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Freeman Foundation Grants Send UM Students to Other Side of the Globe

Posted on: August 22nd, 2019 by erabadie

Grant supports 20 student internships in Eastern Asia

Twenty University of Mississippi students interned in Eastern Asia this summer through a grant from the Freeman Foundation. Submitted photo

AUGUST 19, 2019 BY SHEA STEWART

Stretching from Beijing to Singapore, 20 University of Mississippi students received global work experience this summer while interning in Eastern Asia through a grant from the Freeman Foundation.

Their roles this summer varied, from an accounting internship in Bangkok to a medical internship in Shanghai, working for companies from a global truck and bus manufacturer to a Bangkok blockchain business. The students’ majors were likewise diverse, ranging from accounting to sociology.

The students interned for at least eight weeks through support from the UM Experiential Learning in Eastern Asia program. Each student received a $7,500 participation stipend from UM – with $5,000 of that coming from the Freeman Foundation grant and the other $2,500 provided by the university’s Office of Global Engagement and the students’ respective school(s) or college.

This is the second year of the program at UM after the Freeman Foundation grant was renewed in the fall of 2018. Last year, 17 students participated in the program.

“Freeman Foundation interns gain self-awareness and global awareness through participation in society, both locally and globally,” said Blair McElroy, UM senior international officer and director of study abroad. “Through this incredible program, they are gaining the skills needed to engage meaningfully with diverse people, places, challenges and opportunities.

“From providing dental health care in Vietnam, working to promote fair trade practices in Korea, creating curriculum on nutrition in China, devoting their creativity to magazines in Japan and many more amazing opportunities across the region, our students are doing significant work overseas and truly becoming global citizens.”

The students in this year’s program were:

Elizabeth Atkinson, an international studies major from Memphis
Diwas Bhandari, an accountancy major from Sharadanagar, Nepal
Anna Bruno, an international studies and Chinese major from Abbeville
Shivani Chaudhary, a managerial finance and economics major from Nepal
Amira Coger, an economics major from Olive Branch
Anna Conner, a pre-med general business major from Edwardsville, Illinois
Carter Diggs, a journalism major from Oxford
Olivia George, an international studies and Korean major from Biloxi
Lillian Gordon, a biology major from Spring Hill, Tennessee
Olivia Melvin, an international studies and Chinese major from Ocean Springs
Azaziah Parker, a biomedical engineering major from Pearl
Viviek Patel, an international studies major from Jackson
Stephanie Penn, a banking and finance, and managerial finance major from Biloxi
Shammond Shorter, a business management major from Atoka, Tennessee
Nischal Timalsina, a mechanical engineering major from Lalitpur, Nepal
Jeanne Torp, an international studies major from Biloxi
Lily Van Elderen, an international studies and Chinese major from Martin, Michigan
Emily Wang, an international studies, Chinese, Arabic and philosophy major from Randolph, New Jersey
Jessica Washington, a sociology and psychology major from Hernando
Haley Watts, a general engineering major from Hattiesburg

Diggs spent his internship with Tokyo Weekender, Japan’s oldest English magazine, where he photographed events, learned to manage the magazine’s website and smartphone application, and wrote for the magazine’s online and print publications.

“They were fantastic to work with and let me gain a wide variety of experience,” he said. “This will definitely give my resume and portfolio a hearty boost. … The experience and skills the team has passed on to me are invaluable, including being able to communicate with people from other cultures.

“Foreign internships aren’t too common on new graduates’ resumes, so I would definitely recommend other students to apply for this program if they can possibly manage it.”

Melvin put her interests in international studies and Chinese to good use this summer, interning with the Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation based in Shenzhen, China. The foundation is China’s first environmental protection-focused organization.

“My personal goal for the summer was to find an opportunity that allowed me to grow both personally and professionally,” she said. “Being involved with a (nonprofit) that advocates for such an important global cause satisfied the first part of the criteria, and the ability to exercise my Chinese language ability while cooperating with my coworkers on a daily basis to perform various tasks both in and out of the office satisfied the latter.

“Immersing myself in such an intense and unfamiliar environment provided the opportunity for every little trial and success to be all the more meaningful.”

“Nothing short of amazing” is how Penn described her internship as a financial analyst with Bitkub, a Bangkok company that serves as a digital asset and cryptocurrency exchange platform.

The internship allowed her to learn about discounted cash flow analysis and financial modeling in industries ranging from cryptocurrency to oil and gas to real estate. She also attended investor meetings, and gained professional skills in international marketing, sales and business development while interacting with clients from all over the world.

“This internship has prepped me for my future career in investment banking with the tasks and projects that have been assigned to me,” she said. “The international connections I have made while interning at Bitkub will also be beneficial when applying for jobs upon my graduation in December.

“This internship has taught me both hard skills when presenting pitch decks to investors, as well as soft skills when meeting with potential clients. These hard and soft skills will be extremely beneficial when entering into the workforce.”

It is exciting that so many Ole Miss students took advantage of the “generously funded” program to expand their horizons, said Oliver Dinius, executive director of the UM Croft Institute for International Studies.

“When I first submitted the application for this grant two years ago, we did not know what to expect – both in terms of the Freeman Foundation’s enthusiasm about the application and the student response,” he said. “Fortunately, both the support from the Freeman Foundation and the excitement of interning students has been wonderful.

“We expect to apply again for this grant to give another group the chance to experience Eastern Asia in the summer of 2020 through such an internship.”

The UM Experiential Learning in Eastern Asia program funds internships, not study abroad programs. Grantees must intern full time, at least 20 hours per week, for a minimum of eight weeks. The Freeman grantees are full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students in good academic standing who are not in their last year of school.

The goal of the Freeman Foundation’s grant is to help students gain real-life experience while interacting regularly with local populations.

Established in 1994 by the estate of American International Group co-founder Mansfield Freeman and based in Stowe, Vermont, the foundation’s general mission is “to strengthen the bonds of friendship between this country and those of the Far East” and “to stimulate an exchange of ideas in economic and cultural fields which will help create mutual understanding.”

For information on internship programs in Eastern Asia for 2020, go to https://croft.olemiss.edu/home/freeman-internships-in-east-asia or contact Bree Starnes at bstarnes@olemiss.edu.

Forum to Examine Religious Freedom Laws in State

Posted on: April 12th, 2019 by erabadie

Policy Talks event draws on expertise of faculty, alumni from Department of Philosophy and Religion

APRIL 12, 2019 BY EDWIN B. SMITH

The inaugural Policy Talks is set for 5:30 p.m. April 25 in Bryant Hall, Room 209. Three UM faculty members and three select alumni will discuss religious freedom laws. A reception will follow the free event in the Bryant Hall Gallery. Photo by Robert Jordan/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services

A panel discussion examining religious freedom laws is scheduled for April 25 at the University of Mississippi.

The inaugural “Policy Talks” begins at 5:30 p.m. in Bryant Hall, Room 209. Three UM faculty members and three select alumni will discuss religious freedom laws. A reception will follow the free event in the Bryant Hall Gallery.

“This is part of the Dialogue Initiative, which is designed to address highly contentious issues within our society and to integrate students, faculty, alumni and the campus community,” said event organizer Deborah Mower, associate professor of philosophy and Bryant Chair of Ethics.

“Invited panelists discuss what they think the best approach or resolution would be to address the issue given their expertise. After the panelists each give their presentations, a second panel of UM faculty pose questions to the initial panelists and a brief conversation amongst all the panelists will ensue.”

Audience members may submit questions, screened by a moderator, to any of the panelists. Following the speakers, a question-and-answer session will continue the conversation with the panelists informally.

The genesis of the event began last year during a discussion between Neil Manson, UM professor of philosophy, and a friend who is also an Ole Miss alumnus.

“He stopped by my office to talk about what he could do to promote civil discourse on campus,” Manson said. “We brainstormed several possibilities, but we kept returning to ideas that somehow involved our alumni.

“Was there a way to get them in conversation with one another about a hot-button issue, so that an audience could see how people of very differing opinions could have a genuine dialogue rather than just a shouting match?”

They ran their ideas by Mower, who liked the concept and agreed to take over organizing the event, placing it under the umbrella of the Dialogue Initiative, a series started by the Department of Philosophy and Religion.

“We decided that, for the initial Policy Talks, we would seek alumni who majored in philosophy,” Manson said. “They could showcase the relevance to civil discourse of the skills they learned as students here: the use of critical thinking and logic, the sensitivity to definitions and the need for charitable interpretation of one’s opponents.”

Steven Skultety, chair of the department, enthusiastically backed the idea.

“We think of our alumni as an incredible intellectual resource for furthering the mission of the university,” Skultety said. “We also believe that they can serve as role models for how smart and reflective citizens discuss difficult topics.”

Working with a faculty committee to select topics, Mower suggested examining religious freedom laws.

“We had several very strong contenders as topics for our first event, but no topic was a clear frontrunner,” she said. One weekend, Mower came across a newspaper article about a dispute in Georgia stemming from the state’s statutes.

“The second I read the article, I knew this was the perfect inaugural topic for us because it brings together the fields of philosophy and religion in our joint department,” Mower said.

Sarah Moses, associate professor of religion

With the topic in place, organizers began to select panelists with the appropriate expertise to address the issue. Faculty panelists are Matthew Hall, associate professor of law; Sarah Moses, associate professor of religion; and Amy McDowell, assistant professor of sociology. Guest panelists are UM philosophy alumni C.J. Rhodes (2004), Eleanor Ruffner (2001) and former Oxford Mayor Richard Howorth.

An Oxford native, Ruffner is an attorney and partner in Ruffner Schoenbaum PLLC, specializing in commercial litigation in Texas. She also teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law. Daughter of Ron Vernon, UM professor emeritus of music and a former associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Ruffner has been named the 2018 Texas Super Lawyer and a 2018 Texas Rising Star.

A Hazelhurst native, Rhodes is pastor at the Mount Helm Baptist Church in Jackson. Son of renowned civil rights attorney Carroll Rhodes Sr., he has published columns in the Jackson Free Press and the Mississippi Link, and he hosts “The CJ Rhodes Show” on WRBJ 97.7-FM.

Amy McDowell, assistant professor of sociology

Howorth is founder and owner of Square Books in Oxford, one of the country’s largest independent bookstores. Former chairman of the American Booksellers Association, he chairs the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Because religious freedom laws vary so much by state, Mower hopes to keep the conversation focused.

“Given the complexity of these issues and the law, as well as the fact that we only have a short time during this event, we want both our panelists and attendees to focus on religious freedom laws in Mississippi,” she said. “Because our society is so polarized, we rarely talk about complex moral and political issues, which merely breeds a greater lack of understanding and increases polarization.”

Religion major and Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors Collegesenior Samuel Brassell, of Olive Branch, wrote his honors thesis on the influence of Southern Baptists on a religious freedom bill that recently passed in Mississippi. Mower asked him for permission to use his thesis as a resource for Policy Talks. Brassell consented, and his thesis is posted online as a background reading resource to prepare panelists and attendees.

“We want to showcase current students and alumni and to integrate both the work of our current students do and the expertise of our alumni,” Mower said. “Our goal for Policy Talks is civil conversations with experts to examine policies that affect our lives. What could be more interesting than that?”

The event is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religion, University Lecture Series, the Self Family Foundation, the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement and the Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hume Bryant Chair of Ethics.

For more information, visit https://philosophy.olemiss.edu/dialogue-initiative-policy-talks/.

UM Departments Collaborate to Host ‘Radical South’ Series

Posted on: April 4th, 2018 by erabadie

Events include lectures, discussions, film screening and more

APRIL 3, 2018 BY CHRISTINA STEUBE

The Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies at the University of Mississippi is hosting “The Radical South,” a conversation series this month that explores the complexity of Southern history and identity.

The Isom Center, the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, and the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement are sponsoring nearly a dozen events, including lectures, debates, screenings and roundtables to expand the community’s understanding about narratives of the South and Southern identity.

“It’s distinctive that the University of Mississippi has brought this emotional conversation to campus so we can have discussions that aren’t reductive,” said Jaime Harker, Isom Center director. “Through this interdisciplinary collaboration, we can contribute as a university to historical depth and knowledge by using actual facts to find out the bigger context. We can all learn from it.”

Here is a full schedule of events:

Tuesday (April 3): The Great Debate: “Should the Standard of Sexual Consent be an Affirmative Verbal Yes?” – 5:30 p.m., Bryant Hall, Room 209. Deborah Mower, associate professor of philosophy, and her students wll moderate a debate about sexual consent, followed by a reception in the Bryant Hall rotunda.

Wednesday (April 4): “New Orleans and the New Southern Food Movement” – Noon, Tupelo Room, Barnard Oberservatory. Catarina Passidomo, assistant professor of Southern Studies and anthropology, will speak about her research interests of social justice, food systems, critical race studies and social movement at a brown bag lunch.

April 9: Invisible Histories Project – 4 p.m., Tupelo Room, Barnard Observatory. Josh Burford, from the Invisible Histories Project in Alabama, will discuss the importance of LGBTQ archives.

April 10: Visiting Documentarian Series – 5:30 p.m., Tupelo Room, Barnard Observatory. Documentarians Emily Yellin and Darius William will talk about their project “Striking Voices,” a multimedia journalism project about the 1968 Memphis sanitation strikers and their families.

April 11: “‘Cautious but Solid Character’: Southern Feminists and the State” – Noon, Tupelo Room, Barnard Observatory. Historian Jennifer Gunter discusses the interactions between feminists and the state from 1966 to 1985 at a brown bag lunch.

April 13: The Future of Labor – 10 a.m., Overby Auditorium. Civil rights era Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader Bob Zellner, United Automobile Workers-Nissan campaign veteran Richard Bensinger and Rose Turner, who organized the Delta catfish workers in the 1990s, will discuss labor issues and the social movement involved.

April 18: Saving Slave Houses – Noon, Tupelo Room, Barnard Observatory. Preservationist Jobie Hill will discuss her research examining slave dwellings and the influence those dwellings had on inhabitants, as well as the importance of preserving slave history.

Mississippi Bicentennial: Emergent Voices, Our Next Chapter of History – 4 p.m., Lamar Hall, Room 404. Blue Magnolia Films spoke with more than 100 diverse community leaders around Mississippi between ages 14 and 91. The Isom Center is hosting a screening of the resulting film, “Celebrating Storytellers,” followed by an interactive discussion with project participants.

April 25: Queer Mississippi: Oral History Presentations and Exhibit – 7 p.m., Burns-Belfry Museum and Multicultural Center. Students from a Southern Studies course will share their work that documents local queer histories in the form of film, poetry and performance.

April 26: Ideas on Tap: What Do We Commemorate and Why? – 5:30 p.m., Proud Larry’s. In this partnership with the Mississippi Humanities Council, a panel discussion featuring Chuck Ross, UM director of African American Studies; Anne Twitty, associate professor of history; Alysia Steele, assistant professor of multiple platform journalism; Cindy Gardner, administrator of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, and moderated by Graham Bodie, visiting professor of journalism instruction, will explore how society decides which events and people to commemorate, why we do it and the purpose and implications.

All events are free and open to the public.

UM Students, Staff, Alumni Join Community for MLK Day of Service Activities

Posted on: January 10th, 2018 by erabadie

Volunteers gathering to honor King’s legacy through community engagement

JANUARY 8, 2018 BY EDWIN B. SMITH

Brian Foster, UM assistant professor of sociology and Southern studies, speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2017 MLK Day of Service. Photo by Robert Jordan/Ole Miss Communications

University of Mississippi students, staff and community partners are spearheading efforts to promote community engagement and encourage a spirit of service in Lafayette County and Oxford during 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances.

The Lafayette-Oxford-University MLK Day of Service opening ceremony is set for 10:30 a.m. Jan. 15 at the Burns-Belfry Museum and Multicultural Center.

Program participants include Katrina Caldwell, UM vice chancellor for diversity and community engagement; Oxford Alderman Ulysses “Coach” Howell; Mike Roberts, of the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors; and Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter. The Rev. C. Edward “CJ” Rhodes II, pastor of Mt. Helm Baptist Church of Jackson, will deliver the keynote address.

The Rev. Carroll Edward Rhodes II, pastor of the Mt. Helms Baptist Church in Jackson and a UM alumnus, will deliver the keynote address during the community’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance. Submitted photo

“I am very humbled and honored to be asked to deliver the keynote for such a historic occasion,” said Rhodes, the 23rd and youngest pastor of Jackson’s oldest historically black church. “As we look back on the achievements and sacrifices of Dr. King and others, this generation is challenged to do great things not just for themselves, but for others and the world as well.”

The son of famed civil rights attorney Carroll Rhodes Sr., Rhodes earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from UM in 2004. He continued his education at Duke Divinity School, where he served as vice president of the Black Seminarians Union in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Rhodes serves on the board of the Urban League of Greater Jackson, the Center for Ministry and the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference, and is the former president of the Farish Street/Main Street Project. The recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, he also serves as host of “The CJ Rhodes Show” on WRBJ-97.7 FM and is author of “Thy Kingdom Come: Reflections on Pastoral and Prophetic Ministry.”

Following the keynote, awards will be presented to outstanding LOU volunteers in four categories: a community member and one student apiece from the Oxford School District, the Lafayette County School District and the university. All recipients are to be announced at the ceremony.

“The Office of Leadership and Advocacy is proud to work once again, side-by-side with so many excellent community partners,” said Hal Sullivan, coordinator of student affairs programs at UM. “Our goal, in the spirit of Dr. King, is to encourage reflection, action and redefine ‘service’ for this community.”

Other activities scheduled are:

Saturday (Jan. 13):

Second Annual Community Reading of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” 5 p.m., Off-Square Books. Readers include members from the LOU community to acknowledge one of King’s most powerful works.

Monday (Jan. 15):

Community breakfast, 8:30 a.m., Second Baptist Church
Opening ceremony and keynote address, 10:30 a.m., Burns-Belfry Museum. Attendees also can participate in activities for children ages 3-10 and listen to recordings of oral histories that illustrate what life was like for north Mississippians during the civil rights era.
Community showing of “The Long Walk Home,” 1:30 p.m., Burns Belfry Museum. A community conversation about the film, hosted by the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, follows. Kiese Laymon, UM professor of English, will facilitate discussion about the movie.
Community give-back benefiting the Exchange Club Family Center, 4-9 p.m., Chili’s Bar & Grill.
Community food drive benefitting the Food Pantry, all day, Abundant Truth Salt and Light Ministry in Taylor. Donations can be brought to any of the day’s events.

Ole Miss staff involved in planning of MLK Day of Service events expressed enthusiasm about participating in such a worthy cause.

“We are inspired by the members of the North Mississippi VISTA Project, who are collaborating with the Oxford and Lafayette school districts to offer lessons and activities on the civil rights movement,” said Laura Martin, assistant director of the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement. “In the spirit of lifting up agents of change, we encourage people in the LOU community to nominate deserving individuals for the MLK Service Awards.”

For more information about MLK Day of Service events, contact ola@olemiss.edu.

UM Students Share Hospital Shadowing Experiences

Posted on: December 2nd, 2016 by erabadie

Students followed health care professionals at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi

DECEMBER 2, 2016 BY EDWIN SMITH

UM Center for Population Studies Director John Green (left) chats with Assistant Professor of Religion Sarah Moses and BMH-NMS Chaplain Director Joe Young during the Medical Humanities students reception.Photo by Thomas Graning/UM Communications

After spending several weeks shadowing area health care professionals, University of Mississippi students interested in similar careers shared highlights of their mentorship experiences this week.

The Tuesday (Nov. 29) reception for those enrolled in the fall 2016 Medical Humanities course was held in Bryant Hall gallery on the Oxford campus. Members of Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi who mentored the group joined UM administrators, faculty, staff and students for the event, which featured five of the 12 enrolled students making brief presentations.

“Our goal was for the students to gain a better understanding of how various factors shape the human experience in illness and in medicine,” said Sarah Moses, assistant professor of religion and course instructor. “Creating this class took lots of work, but hearing these students’ reflections today shows it was well worth the effort.”

John Green, professor of sociology and director of both the Center for Population Studies and the new Society and Health minor in the College of Liberal Arts, agreed.

“Listening to these students share their reflections is very rewarding,” he said. “We are definitely committed to making this course in the society and health minor a long-term investment.”

Medical Humanities, one of two advanced course requirements for the minor, is a combined readings and field experience course in a hospital setting to study the ethical, social and cultural issues in medicine. Additionally, students must take advanced elective courses.

“While only 12 students were able to take the course this fall, I already have 25 students on the waiting list for Medical Humanities in fall 2017,” Moses said.

Each of the presenters said that being in the course was more like a transformative “life experience” than a class.

“Being in this course made me a more well-rounded person,” said Josh Law, a senior religious studies and pre-med major from Birmingham, Alabama. “Ultimately, I believe I will be a more well-rounded health care professional in the future because of it.”

https://youtu.be/oZHzxbEg_tM

Sarah Robinson said she discovered how important addressing nonmedical needs and communication are to an ailing patient and his or her family members.

“Being in this course helped me to see both patients and those who work with them in various ways as whole people,” said the junior Spanish and pre-med major from Covington, Louisiana. “That understanding is critical to the effective treatment and care.”

Miller Richmond, a senior international studies and pre-med major from Madison, said Medical Humanities proved to be a perfect followup to his study abroad experience last spring.

“Being immersed in a different culture broadened my understanding of people as human beings,” he said. “Medical Humanities continued to expand my thinking. I now more fully understand that patient care goes much farther than physiology and medicine.”

Other student presenters were J.R. Markos, a senior from Jackson, Tennessee, who is majoring in public policy leadership, and Cayla Scott, a senior religious studies major from Mendenhall.

Green is slated to teach Society and Population Health, the other mandatory advanced course option for students entering the minor, during the spring 2017 semester.

“In Society and Population Health, students learn about health disparities in Mississippi and the value of interdisciplinary and interprofessional teams in tackling these issues,” Green said. “They also make field visits to medical/nursing schools and public health programs.”

Following the completion of Elementary Statistics and one of the advanced courses, Ole Miss students can apply to the minor program. It is also recommended that students take General Psychology and Introductory Sociology to complete the general education social science requirements.

Students must take courses from at least two different departments when completing the last requirement of 12 credit hours of advanced social science and humanities courses. They should note that the same course may not satisfy requirements for both the major and the minor.

Students who complete relevant internships, special topics, study abroad or directed study courses must consult with the director for approval before enrollment in the course.

“This unique and timely minor provides a social science and humanities perspective to the understanding of health,” said Lee M. Cohen, UM liberal arts dean. “I believe such a perspective will foster an appreciation and respect for team-based problem-solving to improve the delivery of health care.”

For more information about the minor in society and health, visit http://sohe.olemiss.edu or contact Lynn Woo, research associate with the Center for Population Studies, at lcwoo@olemiss.edu or at 662-915-7288.

Law School’s Affiliated Faculty Program Brings Innovative Approach to Scholarship, Teaching

Posted on: October 24th, 2014 by erabadie

October 22, 2014

The University of Mississippi School of Law recently approved its first four affiliated faculty as part of the law school’s new affiliated faculty program: John Green from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology; Steven Skultety from the Department of Philosophy and Religion; and John Winkle from the Department of Political Science, and Robert Mongue from the Department of Legal Studies.

“The Law School’s new Affiliated Faculty Program is meant to promote creative collaborations in teaching, research and service between law faculty and other UM faculty,” said Jack Nowlin, associate dean for faculty development and professor at the law school. “There is so much scholars from different fields can learn from working with each other. Our work only gets better when we collaborate across disciplines.”

The law school hopes this program will increase collaborative activities such interdisciplinary participation in the law school’s academic workshop program, joint sponsorship of speaking events, joint research projects and team-teaching.

UM faculty recognized as law school affiliates will appear on the law school’s faculty page with that title and will also receive special invitations to attend law school speaking events and participate in workshop programs.

Each of the law school’s four new affiliated faculty members is an outstanding UM faculty scholar with a solid history of interdisciplinary collaborations with the law school.

Professor John Green is an associate professor of sociology and director of the Center for Population Studies. His interests include community development, health and health care, limited resource and minority farmers, and the social dimensions of disaster. He has worked with the law school’s transactional clinic and engaged in joint research projects with Professor Desiree Hensley.

“I am elated to be an affiliated faculty member with the School of Law,” Green said. “As a research center director and faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, I am working on a wide range of applied programs in community development, agrifood systems and health. This association with the School of Law has expanded the reach of my work and my professional connections.”

Steven Skultety is an associate professor of philosophy and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. Professor Skultety’s interests lie in ancient philosophy, especially the work of Aristotle, and in republican and democratic theory. Skultety’s collaborations with the law school include co-sponsoring speaking events and regularly participating in the law school’s faculty writing groups.

“Philosophy and law both rest on an ability to make clear and persuasive arguments,” Skultety said. “Whenever I work with my colleagues in the Law School, I’m struck by how much we have in common. Anyone who attends one of our co-sponsored events – like our annual Constitution Day talk or the Jack Dunbar lecture in philosophy and law – will also see the similarities. As an affiliated faculty member, I’m looking forward to continuing my own collaboration with law professors, and I’m also excited to search for new ways the Law School and the Department of Philosophy and Religion can work together.”

John Winkle is professor emeritus with the Department of Political Science. Over his 40 year career, he has taught courses on constitutional law, judicial politics the American legal process, and many other topics. He has published numerous articles on wide range of subjects such as lobbying by federal judges before Congress, state-federal judicial councils and the political role played by the administrative office of the U.S. courts. Winkle’s long history of collaborations with law faculty include team-teaching, participating in joint speaking events and circulating drafts to law faculty for comment.

“I am delighted to be a law school faculty affiliate and look forward to continued work with my colleagues in the law school,” said Winkle. “Some of my fondest associations over the years have been with active and retired law school faculty whom I am pleased to call my friends.”

Robert Mongue, associate professor of legal studies, has had over 30 years’ experience practicing law in addition to his academic accomplishments. He specializes in paralegal education and is the author of the “Empowered Paralegal” book series. His collaborations with the law school include giving guest lectures, organizing interdisciplinary speaking events and working on projects to better integrate graduate and undergraduate legal education.

“I look forward to the opportunity to strengthen the bond between the law school and the Legal Studies Department, especially the Paralegal Studies Program,” Mongue said. “While my previous communications have focused on those of our students who intend to apply for admission to law school, I think that it would be just as helpful to both paralegal students preparing for careers as paralegals and law students preparing for careers as attorneys to engage each other during their education for purposes of improving their working relationships when that education is complete.”

UM faculty interested in collaborative opportunities with the law school should contact Associate Dean Jack Nowlin. UM faculty may apply for affiliated faculty status by sending Dean Richard Gershon a curriculum vitae along with materials highlighting recent collaborative activities with law faculty. A copy of the law school policy is available here: Affiliated Faculty Policy.

Learn more about these affiliated faculty members on the faculty directory page.

Fellowship Gives Students Taste of Doctors’ Real-World Ethical Dilemmas

Posted on: September 25th, 2014 by erabadie

Dr. Didlake

Emma Willoughby

Undergraduate humanities students make the rounds at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, observing patients and physicians while getting an up-close look at emerging ethical issues in modern medicine.

“The idea is to develop a population of humanities scholars who have a meaningful exposure to the modern biomedical enterprise and who will help us better understand health care in a broad sociocultural context,” said Dr. Ralph Didlake (BS zoology ’75), director of the UMMC Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, and chief academic officer.

Launched in 2010, the five week Student Fellowship in Bioethics is a collaboration between UMMC and the UM Department of Philosophy and Religion.

The immersion experience program designed for juniors or seniors in the College of Liberal Arts introduces the fellows to the real-world ethical issues and challenges that face medical professionals, said Steven Skultety, professor and chair of philosophy.

“Much like students in medical school, our biomedical ethics fellows are assigned to ward teams, where they observe patients as they experience their illnesses, the environment in which their care is given, as well as the physicians, nurses and other staff as they provide that care,” Skultety said.

Besides interacting with medical and nursing students, the fellows attend selected classes and meetings of review boards, participate in tutorials and small group discussions, and write an essay that analyzes an ethical, cultural, or social issue encountered during the experience.

With rapid medical discoveries and technological advancements, bioethical issues are becoming more prominent in society. “One only has to hear one newscast to be convinced that ethics training is needed in many areas of our society, and this is clearly part of what we want to achieve with the fellowship,” said Didlake. “Beyond that, we want to fully understand how social and cultural issues impact health and health care.”

Emma Willoughby, (BA sociology and liberal studies with concentrations in anthropology, biology, and psychology ’14) currently at the London School of Economics for a master’s in international health policy, was a recent bioethics fellow.

“I’m very passionate about social disparities in health-care delivery methods and access,” Willoughby said.

Last June she conducted research for her thesis on trust relationships between patients and staff at a community health center in the Mississippi Delta. “I was learning about trust relationships between patients and providers,” Willoughby said. “At this health center, strong community bonds created a welcoming, nurturing atmosphere. In Jackson, at UMMC, things were very different—the medical system was much larger, more impersonal, and disparities between patients and providers were starkly clear to me. Contextualizing what I had experienced at the Delta clinic in the bigger picture of health care proved to be critically important for my thesis research and analysis.

“As we know, health care is linked to many facets of society and therefore requires the input from many different kinds of people, including philosophers and ethicists, economists, psychologists, social workers, policymakers and lawyers, managers, those in marketing, and countless others. But it’s important that these folks are all on the same page about what influences and shapes our health care delivery—socially, politically, and economically—if we really want to improve the health care system we’ve created.

“While the typical biomedical framework likes to say that medicine is equal and fair and just because it’s ‘science,’ this just isn’t true. We can’t extract our social relationships from health care, because it’s inevitably social as well.”

“Our intent is to grow a population of humanities scholars who can apply the skills of their disciplines to a better understanding of the challenges we meet in health care,” said Didlake. “Emma absolutely exemplifies what this fellowship is about.”

College of Liberal Arts Launches Environmental Studies Minor

Posted on: March 16th, 2009 by erabadie No Comments

With more people at UM becoming environmentally aware, it was just a matter of time before that awareness showed up in the curriculum. That day arrived in the fall of 2008, with the introduction of a new academic minor in environmental studies.

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