News & Events

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.”

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.

Fathers Stephen Curry and Richard Piatt spoke to the Eagle-Tribune about the burning of Cathedral of Notre Dame at the start of Holy Week. “She symbolized Paris, a symbol of grace, and hope, and comfort that both humbled and lifted up all those who approached her facade,” said Piatt. Curry said the cathedral “embodies centuries of devout Catholics’ faith, prayers, miracles, religious history, and spiritual inspiration.”

Philosophy professor William Wians has published a second volume of essays titled “Logoi and Muthoi,” exploring interdisciplinary connections between ancient Greek philosophy and literature. The chapters examine philosophical problems of knowledge and ethics in ancient writers, including Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles, Euripides, the pre-Socratics, the Sophists, Plato, Aristotle, and Lucretius. It is available on Amazon.com

Raymond Shaw, associate professor of psychology, wrote an essay, “Assessing the Intangible in Our Students,” for the July 27 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Ten years ago, Richard Shavelson wrote that accreditation pressures could lead us to focus on easily formulated, standardized and measured student outcomes and to neglect ‘personal and social responsibility skills’ — ‘personal, civic, moral, social and intercultural knowledge and actions,’” Shaw wrote. “He warned that if we do not measure those, ‘they will drop from sight.’ If we neglect the ineffable outcomes in our efforts to understand what college is for, and what we accomplish in higher education, they could disappear from our attention, our aspirations and eventually from our teaching.”

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.

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).

Monica Cowart, vice provost, and Sean Condon, interim dean of the School of Liberal Arts, were quoted in a Sept. 13, 2017, North Andover Wicked Local story about the school’s new interdisciplinary institute, which willstudy the current political and cultural climate in the U.S., with a focus on bias. “Given recent events in our country, our focus on bias seems particularly relevant and powerfully important,” said Cowart, founding director of the institute. “This creation of the institute further underscores the college’s historical commitment to fostering social justice and to embracing diversity.” Condon said that faculty and students involved with the institute will have opportunities to become more effective problem solvers. “It will enable them to engage with others who have different perspectives and approaches, and in turn, both students and faculty will be motivated to take collaborative approaches to formulate and address complex and crucial questions,” he said.

Dr. Emma Polyakov gave public lectures on her latest book, The Nun in the Synagogue: Judeocentric Catholicism in Israel, at Brandeis University and Boston College in the United States. Following these lectures, Dr. Polyakov was invited to speak about her book later this spring at Abo Akademi University and Helsinki University in Finland, and Lund University in Sweden.

Debra Michals, assistant professor and director of women’s and gender studies, was interviewed for a March 9, 2018, segment on WBUR radio about a new study that claims bones found on Nikumaroro Island in 1940 very likely belong to famed aviator Amelia Earhart, who disappeared over the Pacific in 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe. Because the new study, by researcher Richard Jantz, relied on reinterpreting an original analysis of the bones more than four decades ago rather than the bones themselves, which long ago disappeared, Michals said his study is not likely to close the book on the case. “The mystique around the disappearance of Amelia Earhart will lead a lot of people to that conclusion — that without the real bones, how do we know?” she said.