Faculty and Staff Notes

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Rachel Saylor recently published an article, "Optimized derivatization of primary amines with the fluorogenic reagent naphthalene‐2,3‐dicarboxaldehyde toward reproducible quantitative analysis in biological systems," in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. Coauthors are Paola Gonzalez Quevedo ’21, Elizabeth Rigby ’22, and Samuel Kearney ’22.

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Allegra Hyde published a short story in The Sun. The story, titled "Frights", considers climate change from the perspective of ghosts. It will be included in her forthcoming story collection, The Last Catastrophe.

Professor of Classics Christopher Trinacty recently published a chapter in the volume, C.H. Sisson Reconsidered. The chapter, “Sisson in Exile, or, Versions and Perversions of Ovid’s Tristia”, considers the way that the 20th C. English poet C.H. Sisson utilized Ovid's poetry in his poetic self-representation. Prof. Trinacty also has written the entry for Seneca in the revised Oxford Classical Dictionary.

Emily Barton reviews Vigdis Hjorth's new novel, "Is Mother Dead," for the Times of London.

Francis W. and Lydia L. Davis Professor Emeritus of Religion Margaret Kamitsuka announces the publication of the T & T Clark Reader in Abortion and Religion: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives (Bloomsbury, 2023), which she coedited with Rebecca Todd Peters (Elon University). This project was supported by an Oberlin Senior Research Scholar grant.

Oberlin voice professor and soprano Kendra Colton '83 has sung the music of John Harbison for some 25 years, including her 2020 album Late Air (Oberlin Music label) that includes music representing three decades of his writing. The two reunited for recent world premieres of Harbison's 2022 song cycle Winter Journey, based on three poems from Louise Glück’s recent collection, Winter Recipes from the Collective. Written in two different formats—one for voice with piano and another for voice with small ensemble—Colton performed the first version at the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival in September 2022 with pianist Kayo Iwama '83. The second version was created for the 50th anniversary season of Boston's Collage New Music ensemble and was performed in October at Elizabeth Parks Killian Hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

View the MIT performance.

Professor of Theater and Department Chair Matthew Wright was awarded "Best Actor - Musical" by the Cleveland Critics Circle for his role as Nostradamus in Something Rotten at Beck Center for the Arts and is featured in the Cleveland Scene article announcing the 2022 winners.

Professor Peter Takács's 11-CD set of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas was voted Album of the Year 2022 in the Solo Instrumentalist category by subscribers to the high-resolution streaming platform NativeDSD.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics Shinkyu Lee's article titled “The Political vs. the Theological: The Scope of Secularity in Arendtian Forgiveness” was recently published in the Journal of Religious Ethics.

Alicia Smith-Tran's article recently published in Sociological Perspectives titled, "'There’s the Black Woman Thing, and There’s the Age Thing': Professional Black Women on the Downsides of 'Black Don’t Crack' and Strategies for Confronting Ageism at Work."