Faculty – Page 21

The following faculty were conferred tenure, effective July 1, 2021 by the Board of Trustees at its most recent meeting: David Kuenzel, associate professor of economics; Michelle Personick, associate professor of chemistry; and Olga Sendra Ferrer, associate professor of Spanish. In addition, one faculty member was promoted, effective July 1, 2020: Valerie Nazzaro, associate professor of the practice in quantitative analysis. Brief descriptions of their areas of research and teaching appear below: David Kuenzel’s scholarship focuses on international trade and economic growth. In his research, he analyzes nations’ trade policies, trade flows, and economic growth in connection with the policies…

The American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) honored Nataliya Karageorgos, assistant professor of the practice in Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies, with the Best 2020 Slavic and East European Journal Article (SEEJ) award. Karageorgos' article, titled "'A List of Some Observations': The Theory and Practice of Depersonalization in T.S. Eliot and Joseph Brodsky," was published in the Fall 2019, Volume 63, Issue 3 of SEEJ. Karageorgos' article argues that Joseph Brodsky’s use of depersonalization owes a lot to Brodsky’s readings of T.S. Eliot, and that Eliot’s role in Brodsky’s evolution has thus far been…

Joseph Siry, Kenan Professor of the Humanities, professor of art history, is the author of Air-Conditioning in Modern American Architecture, 1890–1970 (Penn State University Press, February 2021). According to the book's abstract, Air-Conditioning in Modern American Architecture, 1890–1970 documents how architects made environmental technologies into resources that helped shape their spatial and formal aesthetic. In doing so, it sheds important new light on the ways in which mechanical engineering has been assimilated into the culture of architecture as one facet of its broader modernist project. Tracing the development and architectural integration of air-conditioning from its origins in the late 19th century…

Gabe Snashall '21 and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Helen Poulos are the co-authors of "Oreos Versus Orangutans: The Need for Sustainability Transformations and Nonhierarchical Polycentric Governance in the Global Palm Oil Industry," published in the Feb. 22 issue of Forests. According to the paper's abstract, "While the myriad benefits of palm oil as a food, makeup, and cleaning product additive drive its demand, globally, the palm oil industry remains largely unsustainable and unregulated. The negative externalities of palm oil production are diverse and devastating to tropical ecosystem integrity and human livelihoods in palm oil nations. Given the current…

Rosemary Ostfeld '10, MA '12, visiting assistant professor of environmental studies and public policy, was named to Connecticut Magazine's 2021 "40 Under 40" list. The 32-year-old from East Lyme, Conn., is the founder of Healthy PlanEat, a new sustainable food-tech startup that helps farmers who use sustainable growing practices sell their farm-fresh goods (whether fruits or veggies, cheese or oysters) directly to local customers. Farmers using Healthy PlanEat—which enthusiastic members of the community helped start via a crowdfunding campaign—can upload inventory, set distribution options, and manage incoming orders. Customers can purchase food to pick up at the farms themselves, at…

Three titles affiliated with Wesleyan were nominated for the 2021 NAACP Images Awards in the Outstanding Literary Work — Poetry category. According to the NAACP, Image Awards celebrate "the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts and those who promote social justice through their creative work." Among the five nominees is Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020) written by John Murillo, assistant professor of English; The Age of Phillis (Wesleyan University Press, 2020) by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers; and Un-American (Wesleyan University Press, 2020) by Hafizah Geter. The collections by Murillo, Jeffers, and Geter also are longlisted for…

A paper co-written by Elizabeth (Beth) Hepford, assistant professor of the practice in TESOL (teaching English as a second language), is the recipient of the 2021 Research Article Award presented by the American Association For Applied Linguistics (AAAL). According to the AAAL, "the award is bestowed annually upon the author of a published refereed journal article which is recognized by leaders in the field to be of outstanding quality and to hold the broadest potential impact on the advancement of applied linguistic knowledge." Titled "An illusion of understanding: How native and non-native speakers of English understand (and misunderstand) their Miranda…

A poetry collection authored by John Murillo, assistant professor of English, is longlisted for both the 2021 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection and the Believer Book Awards. Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020) explores the legacy of institutional, accepted violence against Blacks and Latinos and the personal and societal wreckage wrought by long histories of subjugation. The collection includes a sonnet triggered by the shooting deaths of three Brooklyn men that becomes an extended reflection on the history of racial injustice. The PEN/Voelcker Award, which comes with a $5,000 prize, is awarded to a poet whose distinguished collection of…

This month, Wesleyan is launching two new MOOCs (massive open online courses) on the Coursera platform. Enrollment for both classes is free of charge. Take Action: From Protest to Policy launches on Jan. 17 and is taught by Mary Alice Haddad, John E. Andrus Professor of Government, and Sarah Ryan, attorney and associate professor of the practice in oral communication. Jeffrey Goetz, associate director, Center for Pedagogical Innovation, also assisted with creating the course. (more…)

Ronald Schatz, professor of history, is the author of The Labor Board Crew: Remaking Worker-Employer Relations from Pearl Harbor to the Reagan Era, published by the University of Illinois Press on Jan. 11, 2021. According to the publisher: Schatz tells the story of the team of young economists and lawyers recruited to the National War Labor Board to resolve union-management conflicts during the Second World War. The crew (including Clark Kerr, John Dunlop, Jean McKelvey, and Marvin Miller) exerted broad influence on the U.S. economy and society for the next 40 years. They handled thousands of grievances and strikes. They…

Ioana Emy Matesan, assistant professor of government, is the author of The Violence Pendulum: Tactical Change in Islamist Groups in Egypt and Indonesia, published by Oxford University Press, September 2020. The Violence Pendulum challenges the notion that democracy can reduce violence, or that there is anything exceptional about violent Islamist mobilization in the Middle East. It also addresses an ongoing puzzle in the study of political violence, and shows why repression can sometimes encourage violence, and other times discourage it. Matesan also investigates escalation and de-escalation in an inter-generational and cross-regional study of Islamist mobilization in Egypt and in Indonesia.…

Ren Ellis Neyra, associate professor of English, is the author of The Cry of the Senses: Listening to Latinx and Caribbean Poetics, published by Duke University Press, 2020. Weaving together the Black radical tradition with Caribbean and Latinx performance, cinema, music, and literature, Ellis Neyra highlights the ways in which Latinx and Caribbean sonic practices challenge anti-Black, colonial, post-Enlightenment, and humanist epistemologies.

4 Faculty Receive Tenure, Promotions

Karageorgos’ Paper on T.S. Eliot and Joseph Brodsky Honored by AATSEEL

Siry’s Book on Air-Conditioning in Modern American Architecture Published

Study by Snashall ’21, Poulos Published in Forests

Ostfeld ’10, MA ’12 Named a “40 Under 40”

3 Works of Poetry Nominated for NAACP Images Awards

Hepford Honored with 2021 Applied Linguistics Research Article Award

Murillo’s Poetry Longlisted for PEN/Voelcker, Believer Book Awards

Wesleyan Offers 2 New Coursera Courses Focused on Creating Social Change

Schatz Pens New Book on the Influence of the National War Labor Board

Matesan’s New Book Explores Political Violence, Islamist Mobilization in Egypt and Indonesia

Ellis Neyra Pens New Book on Latinx, Caribbean Poetics