Ellen Buie Niewyk, Central University Libraries, has received a 2007 CASETA Publication Award from the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art for her 2007 book, Jerry Bywaters: Lone Star Printmaker (SMU Press). The book was published in conjunction with the major Meadows Museum exhibition of the same name. CASETA awards the prize annually to the individual who has made "the most important contribution to the published literature on early Texas art" during the previous calendar year.

SMU student volunteers participated in the grand opening of The Bridge, Dallas' new 24-hour homeless assistance center, on May 20, 2008. Read more from Pegasus News.

Paige Ware, Education, has been selected to receive a 2008 Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Academy of Education (NAE). The fellowship, underwritten by the Spencer Foundation, is the largest and most prestigious in postdoctoral educational research and supports outstanding researchers in the pursuit of critical education research projects that are expected to make significant scholarly contributions to the field. Read more.

Anthony Cortese, Sociology, presented a paper, "Racial Profiling and Ethnic Stereotyping: Muslim Terrorists and Illegal Aliens," at the Racial Profiling at Borders Conference hosted by Kwantlen University College in Surrey, British Columbia, April 25, 2008.

Kamal Saggi, Economics, presented his research on the relative merits of bilateralism and multilateralism as alternative routes to global trade liberalization in an invited lecture at the University of Missouri in Columbia April 25, 2008. His research shows that the relationship between the two types of trade liberalization might be more complementary than is generally recognized.

SMU Panhellenic raised more than $113,000 for cancer research with its 2008 Relay For Life in April.

Deanie Kepler, Student Life, received the Susan E. Brown Award at the Administrators Promoting Parent Involvement Conference in Boston in March 2008. The award honors her "outstanding contribution to programs and services for parent and families of college and university students."

The SMU pom team took first place in the open dance division for the second time in three years at the National Dance Alliance Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship in Daytona Beach, Florida. SMU's cheerleaders captured second place in the Small Co-Ed Division I category. Read more.

Kenneth Hamilton, History (at left in photo), was keynote speaker at Tuskegee University's 91st annual Founder's Day Convocation April 6, 2008. The convocation honored the school's founder, Booker T. Washington, and others who have helped the historic institution progress since its 1881 inception. Read the full text of Hamilton's speech (PDF format).

Kamal Saggi, Economics, presented his research on the relative merits of bilateralism and multilateralism as alternative routes to global trade liberalization in an invited lecture at Georgia Tech's Conference on Advances in International Trade April 11, 2008, and in an invited lecture at Sam Houston State University's Conference on Regional Trade Agreements, Migration and Remittances With Special Focus on CAFTA and Latin America on April 13, 2008.

More than 550 SMU students who have achieved a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and above were recognized during the University's 18th annual Minority Academic Awards. The event drew nearly 200 students, family members and faculty and staff to the Hughes-Trigg Theater. Read more and see a slide show.

Tom Fomby, Economics, spoke on the application of cointegration to the analysis of the relationship between influenza and non-perforating appendicitis in the Distinguished Speaker Series at UT-Southwestern Medical Center March 20, 2008.

Kamal Saggi, Economics, presented his research on the relative merits of bilateralism and multilateralism as alternative routes to global trade liberalization at Drexel University's LeBow College of Business April 9, 2008.

The SMU Office of Public Affairs received three awards in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District IV 2008 competition. SMU Research received an Achievement Award (Bronze) in the Visual Design-Illustration category for its 2007 cover; SMU Magazine received an Award of Excellence (Silver) in the Magazine, Four-Color Throughout category; and SMU Forum received a Grand Award (Gold) in the E-newsletter category. The honors were presented at the 2008 CASE District IV conference April 5-9 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

David Weber, History, has been chosen to receive the 2008 Lon Tinkle Award for "excellence sustained throughout a career" from the Texas Institute of Letters. He will accept the award at a ceremony April 19 in the Hall of State, Fair Park.

Isaac Mbiti, Economics, gave a presentation on the impact of cell phones in Africa at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) conference on African Development Successes Feb. 22, 2008. He also presented a paper on the relationship between marriage markets and female labor markets in India at a seminar at the Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor March 10, 2008.

Santanu Roy, Economics, presented an invited paper at the International Conference of Economic Theory at Kyoto University, Japan, March 9-10, 2008. His talk focused on the effect of technological and other uncertainty on economic growth and, in particular, on the possibility of severe depletion of capital and eventual extinction as a result of adverse economic shocks over time.

Shlomo Weber, Economics, co-wrote a paper (with Victor Ginsburgh, University of Brussels) that has been cited as a reason for the resolution of the parliament of the French-speaking community in Wallonia, Belgium, that all television interviews in a language other than French should be subtitled.

Tony Cortese, Sociology, presented a paper, "Faces Seen, Hearts Unknown: Mexican Immigration to the United States," at the Southwest Sociological Association annual meeting March 12-15, 2008, in Las Vegas.

Kamal Saggi, Economics, presented his research on preferential trade agreements such as NAFTA in the University Seminar on Regionalism and Global Economic Development at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, on March 11, 2008.

M.F.A. student in sculpture J. Neil Lawley has received a 2008-09 Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, awarded to students of "superior ability, achievement, and promise" for study at the doctoral or M.F.A. level in selected fields of arts, humanities and social sciences. The fellowship provides tuition and fees, and a living stipend of up to $30,000.

Soumya Awasthi, a 2007 Ph.D. graduate in biological sciences, has received a postdoctoral fellowship in the Harvard Medical School Division of Neurosciences. She will conduct research on Herpes Simplex viral vectors for gene-delivery and expression in the developing brain.

Ph.D. student in psychology Angie Berry has received a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School's McLean Hospital.

Warren C. Seay Jr., a Hunt Leadership Scholar and sophomore political science major, has been chosen as a member of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship's Class of 2009. The Institute selects 24 students nationally to participate in its intensive two-summer program.

Carolyn Smith-Morris, Anthropology, has been named to receive the 2008-09 Maguire Teaching Fellow Award from SMU's Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility. She and graduate student in medical anthropology James Kennell will design a course tentatively entitled "Globalization, Society, and the Human Condition."

Ping Gui, Electrical Engineering, will spend summer 2008 with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. She will work with its microelectronics group designing next-generation data acquisition systems for CERN's particle physics experiments.

Jana Jones, Learning Therapy, will receive the Excellence in Education Award from the Dallas Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (DBIDA) for "outstanding contributions in the field of education." DBIDA will present the award Feb. 8 at its 2008 conference in Dallas.

SMU's School of Engineering will induct three outstanding alumni into its Hall of Leaders during ceremonies Mar. 28 at the Dallas Museum of Art. The 2008 honorees are Aart de Geus ('85), chairman, CEO and co-founder of Silicon Valley electronic design automation company Synopsys; Karen Shuford ('70), Dallas civic leader, volunteer and charitable trust consultant for the Bank of America Private Client Group; and Richard Ru-Gin Chang ('85), founder, president, CEO and executive director of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation in Shanghai.

Robert Frank, Music, was one of three composers nationwide to receive a Special Distinction citation in the 2008 ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize competition. The Nissim Prize is presented annually by The ASCAP Foundation in New York, to an ASCAP concert composer for a work requiring a conductor that has not been performed professionally. Frank was recognized for his composition Fast Falls the Eventide, a 12-minute orchestral work in one movement written for, and premiered by, the Meadows Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Phillips in 2004. The competition, which is judged by a jury of professional conductors, drew more than 315 entries from around the United States.

Anthony Cortese, Sociology, has published the third edition of his book Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising (Roman & Littlefield, 2008).

Nathan Cortez, Law, discussed the growth and risks of "medical tourism" - traveling overseas for needed health care - with National Public Radio Nov. 14, 2007.

Alexa Taylor, Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center, offered exam-time study tips for students with learning differences in The Dallas Morning News Dec. 10, 2007.

Daniel Howard, Marketing, discussed the holiday bargains late shoppers can expect in the final weeks of the shopping season with The Hartford Courant Dec. 11, 2007.

Cal Jillson, Political Science, discussed Texas Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul's use of the Internet to create grassroots support in an article that appeared in USA Today Nov. 30, 2007.

Matthew Wilson, Political Science, talked about the importance of the abortion issue to the Republican Party's conservative Christian base, and how it may affect the 2008 election, with Reuters. The article appeared in Swiss Radio International Nov. 28, 2007.

Daniel Howard, Marketing, talked about why gasoline demand has remained steady against increasingly higher prices in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Nov. 25, 2007.

Ed Fox, Marketing, discussed the ebb and flow of holiday shopping crowds and the retail industry with The Contra Costa Times Dec. 5, 2007.

Scott MacDonald, Finance, demystified the subprime mortgage crisis in Cheryl Hall's business column in The Dallas Morning News Dec. 2, 2007.

The Guildhall at SMU was featured in a story on the growing gaming-industry job market in The Dallas Morning News Dec. 3, 2007.

Gwen Beauchamp, Cox School of Business, is a finalist in the 2008 Pillsbury Bake-Off for her Toffee Banana Brownies recipe. She was featured in an article in The Dallas Morning News Dec. 3, 2007, and will compete for the Bake-Off's $1 million grand prize in Dallas in April.

Richard Nelson, Theology, Brent Sumerlin, Chemistry, and Matthew Wilson, Political Science, have received Sam Taylor Fellowships from the Division of Higher Education, United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Nelson's Fellowship will support his research at the University of Cambridge, England, on the Book of Judges as a resource in public policy debates. Sumerlin's Fellowship will allow local high school students, along with undergraduate and graduate students, to participate in his research developing new synthetic "smart" materials in biotechnology. Wilson's Fellowship will support his research on public opinion toward Catholicism and its role in national elections, one part of a larger book project.

Mark Roglán, Meadows Museum Director, talked about the future and educational mission of the Meadows Museum with The Dallas Morning News Nov. 26, 2007.

The Dedman School of Law's Mock Trial team has earned a spot in the American Bar Association's national competition in January. Nefeterius McPherson, Sally Pretorius, John Roberts and Michael Thomas took first place in the regional competition and will represent the region in Chicago Jan. 26-27, 2008.

Erin Krafft, a graduate student in SMU's Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, struck a $60,000 bargain on NBC's "Deal or No Deal" Nov. 16, 2007. Read more.

Ed Fox, Marketing, helped design a survey of major grocery chains in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for The Dallas Morning News. He is featured in an article on the survey's results that appeared in the Morning News Nov. 11, 2007.

John Attanasio, Law Dean, discussed the mission of the law school in an article on the growing number of Christian-based law schools in the Houston Chronicle Nov. 9, 2007.

Elaine Heath, Theology, and Mark Chancey, Religious Studies, have received Sam Taylor Fellowships from the Division of Higher Education, United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Heath's Fellowship will support her research on emerging neo-monastic communities in the United States, which will result in a book to be published next year. Chancey's Fellowship will support travel to archaeological sites in Galilee and the Golan Heights to research his upcoming book on the archaeology of Palestine in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, from Alexander the Great through Constantine.

George Martinez, Law, discussed an Irving, Texas lawsuit to force the adoption of single-member City Council districts and what it may mean for minority representation with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Nov. 8, 2007.

Dennis Cordell, History, was lauded for receiving SMU's 2006-07 Faculty/Staff Volunteer of the Year award in the Summer/Fall 2007 issue of LifeLines, the newsletter of AIDS Arms Inc. He is chair of the agency's Program Services committee, which oversees programs including operation of its medical and legal clinic, maintenance of testing and counseling centers, and partnerships with Latino and black community services.

Senior music major Tihda Vongkoth (right) has won the 2007 Keroupe Zildjian Concert Percussion Scholarship. College undergraduate percussionists worldwide participated in the competition, sponsored annually by the Zildjian Company, a renowned maker of cymbals and percussion instruments. Vongkoth is a student of Douglas Howard, Kalman Cherry and Drew Lang; she performs with the Meadows Percussion Ensemble, the Meadows Symphony Orchestra and the Meadows Wind Ensemble. Read more.

Two SMU mock-trial teams took first place at the Billinger Barrister Invitational in St. Louis Oct. 13-14, 2007, finishing undefeated at 7-0-1. Sophomore Jessica Wikstrom also won a Best Witness Award. About 22 teams from 11 different schools participated in the competition, which was sponsored by St. Louis University.

Kim Cobb, Public Affairs, has received a 2007 Outstanding Alumni Award from the Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications. Cobb, who graduated from Tech in 1979, joined SMU in June as director of national media marketing after a lengthy career as a journalist, including more than two decades as a national writer for the Houston Chronicle. She and four others were honored Oct. 27 in Lubbock. Read more from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

Gail Hartin, Teacher Education, discussed what makes a good teacher with Park Cities People Nov. 2, 2007.

President R. Gerald Turner, co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, talked about private money and "booster interference" in college sports with The Chronicle of Higher Education Oct. 26, 2007.

Barnaby Fitzgerald, Art, has created a new exhibition, ...complexions of the avatars..., which will open with a reception 6:30-8 p.m. Nov. 9 at Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden. The exhibition runs through Dec. 8. (Left, Fitzgerald's Gnomen (2006).)

Patricia Alvey, Advertising, on how ad makers attempt to tap into viewers' visceral responses in The Dallas Morning News Oct. 30, 2007

Jeorg Rieger, Theology, discussed the United States and "empire theology" in William McKenzie's column in The Dallas Morning News Oct. 24, 2007.

Bruce Bullock, Maguire Energy Institute, discussed the implications of the price of crude oil hitting above $92 a barrel in Asia in USA Today Oct. 26, 2007

Jeffrey Kahn, Law, provided commentary for an article on the mistrials in the Holy Land Foundation prosecutions in The Houston Chronicle Oct. 22, 2007.

Bruce Bullock, Maguire Energy Institute, discussed the implications of steady prices for gas at the pump even as crude oil prices rise in The Chicago Tribune Oct. 17, 2007.

George Martinez, Law, discussed an unusual twist in a recent North Texas head-injury case with The Dallas Morning News Oct. 16, 2007.

Joan Gosnell, Central University Libraries, discussed some little-known facts about the J.C. Penney story, including information culled from SMU's JCPenney Collection, with the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner Oct. 6, 2007. (Right, an image from an early J.C. Penney Company Christmas catalog.)

Craig Flournoy, Journalism, has been recognized by the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation at the University of Texas at Austin as one of eight Texans who helped improve the lives of those who live in their communities. Read more.

Three music professors in SMU's Meadows School of the Arts have been selected for 2007 ASCAPlus Awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in New York. José Bowen, Robert Frank and Simon Sargon received the cash awards, whose purpose is to reward composers "whose works have a unique prestige value for which adequate compensation would not otherwise be received, and to compensate those whose works are performed substantially in media not surveyed by ASCAP."

Caroline Brettell, Anthropology, is co-author (with her graduate student Kristoffer Alstatt) of "The Agency of Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Biographies of the Self-Employed in Ethnic and Occupational Niches of the Urban Labor Market," published in The Journal of Anthropological Research, 63 (3), 2007. A book she co-edited with James Hollifield, Political Science - Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines - has entered its second edition.

Kamal Saggi, Economics, has been appointed an associate editor of the Indian Growth and Development Review. He will present a paper at the Conference on the Economics of Competition and Innovation Oct. 26-27 at the University of California-Berkeley.

Beth Newman, English, read a paper titled "The Vulgarity of Elegance: Social Mobility, Middle-Class Language, and the Victorian Novel" at the North American Victorian Studies Association conference in Victoria, British Columbia. The paper was excerpted from an essay that will appear in a collection titled Victorian Vulgarity, forthcoming from Ashgate Publishing.

Mark Vamos, Journalism, talked about the rollout of the FOX Business Network in The New York Daily News Oct. 12, 2007.

Peter Vogel, Law, discussed the increasing lack of usefulness of e-mail disclaimers in The Dallas Morning News Oct. 10, 2007.

Marianne Piepenburg, Development, discussed the tax benefits and other considerations involved in bequeathing a house or other real property to an alma mater through a retained life estate in the July 2007 issue of Kiplinger's Retirement Report.

Edward Countryman, History, discussed the history and potential benefits of open immigration in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Oct. 8, 2007.

Cal Jillson, Political Science, talked about Texas' high intake of federal dollars versus its "pork-barrel libertarianism" in The Houston Chronicle Oct. 9, 2007.

Peter Rose ('04), a Geological Sciences alumnus and student of Louis Jacobs, has identified bones found on a ranch near Glen Rose, Texas, during the 1990s as a previously unknown species, which he has named Paluxysaurus jonesii. A previous, incomplete examination of the bones identified them as those of a pleurocoelus, resulting in the species being named the Texas state dinosaur in 1997. The official designation now may be reassigned to the paluxysaurus. Read more from The Dallas Morning News. (Left, Rose, now studying at the University of Minnesota, as photographed by David Joles of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune.)

Randall Griffin, Art History, has received the Dallas Museum of Art's Vasari Award for the second time in three years. He was chosen for the 2007 award for his book Winslow Homer: An American Vision (Phaidon). The Vasari Award is given annually to an author working in Texas "whose book provides insight into works of art or aspects of art history and theory that enriches the understanding of visual arts." Griffin's 2007 co-winner is Anthony Alofsin, the Roland Gommel Roessner Centennial Professor of Architecture and Professor of Art and Art History at UT-Austin. (Left, Winslow Homer's Eight Bells, which will appear in the Meadows Museum's "Coming of Age: American Art, 1850s to 1950s," opening Nov. 30.)

Shlomo Weber, Economics, is the new academic director of the International School of Economics in Tbilisi, Georgia. He will visit during the coming year to work with students, faculty, staff and other community members.

Tatiana Zimakova, Russian Area Studies, has been nominated for a Lone Star Emmy Award in the category of Magazine Program-Feature/Segment for her Dallas Schools Television program, "A Taste of Russia." The show aired on WFAA Channel 8 and KERA Channel 13 in spring 2007 and features urban elementary and middle school students who are studying the Russian language and learning about Russian culture, history and food. "A Taste of Russia" focuses on the interdisciplinary aspect of the students' studies and the students' performance at SMU's 2007 Russian Festival 2007 last March. Lone Star Emmy winners will be announced at a ceremony Oct. 27 in Dallas.

Jasper Smits, Psychology, has received the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies' 2007 President's New Researcher Award for his paper entitled "Cognitive Mechanisms of Social Anxiety Reduction: An Examination of Specificity and Temporality." Two co-authors on the award-winning paper also are from SMU Psychology: Renee McDonald and David Rosenfield.

Anthony Cortese, Sociology, has been appointed to a three-year term on the Advisory Panel for the newly established Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religion in the Perkins School of Theology.

William May, Ethics (emeritus), has been named Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in American History and Ethics at the John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington appointed May for a three-month tenure from September to December 2007.

Rita Kirk, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, discussed the media campaigns that will determine the fate of a planned toll road inside the Trinity River Corridor's levee walls in The Dallas Morning News Sept. 18, 2007.

Matthew Wilson, Political Science, discussed the politics behind Texas State Rep. Kirk England's switch to the Democratic Party in The Dallas Morning News Sept. 20, 2007.

William J. Bryan III, Theology, talked about the "Sunday-night slump" in church attendance that has led to growing cancellations of evening services in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sept. 21, 2007.

Rick Worland, Cinema-TV, talked about the history and legacy of the film Easy Rider in The Dallas Morning News Sept. 12, 2007.

The men's and women's swimming and diving teams volunteered Sept. 22 at the 2007 Tour des Fleurs, a 10K/20K run benefiting the Dallas Arboretum. Nearly 50 student-athletes manned 6 water stations along the race route.

Hector Rivera, Teacher Education, has received a research grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) to address the needs of at-risk newcomer adolescents with limited English proficiency through professional development and English as a Second Language certification for middle and high school math and science teachers. Read more.

Paige Ware, Teacher Education, has received a research grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) for Project Connect, a collaboration with the Irving and Grand Prairie Independent School Districts to create a model of integrated professional development that trains teachers to provide higher-quality education for students with limited English proficiency. Read more.

Dennis Grindle, Cox Career Center, discussed "How an MBA Mom Can Return to the Work Force" in the Sept. 11, 2007 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Bruce Bullock, Maguire Energy Institute, discussed the trends that helped oil prices on Sept. 12 briefly reach historic highs of $80 per barrel. His comments appeared in the Sept. 13, 2007 edition of the Chicago Tribune.

Cal Jillson, Political Science, discussed Congressional Democrats' plans to revise the alternative minimum tax in the Sept. 17, 2007 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Stephen DePaul, International Center, has been invited to serve on the Standards Committee of the Forum on Education Abroad. The committee will focus on the development of a code of ethics that will support the Forum's Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad.

William Finnin, Chaplain's Office, presented a paper, "Reconsidering the Covenant: Kenneth Underwood's Prophetic Inquiry as Integral to University Ministry," at the biennial gathering of the United Methodist Campus Ministry Association July 25-28, 2007 at TCU. He has received the 2007 Donald Shockley Award for Intellectual Contributions to the Profession of Ministry in Higher Education, presented by the United Methodist Campus Ministry Association and the General Board of Higher Education of the United Methodist Church. Finnin also received the 2007 Bishop James Baker Graduate Fellowship for summer study focusing on the interfaith character of university chaplaincy.

SMU student athletes (left) collected almost $1,500 in donations during Monday's football game for the survivors and families of those killed during a mass shooting at Virginia Tech last spring. Virginia Tech has received more than $7 million in contributions.

Kamal Saggi has been invited to speak at the biennial International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property Forum in Singapore, Oct. 4-6, 2007

Geoff Orsak, School of Engineering, has written an op-ed, "America Needs a New Formula for Success in the Sciences," published in The Austin American-Statesman Aug. 24, 2007.

Anne Peterson, DeGolyer Library, wrote the introduction to "Neiman Marcus: 100 Years of Style" published in the September 2007 issue of D Magazine. The tribute features photos from DeGolyer's collections. (Right, Sophia Loren and Stanley Marcus activate a recreation of the Villa D'Este fountains during the department store's 1975 Italian Fortnight.)

Ling Hua, Chemistry, cowrote a paper recognized by publisher Elsevier Ltd. as one of the Top 50 Most Cited Articles published in Tetrahedron: Asymmetry 2004-07. The paper, "Evaluation of substituent effects on activity and enantioselectivity in the enzymatic reduction of aryl ketones," was published originally in Volume 16, Issue 8 (2005).

Scott MacDonald, Southwestern Graduate School of Banking, discussed bank security and the credit crisis with business columnist Pamela Yip in The Dallas Morning News Aug. 27, 2007.

Noah Simblist, Art, has been named the winner of the 2006 Moss/Chumley Artist Award. The award, which carries a cash prize of $1,500, is given annually to an outstanding North Texas artist who has exhibited professionally for at least 10 years and who has a record of community advocacy for the visual arts. Simblist was honored at a private evening reception at the Meadows Museum.

David Freidel, Anthropology, is a featured expert in "The Maya: Glory and Ruin," the cover story of the August 2007 National Geographic magazine. In addition, he discussed the recent discovery in Ceren, El Salvador, of a 1,400-year-old harvested Maya manioc (cassava) field with The Los Angeles Times for the Aug. 21, 2007 edition.

Linda Eads, Law, received the 2006-07 President's Award from the State Bar of Texas for her work as co-chair of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct Committee. The annual award is presented to the member judged to have rendered outstanding service to the State Bar. Eads led the committee in the review and revision of the group's disciplinary rules.

Carolyn Macartney, Cinema-TV, received a 2007 Kodak Faculty Scholarship Award during the national University Film & Video Association (UFVA) Conference hosted by the University of North Texas in mid-August. She received $4,000 to support her proposed documentary project Wanda the Wonderful, which will chronicle her grandmother's life as a Wild West sharpshooter. In addition, Macartney's film There Goes the View won the award for Best Experimental Film in the juried competition.

Pam Elder, Cinema-TV, is one of 20 professors, chairs or deans of film-TV departments nationwide chosen to participate in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' annual Faculty Seminar to be held in Los Angeles in November. The seminar includes meetings and lectures on new media, cable television, legal issues, the changing demands of production and other topics with studios and major production companies.

Kelli Herd, Cinema-TV, was named Filmmaker of the Month by Women in Film-Dallas and is featured in an interview in the WIFD August newsletter. She is co-writing a textbook called The Language of Screenwriting.

Jose Santos, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology, has returned from a year of research in Guatemala undertaken with a Fulbright grant and funds from the National Science Foundation. His work was recognized by Texas Congressman Pete Sessions, who read his praise for Santos into the Congressional record.

Michael Adler, Anthropology, discussed the SMU-in-Taos program as a featured guest on KTAO 101.9 FM Radio July 24, 2007.

Al Armendariz, Environmental and Civil Engineering, wrote an op-ed, "We Can't Wish Our Smog Away," published in The Dallas Morning News July 25, 2007.

Alan Brown and Chris Logan, Psychology, have edited The Psychology of the Simpsons: D'oh!, a collection of essays by professional psychologists exploring "the functions and dysfunctions of the show's characters." The book was published in July 2007 by Independent Publishers Group.

Steve DePaul, International Center, was featured in a Robert Miller article on SMU's Education Abroad program in The Dallas Morning News Aug. 5, 2007.

Shubha Ghosh, Law, spoke with CBS-11 TV about the impact on consumers of a June 2007 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a nearly 100-year-old Texas ban on price fixing.

Rick Halperin, History, guided SMU students, faculty and local community members on a tour of the landmarks of apartheid in South Africa Aug. 2-12. Halperin, director of the SMU Human Rights Education Program and chair of the Amnesty International USA Board, took the group to Soweto, scene of widespread rioting in 1976; Cape Town's District Six neighborhood, where residents were forced out of their homes to create a "whites only" zone in 1965; and the Robben Island Prison, where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner for 27 years.

Kathy Hargrove, Education and Human Development, discussed how children can be taught to think like geniuses with WFAA-TV Channel 8 Aug. 14, 2007.

James Hollifield, Political Science, was a featured guest along with former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich on the KERA-TV talk show "McCuistion" in a July 29, 2007 episode on "Ideology, Politics and Partisanship."

Daniel Howard, Marketing, discussed the origins and usefulness of the "personal branding" trend with The Dallas Morning News July 15, 2007.

Robert Hunt, Theology, discussed the film "Evan Almighty" and the enduring appeal of the Noah story in the June 16, 2007 edition of The Dallas Morning News.

Jeffrey Kahn, Law, discussed with KERA 90.1 and National Public Radio the Dallas-based federal trial involving the Holy Land Foundation, a Muslim charity accused of ties to terrorism, for which jury selection began July 16, 2007.

Glenn Linden, History, has cowritten Disunion, War, Defeat and Recovery in Alabama: The Journal of Augustus Benners, 1850-1885 with his wife, Virginia Linden. The book, a chronicle of more than three decades in the life of a plantation owner in ante- and postbellum Alabama, was published in July 2007 by Mercer University Press.

Geoffrey Orsak, School of Engineering, talked with CBS-11 TV and CBS News' "The Early Show" Aug. 3, 2007, about the United States' crisis-level backlog of structurally deficient bridges.

Tony Pederson, Journalism, discussed the ramifications of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's recent purchase of The Wall Street Journal with SMU News Aug. 5, 2007.

Anne Peterson, DeGolyer Library, spoke with U.S. News & World Report about controversies surrounding the work of Civil War photographer Mathew Brady for the magazine's July 2, 2007 cover story, "Secrets of the Civil War." In addition, she gave a presentation on "Alexander Gardner and the Photographically Illustrated Book" to the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) at its annual conference in Minneapolis July 11-14, 2007.

Kamal Saggi, Economics, has been named Dedman Distinguished Collegiate Professor of Economics.

SMU Panhellenic has been awarded the National Panhellenic Conference Progress award for campuses with 6-10 chapters for the 2005-2007 biennium. The honor is presented to one college Panhellenic that "has shown significant strides related to member education, new member programming, recruitment, and scholarship."

Harold Stanley, Political Science, spoke with Mercedes Olivera of The Dallas Morning News about immigration issues and Latino voters for the July 8, 2007 edition.

Rev. Page A. Thomas, Bridwell Library, was the subject of an article in The Dallas Morning News July 21, 2007, recognizing his 46 years with Bridwell -- the longest term of service in a single posting for any Methodist minister.

Gregory Warden, Art History, and his work at an ancient Etruscan settlement in Poggia Colla, Italy, were the subjects of a Robert Miller column in the Aug. 12, 2007 edition of The Dallas Morning News.

Jerry White, Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, discussed how the credit crunch is affecting small businesses with The Dallas Morning News Aug. 11, 2007.

Matthew Wilson, Political Science, spoke with Reuters in June 2007 about the Religious Right and Jerry Falwell's legacy, and with The Dallas Morning News about Tom Leppert's mayoral victory in the June 17, 2007 edition.