WhoWhatWhere
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-David Elwell, director of Brandeis’ International Students & Scholars Office, was recently honored with the Sally Heym Award from NAFSA: The Association of International Educators New England Region. The award is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of international education through service and mentoring of other professionals, students and the field/community at large. Brandeis was well represented at the conference, with participation by Study Abroad, the International Students & Scholars Office, Admissions, the Master’s Program in Co-existence and Conflict and the Office of Global Affairs.
-Richard Beaudoin, a music composition and theory PhD candidate who is currently teaching an introduction to music course at Brandeis, recently presented a portion of an opera he is composing on a London stage. The first act of his opera, based on Herman Melville’s 1852 novel “Pierre,” was performed at the Arcola Theatre in August.
Beaudoin is writing the piece for six singers and it has been submitted for consideration by New York City Opera's VOX Program, which offers full orchestral readings of new works at Lincoln Center each May.
-Paola Servino, a senior lecturer in Italian studies, was recently honored for her course “Intermediate Italian.” The course was identified as one of the top 10 courses in a national study of Italian courses conducted by the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC). As one of the selected courses, it will serve as a model for the redesign of the AP equivalent course. Servino, a graduate of Intituto Univeristario Oviensale of Naples, has been teaching at Brandeis since 1989.
-Music professor and Lydian String Quartet cellist Joshua Gordon and pianist Randall Hodgkinson were given a prominent review for their new CD, "Leo Ornstein: Complete Works For Cello and Piano," from the New York Times. In the article, dated Sept. 16, Vivien Schweitzer wrote, "on a fine new disc from New World Records the value of [Leo Ornstein's] powerful works for cello and piano is revealed by the pianist Randall Hodgkinson and the cellist Joshua Gordon, admirable chamber musicians who play with passion and sensitivity... These exemplary performances should ensure that Ornstein’s cello works will enjoy some of the limelight the composer shunned for so long."
Also, in the November 2007 issue of Strings Magazine, Edith Eisler wrote, "The music is beautiful: tonal, often impressionistic, primarily dreamy, occasionally with a strong Judaic flavor... It is astonishing that more cellists have not discovered these idiomatic, effective works. This recording should change that. The playing is splendid, authoritative, expressive, and involved. Ornstein could not have wished for more committed, persuasive advocates."
-E.J. Graff, a senior researcher for the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, has organized a panel discussion called “Working Moms,” which will take place at New York City’s The New School on Oct. 16. Graff will moderate the discussion surrounding the "opt out" myth, which she describes as “a storyline that claims a great swath of working mothers in this country are either bolting the career track or dreaming of doing so. These trend stories help to frame the national discourse on motherhood and work in America.”
The panel will include four women who've been debating this subject with each other in academic studies and in the media. They include law professor Joan Williams, author Linda Hirshman, economist Heather Boushey, and activist Ellen Bravo.
-On Friday, Oct. 5, Rosalind Barnett, senior scientist and director of the Community, Families, & Work Program at the Women's Studies Research Center, will deliver a lecture at Boston University titled, “As the twig is bent: The powerful effects of the early years on gender differences in math and science preferences." New evidence suggests that children as young as 2 years of age are learning what is normative behavior from watching their parents. Barnett will address the early roots of girls’ disinterest and lack of confidence in their ability to succeed in math and science. The lecture will be held at 3 p.m. in the Trustee Ballroom, One Sherborn Street, 9th Floor, Boston, Mass. A reception will follow.
-Michael Rush, the Henry and Lois Foster Director of the Rose Art Museum, will lecture on the life and legacy of video art pioneer Nam June Paik on Oct. 6 in Seoul, Korea. The Korean Broadcasting System is sponsoring an exhibition of Paik’s work to celebrate its 80th anniversary. Paik, who died in 2005, is often called the “father of video art.” In 1965 he obtained one of the first portable video sets (the Sony Portopak) and began making artworks, thus spawning a video explosion that has become ubiquitous in the art world ever since.
Rush, an internationally recognized expert on media art, is the author of “New Media in Art” (1999, 2005) and “Video Art” (2003, 2007), the first comprehensive history of the medium since the mid-80’s. He has organized several multi-artist video exhibitions, including “Balance and Power: Performance and Surveillance in Video Art,” seen at the Rose last year. The Rose owns a major piece by Paik, a multi-screen construction titled “Charlotte Moorman II,” from 1995.
-The Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education’s “Bridging Initiative” and the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department has purchased a major database for the Brandeis University library. The Bar Ilan University Responsa — Global Jewish Database, is newly available online and covers classical texts of rabbinic literature, Jewish law, commentary, philosophy, mysticism, liturgy and more from the first century to the present day.
"The database is an absolutely indispensable tool for researchers and teachers alike in a wide variety of Jewish studies sub-fields,” said Jon Levisohn, assistant professor of Jewish education and Mandel Center assistant academic director. “The online version makes it even easier to use -- it is like Google for all of classical Jewish literature.”
The database went "live" in August of 2007. Anyone affiliated with Brandeis now has instant desktop access to this searchable database. Explore it by clicking here (Brandeis UNET account required)
-Eugene Goodheart, professor emeritus of the English and American Literature Department, has published a new book, "Darwinian Misadventures in the Humanities," with Transaction Publishers.
-A group of 27 volunteers organized by the Division of Student Affairs sorted more than 7,300 pounds of food at the Greater Boston Food Bank on June 6. The food was distributed to the Food Bank’s 700 member agencies. Each volunteer made more than 168 meals possible for people who are hungry.
-Nancy Scott, associate professor of fine arts, was a guest at the “Oxford Round Table” at the University of Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall in July. The event, which brings together professors in the arts and sciences, was a weeklong conference entitled “Balancing the Two Cultures: Critical Choices.” Scott delivered a paper on the interdisciplinary potential and dialogues present in university art museums.
-East Quad Director William (Bill) Huff has been selected to receive the 2007 NEACUHO James Casey New Professional Development Award. During the 2006-2007 academic year, Huff directed the programming and daily operations of the North Quad consisting of approximately 400 first-year students, and mentored 13 Community Advisors (CAs), the North Quad Council and the Academic Initiatives Team of CAs across campus. The NEACUHO scholarship honors the late James Casey, one of the founding members of the Northeast Association of College and University Housing Officers.
-Edward Kaplan, chair of the Department of Romance Studies and Kevy and Hortense Kaiserman Professor in the Humanities, will release his latest book, “Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America, 1940-1972” in September. Excerpts of the book were published in the July/August and September/October editions of Tikkun Magazine. Kaplan also participated in an interfaith Heschel conference at the University of Warsaw, Poland in June.
-Adrianne Krstansky, an assistant professor of theater arts and a recent Michael Walzer Teaching Award recipient, is currently directing an all-female production of Macbeth. Marya Lowry, also a theater arts associate professor, will play Macbeth. Boston University’s Actors Shakespeare Project at Studio 102 is sponsoring the production, which runs Oct. 18 through Nov. 11. The group will organize a panel of Shakespeare scholars, which will include Krstansky. Company members will also visit centers for incarcerated girls to work with them on aspects of acting and directing.
-Joseph DuPont has been appointed director of the Hiatt Career Center. DuPont comes to Brandeis from Teach for America, where he has served as Vice President for the Office of Career and Civic Opportunities. Prior to his Teach America experience, he was the associate director of the Office of Career Services at New York University.
-Bryan McAllister-Grande has joined the Office of Global Affairs as its assistant director. McAllister-Grande comes to Brandeis from Clark University, where he worked in the Office of Study Abroad. He also helped build a Global Education Opportunities Center for the Colleges of the Fenway.