Faculty News briefs

Robert Sickels, professor of film and media studies, reports that “Sterling Hallard Bright Drake,” the short film he and student Zack Ellenbogen ’12 made last summer with a Perry Grant, will screen at several upcoming film festivals. The film recently screened at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nev., and again last weekend at the Big Muddy Film Festival based at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. It will make its world premiere at the Cinequest Film Festivalin San Jose, Calif. in Over Land, Over Sea, a shorts program with a “distinctly international flavor.” Sickels and Ellenbogen, a rhetoric and media studies major, will attend the screenings.

Matthew Reynolds, assistant professor of art history and visual culture studies, reports that his article titled “A Glamorous Gentrification: Public Art and Urban Redevelopment in Hollywood, California,” appears in the current issue of The Journal of Urban Design published by Routledge. The essay explores how public art projects are used to brand urban space in Hollywood by reinforcing the city’s historical connection to the film industry and the often unintended social consequences of this branding.

Aaron Bobrow-Strain, associate professor of politics, wrote an article, titled “What Would Great-Grandma Eat,” that was published in The Chronicle Review, Feb. 26, 2012. The article addresses the “shortcomings of our industrial food system” and complements his new book, White Bread. “I wrote a book about ultrasoft, mass-produced sliced white bread because I wanted to understand America’s fraught relationship to industrial eating in all its contradictory ferment….what I found was that America’s love-hate relationship with this fluffy stuff has been wrapped up in a series of much larger questions about who we are as a nation, how we understand progress, how we envision America’s role in the world, what we believe counts as responsible citizenship, and, ultimately, how we relate to each other across our differences,” he writes in the article. Clickhere to read the article.

Nohemy Solórzano-Thompson, associate professor of Spanish, reports on two trips and the recent publication of a co-authored essay in the newly published Dictionary of Latin American Cultural Studies (University Press of Florida, 2012). The essay presents the etymology and scholarly usage of the term “identity,” along with a discussion of the relevant contributions by intellectuals and scholars. Originally published in Spanish by the Mexican think tank Instituto Mora, the book is the first to focus on the significance of cultural studies concepts in Latin America. Early this month, Solórzano-Thompson was invited to Kenyon College as a guest lecturer for a transnational feminisms course, and delivered a public lecture about a documentary on the murders of young women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. She also recently participated in a planning meeting for the Association for Jotería Arts, Activism, and Scholarship at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas. The organization emerges from the Joto Caucus of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, at group that formally recognized Solórzano-Thompson’s contributions to the field in 2008 when she was named a “Madrina” (Godmother) at the 15th Year Anniversary of the Caucus.

Pictured: AJAAS meeting at UNLV (Solórzano-Thompson appears on the lower left corner)

Amy Dodds, adjunct assistant professor of music, reports that three of her chamber music students, a string trio, recently volunteered to play at an Autism Awareness benefit at Jacobi’s Restaurant. The students were Ryan Jacobsen ’15, violin, Katri Gilbert ’13, viola and Robin Miller ’12, cello.  “I try to provide my students with opportunities to connect with our community on a regular basis, and I am proud of them for doing so,” Dodds says. The students performed works by Haydn and Mozart for the benefit. Music students are also scheduled to perform at an upcoming concert at Wheatland Village Retirement Community. “I have found that many folks at some of these places were in regular attendance at Whitman concerts for years, so it is nice to be able to bring the music to them when they can no longer travel 

Michelle Acuff, assistant professor of art, reports that a solo exhibition of her sculpting and installation work recently opened at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa. She spent a week there and delivered an artist talk at the opening night reception. Acuff, who is currently on sabbatical, also has been awarded two upcoming artist residencies. In March, she will spend a month with Playa, a nonprofit organization supporting creative work in the arts and natural science located near Summer Lake, Ore. Her second residency is with the Bush Creek Foundation in Laramie, Wy. “Both are fully funded and are really great opportunities for me to focus exclusively on my creative research and to professionally network with other residents,” she says.

Helen Kim, associate professor of sociology, and her husband, Noah Leavitt, assistant dean for student engagement, report that their paper titled “The Newest Jews? Understanding Jewish American and Asian American Marriages” was published on Valentine’s Day in Contemporary Jewry, a peer-reviewed journal considered to be the premier source for cutting edge social science research on topics related to Judaism throughout the world. Their study of Jewish-American and Asian-American romantic partnerships investigates how racial, ethnic and religious identities intersect among couples where one spouse is Jewish-American of any racial or ethnic descent and one spouse is Asian-American of any religion or ethnic descent.

Katharine Curles ’07, student activities and orientation program adviser by day, is also the head swim coach for Walla Walla High School girls and boys teams, and she has been selected at the 4A District Coach of the Year as she led the Wa-Hi boys team to its first-ever District Championship. This was her first year as head coach, having previously served Wa-Hi as assistant coach for several years. Assisted by Admission Officer Robert Street ’07, the team continues its season in preparation for the State Championships, to be held over President’s Weekend. About her, Walla Walla Public Schools District Athletic Director Don Wilkins said, “She’s done a fantastic job this season. She relates well with the students and does a great job getting them ready to compete.”

Tom Cronin, Whitman president emeritus and McHugh Professor of American Institutions and Leadership at Colorado College, has co-written a new book titled Leadership Matters: Unleashing the Power of Paradox (Paradigm Publishers) with Michael A. Genovese of Loyola Marymount University. The publisher writes: “Most leadership books emphasize specific rules of the road or characteristics and signposts. Tom Cronin and Michael Genovese see leadership as more nuanced and filled with paradox – a realm in which rules only occasionally apply and “how to do it” prescriptions obscure more than they enlighten. Leadership Matters offers a different view of leadership – one that builds community, motivates self as well as others, and one that is creatively adaptive and synthesizing.”

Aaron Bobrow-Strain, associate professor of politics, reports that his new book, White Bread is slated for publication this March through Beacon and will be distributed by Random House. This is his first book aimed at a larger, non-academic audience. It explores how the store-bought loaf of bread went from being an icon of American progress in the early twentieth century to “white trash” now, in a society increasingly concerned with eating local and organic. In the book, Bobrow-Strain offers up a slice of social history, arguing that the ongoing debate over what Americans should eat says a lot about race, class, immigration and gender. Bobrow-Strain credits five generations of Whitman students who took his Whitman in the Global Food System course, as well as two student researchers in particular, Justine Pope ’07 and Robin Lewis ’11, for providing inspiration and intellectual fodder for the book. Students in Advanced Filmmaking also will be creating a book trailer for White Bread. A spin-off piece was recently published in the McSweeney’s magazine The Believer. Click here to read it online.

Paul Yancey, Carl E. Peterson Endowed Chair of Sciences, reports that the discovery of a “supergiant” amphipod by a research team including his student, Mackenzie Gerringer ’12, is now making headlines in the U.S. and international media. Gerringer participated in the research expedition to the Kermadec Trench north of New Zealand in December at Yancey’s behest, to conduct research in preparation for his upcoming journey to the Kermadec and Mariana Islands.

The research team, led by scientists from the University of Aberdeen and National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, discovered the supergiant amphipod 7 km deep. The amphipod, a type of crustacean, seen on film was 34 cm, and the crew captured a specimen measuring 28 cm, nearly ten times that of a normal amphipod. 

On his upcoming expedition, Project Hades, to the Kermadec and Mariana Islands, Yancey will deploy the Nereus sub, a remote operating vehicle that can dive 36,000 feet below the sea. Project Hades is partially funded by a $93,891 grant from the National Science Foundation. National Geographic is also interested in shooting a TV special about the expediion.