Faculty-Staff Achievements

Yelena Biberman-Ocakli, associate professor of political science, published an academic article with alumni Samantha Hotz '23 and Jared Schwartz '20 titled, "India as a Restorationist State: Implications for US-India Relations and South Asian Politics" in International Politics.

Robert Boyers, professor of English, authored a book, “Maestros & Monsters: Days & Nights with Susan Sontag & George Steiner,” that was recently selected as a “Kirkus Reviews Best Non-Fiction Book of 2023.” Other recent reviews of the book include the London Times Literary Supplement (TLS) review by James Marcus, the Adam Kirsch cover feature review in the Fall issue of the Jewish Review of Books, and the David Mikics review in the online issue of Tablet magazine. 

Jason Breves, associate professor of biology, Ellie Runiewicz ‘24, and Sierra Richardson ‘23 co-authored an article, “Transcriptional regulation of esophageal, intestinal, and branchial solute transporters by salinity, growth hormone, and cortisol in Atlantic salmon,” in the Journal of Experimental Zoology – A.  

Ryan Homsey, director of academic advising, composed the art song “Your Name,” set to the poetry of Joyce Sutphen (Minnesota Poet Laurette 2011-2021). The recording by Bree Nichols (soprano) and Alexandr Starý (piano) was released on a multi-composer album of contemporary vocal/choral music, “Tapestry of Voices,” on Navona Records.

Stephen Ives, associate professor of health and human physiological sciences, was awarded a $150,000 grant from the American Heart Association to support his research on the cardiovascular effects of dietary capsaicin.

Kelsey Jensen, postdoctoral staff scientist at The Soil Inventory Project at Skidmore College published a peer reviewed paper with Eliana Colzani '22, TSIP program manager; Morgan McClure '22, TSIP associate data scientist; Kristofer Covey, assistant professor of environmental studies and sciences; and Chloe Faehndrich '23 in Soil Science Society of America Journal. The paper, "Rapid soil harvesting using a novel soil auger system for farm-scale soil carbon estimates," presents data collected at two local farms as part of a ES 352D lab, Wicked Environmental Problems and Systemic Solutions. The analysis shows that the TSIP soil harvester developed by the TSIP program outperforms conventional soil sampling hardware both in accessing difficult soil layers and in speed of use. The hardware described in the manuscript will be distributed to around 500 farms in the coming year as part of a farm-led distributed soil carbon inventory effort. 

Julia Marco, director of marketing and engagement, and Sara Miga, senior director of external relations and strategic communications, presented "Lessons in Leadership" at the American Marketing Association's Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. The session showcased the Skidmore Office of Communications and Marketing’s resiliency through change as well as leadership lessons about organizational culture, well-being, and morale.

Nadia Marin-Guadarrama, visiting assistant professor of anthropology, presented her paper "Transformed by Them: Mothers and Children Shaping the Life of an Anthropologist" at the American Anthropologist Association annual meeting in Toronto, Canada.

Ryan Richard Overbey, Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Assistant Professor in Buddhist Studies, along with co-editor Michelle C. Wang of Georgetown University, edited a volume titled, “Beyond the Silk and Book Roads: Rethinking Networks of Exchange and Material Culture.” Overbey’s chapter is titled “A Gandhāran among the Türks: Buddhist Texts and Travels in the Biographies of *Dhyānagupta.”

Laurie Rabinowitz, assistant professor of education studies, published “‘Why Did Devon Just Leave the Classroom?’: Disability Studies in Education-Informed Related Service Provision” in Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning.

Denise Smith, professor of health and human physiological sciences, and Sue D’Isabel, first responder health and safety laboratory project manager, published a paper "The effect of mild to moderate COVID-19 infection on the cardiorespiratory fitness of firefighters" in Frontiers in Public Health. The article was co-authored by Alex Frost ’23 and Chanhtel Thongphok ’23.