Faculty and Staff Notes

Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics Naomi Campa had a small role in a multi-lingual dramatic production at the site of ancient Messene (Greece). The play, Μεσσηνιακά· Εἰρωονεῖες τοῦ Πολέμου (The Messenian Affair: Ironies of War) was written by Giannis Lignadis, based on book four of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponesian War, and was directed by Giannis Panagopoulos. The play was the second in the series Thucydides Dramaticus: The Theater of War, and was produced by the Hellenic Education Resource Center (HERC) in conjunction with ΔΙΑΖΩΜΑ, the Deme of Messene, the Ephoreia of Messenian Antiquities, and with support from the Greek Archaeological Service. Performances took place on August 12 and 13 in the ancient Messenian theater, which was built in the early 4th century BCE and excavated in the late 20th century by Professor Petros Themelis of the Greek Archaeological Service, to whom the play was dedicated.

A much larger and more important role was played in the drama by fourth-year Tara Wells, who had lines in ancient Greek and was a member of the women’s chorus.

Professor of East Asian studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager talked to Neal Conan, host of the program Truth, Politics and Power that is broadcast on NPR around the country, about the history of the unending Korean War.  The episode aired on August 17, 2017.

Associate Professor of Economics Ron Cheung was interviewed by City Lab, a publication of the Atlantic, about the history of homeowners associations in "When the City Sells Your Street."

Sheila Miyoshi Jager, professor of East Asian studies, published an article in Politico Magazine titled "What Trump Needs To Know About North Korea's History" with her view on the ongoing North Korean crisis.

Assistant Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos performed her choreography Time Certainties Peace on July 25, 2017 at the World Dance Alliance Global Summit in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

Isabella Moreno, interim director of the Office of Disability Services, was interviewed in Diabetes Forecast for an article about managing diabetes at college.

Economics Assistant Professor Martin Saavedra was invited to present his paper, “The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and the Fetal Origins Hypothesis: Evidence from Linked Data," at a workshop hosted by National Association of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Assistant Professor of Economics Martin Saavedra presented at the 92nd Annual Western Economic Association International conference (WEAI) from June 25-29, 2017 in San Diego.

Ellen Wurtzel, associate professor of history, was interviewed for the Royal Studies Journal blog about her article "The Joyous Entry of Albert and Isabella in Lille: History, Conquest and the Making of Belgium” which appeared in a December 2016 issue of the Royal Studies Journal (RSJ) called Taking Possession: Royal Entries in the Early Modern Period. The piece was developed from a paper she delivered at the 2015 Sixteenth-Century Studies annual conference and investigates the way that the city’s history was used to establish loyalty to the prince and envision a new empire in the midst of war and religious conflict.

Jason Stalnaker, associate professor of physics, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to look for dark matter.  The grant is a collaboration with Derek Jackson Kimball at California State University, East Bay. The funds will be used to establish a precision optical magnetometer at Oberlin College that will be a part of a global network of optical magnetometers looking for anomalous spin couplings due to dark matter.