Dr. Jack Sullivan, professor of American studies and English, has published an article on the cultural history of Charleston, South Carolina called "Bright Light, Big Shadow," in the special "Festivals, 2004" issue of Opera Magazine. The article focuses on why Charleston was chosen as the site for Spoleto USA.

Drs. John Hulsman, professor of English, and Gary Barricklow, associate professor of English, ran a workshop entitled "Opportunity Programs and the Sponsorship of Minority Writers" at the Seventh Biennial Conference of the Tri-State Consortium of Opportunity Programs in Higher Education, which was held in Atlantic City on April 2.

Nichole Bennett, a professional tutor in the Rider Learning Center and an adjunct instructor in the history department, presented "A Sentimental Reality: Willa Cather's 'Peter'" at Marquette University's Ninth Annual Women's Study Conference on March 29.

Laura Hyatt, assistant professor of biology, is the lead author on an upcoming paper entitled "The distance dependence prediction of the Janzen-Connell hypothesis: a meta-analysis." The paper will be published in the journal Oikos. In addition, Hyatt has also presented invited seminars at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Rutgers University and Georgian Court College.

Frank Abrahams, chairperson of arts/science and music education, led the Westminster Conservatory Youth Chorale on a ten-day concert tour of Brazil April 9 - 19. Accompanied by Conservatory faculty member Nicholas McBride and Patrick Schmidt, assistant professor of music education at Westminster, they presented concerts in Porto Alegre, Sao Leopoldo and Rio de Janeiro. In Sao Leopoldo, Abrahams, Schmidt and McBride presented a choral workshop for local choir directors at the UNISINOS University.

Professor Robin A. Leaver, sacred music, recently published: "Using Historic Music in
Contemporary Worship," in the Choral Journal; "Brahms's Opus 45 and German Protestant Funeral Music," in the Journal of Musicology; and an extended review of the latest volume of the critical edition of German chorale melodies, Das deutsche Kirchenlied, in Notes. In March he
gave a paper, "The Function and Meaning of the Chorales in Bach's Johannespassion," at the Bach Symposium, Miami University; in April gave three papers at the symposium "Bach the Preacher," at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, in connection with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion, by the Bach Collegium Japan, directed by Mazaki Suzuki; and also in April served on the doctoral committee of Evan Scooler's successfully defended Ph.D. dissertation, "J. S. Bach's Changing
Conception of the 'Great Eighteen' Chorales," Brandeis University.