Conversations

Andrew Ranson ’98 says tattoos are not permanent enough for him. The canvas, skin, eventually goes the way of all flesh, into the ground.

Ying Sai, an assistant professor of computer information systems who teaches in the College of Business Administration, is an expert in Internet security research and e-commerce. She was interviewed by Editor Joseph Wakelee-Lynch.

Will Terry ’08, who majored in business administration, is chief operating officer of Terry Farms, a family-owned fruit-and-vegetable farm business that has operated on 1,800 acres in Ventura County for more than a century. In 2003, the family launched a strawberry business, Terry Berries. We talked to Terry about growing strawberries, which first replaced lemons as Ventura County’s top agricultural crop in 1999. He was interviewed by Fred Puza ’10.

Debra Linesch is professor and chair of the LMU Department of Marital and Family Therapy. The author of four books and numerous articles and a former elementary school teacher, she has worked for years helping children deal with the effects of witnessing violence. She was interviewed by Editor Joseph Wakelee-Lynch.

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin delivered the Undergraduate Commencement Address on May 11. Her “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” was the basis of the 2012 feature film “Lincoln.” She told the members of the graduating Class of 2013 that there is a direct connection between storytelling and the work of a historian. Goodwin has written several books about U.S. presidents, and her “No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt” won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for history. She was interviewed her before her arrival on campus by Peter M. Warren.

In March 1976, the Argentine military seized control of the country’s government, ruling for seven years. Some 30,000 people were “disappeared” — secretly arrested, tortured in unknown locations and eventually killed — by the regime. Alicia Partnoy, associate professor of Spanish, was among the few survivors. She spent almost three years in prison before being released. This fall, LMU launched Casa Argentina, a study abroad program in Córdoba that Partnoy helped plan. She was interviewed about her experiences and the project by Editor Joseph Wakelee-Lynch.

Richard Fox, professor of political science, examines how gender affects voting behavior, elections and political ambition. He and his colleague, Jennifer L. Lawless, at American University in Washington, D.C., have found that a gender gap exists between men and women when it comes to political ambition. Fox’s op-eds have appeared in The New York Times and elsewhere. He was interviewed by Editor Joseph Wakelee-Lynch.

For four decades, Judith Royer, C.S.J., has taught almost all aspects of theater: from playwriting to acting, directing and producing. She has won national recognition, including the 2008 Outstanding Teacher of Theatre in Higher Education Award, given by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. She is director of the Playwrights Center Stage new plays series. She has directed more than 35 revivals and 40 original scripts in the U.S. and the U.K. Royer is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. She was interviewed by Editor Joseph Wakelee-Lynch.

Hrag Hamalian M.A. ’07 earned a master’s degree in secondary education through the LMU/Teach for America Partnership program in the LMU School of Education. As a TFA corps member, he taught ninth-grade biology at Locke High School in Watts. In 2009, he founded Valor Academy, a fifth- through eighth-grade charter middle school in the San Fernando Valley, where he is principal. Fred Puza ’10 spoke to Hamalian about the challenges of teaching and teacher education.

In 2012, more than four decades after its maiden broadcast, National Public Radio hired its first chief marketing officer, Emma Carrasco ’82, tasking her with marketing an American media icon. Carrasco, who was a KXLU station manager, likes to say that “public radio isn’t going away — it’s going everywhere.” For her, NPR’s values of thoughtfulness, honesty, diversity and intellectual curiosity are “organically understood” — her job is simply to help articulate them. She was interviewed by José Martinez ’11.