Faculty and Staff Notes

The Foreigner's Home, a film about Toni Morrison at the Louvre, directed by Associate Professor of Cinema Studies Rian Brown-Orso and Professor of Cinema Studies and English Geoff Pingree, was just released on Amazon Prime. The pair were also interviewed about the documentary by CAN Journal.

Meredith Gadsby, associate professor of Africana studies and faculty liaison, Toni Morrison Society, attended a Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Toni Morrison at Lorain County Community College (LCCC) on November 6, 2019. Morrison, Nobel Prize Laureate, novelist, literary and cultural critic was honored for her profound contributions to the arts, culture, and the humanities. Keynote speaker Dr. Marilyn Sanders-Mobley, a founding member of the Toni Morrison Society, reminded guests of Morrison's brilliant explorations of human experience and most of all, her "profound love for Black people." LCCC students Jason Jordan and Toni McClinton expressed great pride in their research on Morrison, feeling deeply connected to her story of growing up in Lorain, Ohio.  A short documentary showed her commitment to elevating that history by embedding places from her hometown in her novels. Jewon Woo, associate professor of english at LCCC, guides her students through Morrison's work, leading their research on her representation of the intimate lives of Black communities in the Midwest. Professor Emerita Marilyn Valentino and Denise M. Douglas, dean of social sciences and human services, hosted a diverse audience that included members of Morrison's family. 

Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Alice Blumenfeld presented a paper at Butoh Next, an international butoh symposium in New York City. The paper titled "A Butoh Approach to Flamenco" draws from her research with a Powers Travel Grant through Oberlin's internal grant program.

On November 1, 2019, the Senate passed a resolution introduced by U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) to honor the life, work, and legacy of Toni Morrison, one of America’s most formidable scholars, educators, and authors. Meredith Gadsby, associate professor of Africana studies and comparative American studies and faculty liaison for the Toni Morrison Society, took part in providing a letter of support from The Toni Morrison Society. The bill passed unanimously on the first vote.

November 6, 2019, State Representative Stephanie Howse (Cleveland, D-11) introduced House Bill 325 to designate February 18 "Toni Morrison Day." 

Director of Entrepreneurship Bara Watts was selected by the International Entrepreneurship Applied Research Symposium to present the paper, "How to develop 'Can-Do' students; teaching skills to innovate and activate change in the world."

Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics Henrique Veras was invited to participate as a discussant on October 18, 2019 at the Liberal Arts Colleges Development Conference (LACDev).

Assistant Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies Paul Brehm's paper, "Natural Gas Prices, Electric Generation Investment, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions" has been accepted for publication in the November 2019 issue of the journal Resource and Energy Economics.

Cal Biruk was featured on the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research's blog. The in entry, the Foundation covers workshops Biruk organized during the summer of 2019.

Charles Peterson, associate professor of Africana studies, co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Art and Art Criticism: Aesthetics and Race, Vol. 77, No. 4, Fall 2019 and the introduction to the issue, "Exploring Truth and Beauty in Worlds of Color: An Introduction to the JAAC Special Issue on Race and Aesthetics."

Assistant Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies Paul Brehm was invited to present his paper, "Drill, Baby, Drill: Resource Shocks and Fertility in Indonesia," on September 13, 2019, at a seminar at Kent State University.