He Thought She was Cute but from Outer Space: Gender and the Comic-Grotesque in Lorrie Moore’s Like Life

Anna Muse* and Felicia Poet (Mentor), Department of English

Critics and reviewers of Lorrie Moore’s short fiction have paid special attention to her use of comedy, interpreting it as either a counter the loneliness and isolation her characters, often urban intellectuals displaced in rural cities, suffer over the course of her narratives; as a risk that threatens to sabotage the emotional resonance or seriousness of her art; as an timely evocation of the absurdity of contemporary American life; or as a bivalenced postmodern strategy, a self-reflexive comment on the nature of storytelling. What these reviewers and critics unanimously ignore, however, is that the characters telling the jokes in Moore’s stories, the characters most uncomfortable with their own identity, are women. More specifically, they are women artists and academics who feel marginalized within patriarchal environments, who are painfully aware of their own femininity as a kind of vexed performance. In this paper I argue for a feminist reading of Moore’s work, particularly through Judith Butler’s theory of gender parody and Sally Robison’s reading of the female grotesque as a method of subversion.

Preparation Of Lithium-Intercalated Cobalt Vanadates

Sally Smith* and John Chemical (Mentor), Department of Chemistry

We are interested in improving the lithium ion batteries used in portable devices by preparing a bimetallic oxide cathode material, which allows more efficient charge transfer than current cathode materials. We have prepared samples of cobalt vanadates through coprecipitation under basic conditions and ultrasound under acidic conditions. Two new compounds were produced: a cobalt hydroxy pyrovanadate and a layered polyoxyvanadate intercalated with cobalt ions. The samples were characterized through elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction.  We have also investigated the thermal decomposition patterns of the samples.  We have explored several chemical routes (LiI, nBuLi, LiOH, various pH and thermal programs) for intercalating lithium ions into these materials.  The resulting lithium-inclusion compounds were structurally compared with commercial and prepared lithium cobaltate.  We are currently working to increase the lithium ion storage capacity of the cobalt vanadates.

Personality Characteristics Related to Early or Late Participation in Research

Johnny Jung* and Ziggie Freudlien (Mentor), Department of Psychology

This study examined the personality characteristics of students with regards to when they participated in a research study in the Psychology Department. We were specifically interested in which personality characteristics were related to early participation or late participation in the research study. In previous research, studies have linked the personality trait conscientiousness to being early in work place settings (Back, Schmukle, & Egloff, 2006; Barrick, Mount, & Strauss, 1993; Dishon-Berkovits & Koslowsky, 2002; Foust, Elicker, & Levy, 2006). It is hoped that this research will identify potential relationships between multiple personality characteristics with regard to participation timing in a non-work setting. We hypothesized that conscientiousness and agreeableness would be negatively correlated with week of participation in the study. Using archival data, personality measures were compared in relation to the week of participation in a previous research study. Agreeableness was negatively correlated with week of participation r (117) = -.28, p < .002 and conscientiousness was negatively correlated with week of participation  r (117) = -.19, p < .04 for the fall semester cohort. However, correlation coefficients were not significant for the spring semester cohort. People who scored high on agreeableness and conscientiousness were more likely to participate early in the study, and people who scored low in agreeableness and conscientiousness were more likely to participate late in the study. Our findings coincided with previous research findings regarding agreeableness and conscientiousness in the workplace (Back, Schmukle, & Egloff, 2006; Barrick, Mount, & Strauss, 1993; Dishon-Berkovits & Koslowsky, 2002; Foust, Elicker, & Levy, 2006).

Urban Surrealism

Phil Painter* and Peter Picasso (Mentor), Department of Visual Arts

The content in my work reflects on the mysteries of what a door holds: it’s an adventure to explore unfamiliar limitations and create a memoir of a particlar time of growth. I consider my works of art a mixture of urban influences and surrealism – always eclectic. Constructing from destruction is as important strategy for me. I use found objects that can be seen and used every day. I incorporate paint into all of my works and then assemble plywood and other materials, to construct various installations. Assimilating diverse materials into these environments transforms a utopian fairytale into an ominous landscape. I hope for the individuals who walk into these environments to be able to react whimsically, as a child would. Currently, am most influenced by one particular childhood film: Alice in Wonderland. This environment will include the famous Mad Hatter and his Mad Tea Party with riddles and beverages. This work explores the illusion of gateway-portals, doors that lead an individual from the real world into a dream world or visa versa. It is an erotic-voluptuous fantasy escape.

Back to the Past:  A Look at Primary Sources in the Classroom

Zack Morrissey, Department of Teacher Education (minor), Chase Brinkley, Departments of History (major) and Teacher Education (minor), and Brian B. Kahn (Mentor), Department of Teacher Education  

Last semester, students of TEP 438 Secondary Social Studies Methods were tasked with using primary sources from the Library of Congress website and completing different tasks concerning the interdisciplinary nature of social sciences. These modules focused on this interdisciplinary nature as well as how teacher candidates could gain a better understanding of the past and assist students develop critical thinking skills. How did the learning modules that we completed tie into our preclinical observation time in a classroom? The students of TEP 438 took their knowledge of primary sources and brought that into middle and high school classrooms.  Our project looks at two different lesson plans and activities that were implemented in two classroom settings during the fall of 2013.  One lesson took place in a local high school in 11th grade U.S. History, which used a diary from a women living on a plantation in Georgia who experienced the horrors of total war through General Sherman’s march to the sea during the Civil War. The other lesson took place in a local middle school. The primary sources used were photographs where students were tasked with making observations and conclusions through the sources that addressed the reforms established throughout the U.S. during the Progressive Era. The results of these teaching experiences will be shared.

A Survey of Green Supply Chain Management in Midwest Manufacturing

Lakshmi Shilpa Penumatsa (student), François Giraud-Carrier (Mentor), and Atul Agarwal (Mentor), Department of Management Information Systems

The Midwest has a long tradition of manufacturing and accounts for 30% of U.S. manufacturing (Mid-western Governors Association 2010). For example, more than 60% of all automobiles and 40% of machinery and primary metals manu-factured in the U.S. are built in the Midwest (Midwestern Governors Association 2010). Manufacturing and the associated logistics and transportation activities can negatively impact the natural environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, industrial and transportation activities contribute 46.8% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, a major contributor to climate change (Environmental Protection Agency 2016). Consumers and regulators are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of industrial activities on the natural environment and the ecosystems that support life. As a result, manufacturers in the Midwest have started adopting environmentally friendly, i.e., green supply chain management practices, which include collaborating with  suppliers and customers to reduce, reuse and recycle, adopting green technologies and developing environmental management systems such as training and incentive programs. In this paper, we survey manufacturing companies in the Midwest to answer the following questions:

1. To what extent do Midwestern manufacturing companies adopt green supply chain management (GSCM) practices?
2. What drives the adoption of GSCM practices by these companies?
3. What are the benefits of GSCM perceived by these companies?