Faculty: What I did over my summer vacation
We asked faculty to share some photos with us from their summer vacations. We found out they were all over the map.
Dr. Kirsten Day, associate professor of Classics, received a Wallenberg Grant to conduct research in the United Kingdom and Denmark. She investigated connections between Greek and Roman civilizations and Augustana’s Scandinavian heritage. Here is Dr. Day, left, and Anette Ejsing (a former religion department colleague who returned to her home country of Denmark) among the Roman portraiture at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum in Copenhagen.
Engineering physics professor Dr. Joshua Dyer traveled with students participating in Augustana’s Innovation and Invention Learning Community in the Alps. Here’s Dr. Dyer paragliding through the Alps surrounding Interlaken.
Communication studies instructor Penny O'Connor electrified the stage as Rosie, a member of Donna and the Dynamos, in the Countryside Community Theatre’s summer production of "Mamma Mia!"
Dr. Juliana Han, assistant professor of music, not only performed but also directed the Piedmont Chamber Music Festival, an annual event that Dr. Han founded with her husband, violinist Wayne Lee. The festival brings world-class chamber musicians from all over the world to Piedmont, Calif., in the Bay area for three concerts. This year's fourth annual festival explored the making of a classic, in all senses of the word, through music ranging from the Classical period, to non-Western traditions, to contemporary popular music.
Augustana was well represented at the 2019 Institute on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Centers at Villanova University. From left are Jack Cullen ’13, project manager for Q2030 at the QC Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Monica M. Smith, Augustana vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion; Dr. Jason Mahn, religion; Michael Rogers ’12, director of student inclusion and diversity; and Dr. Sharon Varallo, communication studies. The institute invites only a small number of college, which must qualify to attend.
Dr. Mischa Hooker of Classics took the lead in the Genesius Guild’s "The Bacchae," playing the god Dionysus, on the Lincoln Park stage in Rock Island.
Business administration's Dr. David Thornblad embarked on a 78-day road trip across the country “to see as many national parks as possible, meet new people, and create memories.” He kept a blog called Brave Mountains and used Instagram to log his travels.
In June, Dr. Kathy Jakielski (second from left) and Lynn Drazinski (second from right) of Communication Sciences and Disorders, traveled to Sen Monorom and Siem Reap, Cambodia, to prepare for an Augustana J-term course. They spent a week in the eastern jungle region on an elephant sanctuary and the rest of their time in the Angkorland Temple region in western Cambodia. (Dr. Jakielski also co-presented a two-day workshop on treating adolescents with childhood apraxia of speech to a group of Danish speech-language pathologists in the Logopedics and Phoniatrics Association in Copenhagen in June.)
Last but certainly not least, biology professor Dr. Tim Muir and his wife, Heather, welcomed twin boys on July 4—Colin Rusby and James Leo.