Gulf Coast Arts and Letters News Briefs

Graduate Students Present Papers at Historical Association Conference

University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast graduate students Colleen Smith of Ocean Springs and Stacie Watts of Gulfport, both students in the university's College of Arts and Letters, presented papers at the recent Gulf South Historical Association Conference in Pensacola, Fla.

Smith presented “History through Literature: Race, Gender, and Local Color of Women Writers in Louisiana, 1890-1920,” and Watts presented “Breaking Spheres Along the Gulf Coast: ‘Seccesh' Ladies' Aid Societies and Espionage during the Civil War.”

Bailey Receives Development Grant to Attend Annual Folklore Society Meeting

Constance Bailey, instructor of English at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park campus, received a faculty development grant which provided her funding to attend the 2013 American Folklore Society Annual Meeting October 16 -19 in Providence, RI.

Bailey attended in as a liaison between the American Folklore Society and the Modern Languages Association's Folklore and Literature discussion group. The theme for the American Folklore Society's Annual Meeting was, “Cultural Sustainability.”

International Development Doctoral Student Co-Edits Published Volume

University of Southern Mississippi International Development doctoral student, Melissa Aho of Circle Pines, Minn., recently co-edited the volume, “The Machiavellian Librarian: Winning allies, combating budget cuts, and influencing stakeholders.”

“The Machiavellian Librarian,” published by Chandos Publishing for the Chandos Information Professional Series, offers real life examples of librarians who use their knowledge and skill to project influence and turn the tide in both their and their library's favor. Aho, who works at the Bio-Medical Library at the University of Minnesota while working on her doctorate at the Southern Miss Gulf Park campus, co-edited the volume with Erika Bennett.

Naghshpour Co-Authors Paper to be Featured in Journal of Economic Studies

Dr. Shahdad Naghshpour, professor of international development at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park campus, co-authored the paper “Connecting Corruption to Ethnic Polarization and Religious Fractionalization,” which will be published in the next issue of the Journal of Economic Studies.

Co-authored with Dr. Edward Nissan, professor emeritus of economics at Southern Miss, the paper highlights the connection between corruption and ethnicity for some 127 countries. Additionally, the study provides details for results showing significant statistical differences that exist between countries grouped by human development, income and developing countries.