Faculty and Staff Notes

Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Religion Shari Rabin published pieces in two newly-released edited volumes: “‘Thy Soul be Accepted’: A Jewish Gravestone in Eighteenth-century Charleston” in American Contact: Intercultural Encounters and the Boundaries of Book History (University of Pennsylvania Press) and “From Beautiful Rabbi to Queer Kohenet: Gender and Judaism in and Beyond Transparent,” in Blessings Beyond the Binary: Transparent and the Queer Jewish Family eds. Nora Rubel and Brett Krutzsch (Rutgers University Press).

Professor of German Steven Huff has published a review of Ulrich Klingmann, “Kleines Buch zu Goethes Iphigenie auf Tauris. Zum Lesen—Zum Spielen,” in Goethe Yearbook. It notes that jazz musicians Esperanza Spalding and Wayne Shorter recently composed and performed an Iphigenia opera.

Professor of Music Theory Joseph Lubben coauthored an article, "La síncopa hipermétrica," with Sophia Keil ’22, which appeared in Propuestas pedagógicas e interdisciplinares sobre el análisis y la teoría musical, the conference proceedings from the inaugural meeting of the Sociedad de Análisis y Teoría Musical (SATMUS)

Nathan A. Greenberg Professor of Classics Kirk Ormand has published a book chapter in the new Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's Iliad, edited by Jonathan Ready. The volume contains critical essays by different scholars on each of the 24 books of the Iliad; Ormand's essay deals with book 19, in which Achilles renounces his anger, agrees to return to battle, and receives an prophecy from Xanthus, a talking horse.

Emeritus Professor of Religion Margaret Kamitsuka announces the publication of her new book Desirable Belief: A Theology of Eros, an examination of the complexities of love and desire, as narrated in biblical texts, allegorized by church theologians, manifested in the lives of mystics, analyzed in psychodynamic theory, and depicted in poetry, literature, and Christian art.

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Rachel Diethorn was recently awarded a $200,000 National Science Foundation grant for her research project in commutative algebra entitled “Homological investigations of differential operators, almost complete intersections, and Gorenstein ideals.” This award includes funding to support several research assistantships for students over the next two years.

Allen Memorial Art Museum Ellen Johnson ’33 Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Sam Adams was interviewed in the online magazine TheBody about their current AMAM exhibition, The Body, the Host: HIV/AIDS and Christianity.

Al Evangelista, assistant professor of dance and comparative American studies, is an artist in residence at Northwestern University’s slippage lab, where he created a new dance-theater performance. The work made its New York City debut at Movement Research at Judson Church. Evangelista was interviewed on the OhioDance podcast A State of Dance, on which he discussed dancing solidarity, queerness, and dance technology.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Anna Lordan led an August series of six virtual workshops on “Being Our Own Mentor in the Writing Process” for PhD students at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Associate Professor of Contemporary Music and Improvisation Dana Jessen released a new full-length album August 23 called Dark Currents (Cantaloupe Music) with her chamber ensemble Splinter Reeds.