Faculty and Staff Notes

Assistant Professor of Politics Ali Masood recently published an article titled, "The Rule of Law in Red and Blue: Affective Polarization and Support for Legal Institutions in the United States" that examines how elite cues and affective animus impact public perceptions of the FBI, DOJ, and the U.S. Supreme Court in American Politics Research.

Lecturer of Creative Writing Amanda Hodes presented her paper "Extractive Poetics: Using Poetic Text Mining to Counter Extractivist Ideologies" at the 2024 International Digital Media and Arts Association conference hosted at Winona State University this past week.

Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies Meredith Gadsby participated in a panel moderated by Warren R. Harding ’12 at the 2024 Caribbean Studies Association Conference in St. Lucia June 3-7. Gadsby presented the paper “Full Moon Passion on the Dark Side of the Moon: A Sudden and Big Lust: Menopausal Multiverses and Myth Making.” This conference hosts scholars, artists, public officials, and activists to discuss matters relevant to Caribbean communities within and outside the region. Gadsby is a past president of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars, which hosted a luncheon at the conference.

Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies Meredith Gadsby participated in the panel “Diasporic Vision of Toni Morrison and Aimè Cèsaire” at the Toni Morrison Society’s 2024 Summer Symposium in Martinique June 22-27. It was the first in-person gathering of Morrison and Cèsaire scholars to discuss the shared vision of the African Diaspora in their works. Gadsby's paper, “The Greatest Kitchen Table Poets of All: Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, and Edwidge Danticat in Diasporic Dialogue,” examines Morrison's work in dialogue with that of Marshall and Danticat, exploring “kitchen table poetics” to mobilize a philosophy of Black love in resistance to Cesaire’s concept of “thingification.” Gadsby is a life member of the society and a member of its board.

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager's book (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023) The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia, received the 2024 Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award from the International History and Politics section of the American Political Science Association.

The Society for the Study of Social Problems selected Assistant Professor of Sociology Alicia Smith-Tran's article, "'There's the Black Woman Thing and There's the Age Thing': Professional Black Women on the Downsides of 'Black Don't Crack' and Strategies for Confronting Ageism at Work," as Honorable Mention for this year's Kimberlé Crenshaw Outstanding Article Award.

Associate Professor of Comparative Literature Stiliana Milkova presented her new book Natalia Ginzburg's Global Legacies (Palgrave, 2024) at the 2024 American Association of Italian Studies Conference in Sorrento, Italy. In addition to presenting the book, she also gave a paper on posing and passing in translation, focusing on migrant and exophonic writing.

Assistant Dean and Director of International Student & Scholar Services Josh Whitson and International Student Program Coordinator Jackie Zubin attended the NAFSA: Association of International Educators 2024 Annual Conference & Expo. Josh cotrained the Trainer Corps Enrichment Workshop focused on adult learning and training plans as a member of the Trainer Corps Development Team, and also copresented the session Department of State Consular Affairs Current Issues. Jackie presented the poster Introducing International Education Week to a University Campus.

Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Religion and Chair of Jewish Studies Shari Rabin presented at the "Ways of Being: Evolving Religion and America" symposium hosted by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation at Jamestown Settlement in Virginia.

Professor of Politics and Chair of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies Stephen Crowley published an article titled "Does Putin Want to End the War in Ukraine? It’s Time to Find Out" in The Nation.