Vol. XXX, No. 1
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Publications
Yasemin Akbaba, Professor of Political Science, with co-authors James M. Scott, Ralph G. Carter, and A. Cooper Drury, published IR: Seeking Security, Prosperity, and Quality of Life in a Changing World, Fifth Edition (Washington, DC: CQ Press/Sage, 2024). This textbook presents a comprehensive approach to understanding world politics through the lens of security, prosperity, and quality of life in a rapidly evolving global environment. It not only acquaints students with events, but also broadens the context to analyze larger patterns, making the experience immersive and engaging.
Natsuki Arai, Assistant Professor of Economics, with co-authors Shian Chang and Biing-Shen Kuo, published “Introductory Economics: Gender, Majors, and Future Performance” in Taiwan Economic Forecast and Policy 54.2 (2024): 45–68. Investigating the exam scores of introductory economics in a business school in Taiwan between 2008 and 2019, we obtained heterogeneous results.
Michael Birkner, Professor of History, published “The Artist and the President: Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Painting Impulse and the Andrew Wyeth Connection” in Pennsylvania Heritage 50 (Summer 2024): 22–27. This article discusses Dwight Eisenhower’s experience as an avocational painter and what that meant to him, as well as his ongoing admiration of the work of Pennsylvania artist Andrew Wyeth. The article discusses Wyeth’s work at the Eisenhower Farm in Summer 1959, and the ongoing connection between the president and the artist.
Alice Brawley Newlin, Associate Professor of Management, published “Not All ‘Small Business’ is the Same: And I-O Has Shoulders to Stand On” in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (September 3, 2024, online). In this commentary, I highlight the wide-ranging definitions of “small business” and the challenge—but necessity!—of doing interdisciplinary research to better understand small business operations.
Brawley Newlin, with student co-authors Madalyn Filetti ’24 and João Branco Chaves ’25, published “Gig Work” in Elgar Encyclopedia of Occupational Health Psychology, edited by Cary Cooper, Paula Brough, and Vicki L. Anderson (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2024). In this encyclopedia entry, we review research definitions of gig work, and discuss the implications of platforms and algorithmic management for gig workers’ well-being.
Peter Carmichael, Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies, Civil War Institute, with Caroline E. Janney and Aaron Charles Sheehan-Dean, edited The War That Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2024). Through a series of original essays, readers will find dynamic perspectives on contemporary scholarship of the Civil War era. Taking inspiration from noted historian Gary W. Gallagher, nine leading scholars in Civil War era studies uncover a diverse range of themes from one of our nation’s greatest conflicts.
Véronique Delesalle, John McCrea and Marion Ball Dickson Chair and Professor of Biology, with student co-authors Mariah A. King ’24, Tabitha J. Rozario ’24, Noah D. Wolf ’24, Connor J. Stewart ’25, Luke F. DeMato ’24, Kevin F. Trafford ’25, Saiman Adhikari ’26, and Van T. Dinh ’24, and co-authors Gina Caputo, Ashley Hunter, Michelle Licata, Misun Modell, and Suparna Bhalla, published “Complete Genomes of Two Cluster AK Arthrobacter Phages Isolated from Soil Samples in Newburgh, NY, United States” in Microbiology Resource Announcements (September 12, 2024, online). This paper announces the genome annotations of two bacteriophages that lyse soil bacteria of the genus Arthrobacter.
Delesalle, with student co-authors Ruusu E. Ankeriasniemi ’24, Jehan M. Mody ’24, Ward A. Sarvis ’26, and Duy D. Vo ’25, alum co-authors Abigail M. Roy ’23, Allison E. Walsh ’23, and Rose J. Zappia ’23, and co-author Colin M. Lewis, published “Introducing Casbah, Kronus and MmasiCarm, Members of the Mycobacteriophage Subcluster B3” in Phage (New Rochelle) 5.2 (June 21, 2024): 84–90. This articles describes the genome of three bacteriophages that infect soil bacteria, and provides a comparative study focused on horizontal gene transfer.
Dan DeNicola, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, published “Institutionalized Expertise: Trust, Rejection, and Ignorance" in Expertise: Philosophical Perspectives, edited by Mirko Farina, Andrea Lavazza, and Duncan Pritchard (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2024). This article analyzes two converging, though apparently contradictory, trends in contemporary culture—increased specialization, and the skepticism or rejection of expertise. The author argues that some aspects of the institutionalization of specialized expertise contribute to public skepticism and hostility to experts.
Jim Downs , Gilder Lehrman NEH Professor of Civil War Era Studies, edited January 6 and the Politics of History (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2024). This book is part of a series, History in the Headlines, which places current events in historical context. I bring together the nation’s leading historians for a conversation about January 6. Included were Jill Lepore, Harvard University professor and staff reporter for The New Yorker; Julian Zelizer, who teaches at Princeton University and has a column for CNN; and others.
Pete Fong, Professor of Biology, with student co-authors Aylin Doganoglu ’25 and Sierra D. Turbeville ’24, and alum co-author Eleanor V. Sandt ’23, published “Warmer Temperature Overrides the Effects of Antidepressants on Amphibian Metamorphosis and Behavior” in Environmental Science and Pollution Research 30 (October 2023): 114912–114919. The paper documents the effect of temperature being more important than antidepressant exposure in affecting the timing of the metamorphosis of amphibian tadpoles. This has implications for the importance of climate change on a group of environmentally sensitive animals.
Fong, with student co-authors Mary G. Butler ’24 and Jake W. Stergio ’24, and alum co-author Rebecca A. Blaszczyk ’23, published “Evidence that Bivalve Burrowing is Mediated by Serotonin Receptors: Activation of Foot Inflation and Protrusion by Serotonin, Serotonergic Ligands and SSRI-Type Antidepressants in Three Species of Freshwater Bivalve” in Journal of Molluscan Studies 89.3 (September 2023): 1–6. The paper documents the importance of the neurotransmitter serotonin and chemicals that bind to serotonin receptors in the activation of burrowing in freshwater bivalves such as mussels and clams.
Shelli Frey, G. Bowers and Louise Hook Mansdorfer Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with co-authors Adam Skeens, Chathuranga Siriwardhana, Sophia E. Massinople, Michelle M. Wunder, Zachary L. Ellis, Kaitlyn M. Keith, Tyler Girman, and Justin Legleiter, published “The Polyglutamine Domain is the Primary Driver of Seeding in Huntingtin Aggregation” in PLoS ONE 19.3 (2024): e0298323. This work focused on Huntington’s Disease (HD), a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by aggregation of a mutated form of the huntingtin protein (htt). We determined that the expanded polyglutamine amino acid domain in htt is the key component to seeding the aggregation process.
Frey, with alum co-author Jordyn Markle ’22, and co-authors Adam Skeens, Gabriella Petipas, and Justin Legleiter, published “Divalent Cations Promote Huntingtin Fibril Formation on Endoplasmic Reticulum Membranes” in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta—Biomembranes 1866.6 (August 2024): 184339. This work focused on Huntington’s Disease (HD), a fatal, neurodegenerative disease caused by aggregation of a mutated form of the huntingtin protein (htt). Here, the aggregation of htt at the endoplasmic reticulum interface was investigated, and the subsequent enhanced aggregation was attributed to the presence of an increased concentration of intracellular calcium.
Frey, with co-authors Negin Gooran, Sue Woon Tan, and Joshua A. Jackman, published “Unraveling the Biophysical Mechanisms of How Antiviral Detergents Disrupt Supported Lipid Membranes: Toward Replacing Triton X 100” in Langmuir 40.12 (March 13, 2024): 6524–6536. This work focused on looking for replacements for Triton X-100 (TX-100), a membrane-disrupting detergent that is widely used to inactivate membrane-enveloped viral pathogens, yet is being phased out due to environmental safety concerns. We used several biophysical techniques to characterize the membrane-disruptive properties of a panel of TX-100 replacement candidates with varying antiviral activities and identified two distinct classes of membrane-interacting detergents with different critical micelle concentration dependencies and biophysical mechanisms.
Steve Gimbel, Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies, with alum co-author Thomas Wilk ’05, published “Joke Capital vs. Punching Up/Punching Down: Accounting for the Ethical Relation between Joker and Target” in The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook 5 (2024): 73–92. The standard account of joke ethics, wherein it is permissible to joke about those with greater social capital but not lesser, has strengths and weaknesses, but the problems are serious. The joke capital account avoids these problems while still maintaining the virtues.
Gimbel, with faculty co-author Alan Perry, Professor of Italian Studies, published “’Where the Enemy is Mighty, One Must Be Clever’: Peone, Vico, and Guareschi on Power in Humor" in The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook 5 (2024): 277–281. Dustin Peone’s account of humor based on the writings of Vico are exemplified in the work of mid-twentieth century satirist Guareschi. His use of humor as a tool against an oppressive political structure exemplifies what Peone sees as the power of humor.
Gimbel, with faculty co-author Stephen Stern, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and currently Chair, Department of Judaic Studies, and David DeAngelo, published The Chai-Light Zone: Rod Serling, Secular Jew (Eugene, OR: Cascade Press, 2024). Rod Serling, creator and lead writer for the science fiction series The Twilight Zone, was a secular Jew. More than just a trivia question, Serling’s secular Judaism informed the moral worldview which guided his work.
Gimbel published “It Ain’t Necessarily So: Ludwig Boltzmann’s Darwinian Notion of Entropy” in Entropy 26.3 (2024): 238. We usually think of physics as a framework for chemistry which then creates a framework for biology. But as Ludwig Boltzmann worked on his new account of the second law of thermodynamics, his mind was influenced by Darwin. Evolutionary biology and geology at the time provided examples of scientific theories that are time-directional, and this freed Boltzmann in his understanding of entropy.
Caroline A. Hartzell, Professor of Political Science, with staff co-author Lindsay Reid, Assistant Professor of Political Science, and co-authors Burcu Savun and Jessica A. Stanton, published “Violence Beyond the Battlefield: Civilian Targeting, Sexual Violence, and Women’s Political Empowerment” in Journal of Global Security Studies 9.1 (March 2024, online). This article examines the effects that different forms of political violence used during intrastate conflict have on the potential for women to experience a particular type of pro-social effect—i.e., gains in political empowerment in the aftermath of the conflict.
Hartzell, with co-authors Felix Haass and Martin Ottmann, published “Citizens in Peace Processes” in Journal of Conflict Resolution 66.9 (April 24, 2022, online). This special issue of the journal introduces a conceptual framework for studying the political behavior of citizens in peace processes. In addition to authoring this article, Hartzell and her co-authors edited the issue.
Andy Hughes, Executive Director, Garthwait Leadership Center, with co-author Christian Vaccaro, published “How Coaching Interactions Transform Leader Identity of Young Professionals Over Time” in International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring 22.1 (2024): 130–148. This article outlines the findings from a longitudinal qualitative study which explores how social interactions between young professionals and their leadership coach develop leader identity.
Ian Isherwood, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, published The Battalion: Citizen Soldiers at War on the Western Front (UK: Pen & Sword, 2024). How did ordinary citizens become soldiers during the First World War, and how did they cope with the extraordinary challenges they confronted on the Western Front? These are questions Ian Isherwood seeks to answer in this absorbing and deeply researched study of the actions and experiences of an infantry battalion throughout the conflict. His work gives us a vivid impression of the reality of war for these volunteers, and an insight into the motivation that kept them fighting.
Ryan Kerney, Associate Professor of Biology, with co-authors Miguel Vences, Maria Sachs, Iker Irisarri, Fabian Bartels, Pontus F. Eriksson, Sven Künzel, Atsushi Kurabayashi, Ane T. Laugen, Zachary T. Vegso, Cory D. Bishop, and Hartmut Arndt, published “Phylotranscriptomic Relationships of the Oophila Clade of Green Algae Associated to Amphibian Egg Masses” in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 200 (November 2024): 108165. We made an phylogeny for green algae based on 76 nuclear genes. This supports Stephanospherinia and Moewusinia each as part of a different major clade within Chlamydomonales. It solidifies Oophila as monophyletic and suggests some co-evolution with amphibian hosts.
Christopher Oechler, Associate Professor of Spanish, with faculty colleagues Gabriela Escobar Rodríguez, Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish, and María Fernández Pérez, Lecturer in Spanish, published Bocacalle: Curso de español intermedio (EdTech Books, 2024). This is an open (free to use) textbook designed to accompany our SPAN 201: Intermediate Spanish I class. We received financial support from Gettysburg’s Johnson Center for Creative Teaching and Learning (JCCTL), and moral and logistical support from colleagues at Musselman Library.
VoonChin Phua, Professor of Sociology, with co-authors Mehmet Şeremet, Emine Cihangir, Ezgi Bayram-Öz, Ramazan Okudum, and Faruk Alaeddinoğlu, published “Precarity and Patriarchal Bargain: Women’s Experiences in Post-Disaster Recovery Housing after the 2011 Van Earthquake” in Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography 31.7 (2024): 954–978. We analyzed the lives of women survivors living in the post-disaster recovery housing after the 2011 Van earthquake. We argue that the physical location and configuration of the new residence and women’s familial status continue to differentially pose challenges for displaced women and worsen their vulnerabilities, even years after their relocation.
Rachele Salvini, Emerging Writer Lecturer, Department of English, published No Big Deal (Milan: Edizioni Nottetempo, 2024). This is a novel of failure and rebirth, in which two protagonists, Lena and Dixon, search for a place to belong after escaping the difficult worlds in which they grew up. Music will be a saving force for both.
Jesse Cordes Selbin, Assistant Professor of English, published “The Global New Woman and the Invention of Modern Feminism” in PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 139.1 (2024): 32–49. This essay argues that although New Woman literature is usually understood as an Anglo-American invention, global authors crucially shaped the genre as it emerged as part of the early feminist movement of the late nineteenth century. As the article shows, understudied female novelists and activists from India worked strategically to frame feminism as an international enterprise, and this endeavor was far more diverse than most existing scholarship recognizes.
Megan Adamson Sijapati, Professor of Religious Studies, published “‘The Body is a Tool for Remembrance’: Healing, Transformation, and the Instrumentality of the Body in a North American Sufi Order” in The Religious Body Imagined, edited by Pamela D. Winfield, Mina Garcia, and Katherine C. Zubko (Sheffield, UK: Equinox, 2024). This book chapter examines the ways in which the human body has been imagined, imaged, and discursively produced through healing practices of a North American Muslim Shadiliyya lineage.
Barbara Sommer, Professor Emerita of History, published “‘A quem o quizer colher’: As drogas do sertão e o Diretório dos Índios, Grão-Pará, 1757–1798” in As Drogas do Sertão e a Amazônia Colonial Portuguesa, edited by Rafael Chambouleyron (Lisbon: Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa, 2023).
Mercedes Valmisa, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, published “Wang Bi and the Hermeneutics of Actualization” in The Craft of Oblivion. Forgetting and Memory in Ancient China, edited by Albert Galvany (Albany: SUNY Press, 2023); and “Truth and Ideology in Classical China: Mohists vs Zhuangists” in Practices of Truth in Philosophy: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, edited by Pietro Gori and Lorenzo Serini (New York: Routledge, 2023). Valmisa traces the development of the pragmatist conception of truth in the Mohists and Zhuangists, leading to two radically different sociopolitical and ethical positions. The Mohists used single-truth discourses to enforce ideological monopolies that could not allow pluralism in values, norms, beliefs, and practices, while the Zhuangists warned us against the dangers of such dogmatism.
Andy Wilson, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, with co-authors Roland Kays, Matthew H. Snider, George Hess, Michael V. Cove, Alex Jensen, Hila Shamon, et al, published “Climate, Food, and Humans Predict Communities of Mammals in the United States” in Diversity and Distributions 30.9 (September 2024): e13900. Our results highlight the importance of climate to modern mammals and suggest that climate change will have strong impacts on these communities. Our new empirical approach to recognizing ecoregions has potential to be applied to expanded communities of mammals or other taxa. Our work is part of a an ES class lab project.
Wilson, with co-authors Hila Shamon, Roi Maor, Michael V. Cove, Roland Kays, Jessie Adley, Peter D. Alexander, David N. Allen, et al, published “SNAPSHOT USA 2021: A Third Coordinated National Camera Trap Survey of the United States” in Ecology 105.6 (June 2024): e4318. The Snapshot USA project is a huge collaborative effort to sample mammal populations with camera traps across the United States. The study is designed to sample sites in all fifty states, stratified across habitats and development zones (suburban, rural, wild, urban), with an objective of at least 400 trap-nights in site.
Wilson, with alum co-authors Zhen Lui ’18 and Lauren Sherman ’21, and co-author Luis Sandoval, published “Vulnerability of Elevation-Restricted Endemic Birds of the Cordillera de Talamanca (Costa Rica and Panama) to Climate Change” in Neotropical Biodiversity 9.1 (2023): 115–127. We showed that many rare bird species in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama will likely decline due to climate change. This was an honors thesis for Zhen Lui (Viola) that got put on the backburner during the pandemic.
Randall Wilson, Professor of Environmental Studies, published A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World’s First National Park (Berkeley: Counterpoint Press, 2024). As the first comprehensive history of Yellowstone National Park in over twenty-five years, this work explores how a remote western landscape evolved into a national icon, and in the process fundamentally reshaped the way we view and understand nature in American society.
REVIEWS
Barbara Schmitter Heisler, Professor Emerita of Sociology, published “Populism and Democracy,” a review of The Age of Discontent: Populism, Extremism, and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Democracies, by Matthew Rhodes-Purdy, Rachel Navaree, and Stephen Utych, in Political Psychology (March 18, 2024, online). The book uses a political psychology approach to construct a theoretical framework positing that emotions are a key link between economic and cultural realms. Accordingly, economic discontent may be the root cause of democratic discontent, producing negative emotional responses which find expression in political discontent, far-right extremism, and conspiracism.
Jack Ryan, Associate Professor of English, reviewed A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure, by Kevin Fedarko, for Aethlon: Journal of Sports Literature (September 1, 2024, online). The book describes how Fedarko and Pete McBride, his hiking partner, met, why they do what they do, and how they decided to walk the length of the Grand Canyon from east to west, a 750-mile trek and one of the most demanding hikes in the world.
Megan Adamson Sijapati, Professor of Religious Studies, reviewed Prophet al-Khiḍr: Between the Qur’anic Text and Islamic Contexts, by Irfan A. Omar, in Islamic Studies 62.4 (2023): 533–536. al-Khiḍr is the mysterious “green” figure in the Quran’s Sūrat al-Kahf discussion of Moses’s encounter with an unnamed spiritual guide. Omar’s study traces the story’s influence on the works of early Qur’ānic scholars (mufassirūn) and on the beliefs and practices in Muslim cultures, arguing that Khiḍr is understudied and undertheorized
COMMENTARIES, BLOG POSTS, AND GENERAL-AUDIENCE PUBLICATIONS
Ian Isherwood, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, posted “The Other Ian” at The Drake (Winter 2024). In this personal essay for the premier fly-fishing magazine, Isherwood recalls—rather fondly—the first time he fished with his #anglingians colleague Professor Ian Clarke.
PROFESSIONAL PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
Yasemin Akbaba, Professor of Political Science, chaired and participated in a roundtable panel titled “Authors meet Critics: Basedau, Fox, and Zellman’s Religious Minorities at Risk (Oxford University Press, 2023)” at the 65th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), San Franscisco, CA, April 3–6, 2024.
Akbaba participated in a panel titled “What is the Teaching-Centric Institutions Caucus?” at the 65th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), San Franscisco, CA, April 3–6, 2024.
Akbaba chaired a roundtable panel titled “Global Frameworks for Pedagogy in Teaching-Centric Institutions” at the 65th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), San Franscisco, CA, April 3–6, 2024. This panel aimed to generate an international conversation on teaching-centric institutions. Participants explored various questions related to their individual experiences at higher-education institutions around the world.
Alice Brawley Newlin, Assistant Professor of Management, with colleague Ifeyimika O. Ajaiyeoba, presented a paper titled “Person-Gig Fit: Examining the Value of Volition, Boundaryless Career Orientation, and Education of Satisfied Gig Workers” at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), Chicago, IL, April 17–20, 2024. As part of a symposium on “Modern Careers Research on Success, Satisfaction, and Continuance in the Gig Economy” (co-chaired by Jenna Van Fossen and Gwendolyn Paige Watson), we detailed our study exploring the role of person-gig fit in predicting gig workers’ satisfaction with their work. We found that subjective measures of fit were better predictors of gig satisfaction than objective indices of fit.
Nathalie Goubet, Professor of Psychology, with faculty colleague Dan McCall, Professor of Psychology, presented a poster titled “What Is Your Most Important Odor? The Emotional and Social Significance of Odors in a US Adults Sample” at the International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste, Reykjavik, Iceland, June 22–26, 2024. This poster reported the findings of a large national survey about the importance of odors in everyday life. We found broad support for the idea that odors encountered in social contexts early in life have the most enduring personal significance for people across age and ethnicity.
Natasha Gownaris, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, with student colleagues Jamie Dinella ’24 and Michael McCarty ’24, presented a paper titled “Seabird Phenology and Extreme Events in a Rapidly Warming Marine Ecosystem” at the Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), Long Beach, CA, August 4–9, 2024. This research, conducted in collaboration with two Gettysburg College students, focused on how shifting phenology (the timing of biology events) of terns in the Gulf of Maine is interacting with increases in extreme events to impact tern chick survival.
Rebecca He, Assistant Professor of Management, with colleagues Kenneth D. Butterfield, Kristine Kuhn, Thomas M. Tripp, and Natalie Liberman, presented a paper titled “Manager-Facilitated Moral Repair: What Managers Think Helps vs. What Does Help” at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM), Chicago, IL, August 9–13, 2024. Using a mixed-method approach, we developed an inductive model of the manager-facilitated moral repair process. Our findings reveal that certain aspects of moral repair, contrary to managers’ assumptions, do not contribute to positive outcomes as expected. This paper was published in Academy of Management Meeting Proceedings 2024.1 (2024).
He, with colleagues Kenneth D. Butterfield, Kristine Kuhn, and Thomas M. Tripp, presented a paper titled “The Dark Side of Manager-Facilitated Moral Repair” at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM), Chicago, IL, August 9–13, 2024. Results from a multi-wave survey of 244 full-time employees showed that moral repair is associated with dark-side outcomes, such as employees engaging in unethical pro-supervisor behavior. This effect is mediated by their gratitude, desire to reciprocate, and identification with their manager, and is moderated by moral identity. This paper was published in Academy of Management Meeting Proceedings 2024.1 (2024).
Alvaro Kaempfer, Professor of Spanish, presented a paper titled “José Martí, Patria, and the Impossible Journey Back to the Source” at the 42nd International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Bogotá, Colombia, June 11–15, 2024. My presentation is based on an ongoing research project on Patria, a Latino newspaper published in New York from 1892 to 1895, and specifically the articles penned by José Martí to clarify his notion of Cuban independence from European (particularly Hispanic) colonialism.
Arthur Keegan, Gettysburg College Class of 2024, published “Economic Method: The Science in Trade” at The Cupola, Student Publications (2023). In understanding the world of economics, scientific methods proposed by philosophers can offer insight into the field’s progression over time. This work seeks to test, present, and weigh various methods in their success in approaching economics. The paper was written for Dr. Steve Gimbel’s PHIL 233: The Philosophy of Science.
Aarón Lacayo, Assistant Professor of Spanish, presented a paper titled “A Haunting Ecology: Violence, Embodiment, and Guatemalan History in La Llorona (The Weeping Woman, directed by Jayro Bustamante, 2019)” at the annual Film-Philosophy Conference, Espinho, Portugal, July 1–4, 2024. The paper focused on the possibilities and challenges of placing the widely known Latin American folklore of “The Weeping Woman” into a film about the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996), arguing that La Llorona presents a double-embodiment of history and myth.
Nathalie Lebon, Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, presented a paper titled “Os Desafios das Responsabilidades Conflitantes na Pesquisa Etnográfica Feminista” (“Challenges of Conflicting Responsibilities in Feminist Ethnographic Fieldwork”) at the 42nd International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Bogotá, Colombia, June 12–15, 2024. As part of the panel “Embodied Emotions for Researchers and Collaborators in Feminist Field Research,” the paper asked how we might deal with the challenges of a politically polarized field in ethnographic fieldwork. I also co-organized this panel with Anne-Marie Veillette, of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Latin American Studies.
Lebon presented a paper titled “Ethnographie de Terrain, Mouvements Sociaux, et Responsabilités Conflictueuses” (“Ethnographic Fieldwork, Social Movements, and Conflicting Responsibilities”) at the colloquium “Research ‘With’ and ‘On’ Emotions: Methodological Challenges for Feminist Studies and for Research on Collective Action,” organized by the Quebec Network for Feminist Studies (RÉQEF) and the Research Collective for Political Action and Democracy, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada, October 19–20, 2023. We inquired into the challenges of doing research on conflicts in social movements, and how to address the emotional load generated for the researcher.
Dan McCall, Professor of Psychology, with student colleagues Michael Fellman ’25 and Tristan Neels ’24, presented a poster titled “The Effects of ‘Sweet’ and ‘Sour’ Label Descriptors on the Perception of Flavors and Odors” at the International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste, Reykjavik, Iceland, June 22–26, 2024. This poster reported the results of experiments conducted as part of the X-SIG summer research program. The studies explored how prior expectations alter the perception of the sweetness and sourness of odors and ingested flavors.
R.C. Miessler, Digital Initiatives Librarian, Musselman Library, with faculty colleague Bill O’Hara, Associate Professor, Sunderman Conservatory of Music, presented a paper titled “Anything Not Saved Will Be Lost: Video Games as Archives in the Humanities Classroom” at the KeystoneDH Conference, Erie, PA, May 21, 2024. This presentation discusses the authors’ use of video games in the classroom as cultural artifacts, and how these courses encourage students to find connections between video games, archival practices, and humanistic inquiry, providing direct examples of class sessions that tie these themes together.
Miessler, with colleague Greg Lord, presented a paper titled “Kart Racing at the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Game Jams in the History Classroom” at the KeystoneDH Conference, Erie, PA, May 20, 2024. Game jams, such as Ludum Dare, are improvisational attempts to build a game from scratch, usually within a limited time frame and a specified theme. To facilitate a history-based game jam in the classroom, the presenters have developed an online tool, StoryGame/GameStory, which a facilitator uses to randomly roll parameters, from which small groups of students must sketch out the idea of a game that will convey historical concepts. This presentation will demonstrate how to facilitate a successful game jam using the StoryGame/GameStory engine, and how to customize the tool’s options to fit the needs of the class.
Carolyn Snively, Professor Emerita of Classics, presented a paper entitled “Stobi as the Capital of Macedonia Secunda—Topography and Urban Renewal” at the XVIII International Congress of Christian Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia, September 2–6, 2024. The archaeological site of Stobi, now in North Macedonia, was a Roman and Late Antique city located in the province of Macedonia. In the late fifth century, Stobi became the capital of the newly created province of Macedonia Secunda, and experienced sweeping urban renewal as a result of that enhanced status.
Divonna Stebick, Professor of Education, with staff colleague Joshua Wagner, Manager, Innovation and Creativity Lab, presented a paper titled “Inside the Lab. Students Create. Reflect. And Evolve” at the International Symposium on Academic Maker Spaces, Sheffield, England, September 11–13, 2024. The authors examine how creativity and personal growth are nurtured in student-centered educational environments across two courses, revealing six key themes—creativity, failure, reflection, the role of instructors, collaboration, and experiential learning. By embracing failure, promoting reflection, and encouraging collaboration, educators empower students to explore new ideas, develop resilience, and engage deeply with hands-on learning experiences.
Jocelyn Swigger, Professor, Sunderman Conservatory of Music, with colleague Sonya Del Tredici, MD, gave a plenary lecture titled “Practice Medicine like a Concert Pianist: Improving Your Skills Onstage and Offstage” at the Academic Internal Medicine Week 2024 conference, Columbus, OH, April 14–17, 2024. The presentation dealt with deliberate practice skills for doctors.
Randall Wilson, Professor of Environmental Studies, with student colleague Molly Hoffman ’24, presented a paper titled “Reasserting Indigenous Presence in a U.S. National Park: The Role of Yellowstone Bison” at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), Honolulu, HI, April 16–20, 2024. This paper examines how the evolution of bison conservation at Yellowstone National Park served as a rationale for both the early removal of Indigenous peoples from the park, and later for reestablishing an Indigenous presence through the adoption of joint-conservation initiatives.
Wilson, with student colleague Alyssa Papantonakis ’24, presented a paper titled “National Parks and Wolf Restoration: A Comparative Study of the United States and France” at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), Honolulu, HI, April 16–20, 2024. This paper offers a cross-national comparative examination of the role of national parks in wolf restoration efforts in the US and France. While much has been written of Yellowstone’s global influence regarding environmental conservation, including in the realm of wildlife reintroduction, what lessons can be learned from the experience of other industrialized and even more densely population countries, such as France
PROFESSIONAL OR CREATIVE ACTIVITY, PERFORMANCE OR ARTWORK
Stephanie Sellers, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, served on the Association for the Study of American Indian Literature’s 2024 Beatrice Medicine Award committee for Best Monograph in American Indian Studies. This year’s choice was Earth Works Rising: Mound Building in Native Literature and Arts, by Chadwick Allen, published in the University of Minnesota Press’s Indigenous Americas series in 2022.
Jocelyn Swigger, Professor, Sunderman Conservatory of Music, performed Etude Op. 48 no. 11 by Agnes Tyrrell (1846–1883) at a Piano Faculty Concert at Interlochen Arts Camp, Interlochen, MI, on June 25, 2024.
Swigger performed solo and, with violist Vera Binarová, duo recitals of music by women and Jewish composers at the Smetana Museum, Prague, Czech Republic, on June 3, 2024. The composers whose works were performed included Agnes Tyrrell, Lili Boulanger, Dora Pejacevic, Josef Joachim, George Gershwin, and Felix Mendelssohn.
Swigger performed a solo recital of music by Agnes Tyrrell at the Janáček Akademy of Music in Brno, Czech Republic, on May 31, 2024.
Mercedes Valmisa, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, was interviewed on the New Books Network Podcast on April 8, 2023, about her book, Adapting: A Chinese Philosophy of Action (Oxford University Press, 2021)
DIGITAL PROJECTS
Jocelyn Swigger, Professor, Sunderman Conservatory of Music, with student colleague and Kolbe Fellow Riley Dunbar ’27, created a page for the composer Agnes Tyrrell (1846–1883) on the open-source International Music Score Library Project. They published thirteen of Tyrrell’s pieces, including solo piano pieces and songs in English and German.
PROFESSIONAL DISTINCTIONS & AWARDS
Russell McCutcheon, Director of Bands and Professor, Sunderman Conservatory of Music, was named winner of the 2024 American Prize in Conducting, Musical Theater Division, for his work conducting The Prom, produced at the Majestic Theater in 2023 by the Gettysburg College Department of Theater in collaboration with the Sunderman Conservatory of Music.
Jesse Cordes Selbin, Assistant Professor of English, received the 2024 Scholarly Contributions to Teaching and Learning Award from the American Sociological Association (ASA) for her article “From Inclusive to Equitable Pedagogy: How to Design Course Assignments and Learning Activities that Address Structural Inequalities," published in Teaching Sociology in May 202
ACADEMIC EXTERNAL DIVISION GRANT AWARDS
April 13 – September 16, 2024
Emily Dieter, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, received an in-kind grant from the Community Science Program of the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute. Her research project, “Investigation of Radical S-Adenosyl-L-Methionine Enzymes Hypothesized to Be Involved in Methanogenic Archaea Metabolism,” will focus on the synthesis and delivery of engineered DNA (plasmids).
Junjie Luo, Associate Professor and currently Chair, Department of East Asian Studies, received a $15,900 grant from the Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC) for “Cultivating Attention and Engagement: Navigating Technology Use in the Liberal Arts Classroom.” This project, a collaboration with Franklin & Marshall College, will feature workshops, colloquia, and inter-institutional faculty learning circles to explore issues related to technology use in the classroom.
Dave Powell, Associate Professor of Education, received a $186,928 grant from the Landmarks of American History and Culture for K-12 Educators fund of the National Endowment for the Humanities. “On Hallowed Ground: Gettysburg in History and Memory” will comprise two one-week residential workshops for seventy-two K-12 teachers on the role of Gettysburg in Civil War history and how it is remembered.