Faculty and Staff Notes

Chris Anderson, director of the Oberlin Jazz Ensemble Director and a performing jazz trombonist has been named a 2024 Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association for his work as founder and executive director of Open Tone Music. The Akron-based nonprofit has provided access to free music education for young people throughout Northeast Ohio for 14 years. Anderson sees himself as an artist and an educator involved in the African diaspora that is global in scope. Open Tone Music connects Northeast Ohio students in grades K-12, most of whom are Black and brown, with other youth and teaching artists from Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Colombia.

Andrea McAlister, professor of piano pedagogy and director of the Division of Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement, was honored at the 2024 Music Teachers National Association Conference in March for her leadership role as an Ohio Music Teachers Association Foundation Fellow. McAlister, a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM), served as Division Director for the East Central Division from 2022-24. At this conference, McAlister also presented in sessions including "Unlocking Music Magic: Teaching Preschoolers Through Musical Play," "Beethoven’s WoO 47 as Musical Muppet Babies: Composer Juvenilia as Indicators of Style," and "Plural of Me–A Narrative of Asian American Women Through Art and Music." 

Professor of Religion Cindy Chapman received a summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support her research on a book titled Mother-born Nations: Maternal Markings of Ethnic Insiders and Outsiders in the Bible and Pseudepigrapha. The book will establish the biblical roots for the matrilineal principle in Judaism.

Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Jillian Scudder was a Showcase Author at the Ohioana Book Festival on Saturday, April 20, in support of her astronomy book The Milky Way Smells of Rum & Raspberries (Icon). Scudder was interviewed in advance of the festival by Doug Dangler of WCBE 90.5 FM.

Professor of Psychology Nancy Darling and five students presented research at the biennial meeting of the Society of Research on Adolescence in Chicago. Their work on adolescent beliefs about sharing information and lying to parents and doctors about traditional medical procedures and lifestyle changes has important implications for understanding medical adherence. Joining Darling at the April meeting were Sophia Carter, Bridget Duquette, Dante Holland, Xuehan Luo, and Nam Nguyen.

Eric and Jane Nord Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Ana María Díaz Burgos received an Honorable Mention from the Latin American Studies Association-Colombia Section's Monserrat Ordóñez Award for Best Book for her monograph, Tráfico de saberes: agencia femenina, hechicería e Inquisición en Cartagena de Indias (1610-1614). The award had been paused in the pandemic, and resumed this year, honoring books published between 2020 and 2023.

Professor and Chair of Economics Ron Cheung was recently interviewed by MoneyGeek, a personal finance website, about buying a home in Ohio.

Irvin E. Houck Associate Professor of Hispanic studies Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón received an honorable mention at the Latin American Studies Association-Mexico Section's 2023 Award for Best Book in the Humanities for his monograph, Mexico, Interrupted: Labor, Idleness, and the Economic Imaginary of Independence (Vanderbilt, 2023).

Professor of Sociology and Russian and East European Studies Veljko Vujacic gave an interview on recent events in Russia and the character of the Putin regime to the non-profit organization The European Center for Populism Studies, located in Brussels, Belgium. View the interview transcript and video here.

Professor of Mathematics Jack Calcut and Oberlin student Liam Axon '21 have coauthored a paper on the end sum of surfaces---a procedure for combining infinite surfaces. Their article will appear in a forthcoming volume of the book series Contemporary Mathematics published by the American Mathematical Society.