2003 TSEP Recipients

Dr. Brian Bozlee, Associate Professor of Chemistry, received funding for Summer 2002 to support collaborative environmental research to be carried out at the University of Hawai‘i during Summer 2002. His project involves the development of sensitive analytical techniques to assess the significance of airborne pollutants carried by foreign dust particles to Hawai`i.

Dr. Grace Cheng, Assistant Professor Political Science, received two course releases for Fall 2002 and Spring 2003 to support the preparation of a book-length manuscript, 'Culture for Development and Development for Culture is the Ideology of the Day': The Politics of Culture in Vietnam's Post 1986 Renovation. This book will examine the Vietnamese Communist Party's efforts to adapt the party system, especially party ideology and thinking, to the post-orthodox, then post-Soviet context. According to Dr. Cheng, the book is important to the study of Vietnamese politics "because it contributes to a number of current debates about the role of state and society in the development process, as well as about 'post-communist' transitions."

Dr. Jon Davidann, Associate Professor of History, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support ongoing preparation of a book-length manuscript, The Seeds of War: the Failure of US-Japanese Relations in the Interwar Period. He examines the failure of US-Japanese relations during this period from the viewpoint of private citizens, focusing attention on US and Japanese non-state actors such as missionaries, businessmen, journalists, and other well-educated elites. According to Dr. Davidann, "a failure of cross-cultural relations contributed to strained diplomatic relations and eventually to war between the US and Japan."

Dr. Allison Gough, Assistant Professor of History, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support preparation of an article, "A Door in the Stone-Wall of Silence: Ida B. Wells' Anti-lynching Crusade and Abeyance Structures in the Civil Rights Movement," which borrows the concept of an abeyance movement from sociology in order to examine the Atlantic reform community of the nineteenth century as an important factor in sustaining the American civil rights movement from the 1860's to World War II. According to Dr. Gough, the article "will be an important addition to the literature in the fields of Atlantic and African-American history."

Dr. Russell Hart, Assistant Professor of History, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support ongoing preparation of a multi-volume historical reference work, Legions of the Third Reich: A Historical Reference to the World War II German Military, 1933-1945 Vols. I-II, and to complete an article entitled, "The War Between the Generals: Controversy Among the Allied High Command in the 1944 Normandy Campaign." According to Dr. Hart, Legions of the Third Reich "is intended to become the definitive multi-volume English-language reference work on the military of National Socialist Germany."

Dr. Keith Korsmeyer, Assistant Professor of Biology, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support research and preparation of an article, "Metabolic Adaptation to Low Temperatures in Arctic Fishes." According to Dr. Korsmeyer, "animals living at the poles must be able to not only tolerate the cold, but to carry out all of their functions of life at low temperatures. For polar fishes, their body temperature is the same as the icy waters, and yet they are able to actively swim, feed, grow and reproduce."

Dr. Laurie Leach, Associate Professor of English, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support preparation of a book-length manuscript, Langston Hughes: Poet of African-American Life, a biography of the most prominent African-American poet of the twentieth century. According to Dr. Leach, her project "will fill an important need for an accessible biography of a widely taught and important American poet. While other biographies exist, they are either written for younger readers or are limited in scope and/or outdated."

Dr. Linda Lierheimer, Associate Professor of Humanities, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support preparation of a book-length manuscript, Women of Eloquence: Ursuline Nuns in Seventeenth-Century France, which will examine the spiritual needs of the Ursulines, the first women's teaching order, and their role as agents of religious reform. According to Dr. Lierheimer, her research "will make an original and important contribution to the history of women and the history of religion during this period."

Dr. Elaine Madison, Associate Professor of English, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support the completion of two projects: "Hamlet's Madness -- and Ours," a scholarly essay on the Shakespeare play, as well as an original play, Hamlet's Second Chance. According to Dr. Madison, both "address the significance of Hamlet as the keystone in the Western literary canon and offer a new interpretation and evaluation of Shakespeare's play in light of the themes of warfare and the subjugation of women in the Western literary tradition.

Dr. Guenter Meissner, Associate Professor of Finance, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support ongoing preparation of a third book, Credit Derivatives: Application, Pricing, and Risk Management. According to Dr. Meissner, "the target audience will be practitioners (upper management, credit traders, risk managers, middle office staff) as well as students and professors." Since the market for credit derivatives is changing, he plans to complete his book by December 2002.

Ms. Adele NeJame, Assistant Professor of English, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support the writing and submission of poems and prose pieces to be published individually for later inclusion in her third book entitled Native Hybrids and Ghosts. According to Ms. NeJame, the collection is "the second in a series of books dealing with the sacredness of landscape and with various indigenous cultures, how people both morn and compensate for the losses inherent in the development of modern society and continue to celebrate and attempt to preserve what is sacred."

Dr. Saundra Schwartz, Assistant Professor of History and East-West Classical Studies, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support her ongoing research on law and society in ancient Greek novels, including the preparation of a book-length manuscript, a revision of part of her dissertation, a conference paper, and the revision of an article already accepted for publication. Dr. Schwartz' book, tentatively titled Courtroom Drama in the Roman Empire, will be a typological study of courtroom scenes in the Greek novels of the Roman Empire. According to Dr. Schwartz, this study will be of interest "not only to scholars of the ancient novel, but also to people who work on Roman history, Greek literature, and early Christianity."

Dr. Michael Seiler, Associate Professor of Finance, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support a book-length manuscript, Performing Financial Studies: A Methodological Cookbook. According to Dr. Seiler, the book's purpose is "to show students step-by-step exactly how to perform common as well as more advanced financial techniques/methodologies simply by following a recipe from a Financial Cook Book."

Ms. Vicky Seiler, Assistant Professor of Marketing, received a course release for Fall 2002 to support preparation of an article, "Service Quality in Residential Real Estate," the objective of which is to measure service quality in the residential real estate brokerage industry for home buyers in Hawai`i. According to Ms. Seiler, her findings will benefit a wide range of people involved in real estate, including the agents themselves and home buyers.

Dr. Martha Sykes, Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Science, received a course release for Summer 2002 and funding for material acquisition costs to support curricular development for HPU's Environmental Science program. Dr. Sykes' research will examine existing exemplary pedagogical and curricular practices and materials important to environmental studies and science and assess them for suitability to the HPU degree programs and courses. According to Dr. Sykes, "the results of this research will form the nucleus of a proposal to the National Science Foundations CCLI -- Adaptation and Implementation program."