Accomplishments - October, 2022
“Sometimes I Dream in Farsi,” a documentary feature by Pirooz Kalayeh, assistant professor, scriptwriting and film production, School of Media Arts, recently won Best Film for Immigration/Refugees/Indigenous Stories at ChangeFest — International Social Change Film Festival in Atlanta. Kalayeh, whose family immigrated to the United States after their forced upheaval following the Iranian Revolution, dedicated the award to those currently protesting for freedom in Iran. He will show extended trailers of that film and his new film, “My Room in Tehran Is Called America,” which deals with a female Iranian artist’s fight for freedom before and after the protests began, prior to a talkback and discussion at 1 p.m. Nov. 5 at Harper Theater in Chicago during ChangeFest’s 11th international film festival there.
Artwork by Charles Todd Birdsong, assistant professor, School of Media Arts, is on display through Oct. 28 as part of Murray State University’s Centennial Alumni juried exhibition in the Clara M. Eagle Gallery.
Prabir Kolay, associate professor in the School of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering, has been named a fellow by the board of direction of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The designation indicates a senior member who has made valuable contributions to the discipline. The honor is held by only 3% of ASCE members.
Steven Karau, professor, School of Management and Marketing, participated in “Quiet Quitting, Are We Lying Flat or Flatly Lying in the Workforce,” a livestream panel discussion on quiet quitting and related issues, on Oct. 8. The American Chamber of Commerce for The United States (AmCham US) hosted the event, which examined ways to prevent quiet quitting from becoming a problem in the workplace.
Jaime Clark, director of Student Health Services, has been selected to participate in the Higher Education Services (HERS) Leadership Institute, an inclusive, transformational leadership development program for people identifying as women and nonbinary.
Don Diemer, program director, Physician Assistant Program and the Doctor of Medical Science Program at the SIU School of Medicine, was recently appointed to a four-year term as a member of the Illinois State Medical Board. He is also an associate professor in family and community medicine on the medical school’s Carbondale campus. The appointment is pending confirmation of the Illinois Senate.
“Policing Unrest: On the Front Lines of the Ferguson Protests” by Tammy Rinehart Kochel, associate dean for research, diversity, and personnel for the College of Health and Human Sciences and professor, criminology and criminal justice, will be published next month by New York University Press. The book provides an “up-close account of policing during the Ferguson protests” in August 2014 and provides insights from both police officers and community members.
Cindy Buys, professor, SIU School of Law, will present a virtual Zoom program "Reflections on Teaching in Poland During the War in Ukraine" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11. The program is sponsored by the Carbondale branch of the American Association of University Women and hosted by the Carbondale Public Library. Registration is free. Buys spent two months teaching classes during April and May 2022 as a visiting professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, which is about four hours from the Ukrainian border.
Kevin Mercer, assistant professor, School of Media Arts, and Matthew Gordon, an MFA candidate in creative writing and graduate assistant for SIU Digital Narratives Lab, will present “Interdisciplinary Virtual Reality: Merging Game Design and Language to Facilitate Student Engagement,” on Oct. 14 at the International Conference on Meaningful Play hosted by Michigan State University.
