Fall 2014 Faculty Updates

Associate Professor of Physics Suzanne Amador Kane gave an invited talk on her research using animal-borne cameras to study raptor pursuit strategies as part of a panel,“A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Bio-Logging as a Tool for Collecting Video Footage and Still Images of Animal Behaviour,” at the 5th Biologging Science Symposium in Strasbourg, France, in September. This fall, Amador Kane and Carolyn Oehrig '15 worked with the Cape May Raptor Banding Project at the New Jersey Shore to film hawks, falcons, and accipiters as part of a project on using 3-D video to understand the kinematics of raptor take-off and maneuvering.

Professor of Music Ingrid Arauco's compositions are featured on two recently released CDs. Vistas, her second solo album on Albany Records, was released on Nov. 1. The program includes Three for Two for clarinet and cello, Vistas for flute and piano, Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano, String Quartet No. 2, Divertimento for trumpet, violin, and cello, and Violiloquy for solo viola. Several of these pieces were commissions for organizations such as the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Delaware Chamber Music Festival, and Network for New Music. The disc features an outstanding array of performers, including Charles Abramovic, Paul Demers, Frank Ferraro, Barbara Govatos, Yumi Kendall, Jeffrey Khaner, John Koen, Ricardo Morales, Hirono Oka, and Burchard Tang. Additionally, her composition Pavane-Variations for flute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, and harpsichord is featured on the album Excursions, released by the ensemble Melomanie on the Meyer Media label. The piece was performed by Melomanie in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 22 as part of the international contemporary music festival Compositores de Hoje.

Associate Professor of Fine Arts Markus Baenziger mounted two solo exhibitions: Uncommon Ground, which ran at New York City's Edward Thorp Gallery from Oct. 30 through Dec. 6, and Wayside, which ran at Swarthmore College's List Gallery from Sept. 10 through Oct. 26. As part of the latter, Baenziger gave a public talk at the Lang Performing Arts Center at Swarthmore College on Sept. 25. His work was also included in a group show, Summer Exhibition, at the Edward Thorp Gallery. Baenziger was chosen for the Weir Farm Artist-In-Residence Program in Wilton, Conn., where he gave an artist's lecture in May, and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Open Studio Residency Program in Deer Isle, Maine.

Project TIER, an ongoing enterprise developed by Associate Professor of Economics Richard Ball and Associate Librarian Norm Medeiros for teaching principles and practices of documentation and replicability of statistical research, was covered in The Signal, a blog produced at the U.S. Library of Congress.

The music of Ruth Marshall Magill Professor Curt Cacioppo received airplay over WOMR in Provincetown and CKUT in Montreal, and his new CD, Ritornello, garnered both a Grammy nomination and inclusion among Fanfare magazine's year-end critics“want list.” The Venice Cello Ensemble performed his work at the Sauris Festival in Udine, the Museo Diocesano in Terni (Umbria), and in Rome at the Vatican for broadcast on Radio Vaticana. Pianist May Phang performed his Fantasy-Choruses on ‘This Little Light of Mine' at the national conference of the College Music Society in St. Louis, and on the Red Door Gallery Concert Series in Richland, Wis. Cacioppo was a central participant in the Native American festival and conference“Louis Ballard and the Music of the Southwest” at the Piccinni Conservatory in Bari, Italy. His compositions Lyric Visions From the Pawnee and Snake Dance Trio (Coyóhim Katsina) were featured in concert. He delivered two papers, offered pre-concert remarks, and served as respondent at two other sessions.

Professor of Biology Robert Fairman published a paper,“Testing the Role of Charge and Structure on The Stability of Peptide-Porphyrin Complexes,” in Biomacromolecules. This article included the work of recent graduates:  James Taggart '13, Elizabeth Welch '11, Mary Mulqueen '09, Vincent Dioguardi '14, and Alexandra Cauer '12. He also co-authored“Effect of Helical Flanking Sequences on the Morphology of Polyglutamine-Containing Fibrils” with Biology Research Assistant Bashkim Kokona and Professor of Biology Karl A. Johnson and“Role of the Coiled-Coil Structural Motif in Polyglutamine Aggregation” with Kokona and Zachary P. Rosenthal '14, both for Biochemistry.

Assistant Professor of History Andrew Friedman gave an invited lecture,“D.C. Between Empire and Decolonization: A Cultural History of the Global Diplomatic Corps,” at the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy at Temple University in October. He also gave a talk,“Life in the Capital Colony: D.C.'s Cultural Landscape in the Era of Global Decolonization,” at the Urban History Association Biennial Conference in Philadelphia, in October.

Professor of History Jim Krippner gave a talk,“Strand's Modernism and Mexico's Modernity,” at the Paul Strand Symposium, sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the University of Pennsylvania in November.

Visiting Assistant Professor of English and the Writing Program Nimisha Ladva was the GrandSlam storyteller winner at the First Person Arts Festival and was named“Best Storyteller in Philadelphia.”

Emeritus Professor of Hisory Emma Lapsansky-Werner published“Plainness and Simplicity,” in the Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies and“Thomas Clarkson's Quaker Trilogy: Abolitionist Narrative as Transformative History,” co-authored with Dee Andrews, in Quakers and Abolition (University of Illinois Press). She also published“Benjamin Coates and Africa in the Quaker Dream of Redemption,” in Back to Africa: The Ideology and Practice of the African Returnee Phenomenon from the Caribbean and North-America to Africa, a book series by the Center for Advanced Studies of African Society, and“Identity, Spirituality, and Organization: the Episcopal Church in Early Pennsylvania,” in This Far by Faith (Pennsylvania State University Press). LApsansky-Werner gave a conference paper,“Reading Quakers into the Eighteenth Century: Transitions after George Fox,” at the Quaker Studies Research Association Conference in Birmingham England, in October. She also gave two presentations in November:“African American Community Life in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia” at the African-American Museum of Philadelphia, and the video podcast“Teaching the 19th century” for the College Board Advanced Placement U.S. History.

Term Professor of Education Alice Lesnick participated in the Ghana Seminar in Omborgen, Denmark, where she made a presentation on the partnerships she is developing with a university, early education project, and community groups in a community in Northern Ghana where Danish and Ghanaian collaboration has also been strong. Lesnick also spoke about the Bi-Co Dalun Summer Action Research Fellowship, sponsored by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, Bryn Mawr's Leadership, Innovation and Liberal Arts Center, the Office of the President at Bryn Mawr, and Bryn Mawr's Education and Africana Programs.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Casey Londergan published a paper,“Dynamic Asymmetry and the Role of the Conserved Active-Site Thiol in Rabbit Muscle Creatine Kinase,” in Biochemistry. The paper is the culmination of a long-running project that spanned at least six senior theses and includes co-authors Chris Reynoso '07, David Snead '08, Connor Bischak '10, Kevin Hoffman '12, and Rachel Baskin '14.

T. Wistar Brown Professor of Philosophy Danielle Macbeth published an essay,“Logic Through Its History,” which concerns the teaching of logic to undergraduates and is based on her class course“Historical Introduction to Logic,” in The American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy.

Emeritus Professor of Anthropology Wyatt MacGaffey published“Meaning and Aesthetics in Kongo Art” in Kongo Across the Waters (University of Florida Press). He was also an invited participant at the“Kongo: Power and Majesty” colloquium at the Clark Institute in March, and gave a lecture,“Art of Power, Power of Art,” at the Princeton University Museum in November.

Assistant Professor of Sociology Lisa McCormick published“Tuning In or Turning Off: Performing Emotion and Building Cosmopolitan Solidarity in International Music Competitions” in a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies on sites of global citizenship creation. McCormick also presented“Civilizing Aesthetics: International Competitions in Classical Music” at the Center for Cultural Sociology workshop at Yale University in September, and the guest lecture“Bar-lines on the Battlefield: The Health Hazards of Music Competitions” at the University of Montreal in October.

Associate Professor of Classics Bret Mulligan published“Coniuratio! Ethopoeia and Reacting to the Past in the Latin Classroom (and Beyond)” in Classical Journal.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Alexander Norquist and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Josh Schrier published a paper,“Formation Principles for selenites: The Role of pH on Product Composition,” in Inorganic Chemistry with and five Haverford student co-authors: Jacob Olshansky '12, Karina Wiener '15, Matt Smith '13, Anahita Nourmahnad '14, and Max Charles '15.

Associate Professor of Political Science Paulina Ochoa Espejo gave an invited talk,“Place-specific Duties And The Rights of Immigrants,” in September, at the department of political science at Temple University. Ochoa Espejo also gave an invited lecture on her project“Just Borders: Peoples, Territories and the Rights of Place” as a distinguished visitor at the Common Wealth Center for Humanities and Society at the University of Louisville.

Visiting Assistant Professor of English Jaclyn Pryor chaired a panel on“Reproductive Futurism” at the National Women's Studies Association in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 14. Pryor also gave an invited talk,“When Elephants Are in Must: Peggy Shaw, Acts of Transfer, and the Present Future of Queer,” at the University of Pennsylvania on Oct. 21, and an invited keynote,“Playing With Time: From FLOODLINES to JUBILEE,” at Dickinson College on Oct. 16.

Emeritus Professor of Biology Melvin Santer published his book, Confronting Contagion: Our Evolving Understanding of Disease, with Oxford University Press in October. The book traces a history of disease theory all the way from classical antiquity to our modern understanding of viruses.

Assistant Professor of Peace, Justice, and Human Rights Jill Stauffer wrote a chapter,“Nihilists, Heroes, Samaritans and I,” in the new book Politics of Religion/Religion of Politics (Springer Publishing), edited by Alistair Welchman. Stauffer also gave a talk on“Philosophy, New Media and Social Networks” at the conference for the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy in New Orleans, La., in October.

Assistant Professor of Psychology Shu-wen Wang published a paper,“Psychological Well-Being and Job Stress Predict Marital Support A Naturalistic Observation Study of Dual-Earner Couples in Their Homes,” in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Helen White was an invited panelist at the first workshop of“The Society for Women in Marine Science on the Challenges and Solutions for Women in Marine Science,” which was held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. White also published,“Coral Communities as Indicators of Ecosystem-Level Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Spill,” in Bioscience with colleagues from Penn State, Temple University, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Audrey A. and John L. Dusseau Professor in Humanities, Professor of Fine Arts, and Curator of Photography William Earle Williams' work“Phoenixville Meeting House, UGRR Station, Pennsylvania, 1998” was included in a group show, Philagrafika: 10 Years of Innovative Printmaking, at the Juanita College Museum in Huntingdon, Pa., from Sept. 25 through Nov. 1. His piece“Untitled Philadelphia, (White Man wearing a black mask) Tim Higgins 1980s” was included in an exhibition, Philadelphia Photographers:1975-1985, surveying the work of Philadelphia-area photographers, which ran at the Santa Bannon Gallery in Bethlehem, Pa., from Oct. 10 through Nov. 21. Williams was also a guest curator for the Philadelphia Anthenaeum show, Treasures of the Athenaeum: 200 Years of Collecting, which ran from Sept. 12 through Nov. 12, and celebrated the Athenaeum's 200th anniversary. He gave a gallery talk,“Photographs Talk: But Seeing What They Are Saying Is Another Matter,” on Sept. 20, exploring the Athenaeum's photography collection, which contains over 350,000 images.

In November, Associate Professor of Political Science Susanna Wing gave an invited lecture,“Mali and the Crisis of Secularism,” at Washington University in St. Louis, and was a roundtable participant in“U.S. and other Foreign Interventions/Assistance in Situations of Turbulence and Violence in Africa” at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. Wing was also invited to serve on the Committee on Professional Ethics, Rights, and Freedoms for the American Political Science Association. (Her term of service will run through 2017.) Additionally, she presented a paper,“French Intervention in Mali: Framing Allegiance and Negotiating Exit,” at the invited workshop“Allies and Exits: Local Collaborators After Rebellion and Counter-Insurgency 1914-2014” at the University of Warwick in April, and published“Mali: Incentives and Challenges for Decentralization” in Decentralization in Africa.

Professor of Philosophy Kathleen Wright published“Hermeneutics and Confucianism” in The Routledge Companion to Hermeneutics (Routledge Press).