Faculty and Staff Notes

Assistant Professor of German Jessica Resvick published two chapters in the volume Taking Stock: Media Inventories in the German Nineteenth Century. Her first piece, “Bookkeeping: Form and Metaphor,” examines the formal and epistemological affordances of double-entry bookkeeping in nineteenth-century science and literature. The second, “Card Counting: The Census,” explores the biopolitical and media historical import of the census, spotlighting literary works by Poe and Kafka.

International Student Program Coordinator Jackie Zubin led NAFSA: Association of International Educations as the Conference Planner for Region VI (Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky) at the recent regional conference in Cincinnati. Assistant Dean and Director of International Student & Scholar Services Josh Whitson was the lead trainer for the F-1 Student Advising: Intermediate workshop and presented on Grant and Award Opportunities for International Education Administrators.

“Empowering ESOL Learners with AI and Information Literacy Skills” was presented by Oberlin’s ESOL Program Director Larissa Fekete and Head of the Conservatory Library Kathleen Abromeit at the NEXT (New Explorations in Teaching) conference, “Bridging Pedagogy and Innovation: AI and Beyond” on November 1. 

Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Religion Shari Rabin was elected vice president (and president-elect) of the Southern Jewish Historical Society at their annual conference in Louisville on November 3.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jessica Madison Pískatá published an essay entitled "Provincializing Energy in the Mongolian Gobi" in the Social Science Research Council's Intersections series on Religion and Energy.

Assistant Professor of Music Theory Christa Cole recently published the article “Hands, Fingers, Strings, and Bows: Performance Technique and Analysis in J.S. Bach’s Largo for Solo Violin” in Music Theory Online, the Society for Music Theory’s open-access electronic journal. Through a close reading of a piece she first learned as a violinist, Cole examines how performance-based perspectives correspond with, conflict with, and create new music-analytical approaches.

Assistant Professor of Music Theory Samuel Gardner was interviewed for an Ideastream story on What Makes Music Scary? Instrumentation, Composition, and Your Imagination.

Assistant Professor of East Asian Religions Andrew Macomber gave a talk at the 2024 Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on October 23. His talk was titled “A Nascent Zombie Affliction in Medieval Japan: The Buddhist Ritual Response to ‘Corpse-vector Disease.’”

In a panel presentation at the annual meeting of the Midwest Music Library Association, Head of the Conservatory Library Kathleen Abromeit and Dyani Sabin ’14 offered an overview of the book they edited, Music Information Literacy: Inclusion and Advocacy, which presents concepts, theories, and cases to embrace greater inclusion in music library instruction. The book is forthcoming from Library Juice Press, expected out November 2024. Also at the meeting, STEM Librarian Eboni A. Johnson ’97 presented “Show Them Who You Are: Code-Switching and Code-Meshing in the Academy.”

Visiting Assistant Professor of History Helen Shears won the Parker-Schmitt Dissertation Award with the European History Section of the Southern Historical Association. Shears’ dissertation, “The Treaties of Utrecht and the Making of the British Empire, 1713-1783,” examines the process of treaty-making in Europe as a tool of global empire building. She was nominated for consideration by her advisor, Philip Stern at Duke University.