Faculty and Staff Notes

Tamika Y. Nunley published "Thrice Condemned: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Practice of Leniency in Antebellum Virginia Courts" in The Journal of Southern History in early February.

Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies Meredith Gadsby has been invited to participate in a panel discussion that will explore the “powerful and lasting influence” of Toni Morrison. "Toni Morrison at 90" will take place at Cornell University on February 18, Toni Morrison's Birthday. The panel of international scholars will discuss how Morrison’s scholarship and art have impacted writers, critics, and readers, and why her work still feels so fresh and vital today.

Executive Director of the Career Development Center and Associate Dean of Students Dana Hamdan published the editorial “Career Readiness in the COVID World” in the February 5 edition of Inside Higher Ed. Hamdan discusses how COVID-19 and uprisings for racial justice have called for a thorough transformation of how we prepare students for the professional world.

Assistant Vice President of Student Life Adrian Bautista was recently invited by the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I) to serve as a panelist for its 2021 State of the Profession symposium, an exclusive invitation-only opportunity designed specifically for senior housing and residence life professionals.

State of the Profession brings together the most senior leaders in the field to engage with powerful voices and cutting-edge perspectives from inside and outside of higher education. The panel, moderated by Luis Jimenez Inoa, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the College, Student Living and Wellness at Vassar College, focused on the roles of colleges/universities and senior housing officers in pushing their organizations forward in pursuit of anti-racism.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics Joshua Freedman published an article in International Studies Quarterly on the politics of identity and recognition in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

The research of Professor of Biology Mike Moore and collaborators (including several Oberlin students) on rare Hawaiian plants is the subject of the latest episode of the "Plants Are Cool, Too!" video series. The episode documents the many biologists involved in preventing the extinction of ultra-rare plants that grow only on the island of Kaua'i.

Professor of History Emeritus Steven Volk and his co-author, Beth Benedix, were featured on Bryan Alexander's "Future Trends Forum" on January 28 to discuss their new book, The Post-Pandemic Liberal Arts College: A Manifesto for Reinvention. Since 2016, Future Trends Forum has addressed the most powerful forces of change in academia. 

A Chinese translation of Visiting Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies and Creative Writing Joshua Sperling's book, The Life and Work of John Berger, was published by the China Times Publishing Company.

Professor of Philosophy Todd Ganson publishes a chapter titled "Aristotle on Perception as Representation" in the book Philosophical Problems in Sense Perception: Testing the Limits of Aristotelianism.

Associate Professor of Integrated Media and Chair of Studio Art Julia Christensen will participate in “No Such Place as ‘Away’— Creative Ways to Deal with Waste: NPR's Frances Anderton in Conversation with Julia Christensen" at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, January 27. Hosted by University College London / Bartlett School of Architecture, the event will stream on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/bartlettarchucl.

The average person throws away around four pounds of trash daily. Except that there is no such place as "away." Everything has to go somewhere. There is an end-of-life cost to everything. “Away” can mean storm drains, oceans, the stomachs of marine animals, a giant floating island of trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the landfill. Designers are waking up to the need to change this picture and create products and buildings that can be recycled, repurposed, biodegrade—or not exist at all. 

Frances Anderton spoke to many of them for a recent radio series called Wasted. She met scientists genetically modifying plants to capture carbon from the atmosphere; formerly-incarcerated individuals trained to recycle computers; people fighting for their right to repair their own stuff, and an artist who is creating a conceptual space rocket flying light years away, to raise consciousness about e-waste. 

Frances Anderton and Julia Christensen will share stories from the frontiers of waste.