FACULTY & STAFF NEWS

ACCOLADES

History Professor Richard Bell was selected as part of the 2021 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He received a $200,000 stipend to support research for his forthcoming book, “The First Freedom Riders: Streetcars and Street Fights in Jim Crow New York.”

Erich Sommerfeldt, associate professor in the Department of Communication, was selected to be a 2021 Jefferson Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He worked as an adviser to the U.S. Department of State to provide expertise in policy decisions for U.S. public diplomacy around the globe.

Jared Mezzocchi, associate professor of dance/theatre design and production, was listed in The New York Times among the top five theater artists for the way he is “advocating and agitating, connecting and inventing” through theater during the pandemic.

Professor of Linguistics Colin Phillips, director of the Maryland Language Science Center, was named a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in recognition of research that has deepened the world’s understanding of language acquisition and processing—and broadened appreciation for linguistic insights across a range of other disciplines.

At the opening for his sculpture “Maze of Knowledge” at the National Building Museum, Professor of Art Foon Sham was honored with a 2021 Outstanding Educator Award from the International Sculpture Center. The award recognizes artist-educators who have excelled at teaching sculpture in institutions of higher learning and who are masters of sculptural history, theory, processes and techniques.

Marketing Communications Coordinator Kate Spanos Ph.D. ’16 received a grant from Maryland Traditions, the traditional arts program of the Maryland State Arts Council, to work with Becky Hill, a third-year M.F.A. student in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, on traditional Irish dance repertoire and style.

NOTABLE FACULTY BOOKS

Distinguished University Professor of English Robert S. Levine’s “A Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson” received starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews.

Professor of English GerShun Avilez’s book “Black Queer Freedom” was named on The Seminary Co-op Bookstores 2020 Notable Books List.

Associate Professor of History Christopher Bonner won the 2021 James H. Broussard Best First Book Prize from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic for his book “Remaking the Republic: Black Politics and the Creation of American Citizenship.”

OUTSTANDING NEW FACULTY

Top row L-R: Cecilia D. Shelton (English), Eva Hageman (American Studies and the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Fabrizio Cariani (Philosophy) | Middle row L-R: Gretchen Horlacher (Music), Kendra Portier (Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies), Maria Beliaeva Solomon (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures), Marisa Parham (English, AADHum), Anny Gaul (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures) | Bottom row L-R: Melinda Baldwin (History), Rion Amilcar Scott (English), Robin Giebelhausen (Music). Maryl B. Gensheimer, associate professor of Roman art and archaeology, was awarded the Council of Graduate Schools’ 2020 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities for her book “Decoration and Display in Rome’s Imperial Thermae: Messages of Power and Their Popular Reception at the Baths of Caracalla.”

Assistant Professor of English Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes was awarded the BOA Short Fiction prize by BOA Editions, a publisher of poetry and other literary works, for her book of stories “Are We Ever Our Own.”