Many UTC faculty members passed on lazy days spent in the summer sun in favor of completing research, teaching classes, and publishing articles.
Historic home at the Hagley Museum, where Dr. Charlene Simmons spent part of her summer doing research
In her self-described “nerd-cation,” Dr. Charlene Simmons, UC Foundation Assistant Professor of Communication, spent a week at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware exploring the archives of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and the library of David Sarnoff (former head of RCA).
“The research trip is part of a larger project I am working on examining the radio facsimile in the 1930s. The project explores how the two opposing industries, newspaper and radio, viewed the development and envisioned the future of the radio facsimile,” she said.
Simmons also spent time in Washington, D.C. visiting the National Archives II at College Park, the Library of Congress, and the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of College Park.
Dr. Greg Grant (far right) leads a group of students on a whitewater rafting trip at the Ocoee River
Dr. Greg Grant, Grote Professor of Chemistry, supervised multiple research projects this summer. For relaxation and fun, he takes the group of students on a whitewater rafting trip on the Ocoee River every summer.
Dr. H. Lyn Miles, UC Foundation Professor of Anthropology, continued her longitudinal research project investigating the linguistic and cultural abilities of Chantek, an orangutan raised on the UTC campus. Chantek now resides at Zoo Atlanta.
“Chantek learned to communicate using hundreds of signs in ‘Orangutan Sign Language’ based on the American Sign Language for the deaf. He could put words together in simple sentences and invented signs of his own such as tomato-paste, a contraction of tomato and toothpaste, for ketchup,” Miles said.
Miles is working on a book, Chantek, The First Orangutan Person, on her adventures in raising Chantek and his great contribution to our understanding of the mental abilities of the great apes and the evolution of language and intelligence in humans.
“Now grown to adulthood, Chantek is more subtle in his signing, and can even code switch in his language use much as a child learns to talk one way with friends and another in front of their grandparents. For example, when zookeepers or zoo visitors are nearby he will whisper in sign language tome, often making secret requests for cheeseburgers,” Miles said.
Fossil beetles from Green River Formation
Dr. Stylianos Chatzimanolis, Assistant Professor of Biology,visited the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D. C. to study the fossil beetles from the Green River Formation.
“I spent two weeks sorting, cataloguing, identifying and photographing. The overall goals of this project are to describe the fossil beetle fauna of the Green River Formation, compare these fossils with the modern fauna of North America, and finally to use the fossils as a predictor of the future North American fauna due to global warming,” he said.
Dr. Bonnie Z. Warren-Kring, Assistant Professor in the Teacher Preparation Academy, and Dr. Valerie Rutledge, UC Foundation Professor and Head of the Teacher Preparation Academy, co-authored a research paper recently published in The Teacher Educator.
“After two years of hard work, our study titled, “Promising Practice: “Adolescents’ Comprehension and Content Area Education Students’ Perceptions: Benefits from One-On-One Tutoring,” was published this summer. We analyzed the effectiveness of content-area education students tutoring adolescents and also documented changes in the attitudes of the education students over time,” Warren-Kring said.
Sydney Roberts, costume specialist for the Department of Theatre and Speech, managed a group of student interns in a unique internship this summer. Partnering with Birmingham’s Red Mountain Theatre Company, Roberts and her group of four interns produced costumes for the company’s production of Hairspray.
“The interns made over 120 costumes. Our costume shop was filled with 60 wigs at one point! It was lots of work but I think the students learned a lot,” she said.
Seven-foot alligator Dr. Nick Honerkamp found during a research trip to Ossabaw Island
Dr. Nicholas Honerkamp, Professor of Anthropology, made friends with the local wildlife while conducting an archaeological field school this summer.
“I took eight students to Ossabaw Island this summer. This barrier island is located just south of Savannah, and is largely undeveloped with lots of wildlife. On my first weekend bike ride I encountered a seven-foot alligator laying across the dirt road. We also made the acquaintance of Paul Mitchell, the local tame wild hog, so named because of his spikey hair-do. He was a regular feature at breakfast and dinnertime,” Honerkamp said.
Paul Mitchell, a tame wild boar
Dr. Charles Sligh, Assistant Professor of English, also traveled with a group of students, teaching a course in London, England. Titled, “London Underworlds & Outerworlds,” the course focused on mapping the real and imaginary London spaces found in some of the greatest literature, art, film, and music of the last 200 years.
“Highlights included watching a fabulous production of “Much Ado about Nothing” at Shakespeare’s Globe, attending Choral Evensong at St. Paul’s, visiting London’s Roman Amphitheatre, Stonehenge, and Salisbury Cathedral, and drinks one evening in the garden out behind the Spaniard’s Inn,” Sligh said.
