Valpo Faculty Members Receive University Research Professor Grants

Slavica Jakelic, Ph.D., and Shirvel Stanislaus, Ph.D., will serve as University Research Professors at Valpo for the 2018–2019 academic year. The grants recognize and encourage scholarly accomplishments and will afford Professors Jakelic and Stanislaus the opportunity to continue creative and original work through one semester of full-time leave with pay or two consecutive semesters with a half-time schedule, plus a $4,000 stipend.

Professor Jakelic, associate professor of humanities and social thought, is working to produce three sets of publications examining the idea of work as a universal human right and how the Lutheran view of “vocation” and the Catholic notion of “dignity of work” can provide an ethical horizon for the revival of work as a source of dignity. These publications will include two academic articles, several shorter essays and a book proposal.

Professor Jakelic, who joined the faculty in 2013, has authored several books and journals including her recently published works “Collectivistic Religions: Religion, Choice, and Identity in Late Modernity: Second Edition” and “From Law to Solidarity” in Law, Religion, and Love: Seeking Ecumenical Justice for the Other.

Professor Stanislaus, professor of physics and astronomy, will continue research on his STAR experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory, which studies the origin of the spin of the proton, the results of which he believes will be of considerable interest to the scientific community. Additionally, he will continue work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on his nEDM experiment to study the existence of an electric dipole moment of the neutron, which the nuclear physics community formally rates as one of the most significant experiments in the field.

This academic year Professor Stanislaus celebrates 25 years at Valparaiso University. During his tenure at the University, he has received and been nominated for several awards for excellence in teaching. He has advanced the field of science through his authorship and contributions to 74 research publications throughout his career.

The Creative Work and Research Committee selects University Research Professors on the basis of their proposal’s originality and significance and the applicant’s capacity to execute the program of study.