Faculty and Staff Notes

Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing and Communication Nathan DeProspo coauthored the article “Marx’s Last Words: A Politics of Impurity,” recently published in Rhetoric Society Quarterly. The piece will appear in an upcoming forum on Marxism and rhetorical studies.

The Taiwanese edition of The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023), by Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager, was published in September 2025.

Assistant Professor of East Asian Religions Andrew Macomber gave the plenary talk at the 2025 Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on October 20. His talk was titled “The Stranger, Corpse Medicine, and Technology: Human Exploitation Folklore in Japan.”

Professor of Classics Chris Trinacty gave the paper "Becoming a Detective: Reading with Seneca" during fall break at Ohio University and the University of Arizona. The paper discusses Seneca's "Natural Questions" and "Oedipus" as well as an unpublished poem of Ted Hughes that depends on his reading of Seneca's "Oedipus." It is fair to say that the poem could revolutionize the study of Ted Hughes and make us question all we know about the poet and his oeuvre.

Assistant Professor of Data Science and Computer Science Joshua Davidson was on two panels at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Meeting in October: one on "Navigating the Complex Dynamics of Accessibility, Safety, and Mobility for Vulnerable Road Users" and a second on "Navigating the Academic Job Market."

Lecturer of Creative Writing Amanda Hodes published two new poems, "Fracking Operation" and "Smelting Operation," in the journal DIAGRAM (issue 25.3).

Two professors from the Religion Department traveled to Heidelberg, Germany, to present research at the European Association for South Asian Studies conference. Emilia Bachrach, Associate Professor of Religion and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, gave a talk on "South Asian Women's Innovations of Commercial Sites as Religious Spaces in Barcelona," and Francesca Chubb-Confer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion, gave a talk on "World Literatures, World Religions, and the Translation of Islam in South Asia."

 Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Lauren Tess published the poem "She Won't Take Her Medicine" in the journal Rattle (Summer '25, print; September 26, online).

Assistant Professor of English Sarah Jane Kerwin published an article in the latest issue of Western American Literature titled "Temporary Presences on the Mesa: 'Tom Outland's Story' and Mesa Verde National Park."

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Uche Okonkwo received the 2025 High Plains International Book Award in the First Book category for her short story collection, A Kind of Madness (published in 2024 by Tin House).