College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter

Volume 3, Number 3, March 2015

ARNIE Talks - Engaging the Community

The College of Arts and Sciences has 191 full-time faculty members, and they all thrive on research. To them, it's an important part of their work. So Associate Dean Amy Shapiro wondered how she could help them share their incredible and personal work. How can faculty engage with the community? How can we honor them?

Her solution? ARNIE Talks. The new series, which is produced in collaboration with the College of Nursing, aims to awaken the academic community. It helps promote the intellectual and social atmosphere of the campus; it sparks an interdisciplinary dialogue about research ideas; it creates an opportunity for faculty and graduate students to talk informally about innovative research. "One goal of the new campus strategic plan is to create 'An Active and Engaged University Community Focused on Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Innovation,'" said Shapiro. "I thought that celebrating and showcasing the excellent work of our faculty in a talk series would speak to that goal."

So on March 4th, ARNIE Talks welcomed its first speaker, Professor Chad McGuire. His talk, titled "A Changing Climate, Rising Seas, and Human Institutions: The Strangest of Bedfellows," highlighted the most recent research on climate change. And after his talk, McGuire joined the attendees for a wine and cheese reception and an opportunity to discuss ideas inspired by his talk. "The talks provide a way for faculty in the disciplines to share ideas and potentially find common ground for interdisciplinary research," said Shapiro. "Faculty and their students also benefit from stepping outside our offices to have a little fun together."

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Professor Robin Robinson: Interpreting

Popular Fiction

The Chicago Trib u ne said it was unique and fascinating. The Washington Post said it was wildly sus penseful. And Glamour called it a sexy thriller. The Girl With Dragon Tattoo, written by Stieg Larsson, was an international bestseller. And it tells the story of Lisabeth Salander, a troubled girl, who witnesses and endures sexual assaults, loss of freedom, domestic brutality, and revenge. Throughout its pages, the book reveals human nature's dark side, but many still wanted to read it.

And Professor Robin Robinson, a Sociology and Anthropology professor wanted to know why. Why was it a blockbuster? "Why do people like to read about murder, exploitation, and torture," asked Robinson. "What does the human brain gain from it?" So as a trained sociologist and clinical psychologist and one who loves to read literary crime fiction, she used her training to analyze social policy and human motive hidden within The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Robinson's analysis of Larsson's novel even took her across the Atlantic Ocean. She wrote a paper, "Interpreting Lisbeth Salander: Subjectivities of Sexuality, Resistance, and Human Rights in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," and was asked to present it at the University of Uppsala in Sweden in March. Robinson hopes that her presentation can make some kind of impact. "Larsson wrote your worst nightmare of what young women go through," Robinson said. "And I want to use popular fiction to shine a light on the work that needs to done to liberate young girls."

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Foreign Language in Action

Nicole Brunelle loves her job. As a Spanish interpreter for the Office of Court Interpreter's Services, the Class of 2009 alum provides interpretation or translation services to those who speak Spanish and have limited English. She helps clients talk with their lawyers, read and fill out documents, and provides simultaneous interpretation of everything that is said. "My job is hard, but I love it," Brunelle said. "It's an amazing, stimulating, well-paying, flexible, liberating, and solid career."

Even though the Spanish and Portuguese alum loves her job, it is difficult. Because she works within the court system, a lot of her clients are going through the hardest moments of their lives. "People lose their freedom, their sanity, their children, their homes, their money, their loved ones, and I have to be there for it," Brunelle said. "I'm the messenger."

During her years as an undergraduate, Brunelle's professors opened her mind to a love of languages. "I took some awesome classes in linguistics and translation that have directly and deeply served me in my current job," Brunelle said."I think most of my professors also set really good examples, overall, as to how to be a well-rounded, curious, open-minded, mindful, hard working person."

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