Notable & Quotable

Dan Vlahos, assistant professor of visual and performing arts, was recognized as Designer of the Week by Print Magazine on April 10, 2018. Vlahos shares some of his work in the local community, his favorite and most challenging projects, and his plans for the future. “Three things that inspire me are graphic design history, my students and contemporary design outside of graphic design (especially architecture),” he said. 

Juliana Cohen, assistant professor of health sciences, was featured in a cnn.com article “How school lunches measure up in countries around the world” published April 9, 2018. “When kids eat healthier foods, this can have a really important impact on their cognitive functioning, which can then translate potentially to better academic performance,” she said. Cohen’s 2015 study, published in the Journal of the Academy of the Nutrition and Dietetics, was also featured. Her study found shorter lunch periods to be linked with less healthy eating among children. 

Melissa Zimdars, assistant professor of communication, wrote a fake news “how-to” for the Young African Leadership Initiative as part of the U.S. State Department’s ongoing campaign to counter misinformation in Africa. YALI supports young African leaders as they spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance and enhance peace and security across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Thomas Nolan, associate professor of criminology and criminal justice, published a column in the March 26, 2018, Boston Herald about the distastefulness of profiting from “murderabelia” — the personal possessions of convicted murderers. Recent examples include Whitey Bulger’s prison ID badge, which recently sold at auction for more than $11,000, and a letter that former Patriot Aaron Hernandez wrote from prison, which went for over $1,300. “Make no mistake about it,” he wrote. “Those who traffic in the souvenir sales of the worldly possessions of convicted killers are making money off the victims of murder and those who survive them.”

Russ Olwell, associate dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, published a column in the March 24, 2018, edition of the Eagle-Tribune about the benefits of early-college and dual-enrollment programs, which help students earn college credits while in high school and serve to make higher education more attractive and affordable to students. “The experience of taking a college class on a college campus with a professor gives students the experience of success in college, an experience that can give them and their families hope,” Olwell wrote.

Isabelle Cherney, dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, was quoted in a March 20, 2018, article in Fatherly, an online magazine for dads, about the relationship between gender and toy selection. Cherney said studies show it is fathers, not mothers, who tend to pigeonhole their sons into choosing stereotypical male toys. “Studies, over and over, show the mothers are really open. They don’t mind if their boys are playing dress-up,” she said. “One of the reasons it’s so hard for boys to play with more feminine toys is that the fathers are very reluctant to let their boys play with feminine toys. Some still believe that playing with feminine toys might turn a boy homosexual. There is a stigma. It’s very subtle. But kids pick that up.”

He Li, professor of political science, published an article, “Chinese Discourse on Constitutionalism and Its Impact on Reforms,” in the September 2017 issue of the Journal of Chinese Political Science, and a book chapter, “China’s Rise in Latin America: Myths and Realities,” in “China, the United States and the Future of Latin America” (New York University Press, 2017).

April Bowling, assistant professor of health sciences, had a paper, “ADHD Symptoms and Body Composition Changes in Childhood: A Longitudinal Study Evaluating Directionality of Associations,” accepted for publication in Pediatric Obesity, a peer-reviewed medical journal covering research into all aspects of obesity during childhood and adolescence.

Joseph Vogel, assistant professor of English, published an article, “The Confessions of Quentin Tarantino: Whitewashing Slave Rebellion in ‘Django Unchained,’” in the March 2018 issue of the Journal of American Culture.

Janine LeBlanc-Straceski, associate professor and chair of biology, published a paper, “A Conserved Role of the Unconventional Myosin 1d in Laterality Determination,” in the March 2018 issue of Current Biology. The paper was an international collaboration with colleagues in Germany and France and the culmination of many years of work with LeBlanc-Straceski’s students.