December 2003 Accolades

Wenbin Luo, Ph.D., Engineering, presented a paper, "Access Control Via Invertible Multilevel Scrambling," at the 16th annual International Conference on Computer Applications in Industry and Engineering, which was held in early November in Las Vegas. In his presentation, Luo proposed a novel method to protect digital images, which are significant in medical applications because the smallest distortion in medical images can skew medical diagnoses.

Richard S. Pressman, Ph.D., English, published his article, " 'A Hazard of New Fortunes' and 'The English Patient' as Fin-de-Sihcle Prophecy," in the Winter 2003 issue of CEA (College English Association) Critic.

Jackie B. Peña, Residence Life, recently received an award for one of the top five programs at the Resident Assistant Conference at Texas Lutheran University. Her program was titled, "He Said, She Said."

Rev. Bernard Lee, S.M., Th.D., assistant chancellor and professor of Theology, contributed a chapter to a recent book, "Poverty, Suffering and HIV-AIDS: International Practical Theological Perspectives," published this year by Cardiff Academic Press. The chapter, "Economics and Politics in the Preaching of the Church: A New Testament Rendering of Phronesis," was originally delivered as a paper at a meeting of the International Academy of Practical Theology at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

In his new book, "The Transformation of American Religion," Alan Wolfe refers to Lee as a religious leader in this country and the leading expert on small Christian communities in American Catholicism.

Jeff Addicott, Law, was an invited speaker for the World Affairs Council of San Antonio on Nov. 4. He discussed the newly established Center for Terrorism Law at the School of Law and his 2003 book, "Winning the War on Terror: Legal and Policy Lessons from the Past."

Larry Hufford, Ph.D., Political Science, delivered the keynote lecture at the North American Chapter of the World Council for Curriculum and Instruction annual conference in Nashville, Tenn., in October. His topic was "The Challenge for Peace Educators at the Start of the 21st Century."

Also in October, Hufford was invited to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to participate in the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) meeting on Nontraditional Transcultural Parent Education in Nations in Conflict.

In mid-November, Hufford had an exhibit of his photographs from trips to nations of Central America and presented a lecture, "When It Is Darkest, the Stars Shine Brightest," at Defiance College in Ohio.

Rev. Rudy Vela, S.M., Theology, recently presented a workshop on "Race and Gender: A Cultural Audit" at Defiance College in Ohio.

Maureen Ebben, Ph.D., Communication Studies, presented a paper, "Transitional Identities: Women Leaving Prison," at the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language and Gender Conference, hosted by the University of Cincinnati in October.

Pamela Fink, Ph.D., and Carol Redfield, Ph.D., Computer Science, were invited in late October as speakers for the Information Technology and the Pursuit of Artificial Intelligence meeting, sponsored by the San Antonio Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals. The meeting was held at Our Lady of the Lake University.

Fink's topic was "Intelligence: What Is It and What Does It Mean to a Computer?" Redfield spoke on "Computers in Fiction: Can We Do the AI?"

Vincent R. Johnson, Law, represented St. Mary's School of Law at two conferences in China and spoke at three Chinese law schools. At Soochow University near Shanghai, Johnson discussed the ethical basis of American judicial independence. He also spoke about the recent developments in American punitive law and law reform in China and the United States at Remin (Peoples') University in Beijing and Shandong University in Jinan, respectively.