Faculty and Staff Notes

Associate Professor of Cinema Studies Rian Brown-Orso is collaborating with Cleveland cleric Leah Lewis, an Urgent Art Fund recipient, on a documentary called “Black Buckeyes: A Tale of Two Cities" that will compare and contrast the histories and present day realities of African Americans living in Cleveland and Cincinnati. The project was featured on ideastream.

Associate Professor of Anthropology Cal Biruk gave an invited book talk on April 9, 2019, hosted by Haverford College's Health Studies Program and Anthropology Department.

Professor of Comparative American Studies Gina Perez co-organized an advanced seminar workshop at the School of Advanced Research. The seminar was titled "Ethnographies of Contestation and Resilience in Latinx America."

Professor of Mathematics Robert Bosch designed "Traveling Salesman Problem" (TSP) art pieces that appeared on the Chinese television show, Super Brain (or in Chinese, 最强大脑). On the show, two teams of participants compete to solve a series of puzzles, including puzzles derived from the TSP art Bosch designed for the show. Watch the show here.

Longman Professor of English and Cinema Studies Anuradha Dingwaney Needham recently presented a talk titled "Sites of (Affective) Engagement: Song, Melodrama, and the Making of a Female Subjectivity" for the seminar on Indian Melodrama: Transnational Mobilities, Cross-Pollinations and Cinematic Re-inventions at the American Comparative Literature Meeting (March 7-10, 2019). Needham gave an invited lecture for the India Studies Program at University of Houston titled "Bibi aur Tawaif (Wife and Courtesan): Conformity and Defiance in Representations of Female Agency in Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam/Master, Wife, and Servant (1962; dir. Abrar Alvi)." At University of Houston, she also lead the discussion for a round-table on "Women in Post-Millennial Indian Cinema." Both took place on April 8, 2019. 

Professor of Comparative American Studies Wendy Kozol published the op-ed "Photography Challenge: Straddling Female Stereotypes as Women Become Marines" on the website Reading the Pictures.  

Andrew Pau, associate professor of music theory, published an article titled "The Harmonic Theories of Jean-Adam Serre" in the journal Intégral. The article argues for a re-evaluation of the theories of Serre, a native of Geneva who published three essays on the principles of harmony in Paris in 1753.

Associate Professor of Anthropology Cal Biruk was interviewed about her recently published book Cooking Data on Africa Past and Present  on Afripod, a podcast about history, culture, and politics in Africa and the diaspora. You can listen to the podcast here.

Assistant Professor of Music Theory Megan Long led the graduate student workshop at the Annual Meeting of the Music Theory Society of New York State on April 5, 2019.

Professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies Cindy McPherson Frantz gave the Johnson Lecture and Minnesota Psychological Association's keynote address on April 3, 2019 at Macalaster College.  The talk was titled "What is systems thinking, and does it improve decision making?" She also presented a talk titled "Environmental Dashboard: Using feedback technology to change culture and behavior" on April 4, 2019 at Macalaster College.