Faculty and Staff Notes

Visiting Assistant Professor of History Jonathan van Harmelen has been named editor of the Southern California Quarterly, the scholarly journal of the Historical Society of Southern California. A historian of the 20th-century United States, van Harmelen specializes in the history of civil rights and the federal government.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies Kip Hutchins released the book A Song for the Horses: Musical Heritage for More-than-Human Futures in Mongolia (University of Arizona Press), about the relationship between music, the environment, and the end of the world.  

Professor of Environmental Studies and Science Md Rumi Shammin was elected president of the United States Society for Ecological Economics (USSEE), which is the national chapter of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) and part of a global network of regional societies. Shammin’s two-year term started in summer 2025. The society will be hosting its 13th biennial conference at Oberlin in June 2026.

Professor of Viola Peter Slowik has been invited to present a workshop titled “Conductivity: Strengthening the Connection Between Performer and Audience” at the 50th International Viola Congress in Paris in January 2026. Slowik will also be honored as past host chair of two international viola congresses (he's the only person to host two!): Northwestern University in 1993 and Oberlin in 2016

Donald R. Longman Emerita Professor of English Sandy Zagarell presented on "The Ethos of the American Women Writers Study Group," a moderated panel on leading an academic institution at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers conference in Philadelphia on November 8.

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Uche Okonkwo, along with poets Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani, gave a research presentation at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago on the African Poetry Book Fund’s book distribution project. The project investigated book distribution challenges in Africa and recommended making poetry books authored by African diaspora poets and published in the West accessible to African audiences.

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 Psychology and Environmental Studies Cindy Frantz presented two talks in Oxford, Ohio, in October: “Nurturing Nature” at the Lane Library Oxford, as part of the Big Read, and “Reconnecting to Nature through Technology” at Miami University.

Lecturer and Lab Coordinator in Biology Darla French attended the National Association of Biology Teachers’ national conference in St. Louis, where she gave two presentations and two posters on topics related to enhancement of teaching and learning in her department’s 200-level core courses. The NABT conference gathers more than 1,500 high school and college biology faculty for three days of sessions on pedagogical trends and methods in biology education.

Program Director for Community-Engaged Research and Learning and Lecturer Jo Line authored the book Building Coactive Sport Teams: From Leadership to Coaction, which will be published by Routledge on November 7.