People News, November 2023

A Smith team won a round of debate over the University of Chicago at the 4^th Qatar Debate for U.S. Universities and Colleges held in October at the University of Utah. Team members were Mary-Kate Wilson ’25, Naomi Carpenter ’25 and Sarah Grace Allen ’24. Team leader May George, lecturer in Middle East studies, served as an assistant judge in four rounds of the competition.

 The Smith College Museum of Art has been awarded a $280,000 Access for All grant from the Art Bridges Foundation to support expanded hours and new interdisciplinary programming and innovative programming approaches over the next three years. The funding will join a generous gift from Jan Fullgraf Golann '71 and Jane Timken '64 that enabled the museum to eliminate all admission fees earlier this year.

 The Botanic Garden of Smith College has received a Level IV Accreditation—the highest level possible—from the Morton Arboretum’s ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program. Smith’s botanic garden won recognition for its commitment to conservation and institutional collaboration, including work on preserving magnolia tree species.  

 Emil Douville Beaudoin ’24 received a first prize award earlier this year in the annual Nouvelles Avancées writing competition sponsored by the Centre de Français at the Institut Polytechnique of Paris. Beaudoin, who is majoring in English language and literature, won for a short fiction piece, titled “Let pot chantant,” about the practice of pottery that will be published by Les Presses de l’ENSTA in a collection that will feature the work of other finalists as well.

 Xinran Bi ’24J presented a paper co-authored with Alicia Gubb, assistant professor of computer science, “Incorporating Presence Conditions into Goal Models that Evolve Over Time” at the 13^th International Model-Driven Requirements Engineering workshop in Hanover, Germany.

 Elisabeth Armstrong, professor of the study of women and gender, spoke on women in the anti-imperialist peace movement at the International Publishers 100^th Anniversary Symposium held in October at New York University.

 Casey Berger, assistant professor of physics and statistical and data sciences, is the author of Sister from the Multiverse, new young adult fiction in the Choose Your Own Adventure series.

 Susanna Ferguson, assistant professor of Middle East studies, is featured in a podcast, “Life and Labor on the Suez Canal.”

 Mary Harrington, Tippit Professor in the Life Sciences (Neuroscience), is the recipient of a $396,250 grant award from the National Institutes of Health for “In vivo tracking of bioluminescent markers of circadian rhythms in behaving animals.” In addition, Harrington and Sharon Owino, assistant professor of neuroscience, received a $775,845 grant award from the National Institutes of Health and Mass General Hospital for “the effect of circadian rhythm disruptions on the angiogenic response to hypoperfusion in the AD brain.”

Jonathan Hirsh, senior lecturer in music and director of orchestral and choral activities, conducted the world premiere of Nino Rota’s Messa di Requiem in October at the Cathedral di San Sabino in Bari, Italy. The performance was part of the 13^th edition of “Notti Sacre,” a cultural event organized by the Archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto.

 Joel Kaminsky, Morningstar Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Religion, is the author of “A Plague Broke Out among Them: Reflections on the Bible and the Pandemic,” in the journal Sage.

Christen Mucher, associate professor of American studies, has been elected as a member of the American Antiquarian Society, a learned society and national research library of pre-20th century American history and culture located  in Worcester, Massachusetts.

 Kate Queeney, Carol T. Christ Professor of Chemistry, has been named the next faculty director of the Smith Science Center, effective July 2024. A member of the Smith faculty since 2000, Queeney has served as an advisor for STRIDE, STEM Posse, Faculty Council and athletics. She is co-founder and director of the Achieving Excellence in Math, Engineering and Sciences program at Smith.

 Will Raven, professor of physics, is the recipient of a $330,009 grant from the National Science Foundation for “Equipment: MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a Laser System for High Precision Spectroscopy and Trapping Neutral Holmium.”

 Loretta Ross, associate professor of the study of women and gender, was a keynote speaker at an October conference on “Reproductive Justice Post-Dobbs: It’s Not Just Abortion,” at the University of Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Ross has also recently been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

 Aaron Rubin, lecturer in engineering, is the recipient of a $149,330 grant from the National Science Foundation for “ERI: Dielectric Mixing Models for Coarse Aggregate.”

 Greg White, Mary Huggins Gamble Professor of Government, gave a talk earlier this fall on “Refugees of the Apocalypse?: A Critique of the Concept of ‘Climate Refugees,’” at an event hosted by the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts.

 Yesugen Baatartogtokh ’23 presented research at the IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference in Hanover, Germany. Two papers, “An Experiment on the Effects of Using Color to Visualize Requirements Analysis Tasks,” and “Visualizations for User-supported State Space Exploration of Goal Models,” were co-authored with Irene Foster ’23 and Alicia Grubb, assistant professor of computer science.

 Ama Boamah ’23 is the recipient of a 2023 CVS Health Minority Scholarship. Boamah, who majored in chemistry at Smith, is pursuing a graduate pharmacy degree at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

 Espy Thomson ’21 has been selected as one of 48 fellows serving in the U.S. Digital Corps, a program launched by the White House to bring civic-minded early-career technologists to serve in the federal government. Thomson, who majored in environmental science and policy at Smith and previously worked as a Dartmouth College design fellow, will spend two years working in the General Services Administration on good-government technology solutions.

Mikki Hebl ’91 is the recipient of an Advancing Women in Leadership award from the diversity, equity and inclusion division of the Academy of Management. Hebl is Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Chair of Psychology and a professor of management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. She majored in psychology at Smith and earned a Ph.D. in social psychology at Dartmouth.

Debbie Reynolds ’55 and her husband, Russ Reynolds, are recipients of the David Ogilvy Preservation Award from the Greenwich, Connecticut Historical Society for their work to help preserve the town’s heritage. Debbie Reynolds serves as a trustee of the historical society and played a leading role in the campaign for the society’s first archives building in 1987.

Photograph by Shana Sureck