Faculty and Staff Notes

Associate Professor of Neuroscience Patrick Simen was on the Space Cave podcast discussing his research for a general audience. 

Professor of Viola Peter Slowik served as judge at the prestigious Johansen International Competition in Washington, D.C., March 22-24. The triennial competition attracts over 150 competitors from all over the globe, competing for nearly $70,000 of prize money.

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager published a chapter in The Cambridge History of America and the World, a 4-volume collection published in early March by Cambridge University Press as part of their Cambridge Histories series. The four-volume reference work will cover a 500-year period in chronological order: 1500 to 1812, 1812 to 1900, 1900 to 1945, and 1945 to the present. Jager's chapter, "Competing Empires in Asia," appeared in Volume 3 (1900-1945) and discussed the history of the rivalry between the United States and Japan in Asia-Pacific that began at the start of the 20th century and ended with World War II. The entire series along with other Cambridge histories is digitally accessible through the Oberlin College library system under "Cambridge histories."

Professor of Politics Stephen Crowley co-wrote with Hardy Merriman '21 “How the Russian people can end Putin's war” for The Hill. Crowley also participated in a “Ukrainathon,” a 24-hour marathon of expert lectures in support of Ukraine. He gave an extended interview about Russia and Ukraine to the Archipelago, a radio program (and podcast) based in Athens, Greece.

Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies Yveline Alexis delivered a talk about Womyn Fighters during the U.S. invasion of Ayiti for the University of Buffalo. She also educated young scholars at a middle school about this heavy topic. Finally, she engaged with LatinX/Caribbean scholars for their Haiti Week program as a keynote speaker on the subject of resistance in the Americas.

Gerald Cannon has been appointed associate professor of jazz bass at Oberlin Conservatory after a two year stint as a visiting professor. The multi-talented sideman, leader, composer, recording artist, and painter has taught in master classes across the United States and Europe, and has served on the faculties of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, the New School, Long Island University, the Conservatory of Maastricht in Holland, and the Juilliard School. He performed with the Oberlin Jazz Ensemble and Oberlin's complete roster of jazz faculty in a special performance at Finney Chapel on March 28.

James O'Leary, Oberlin Conservatory’s Frederick R. Selch Associate Professor of Musicology has been awarded the 2022 Virgil Thomson Fellowship from the Society for American Music. This competitive award aids scholars whose research interest is focused on the history, creation, and analysis of American music on stage and screen, including opera. O’Leary will use the award to continue working on a book about Stephen Sondheim that he started during the pandemic. This summer, O’Leary will be speaking about Sondheim at the Transnational Opera Studies Conference in Bayreuth, Germany.

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Chanda Feldman has a new poem, "Time for Open Air," in the latest issue (Spring 2022, Issue 34) of the University of Colorado Denver literary journal, Copper Nickel.

Assistant Professor of Dance Al Evangelista recently had his screendance "Dragon Fruit" selected for three film festival premieres. "Dragon Fruit" will make its Midwest premiere at RAD Fest, Pacific Northwest premiere at Disorient, and international premiere at Queerbee.

On February 25, Routledge published Professor of Politics and of East Asian Studies Marc Blecher’s two newest books: Class and the Communist Party of China, 1921-1978; and Class and the Communist Party of China, 1978-2021.

Blecher coauthored the books with colleagues from Harvard, Sciences Po, the University of Sydney, and Xi’an Jiaotong Liwupu University (in Suzhou, China). To mark the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary, the scholars put together this project of research, writing, and conferences on its century-long encounter with the question of class.