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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Change in Filling Station Date for Spring 2017


The first date of this term’s “Filling Station: A Faculty Presentation Series” has changed. Originally scheduled for February 10, Lou Andolino’s presentation will take place on February 3. The revised lineup is as follows:

Lou Andolino (political science): February 3, 12-12:50 pm, in 8-200

Louis J. Andolino in the first graduating class at Monroe Community College in 1963 and also earned degrees at Rochester Institute of Technology (AAS; BS) and Kent State University (MA) where he also did advanced graduate studies in international relations and comparative politics with a concentration on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)/Russia. Professor Andolino has been an associate professor and adjunct coordinator of history and political science at Monroe Community College since 2005. He has published several professional articles in books and journals, and delivered many academic papers at various conferences. As a student, teacher, academic researcher, and frequent visitor to the USSR/Russia from 1969 through the 1990s, Louis’s observations of that country have enabled him to develop a valuable perspective. Therefore, his Filling Station lecture and discussion will quite naturally be based on both his academic work and unique personal experiences. In his own words, the presentation will “include observations about such things as the historical context for understanding the transformation of the USSR to the Russian Republic and contemporary Russia under the leadership of Vladimir Putin.”

Jason Anderson (biology): Friday, March 24, 12-12:50 pm, in 8-200

An assistant professor of chemistry in the Chemistry and Geosciences Department, Jason Anderson earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in chemistry from Purdue University.  He has been teaching chemistry at MCC since 2009, where his primary focus has been the year-long organic chemistry course.  Since coming to MCC he has continued his research interests in both organic chemistry and education, being a co-PI on several grants funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Jason’s presentation will provide an overview of his collaborative efforts with colleagues and undergraduate student researchers on two different NSF-funded grants.  The first of these grants is, in Jason’s own words, “a five-year grant with the University of Rochester involving a discipline-specific project that allows an MCC student and faculty member to participate in a summer research experience focused on organometallic chemistry; specifically, we investigate the use of iron as an inexpensive catalyst in the formation of carbon-carbon bonds.”  In the second project, “MCC and Rochester Institute of Technology chemistry faculty teamed up on two grants that have funded the development and implementation of a modular organic chemistry lab curriculum that utilizes a guided-inquiry approach instead of the traditional expository approach.  This project, now in its second phase, is expanding the impact of this approach to other regional institutions.”

Thomas Blake (English/philosophy): Friday, April 28, 12-12:50 pm, in 8-200

Thomas Blake is an assistant professor of English at MCC and the co-chair of URSICA, the undergraduate research initiative at the college.  He earned his Ph.D. from Auburn University in 2009.  Since then, he has published a range of articles on cognitive literary theory and is currently editing The Palgrave Handbook of Affect Studies and Textual Criticism (forthcoming Summer 2017).  Thomas explains his Filling Station presentation as follows: “Though Western philosophy and religion have generally regarded the body as an obstacle to ‘pure reason’ or ‘eternal Truth,’ findings in neuroscience increasingly suggest that our cognitive architecture and emotional experience steer our ethical development.  By exploring the biological dimensions of both tribalism and empathy, we may better come to see how our evolutionary adaptations have burdened us with competing drives that complicate our experience of being in the world.  Crucially, however, our cognitive flexibility guarantees that a neurological trait like empathy is elastic, so concern for others can be cultivated and improved over time.  Much evidence indicates that reading fiction can play a major role in this process.”

Tony Leuzzi
English/Philosophy
01/24/2017