmanship. Brian Garcia, of
Ypsilanti, was team captain. Team members included Latisha
Cunningham of Detroit, Chaunta Miller of Pontiac and Nikki
Mersch of Ypsilanti.
Fraya Wagner-Marsh, SPHR, GPHR, was the coach for both
teams and Peter Anthony, of Northville, president of the
EMU Student Chapter of SHRM, was the assistant coach.
All student team members also are members of EMU's student
chapter of SHRM, which has been designated as one of the
top 10 student SHRM chapters in the country for the last
seven years. Both teams will be competing at the Regional
HR Games Competition in Minneapolis at the end of March,
where student teams from 10 states will compete.
 |
Cecil |
Lianna Cecil,
an undergraduate accounting major in Eastern Michigan University's
College of Business and a McNair Fellow, won the Midwest
American Accounting Association's (MWAAA) Best Student
Paper award. She will be presented with the award at the
MWAAA's 49th annual meeting April 16-18 in St. Louis. Cecil's
paper, entitled "Voluntary Corporate Social Reporting:
A U.S. Examination," focused
on accounting public interest. Lois Mahoney, an associate
professor in the College of Business, was Cecil's independent
study adviser.
"We put in a lot of time and hard work researching this
project, so I am really looking forward to receiving the
award at the conference in April," Cecil said.
Jarrod Sandel, an Eastern
Michigan University MBA student, was honored by the Association
of Marketing and Health Care Research (AMHCR) for a paper
he co-authored. The award was announced at the conclusion
of the AMHCR’s annual conference Feb. 25-27 in Jackson
Hole, Wyo.
Sandel, a graduate assistant, and Anne L. Balazs, head
of EMU’s Marketing Department, co-wrote a paper entitled, “The
Evolving Nature of Home Health Care: The Use of Technology
to Meet Demand.”
“I’m very pleased (that) the work Dr. Balazs
and I put into the paper was rewarded,” said Sandel,
who is majoring in supply chain management.
The paper is a literature review that traces the development
of home health care and the markets it serves. It also
covers emerging technologies, practices and personnel used
to administer care to patients in their home setting.
Eastern Michigan University's Student
Recruitment Campaign received a "merit" award
at the Sixth Annual Service Industry Advertising Awards.
Skidmore, a Royal Oak-based creative studio, conducted
the campaign. The announcement came in a Feb. 1 release
from HMR Publications Group in Atlanta, Ga.
Ron Williamson, a professor
of leadership and counseling, in EMU's College of Education,
co-wrote the book, "The Principalship from A to Z," with Barbara Blackburn.
"Barbara and I believe very much in the power of principals
working collaboratively with their teachers to make a difference
in the lives of the students," said Williamson. "New principals
are looking for a handy reference guide. It (the book)
includes strategies and tools that they can immediately
take out and use."
The book offers strategies for improvement in all the
diverse duties of being a principal. There are 26 chapters
in the book, one for each letter of the alphabet and a
different aspect of the job of school principal.
Williamson served as a teacher, principal and executive
director of instruction in Ann Arbor Public Schools before
teaching at EMU. Barbara Blackburn works as an education
consultant.
The Eastern
Michigan University women's swimming and diving team placed
three swimmers on All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) squads.
The Eagles placed fourth at the MAC Championship meet Feb.
25-28, at Bowling Green State University.
Seniors Alissa Ricard, of Tucson, Ariz., and Ashley
Durand,
of Lincoln, Neb., were named to the first team. Freshman
Samantha Partridge, of Carmel, Ind., was named to the second
team.
Ricard won an individual title in the 200-meter freestyle.
Durand set three new EMU varsity records in the 100-meter
breaststroke, 200-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter
individual medley. Partridge set new EMU records in the
1,650-meter freestyle and the 400-meter individual medley.
The Eastern Michigan University men's
and women's swimming teams had a total of 11 athletes earn
Academic All-Mid-American Conference honors. The women's
team had four members on the first team and the men's team
had seven members on the first team.
 |
SMART SWIMMERS: The EMU
men's and women's
swimming
and diving teams placed 11th
athletes
on Academic All-Mid-
American Conference teams. |
The Academic All-MAC honor is for a student-athlete who
has excelled in athletics and academics. To quality, a
student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA
and participated in at least 50 percent of the contests
for their particular sport.
The four women selected to the Academic All-MAC squad
are senior Hannah Burandt, of Parma, Ohio,
a math and secondary education major with a 3.89 GPA;
senior Ashley
Durand,
of Lincoln, Neb., a biology major with a 3.51 GPA; senior
Alissa Ricard; of Tucson, Ariz., an exercise
science major with a 3.51 GPA; and junior Steph
Cholyk, of Aurora,
Ontario, a biology major with a 3.64 GPA.
The seven men selected to the Academic All-MAC squad are
senior Don Ellison, of King City, Ontario, a physics
major with a 3.97 GPA; senior Mark
Kurtzer, of Newmarket,
Ontario, an accounting major with a 3.92 GPA; junior Chris
Alberty, of Novi, Mich., a supply chain management major
with a 3.66 GPA; senior Ethan
Crabtree, of Wooster,
Ohio, a exercise science major with a 3.38 GPA; senior
Ryan Fulkerson, of South Lyon, Mich., a physical education
major with a 3.63 GPA; senior Matt
Guinan, of Victor, N.Y.,
a exercise science major with a 3.55 GPA; and junior Scott
Murphy, of Houston, Texas, an accounting major with a 3.46
GPA.
Brandon Bowdry, a sophomore
forward on EMU's men's basketball team, was named to the
All-Mid-American Conference Second Team.
 |
Bowdry |
Bowdry, of St. Louis, Mo., was named to the All-MAC Freshman
team two years ago. He missed the entire 2007-2008 season
with a broken leg. Bowdry leads the Eagles in scoring this
year with a 14.8 average. He also ranked 10th in the MAC
in free throw percentage and 14th in field goal percentage.
The Eastern Michigan University men's
track team placed seven athletes on the All-Mid-American
Conference First Team. Oliver Walther (long
jump), David Brent (mile), Clint
Allen (60 meters), Neal
Naughton (3,000 meters) and the distance medley
relay team (Darrin Trammell, Blake Figgins, Curtis
Vollmar and Brent).
The distance medley relay team set a MAC record with its
time of 9:48.05. All-MAC Second-Team members included Xavier
Clais (high jump), Gerald
Gersham (shot put) Blake
Figgins (800
meters) and Josh Perrin (3,000 meters).
The accolades were a result of how EMU's athletes finished
at the MAC Championships, which took place at Kent State
University Feb. 28.
 |
|
The Eastern
Michigan University women’s basketball team placed
two players on All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) teams.
Sophomore Cassie Schrock, of Wadsworth, Ohio, was selected
as honorable mention while freshman Tavelyn
James, of Detroit,
was named to the All-Freshman team.
Schrock surpassed the 500 career points mark Feb. 11, during
the game against the University of Buffalo. She is the
48th player in program history to score 500 or more points
during their career.
James is ranked sixth among the nation’s leaders
in freshman scoring with an average of 14.1 points per
game. She also ranked 10th in MAC scoring. James is currently
the team’s leading scorer with 395 points.
