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Emily Nagoski (standing,
second from left) serenades her school charges
in The King and I. |
Emily Nagoski,
director of wellness education, starred recently as Mrs.
Anna Leonowens, the school teacher, in the ’s (ACT) production of The King
and I, a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based
on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret
Landon. The ACT is a nonprofit community theatre company
based in Greenfield, Mass. Performances took place at the
Shea Theater in downtown Turners Falls, Mass. Nagoski in
her character was surrounded by a cast of 50 performers,
including two dozen local children playing her students,
and actors from several nearby communities, including Jerry
Marcanio or Royalston, Mass., playing the King of Siam.
Gloria Heath ’43,
who served as a member of the Women’s Airforce Service
Pilots (WASP) during World War II, was named in July as
a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal for her service
with the pilots group. The Congressional Gold Medal is
among the highest honors bestowed by the United States
Congress to express national appreciation for distinguished
achievements and contributions. Past recipients include
George Washington, Zachary Taylor, Thomas Edison, and numerous
other notable figures in American history.
Laura Putnam ’10 was
recently named the winner of the 2009 Lisa MacFarlane Prize,
given annually by the . The prize is
awarded in honor of the best paper or project written and
developed by an undergraduate on an American studies subject.
Putnam’s paper, written under the supervision of
Daniel Horowitz, the Mary Huggins Gamble Professor of American
Studies, is titled “Kings of the Wild Frontier: Folk
Revival in 1950s American Popular Culture.” Putnam
was awarded $100.
 Louka
Katseli ’72 was recently named Minister
of Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping in Greece. Before
her appointment, Katseli served most recently as a professor
of economics at the University of Athens and as Director
of the Development Centre for the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), in Paris. Katseli
has published widely on development finance, international
migration, foreign investment and exchange rate policy.
In related news, Georgios Papandreou (Amherst College ’75)
has been named Prime Minister and Ministor of Foreign
Affairs in Greece.
 A
new book, Lessons from Oz, by Julienne La Fleur ’90,
recaptures the magic of the classic film The Wizard
of Oz as the 70th anniversary of the movie’s
Hollywood premiere approaches on August 15. “Lessons
from Oz illuminates 35 lessons that we, as grown-ups,
forget,” according to a press release for the book. “Some
are whimsical, some are serious, and some might make you
want to go skipping.” La Fleur’s book was among
the bronze medal winners this year from Independent
Publisher in the inspirational/spiritual books category. Lessons
from Oz is La Fleur’s first book. She notes
that among the titles on her shelf of “books that
move my soul” is Gift from the Sea by Anne
Morrow Lindbergh ’28. “Neatly tucked between
the pages is my very first letter from Smith, dated June
18, 1985, announcing that I had won the Smith College Book
Award.”
 It’s
been a good year for Sharon Sears ’96. Following
the birth of her daughter Cypress Diana Schaff, on January
31, she was recently awarded the New Faculty Teaching Award
from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., where she is
an assistant professor of psychology. After graduating
from Smith, Sears earned her doctorate in psychology at
the University of Kansas, and completed a clinical internship
and postdoctoral training at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration
Medical Center in California. Sears largely credits her
Smith education—and in particular her research with
Barbara Brehm-Curtis, professor of exercise and sport studies,
on health, wellness and stress management--for her achievements. “I
am ever grateful for the excellent training I received
at Smith,” she recently wrote in a message to Brehm-Curtis
about her award. “When I was interviewing for academic
jobs, numerous people remarked about how desirable my Smith
education was to them. I want to express my appreciation
to you having served as such a positive role model to me
for how to be a good teacher and mentor.”
 Robyn
Ostrander ’93, medical director of Child and Adolescent
Services at The Brattleboro [Vt.] Retreat, co-authored
a textbook, Neuroanatomy for Students of Behavioral
Disorders, recently published by W.W. Norton & Co.
The book is targeted for use among graduate-level students
in psychology, social work, psychiatry and related fields.
Ostrander also serves as a psychologist and lecturer in
psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School. She produced the
book with Ronald Green, professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth
Medical School.
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Martha Holbrow Sandler
'88 has been named executive director of On
The Rise, Inc., a day program in Cambridge, Mass., for
women who are homeless or in crisis. On The Rise offers
clothes, meals and a refuge from domestic violence to
more than 300 women in the Cambridge-Boston area. It
also offers access to services, such as medical care,
addiction treatment and counseling, legal advice and
job-hunting. Since 2003, Sandler has served as financial
officer for On the Rise, and as a volunteer, as well
as the board’s treasurer and president. Sandler
comments that On The Rise's mission is similar to what
Sophia Smith had in mind for Smith when she wrote her
will in 1870: "to develop as fully as may be the powers
of womanhood, and furnish women with the means of usefulness,
happiness and honor, now withheld from them."
Darcy Rendon ’11 is
one of 50 outstanding history students nationwide to be
named a 2009 Gilder Lehrman One-Week History Scholar by
the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The institute
promotes the study and affinity for American history, serving
teachers, students, scholars and the general public. Its
holdings include signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation
and the Thirteenth Amendment, as well as a rare printed
copy of the first draft of the U.S. Constitution and letters
written by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham
Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The One-Week Scholars participated
in a weeklong program in New York City in which they met
with eminent historians and were granted access to valuable
historical archives and museums in the region.
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Helen Searing,
Alice Pratt Brown Professor Emerita of Art, was recently
granted an Emeritus Fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation in support of her current project, a biography
of Henry-Russell Hitchcock, a renowned scholar of architectural
history, and Searing’s predecessor on the Smith faculty.
Searing’s fellowship is the second in two years for
Smith emeritus faculty; Karl Donfried was a recipient of
the 2008 Emeritus Fellowship.
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Justin Cammy,
assistant professor of Jewish studies, will assume a teaching
post this fall at the Program on the Holocaust in American
and World Culture at the University of California, Los
Angeles. He will serve on the faculty as part of a broad
program supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Cammy,
who will also serve as an assistant professor of English,
will teach two seminars on Yiddish literature. “My
presence there is meant to enhance the offerings in Yiddish
literature and culture so that discussions regarding the
Holocaust focus not only on the events of the war itself
but on the lives, cultures and language destroyed by it,” explained
Cammy.
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Kate Queeney,
assistant professor of chemistry, had never won a road
race or triathlon until this year. But after a rigorous
training program (with Martha Grinnell ’91), the
39-year-old mother from Amherst has now won two events.
On July 5, Queeney took first in the Whately Police Sprint
Triathlon, covering the half-mile swim, 14-mile bike ride
and 3-mile run in one hour, 21 minutes, 16 seconds. Queeney
competed in her first triathlon in 2004 and her second
fours year later.
 Sid
Dalby, associate director of admission, was
recently awarded the 2009 Distinguished Service Award
from the New England Transfer Association. The award
is given annually in recognition of outstanding service
to transfer students. “Over the years, Sid has
become widely known as someone with a special expertise
about transfer students,” reads the award supporting
statement. “Her special strength rests in her ability
to be professional and articulate and at the same time
warm and approachable. Sid always has the best interest
of the students at heart.” Dalby, who co-authored The
Transfer Student’s Guide to Changing Colleges, has
developed broad understanding of the special needs of
students who enter Smith with advanced standing through
her work in admission and the Ada Comstock Scholars Program. “It
was a very special honor—and surprise—to
receive this award,” Dalby said.
 John
Shenette, executive director of facilities management,
was recently given the Exemplary End User Award for the
Facilities Person of the Year by the International Facilities
Management Association (IFMA), Boston chapter. The award
is presented annually to a member of the Boston chapter
who has provided sustained, outstanding leadership to
the chapter by keeping current on changes in facility
management and educating other IFMA members and peers.
Shenette, who serves as Academic Network Chair for IFMA
Boston, joined Smith in December 2007 and has shepherded
a strategy for the college’s facilities that emphasizes
sustainability and energy efficiency. IFMA is a nonprofit
association dedicated to serving the facility management
profession. IFMA Boston was founded in 1984 to serve
those who support the built environment.
 L’Tanya
Richmond, Smith’s director of multicultural
affairs and a former administrator at Elon University,
her alma mater, was awarded the Elon Medallion, given
for outstanding service to the school. After graduating
from Elon in 1987, Richmond became an admissions counselor
and placement officer there. She subsequently served
as assistant and then associate director of admissions,
director of Minority Affairs and director of Elon’s
Multicultural Center.
 Black
Behind the Ears: Dominican Racial Identity from Museums
to Beauty Shops, by Ginetta Candelario,
associate professor of sociology and of Latin American
studies, has been selected to receive the Latina/o Studies
Section (LSS) Book Award from the Latin American Studies
Association (LASA). The LSS Book Award is presented annually
to the author of a book that reflects original research
in Latino studies, and contributes knowledge of the lives
and conditions of distinct Latino groups. Candelario’s
book is an historical and ethnographic examination of
Dominican identity. It draws on the author’s extensive
observation in a Dominican beauty shop in Washington
Heights, a New York City neighborhood with the oldest
and largest Dominican community outside the Republic,
as well as from interviews with Dominicans in New York
City, Washington, D.C., and Santo Domingo. Black
Behind the Ears also won the 2008 Best Book Prize
from the New England Council of Latin American Studies.
Alice Reznickova ’10 has
received the Gladys Anderson Emerson Scholarship from Iota
Sigma Pi, the national honor society for women in chemistry.
The award is given each year to a student in her junior
or senior year for excellence in chemistry or biochemistry.
Reznickova received a $2,000 stipend and a certificate.
In 2004, Lesley-Ann Giddings ’05 received the scholarship;
she is a graduate student in chemistry at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
 Rachel
Dorset ’10 received two awards from the
American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest
scientific society. Dorset was one of 16 students nationwide
to be awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship,
from the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry, to conduct
research at Smith on the “scope and limitations
of cationic Diels-Alder dienophiles stabilized by cobalt-complexed
alkynes.” She will present her findings at a poster
session in the fall at Pfizer Central Research in Groton,
Conn. Dorset also won an Undergraduate Student Travel
Award from the Division of Organic Chemistry to attend
the 41st National Organic Chemistry Symposium in Boulder,
Colo.
Kristi Closser ’07 was
given a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National
Science Foundation (NSF). The fellowships are given in
recognition of outstanding graduate students in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics, and who are pursuing
mastere’s or doctoral degrees. The NSF fellowships,
in the amount of several thousand dollars, support three
years of graduate study. Closser is currently studying
chemistry as a graduate student at the University of California,
Berkeley. Closser is the co-author of a paper recently
published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry.
Other authors are Kevin Shea, associate professor of chemistry,
and Miriam Quintal ’04, Mirzayan Science and Technology
Policy Fellow, National Academy of Sciences.
Leandra Zarnow ’01,
a doctoral candidate in history and feminist studies at
the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the recent
recipient of two academic awards. She is one of only seven
students nationwide awarded the 2009 Woodrow Wilson Dissertation
Fellowship in Women’s Studies. The $2,100 award,
given annually by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship
Foundation, is the only fellowship for doctoral students
writing on women’s issues, and supports the final
year of doctoral dissertation work. Zarnow also received
a Charlotte W. Newcomble Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Her dissertation is
titled Bella Abzug and the Promise of Progressive Change
in Cold War United States.
 Robey
Champine ’07 has been selected to participate
in the 2009 FBI Honors Internship program. For ten weeks
during the summer, she will work in the Counterintelligence
Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. To qualify
for the internship and earn a top-secret security clearance,
Champine successfully completed oral and written interviews,
drug testing, a polygraph exam, and an extensive background
investigation. Champine graduated magna cum laude with
a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Spanish.
In 2008, she received a master of science degree in criminology
from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently
working toward her graduate degree in public health and
on several youth violence-related projects.
 Elan
McCollum ’08 is the recent recipient of
the prestigious National Science Foundation graduate
research fellowship. McCollum is in her first year of
a doctoral program in psychology and education at the
University of Michigan. McCollum will deliver the keynote
address for Discovery Weekend, an Office of Admission
event in which hundreds of newly admitted students and
their families visit campus, beginning today, Friday,
April 17.
 Janine
Olthuis ’08 recently received a highly
competitive graduate research award from the Nova Scotia
Health Research Fund (NSHRF). Olthuis is currently pursuing
a doctorate in clinical psychology at Dalhousie University
in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Last year, she won an Honorary
Undergraduate Scholars Award from the New England Psychological
Association (NEPA). Olthuis, who was a standout soccer
team member and captain of the team last year, won a
postgraduate scholarship from the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA). The NSHRF aims to improve
the health of Nova Scotians through the development and
support of a vibrant health research community, including
funding health researchers early in their careers.
McCollum and Olthuis both
worked with Byron Zamboanga, assistant professor of psychology
at Smith, on the publication of several articles and research
presentations.
"Summer Day" |
"Cloudy Day" |
Artist Elizabeth Meyersohn,
a lecturer in the art department, was recently awarded
a $5,000 grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation for
her paintings and drawings, including “Summer Day” (pictured)
and “Cloudy Day.” Meyersohn plans to use the
grant to develop new, larger paintings and drawings and
help defray expenses of an exhibition of her works at the
Oxbow Gallery, Pleasant Street, Northampton.
 Adrienne
Klein ’11, of Shrewsbury, Mass., while
spending a year studying in Argentina, won a Gold Cup
for first place finish in the women’s division
of a 3K open water race on March 15. Klein, an anthropology
major, is studying at FLACSO, University of Buenos Aires
and Pontificata College. Klein, who is fluent in Spanish,
recently completed an internship with Las Madres de la
Plaza de Mayo, a national support group of family members
of the political victims of the Dirty War, which lasted
from 1976 to 1983. In addition to her studies, Klein,
who competes on the Smith Pioneers varsity swim team,
competed for the Club Splash Tornados of Buenos Aires.
 Laura-Louise
Campbell ’09 was among 10 winners of a
recent video contest sponsored by the Association of
American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which represents accredited
medical schools that grant the M.D., as well as more
than 400 teaching hospitals in the United States. The
video
contest, coordinated by the AAMC to raise awareness about
the need for more diversity in medicine, asked students
across the country to submit a two-minute video explaining
why they wanted to become a doctor. In 110 seconds, Campbell,
a neuroscience major from Springfield, Mass., outlined
her plans to become a doctor so she can help people in
underserved communities and act as a role model for other
young women. Each winner will receive $1,000
toward medical school costs.
 Valerie
Driscoll ’10 won first place at the sixth
annual Arches Student Print Show, a juried exhibition
of printmaking students from 20 New England colleges
and universities. Smith student artists were well represented
at the show, with nine students invited to display their
works. In addition to the recognition that Driscoll’s
reduction linocut “Marseille” received, Adriana
Malliaros ’08 won a Jurors Commendation
Award with her lithograph “Grebes.” Other
exhibiting students were Rachel Rock-Blake ’09,
Syretha Brooks ’08, Kate Conlon ’11, Andrea
Dreskin ’08, Arielle Marks ’08, Taja Randick ’09 and Yang
Li ’11. The exhibition, which is on display
at Boston University’s 808 Gallery (first floor
of the Peter Fuller Building, 808 Commonwealth Ave.,
Boston) through March 29, is sponsored by the Arches
Paper Company and the Boston Printmakers.
 Pam
Cote AC ’10 recently won an award from
the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) for research
she presented at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference
for Minority Students in Orlando, Fla. The conference,
the largest of its kind for biomedical students, with
more than 2,800 attendees, aims to encourage underrepresented
minority students to pursue training in biomedical and
behavioral sciences. More than 1,200 students participated
in poster and oral presentations on ten topics. Cote
was one of 126 presenters to receive an award of $250.
 Paula
Giddings’ book Ida: A Sword Among
Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching, has
been named a finalist for the 2008 Biography Prize of
the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), an organization
of more than 900 book reviewers. The prestigious NBCC
awards are given each year in the categories of fiction,
poetry, criticism, biography, autobiography and nonfiction.
Giddings, the E.A. Woodson 1922 Professor of Afro-American
Studies, is joined as a finalist by Steve Coll, who authored The Bin
Ladens: An Arabian Family in An American Century; and
Annette Gordon-Reed, who wrote The Hemingses of Monticello:
An American Family. NBCC award winners will be announced
at a ceremony on March 12 at the New School University
in New York City.
Leah Thompson ’10 recently
won a Praxis Scholarship to spend the coming summer in
Lima, Peru, working as a volunteer at , an organization that supports and
assists domestic servants. In particular, La Casa de Panchita
advocates for domestic workers, mostly women and girls,
who often live and serve in discriminatory, abusive and
illegal conditions. While in Peru, Thompson also plans
to volunteer with a mentoring program in Pamplona, a shantytown
in Lima. Thompson, a Spanish major, is spending this year
studying at Pontifica Universidad Católica del Peru
through the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University.
She is already familiar with La Casa de Panchita, having
volunteered there as part of her study-abroad program.
Two Smith alumnae, Ann
Anderson Stranahan ’57 and M.
Ann Sanford ’75, were recently named recipients
of the Milestones: A Tribute to Women Award, given by
the (Ohio). The Milestones Award
recognizes women from northwest Ohio for outstanding
accomplishments and contributions in arts, business,
education, government, sciences, social services and
volunteerism.
 Ann
Sanford, who will become a Smith College Trustee this year,
is receiving the award in the category of volunteerism.
As one of Merrill Lynch’s most successful wealth
managers, Sanford designed a seminar for female financial
advisors that has been adopted nationally. While with Merrill
Lynch for 31 years, Sanford has also served as a volunteer
for many causes in the Toledo region, including the boards
for WGTE radio, Toledo Opera, Read for Literacy, and the
YWCA of Greater Toledo. Through her volunteer efforts,
Sanford has raised more than $500,000 for Toledo area charities.
 Stranahan
will receive the award for her contributions to the arts.
Stranahan is considered the “Mother of Toledo Public
Broadcasting” for transforming an obscure radio station
into WGTE Public Media, a station that reaches more than
700,000 listeners each week. Among her many accomplishments,
Stranahan established “The Common Thread,” a
foundation that assists Toledo’s Hmong immigrants
from Laos in adjusting to their new lives while earning
an income with their unique folk art. Stranahan, working
with the Needmor Fund, helped create the Louisiana Organizers
Renewal Awards to aid Hurricane Katrina victims.
Arturo Toscanini |
John Hellweg,
lecturer and professor emeritus of theatre, will perform
the role of composer Arturo Toscanini in a theatrical
concert at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at
Columbia University on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at
8 p.m. The event is part of a mini-festival celebrating
the life and works of Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957), the
most celebrated conductor in history, who was admired for
his opposition to Fascism and Nazism. The Italian Academy
for Advanced Studies at Columbia University is located
at 1161 Amsterdam Avenue (just south of 118th Street),
New York, NY. General admission is $45 and $15 for students
(with ID). Pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m.
Campus Center employees
(left to right) Elizabeth Mongrello, Kai Devlin,
Damaris Patterson and Monica Wang at the ACUI conference. |
Elizabeth Mongrello ’09,
an employee in the Campus Center, recently won the Student
Employee Award from the Association of College Unions (ACUI)
Region 1, presented at the association’s annual conference
at the University of Vermont in Burlington in late November.
The award is given annually to a student who makes a significant
contribution to his/her institution through work in the
college union and helps in projecting the union’s
goals and mission. Mongrello began working at the Campus
Center last year as a facility service assistant and was
quickly promoted to Campus Center manager, wrote her supervisors
in a nomination letter for the award. “Liz is a leader
among her peers,” the letter says. “She is
a dedicated team member, constantly going above and beyond
the task at hand and assisting her fellow student employees
whenever possible.”
Mongrello was among four Smith
Campus Center employees to attend the conference. Others
in attendance were Kai Devlin ’10, Damaris
Patterson ’11, and Monica Wang ’09.
Shizuka Hsieh,
associate professor of chemistry, was recently named a
recipient of the from the Camille and
Henry Dreyfus Foundation, an organization dedicated to
the advancement of the chemical sciences. The competitive
award is given based on accomplishments in scholarly research
with undergraduates, as well as a compelling commitment
to teaching. The award provides an unrestricted research
grant of $60,000. Hsieh joins chemistry faculty from California
State University, Long Beach; San Jose State University;
the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus; and Williams
College in winning this year’s award.
 The
following Smith seniors were elected in November to become
members of Phi Beta Kappa, an academic honor society committed
to “fostering and recognizing excellence” in
undergraduate liberal arts and sciences: Jessye
Rose Schwartz Brick, Eliza K. Bryant, Emily Meghann Burkman,
Yi-Ru Anny Chen, Paola Eugenia Chinchilla Lee, Emily Samantha
Cordes, Castine Whiting Dow, Caredwen Holme Foley, Rebecca
Ann Freeman, Yi Lin, Alla Pekareva-Kochergina, Nadia Rivera-Nieves,
Maya Li Wei-Haas.
 Debra
Carney, a writing counselor in the
Jacobson Center for Writing, Teaching and Learning,
has been awarded a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant
to the National Institute of Education (NIE), in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia, the country’s graduate training
center for teachers. Carney, who is the first American
to hold a Fulbright Award to the NIE, will travel to
Phnom Penh for the month of January 2009 to conduct
workshops and consultations on teaching methods and
materials for teacher trainers and trainees at the
institute. Though it will be Carney’s first project
at NIE, it will be her fifth January spent in Cambodia,
having previously provided faculty and staff development
at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and Social Services
of Cambodia from 2004 through 2007. Carney, who teaches
writing and public speaking at the Jacobson Center,
is the facility’s mid-semester assessment specialist.
She also teaches in the Writing Counseling Program
at the Smith School for Social Work.
 Poet
Allison Pilatsky ’12 will
read her work in a lineup of performers at the annual
celebration of the Richard and Mica Hadar Foundation
on Dec. 29, at Scholastic in downtown New York. The Hadar
Foundation, established in 1993, supports young artists
with college scholarships, mentoring and opportunities
to develop and showcase their talents. The celebration
brings together Hadar scholars, and their mentors and
families to showcase the talents of a select group of
scholars chosen to perform. Pilatsky joins other Hadar
scholars in an eclectic program, including performances
by violinist Yuriy Bekker, concert masterer of the Charleston,
South Carolina, Symphony; pianist Kwan Yi, first prize
winner in the 2008 Schmidbauer International Piano Competition
and a graduate student at Juilliard; and actor Andrew
Greer, who currently appears in the successful off-Broadway
show The Brig.
Mary Murphy,
senior lecturer in mathematics and statistics, is volunteering
this semester at the Unidad Académica Campesina
de Carmen Pampa (UAC-CP), a college in rural Bolivia dedicated
to providing higher education and leadership opportunities
for indigenous youth. As a volunteer at the college, Murphy
is responsible for teaching mathematics and offering assistance
with teaching methodologies. This is Murphy’s third
visit to the college as a volunteer math professor. The
UAC-CP generates social and economic change through community-centered
education, research, and extension projects. Recognized
by the United Nations as an award-winning model for the
eradication of poverty, the college educates young men
and women in one of the poorest areas of South America.
The college is supported by the Minnesota-based Carmen
Pampa Fund.
Karl Donfried,
Elizabeth A. Woodson 1922 Professor Emeritus of Religion,
was recently granted a $55,000 award from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation to support his research in support of
his book-in-progress Paul, Judaism, and the Roman Empire. The
grant is intended to provide support for Donfried’s
research and travel over the next two years.
Ginetta Candelario, associate
professor of sociology and Latin American and Latina/o Studies, was recently awarded
the 2008 Best Book Prize from the (NECLAS), an organization based in
Boston with more than 500 members, including 49 educational institutions. Candelario
was awarded the prize for her book Black Behind the Ears: Blackness in Dominican
Identity from Museums to Beauty Shops, which was published earlier this year.
The book is an historical and ethnographic examination of Dominican identity. The
book draws on  Candelario’s
extensive observation in a Dominican beauty shop in Washington Heights, a New York
City neighborhood with the oldest and largest Dominican community outside the Republic,
as well as from interviews with Dominicans in New York City, Washington, D.C. and
Santo Domingo. Candelario was presented with the award on October 4 during the
council’s annual meeting, held this year at Brown University.
Kevin Rozario, associate professor
of American studies, was awarded the 2008 Lois P. Rudnick Best Book Prize from
the New England American Studies Association (NEASA) for his book The Culture
of Calamity: Disaster and the Making of Modern America. NEASA, which was established
in 1987, seeks to foster the study of the culture and history of New England. The
Culture of Calamity examines the American response to disasters throughout
its history, closely examining in particular incidents such as the San Francisco
earthquake of 1906, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. “From the Puritan belief that disasters were a blessing and God’s
instrument for setting man on the path to a better future, to Americans’ contemporary
fascination with disasters as spectacle and entertainment, Rozario provides a compelling
analysis of the role that calamity has played in the development of the American
nation,” notes the .
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People News is a column for publicizing
the achievements, distinctions and notable activities of people in the
Smith community, PeopleNews welcomes your submissions. If you -- or someone
you know in the Smith community -- have recently received an award, participated
in an interesting event, or are involved in an important endeavor, please
let us know. |
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