Dr. Stephen Shin and Dr. Ted Peetz, assistant professors of sport science, recently attended and presented at the annual Sport Marketing Association (SMA) conference in Albuquerque, N.M.

Shin presented instructional information and materials for Pricing Strategies Assignment at the pedagogy symposium in the conference. The assignment is designed to help students understand strategic pricing strategies and tactics by putting theoretical perspectives into hands-on practices with pricing formulas and computational approaches used in sport industry.

Peetz had his case study, “Marketing the ‘Big Game’: Developing a Student Rewards Program in College Basketball,” selected for the 2013 Student Case Study Competition.  The article originally appeared last year in Sport Marketing Quarterly.  Both undergraduate and graduate students from across the country competed for the opportunity to present their solutions to a panel of judges at the conference. Peetz evaluated initial solution papers and served as a panel judge for the five national finalists.

Dr. Steve Robinson, associate professor of physics, attended the first International Conference on Statistical Distributions and Applications on Oct. 10-13, in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. Robinson gave a talk entitled, “Determining Individual Baseball Contributions from Team Run Distributions.” The goals of the conference were to provide a platform for researchers and practitioners to share and discuss recent advancements on distribution theory and applications and to encourage opportunities for research collaborations. Conference presenters were encouraged to submit their articles for consideration of publication in a special issue of a new journal, Journal of Statistical Distributions and Applications.

Dr. Francesca Muccini, associate professor of Italian, presented a paper entitled “Teaching Italian Culture” at a conference at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 19. Her paper discussed the challenge and importance of a content-based approach to the teaching of Italian language and culture at the Intermediate level. Muccini has also become an ACTFL certified OPI tester for Italian language. ACTFL OPI Tester Certification is a highly valued professional credential that is recognized nationally and internationally. She is one of a select group of language professionals who can administer and rate oral proficiency interviews (OPIs) in Italian

Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Beverly Schneller recently had several works published. “A New and Braver Point to Make” is a chapter in the book Women, Gender, and Print Culture in Eigtheenth-Century Britain, Essays in Memory of Betty Rizzo, Ed by Temma Berg and Sonia Kane ( Lehigh UP 2013). She  wrote a book review of Jennifer Airey’s  The Politics of Rape: Sexual Atrocity, Propaganda Wars and the Restoration Stage (University of Delaware Press, 2012) that was published in The East-Central Intelligencer  NS 27:2 (September 2013).

Schneller also presented on ” Critical  reading’s role in sophomore retention,” a workshop at the annual meeting of the Association of General and Liberal Studies held in Indianapolis, Ind. last month.