7. 2004-2005 PDF Grants

The Second Year

UCB LECTURERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND
GRANT WINNERS AND THEIR PROJECTS, 2004-2005

Sanjyot Mehendale, Near Eastern Studies

The PDF grant enabled me to travel to France to conduct research for a digital publication of a large collection of ivory and bone carvings discovered in the 1930s at the ancient site of Begram, Afghanistan. Most of these objects were pillaged from Kabul Museum. In cooperation with the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) at UC Berkeley, I was able to construct a virtual collection of the Begram objects which combines text and images in a searchable database. It is the only extant complete record of these Begram finds. And it is designed to be accessible worldwide via the Internet, both to scholars and to the general public.

Marshall Foletta, History

With PDF support I will be spending July at the Clements Library at the University of Michigan. The Clements holds the Theodore Weld-Angelina Grimke Papers--a critical collection for my current research on language in nineteenth-century America.

Nancy Lemon, Boalt Law School

I received $3000 to pay someone to assist me with the technical aspects of updating my textbook, Domestic Violence Law, which is used in law schools around the US. The last edition came out in 2001, so it was definitely time for a new one. I was thrilled that the PDF granted me this money, as there was no help available from my department, and the technical aspects of updating this 1000-page work by substituting many different new pieces from many sources are quite challenging.

Stephen Golub, Boalt Law School

I will be going to the Philippines in late 2004 or early 2005 to research the progress and status of that country's Alternative Law Groups (ALGs), a network of more than 20 nongovernmental legal services organizations whose origins stretch back 25 years. The ALGs work with union members, farmers, women, cultural minorities, and other disadvantaged or low income populations. They operate on both a grassroots and legislative level, and have contributed to numerous progressive laws and regulations. The ALGs constitute one of the longest-lasting and most successful public interest law movements in the world.

Ellen R. Langer, Slavic Languages and Literatures

I received grant funding to participate in a program at the Univerzita Palackého (Palacký University) in the Moravian city of Olomouc in the Czech Republic in late summer 2005. My aims were: to observe the content and pedagogical approach currently used in teaching Czech to non-native speakers in the Czech Republic, to explore new instructional and literary materials, to visit various pedagogical and other bookstores in the Czech Republic, to gain experience of specifically Moravian culture and linguistic usage, and to share experiences with other teachers of Czech language and culture. The trip was extremely productive: I made a number of contacts with other Slavists, experienced a very interesting cultural milieu quite different from that of Prague, gained first-hand experience of Moravian dialects and culture, purchased (though not on grant funds) a number of literary, linguistic, and pedagogical books and some classics of Czech culture on CDs and videotape. The classroom experience was valuable, both for ideas about teaching and because it enables me now to advise students here about the current state of programs available for language study in the Czech Republic.

Kathryn Klar, Celtic Studies

For the last six years I have been working with archaeologist Terry L. Jones (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) on assembling linguistic and archaeological evidence for prehistoric contact between Polynesia and Southern California at the end of Polynesian return-voyaging period (ca. 400-800 AD). Two native groups in California, the Chumash and the Gabrielino, built sewn-plank canoes; this is the only place in North America where this highly complex type of boat was constructed, though it is common throughout Polynesia. The two California groups appear to have borrowed their words for these canoes from the Polynesians who, we hypothesize, taught them the plank-sewing technique. I used my PDF award to attend the Spring 2005 meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Salt Lake City, Utah, where we presented our findings.

John McNamara, Art Practice

In 2005 I applied for and received a Professional Development Grant in the amount of $1000.00 for the purpose of scanning the eleven-year accumulation of slides I had collected for the course, “Art 8, Introduction to Visual Thinking.” I had the slides scanned at Gamma Tech in New Mexico for one dollar per slide. From the thousands of slides I have, I chose about 975 of the most important for scanning. These slides chronicled the best work produced by students in this course over the years. The grant allows me to make digital presentations in my lectures, while it preserves these images for future instructors and students.

Christina Gerhardt, German

The Professional Development Fund Grant funded three endeavors related to my new book project, which examines representations in literature, art and film of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a German terrorist group that existed from 1970 to 1998. The grant allowed me 1. to attend an exhibit about the RAF, which I examined and where I also gave a lecture; 2. to attend a one-day conference dedicated exclusively to the RAF, where I will both give a lecture and attend two entire days of talks exclusively focused on the RAF; and 3. to develop a course dedicated specifically to the RAF. These conferences were invaluable in helping me along with this new book study. I am now in the process of designing a course about the topic.

Holly Schroth, Haas School of Business

I used the funds to go to the Academy of Management conference where I participated in a research incubator program on power (Senior professors work with junior faculty on research) and attended a faculty training session on how to teach teams in addition to regular conference activities. As a result of my participation in the workshop sessions, I will be leading two workshops/trainings next year: "How To Create A Negotiation Syllabus And Teach Negotiations," and "Training in Corporations."

Alan Karras, International and Area Studies and History Department

I used my PDF grant to purchase a laptop computer. I have been able to scan all of my slides and images, converting them to PowerPoint presentations, and linking them with ideas in my course to get students more engaged in the material. I have also taken the computer to the archives with me, digitally captured some images, and have used these to discuss how to "do" history with my class. It's been invaluable both to my teaching and to my research.

Marcia Parker, School of Journalism

I attended the 3-day Neiman Narratives Conference at Harvard University, which brings together more than 1,000 journalists from all over the country to focus on the craft of writing and learn from the best. It is an extraordinary hands-on, skill-building gathering with some of the best speakers from magazines, newspapers, radio and television. Another plus--many of our alumni attend and we have an alumni get together during the conference and invite our Boston area alumni too. Professional development programs like this one are invaluable in keeping us up to date. I use what I learn every day in the classroom.

Urs Cipolat, Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies

The grant covered costs for attending the 2005 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Katie Hawkinson, College of Environmental Design

The funds paid for a Digital Color Scanner Flatbed for teaching visual studies and drawing courses.

Karen Sokal-Gutierrez, MD, MPH, Health and Medical Sciences, School of Public Health, UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program

With funding from the Professional Development Fund, I was able to continue my research and teaching activities in collaboration with the Asociación Salvadoreña Pro-Salud Rural (Salvadoran Association for Rural Health, ASAPROSAR) in El Salvador. The funding supported materials and travel to El Salvador for 2 weeks in the July 2005 to: (1) present to ASAPROSAR leadership, community health workers and families the results of a study on tooth decay in young children that I conducted with ASAPROSAR and a JMP medical student from 2003-2004, and (2) assist ASAPROSAR staff and the communities they serve to develop an early childhood oral health promotion intervention.