Faculty News
Both the New York Society of Illustrators competition in December and the Communication Arts Illustration Annual in February accepted illustrations by Scott Anderson (art), with the latter being among the most competitive juried exhibitions of contemporary illustrations. He also illustrated the March/April cover of Mother Jones magazine.
Holly Beers (religious studies) published an article “The ‘Teachings of Demons’ as ‘Magical’ Practices in 1 Timothy 4:1” in the Journal of Biblical Literature. She also reviewed Steve Walton’s new Acts commentary in the “Word Biblical Commentary” series at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in November.
Leanne Dzubinski (provost’s office) published a new book, “Confronting Sacred Inequalities: Creating Christian Organizations Where Women Thrive,” in February with Baker Academic.
David Emanuel (religious studies) published the textbook “A Primer of Biblical Hebrew Poetry” with Zondervan Academic.
Daniel Gee ’13 (music) led the ǿմý Choir, Chamber Singers and Orchestra in a combined concert, “Music from across the Americas,” at First Presbyterian Church. The performance included alums and faculty as well as students. Gee also served as guest conductor for the Santa Barbara Chamber Players in a concert featuring Prokofiev’s “Classical Symphony” and Kodály’s “Summer Evening.” He spoke to secondary choral and instrumental teachers for the Santa Barbara Unified School District Professional Development Day in March. He also worked as a clinician with the A Cappella and Jazz Vocal ensembles at Dos Pueblos High School.
Andrea Gurney (psychology) spoke at the ECO National Gathering in Atlanta, where she led a workshop, “On Relational Health and Flourishing,” and gave a mainstage talk, “Cultivating Emotional Intelligence in our Homes, Churches and Communities.” She published several articles for The Institute for Family Studies and The Public Discourse, including “Why Marriage 101 Should Be A Required College Course” and “Is Romance Dead or Delayed?”
Kyle Hansen ’19 (mathematics) spoke about work from his doctoral thesis at the American Mathematical Society Sectional Meeting at Tulane University in October 2025 and the Joint Mathematics Meeting in Washington, D.C., in January 2026.
Jonathan Hicks ’04 (theatre arts and film studies) was elected to a third, three-year term on the Executive Board for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union, Local 442, as vice president and local delegate. He served as the associate lighting designer for the Santa Barbara Festival Ballet’s 50th anniversary production of “The Nutcracker” at the Arlington Theatre.
Russell Howell (mathematics and computer science) presented several talks at colloquia while serving at the U.S. Air Force Academy, including “Complementary Partial Orders and Rectangle Packing,” “The Story of Imaginary Numbers ... and Why They Are Not Imaginary,” and (with a visiting English professor) “Beauty Beyond Skin Deep: The Mathematics of Poetry and the Poetry of Mathematics.” In March, he gave a lecture, “C.S. Lewis’s Miracles and Mathematical Elegance,” for the Nicaea Study Center at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and in April delivered the Brenneman Lecture at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas.
Dan Jensen (engineering) and five ǿմý engineering students co-authored “Development and Integration of a Wearable Biometric Sensor Suite for Assessing Physical and Cognitive State,” published in Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics International.
Steve Julio ’92 (biology) and collaborators published “Genetic evidence for a periplasmic protein as a third component for a subset of NtrYX two-component systems” in the Journal of Bacteriology. The work continues the characterization of a critical cellular factor required by the bacteria that causes whooping cough.
According to ScholarGPS, Blake Victor Kent (sociology and anthropology) ranks in the highest 0.21 percent of scholars worldwide in the God specialty area and the top 0.29 percent in spirituality. He published “Demographic Variation in Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Across 22 Global Flourishing Study Countries” in Communications Medicine. He co-authored “The Structure of Religion and Spirituality in a Diverse Sample of Adults in the United States” in Psychology of Religion & Spirituality as well as “Does Practicing Yoga or Meditation Moderate the Link between Childhood Abuse and Spiritual Struggle” in Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. He also co-authored a study on demographic variation in self-rated physical health among 22 countries in BMC Global and Public Health and served as a panelist for the book “The Fearless Christian University” at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Ruth Lin (music) served as a clinician at the Colorado chapter of the American String Teachers Association festival, where she worked with 52 orchestra ensembles during five days. She also gave a presentation at the College Orchestra Director Association annual conference and a pre-concert talk for the Dallas Symphony.
Sara Morrisset (history) worked with an inter-disciplinary team that received a $10,000 grant to support the study of medieval Byzantine technology.
Mark Nelson (philosophy) published “Hume’s Legacy and the Curate’s Egg” in International Philosophical Quarterly in March 2025.
Edd Noell (economics and business) co-organized and led the U.S. Association of Christian Economists national conference, “Economics as Faithful Stewardship,” at ǿմý. He presented “Is Less ‘More’? An Evaluation of the Degrowth Case” and led a panel on “Insights into the State of Higher Education” at the conference.
Sandra Richter (religious studies) addressed young scholars on “Why Do a Ph.D.?” at the annual gathering of the Institute of Biblical Research in Boston. She served as the plenary speaker for the annual MidTexas Global Methodist Conference.
Marianne Robins (history) gave an interview about her experience as an immigrant for the series Welcoming the Stranger at Trinity Evangelical Church in Salem, Oregon.
Laura Drake Schultheis ’06 (biology) received grants of $15,000 and $25,000 from Cal Fire and the Santa Barbara Foundation to continue her work on native oak restoration for fire mitigation.
David Vander Laan (philosophy) presented “Time Management for Immortals” at the 2025 Midwest Division Conference of the Society of Christian Philosophers held at Asbury Seminary.
Maryke van der Walt (mathematics and computer science) received an invitation to participate on a panel for differential equations instructors during the SIMIODE EXPO 2026 conference.
Laura Walter (music) published the poem “When Your Mother Dies” in the California Quarterly.
Paul Willis (English emeritus) published a chapbook of poems, “Orvieto,” which emerged from his time teaching in the small Italian town.