Faculty and Staff Notes

Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón, assistant professor of Hispanic studies, published a non-fiction story, titled "Juego de distancias y una crónica" about Hurricane María, Puerto Rico, and friendship in the prestigious Cuban magazine, Casa de las Américas. The non-fiction story was also re-published in Universo-Centro, a Colombian monthly distributed free of charge in Colombia's major cities.

Danforth-Lewis Professor of Economics John Duca coauthored "The Impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on Small Business," NBER Working Paper No. 24501, in the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Jim Walsh, professor of mathematics, gave a plenary talk at the 20th Annual Chicago Symposium Series on Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science: Research and Practice, held April 13 at Northeastern Illinois University/North Park University in Chicago. The symposium series has been convening math and science faculty from the Chicago area for the past twenty years with the goal of improving undergraduate math and science education in and around Chicago. Walsh spoke about his experiences teaching the mathematical modeling of climate.

Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón, assistant professor of Hispanic studies, contributed an essay on queer Puerto Rican literature to the volume Pierre Bourdieu in Hispanic Literature and Culture, edited by Ignacio Sánchez Prado and published by Palgrave. The essay, titled “Cruel Dispositions: Queer Literature, the Contemporary Puerto Rican Literary Field and Luis Negrón’s Mundo Cruel” (2010), offers an account of the rise and institutionalization of queer literature in the contemporary Puerto Rican literary field, the most important development in the island’s literary culture of the past decades.

Assistant Professor of Economics Maggie Brehm presented, “The Federal Adoption Tax Credit and Adoptions from Foster Care” at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America in Denver.

Assistant Professor of Physics Jillian Scudder was interviewed about her book, Astroquizzical, on the “Little Atoms” podcast.

Pablo Mitchell, associate professor of history and comparative American studies, chaired a panel at the La Academia del Pueblo conference at Wayne State University with Rocío León ’13 and Brian Cabral ‘18, who both presented conference papers.

Assistant Professor of Politics Jennifer Garcia’s paper, coauthored with Christopher Stout, ”Racism and Policymaking: How Racial Resentment Shapes Legislative Behavior in the U.S. Congress," was awarded Best Paper on Blacks and Politics from the Western Political Science Association.

Visiting Assistant Professor of History Jiyul Kim and Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager presented a two-part talk on April 16 titled "Prospects for Peace and War in Korea" at Kendal at Oberlin. This was an updated version of a similar talk presented as part of the Oberlin College history department's "History Behind the News" series. Jager provided the political, economic, ideological, and cultural context while Kim focused on the military dimension behind the current situation on the Korean peninsula.

Danforth-Lewis Professor of Economics John Duca presented "The Impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on Small Business," with Michael Bordo (Rutgers University, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Hoover Institution) on March 12 at a Stanford University faculty lunch seminar. Duca also presented the microfinance workshop "Financial Innovations, Shadow Banking, Risk Premia, and Divisia Velocity," with Richard Anderson (Lindenwood University and University of Missouri, Kansas City) and Barry Jones (Binghampton University) at the Oxford University Said Business School.