Faculty and Staff Notes

Professor of Psychology Cindy Frantz was quoted in the Washington Post about the recent tide of apologies made by famous men accused of sexual misconduct.

Associate Professor of Africana Studies Darko Opoku and Professor of Politics Eve Sandberg edited the book, Challenges to African Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2018). Both Opoku and Sandberg each contributed two individually authored chapters.

This book asks—why have black African businesses been so difficult to establish and sustain? The authors argue that African states’ domestic political networks, not their markets, are the primary variables that determine the success of African  businesses. Additionally, in order for their enterprises to survive, African business actors have had to devise creative coping strategies. The book explores the challenges and coping strategies of aspiring African entrepreneurs. 

Associate Professor of Politics Kristina Mani was interviewed for BloombergView about the 2017 elections in Chile.

Associate Professor and Chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry Rebecca Whelan participated in three conferences during the fall of 2017.

In September, Whelan presented "Selection of DNA aptamers for two ovarian cancer biomarkers informed by next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics" at Aptamers in Bordeaux, France. In October, Whelan organized and chaired a session on "Designer (nano)structures and molecules for separations and analysis" at SciX in Reno, Nevada, and she gave a talk titled "Two routes to DNA aptamers for ovarian cancer biomarker HE4" at the Midwestern Universities Analytical Chemistry Conference in Athens, Ohio. In addition, Whelan co-authored "Effects of cationic proteins on gold nanoparticle/aptamer assays" with Tom Pires ’14 and Conor Navovec ’15.

Christopher Trinacty, associate professor of classics, recently published two papers and gave two lectures. The first paper, “Tibullus’ Comedy: A note on Tib. 1.2.87-98” appears in the latest volume of Mnemosyne, a journal devoted to classical philology. This paper shows how Tibullus defines the elegiac lover in part through allusions to Roman comedy. The second paper, “Horatian Contexts for Senecan Tragedy” appears in the edited volume, Seneca and Horace: Interactions, Intertexts, Interpretations. This essay reveals the reception of Horace’s odes in Seneca’s dramatic poetry.

In October, Trinacty gave a lecture outside the walls of Pompeii as part of the Symposium Cumanum entitled “Therapeutic Strategies for Earthquake Survivors: Seneca, Caecilius Iucundus, and the Pompeiian Earthquake of 62/63 CE,” and he gave a talk entitled “Visions and Memories of Lucretius in Seneca’s Naturales Quaestiones” at the annual meeting of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association.

Assistant Professor of Economics Evan Kresch presented the paper, “Greener on the Other Side? Spatial Discontinuities in Property Tax Rates and Their Effects on Tax Morale” on November 8-10, 2017 at the National Tax Conference. Kresch also served as a discussant at the conference.

Lynn Powell, lecturer in creative writing, has published Season of the Second Thought, a book of poems from University of Wisconsin Press. The book is part of the Wisconsin Poetry Series and is the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry.

Martin Saavedra, assistant professor of economics, presented his paper “Should We Trust Occupational Income Scores?” at University of Michigan, Harvard University, and William & Mary.

Naomi Campa, visiting assistant professor of classics, gave a talk titled "The Critique of Democracy in the Republic: Self-Mastery and Freedom" on November 10, 2017, at the Northeastern Political Science Association's annual meeting.

Tania Boster, director of Bonner Center Curricular Initiatives, gave a series of invited lectures between October 24-28, 2017, on the topic "Collaborative Teaching and Learning in the Liberal Arts: Experiences in Service-Learning curriculum design" at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. Boster has been partnering with Constance Chan from the Office of Service Learning at Lingnan through the Global Liberal Arts Alliance (GLAA) Connected Course program.