Faculty and Staff Notes

Lecturer of Creative Writing Amanda Hodes’ poem "Video Game Progress Narrative" was published in Raleigh Review (15.2).

Asif Iqbal, visiting assistant professor of English and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Postcolonial World Literature, authored the article "Desh or Ummah: Bengali Muslim Literary Enigma in Anisuzzaman's Muslim-manas O Bangla Sahitya, 1757-1918," which was published in the BRAC University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (vol. 12). A review of Iqbal's book Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature: Cultural Imaginings of a Postcolonial Nation was published in The Friday Times. 

Associate Professor of English Gillian Johns was named to the board of directors of the August Wilson Society, a multidisciplinary community of educators, visual and performing artists, students, theater professionals, and theater lovers dedicated to commemorating Wilson's legacy. Johns teaches the course August Wilson: The Century Cycle.

Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Joshua Sperling was interviewed by The Times (of London) for an article on Landman, Trump, and shifting Hollywood norms.

Frederick B. Artz Professor of History Leonard Smith presented the paper "The Decolonization of Land in Algeria After Independence" at a December conference at the University of Copenhagen. In January, he presented the lecture "Legalizing the Law of the Strongest: Japan and Italy before the League of Nations, 1931-36" at the University of Kyoto.

Director of Gender, Sexuality, & Attraction Initiatives NiK Peavy attended the Creating Change conference in Washington, D.C., co-leading the daylong institute Advancing LGBTQIA+ Programs on Campus in a Challenging Climate with colleagues from Rutgers University and Northern Illinois University.

Department of Psychology Research Technician Peter Naegele developed AI tutors for his Oberlin statistics courses Research Methods 2 (PSYCH 300) and R Studio (PSYCH 021). The AI tutors use a guided-learning approach, assisting students as they work through questions without simply handing over the answers. Naegele also developed an AI tutor for the Passion-Driven Statistics platform at Wesleyan College.  

Associate Professor of Contemporary Music and Improvisation Dana Jessen served as music supervisor and bassoonist for Pastoral, featuring the Pam Tanowitz Dance Company, with music by Caroline Shaw and visual art by Sarah Crowner. The production had a three-show run at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater from January 11-13, 2026.

Professor of Psychology Nancy Darling was interviewed by the Boston Globe for a Sunday Magazine feature article on how to help adolescents clean their rooms. (Subscription required for article viewing.)

William G. Smith Associate Professor of Sociology and Comparative American Studies Alicia Smith-Tran presented the paper "Two Six-Piece Nuggets, No Sauce" at the Internatonal Association of Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry Forum in Safety Harbor, Florida. The paper is an autoethnographic analysis about parenting neurodivergent kids that challenges age-based expectations for food consumption.