Oberlin Welcomes New A&S Faculty for 2022-23

Arnett’s research and teaching interests include American Indian history, 19th- and 20th-century U.S., indigenous studies, global history, law, race, U.S. settler colonialism and empire, and decolonization. She will teach Native American and indigenous studies.

Godon-Decoteau’s research interests include racial oppression and internalization of racism; Asian American mental health; race, culture, and identity; and transracial adoption. Godon-Decoteau will teach courses about mental health.

Hall’s theatrical experience includes acting and directing roles in A Christmas Story (Cleveland Play House); The Night Alive (Dobama Theatre); Opus (Two River Theater Company); and Men on Boats (Baldwin Wallace University). She also has experience in commercial/voice-over, television, and film.

Masood studies American political institutions with a focus on the U.S. Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. His research aims to provide a better understanding of the complex ways in which judicial actors, at various levels of the judicial hierarchy, interact to shape legal and policy outcomes in the U.S. Masood is working on several projects, including how the Supreme Court exerts its policy influence on the lower courts through its shadow docket. He will teach civil rights and civil liberties, constitutional law, judicial politics, and a seminar on the Supreme Court.

Moore’s coauthored research—“A Dual-Mechanism Antibiotic Kills Gram-Negative Bacteria and Avoids Drug Resistance”—was published in Cell in 2020. He will teach infectious disease biomedical/health science.

Roman’s work was recently shown in the Black Heritage and the Brotherhood of Man exhibition at the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art in Madison, Georgia. He will teach design and African American expression.

Sperling’s interests focus on 20th- and 21st-century aesthetics, the interplay of culture and politics, and the history of cinema. His first book, A Writer of Our Time: The Life and Work of John Berger, was published in 2018 by Verso. Sperling has been appointed to a permanent position on the Oberlin faculty after serving as a visiting assistant professor.

Terrazas’ scholarship focuses on how supermassive black holes affect the formation and evolution of galaxies throughout the history of the universe. Terrazas will continue this work through their research program and will teach astrophysics.

Toscano has published on various aspects of the literature and culture of medieval China. He will teach Chinese language and literature.

Padilla Vriesman recently published “Investigating controls of shell growth features in a foundation bivalve species: seasonal trends and decadal changes in the California mussel” in Biogeosciences. She will teach paleontology.

Wang’s coauthored article—“The Invisible Labor of Access in Academic Writing Practices: A Case Analysis with Dyslexic Adults”—will be published in Proceedings of the ACM on Human Computer Interaction.