Viking Voices

Associate Professor of Chemistry ALLISON FLESHMAN “Liberal arts colleges are teaching intensive; I spend only about 20% of my time on research and the rest is devoted to teaching. I like to think that rather than doing science, my job is really to make scientists. Many of my students go on to graduate school or to jobs in industry. So I think I have great success in that.”

—The American Physical Society’s Online Magazine Physics

Walter Schober Professor of Environmental Studies MARCIA BJØRNERUD

“I don’t think any of us really understand what a billion years means. But little by little, you start filling in geologic time with stories, and I think that’s where we will understand. That’s what really makes geological thinking different. We do want to quantify time, but the power of geology has been to recreate these narratives of earlier ecosystems and tectonic events on Earth. That’s where you start developing a sense of how long a billion years is.”

—Cosmos Magazine Professor of History JAKE FREDERICK

“Disasters are almost necessarily a part of human history. Volcanoes happen, earthquakes happen, wildfires happen… The planet is adapted to deal with these things. They only become disasters when they start to have a negative impact on human beings. Humans are spectacularly adaptable. You can put them in any environment, and they will simply endure.” —Discover Magazine

also took part in the annual Shall We Dance? fundraiser, a local ballroom dancing competition that raises money for Appleton’s Sexual Assault Crisis Center. He was one of the top fundraisers.

# Shaun Donnelly ’68 spent two weeks on the Lawrence campus as the visiting Scarff Professor. Donnelly forged a 36-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service, including serving as U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka. He is the latest in a line of distinguished public servants, professional leaders, and scholars who have shared insights and collaborated with students and faculty since the Scarff Professorship was established in 1989.

# James H. Merrell ’75, the Lucy Maynard Salmon Professor of History at Vassar College, was chosen to present the 16th annual Robert C. Baron Lecture by the American Antiquarian Society. # Molly Preston ’10 is making movie magic in the Fox Valley. The aspiring filmmaker brought her Portland, Oregon-based film crew to the Fox Cities this summer to film scenes for Freedom, WI, a coming-of-age comedy that she has written and is directing.

# Jason Tennessen ’01, an associate professor of biology at Indiana University Bloomington, received a $2.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to support his cancer research.

Dr. Brittany Bell, assistant dean of students for diversity & student engagement

# Assistant Dean of Students, Dr. Brittany Bell contributed a chapter to the recently published book Teaching Beautiful Brilliant Black Girls. Her chapter, co-authored by Ramycia McGhee, is on colorism in the classroom.