Faculty and Staff Notes

Assistant Professor of Data Science and Computer Science Joshua Davidson was recently awarded a grant from the Cleveland Foundation for a project on "New Approaches to Make Cleveland's Roadways Safer for All Users." This two-year, $100,000 grant will support research that engages students to explore the ways that spatial and statistical models can be employed to generate actionable insights for urban policymakers working to make streets safer for everyone.

Shari Rabin, associate professor of Jewish studies and religion and chair of Jewish studies, was quoted in an article in the Cleveland Jewish News about her work co-chairing the American Jewish Historical Society's Biennial Scholars' Conference, to be held in Cleveland May 31 to June 2. Assistant Professor of Jewish studies Matthew Berkman served on the program committee and Jewish studies major Aria Weiner has worked on the conference this semester as an AJHS Intern. Weiner and another Oberlin student, Lydian Domina, will serve as student assistants during the conference, which will be held on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

Visiting Assistant Professor Thao Nguyen, a Bay Area artist, let a filmmaker follow her for six years. The Dao of Thao follows the artist’s multiple identities: outspoken performer; devoted mother, partner, and daughter; and member of the queer and artistic communities in the Bay Area. It offers a deeply personal portrait of a Vietnamese American woman balancing creativity, domestic wellness, daughterhood, and queerness. A related article can be viewed on the San Francisco Chronicle website (subscription required).

David S. Boe Associate Professor of Organ Jonathan Moyer participated as a jury member for the Jean Florentz International Organ Competition in Angers, France, in April, adjudicating both the semifinal and final rounds of the competition, held at the cathedral of Angers. 

Associate Professor of Art History Matthew Rarey has been appointed to the editorial board of the Art Bulletin, the flagship publication of the College Art Association and one of the journals of record for the discipline of art history. Rarey's four-year term begins in July.

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager has signed a contract with Yale University Press for a new book, East Asia: A Modern History, to be published in its forthcoming History of Asia series. The series brings together leading historians to present a broad, accessible account of Asia from premodern times to the present.

Donald R. Longman Professor of English and Comparative Literature Wendy Beth Hyman published two book chapters this spring: one on Renaissance lyric and the other on Renaissance drama. "Minute/Minute: On Time and Scale in Renaissance Lyric" appears in the Lyric Temporalities (Toronto University Press), and "Theatre as Portal: A Shakespearean Thought Experiment," is out in the volume Experiential and Experimental Knowledge on the Early Modern English Stage (Edinburgh University Press).

Information Literacy and Assessment Librarian Clinton Baugess co-presented “At the Helm in the Storm: Compassionate Leadership for Library Instruction Programs” at the LOEX conference on teaching and learning in libraries in Norfolk, Virginia, on May 9. His work was a collaboration with Mallory Jallas from the University of Illinois Springfield.

William G. Smith Associate Professor of Sociology and Comparative American Studies Alicia Smith-Tran was interviewed by the Guardian for an article about how the media's fixation on romantic relationships in the WNBA minimizes the players' professionalism and athleticism.

William G. Smith Associate Professor of Sociology and Comparative American Studies Alicia Smith-Tran received the 2026 Scholarly Achievement Award from the North Central Sociological Association for her article “There's the Black Woman Thing, and There's the Age Thing: Professional Black Women on the Downsides of 'Black Don't Crack' and Strategies for Confronting Ageism at Work." She was honored at the annual meeting of the NCSA in Pittsburgh on April 17.