Faculty and Staff Notes

An excerpt of Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy Jillian Scudder's new book, The Milky Way Smells of Rum & Raspberries (Icon Books, Feb 14 2023) was published in Nautilus Magazine.

Sandra Zagarell's essay "Why Mary E, Wilkins freeman: Why Now? What Next" has just been published in New Perspectives on Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: Reading with and against the Grain (Interventions in Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture).

Assistant Professor of Writing and Communication Cortney Smith recently published an article, "Communicating Felt Knowledge to Decolonize #MeToo: A Native Feminist Approach to the Sherman Alexie Allegations," in Feminist Formations.

The String Room Gallery at Wells College is pleased to present RE_MOVE, a transatlantic dialogue in image and text from 2019-2020 between visual artist Kasia Ozga, visiting professor of sculpture at Oberlin College and poet Dan Rosenberg, associate professor of English at Wells. The exhibition will be on display from January 24 - February 16, 2023.

Professor Kirk Ormand and David Halperin (OC ’73) have recently edited and published John J. ("Jack") Winkler's last book: Rehearsals of Manhood: Athenian Drama in Social Practice.

Professor Winkler delivered the book in progress as part of Oberlin's Martin Lectures Series in 1988 and was in the process of completing it for publication in 1990 when he passed away from complications arising from HIV infection. Ormand and Halperin have now updated that nearly-complete manuscript with references to scholarship from the last thirty years, edited the argument, and secured permissions for the 50+ images that Winkler wished included in the volume. The book will be available this February from Princeton University Press, the latest volume in the Martin Lectures series.

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.

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.