News & Events

Notable & Quotable

• Psychology Department assistant professor Laura Kurdziel was recently featured by KABC-TV News in Los Angeles for a story on the benefits of napping for children. When children don’t get a nap they need, it stresses their bodies and makes it harder to go to sleep at night, Kurdziel told the news outlet.

• Simona Sharoni, professor of women’s and gender studies and director of the Interdisciplinary Institute recently received the Eminent Scholar Award from the feminist theory and gender studies section of the International Studies Association (ISA). Sharoni has been an active member of ISA, one of the largest international academic associations, since 1991.

• Peter Ellard, the dean of student success and academic support, who also teaches environmental ethics and religious studies, had his article “Don’t Think Your Campus Needs to Prepare for Climate Change? Here’s why you’re wrong” published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. He argues that colleges and universities must adjust to weather changes caused by climate change.

• 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

• 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.”

• Michael DeCesare, professor of sociology, spoke to the Arizona Republic about a plan to seat a student on the governing board of Maricopa Community College District. DeCesare, chair of the AAUP Committee on College and University Governance, which has raised concerns about board politics, said, “The board has taken some promising first steps, but (the committee) will continue to monitor the situation to ensure the faculty’s governance rights are fully restored at Maricopa.”

• Joe Kelley, professor of religious and theological studies and director of the Center for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations, will be traveling to Bogotá, Colombia in April with Sr. Jeanne Gribaudo and 3 Austin Scholars to attend the International Conference on Education: St. Augustine, Teacher for the 21st Century. Kelley will present a paper about Catholic higher education and the Austin Scholars Program, Merrimack’s oldest existing living-learning community.

• Sociology assistant professor Daniel Herda’s latest article, with Dr. Bill McCarthy of UC-Davis, is “No Experience Required: Violent Crime and Anticipated, Vicarious, and Experienced Racial Discrimination.” The article is in press at Social Science Research.

• Research from sociology assistant professor Daniel Herda was recently published in the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. His research examines the discrimination experiences of young Muslim Americans in Southeastern Michigan and how these can alter their self-perceptions and opinions about the United States.

• Lauri Kurdziel, assistant professor of psychology, was recently quoted in the Boston Globe on the topic of naps and bedtime sleep for preschoolers. Kurdziel conducted research with two others entitled “Sleep-dependent enhancement of emotional memory in early childhood” which was published in Scientific Reports.