News & Events

Assistant professor of graphic design,Dan Vlahos, MFA, was elected for membership to the prestigiousSociety of Printersin Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1905, the Society is dedicated to the study and advancement of the art of printing.

Five faculty members were awarded tenure in January by President Christopher E. Hopey. They are:Jimmy Franco, assistant professor of chemistry;Brittnie Aiello, assistant professor of criminology;Sally Shockro, assistant professor of history;Susan Marine, associate professor and program director in the higher education master’s program; andSirkwoo Jin, assistant professor of management.

Assistant professor of communication and media Melissa “Mish” Zimdars, author of “Watching Our Weights: The Contradictions of Televising Fatness in the ‘Obesity Epidemic,’” was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article March 24, 2020 discussing the portrayal of fat women on television.

Mary McHugh,adjunct lecturer inpolitical science and director of the Stevens Service Learning Center, was quoted in an Oct. 20, 2017, Daily News of Newburyport, Massachusetts, story about the war chest Gov. Charlie Baker has amassed for a possiblereelection bid in 2018. “It’s hard to beat an incumbent,” she said. “Especially a popular one like Charlie Baker.”

Ellen Longsworth, art history professor at Merrimack, has been elected president of the Society for Renaissance Art History.

Eight faculty members from four schools at Merrimack attended the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies conference in Amsterdam last semester. They include associate professors Luis Saenz de Viguera Erkiago and Cinzia DiGiulio of the World Languages and Cultural Studies Department, Civil Engineering Department assistant professor Cynthia Carlson, visiting associate professor Ellen Fitzpatrick, Women and Gender Studies Department professor Simona Sharoni, Graduate Education Department associate professor Susan Marine, Accounting and Finance Department associate professor Ana Silva, and Education Department assistant professor Laura Hsu.

Mary McHugh, executive director of civic & community engagement, presented at an APSA round table on Essential Topics for Introductory American Politics Courses and presented a co-authored paper “Connecting Students across Borders in Interdisciplinary Service Learning.” This paper is based on the International Service Learning Network Symposium that was held online this past spring. Five Merrimack students participated in the symposium and worked with students from the United States and the United Kingdom.

Melissa Zimdars, assistant professor of communication, was interviewed by the grassroots media website Weave News for thefourthpartof its “Attack on Academia“series with academics who have endured sustained campaigns of threats and harassment from the alt-right. Zimdars made national headlineswhen a document she created to help her students practice analyzing the credibility of various websites claiming to share news went viral and incurred the wrath of far-right organizations and individuals.

Mish Zimdars, associate professor of communication and media, has recently published a chapter in The Social Media Debate: Unpacking the Social, Psychological, and Cultural Effects of Social Media that focuses on how political disinformation masquerades as local news online and across social media.

He Li, professor of political science, waspart of a panel on “Sino-Latin American Relations in the Era of Trump” on April 19, 2017, atCornell University. Sponsored by the university’s Latin American Studies Program and the SC Johnson College of Business’ Emerging Markets Institute, the panel explored the growing uncertaintyof multilateral relations amongthe United States, China, and Latin America since the election of President Donald Trump. Li is an expert on Chinese political thought and Sino-Latin American relations.