Dr. Harold Recinos completed two new collections of poetry while on a recent research leave: The Looking Glass: Far and Near and Tell Somebody (to be released in late July).
The Looking Glass: Far and Near (Wipf and Stock, 2023) also has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, the second-such work of Recinos’ to be nominated. Pulitzer recipients will be announced in May 2024, and Recinos hopes to become the second Latino poet (William Carlos Williams received the honor posthumously in 1963) to be awarded the prize.
Of his latest work, Recinos said, “Tell Somebody is a collection of poetry that seeks to bring the overlooked human beings and existential conditions into public light. I welcome readers to step into the reality of persons who challenge the moral claims of society upon the marginalized found on the streets, the workplace and crossing borders.”
Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison, Research Professor of Practical Theology, has been recognized as one of two recipients of the Florence Ellen Bell Scholar Award, presented by the Drew University Library.
Pope-Levison’s project, Negotiating Boundaries: The Emergence of the International Methodist Deaconess Movement, 1885-1918, to be published by Cascade Books in their Wesleyan and Methodist Explorations Series, will provide a thorough analysis of the intricate negotiations during the Methodist deaconess movement’s emergence on an international scale. This interdisciplinary book, integrating women’s studies, biblical studies, theology, history, and sociology, will focus on the twists and turns of the deaconess movement in its multi-faceted negotiations of church regulations, male clergy, women’s ministry, society’s gendered expectations, and its distinctive dress.
The award provides $2,500 for expenses relating to academic research at the United Methodist Archives and History Center at Drew University in Madison, N.J. The award supports scholars using the Methodist Collections of Drew University and the General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) for The United Methodist Church.
Dr. Susanne Scholz, Professor of Old Testament, presented a paper – entitled “How to Read the Song of Miriam (Exod. 15:20-21) as a Literary Poem during the Time of War in the Ukraine” – at the European Association of Biblical Studies conference this month in Sicily, Italy. Scholz received a University Research Council travel grant from SMU to cover some of her expenses.
Dr. Dallas Gingles, director of the Houston-Galveston Extension Program and Perkins Fellow in Systematic Theology, was a speaker at the McDonald Centre Conference last month at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. This international, interdisciplinary conference brought together those with dual expertise in both healthcare and ethics or theology to attempt to diagnose the conditions for corrosion that currently prevail and consider what should be done to address them.