Faculty Merit Awards

A new program recognizing excellence in faculty research and scholarship has been developed at Soka within the Academic Affairs office.The new program, co-developed byVice President for Academic Affairs Ed Feasel, Dean of Faculty Bryan Penprase, and Associate Dean Michael Weiner, analyzes submitted faculty publications. It recognizes works published in top-tier academic presses and journals and commends high-profile activities within scholarly disciplines. The new program also recognizes chairing and organizing conferences, publishing and editing academic journals, and representing Soka at a wide variety of academic settings and performance venues. Soka students benefit from this new initiative because faculty members bring deeper, fresher insights into the classroom and enrich their advisory role in student’s Capstone projects. Faculty Merit Award winners were recognized at an Awards Banquet on April 25.

2019 Winners

Robert Allinson, Professor of Philosophy

Professor Allinson’s recent books and book chapters include A Metaphysics for the Future (Routledge), and book chapters such as An Aesthetic Theory in Four Dimensions: Collingwood and Beyond, Leibniz, Infinity and the Nature ofthe Divine, An Aristotelian Renaissance: Aristotelian Ethics for Today. He also includes numerous refereed journal articles in his recent works that discuss philosophical dimensions of current and historical events in the US, China, and Europe, and has presented at philosophy conferences around the world, as well as serving on numerous boards and advisory councils.

Shane Barter, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics

Professor Barter has produced numerous edited volumes and chapters in books discussing a wide variety of issues in Southeast Asia. Recent books include a monograph entitled Explaining the Genetic Footprints of Catholic and Protestant Colonizers (Palgrave Macmillan), a monograph entitled Civilian Strategy in Civil War: Insights from Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines (Palgrave Macmillan) an edited volume with Soka professor Michael Weiner that arose from a Pacific Basin course entitled An Introduction to the Pacific Basin (Routledge), as well as book chapters such as Southeast Asia: Unity in ASEAN, Armed Conflict Across the Pacific: Patterns and Possibilities, The Age of Colonialisms, and Southeast Asia: Unity in Diversity. His works also include numerous articles in refereed journals that discuss political and social dimensions in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the region, and he has presented at numerous US and international conferences as well as serving as a board member of the Western Conference of the Association forAsian Studies (WCAAS) and co-editor of a Palgrave Book Series.

Esther Chang, Professor of Psychology

Professor Chang has authored a monograph entitled Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Educational Psychology (McGraw-Hill), as well as numerous articles on intergenerational differences and psychological development, such as articles on youth in foster care, and the parenting strategies of kirogi mothers.

Sarah England, Associate Professor of Anthropology

Professor England’s recent book, WritingTerror on the Bodies of Women: Media Coverage of Violence againstWomen in Guatemala (Lexington Books) details the state of women and violence in Guatemala, and her recent book chapters include Latin America: A Living and Changing Artifact (co-authored with Soka professor Ian Read), Gender Violence: Honor, Shame and the Violation ofBodies in Guatemala and India, and Migration, Immigration and Settlement within the Pacific Basin (co-authored with Soka professor Michael Weiner). She also has presented at national conferences in Anthropology and Latin American Studies. Dongyoun Hwang, Professor of History Professor Hwang has authored the book The International Conferences that Built the Republic of Korea (National Museum of Korean Contemporary History), as well as a book chapter on Anarchism in Korea: Independence, Transnationalism, and the Question of National Development, and journal articles such as Notes on Wang Jimgwei’s Wartime Collaboration and Asianism during the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945. Professor Hwang has also given numerous invited talks on his research at conferences in Korea, Spain and the US.

Edward Lowe, Associate Professor of Anthropology

Professor Lowe has written book chapters such as Kinship, Funerals and the Durability ofCulture in Chuuk, Oceania: an Overview, Rapid Societal Change and Mental HealthVulnerabilities in the Pacific Basin, and Methods to Inform Public Problems:Toward an Ecocultural Framingof Poverty. He also has a number of articles in refereed journals studying social change, and the epidemic of suicide within Oceania and Micronesia, and serves as the editor ofthe journal Ethos. Professor Lowe has also given numerous invited lectures on his research at conferences in Germany, Denmark and the US.

Jim Merod, Professor of American Literature

Professor Merod has co-authored a book with jazz saxophonist Benny Golson entitled Whisper Not: The Autobiography of Benny Golson (Temple University Press), as well as numerous articles discussing Shakespeare, Styles of Democracy, and Freedom’s Changing Shape. Professor Merod also serves as a contributed editor to the journal The A-Line, and has produced numerous performances and recordings of jazz, as well as serving as Emcee at the 2018 Annual Jazz Celebration in Lincoln Center, NYC.

Lisa MacLeod, Associate Professor of International Studies

Professor MacLeod has published on China’s Security Council Engagement:The Impact ofNormative and Causal Beliefs, as well as contributed a book chapter on International Relations in the Pacific Basin: Boundary Disputes.”

Nalini Rao, Associate Professor of World Art

Professor Rao has published a monograph entitled Lothal: A Glorious Civilization (Navbharat Publications), as well as book chapters on archaeology of Lothal and Dvaraka, and Relation between Art and Archeology: Its Possibilities in Maritime Studies in India. Her journal articles explore the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Symbolism and Power in Royal Rituals, and Royal Religious Beneficence in Pre-modern India. Professor Rao serves as a board member and advisor to numerous museums and foundations, and recentlyhas organized a conference in Bangalore, as well as given invited talks on her research in India and the US.

Kristi Wilson, Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition

Professor Wilson has co-authored a book entitled Italian Neorealism –Quotidian Storytelling and Transnational Horizons (Wiley-Blackwell), as well as book chapters on Community Cinema, Trans-identity: Theory, Politics and Identity in the Pacific Basin (co-authored with Soka professor Ryan Caldwell), and articles such as Building Memory: Museums, Trauma, and the Aesthetics of Confrontation in Argentina. Professor Wilson also has organized several conferences and workshops in Spain and Argentina, has received a $25,000 grant from the Ford Foundation and has presented her work in the UK, Argentina and the US.

Jim Williams, Professor of Rhetoric and Linguistics

Professor Williams recently completed a book entitled The Commodification of Education (Rowan and Littlefield), as well as journal articles such as First-year Composition and Transfer: A quantitative study, Key Pedagogic Thinkers: Jean Baudrillard, and Composition and the Search for Self-Awareness. Professor Williams also has given numerous conference presentations in the US and Canada, and received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.