Noteworthy Fall 2015

"Living Your Discipleship: Seven Ways to Express Your Deepest Calling" by Kathleen Cahalan, professor of theology in Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary, and Laura Kelly Fanucci, SOT '09, is now available. The book is a practical guide to following Christ in your daily life and can help you grow in understanding and faithfulness as you discern your place in God's kingdom. Cahalan has written four previous books.

Jason Schlude, assistant professor of classics in the Department of Languages and Cultures, published an article titled "The Political Borderlines of Herod the Great" in the most recent issue of the University of Toronto Journal of Jewish Studies.

John Merkle, professor and chair of theology and director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, delivered the lecture "The Healing Effects of Interreligious Engagement" at Mayo Clinic in Rochester on Oct. 29 as a part of the clinic's Spirituality Grand Rounds series. The previous day he delivered the lecture "A New Era in Christian-Jewish Relations: Vatican Council II and Beyond" at the Assisi Heights Spirituality Center in Rochester in an event marking the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the Vatican Council's declaration on interfaith relations. 

Chris Schaller, associate professor of chemistry, and a team of CSB/SJU student co-authors (Joe Gair, Alexi Young, Jeremiah Scepaniak, Peter Simone, Chen Chau, Alicia Peterson, Elizabeth Nesset, Williamson Oloo, Daniel Welna and Jonathan Siverson) had a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry. Slated for publication in January (J. Organomet. Chem. 801, 2016, 42-47), the paper is now online (doi: 10.1016/j.jorganchem.2015.10.025). 

SJU recently won a 2015 Pride of CASE V award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, as it received a silver award for the 2015 Reunion Marketing and Communications Campaign in the Excellence in Special Events, Invitations and Collateral Materials category. CASE District V members are institutions of higher education in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Carol Guardo, who served as president at the College of Saint Benedict during the 2003-04 academic year, had a building named in her honor at Rhode Island College in Providence. The college named its School of Social Work Guardo Hall in honor of Guardo, who was the first woman college president in Rhode Island. She was president of Rhode Island College from 1986-89.

John Merkle, CSB/SJU professor and chair of theology and director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, co-authored (with Harold Kasimow, professor emeritus at Grinnell College) the article "Did Rabbi Heschel Influence Pope Francis" published in the June 2015 issue of Interreligious Insight: A Journal of Dialogue and Engagement. He also recently presented the lectures "Jewish Theological Responses to the Holocaust" and "The Challenge of Religion and Violence" at Common Ground: A Center for Inquiry, Study, and Dialogue in Deerfield, Illinois, and "Respect for the Sacred: A Christian Perspective" at the Seventh Annual Abrahamic Traditions Dinner sponsored by the Niagara Foundation-Minnesota and held at the University of Minnesota. The dinner event featured presentations on Muslim, Jewish, and Christian approaches to respecting the sacred.

Pam Bacon, CSB/SJU associate professor and chair of psychology, advanced through two rounds of judging in the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts competition and will be on display in the 2015 Fine Arts Exhibition. Typically, fewer than 10 percent of submissions are selected for the exhibit. The photograph, entitled "Pollen," shows pollen on the wings of a butterfly and a flower.

Kelly Kraemer, CSB/SJU associate professor and chair of peace studies, had a chapter published in Peace Studies between Tradition and Innovation, edited by Randall Amster, Laura Finley, Edmund Pries and Richard McCutcheon (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 2015). Her chapter is entitled "Skin in the Game: The Emergence of Family-based Anti-war Organizing in the 21st Century."

Whitney Court, CSB/SJU assistant professor of political science, had published "How Presidential Running Mates Influence Turnout: The Risks and Rewards of Revving up the Base" in "American Politics Research Quarterly" (September 2015, Volume 43, Number 5).

A book by Anna Mercedes, CSB/SJU associate professor of gender studies and theology, was used as the text for a symposium published by "Syndicate," an online forum using recent publications in theological studies as a point of departure for scholars to engage questions in contemporary theology and ethics. The book, Power For: Feminism and Christ's Self-Giving, was published by A&C Black in 2011.

Louis Johnston, CSB/SJU professor of economics and holds the Joseph P. Farry Professor, presented a paper co-authored with Kathryn Gaydos '14 at the 40th annual Economic and Business History Society conference in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, on May 29. The paper was entitled "A Lost Opportunity? James J. Hill and the evolution of US-China trade, 1865-1914." Louis Johnston website