The Television Academy awarded Ian Roberts ’87 the 2016 Emmy for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series as an executive producer. He was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. Both awards were for his work on Key & Peele, a comedy series that ran for five seasons on Comedy Central.
Alvin Irby ’07, founder and chief reading inspirer at Barbershop Books, published his debut children’s book, Gross Greg, in December. It’s about a boy who enjoys eating his boogers despite the protest of everyone he encounters.
Barbara Johnstone ’71 has published poetry in Hummingbird Press’ Hummingbird: Magazine of the Short Poem and is part of the book and juried exhibit at the Collins Memorial Library on the campus of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. Her poem “Rub the Ground, Hard” ran on display from Aug. 6 through Dec. 6, 2015, in the Dirt? Scientists, Book Artists and Poets Reflect on Soil and Our Environment exhibit.
Manifestation Wolverine, a collection of poems written by Ray Young Bear ’76 over 45 years, won the 2016 American Book Award. A panel of writers, editors, and publishers selected the winners of the 37th annual American Book Awards.
Carl Luepker ’95 published “‘My Heart Breaks 80 Million Ways.’ A Father Passes a Disorder to His Son” in The Washington Post, Oct. 1, 2016. It’s about a painful neurological disorder, dystonia, that he and his son suffer from. Read more at http://wapo.st/2dvN6Ff. Luepker and Merie Kirby also wrote Spite: The Biding Time Series (Kindle Edition), a fantasy novel about struggling with disabilities.
Written by Joseph E. Bush Jr. ’78, Practical Theology in Church and Society (Chalice Press, 2016) brings into sharper focus two perspectives on practical theology. One is the view through the wide-angle lens of justice-oriented action. This view encompasses a broad vista of social forces for justice and injustice when evaluating local movements and local ministries. The other perspective takes the narrower focus of the action-reflection model as it is used to zoom in on individual actions and particular practices of ministry such as pastoral care. The purpose of the book is to integrate these two perspectives on practical theology.
Lake Ontario sailor Susan Peterson Gateley ’73 has released a new book, Saving the Beautiful Lake: A Quest for Hope. She was moved to write it after reading a news article in 2013 that described Ontario as the most polluted and impaired of all the Great Lakes. She set sail that summer with two others aboard an elderly yacht to circumnavigate the lake in search of how it became so stressed. She and her husband have also released a one-hour documentary based on the book. Learn more at susanpgateley.com.
The second year of college for most science majors is a challenging time when many students — particularly students from groups underrepresented in the sciences — struggle with their coursework and may choose to leave the field. The Grinnell science division’s work over the past few years has focused on curricular reforms and providing a supportive context to help students weather this challenging phase of their education. “Situating Second-Year Success: Understanding Second-Year STEM Experiences at a Liberal Arts College” in CBE-Life Sciences Education (Sept. 1, 2016) details their work, which was done with support of a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Contributors include Leslie Gregg-Jolly, professor of biology; Jim Swartz, Dack Professor of Chemistry; Joyce Stern ’91, dean for student success and academic advising; and David Lopatto, director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.
Foster Rinefort ’56 wrote “India: The Ongoing Challenge of Worker Safety and Health,” published in The Journal of Global Business Management in October 2015.
Janet M. Gibson, professor of psychology, published “Getting serious about funny: Psychologists see humor as a character strength” in The Conversation, an online journal, in August 2016. “Historically, psychologists framed humor negatively, suggesting it demonstrated superiority, vulgarity, Freudian id conflict, or a defense mechanism to hide one’s true feelings,” she wrote. “But research on humor has come into the sunlight of late, with humor now viewed as a character strength.”
