Saba Ayman-Nolley, psychology and international/intercultural studies, made the following presentations at the Jean Piaget Society 39th Annual Conference in Park City, Utah: "Hispanic Children's Implicit Leadership Theory Examined Through Their Drawings," "Concept of Friendship in Children with and without Autism: An Exploration of Their Drawings" and "Multi-Ethnic and Multi-Racial Identity." She also presented "Chinese Children's Implicit Leadership Theories: The Role of Gender and Grade" at the From Global to Worldly Leadership Symposium at Leadership Trust in Ross-Upon-Wye, U.K.

Jennifer Blair, specialist, interdisciplinary studies program, authored a chapbook of poetry titled Outgrowth, which was recently published by Dancing Girl Press.

Paul Dolan, professor, physics, was re-elected as secretary of the Chicago Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers and a member-at-large of the Prairie Section of the American Physical Society. He also presented the paper "Pass On Those Electrons: An Interactive Exercise for Understanding the Qualitative Aspects of Parallel and Series Circuits Involving Resistors and Capacitors" at the association's fall meeting.

Suzanne Gaskins, professor, psychology, published "Work Before Play for Yucatec Maya Children" in The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion and "The Cultural Roles of Emotions in Pretend Play" in Transactions at Play (Play and Cultural Studies). She also co-organized and ran an invitation-only conference titled "Restaging Childhood" for the Society for Psychological Anthropology in August.

Ana Gil-Garcia, professor, educational leadership and development, was invited to speak at the launch event of the Latino Initiative, a youth mentoring program, on October 24.

David Rubin, facilities management, captured the Illinois State Backgammon Championship last month.

Masami Takahashi, associate professor, psychology, published "Iine, otakuwa" ("I envy you") in Psychology World with Anthony Ribaudo, human resources, published "Temporal Trends in Spirituality Research: A Meta-Analysis of Journal Abstracts between 1944 and 2003" in Methods in Religion, Spirituality, and Aging, edited by J. Ellor. Takahashi also gave the following presentations: "Aging and Spirituality: Production of Documentary Films" and "A Hierarchical Model of Gerotranscendence Among the Oldest Old in the Amami Archipelago" at the 62nd annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America in Atlanta; "Spiritual Health: An Integral Intervention" at the First International Positive Psychology Conference in Philadelphia; "Spirituality in Clinical Settings: Caregivers' Vantage Point" at the 51st annual meeting of the Japan Socio-gerontological Society in Yokohama, Japan; and "Empirical Research on Wisdom" at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.

Conrad Worrill, director, Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies, and professor, inner city studies education, was an organizer of the Mayor Daley Track and Field Program this past summer. The program aimed to revitalize track and field among Chicago schoolchildren.