May 15, 2013

Goldberg’s Essay in ‘The Best American Essays’ Series

An essay by Tod Goldberg, administrative director of the Low Residency M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Writing for the Perform Arts in Palm Desert, has been selected for inclusion in “The Best American Essays” series.

“When They Let Them Bleed” was published in Hobart magazine in March 2012. It recalls Goldberg’s childhood experience of watching boxer Duk Koo Kim die in the ring and the emotional impact of that on the scholar’s life.

“The Best American Essays” is part of the long-running Best American Series and recognizes the best essays published in American magazines and journals in the previous year. Goldberg’s essay was selected by series editor Robert Atwan and a guest editor, best-selling author Cheryl Strayed. The series is published by Houghton Mifflin Books.

 Two Prestigious Recognitions Awarded to Phyllis A. Guze

Phyllis Guze, M.D., associate vice chancellor, health affairs and executive dean for the School of Medicine at UCR, was awarded the Dema C. Daley Founder’s award by the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM) on May 1 at the APDIM Spring Conference held in Buena Vista, Florida.

In April, Dr. Guze received the Mastership designation by the American College of Physicians (ACP) during that organization’s annual meeting held in San Francisco, California.

Grad Student Wins $33,000 Fellowship

Kevin Whalen, a Ph.D. student in the Department of History, has won a $33,000 fellowship from Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies to support completion of his dissertation. He is one of only 65 recipients of the prestigious fellowship awarded to doctoral candidates in the humanities and social sciences.

Whalen expects to complete his dissertation — titled “Beyond School Walls: Race, Labor, and Indian Education in Southern California, 1902-1940” — in 2014.

Cliff Trafzer, professor of history and Rupert Costo Chair in American Indian Affairs, said Whalen has conducted groundbreaking research using documents from Sherman Museum and those found in three branches of the National Archives.

“He provides a nuanced work that demonstrates that American Indian students turned the power by using Sherman Institute as an employment agency, hotel and cafeteria,” said Trafzer, who is Whalen’s advisor. “He breaks the stereotype of lazy Indians, demonstrating again and again that young men and women wanted to work and use their skills to benefit themselves and families. Whalen takes students beyond the school and analyzes their impact as eager laborers within the American work sphere.”

Whalen’s research explores how students approached labor programs at Sherman Institute, a federal Indian boarding school in Riverside known now as Sherman Indian High School.

“During the early 20th century, school administrators sent over 1,000 students to work at white-owned households, factories, and farms across Southern California under a program called the outing system,” Whalen explained. “Such work, they believed, would help to make Native students more like white, Protestant Americans. Despite the ethnocentric roots of the outing system, students who came from impoverished reservations often used it to gain access to wage labor jobs in Southern California.”

Many people think of the early 20th century as a time when Native Americans remained trapped on reservations or within boarding schools, he said.

“‘Beyond School Walls’ suggests that students at Sherman Institute were anything but isolated. Rather, they jumped headlong into the rapidly industrializing Western United States by seeking out wage labor jobs and moving into urban areas,” Whalen added.

Whalen earned a bachelor’s degree in history at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Atienza Receives Outstanding Advising Certificate of Merit

Paul Michael L. Atienza, UCR’s academic advisor at the multidisciplinary advising center, has been selected as an Outstanding Advising Certificate of Merit recipient in the Academic Advising—Primary Role category from the National Academic Advising Association as part of the 2013 Annual Awards Program for Academic Advising.

The award is presented to an individual who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding academic advising of students. The Academic Advising—Primary Role category includes those individuals whose primary role is the direct delivery of advising services to students.

The goal of NACADA is to promote quality academic advising and professional development of its membership to enhance the educational development of students.

Atienza will be honored and presented with this award in Salt Lake City, Utah during the NACADA Annual Conference this fall.

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