History Professor to Speak at Faculty Forum

Dr. Timothy Cuff, Westminster College associate professor of history and coordinator of Westminster's First Year program, will discuss his experiences as a McCandless Scholar at Faires Faculty Forum Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 11:40 a.m. in the Sebastian Mueller Theater of the McKelvey Campus Center.

Cuff's presentation, "The Year of Living McCandlessly: Two Co-Authors, Three Conferences, Six Students, 12,646 Soldiers, and 1,277 Death Certificates," will describe the research he conducted and presented during 2009 and how students collaborated in and benefitted from this research.

The McCandless Scholar Award was established to honor the memory of Dr. J. Bardarah McCandless, Westminster professor of religion from 1961-1994. The award provides reassigned time and monetary support for research and scholarship expenses.

Cuff's research focused on the use of variations in stature of Pennsylvania National Guardsmen from the late 19th and early 20th centuries as indicators of economic well-being. He presented papers at the Canadian Economic Association in May, the Economic History Association in September, and the Social Science History Association in November. Co-author of one of the papers was Dr. Carolyn Cuff, professor and chair of Westminster's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

Westminster students who assisted in Cuff's research are:

Senior history major Dylan Graff is a son of Leslie and Pamela Graff of Pittsburgh and a graduate of Keystone Oaks High School.

Senior history major Kevin Kapraly is a son of Stephen and Janet Kapraly of Edinburg and a graduate of Mohawk Area High School.

Graff and Kapraly helped Cuff refine a death certificate database, which they are using for their own research projects on the impact of the influenza pandemic of 1918 in Mahoning County, Ohio.

Senior mathematics major Kaitlyn McConville is a daughter of Keith McConville of Wexford and a graduate of North Allegheny High School. Working with Dr. Carolyn Cuff, she used the Pennsylvania National Guardsmen height data in Cuff's database for her capstone research which sought to develop statistical techniques necessary to analyze truncated height samples.

William McCallion, who majored in history and graduated from Westminster in December, is a son of Mark and Eva McCallion of Erie and a graduate of Iroquois High School.

Senior history major Eric Patton is a son of Thomas and Karen Patton of Edinburg and a graduate of Mohawk Area High School.

Senior history major Lynn Rice is a daughter of William and Susan Rice of Monroeville and a graduate of Gateway High School.

McCallion, Patton, and Rice assisted Cuff at the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg to collect information to augment the Pennsylvania National Guard database.

Cuff, who joined the Westminster faculty in 2000, earned an undergraduate degree from Westminster, master's from Bowling Green State University, and master's and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Faculty Forum was established in 1990 by Dr. Barbara Faires, Westminster professor of mathematics emerita, during her term as Dean of the College and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Faculty members from all disciplines volunteer to present lectures on their current research, artistic productions, and/or scholarship of teaching and learning. Each forum presents new ideas with innovative lecture techniques.

Contact Cuff at (724) 946-6152 or e-mail cufft@westminster.edu for more information.

Dr. Timothy Cuff