New faculty members' anecdotes, interests

Csilla Szabo, Mathematics

Csilla Szabo (“CHEE-lah SUB-oh”) works in Markov models of actin polymers and analysis of neural network connectivity.

Once during a job interview, she was explaining how to pronounce her Hungarian name, saying it sounds like “cheetah” but replace the “T” with an “L,” and the interviewer growled at her. She decided not to pursue that job.

James Sieja, Government

I study the selection, nomination, and confirmation process for lower-court federal judges. My next project tries to answer: Why do presidents nominate the candidates they do?

In summer 2105, I spent one month driving to five presidential libraries and an academic library in the Midwest and the South: 4,944 miles and only two nights in a hotel.

Sarah DiPasquale, Dance

I am a dancer and a physical therapist. I teach classical ballet and modern technique; my scholarship focuses on dance medicine and science—for example, dance injury tracking and prevention.

You can tell a lot about a woman by what’s in her purse. Some highlights from mine: size-5 Pampers diapers, baby wipes, a stick (my 3-year-old loaned me her “magic wand”), crayons, Cheerios, and a Cliff bar.

Rosario Inés Granados-Salinas, Art History

My research focuses on religion and material culture in Spanish America, especially their role in identity formation among indigenous populations and women. I am equally interested in how the Colonial period is perceived today.

My father named me after Rosario Castellanos, a writer and Mexican ambassador to Israel; my mother added the name of the first female poet of the Americas, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Key Fang, Psychology

I study culturally sensitive assessment and treatment of social anxiety among ethnic minority populations. My dissertation examined factors and contexts of social anxiety among Chinese immigrants.

I grew up wanting to be a stage actress. Now I am glad that I found an alternative stage as a college professor—the classroom.

Claudia Calhoun, Mellon Fellow, Media and Film Studies

I am a historian of American media. My research has used the radio and television series Dragnet (1949–59) to show how the police procedural genre served a pedagogical purpose after World War II, instructing Americans in their role as citizens.

I was a member of the championship 2001 Texas State Academic Challenge team.

Dylan Ellefson, History

I teach East Asian and world history. I research Japanese popular culture, such as modern festivals, contemporary cinema, and television. I am particularly interested in the importance of local place(s) in urban history and culture.

I’m just another Dylan from Duluth who made it to New York.

Gwen Nally, Philosophy

I have written mainly about Plato’s epistemology and metaphysics. Recently, I’ve been interested in the ethics of belief in the dialogues. I also have interests in applied ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy, and I teach every summer in a classics program in Greece.

I’m a big fan of design and once won a trip to Paris on Pinterest.

Maggie Greaves, English

A specialist in poetry and poetics, she’s working on a book about astronomical discourse in postwar poetry written by exiled or displaced poets.

She says, “I once had a student plagiarize from my own article.”

Jess Mahatthananchai, Chemistry

I study organic chemistry. I’m a proud Skidmore alumnus, class of 2009.
 Many of you might remember me with more hair. I can’t wait to be teaching our students in the same classrooms I sat in!

Olivia Dunn, English

Last year I earned my MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. I’m working on a book-length walking essay that traverses the personal and historical landscapes of Albany, N.Y.

I have little to no sense of direction. I can advise you on where to eat in the Albany area, but I cannot tell you how to get there. This morning I spent 15 minutes circling the highway entrance, getting on and off about three ramps.

Amanda Gilvin, Art History

Gilvin’s research focuses in West Africa. Her book manuscript, Mining Beauty: Art and Development in Niger, includes an analysis of the Musée National Boubou Hama du Niger. She is also a curator. The permanent African art exhibition she is curating for Smith College opens this fall.

She says, “I grew up on a farm in Kentucky. In the 1980s, silver mint-julep cups were considered appropriate prizes 4-H for grade-school children. My dozen cups include one engraved with “Arts & Crafts,” another with “Dog.”

Jeremy Day-O’Connell, Music

Day-O’Connell specializes in 19th-century European music, as well as psychological and anthropological questions about music and language.

He is an experienced home-improver. His latest project was a “dream kitchen,” begun in 2014 by demolishing walls, ceiling, and floor. Then, he says, “It seemed a shame not to also update the carpentry . . . and re-side the outer walls . . . and replace windows and doors . . . and reconfigure the ductwork . . . and . . . and. The “dream” was finally completed just as the Day-O’Connells left it behind to move to Skidmore.

Jacob Deblois, Health and Exercise Sciences

I am a kinesiologist in Skidmore’s First Responder Health and Safety Laboratory, studying the cardiovascular strain associated with firefighting.

I’m the type of child every parent fears—the boomerang. Only, instead of going back to my parents, I returned to Skidmore. I grew up idolizing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; my life mantra is Tom Petty lyric: “Even the losers get lucky sometimes.”

Marketa Wolfe, Economics

My research is at the intersection of macroeconomics and finance, with an international focus. I am also interested in energy economics and commodities.

My campus visit in February coincided with a blizzard. My colleagues in the Economics Department trudged through the snow to my hotel and took me for dinner at one of the four open restaurants in Saratoga. Thank you!

Eric Egan, Neuroscience

I create computational models of human vision and study cross-modal, 3D-shape perception.

As a Skidmore student, I was sent to Don Hastings’ residential-life office only once. Sara Miga ’08, who works in advancement at Skidmore, has been tolerating my behavior since we met in Sheldon Solomon’s intro psych class.

Lisa Lowrance, Computer Science/Mathematics

I study graph theory, matroid theory, and network science.

I’m from Texas and used to think a snow blower was like a leaf blower, until I moved to New York.

Cecilia Aldorondo, English

Aldorondo explores memory, materiality, and performance in her writing and her documentary filmmaking. Her documentary Memories of a Penitent Heart has been supported by the Sundance Institute and is due to premiere in early 2016.

She reveals: “I was born in a car.”

Johanna MacKay, Library

Along with reference, instruction, and collection development, MacKay focuses on creating online tutorials, videos, and research guides.

An avid walker and hiker, she relented last winter and learned how to snowshoe. She is also a proud “Whovian”—that is, a fan of the Dr. Who TV series.

Peter Murray, Philosophy

I work primarily in the philosophy of action and mind, theories of agency, and also  theories of linguistic competence.

I want to thank everyone who accepted my invitation to today’s faculty meeting that I accidentally emailed to all faculty when I added the meeting to my calendar. For those who declined, I understand.

Kurt Smemo, Environmental Studies

I am a biogeochemist and ecologist especially studying microbial controls on soil carbon and nutrient cycling, particularly in response to global environmental change.

As a wildland firefighter in Idaho, I once missed my helicopter ride because I had to pee. I had to walk 20 miles in the dark to the nearest road.

Paul Benzon, English

Benzon writes about contemporary fiction, American literature, media studies, and digital culture. His interests include experimental writing, new and hybrid genres, media history, literature and materiality, and questions of the archive.

For years he followed the myth of the Atari game burial—a mass of video-game cartridges believed to have been dumped in the New Mexico desert. When archeologists excavating in 2013 proved that it was more than just an urban legend, he says he felt “at once horrified, vindicated, and exhilarated.”

Anna Valcheva, Psychology

My research concentrates on the evaluation of quality in higher education. My dissertation investigates the development of student course evaluations in the U.S.

I like Justin Bieber. Just kidding! I don’t. But I do like Metallica. I am from Eastern Europe, so it’s OK.

Tim Weintzen, English

Tim Weintzen studies 20th- and 21st-century British literature, including, for example, the relationship between politics and the science of reflex in the early 20th century.

Under the moniker “DJ Timbo,” he hosted a punk-rock radio show in college. Among other talents are his bread-baking skills and his ability to solve a Rubik’s Cube.

Lucy Spardy, Mathematics

I’m a mathematical neuroscientist, developing and analyzing mathematical models of biological systems, especially animal locomotion.

As the second of three girls, I have self-diagnosed “middle-child syndrome.” I’ll be timing today’s presentations to make sure I get the same amount of attention as everyone else (but you’ll probably forget about me)!

Chris Mann, Government

I research voter mobilization, voter persuasion, and changes in how elections are conducted. Much of my work uses large-scale field experiments in partnership with civic organizations, political campaigns, and election administrators.

Despite years of study of political behavior and professional experience in campaigns, I can’t explain the current presidential primaries.

Lauren Berger, Psychology

My research includes the work-life balance of working mothers and parenting gender roles. My clinical counseling includes acceptance and commitment therapy for depression among the college-student population.

Once, waiting with students as classes changed, a student told me I looked familiar and asked if I was in his class last year. I had to divulge that I was his instructor last year. We had a good laugh while internally I quickly questioned the imprint my teaching had left on him.

John Lopez, Art History

Book manuscript: comparative study of Aztec and Spanish hydraulic practices on Mexico City. Research interests: art and architecture of Latin America, ancient Americas, and Spain; also histories of cartography, urban form, and disasters.

At age 18, I was the youngest licensed general contractor in California. At 21, I drove a motorcycle through the American Southwest and Mexico for nine months. At age 26, I dropped into college.

Tom Hart, Environmental Studies

Specializing in environmental planning, water resources, GIS, and remote sensing, he research the geomorphology of the eastern shore of Lake Ontario and coastal processes governing inlet formation and management.

 

He says, “Ask me about water: watershed management, drinking water, green infrastructure, canoeing, skiing, ice climbing, or Olympic snow shoveling!

Sandra Goff, Economics

I study relationships between markets, moral reasoning, and pro-social attitudes and behavior—for example, how people react to the economic valuation of environmental and cultural resources.

I recently acquired an Erdös number (part of the folklore of mathematicians throughout the world). I now have an Erdös–Bacon number, allowing me to fulfill my childhood dream of being just like Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years.

Rohan Edmonds, Health and Exercise Sciences

An undergraduate in Australia, I worked alongside an elite rugby team for my postgraduate study on the cardiac autonomic balance in elite rugby players.

I have a weakness for cheeseburgers, and I love anything sports-related—basketball, football, golf, tennis, you name it and I’ll talk about it.

Marta Brunner, Library

My graduate training is in rhetoric, social movements, literature, and religion, but these days I am writing about open-access publishing, the future of academic libraries, and “alt-ac”/”post-ac” career paths.

I am a self-taught clawhammer banjo player but you probably don’t want me in your jug band yet.

Amber Wiley, American Studies

My research centers on the social aspects of design and how it affects urban communities: architecture as a literal and figural structure of power. I focus on the ways local and national bodies have made the claim for the dominating narrative and collective memory of cities through design, and examine how preservation and architecture contribute to the creation and maintenance of the identity and “sense of place” of a city.

I recently completed a yearlong fellowship in six different countries. When I returned, living out of a suitcase in my dad’s living room in Oklahoma, I locked myself out. I had nothing but a bathrobe on. Barefoot and bespectacled, I ventured over to the neighbor’s house who hosted me for an hour until my brother could let me in. I know more about that neighbor than my dad does, and they’ve lived beside each other for a decade.

Rena Wood, Art

My work is conceptually driven by ideas about memory and memory loss. I create 2D-work using hand-embroidery and vintage materials and installation-based fiber works that are more sculptural.

As an artist-in-residence in the Smoky Mountains, I once had the back door to my studio open at dusk and turned around to see a black bear maybe five feet away in the open doorway staring at me. I’ve never moved so fast in my life.

Sarah Day-O’Connell, Music

I’m a music historian, with particular interest in theories of performance from the 18th century to the present day and in the composer Joseph Hayden.

I have an 18th-century wig that I’ve been known to wear when teaching J.S. Bach. Happy to lend it out. Also, my previous dean first introduced me to my new colleagues by quipping about how proud the institution was to have hired a former Supreme Court justice.

Oscar Pérez, Foreign Languages and Literatures

Focusing on Hispanic transatlantic literature and film, and especially representations of science, technology, and medicine, he also studies the use of Spanish in scientific and technical communication.

He first came to the U.S. 11 years ago, to live in Wisconsin, with no jackets or coats in his bag.

Christopher Vecsey, Neuroscience

I am interested in two very broad and important processes: learning and memory, and sleep. I do research on fruit flies, trying to understand in this “simple” organism what signals in the brain are involved in controlling sleep and wakefulness. In some new experiments I activate neurons in the brain remotely by shining lights on the fly, inducing it to fall asleep or wake up.

I once ordered calzones for a group of friends and was delivered cocaine instead.

Leigh Wilton, Psychology

An experimental psychologist who studies the socio-contextual factors that influence how people experience race, ethnicity, and diversity, she explores these perceptions both within groups (such as within organizations) and within individuals (such as multiracial identity).

She jokes, “Really it’s all just ‘me-search’ to understand my multiracial, multi-ethnic identity.”

Smriti Tiwari, Economics

I study the constraints and decisions faced by poor households in developing countries. My ultimate goal is to generate knowledge to influence policy.

She is from Kathmandu, Nepal; is passionate about development and poverty alleviation; is glad to be part of the Skidmore community; and is funny and clever. ~P.M.