Faculty and Staff Notes

Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón published two new scholarly essays. The first, “The Literary Labour of Ants Refabulation, Digression, and Utopian Form in Daniel Sada’s Porque parece mentira la verdad nunca se sabe (1999)”, studies literary digression and the speculative potential of animals in fiction. The second, “La ortodoxa excentricidad de Daniel Sada: campo literario, recepción y las ansiedades de la crítica, 1979–1989”, examines the Mexican literary field of the 1980s, exploring how emerging writers navigated a landscape shaped by literary institutionalization and the restructuring of the publishing industry.

Check out Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies Yveline Alexis's Café ak Conversations with professors Edwidge Danticat and Nadine Pinede about the book, When the Mapou Sings.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics Amanda Zadorian was interviewed by the Kyiv Independent for an article about Russia's welfare state and manufacturing consent for the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Professor of Politics Stephen Crowley's latest article about Russia's war in Ukraine appeared in The Nation.

Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science Josh Davidson presented two papers at the Transportation Research Board's Annual Meeting in early January: "Is This Your First Time Here?: Older Adults and Mode-Switching on a New Local Bus Route in Philadelphia" and "Navigating Transit Spaces: An Assemblage Approach to Daily Travel". The papers are coauthored with collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas at Arlington.

Senior Writer and Oberlin Alumni Magazine Editor Annie Zaleski authored the book Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, which cracked bestseller lists for both The New York Times and USA Today in December 2024. Also in December, Zaleski was named one of Cleveland Magazine’s Most Interesting People for 2025. A versatile journalist steeped in rock music writing, Zaleski has authored well-received books on Lady Gaga, Duran Duran, and Harry Styles. Learn more about her on the Cleveland Magazine website and at Oberlin.edu.

Associate Dean for Intercultural Engagement Josh Whitson begins term as Trainer Corps Chair Designate for NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Shuming Chen has published an article in ACS Catalysis, "C-H Activation and Sequential Addition to Dienes and Imines: Synthesis of Amines with β-Quaternary Centers and Mechanistic Studies on the Complex Interplay Between the Catalyst and Three Reactants." Coauthors include Gabriel Negrao de Morais ’25 as well as collaborators from Yale University.

Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Jillian Scudder published a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society titled "The reliability of gas-phase metallicities immediately adjacent to non-star-forming spaxels in MaNGA". This paper was in collaboration with two Oberlin student coauthors, and found that a subset of methods to estimate the chemical composition of gas in nearby galaxies are biased to high values if they are found near a region of the galaxy dominated by light coming from a source other than young stars.

Assistant Professor of Dance Al Evangelista performed in New York City’s The Tank with alum, Nikaio Thomashow ’18. Together, they debuted Echoes, Professor Evangelista’s newest dance theater work incorporating augmented reality, dance, and motion capture to explore themes of history and queerness.