Faculty and Staff Notes

Professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies Cindy Frantz has been named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.  Fellow status is an honor bestowed upon APA members who have shown evidence of unusual and outstanding contributions or performance in the field of psychology and requires that a person's work has had a national impact on the field of psychology beyond a local, state, or regional level.

Frantz served as an expert panelist for the Solutions Session at the Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change conference (virtual) on November 9.  The session focused on the question:  How can rural landowners be encouraged to embrace, welcome, and even demand new solar installations, as opposed to protest them?

Frantz presented the talk “Yes we can! How to talk about climate change to inspire action and fight despair” on November 17 to the Lorain County Commmunity College Psi Beta Club.

The Journal of Southern History published the article "Simon Gerstmann's War: Religion, Loyalty, and Memory in the Post-Civil War Claims Courts," coauthored by Shari Rabin, associate professor of Jewish studies and religion.

Professor of Physics Stephen FitzGerald coauthored a paper along with Didier Banyeretse ’20 and Tyler Hartman ’20 that was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The paper looks at the binding of molecular hydrogen as an energy storage mechanism with applications for fuel cell powered cars.

Clayton Koppes, professor emeritus of history, gave the talk "Who Gets to Tell the Story: Expanding the History of HIV/AIDS" on World AIDS Day, December 1. The virtual event was sponsored by the Community Advisory Board of the Case Western Reserve/University Hospitals AIDS Clinical Trial Unit. His talk was based on his archival research and  interviews nationally and in Cleveland.

Assistant Professor of Economics Evan Kresch presented "Do Bigger Legislatures Lead to Bigger Government? Evidence from a Brazilian Municipal Council Reform" on November 19, 2021 at the 114th Annual Conference on Taxation, "Improving the U.S. Safety Net," sponsored by the National Tax Association (NTA). The paper was co-authored by Rodrigo Schneider (Skidmore College); Henrique Veras (Centre College); and Mark M. Walker '22 (Oberlin College).

Emeriti Professors James Dobbins and Suzanne Gay are serving as the Sumitomo Visiting Professors in East Asian Studies at Yale University for the Council on East Asian Studies in the fall semester of 2021.

On November 30, James Monroe Professor of Politics and of East Asian Studies Marc Blecher addressed the Chinese Studies Association of Australia 17th Biennial Conference on “Changing China: Then and Now 變遷中國：過去與現在.” He presented three chapters from his two forthcoming books Class and the Communist Party of China, 1921–1978 and Class and the Communist Party of China, 1978-2021: Reform and Market Socialism.

Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón was named a Letras Boricuas Fellow by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Foundation’s Arts Fund. The fellowship recognizes Puerto Rican writers whose dynamic work spans genres including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and children’s literature. A first-of-its-kind fellowship, Letras Boricuas was created to identify, elevate, and amplify the voices of emerging and established Puerto Rican writers on the island and across the United States diaspora.

Professor of Mathematics Elizabeth Wilmer has published the paper “Combinatorics in the exterior algebra and the Bollobás Two Families Theorem” in the Journal of the London Mathematical Society.

Assistant Professor of Dance Al Evangelista was interviewed by artist Matthew Cumbie for Dance Place’s “Creative Entry Journalism Series.”