Faculty and Staff Notes

Assistant Professor of Musicology Lena Leson presented a paper with Dr. Lila Ellen Gray of Dickinson College at the Society for American Music's annual conference in Tacoma, WA. Their paper was titled “Sounding the Worlds of American Girls" and investigated the power of advertising, fiction, soundtracks, and toy musical objects in constructing the affects and historical imaginaries that circulate with these popular dolls.

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager has won the 2024 Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History for her book, The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia. The book examines Russia, Japan, and China's Great Power struggles surrounding Korea's opening in the late 19th century. The medal is awarded annually by the Royal United Services Institute for the best English-language writing on military history.

Associate Dean and Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology Christopher Jenkins will give a preconcert lecture on March 28 for the Cleveland Orchestra's "Black Panther In Concert," for which TCO performs the score of Black Panther alongside a screening of the movie.

Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Jillian Scudder's latest book, Forty Ways To Know A Star, was released in the U.S. by Princeton Architectural Press, an imprint of Chronicle Books, on March 25. The book offers forty essays that explore how the stars have illuminated our understanding of the cosmos, illustrated throughout with custom diagrams. This is Dr. Scudder's fourth book for the general public.

Assistant professor of Jewish studies Matthew Berkman presented at the 4th Annual Law vs. Antisemitism Conference at the UCLA Law School. His paper was entitled "10/7 and the 'New Anti-Semitism Paradigm': A Third Critical Juncture?"

Associate Dean and Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology Christopher Jenkins will host two webinars about diversifying music curricula, through the College Music Society on March 18 and through New England Conservatory's alumni office on March 19.

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine’s creative nonfiction essay, “In Pain and Solidarity: Four Narratives from Michigan’s Twelfth Congressional District,” appears in the recently published anthology, Beyond Refuge in Arab Detroit (Wayne State University Press, 2025).

Assistant Professor of German Jessica Resvick's article, "Freud's Media: Transference, Metaphor, and Nineteenth-Century Print Culture" appeared in Theory, Culture, and Society. The article, which incorporates material from Oberlin Libraries Special Collections, explicates the significance of nineteenth-century print culture to early psychoanalytic thought.

Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón will serve as judge for the 2025 National Book Awards’ Translated Literature Award.

Professor of Politics Stephen Crowley wrote an article titled “No Donald: The US Owes Ukraine, Not the Other Way Around” for The Nation. He was interviewed about Trump’s meeting with President Zelensky for the radio program Background Briefing.