Thursday, December 16, 2010

C-SC bids farewell to long-time faculty members
After years of dedication and service to Culver-Stockton College, three faculty members have announced plans to leave Culver-Stockton. Sue Abegglen, professor of education, Mike Bradshaw, senior lecturer in criminal justice and Tom Kenney, assistant professor of business administration and economics will retire from their positions at the college at the end of the academic year. “Culver-Stockton College faculty, staff and students will greatly miss Professors Tom Kenney, Sue Abegglen and Mike Bradshaw. Their combined years teaching totals more than three-quarters of a century! We wish them safe travels, continued good health and lots of time to enjoy their families and avocations,” said C-SC Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College D’Ann Campbell. Sue Abegglen has spent nearly three decades teaching young, aspiring educators at Culver-Stockton College. In addition to working as a professor of education, Sue is also a former chair of the Education Division. During her time at C-SC, Abegglen has received numerous awards and accolades including the T.A. Abbott Award for Faculty Excellence in 2001, Outstanding Female Teacher in 1993, Outstanding Academic Advisor in 1987, she was named to the Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers four times and she received the Helsabeck Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1985, the highest honor awarded to faculty at C-SC. Abegglen is also a member of the International Reading Association, the National Council for Teachers of English and is the faculty sponsor for the C-SC Christian Fellowship Group, among other organizations. In 2008, Abegglen began volunteering at the Training Christians for Ministry in Europe and Central Asia (TCM), which is an institute of higher learning where men and women from Eastern Europe and Central Asia can earn their master’s degree in Christian ministry and Christian education. Abegglen plans to continue her work with TCM following her retirement from Culver-Stockton. Abegglen and her husband will travel to Vienna, Austria in June 2011 to teach a graduate program at TCM International Institute. Hired in 2005, Mike Bradshaw brought more than 20 years of on-the-job experience to Culver-Stockton College. Prior to beginning his post as C-SC senior lecturer in criminal justice, Bradshaw worked in the law enforcement field including holding the chief of police position for the city of Pittsfield, Ill. That experience combined with Bradshaw’s dedication to educating future generations made him an extremely effective and valuable member of Culver-Stockton’s faculty. In addition to teaching all the courses directly related to criminal justice at Culver-Stockton, Bradshaw developed new courses including “Deviant Behavior,” “Police in Society” and “Current Issues in Criminal Justice.” Tom Kenney, assistant professor of business administration and economics, began teaching at Culver-Stockton College in 1969. Through the years Kenney has become an esteemed member of the Business Division, who has inspired countless students. Kenney was awarded the Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award in 1990 and served as advisor to C-SC’s chapter of Phi Beta Lambda, an organization for students interested in business. He received his Bachelor of Art and Master of Science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1967 and 1968 respectively. Read more online

Culver-Stockton College will be conducting a national search to fill all three positions. Search committees have already been formed, and the college expects to begin bringing candidates to campus in February or March. C-SC faculty and staff are encouraged to refer any qualified and interested applicants.

Culver-Stockton hosts internationally acclaimed multimedia artist
Culver-Stockton College is proud to host the work of internationally acclaimed painter, calligrapher and multimedia artist Lampo Leong Thursday, Jan. 20 through Thursday, Feb. 17 at the Mabee Art Gallery on the C-SC campus. An opening reception will be held Thursday, Jan. 20 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a gallery talk at 7:30 p.m. Sought after by collectors internationally, Leong’s painting and calligraphy are displayed in 15 museums and hundreds of corporate and private collections including, The Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and Walt Disney World in Florida. Commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission, Leong’s 26-foot-diameter granite inset calligraphic medallion is also permanently installed in a San Francisco city park. Additionally, Leong has collaborated with dancers, musicians and composers on multimedia performances and digital film, which have premiered in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the St. Louis International Film Festival. Influenced by the ancient Chinese calligraphy wild cursive, Leong’s brushwork is expressive, energetic and compelling. In his latest series, Contemplation • Forces, Leong has created a new, postmodern visual language that incorporates the rhythm of Chinese calligraphy with an approach to color reminiscent of the symphonic effects achieved by Abstract Expressionism. In his artist statement Leong explains Contemplation • Forces. “The images produced via my approach to the challenge of integrating a dual artistic heritage are as startling as they are paradoxically familiar, even intimate. These images might at times remind the viewer of elemental forces - seething magma, the formation of fossils, glaciations or solar flares. At other times they might seem metaphoric of invisible dramas – cosmic or spiritual crisis, powerful emotions recollected in moments of serenity. As for me, the inky blacks of figural marks playing against fields of colored densities and radiant light speak of my own fascination with the process of creation,” explains Leong. Leong received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China, his Master of Fine Arts in painting from with high distinction from the California College of Arts in San Francisco and his doctorate in art theory and practice at Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Leong is currently an associate professor of art at the University of Missouri –Columbia. Leong has served as a juror for more than 25 art competitions, including public art projects, grants and exhibitions for the San Francisco Art Commission, the Missouri Art Council, the Best of America national juried exhibition and the 47th Annual International Juried Exhibition by the Sumi-e Society of America. Leong’s own work has been featured in museums and galleries worldwide through 60 solo and more than 300 national, international, regional juried and curated group exhibitions. He has received 45 awards and extensive international recognition, including a gold medal at the Creative Quarterly international fine arts competition in New York, a gold medal at the XV Exposicao Coltctiva dos Artistas de Macau and best in show at the 42nd Sumi-e Society of America International Juried Exhibition. Mabee Art Gallery is located in the Herrick Foundation Center and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information contact Jennifer Bock-Nelson at (573) 288-6413 or at jnelson@culver.edu.