College of Arts and Letters

Faculty Achievements and Awards

The University of Toledo College of Arts and Letters is proud of its outstanding faculty members and their many, varied and stellar achievements. We've listed them here. It lists only the most recent items over the past two years. Check back. More will be added each month.

FROM 2024

SEPTEMBER 2024: Eric Zeigler (Department of Art) had work made in collaboration with Aaron at the CLIMATE exhibition at Ashland University in Ashland, OH.

SEPTEMBER 2024: An Chung Cheng (Department of World Languages and Cultures) published a research paper titled "Corpus of Eye Movements in L3 Spanish Reading: A Prediction Model" in the Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 23-36. The other co-authors are Hui-Chuan Lu, Li-Chi Kao, Zong-Han Li, and Wen-Hsiang Lu, all of National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan.

SEPTEMBER 2024: Barry Jackisch (Department of History), presented two papers in Europe. The first was presented at the 16th annual conference of the European Association for Urban History (EAUH) in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The second was at the conference "Difficult Heritage and 'Nature': Greening as Forgetting – Greening as Healing?" held at Universität Hamburg, Warburg-Haus. The papers Jackisch presented at the conferences were "Various Shades of Green and Brown: Greenspace and Racial Ideology in Nazi Berlin, 1933-1945" and "Regreening, Remembering, Rebuilding: Berlin’s Tiergarten Park after 1945," respectively.

SEPTEMBER 2024: Ami Pflugrad Jackisch (Department of History) published an article, “Slavery, Freedom, and Survival: Life at Westover Plantation in Revolutionary Virginia,” in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (UPenn Press), Vol. 113. No. 4, pp. 47-66.

SEPTEMBER 2024: Friederike Emonds (Department of World Languages and Cultures) presented at a panel on Food and German Studies: Creative Explorations at the 48th annual international conference of the German Studies Association in Atlanta, Georgia.

SEPTEMBER 2024: Jami Taylor (Department of Political Science and Public Administration) co-authored a short professional piece for the Center for the Study of Federalism. It was titled "Federalism Through a Transgendered Lens.

AUGUST 2024: Kasumi Yamazaki (Department of World Languages and Cultures) presented her research paper, "Computer Assisted Language Learning Systematic Review: Latest Trends, Issues, and Future Directions for Japanese Language Learning," at the International Conference on Japanese Language Education (ICJLE), Madison, Wisconsin.

AUGUST 2024: Eric Zeigler (Department of Art) had work made with my collaborator, ecologist Aaron M. Ellison, at Hartwick Pines State Park in Grayling. MI for a solo show.

AUGUST 2024: Jason Cox (Department of Art) presented at Gen Con, the largest tabletop game convention in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, and strategy games. Jason demonstrated his game "Five-Hundred-Year-Old Vampire" for educators and professionals. He also ran three four-hour games of "Five-Hundred-Year-Old Vampire" at the event.

AUGUST 2024: Joseph Gamble co-edited "The Kinky Renaissance," published by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Press. Ayendy Bonifacio and Joey Kim both presented at the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism conference in Washington, August 15th-17th.
Tim Geiger published poems in Chautauqua, Anti-Heroin Chic, and After Happy Hour Review.

AUGUST 2024: Dan McInnis (Department of Art) is featured in a solo exhibition Aug. 27-Nov 2 at Wright State University. His "Elementary" portfolio exhibition coincides with the FotoFocus international biennial in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus, which includes over 100 exhibitions of photography.

SUMMER 2024: Barry Jackisch (Department of History) received a grant from the Ohio Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education Commission to develop/revise Holocaust-related curriculum and programming at UToledo.

SUMMER 2024: Mysoon Rizk (Department of Art) was recently appointed to the board of the David Wojnarowicz Foundation in New York. The Foundation's mission is to preserve, advance and honor the legacy and life of David Wojnarowicz—his art, his writings, his fierce commitment to social justice and the cause of persons with HIV/AIDS.

JUNE/JULY 2024: Eric Zeigler (Department of Arts) had his work featured in a number of exhibitions this summer. His photographic work "Metamorphosis" was presented at Loosen Art in Rome, Italy in June, chosen from 1,286 submitted works. A solo exhibition of the photographic series "DoubleTake," made in collaboration with ecologist Aaron M. Ellison, was shown at Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA), Seoul, Korea in July.

JUNE 2024: Barry Whittaker (Department of Art) presented a series of design lectures and lead a workshop on sound design at Yanshan University in Qinhuangdao, China. His sound work "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" was recently exhibited at ICOSA Collective in Austin, Texas.

MAY 2024: The journal "Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC)" asked Eric Zeigler and Barry Whittaker (Department of Art) to develop designs for its covers, each exploring a challenging topic. For this cover, the subject was a stimulated nerve synapse in a lamprey eel. Read more...

MAY 2024: The Royal Studies Journal, in association with the University of Winchester Press (UK), selected "Anne of Bohemia" by Kristen Geaman (Department of History) as one of the top three books on Royal Studies published in the last two years. One of the three books receives the biennial book prize, and the other two books are dubbed "Highly Recommended" runners up. The selection committee deemed Kristen's book "Highly Recommended."

MAY 2024: The University of Toledo’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs recently announced its University Research Funding Opportunities awards for Spring 2024. The following CAL faculty members were awarded research awards and fellowships for the following projects:

  • Cin Cin Tan (Department of Psychology) "The Role of Repetitive Exposure in Modifying Food Acceptance Among Emerging Adults: A Study of Picky Eaters."
  • Jami Taylor (Department of Political Science and Public Administration) "Public Opinion on Transgender Rights 2015-2024."
  • Joey Kim (Department of English Language and Literature) "The Racialized Woman in Romanticism."
  • Deborah Orloff (Department of Art) "Elusive Memory: Lost Histories."

MAY 2024:  Kim Nielsen (Disability Studies Program) a prominent historian of U.S. women and disability, was invited to attend a White House event in May celebrating President Biden’s Executive Order on Recognizing and Honoring Women’s History. The executive order is intended to strengthen the National Park Service’s recognition of women’s history by increasing the representation of women’s history in sites across America and honoring the legacy and contributions of a diverse range of women and girls.

APRIL 2024: Mysoon Rizk (Department of Art) received a $5,000 Spark Grant from Ohio Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, to organize a free and public event at the McMaster Center in the Main branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library. The event was held in April. After screening the documentary film Krzysztof Wodiczko: "The Art of Un-War," Rizk together with Barry Jackisch, Director of the Roger Ray Institute for the Humanities, moderated an in-person discussion with the New York City-based documentary filmmaker Maria Niro, in person; internationally renown artist Krzysztof Wodiczko, by Zoom; and the audience.

APRIL 2024: Dr. Cin Cin Tan (Department of Psychology) presented six research posters at the annual conference of the Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA) in Chicago, IL, along with undergraduate and graduate students from the University.

The presentations included:

    • Associations between Social Media Usage and Body Image among Couples presented by Imani Allen, Kyrie Heath, Frances Lauten, Adelyn Sherrard, Michael Vang, and Dr. Cin Cin Tan.
    • The Moderating Role of Emotion Dysregulation between Food Insecurity and Food Parenting presented by Max Machon, Danielle Oldfield, Michael Vang, Adelyn Sherrard, Frances Lauten, and Dr. Cin Cin Tan.
    • Observed Positive Coparenting Strategies are Associated with Less Use of Coercive Control Food Parenting among Male and Female Parents presented by Ananya Chatterjee, Miriam Shikwana, Adelyn Sherrard, Frances Lauten, Michael Vang, and Dr. Cin Cin Tan.
    • Food Parenting: Associations with Child Body Size and Supportive Coparenting presented by Adelyn Sherrard, Marian Estifan, Frances Lauten, Michael Vang, and Dr. Cin Cin Tan.
    • Body Dissatisfaction and Directionality: A Food Insecurity Perspective presented by Frances Lauten, Adelyn Sherrard, Michael Vang, and Dr. Cin Cin Tan.
    • Are My Food Parenting Styles Similar to My Parents? presented by Michael Vang, Adelyn Sherrard, Frances Lauten, and Dr. Cin Cin Tan.

APRIL 2024: Kasumi Yamazaki recently published a bibliographic entry titled: “Computer-Assisted Language Learning” by Oxford Bibliographies. It provides a comprehensive list of research studies that provide a brief history as well as a general understanding of the field. 

APRIL 2024: Three Department of Geography and Planning faculty (Beth Schlemper, Esther Amoako, and Patrick Lawrence) and eight students recently gave research presentations at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Honolulu, HI. Undergraduate geography major and Salford Exchange Student, Jacob Davinson also participated as member of the East Lakes Division team competing in the World Geography Bowl event at the meeting.

APRIL 2024: An Chung Cheng (Department of World Languages and Cultures) presented her work, LCTL Teacher Transformation: An STARTALK Experience, at the Conference of the National Council on the Teaching of Less Commonly Taught Languages in Chicago, IL. Dr. Cheng, PI/Program Director of the STARTALK-UToledo SPARKLE Program, also led a twelve-week online teacher training session this spring. The training is part of a $220,000 grant from the NSA for Arabic, Korean, and Japanese teachers of K-16 schools and community-based heritage language programs. Seventy teachers across the USA were selected to participate in the online professional development. Gaby Semaan led the Arabic group, while Dr. Cheng led the Chinese group. They will work with 40 selected teachers for an intensive summer workshop in July at the UToledo campus.

APRIL 2024: Joseph Gamble (Department of English Language and Literature) led a seminar, "Trans/Philologies," at the Shakespeare Association of America conference in Portland, Oregon.

APRIL 2024: Sheri Benton (Department of English Language and Literature) gave a presentation, "Remodeling Assessment: Non-Traditional Grading and Grade Center Transformations," at the annual meeting of the College English Association of Ohio in Columbus.

APRIL 2024: Jami Taylor (Department of Political Science and Public Administration) was awarded a Research Award and Fellowship Program for her new public opinion research project.

APRIL 2024: Dustin Pearson and Tim Geiger (Department of English Language and Literature) were featured in Metroparks Toledo's #5Poets5Parks event to celebrate National Poetry Month.

MARCH 2024: Gaby Semaan and Arwa Noubi Hassan, a Fulbright scholar under the Fulbright co-Supervision Program for Egypt, (Department of World Languages and Cultures), co-conducted a workshop and presentation at the annual conference of the Ohio Foreign Language Association held at Otterbein University. The workshop title was “Gamification and Video Production: Transforming Language Learning.” The other co-presentation was: “The Place of Intercultural Communication in World Language Classroom: Suggestions and Tips.“ Dr. Semaan also presented “To Adopt or to Resist: Is there a Place for Artificial Intelligence in Language Learning/Teaching Classrooms?” and “Safeguarding your Mental Health: Strategies and Evidence-Based Tips for Teachers’ Self-Care.”

MARCH 2024: Kim E. Nielsen (Disability Studies Program) published an edited volume of Helen Keller’s own words entitled, "Autobiographies and Other Writings" (New York: Library of American, 2024). The collection is being reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement, Sunday, Mar. 17.

MARCH 2024: Monita Mungo (Department of Sociology and Anthropology) is one of four contributing authors of "SOC 2024," published by McGraw Hill. The goal of "SOC 2024" is to inform, challenge, and empower students as they become intellectual thinkers and active agents of social change. This text facilitates the thought process by asking students to constantly apply what they know about the real world.

MARCH 2024: "Sister Eileen and Her Boyz, an HIV in the Rust Belt Story," a film by Holly Hey (Department of Theatre and Film) and Ally Day (Disability Studies Program) has been picked up for distribution by public television. Distribution began March 9. The film is available to PBS stations across the country, in parts of Canada, and throughout Puerto Rico. The Toledo Public Television affiliate, WGTE, will air it in June.

MARCH 2024: A poem by Barbara Miner (Department of Art), "My Body" is in the March edition of the Anacapa Review (AnacapaReview.com). Two of her paintings, "Russian Olive" and "closed bottle gentian-blue" were included in the nationally juried exhibition, "Pattern and Abstraction" currently online at the Rhode Island Watercolor Society. Since only 94 works total were accepted into the show, it is significant that two of Miner's works were selected.

FEBRUARY 2024: Steve Christman (Department of Psychology) published two manuscripts with his students:

    • Prichard, E.C., Christman, S.D., & Clarkson, E.M. (February 2024). Differences between consistent and inconsistent handedness remain consistently interesting: Ten years of research on the consistency of handedness with the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 131, 5-16.
    • Christman, S.D., & Prichard E.C. (February 2024). Historical changes in everyday human lifestyles and their effects on hemispheric activation: Speculations on McGilchrist’s The Master and His Emissary. Laterality, 29(2), 169–183.  https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2024.2315854

FEBRUARY 2024: Dr. Andrew Geers (Department of Psychology) published two first-authored papers from his NIH R01 grant, in the journal BMC Psychology, “A test of pre-exposure spacing and multiple context pre-exposure on the mechanisms of latent inhibition of dental fear: A study protocol” and “A study protocol testing pre-exposure dose and compound pre-exposure on the mechanisms of latent inhibition of dental fear.”

FEBRUARY 2024 David Lacy, a Ph.D. candidate in History, presented his research, “Using the Master’s Tools to Dismantle His House: Black Legal Culture During Slavery in Antebellum Virginia,” at the 32nd National Association of African American Studies Annual Conference, University of Texas at Austin.

FEBRUARY 2024: Rebecca Monteleone (Disability Studies Program) has been elected as the incoming chair for the IEEE Neuroethics Framework. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is the largest technical professional organization in the world, serving over 409,000 members in 160 countries through the production of academic publications, conferences, standards, and guidelines for engineers across all disciplines and fields.

FEBRUARY 2024 Shahna Arps (Department of Sociology and Anthropology) published an article with three students (K.M. Noviski, L. Tucker and A. Tutwiler) in Advances in Health Sciences Education. The article, entitled “Medical Students Motivations for Participating in an Elective Focused on Social Inequities and Health Disparities," examines student reasons for pursuing elective training focused on medical racism and system health inequities.

FEBRUARY 2023: Shingi Mavima (Department of History) has published his second novella, "The Leak," this month. The book was published by Carnelian Heart Publishing Ltd. Synopsis: Kuda, a young man from urban Zimbabwe in pursuit of greener pastures, embarks on a surreal path where he is confronted with familial conflict, disease, dashed hopes, love and camaraderie in the strangest of places, and death.

FEBRUARY 2023: Rebecca Monteleone (Disability Studies Program) has published two essays: "Complexity as Epistemic Oppression: Writing People with Intellectual Disabilities Back into Philosophy" in "Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, First View;" (January) and "Wearing Danger: Surveillance, Control and Quantified Healthism in American Medicine," in Balfour, L., "Femtech: Intersectional Interventions in Women’s Digital Health."

JANUARY 2024: Sharon Barnes (Women's and Gender Studies) has been appointed to the City of Toledo's CEDAW/Gender Equity Commission as a commissioner, also serving as the secretary of the executive committee. CEDAW is the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Barnes, along with fellow faculty member Abdel Halim, was one of the people who helped organize the local commission, which launched in August of 2023. Almost every country in the world (minus the U.S., Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Nauru, Palau, and Tonga) has signed the convention since its inception in 1979. Because the U.S. refuses to sign, people around the country have organized “Cities 4 CEDAW” campaigns.

JANUARY 2024: Melinda Reichelt (Department of English Language and Literature) published a chapter in "Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers of U.S. College Composition: Exploring Identities and Negotiating Difference," The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado, 2024. This edited collection explores strategies for creating more inclusive writing programs.

FROM 2023

DECEMBER 2023: Three CAL graduate students, nominated by their advisors, were recognized in December by the University of Toledo's Graduate Council. The students are Kingsley Kanjin (M.A. Geography), Kennedy Lovell (M.A. English), and Michael Vang (Ph.D. Psychology).

DECEMBER 2023: Xianlin Jin (Department of Communication) published a co-authored article entitled, “Trust, Perceived Usefulness, and Intentions to Adopt Robotic Health Advisors for Physical and Relational Health Issues,” in The Social Science Journal (Taylor & Francis Online).

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2023: Dan Hernandez, Shin Yeon Joen, Deborah Orloff, Arturo Rodriguez, and Barry Whittaker (Department of Art) have artwork on display in The Express Partners Faculty Art Show. This group show, happening now through Dec. 15, features work by selected art faculty from UToledo as well as from Owens and the University of Findlay. The exhibition is on view at the Walter E. Terhune Art Gallery at Owens Community College.
 
NOVEMBER 2023: UToledo music faculty member, David Jex, composed the music for a new ballet by Nigel Bourgoine, artistic director of Ballet Theatre of Toledo. "A Night Before Christmas at the Museum" premiered in November at the Valentine Theatre. The story follows a little girl who spends an evening in the Toledo Museum of Art as Edgar Degas's statue of "Little Dancer" springs to life, bringing to life also a number of other famous works. Jex and Bourgoine have collaborated on several other past ballets including, "Little Mermaid," "The Great Pancake Escape," "Beauty and the Beast," and "The Ugly Duckling."

OCTOBER 2023: Anthony Edgington, Tyler Branson and Michelle Davidson (Department of English Language and Literature) spoke at the 2023 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Convention, "Conexiones." They presented a discussion entitled "Connecting First-Year Writers to the Campus Community: The Showcase of Student Writing at the University of Toledo." The showcase is a two-day “celebration of writing,” where first-year students share their research projects with the campus community in visual and new media genres.

OCTOBER 2023: Melissa Baltus Zych (Department of Sociology and Anthropology) received the Southeast Archaeological Conference's SEAC Rising Scholar Award.

OCTOBER 2023: Kim Nielsen (Disability Studies) won the William Best Hesseltine Award for Best Wisconsin Magazine of History Article of the Year for 2022. The article is: "Ott v. Ott: Family Violence, Divorce, and Women’s Agency in Nineteenth-Century Wisconsin." Published in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Winter 2022 edition.

OCTOBER 2023: Anthony Edgington (Department of English Language and Literature) received the 2023 John Hollow Award from the College English Association of Ohio for his "outstanding, long-term service to the organization."

OCTOBER 2023: Renee Heberle (Law and Social Thought Program) helped spearhead the successful effort to win a Spark grant from the Ohio Humanities Council for People for Change, the Inside-Out Alumni organization. Members of People for Change include alumni of Inside-Out classes. UToledo students and incarcerated students make up the membership of People for Change. To see their work, visit the Inside-Out website.
 
OCTOBER 2023: Suzanne Smith (Department of English Language and Literature) received the University Women's Commission Alice H. Skeens Award for "exceptional contributions and achievements to UT, involvement and support in the UT community, active support of women, and longevity."

OCTOBER 2023: Barry Jackisch (Department of History) presented a paper entitled "Rebuilding a 'Green' City in the Rubble: Conceptions of Urban Nature in the Reconstruction of East and West Berlin" at the conference Urban Narratives: Reconstructing and Re-Branding European Cities from the 20th Century until Present Day at the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe in Marburg, Germany.

OCTOBER 2023: Rebecca Monteleone (Disability Studies) developed and facilitated a conference in Washington D.C. as part of the Plain Truth Project. The Plain Truth Project is a collaboration between journalists, researchers, and self-advocates with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The event brought together about 40 attendees, including self-advocates with intellectual and developmental disabilities, journalists, and representatives from disability organizations, including the National Down Syndrome Congress and the National Center for Disability and Journalism. (October 2023)

OCTOBER 2023: Under the leadership of Disability Studies faculty member Rebecca Monteleone, the Disability Studies Program and the Department of Theatre and Film collaborated with OpenSpot Theatre to present an original production created by actors and facilitators. OpenSpot is a Michigan-based program that provides theatre training and opportunities for actors with developmental disabilities. The October performance was the culmination of a 6-week training session with 22 actors with disabilities (several of whom are UToledo students in the Toledo Transition [T2] Program). Several UToledo theatre students served as on-stage support.

OCTOBER 2023: Four members of The University of Toledo faculty and staff and seven alumni were named to the 20 Under 40 list, an annual recognition of 20 distinguished community leaders from northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan who are younger than 40 years old. Awardees affiliated with the College of Arts and Letters included faculty member Joey Kim (Department of English Language and Literature) and CAL alumni Allison Fiscus (Art/Art History '09) and David Potts (History '07).

OCTOBER 2023: Peter Feldmeier (Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) received the 2023 Streng Book Award for his book, "Experiments in Buddhist-Christian Encounter: From Buddha-Nature to Divine Nature." The Streng book award is given for excellence in Buddhist-Christian studies by The Society for Buddhist-Christian studies. "It is wonderful to see this work recognized," remarked Dr. John Sarnecki, the Chair of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

OCTOBER 2023: Jeanne Kusina (Department of Women's and Gender Studies) has been named a 2023 Donald H. Wulff Diversity Fellow by the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education. In awarding the fellowship, the committee noted that Kusina "demonstrated potential for innovation and excellence in DEI-related work.

OCTOBER 2023: Dan Hammel (Department of Geography and Planning) has accepted the position of acting vice provost for graduate affairs at UToledo.

OCTOBER 2023: Steinway & Sons named Michael Boyd (Department of Music) to its Music Teacher Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Queens, NY. The prestigious honor is presented every two years to talented music educators from the U.S. and Canada "who foster passion, creativity, and discipline in the next generation of piano artists." Dr. Boyd is also a Steinway Artist.

This honor arrives on the heels of the UToledo Department of Music attaining the coveted recognition of becoming an All-Steinway School - a tremendous achievement for the University of Toledo that Dr. Boyd has guided for the past 20 years. The result of that designation was a celebratory concert at Steinway Hall in New York, NY last spring that featured Dr. Boyd, current UToledo piano students, and alumni.

FALL 2023: Jim Ferris (Disability Studies Program) co-edited the recently published "Palgrave Handbook of Disability and Communication," examining the interconnection between disability and the discourse that makes it meaningful.

SEPTEMBER 2023: Mysoon Rizk (Department of Art) presented a lecture at the close of the exhibition "Friends, Neighbors & Distant Comrades: Selections from the Moore Collection of ’80s NYC Art" at the Frederick Layton Gallery in Milwaukee, WI.

SEPTEMBER 2023: Eric Zeigler (Department of Art) had an essay published by the Dark Mountain Project. He co-authored the work with fellow photographer Aaron M. Ellison. In the essay, "After the Fire," the pair document their travels to Nevada's Great Basin. According to the Dark Mountain Project website, they sought "to gain a deep time perception into the effects of fire on the natural world. Crossing fire-scarred lowlands and snow-shrouded passes, they contemplate how photographic processes old and new might grant us access to the perspectives of birds, insects, and ancient trees."

SEPTEMBER 2023: Dan Compora (Department of English Language and Literature) published a journal article, "Michigan's Monsters" in Contemporary Legend, and a book chapter, "Nowhere Is Safe: Suburban Terror in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street,' 'Shocker,' and 'Scream,'" in "A Critical Companion to Wes Craven" (Rowman and Littlefield). https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666919073/A-Critical-Companion-to-Wes-Craven

SEPTEMBER 2023: Andrew Mattison (Department of English Language and Literature) published a journal article, "Shakespeare, Steevens, and the Fleeting Moon: Glossing and Reading in Antony and Cleopatra," in Shakespeare Quarterly. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/8/article/902095

"Resisting Anti-Asian Racism in Public-Facing Work and Teaching," a chapter by Joey Kim (Department of English Language and Literature) was published in "Scholars in Covid Times," edited by Melissa Castillo Planas and Deborah A. Castillo (Cornell University Press).

SEPTEMBER 2023: Dustin Pearson (Department of English Language and Literature) gave a reading at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center.  

SEPTEMBER 2023: Deborah Orloff (Department of Art) will be part of the Louisville Photo Biennial. Her work will be shown at the University of Louisville's Cressman Center for Visual Arts. The biennial encompasses more than 50 venues, working together to celebrate the medium and art of photography.

AUGUST 2023 Two assistant professors in the Department of English Language and Literature have recently published books with leading university presses. Joseph Gamble’s "Sex Lives: Intimate Infrastructures in Early Modernity" (University of Pennsylvania Press, August 2023) explores some of the most ordinary but least discussed elements of everyday life: intimate encounters and experiences as represented in great literature and casual writing alike.

Joey S. Kim’s "Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation" (Edinburgh University Press, May 2023) treats lyric poems by William Blake, Lord Byron, Felicia Hemans, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and others in a startling new light, showing that the unstable conceptual relation between East and West pervades these works, pushing readers to think about familiar poems in entirely different ways.

MAY 2023 In the final official meeting of the 2022-23 Faculty Senate, three Senate committee chairs were recognized for their extraordinary leadership and service to The University of Toledo. They are Deborah Coulter-Harris and Anthony Edgington (Department of English Language and Literature), and Patrick Lawrence (Department of Geography and Planning).

SPRING 2023: Several CAL faculty received grants when The University of Toledo’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs announced its spring 2023 University Research Funding Opportunities awards. 
Melissa Baltus Zych (Department of Sociology and Anthropology) received a grant from the Archaeological Research Fund for exploring the western edges of the Toledo area's long-lost Fort Miamis.

The following faculty received Research Awards and Fellowships:

  • Ayendy Bonifacio (Department of English) for Paratextuality in Anglophone and Hispanophone Poems (1855-1901).
  • Daniel Compora (Department of English) for Talking Baseball: The Changing Role of Oral Traditions in America’s Pastime.
  • Joseph Gamble (Department of English) for trans philologies.
  • Clarissa Ong (Department of Psychology) for Examining Individual Networks in Context: How Does Responding Change Across Contexts?
  • Parama Sarkar (Department of English) for Empire State of Mind: Colonial nostalgia, Orientalist fantasy, and the Crisis of National Identity in British cultural production (2000-2020).

SPRING 2023: Peter Feldmeier (Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) published a book, "The Wisdom of the World’s Religions" (Orbis, December 2022). He also published an article, "Living Christ: A Spiritual Reading of the Gospels" (Liturgical Press, March 2023). Feldmeier also joined a research group with the Vatican’s Office of Interreligious Affairs.

MAY 2023: This month and next, Kim Mack (Department of English) will be on tour with her book “Living Colour’s Time’s Up,” a 152-page book published by Bloomsbury Academic for its prestigious 33 1/3 series examining seminal albums. Read more...

APRIL 2023: Suzanne Smith (Department of English) received the University Women's Commission Alice H. Skeens Award for "exceptional contributions and achievements to UT, involvement and support in the UT community, active support of women, and longevity."

APRIL 2023: Anthony Edgington (Department of English) received the 2023 John Hollow Award from the College English Association of Ohio for his "outstanding, long-term service to the organization."

APRIL 2023: Tyler Branson, Michelle Davidson and Anthony Edgington (Department of English) presented a roundtable entitled, "Building Community from Within: Showcase for Student Writing," at the College English Association of Ohio Spring Conference.

APRIL 2023: Andrew Mattison (Department of English) presented a paper titled "Dido's Mighty Line" at the Shakespeare Association of America Conference in Minneapolis.

APRIL 2023: Joey Gamble (Department of English) presented a paper, "Cassio's Wife: Sexual Infrastructures and Queer Biopoliticians", at the Shakespeare Association of America Conference in Minneapolis.

APRIL 2023: Dustin Pearson (Department of English) was invited to participate in the Toledo National Poetry Month Kick-Off and Arts Collaboration at the Hilton Garden Inn Toledo Downtown. Pearson also participated in a panel titled "Global Decadence, Race, the Futures of Decadence Studies: Creative Writing Panel" at a virtual conference of The Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia. 

APRIL 2023: Daniel Compora (Department of English) presented a paper, "Stephen King’s and Peter Staub’s Mythmaking: Jack Sawyer as an American Hero," at the Popular Culture Association Annual Conference in New York. 

APRIL 2023: Ayendy Bonifacio (Department of English) participated in a symposium, "Black: Here and Now," at the Center for Humanistic Inquiry Fellows Conference at Amherst College. Bonifacio also published a chapter, "Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda and Puerto Rico's Colonia Press," in Latina Histories and Cultures: Feminist Readings and Recoveries of Archival Knowledge (Arte Público Press, University of Houston, 2023).

APRIL 2023: Dr. Charles Beatty Medina (Department of History) published a chapter, "African Maroons and Native Peoples on the 'Atlantic' Borderlands of Colonial Quito," in "At the Heart of the Borderlands: Africans and Afro-Descendants on the Edges of Colonial Spanish America," edited by Cameron D. Jones and Jay T. Harrison. Published by University of New Mexico Press.

MARCH 2023: Eric Zeigler (Department of Art) had work included in the Landscape 2023 International Photography Exhibition, Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow, Scotland.

FEBRUARY 2023: Dr. Shingi Mavima (Department of History) published an article "Africana Digital Pedagogy: Cultural Exchange, Learning, and Innovation" (Co-authored with Drs. Clarence George of California State University, Sacramento, and Ja’La Wourman of James Madison University) in the Journal of African American Studies. Vol 26.

JANUARY 2023: Dr. Michael Stauch presented a research paper, "Policing Wageless Life in Detroit’s Carceral Era," at the 136th annual meeting of the American Historical Association conference in Philadelphia this month. The AHA is historians’ flagship professional organization.

JANUARY 2023: Ayendy Bonifacio (Department of English) published an essay, "The Institutionalization of Anti-Haitianism in Dominican History and Education," with the North American Congress on Latin America. Bonifacio also gave a presentation on the "Future of Latinx Studies" for a symposium, "Intersections Between Latinx Studies and Latin American & Caribbean Studies," at Vanderbilt University.

JANUARY 2023: Two Department of English faculty participated in the Modern Language Association Annual Convention in San Francisco this month. Ayendy Bonifacio participated in a roundtable on "Print Culture Studies and Modern American Culture." Joey Kim delivered a paper on "William Blake's Queer Phenomenology" and, separately, participated in a roundtable on "Racial Justice Work in the Humanities: Public-Facing Scholars’ Projects, Lessons, Limitations, and Hope."

JANUARY 2023: A trio of CAL faculty are recipients of The Arts Commission’s Merit Awards for 2022. The awards recognize outstanding local literary, performing and visual artists. Deborah Orloff (Department of Art) received the award for Visual Arts, Photography; Ayendy Bonifacio (Department of English) received the award for Literary Arts; and Jordan Buschur (Department of Art) received the award for Visual Arts, Painting/Drawing.

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Last Updated: 10/5/24