ARTS AND LETTERS

Among the new faculty who join Old Dominion this fall will be at least one who has gained a measure of notoriety.

Sheri Reynolds received national attention this spring after her second novel, "The Rapture of Canaan," was chosen by the Oprah Winfrey show for Winfrey's monthly book club. The novel explores the spiritual struggles of a 14-year-old girl as she looks for answers about sin and faith within her Southern religious community.

Reynolds, who taught at William and Mary last year, appeared on "Oprah" May 9, a month after the announcement, to discuss the novel. After initially selling no more than an estimated 10,000 copies, "Rapture" immediately jumped to the top of the bestseller list following the "Oprah" publicity. Berkeley Books, the book's paperback publisher, rushed to print 1 million copies.

In Memoriam Wayne E. Bowman, of Norfolk, associate professor emeritus of English, died April 11. He was 82. A New York native, Bowman was the widower of Mary Anna Brooks Bowman. He taught for 25 years at Old Dominion, retiring in 1980. Survivors include stepdaughters Evelyn Kuserk of Harleysville, Pa., and Rita H. Pickler of Midlothian, Va.; sons Wayne E. Bowman of Alexandria, Gary V. Bowman of Washington, N.C., and Patrick D. Bowman of Ruther Glen, Va.; sister, Lois B. Schaffer of Port Charlotte, Fla.; brother, Quentin M. Bowman of Virginia Beach; and his companion, Linda Matthews. Memorial donations may be made to the Old Dominion University Faculty Emeritus Endowment Fund, in care of the Office of Development.

Reynolds's newest novel, "A Gracious Plenty," is expected to be out sometime this fall.

Reynolds is no stranger to Old Dominion, having taught several courses here in the fall of 1995. She will now teach literature and creative writing as an assistant professor.

In one of the many interviews she has given since the Oprah announcement, Reynolds told a reporter in April, "This is a tenure-track position that I've been trying to get for years. While the Oprah news is really, really big, this is equally important to me in a different way."

The Center for Global Business and Executive Education has been securing contracts far and near since it was founded four years ago as the non-academic professional training unit of the College of Business and Public Administration. In late May, the center sponsored a 10-day program on ISO-9000 quality standards implementation in the U.S. for eight managers and auditors from the Bureau of Technical Supervision in Shanghai, China. The ISO-9000 system is a worldwide products and services quality standards program.

The Chinese visitors attended classroom presentations and visited companies that have implemented ISO-9000 procedures, including Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia Power's Surrey Nuclear Plant and Ford's Norfolk Assembly Plant. The Center for Global Business and Executive Education also recently won a contract with a large Korean conglomerate, Ssangyong. Closer to home, it has secured contracts with the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM), York County and Sentara Hospitals.

The center utilizes business faculty to educate domestic clients about how to conduct business worldwide and also to teach business people from other countries how to do business in the U.S., said J.R. Bullington, director of the center. Locally, the center supports the economic growth and international competitiveness of Eastern Virginia by developing and delivering continuing education and training programs for the region's businesses, organizations and professional people.

The Darden College of Education and AT&T have entered into a new partnership which will give area teachers an opportunity to learn how to use the Internet in the classroom.

The AT&T Learning Network Academy at Old Dominion --the first program of its kind in Virginia --will offer Virginia's K-12 educators free courses on using the Internet.

Beginning in July, teachers will take one four-hour weekend course to learn how to use the Internet as a resource for classroom instruction. Classes will be offered in the AT&T Room in the Education Building every Saturday for the next year. "We are excited about the partnership with AT&T and the opportunity to provide technological professional development for our K-12 colleagues, as well as state-of-the-art instruction in math and science education for our teacher preparation students," said Donna B. Evans, dean of the Darden College of Education. AT&T has donated 20 computers, Web-browser and content-access software, as well as free, unlimited Internet access. In addition, AT&T has supplied all instructional materials while Old Dominion is providing the instructors for the course. When not used for the AT&T Learning Network Academy, the computer-equipped classroom will be used as a math/science education center for university faculty and students, as well as for teachers who are enrolled in recertification courses in math and science.

With a $500,000 grant from the General Assembly, Old Dominion's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center, in cooperation with the Department of Defense's Joint Training, Analysis and Simulation Center in Suffolk, is adapting military modeling and simulation technology military "war games" to create computer simulation technology for the commercial sector.

Operated by the the College of Engineering and Technology, VMASC will enable businesses and educators to tap into the military's vast computer modeling resources. JTASC currently uses computers, models and simulators to develop, test and study war operations.

The ultimate goal of VMASC is to help boost economic development in the region. The center's first project simulated traffic flow for the Hampton Roads port system using models of Norfolk Southern Corp. and Virginia International Terminals. The data generated is valuable to port officials, who are looking for ways to handle increased shipping traffic, which is expected to triple by the year 2010. Recently, VMASC and JTASC entered into an agreement which will provide JTASC with support services from university faculty and staff. The five-year contract will fund 20 to 25 students each year to work with modeling and simulation technology at JTASC, complementing their studies in simulation science at Old Dominion. As part of the $6 million agreement, faculty and students will conduct short-term projects at JTASC, providing up to 30,000 hours of support services each year.

At a time when federal regulations are discouraging tobacco companies from advertising aimed at children, an Old Dominion professor is helping elementary students learn why smoking is bad for them.

Scott R. Sechrist '75 (M.S. '89), associate professor and program director of medical laboratory sciences and environmental health, has developed an innovative approach to smoking awareness and prevention by creating an interactive computer program for children ages 5-9. He took the five books in the American Cancer Society's "Starting Free" series and put them on computer. The books feature Andy the Ant, who does not like smoking.

"We want Andy the Ant to get to them before Joe Camel does," said Sechrist. "We want to warn them about the dangers of smoking. Students can say no.'" According to the American Cancer Society, most adolescents begin smoking between the ages of 10 and 18.

In Sechrist's computer version, children use a Windows-based program and mouse to turn pages and show text. While the original books have been shown to be effective in preventing children from smoking, Sechrist believes the interactive process of reading the books via computer may prove even more effective. The computer version was introduced in four Norfolk elementary schools this spring. The American Cancer Society plans to have the books available on computer disks for all Hampton Roads schools in the fall, and the agency is looking into regional and national distribution.

Sechrist received $3,600 from the American Cancer Society to convert the book series to computer.

As more and more women join the Navy, ships are having to reconfigure space to accommodate them. But the adjustments that must be made at home by family members and others when mommy goes to sea are no less critical, according to Michelle Kelley, associate professor of psychology.

Kelley is conducting a study of active-duty Navy moms and the effect their deployment has on their families. Among the issues Kelley focuses on are maternal guilt; negative child behaviors; diminished family closeness; quality and expense of child care; reliance on husbands, family members or babysitters; and missing developmental milestones.

Kelley has done previous studies of Navy dads, but says that research on Navy moms is "uncharted territory." The project is being funded by a federal grant from the Defense Women's Health Research Program.

Approximately 140 Navy women will be interviewed. Most are about 25 years old, have young children and are in the early stages of their careers. Primary caregivers, children and other family members are also being interviewed.