Paul Uhlig, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics and a 1990 alumnus of St. Mary's, received the 2007 Marianist Heritage Award for faithfulness to our Marianist heritage and contributions to the Mission of the University.

Uhlig also is a Marianist Educational Associate and the University Ministry liaison to the School of Science, Engineering and Technology.

Antonia Castañeda. Ph.D., associate professor of history at ST. Mary's, is the 2007 Scholar of the Year for the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. This distinction reflects Castañeda´s lifetime of scholarly achievements, longstanding commitment to NACCS and its future development, unwavering dedication towards undergraduate students, graduate students, young scholars and colleagues.

At St. Mary´s, Castañada has mentored Chicana/o students to present their work at national conferences and encouraged the development of Chicana/o studies for several decades. Through her scholarly writings, she has challenged and transformed the fields of Chicano/a Studies, California history and western history by focusing on issues of sexuality, gender, and conquest.

In 1972, Castañeda co-edited (with Joseph Sommers and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto) one of the first foundational texts in Chicana/o Studies "Literatura Chicana: Texto Y Contexto/Text" and "Context: Chicano Literature." This text was groundbreaking for its early transnational, comparative, and decolonial approach to the study of Chicanos and Chicanas.

Castañeda's more recent works are theoretically rich and sophisticated by challenging taken-for-granted categories and constructs and raising epistemological, methodological, analytical, and interpretive questions about regions, migration, nationalism, empire, colonization, and resistance. Castañeda was also a cofounder of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) and is currently the editor of a Chicana Studies Journal and Book Series for the University of Texas Press.

Castañeda has worked tirelessly in front and behind the scenes developing Chicana Studies within the NACCS organization. Without her trenchant critiques of male biases in Chicano Studies and NACCS and without her advocacy on behalf of Chicana Scholars, NACCS would still have only one "C."

Castañeda has be selected to receive the 2007 NACCS Award in recognition of her mentorship and scholarship, her commitment to Chicana/o and Chicana/o scholarship and NACCS, as well as the many roads she has opened through her work, and many doors open for students and young scholars.

Writer-in-Residence Diane Gonzales Bertrand has published her first bilingual novel through Houston´s Arte Publico Press.

"The Ruiz Street Kids/Los Muchachos de la calle Ruiz" was written for intermediate readers and is set in San Antonio´s West Side. Loosely based on her own friends on Texas Avenue and her father´s friends on Ruiz Street, the story involves the readers in a humourous mystery about the new kid in the neighborhood named David.

Bertrand's book has earned very positive reviews in both the School Library Journal and Today´s Catholic newspaper. She will participate in several literary events in Ohio and Texas during the spring to promote her book, as well as at the Texas Library Convention in April.

Diane Dowdell, visiting assistant professor of marketing at the Bill Greehey School of Business, has received the 2007 Hormel Meritorious Teaching Award from the Marketing Management Association. Dowdell was recognized at the association´s conference in Chicago in March. Way to go, Professor Dowdell!

St. Mary´s Spanish professor Ruben Candia, Ph.D., professor of languages and a Fulbright Scholar who is teaching American Studies in Spain this spring semester, recently had his article "Influencias del ingles en el español fronterizo de los Estados Unidos y Mexico/Influences of English on United States–Mexico Border Spanish," published in Hispanic Horizons´ 25th anniversary issue on Jan. 31, 2007. The journal is published by the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India.

The Conference on College Composition and Communication invited Camille Langston, Ph.D., associate professor of English, to speak in March at the CCCC´s 2007 annual convention in New York.

Langston, who specializes in rhetoric and 19th-century American women writers, presented "Hilary Rodham Clinton and Silence as Rhetorical Strategy" during a session titled "Post 9/11 Political Rhetoric: War, Comedy and Hilary."

Each year, the CCCC Convention draws college faculty members from around the world. They gather to hear award-winning keynote speakers, attend presentations by colleagues on the latest innovations in education and network with peers to gain knowledge of the best practices being used in the field.

Carol Luckhardt Redfield, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science, presented a talk on artificial intelligence (AI) to the Spring Seminar Series put on by the Office of Undergraduate Research and the vice president for Academic Affairs.

On Friday, Feb. 9, 2007, about 45 people were in attendance in Garni 109 to see "Computers in Fiction: Can we do the AI?" Hal, Data, R2D2, C3PO, Rosie and Johnny 5 were just some of the characters used from books, TV and movies to discuss current capabilities for trying to make computers do smart things.

H. Palmer Hall, Ph.D., recently had his story, "Strung Out in Suburbia," published in the September/October issue of the North American Review.

In December, Mizna: the Journal of Arab American Culture featured his poem, "The Monument."

Hall also served as a judge for the Helen C. Smith Memorial Award for the Best Book of Poetry, sponsored by the Texas Institute of Letters and the poetry competition being held by the Poetry Society of Austin.

Hall is director of the Louis J. Blume Library and teaches English and communications classes.

Bill Greehey School of Business students reap the benefits of the latest research as faculty are active in their disciplines. The following are some recent publications or conference presentations by our faculty:

• Padmanabhan, P., and Brooke Envick, "A 21st Century Model of Entrepreneurship Education: Overcoming Traditional Barriers to Learning", Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, Volume 9, 2006, 45-52.
• Padmanabhan, P., Paul San Miguel, and Tom Madison, "Real Beneficiaries of Outsourcing Activities: The Case of Targets" Proceedings, Fifth Annual Smart Sourcing Conference, Los Angeles, Calif., September 2006.
• Padmanabhan, P., and Shailendra Palvia, "Global ITO and BPO: Issues and Opportunities for Displaced Professionals," Editorial Preface, Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, Volume 8, Number 3, 2006, 1-10.
• Eileen A. Wall and Leonard L. Berry, "The Combined Effects of the Physical Environment and Employee Behavior on Customer Perceptions of Service Quality," Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Volume 48, Number 1, February 2007.
• Padmanabhan, P. served as Session Chair, The Fifth Annual Smart Sourcing Conference, Los Angeles, Calif., September 2006.

English and Communication Studies visiting instructor Francesca Coley, Ph.D., has been invited to Oxford University July 21-27, 2007, to deliver a paper as part of the Oxford Round Table. The title of the paper is "God Wants Us to be Equal: Christian and Islamic Views of Feminism."

In January, Political Science Professor Larry Hufford, Ph.D., attended a meeting of the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative in New York. The group spent time at the United Nations learning about the activities of UN-affiliated religious non-governmental organizations.

This past November, at the invitation of international relations faculty at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO), Larry Hufford, Ph.D., professor of political science, conducted a two day workshop/simulation on international conflict resolution for 25 students from universities across Mexico at the ational Model United Nations.

Larry Hufford, Ph.D., professor of political science, just completed a five year term as president of the World Council for Curriculum and Instruction, during which time he presided over the organizations's annual international conferences in both Wollongong, Australia and Manila, Philippines.

Larry Hufford, Ph.D., professor of political science and director of the graduate international relations program, recently co-edited a book titled Educating for a Worldview.

Hufford's essay in the book, A Personal Journey to Peace Education, was a keynote address at the 11th World Conference on Curriculum and Instruction (WCCI) held in Wollongong, Australia.

Another essay is one by Konai Thaman, Ph.D., titled Education and Globalization: A View from Oceania. Konai holds the UNESCO chair in Teacher Education and Culture at the University of South Pacific.

Rose Wu, Ph.D., director of the Hong Kong Christian Institute, is a leader of the grassroots democracy movement in Hong Kong. She is also the leading feminist theologian in Hong Kong. Her essay is titled A Pedagogy for Building a Justpeace Global Civil Society.