Faculty News briefs

New Faculty News Briefs page

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:46:00 -0400

Whitman’s Faculty News Briefs can now be found on the main Whitman website.

For up-to-date Faculty News Briefs, please visit:
http://www.whitman.edu/newsroom/headline-news/faculty-news-briefs

John D. Cotts, associate professor of history and chair of the history department, has published a...

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

John D. Cotts, associate professor of history and chair of the history department, has published a new book titled “Europe’s Long Twelfth Century: Order, Anxiety and Adaptation, 1095-1229.” The book was released Nov. 9, 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan. According to the description, between 1095 and 1229, Western Europe confronted a series of alternative cultural possibilities that would fundamentally transform its social structures, its intellectual life and its very identity. It was a period of difficult decisions and anxiety rather than a triumphant “renaissance.” Cotts shows how new social, economic and religious options challenged Europeans to re-imagine their place in the world; provides an overview of political life and detailed examples of the original thought and religious enthusiasm of the time; and presents the Crusades as the century’s defining movement.

Dave Glenn, retired professor of music, has been invited to China to adjudicate, perform and give...

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Dave Glenn, retired professor of music, has been invited to China to adjudicate, perform and give music clinics. He will arrive in Shanghai on Nov. 22 and adjudicate and perform at the First China Jazz Education Festival on Nov. 23 and 24. Next he will travel to ChuZho and give jazz workshops at ChuZhou College on Nov. 25 and 26. Also, Glenn has been selected to be on the Board of Directors for Jazz Education Abroad, an organization dedicated to promoting international jazz education exchanges.

Michelle Acuff, assistant professor of art, is hosting a solo exhibition at Bellevue College from...

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Michelle Acuff, assistant professor of art, is hosting a solo exhibition at Bellevue College from Nov. 14 to Dec. 5. The opening for her show, titled Surrogate, will be this Wednesday, Nov. 14 from 3-7 p.m. at the Bellevue College Gallery Space, Room D271.

Robert Sickels, professor of film and media studies, reports that his documentary short,...

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Robert Sickels, professor of film and media studies, reports that his documentary short, “Sterling Hallard Bright Drake”, is screening at the St. Louis International Film Festival, which is an Academy Award qualifying festival. The documentary short was made by Sickels and Zack Ellenbogen ’12; their collaboration was supported by a Perry Grant. It recently played at the SNOB Film Festival in Concord, NH, and at the Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival at Whitsell Auditorium at the Portland Art Museum. Ellenbogen attended the Portland screening and hosted a Q&A after the film; Sickels will do the same in St. Louis, where the film will screen at the 440-seat Tivoli Theatre as part of the Doc Shorts: Longevity program.

Sudharshan Seneviratne, Edward F. Arnold Visiting Professor of South Asian Archaeology, is the...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:33:00 -0500

Sudharshan Seneviratne, Edward F. Arnold Visiting Professor of South Asian Archaeology, is the recipient of the 2013 Conservation and Heritage Management Award. Presented by the Archaeological Institute of America and its Conservation and Site Preservation Committee, the award recognizes Seneviratne for his extensive work on heritage initiatives in Sri Lanka. He will accept the award at the January 2013 meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, which will be held in Seattle. Also, Seneviratne’s upcoming talk is on the topic for which he is being honored. “Corridors of Heritage for Peace and Conflict Resolution” will take place Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Maxey Auditorium. Click here for more information.

James Winchell, adjunct assistant professor of foreign languages, recently published a new article...

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:16:05 -0400

James Winchell, adjunct assistant professor of foreign languages, recently published a new article in Tablet Magazine. Titled “Kafka’s Yom Kippur Appeal,” it marks the centenary of the writing, in one night, of Kafka’s “The Judgment.” Kafka also composed the beloved modernist masterpiece, The Metamorphosis, during the weeks after this High Holiday. Winchell examines what, if anything, the close proximity of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur means to these narratives.

Elizabeth Vandiver, Clement Biddle Penrose Associate Professor of Latin and Classics and Chair of...

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Elizabeth Vandiver, Clement Biddle Penrose Associate Professor of Latin and Classics and Chair of the Classics Department, has published an essay on the Greek historian Herodotus in a new Oxford University Press collection. Her essay, “‘Strangers are from Zeus’: Homeric Xenia at the Courts of Proteus and Croesus” forms Chapter 5 of the volume Myth, Truth, & Narrative in Herodotus, eds. Emily Baragwanath and Mathieu de Bakker, Oxford 2012.

Roberts among finalists for poetry category of Washington State Book Award

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:58:35 -0400

Katrina Roberts, Mina Schwabacher Professor in English and the Humanities, is among finalists for the poetry category of this year’s Washington State Book Award (formerly the Governor’s Writers Awards). Each year, the Seattle Public Library’s Washington Center for the Book selects six outstanding books published by Washington authors. Roberts was recognized for her acclaimed book of poems, “Underdog” (University of Washington Press 2011).

Forsthoefel, Vernon return from presentations in Vienna

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:40:16 -0400

Nancy Forsthoefel, research associate and adjunct instructor of biology, and Dan Vernon, professor of biology, recently returned from Vienna, Austria, where they each gave presentations at the 23rd International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR). ICAR is an annual meeting of more than 800 plan biologists who work on Arabidopsis, a small weed that serves as the main model species for plant genome research worldwide. Both presentations focused on Arabidopsis PIRL genes, a family of genes discovered in the Vernon/Forsthoefel lab at Whitman. Forsthoefel’s featured her work with genetically modified plants expressing altered versions of the PIRL9 gene, and Vernon’s focused on three PIRL genes that function in the formation of pollen. Recent graduates Carrie Reinhart ’11 (Biology) and Lauren Brougham ’12 (Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology) were coauthors on Vernon’s presentation.

Acuff returns from residency in France

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:38:23 -0400

Michelle Acuff, assistant professor of art, recently returned from a 10-day residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Auvillar, France, where she continued her work looking at the contradictions and complexities of our global environmental situation. “It was a tremendous experience in which I lived and worked with two other American poets and a French painter in a small village in the south of France,” she says. “I made a few images there that to me explore a kind of ‘contemporary sublime.’” To view more of Acuff’s work, visit her blog, Parched & Sated.

Solórzano-Thompson returns from professional meetings in Los Angeles

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Nohemy Solórzano-Thompson, associate professor of Spanish, recently attended two professional meetings in the Greater Los Angeles area. She was at UCLA for a board meeting of the Association for Jotería Arts, Activism, and Scholarship (AJAAS), a new Queer Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies organization. As part of the Program Committee, Solórzano-Thompson is working on the inaugural AJAAS Conference to be held next October in New Mexico. Solórzano-Thompson then attended the Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) annual gathering held at UCSB. At MALCS, Solórzano-Thompson participated in a roundtable discussion on “Consejos y Sabiduría: Chicana/Latina Leadership in Academia.” As one of a handful of tenured Chicanas in the U.S. academy, Solórzano-Thompson was invited to speak on professional development and mentorship to an audience of Chicana/Latina/Native women activists, scholars and students.

Winchell publishes new article

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400

James Winchell, adjunct assistant professor of foreign languages, recently published a new article in Tablet Magazine. Titled “The Healing Power of Jew-Love,” the article examines the concept of “philosemitism,” or love of Jews, as recently promoted by historian Gertrude Himmelfarb as a potential remedy to anti-Semitism in literature. Winchell focuses specifically on George Eliot’s 1876 novel Daniel Deronda.

Reynolds article appears in recent jounal

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 12:36:58 -0400

Matt Reynolds, assistant professor of art history and visual culture studies, has written an article that appears in the most recent edition of the journal Public: Art, Culture, Ideas. The essay is titled “A Massive Multi-Faceted Screening Room: LA Freewaves Curates Hollywood Boulevard” and analyzes the intersections between art, media and the ongoing Hollywood Redevelopment Project. The work was completed with support from a Perry Research Grant and the assistance of art history major Liz Hockett ’11.

Northam named Coach of the Year

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 12:35:29 -0400

Jeff Northam ’88, head men’s tennis coach, has been named NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). It is the second time in 10 years that Northam has been selected. Despite losing three top-notch seniors to graduation a year ago, Northam led his 2011-12 roster to one of Whitman’s most successful seasons in more than two decades. Read more here.

Bobrow-Strain book reviewed

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:50:53 -0400

Aaron Bobrow-Strain, associate professor of politics, reports that his latest book, “White Bread,” has been reviewed by The Atlantic (July/August 2012) and The New York Times, (June 29, 2012).

Balof presents at conference in Eger, Hungary

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:49:00 -0400

Barry Balof, associate professor of mathematics, recently presented at the 15th International Conference on Fibonacci Numbers and Their Applications in Eger, Hungary. About 100 experts from 20 countries attended the conference. Balof’s talk was titled “Restricted Tilings, Coordination Sequences, and Bijections,” and it involved analyzing different types of combinatorial objects that are counted by the same formula and looking for links between the objects that explain why they have the same formula. The talk also involved some elements from geology. “While the conference was mostly mathematicians, there were also musicians and artists giving talks, so it was quite the ‘liberal arts’ setting,” he reports.

Apostolidis writes an opinion piece for The Seattle Times

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:45:25 -0400

Paul Apostolidis, T. Paul Chair of Political Science and director of the State of the State of Washington Latinos, has written an opinion piece for The Seattle Times, published June 30. Titled “Closing the wide gap between Latino population and representation in much of Washington,” the piece proposes that “Washington is doing a dismal job of electing Latinos that represent their rapidly growing populations… We can, and should, enact state voting reforms to change that. Apostolidis credits former students Zach Duffy, and Seth Dawson, Ian Warner and Nick Dollar for conducting the research that made this guest op-ed possible. Read the full piece HERE.

Kim, Leavitt featured in New York Times

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:58:00 -0400

Helen Kim, associate professor of sociology, and husband Noah Leavitt, assistant dean for student engagement, were recently featured in a New York Times profile looking at their lives as an Asian American/Jewish couple who also study marriages between partners of Asian and Jewish descent. Titled, “A Couple Studies, and Lives, Jewish-Asian Intermarriage,” the story appeared in the On Religion section last Friday, June 15. It explores the couple’s research on how Asian and Jewish heritages coexist within a growing number of marriages, and how the Asian American and Jewish communities share a commitment to “tight-knit families, hard work, and educational advancement,” as the pair wrote in their recent study. The story also references a number of other Jewish-Asian “power couples,” including most recently Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and his wife Priscilla Chan. Read the full story HERE.

Yancey quoted in recent Science News magazine

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:02:24 -0400

Paul Yancey, Carl E. Peterson Endowed Chair of Sciences, was quoted recently in a Science News magazine cover story. Titled “Defying Depth,” the article explores how deep-sea creatures manage to survive conditions of extreme water pressure. Yancey explains how animals such as sea cucumbers and arthropods produce protein-stabilizing molecules such as trimethylamine oxide, which may account for how they tolerate deep-sea pressures. Read the full story HERE.