Newsbriefs (fall 2008)
Clark University announces new tenure-track teacher-scholars
The following teacher-scholars have joined Clark for the 2008-09 academic year:
- Taner Akçam joins the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, occupying the Robert Aram ’52 and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Professorship in Armenian Genocide Studies, and the History Department from the University of Minnesota.
- John Aylward joins the music program in Clark’s Visual and Performing Arts Department from the Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland, where he was a fellow, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts.
- Maricela Correa-Chávez joins the Psychology Department from UCLA, where she completed an American Educational Research Association-Institute of Educational Sciences postdoctoral fellowship.
- Anita Häusermann Fábos joins the International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE) Department from the University of East London. She begins her post in January 2009.
- John Garton joins the art history program in Clark’s Visual and Performing Arts Department from the Cleveland Institute of Art.
- Sergio Granados-Focil joins the Carlson School of Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he completed postdoctoral research.
- Chang Hong joins the Economics Department from the International Monetary Fund Research Department.
- Arpita Joardar joins the Graduate School of Management from the University of Texas – Pan American.
- Robert Johnston joins the Economics Department from the University of Connecticut and has been named director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute.
- Olga Litvak joins the History Department from SUNY-Albany. She has been named the Michael and Lisa Leffell Chair in Modern Jewish History.
- Robert Tobin joins the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. He has been named Clark ’s Henry J. Leir Chair in Foreign Languages and Cultures.
- Heather Wiatrowski joins the Biology Department from Rutgers University, where she was conducting postdoctoral research.
- Christopher Williams joins the Geography Department from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he was a research scientist at the Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center.
“This is a truly outstanding group of teacher-scholars. It is as if their names were on the job descriptions. They are fully committed to working with Clark students, ” says President John Bassett. “They have real conviction in the importance of teaching, and they are also fully engaged in the search for new knowledge and for making a difference in their world. They will be significant players in Clark ’s commitment to challenge convention and change our world for the better."
Michaels’ book receives distinguished achievement award
Education professor Sarah Michaels co-authored a book that came out last spring, titled “Ready, Set, SCIENCE!: Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classrooms." The book, which is published by the National Academies Press and sponsored by the National Research Council, recently won a 2008 distinguished achievement award from the Association of Educational Publishers, as the best professional development book of the year.
According to the publisher’s Web site, “‘Ready, Set, SCIENCE!’ will be an essential resource for science education practitioners and contains information that will be extremely useful to everyone, including parents, directly or indirectly involved in the teaching of science."
The book is currently used by teachers at the Goddard School of Science and Technology in Worcester. The Massachusetts Department of Education is using it to enhance professional development efforts in science throughout the state. It ’s also being used around the country and in about five foreign countries.
Michaels is a co-author of the CD-ROM suite of tools, Accountable Talk: Classroom Conversation that Works (in collaboration with the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh), which is used in large urban districts throughout the country.
In promoting teacher research, Michaels works to support teachers as theorizers, curriculum innovators and educational leaders who use the tools of ethnography and discourse analysis in generating new and useable knowledge for improving instruction and student learning in their own and others ’ classrooms.
Sarkis awarded AT&T Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship
Management professor Joseph Sarkis was named an AT&T Faculty Fellow in Industrial Ecology, one of three to be named among U.S. college faculty. His fellowship is in cooperation with colleagues at Oregon State University and Green Mountain College, for a project titled "Understanding Business and Environmental Value Opportunities in the Global Supply Chain of China's Information and Communication Technology Industry." The research team will investigate and document how the ICT sector can achieve business and environmental value opportunities within a changing policy landscape in China..
Sarkis and his team also received $25,000 toward research in industrial ecology, a multidisciplinary field that studies industrial and economic systems and in relation to natural systems. Industrial ecology incorporates, among other things, research involving energy, materials, technology and technological systems, information generation, management, transmission and services. It involves disciplines such as law, economics, anthropology, business studies, engineering, and the social and physical sciences.
Sarkis came to Clark in 1996. His teaching and research include operations management, logistics, supply chain management, corporate environmental management, management of technology, international management and information systems and technology, and entrepreneurship. He has published more than 200 publications, including “Green Supply Chain Management: Pressures, Practices and Performance within the Chinese Automobile Industry." He recently edited books titled “Greening the Supply Chain” and “Strategic Sustainability,” featuring insights on environment supply-chain-management theory and practice for industry practitioners and policy makers.
Grants and Awards
Departments
BIOLOGY: Matthew Wund, adviser Susan Foster, was awarded $50,428 in supplemental funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his postdoctoral research on “The Genetic Basis of Boldness in Stickleback Fish." Tim Lyerla was awarded $60,000 in additional support from Nuclea Biomarkers for his research on “Establishment of HPS Mouse Cell Lines."
CHEMISTRY: Fred Greenaway was awarded $30,400 in additional support from Nuclea Biomarkers for his research on Inhibitors of Copper-Containing Quinoprotein Amine Oxidases.
GEOGRAPHY: Zachary Christman, adviser B.L. Turner, was awarded $30,000 in supplemental funds from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for his dissertation research on “Disaggregating Phenological Variation from Discrete Land-Cover Change in the Rio Lerma-Chapala Watershed, Mexico." Christopher City, advisers Jody Emel and Deborah Martin, was awarded a $9,354 doctoral dissertation research improvement grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research on “Land Use and Water Law in the United States."
IDCE: Jennie Stephens entered two agreements with Harvard University with total funding of $25,261 for research on “Carbon Management Technologies: Socio-Political Dimensions of Innovation." Laurie Ross was awarded $5,000 in funds from the Rhode Island/Mass Campus Compact for “Community Based Research and Learning on Adolescent Mental Health." Heidi Larsen was awarded a $225,000 three-year grant from Merck & Co., Inc. to support the UNAIDS initiative, aids2031.
MATH and COMPUTER SCIENCE: Li Han and Lee Rudolph were awarded $90,564 in supplemental funds from the NSF for research on “Practical Parameterization and Efficient Motion Planning of Linkage Systems." The PI’s were also awarded $12,000 in supplemental funds for undergraduate research in the summer.
PSYCHOLOGY: Stefanie Toise, adviser James Laird, was awarded $40,972 in renewal funds from the NIH for her dissertation research on “The Efficacy of Adapted Yoga in Managing Psychosocial Risk in ICD Patients." Abbie Goldberg was awarded a $2,000 Grants-In-Aid award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Goldberg was also awarded $16,326.80 in funds from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law for research on “An Investigation of Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parent Families Post Placement Adjustment."
INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT: Under the direction of Nancy Budwig, associate provost and dean of graduate studies and research, Clark was awarded a $499,500 grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation to support the sciences with a five-year science-equipment program grant.
Research Centers
GEORGE PERKINS MARSH INSTITUTE: Deb Martin was awarded $7,000 in supplemental funds from the NSF to support undergraduate summer research on “Legalizing Community: Lawyers and Citizen Activism in Neighborhood Disputes." Colin Polsky and Gil Pontius were awarded $11,991 in supplemental funding from the NSF for undergraduate summer research on “CNH: Suburbanization, Water Use, Nitrogen Cycling, and Eutrophication in the 21st Century: Interactions, Feedbacks, and Uncertainties in the Massachusetts Coastal Zone." Pontius also received $7,500 in supplemental funding from the Marine Biological Laboratory for his continuing research on “Plum Island Ecosystems LTER." Jennie Stephens was awarded $14,676 in supplemental funds from the NSF for “Collaborative Research: Diffusion of Emerging Energy Technologies within a State Context."
JACOB HIATT CENTER FOR URBAN EDUCATION: Tom DelPrete was awarded $60,000 in funds from Jobs for the Future to support the UPCS Institute.
Faculty honored for excellence
At Fall Convocation ceremonies each year, faculty members are recognized for excellence in teaching, research, scholarship and creative work. The following individuals received awards this year:
- Outstanding Academic Adviser Awards: sociology professor Deborah Merrill and government and international relations professor Kristen Williams
- Outstanding Teacher Award: sociology professor Patricia Ewick
- University Senior Faculty Fellowship Award: English professor Fern Johnson
- Oliver and Dorothy Hayden Junior Faculty Fellowship Award: psychology professor Lene Jensen
- Hodgkins Junior Faculty Awards: English professor Meredith Neuman and geography professor Colin Polsky
In addition, graduate students Xi (Clara) Chen and Danielle Fontaine received Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards.
Fall Convocation was held on Sept. 3 in the Daniels Theater in Atwood Hall and featured the keynote address “Reason, Passion and the Travels of a T-shirt,” by Pietra Rivoli, author of “The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power & Politics of World Trade,” which was the assigned summer reading for Clark first-year students.
Rivoli’s address to students focused on developing balance—the balance between “passion and reason” and the balance between “wildest dreams and practical concerns." She told them:
“At any given moment in our lives, perhaps any given day, I think we often have to choose between passion and reason and the dream and the practical. At any given moment you have to choose between doing the laundry and staring at the moon, between picking up your socks and writing a poem. But over the course of your college career, you do not need to choose one or the other. I urge you to consciously seek balance between these. … Listen to both of these voices. …
“Each of us has core attributes or principles that make us who we are. What defines you? Is it your faith, your honesty, your sense of humor, your loyalty? Can you be true to yourself, while challenging your own conventions? Absolutely. That is the balance you must seek."
Conference marks anniversaries of Holocaust history doctoral program and Freud’s visit
The Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, home to a uniquely rich undergraduate program and the world ’s first doctoral program in Holocaust History and Genocide Studies, sets the standard of excellence for the education and training of future scholars in this field. The center will sponsor the first ever international and interdisciplinary doctoral student conference on Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
The graduate student conference, to be held in April 2009, will celebrate the centennial anniversary of Sigmund Freud ’s visit to Clark. Freud, who fled Nazi persecution, delivered five lectures at Clark, the sole American university where he lectured. He was grateful for the opportunity to introduce his ideas about psychoanalysis to an American audience and pleased to receive an honorary degree, the only one granted to him. The conference will honor Freud ’s visit as well as an important milestone for the Strassler Center—the 10th anniversary of its doctoral program.
The conference, organized by and for students, will provide a forum for students to present original research papers to an audience of peers and scholars from throughout the United States and abroad. The call for papers prompted 109 proposals grounded in original research on topics dealing with the Holocaust and genocide studies.
The Strassler Center’s commitment to doctoral study ensures that Holocaust history and genocide studies are energized by new research; its purpose is to train the next generations of scholars who will investigate archives, combat denial with well established facts, educate the public about historical genocides and monitor current genocidal events around the globe.
In the Spotlight:
Student Organization: Pasticcio
According to Kate Head ’08, editor-in-chief of Clark’s 2007-2008 yearbook and member of the student organization for the past four years, the entirely student-produced Pasticcio has often left its recipients bewildered as to the origin of its name.
“People always ask what ‘Pasticcio’ means. That’s how I came up with the dictionary theme for this year’s yearbook,” explains Head. “Defying definition” is the theme for the 2007-2008 yearbook, which will be mailed out to graduates this fall. And in case you are still stumped about the meaning of the word “Pasticcio,” pronounced pas-te-che-o, its definition is “different elements coming together to create a new whole."
The Pasticcio, originally called the Patriot, is produced annually by Clark’s oldest student organization. The year 2004 marked the 100th anniversary of the yearbook. The Pasticcio has won numerous awards including the Walsworth Gallery of Excellence Award consecutively since 2003; it was a Pacemaker finalist in 2004.
Head attributes the book’s success to the dedication of the Pasticcio staff and the consistent presentation of the book; unlike other schools, the Pasticcio has always been printed in black and white. Needless to say, a lot of hard work goes into creating an award-winning yearbook year after year. In August each year, the former and current editors-in-chief fly to Missouri to visit the plant and company where the past year ’s book is being printed and together they begin to prepare the theme, cover and other aspects of the upcoming year ’s Pasticcio.
Head, who did not work on her high school’s yearbook due to time constraints, knew she wanted to join Clark’s yearbook staff as soon as she first stepped on campus.
“I like the variety of stuff we get to work with,” she explains. “I get to find out a lot about students, which I like. The creative part of it is also really fun, from designing the overall theme to each and every different section."
Head takes pride in producing the yearbook, which she says is not only “a really big accomplishment at the end,” but also much appreciated by the Clarkies who receive it each year. On bigger college campuses, the yearbook is not as highly anticipated as it is at Clark, she notes.
“The Pasticcio is popular because it not only preserves Clark memories, but because Clark is not a big school, there is also a good chance students will find themselves in it, ” says Head.
The Class of 2008’s yearbook features a little bit of everything from ongoing student life, such as V-day activities, Hillary Clinton ’s visit toClark, the Red Sox winning the World Series, the Gym Class Heroes concert, Spree Day, Halloween, spring-break and study-abroad stories, and International Gala.
Head, who looks forward to seeing yet another edition in its printed and hardbound stage, says her work with the Pasticcio has been an invaluable real-world experience. And she ’s not kidding. Head recently accepted a position with yearbook publisher Walsworth Publishing —a job for which she’s aptly prepared. Head tied up all the loose ends and put the 2008 issue of the Pasticcio to bed, just in time to head out on the road to help other college and university yearbook editors get started.
“The whole point of college is to get involved,” Head says. “If you are just going to class to get that degree then you might as well have taken courses online. If you go to college, why not participate? Practicing life skills, dealing with budgets, talking with people outside the college bubble … Being in a student organization prepares you for the real world."
— Amanda Guisbond ’07, M.S.P.C. ’08
Clark political scientist authors book on Chilean democracy
Clark political scientist Paul Posner released his first book, “State, Market, and Democracy in Chile” (Palgrave Macmillan). The book assesses the quality of Chilean democracy by examining the impact of free-market reforms on the urban poor ’s incentives for political participation and capacity for collective action. Using in-depth analysis of the labor market, social welfare and state reforms, along with extensive interviews with party officials and shantytown residents, Posner ’s study reveals the manner in which neoliberal reform has undermined the urban poor ’s incentives and ability to hold public officials accountable. In so doing, he demonstrates how economic liberalization has negatively affected the quality of Chilean democracy.
Posner argues that the adoption and perpetuation of a neoliberal economic model in Chile, and the changes in state structure and policies that have accompanied it, have greatly enhanced the economic and political leverage of business elites while simultaneously impeding political participation and collective action among the working and middle classes.
According to Posner, with the guidance of free-market technocrats and support and input from the business community, the military dictatorship which took power in 1973 radically redesigned the Chilean state in a manner that undermined the ability of the poor and middle sectors to press their interests before the state.
“Opponents to General Pinochet’s military regime succeeded in re-establishing democracy in 1990,” Posner notes. “However, the manner in which Chile restored democracy ensured that many of the Pinochet dictatorship ’s reforms would remain intact. In addition, the business community would continue to have privileged access to policymakers and privileged influence over policy formation."
“Consequently, labor market and social-welfare policies continue to exacerbate already high levels of social stratification, deprive the public of vital resources, and reinforce workers ’ severe vulnerability to the vagaries of the market,” he says. “Party and electoral reforms which accompanied Chile’s democratic transition have reinforced the impact of economic reforms by severely restricting the representation of the popular sectors in the political arena."
Posner observed that the public’s disenchantment with economic and political institutions—and political parties in particular—is having a negative impact on electoral politics in Chile. Voter turnout and voter registration have fallen significantly and the casting of spoiled or blank ballots, noncompliant abstention and nonregistration have become highly common.
“These electoral trends, and the high levels of social and economic inequality that have precipitated them, raise serious concerns about the quality and legitimacy of Chilean democracy, ” he notes.
“Chile’s experience should serve as a cautionary example to those who advocate neoliberal policies as a panacea for economic and political development."
Jorge Nef, director of the Institute for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean at the University of South Florida calls the book “a first-rate work that will be a most important contribution to the democracy/democratization debate ” and praised the work as “one of great quality and intellectual significance."
Associate dean receives Great Guy Award
Jason Zelesky, associate dean of students and wellness outreach coordinator, received a Great Guy Award from the YWCA and Daybreak organizations, during ceremonies on June 16 at the Worcester Art Museum.
The Great Guy Award was established in 2004 to recognize the outstanding contributions of men in the community who have been inspired to learn and better understand the issue of domestic violence, and who have demonstrated their commitment to end violence against women and children.
Zelesky has been working directly with college students for the past 13 years and at Clark for the last seven years. He also worked at the University of Vermont, Saint Leo University in Florida, and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. As a health educator and higher-education administrator, Zelesky has worked extensively with students as they attempt to navigate the developmental obstacles and challenges associated with the college experience.
At Clark, Zelesky coordinates the sexual-violence prevention programming on campus and is the author of the University ’s “Survivor Guide." In addition, he has spent more than a decade working specifically with young boys and men to reduce violence against women and homophobia.
Zelesky is the co-chair of the Planned Parenthood of Central Massachusetts Advisory Committee and is active in his support of women ’s reproductive rights and comprehensive health education.
The YWCA has been providing services to battered women and their children since 1996 when Daybreak Resources for Women and Children merged with the YWCA. Daybreak was founded in 1976 on the campus of Clark University by student Beth Herr ’79, who had documented the need for battered women’s services and the lack of those services in Worcester. The overall mission of the Daybreak program is to foster safety within the community by: enabling women to break free from abuse; equipping young people with the skills to resist violence and abuse; promoting safe, nonviolent and mutually respectful interaction within families; and encouraging women to share their strength and courage with others.
The other 2008 Great Guy Award recipients are Councilor-at-Large Joseph Petty, District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., and Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray.
Herrington receives first Mosakowski HERO Fellowship
Kelsey L. Herrington has been named the inaugural Mosakowski HERO Fellow, joining the select student researchers who are members of the Human-Environment Regional Observatory ( HERO) Fellowship program at Clark. The 2008-09 HERO Fellows include Herrington, Jennifer Alpern ’09, Samuel Blanchard ’09, Nicholas Bumbarger ’09, Andrew Caiazzo ’09, Albert Decatur ’09, Jaclyn Green-Stock ’09, Valerie Locker ’09 and Rachel Shmookler ’09. Current Clark HERO program research assistants are geography doctoral students Rahul Rakshit, who is working on the high-resolution mapping effort, and Arijit Guha, who is working on social science research.
The HERO research program provides opportunities for students to analyze the causes and consequences of global environmental changes at local scales in faculty-led research projects. The HERO program awards summer fellowships to selected Clark undergraduates to engage in data collection and research with faculty on local environmental change and to undertake a yearlong HERO Fellows seminar. With a 2008-09 class of nine student researchers with a mean GPA of 3.7, the program continues a tradition of attracting some of Clark’s best and brightest.
“Kelsey brings exactly the academic background needed for this area of cutting-edge research, ” says geography professor and HERO adviser Colin Polsky. “We need students who are not only motivated to study human-environmental dynamics, but also trained in quantitative and qualitative methods. Kelsey will be analyzing statistical patterns, studying local land-use law, and interviewing decision-makers and homeowners. We are delighted to have her for the coming year."
Herrington is majoring in global environmental studies. As the Mosakowski HERO Fellow, she conducted a summer research project, under Polsky’s guidance, examining how land-use policy affects suburban form and lawn management.
“So far, being a Mosakowski HERO Fellow has been challenging, a great learning experience and a lot of fun,” says Herrington. “It’s exciting to be collaborating with so many different groups to produce models and analyses that will be actually useful to local decision makers."
“We are delighted to have Kelsey as our first Mosakowski HERO Fellow,” says James R. Gomes, director of Clark’s Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise. “She combines a deep curiosity about how the world works with a passion to make a positive difference."
The Mosakowski Institute is dedicated to performing, supporting and disseminating research that can be used to make an impact in a wide range of public-policy areas. Herrington is the first Clark student to be supported by the new Mosakowski Fellows Program.
Current HERO research is funded by multiple grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Henry David Thoreau Foundation, and the O ’Connor ’78 Fund. These research activities link students, researchers, advocates and policy makers at local, state and federal levels. Learn more at www.clarku.edu/HERO
Newest residence hall awarded LEED Silver certification
The Blackstone Hall student residence achieved top marks for sustainable components and has been awarded the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), making it one of fewer than 10 LEED-certified residence halls in Massachusetts and the first in the city of Worcester.
The University and Consigli Construction Co., Inc. worked with architectural firm Chan Krieger Sieniewicz of Cambridge to complete the project. The 208-bed facility includes many sustainable features, such as zinc-clad window boxes designed to deflect the sun ’s heat from the numerous windows that offer enhanced natural day-lighting, and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood throughout the building.
The structure, the second LEED-certified building for Clark, also incorporates energy-efficient fixtures to reduce water consumption, and the building ’s air supply is 100 percent outside air, offering higher indoor air quality for its residents. In addition, the jobsite realized a recycling rate of more than 97 percent, due to a rigorous on-site waste-reduction program.
The Cathy ’83 and Marc ’81 Lasry Center for Bioscience at Clark received Gold LEED certification in 2007.
“We at Clark are thrilled to have another LEED-certified building,” says Paul Bottis Jr., director of Clark’s Physical Plant. “Our students love the bright spacious suites and the many amenities that are within this new residence hall. The collaboration between Chan Krieger Sieniewicz Architecture and Urban Design and Consigli Construction Co. Inc. has produced a building that Clark University will be proud of for years. To have that building receive the Silver LEED rating is just icing on the cake."
To see photos and learn more about Blackstone Hall, visit www.clarku.edu/blackstone
Cook receives Gerontology Studies Program honors
Kiri H. Cook ’08 received a Certificate in Gerontology, augmenting her scholarship by completing the Consortium Gerontology Studies Program. Cook received both the Sol Boskind and Student Ambassador awards for her outstanding participation in the program.
Cook is among nine graduates to complete the interdisciplinary Gerontology Studies Program, established in 1978 by the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. Students in the program work with faculty and have access to supportive internship and community partners.
The interdisciplinary nature of the program allows students to look at aging from a number of perspectives and in leadership roles, Cook says. Besides serving as a student ambassador, leading a Clark team of students for the annual Alzheimer ’s Association Memory Walk for the past four years, and helping organize the annual Intergenerational Dance at the College of the Holy Cross, she undertook two required internship placements that helped her envision and plan for a future working with the aging.
“Although the program provides a certificate and is not a major, it has really shaped my studies at Clark. At Academic Spree Day, I presented my sociology capstone paper on traditional gender roles and older men ’s vulnerability, and it felt like the capstone not only of my major but also of my gerontology concentration."
“She’s such a great student and a great resource to us and, I know, to others,” says Gerontology Studies program director Kelly Niles-Yokum, who notes how challenging it is to get 18- to 22-year-old students to connect to the topic of aging studies.
“I am confident that I will be successful in my future endeavors serving older adults, in whatever manner that may be, ” Cook says. “I cannot say enough good things about this program. I am proud to have been a part of something that will continue to be very important as our population continues to age."
Asher receives Indo-American Environmental Leadership Program (IAELP) award
Kiran Asher, international development, community and environment (IDCE) professor, received a Fulbright Indo-American Environmental Leadership Program (IAELP) award, which will enable her to spend three months in India during spring 2009 to conduct research on the paradoxical and power-laden connections between biodiversity conservation, economic development and local communities in the Third World.
Asher noticed the relations between rural peoples and their environment while studying the behavioral ecology of ungulates in western India in the 1980s. But as a biologist, she says she refused to be “distracted” by social and political issues and kept her attention firmly focused on antelope and deer. However, her engagement in extensive wildlife conservation-related fieldwork in India and Latin America made her realize that environmental and scientific concerns are linked to, and embedded within, complex sociocultural, economic and political contexts.
Asher’s subsequent research focused on the intersections of Afro-Colombian cultural struggles, the political economy of development, and the role of women as they related to environment conservation in the Pacific Lowlands of Colombia, which is considered one of the world ’s biodiversity “hotspots." She also drew from Marxist, postcolonial and feminist theory to understand these connections, which are the focus of her book “Black and Green: Afro-Colombians, Development and Nature."
With the IAELP award, Asher will return to India as an interdisciplinary scholar to explore how specific on-the-ground conservation efforts engage rural women whose livelihoods depend on natural resources. This preliminary research will lay the groundwork for long-term, field-based research and action projects designed to involve local women from the onset and to address their concerns. They will also provide learning and research opportunities for students from India and Clark University.
Scholar, author, ex-political prisoner and courageous champion of civil liberties joins Strassler Center
Clark appointed prominent historian Taner Akçam to occupy the Robert Aram ’52 and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Professorship in Armenian Genocide Studies. Ak çam is widely admired for his bold and authoritative scholarship, using Turkish sources, on the genocide of the Armenians by the Turks in the early 20th century. Formerly a visiting professor of history at the University of Minnesota and a visiting scholar at the Armenian Research Center, University of Michigan –Dearborn, Akçam serves on the editorial board of Genocide Studies and Prevention, the official journal of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.
“Professor Akçam is as renowned for his scholarship as he is for his courageous political actions championing freedom of the press, the right to pursue scholarly investigation, and the protection of civil liberties, ” says Debórah Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust History and director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Akçam grew up in Turkey, where he was imprisoned for his participation in free press publications. Amnesty International publicized his plight as a prisoner of conscience in 1976. After a dramatic escape, Ak çam received political asylum in Germany, where he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Hannover and worked with the Hamburg Institute for Social Research on the historical use of violence and torture in Turkey.
He has authored several scholarly works, as well as numerous articles in Turkish, German and English. His most recent book, “A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility” won stellar reviews.
Akçam’s life and work have been featured in four critically acclaimed documentary films. “A Wall of Silence” premiered on Dutch national television and was shown in theaters across the United States and Canada. “Armenian Genocide: 90 Years Later” garnered a regional Emmy nomination and the Eric Sevareid Award for broadcast journalism. “Armenian Genocide” aired nationally on most PBS television stations. “Screamers” was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the U.S. Congress, and the European and British Parliaments. In 2007, the Armenian Bar Association presented the Hrant Dink Freedom Award to Ak çam as “a champion of historical truth about the Armenian Genocide and for his courageous defense of liberty and free speech." He has also been honored by the Harvard University Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations as well as the Massachusetts State Legislature.
“My appointment is a sign of change, with symbolic meaning,” Akçam told The Boston Globe (5/29/08). “It is not important, the ethnic origin of the individual in this position; what is important is the approach of the individual to the historic wrongdoing."
Clark mourns the loss of a professor: Remembering Arthur Chou
Arthur W. Chou, professor of mathematics and computer science at Clark University, was struck and killed by a commuter train on June 25 in Lincoln, Massachusetts. News of his untimely death was a shock to the Clark community. Respected for his work as a mathematician and beloved for his endearing sense of humor, students, alumni, colleagues and friends remembered the smiling professor through blogs and electronic guestbook entries:
“Professor Chou was an amazing teacher and an even more amazing person. I will forever treasure the conversations I had with him about geometry, number theory, and topology. He was always smiling and so enthusiastic!! I will always remember him as one of those professors that leave a part of their soul with you, ” wrote Maria Gargova Fung ’93.
He “was an incredible academic with a genuine passion for teaching and ensuring that his students succeed. His excellent teaching style coupled with his terrific sense of humor was always a delight for all his students. A wonderful human being, I ’ve had some insightful conversations with him. He cared so much about his students. … He will forever remain in our memories,” added Nagraj Lakshman Rao ’08.
Professor Chou earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Tunghai University, Taiwan, in 1976 and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1982. He joined the Clark University faculty in 1982 as assistant professor of mathematics and computer science and was subsequently promoted to associate professor in 1989 and full professor this year. Professor Chou taught a range of classes at Clark University, including calculus, computer programming and bioinformatics. He helped establish and was the current director of the bioinformatics concentration.
“Arthur was a wonderful colleague, always calm, kind, helpful and thoughtful,” notes mathematics and computer science professor Natalia Sternberg. “He was a wonderful researcher setting very high standards, especially for himself. He was a wonderful and exciting teacher, adored by his students. Most importantly, he was a wonderful human being. He will be thoroughly missed, but he will keep on living in our memories and in our hearts."
Professor Chou began his career as a pure mathematician specializing in the field of differential geometry. He subsequently expanded his research interests during the 1980s and 1990s to the emerging fields of complexity theory and bioinformatics and made significant research contributions in both these areas. Most recently, he had been collaborating with medical researchers working to develop HIV vaccines. His research work was published in a variety of leading scientific journals, including the Journal of Complexity, Theoretical Computer Science and the SIAM Journal of Computing.
At Clark, Professor Chou was a very active member of his department and the University community. He served on numerous faculty university committees, including College Board, the Faculty Review Committee, and the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee. Within the department of mathematics and computer science, Professor Chou spearheaded the development of a new computer-science laboratory.
“I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of our colleague Arthur Chou, who has taught at Clark for 26 years, ” says President John Bassett. “He was a key player in developing within the Mathematics Department a strong program in computer science. He will be missed."
“Professor Chou was a great professor—and I’ll always remember our multivariate calculus class theme of llamas, because of the lemmas, we learned, ” wrote Samantha Meyer ’08. “He always made me laugh."
Daniel Sternberg ’00 delivered a moving eulogy for Professor Chou. He said, “Since I spent most of my time at the Math Department, I would walk with Arthur to and from class. After every lecture he would ask ‘How did I do?’ That single question is one reason I think Arthur was such an effective teacher. Even though by this time he’d been teaching for 15 years, he wanted to make sure that he was connecting with the students and being clear. In all his lectures, I don’t think he once went on auto pilot, just repeating the same words from memory. As a student, it felt like he was giving each lecture for the first time."
Read the eulogy in its entirety.
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