Faculty Accomplishments

Takahiro Suzuki, Colby's new assistant professor of art, digital media, had his work screened at the Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) Festival, an artist-run event at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Suzuki's eight-minute film, electric moonlight & the language within the leaves, is "a modern re-telling of the Japanese tale of the bamboo cutter and the moon princess" and was included in the festival's program titled Decomposition. He also has two upcoming screenings of the same work in October at ULTRAcinema in Mexico and Antimatter Media Art Festival in British Columbia.

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Stacy-ann Robinson has published an article titled "Vulnerability-Based Allocations in Loss and Damage Finance" in the journal Nature Climate Change. Based on a review of past debates relating to the identification of priority beneficiaries of international adaptation finance, the article cautions against the adoption of quantitative vulnerability indicators as this will not fully depoliticize allocation decisions, given the power dynamics between and among contributor and beneficiary countries.

Professor of Mathematics Scott Taylor has a new book out. Introduction to Mathematics: Number, Space, and Structure (American Mathematical Society, 2023) is a textbook for courses (such as Colby's Mathematical Reasoning) that teach students to read, write, and construct mathematical proofs and logical arguments. In the book, "concepts are illustrated using both geometric and number examples, while frequent analogies and applications help build intuition and context in the humanities, arts, and sciences," according to the publisher.  It is "designed to foster the mental flexibility and rigorous thinking needed for advanced mathematics ... and the main prerequisite is the willingness to engage in a new challenge."

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Stacy-ann Robinson has coauthored an article titled "(Un)just post-disaster mobilities in small island developing states: Revisiting the patterns and outcomes of three major environmental disasters in the Caribbean." Published in the journal International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, the article qualitatively contextualizes the structural factors that affected mobilities following the eruption of the Soufriére Hills volcano in Montserrat in 1995, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti in 2010, and the passage of Hurricane Irma across Barbuda in 2017. It calls for (1) more appropriately designed insurance products, (2) debt forgiveness to help increase fiscal space for response and recovery, and (3) the use of legal channels to make governments liable for unjust mobilities. Sonia Griffen '23 is the lead author. Her work was funded by the F. Russell Cole Student Research Fellowship and the Buck Lab for Climate and Environment.

Assistant Professor of Government Nicholas Jacobs authored the recently published paper "Seeing Red and Blue: Assessing How Americans Understand Geographic Polarization, Secession, and the Value of Federalism."  In the first scholarly assessment of American’s contemporary views toward secession, Jacobs explores the growing divide between “red” and “blue” states, highlighting the increasing partisan polarization at the national level. Despite heightened talk of secession, the study contends that these sentiments might be more of an expressive partisanship driven by the growing concern over inter-state differences and the legitimacy of federalism, rather than an actionable drive toward separatism or civil war.

Professor of Art Véronique Plesch participated in the 13th Conference of the International Association of Word and Image Studies “Sedimentation: Towards and Archaeology of Word and Image” that took place August 28-September 1 at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She organized and chaired a session with Augustto Cipriani (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte) on “Graffiti as Sedimentation / Graffiti como sedimentação” and presented a paper on “Naming and Seeing Graffiti.” She also organized and chaired a session with Catriona MacLeod (University of Chicago) on “Cutting and Pasting: New Approaches to Collage / Couper et coller : nouvelles approches sur le collage.” Jointly with MacLeod, she presented a paper titled “Prehistories of Collage.” In 2018–19, Augustto Cipriani spent six months at Colby working on his Ph.D. dissertation, which he defended in November 2021 with Plesch as the outside member of the committee.  

Associate Professor of English Matthew Schneider-Mayerson has coedited a newly released book, Empirical Ecocriticism: Environmental Narratives for Social Change (University of Minnesota Press). The book "combines an environmental humanities perspective with empirical methods derived from the social sciences to study the influence of environmental stories on our affects, attitudes, and actions," according to the publisher's website. Schneider-Mayerson is the  co-director of the English Department's concentration in literature and the environment.

Adam Howard, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Education, has published a new article titled "Gender Justice within Elite All-Boys Schools? Possibilities of a Whole-School Approach" in Teachers College Record. In the article, Howard and his coauthor, Amanda Keddie (Deakin University, Australia), present two stories that draw attention to the disturbing ways in which masculinities are reproduced within elite all-boys schools through practices of homophobia, heterosexism, and misogyny. These stories highlight the challenges of engaging gender justice work within these spaces. They propose three areas of practice for elite all-boys schools that are imperative in working toward gender justice: 1) strong leadership for and commitment to gender justice; 2) multiple avenues for critical learning about gender justice issues; and 3) strong adult mentorship.

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Stacy-ann Robinson has coauthored an article titled "The role of colonial pasts in shaping climate futures: Adaptive capacity in Georgetown, Guyana." Appearing in the journal Habitat International, the article explores the colonial history of Georgetown, Guyana, in the context of its vulnerability to various climate change impacts, including flooding, and demonstrates the links between the city's colonial governance and its present-day adaptive capacity. It finds the city's adaptive capacity being influenced physically by the Dutch colonial period and socially, politically, and economically by the British colonial period. It recommends reparations to right the wrong. The article was coauthored with Allison Douma '20, Tiffany Poore '20, and Kabir Singh '20.

Amanda Cabral '23 and Assistant Professor for Environmental Studies Gail Carlson have coauthored an article that appeared in Western City magazine. Titled "California’s youth are anxious about climate change and need to see concrete action," the article is based on an online survey Cabral conducted during Jan Plan 2023 with funding from the Buck Lab for Climate and Environment. Her survey explored young Californians' perspectives on climate change, an interest that stemmed from taking Carlson's course Climate Change, Justice, and Health last fall. "Overall, cities need to value the experiences of young people, prioritize their health and well-being, and empower them to participate in decision-making," the article concludes.