Faculty and Staff Notes

Senior Lecturer of Creative Writing Tom Hopkins was a finalist for the 2024 New American Fiction Prize, for his manuscript The Obligations of the Morning. Previously, the manuscript was a longlist honoree for the Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction. An earlier draft was selected as a finalist for the Noemi Press Prose Award.

Francis D. Federighi Professor of Physics and Astronomy Yumi Ijiri gave an invited seminar November 18 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research. Her talk was entitled "Polarized SANS experiments on ordered magnetic ferrite nanoparticle assemblies."

Professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies Cindy Frantz, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology John Petersen, and recent student Julia Blotner ’22, had their paper, "How do we measure and increase systems thinking? Comparing self-reported and performative metrics in response to building causal loop models," published in the journal Systems Research and Behavioral Science.  

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers' poem "Arkansabop" was featured on The Slowdown, a poetry podcast produced in collaboration with American Public Media, the Poetry Foundation, and the Library of Congress.

Professor of Statistics Jeff Witmer was interviewed by the American Statistical Association (Amstat News, October 2025) and by the editor of Significance magazine (November 2025).

Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Jillian Scudder tabled with her newest book, 40 Ways to Know a Star (Princeton Architectural Press), at the Books by the Banks festival in Cincinnati on November 15. She gave a guest lecture for the Cincinnati Astronomical Society to an audience of enthusiastic amateur astronomers later that evening.

Visiting Assistant Professor of History Jonathan van Harmelen has been named editor of the Southern California Quarterly, the scholarly journal of the Historical Society of Southern California. A historian of the 20th-century United States, van Harmelen specializes in the history of civil rights and the federal government.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies Kip Hutchins released the book A Song for the Horses: Musical Heritage for More-than-Human Futures in Mongolia (University of Arizona Press), about the relationship between music, the environment, and the end of the world.  

Professor of Environmental Studies and Science Md Rumi Shammin was elected president of the United States Society for Ecological Economics (USSEE), which is the national chapter of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) and part of a global network of regional societies. Shammin’s two-year term started in summer 2025. The society will be hosting its 13th biennial conference at Oberlin in June 2026.

Professor of Viola Peter Slowik has been invited to present a workshop titled “Conductivity: Strengthening the Connection Between Performer and Audience” at the 50th International Viola Congress in Paris in January 2026. Slowik will also be honored as past host chair of two international viola congresses (he's the only person to host two!): Northwestern University in 1993 and Oberlin in 2016