College of Letters & Science
IN FOCUS
September 2020, Vol. 10, No.9
Pots, Pans, and Politics A political science professor’s new book explores how cookbooks get political For updates on UWM’s fall 2020 re-opening, visit https://uwm.edu/coronavirus/reopening/
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Contents Feature Stories History student interns for Library of Congress English alum releases debut novel PoliSci professor releases “Cookbook Politics” Company licenses UWM chemists’ compounds UWM physicist’s research on protein folding Communication alum tackles diversity Meet the new L&S faculty members
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Columns Planetarium Spotlight Laurels and Accolades Video Stories Passings Alumni Accomplishments In the Media People in Print Published College the
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As a public history graduate student, Samantha Dickson needed an internship credit for her classwork. She was supposed to fulfill it with a summer job at the archives in UWM’s Golda Meir Libraries – appropriate, since she is also working toward her Master’s in Library and Information Science. Then, coronavirus hit and student positions were cut. “I was like, who might be hiring?” Dickson said. As it turns out, the Law Library of Congress was – and their internships were all remote. The Library of Congress is the official research library of the U.S. Congress and includes several branches like the Law Library. With millions of materials spanning books, manuscripts, newspapers, congressional proceedings, digital records, and more, the collection is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the buildings have been closed to visitors. But the Library still needed interns for the summer to help compile metadata for its online collections. Dickson originally applied for that position, but the hiring personnel had a different calling in mind. “Because I’m also studying public history and not just for my MLIS, they had me join the Creative Project under the umbrella of the remote metadata internship,” Dickson said. “Basically, I got to go through their digital collections, find things that I found interesting, and then I had the option to do a blog post and/or story map out of that material.” In Dickson’s opinion, pirates are pretty interesting.
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2 • IN FOCUS • September, 2020
“(The Law Library) has a really fascinating collection on piracy trails mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries,” she said. “I was trying to think about what would be interesting to a lot of people – what in pop culture that you could have a legal take on. I think everybody hears ‘piracy’ and
erns at Library of Congress - remotely thinks about ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ But piracy is a bit different when it comes to the actual day-to-day, legal side of things.” For her research, Dickson created a story map – a creation akin to a Powerpoint presentation that tracks a particular narrative – outlining the history of piracy and laws concerning piracy. “When you say ‘piracy,’ nowadays, you think of ripping a DVD or downloading something illegally online,” Dickson said. “That’s an idea that’s existed since the 17th and 18th century with literary piracy. Books were stolen and recopied and then sold in the colonies, for example. There are all of these little facets to piracy.” Of course, the definition of piracy includes acts of murder or robbery on the high seas, but in the last half-century, the legal wording has expanded to include aircraft piracy or hijacking, as well as digital and online piracy. “The term has been applied to many different facets of life and crime in the United States. I think that’s probably the most interesting part – one term can mean so much,” Dickson said. In addition to her story map, Dickson also crafted a blog post for the Law Library of Congress’ website, focusing on a piracy trial from 1800, back when the Supreme Court justices actually rode circuit. The case, an incidence of mutiny in the Caribbean, was heard by Justice Samuel Chase. What’s unique about this trial is that the Law Library of Congress’ collection includes two accounts – one from the captain of the ship and one from one of the three mutineers standing trial.
“The captain (says), I didn’t trust these three men from the start of the voyage. The one pirate claims a lot more innocence; that he was forced into it or else he would be killed. … It was essentially a case of mutiny where three crew members took over the ship. They were arrested and executed for their Samantha Dickson crime,” Dickson said. “I always like when you can get two sides of the same event. It allows for a lot more critical thinking. What are the biases inherent in both stories?” Dickson’s blog post is under review and may not be published for some time yet, but her remote internship proved fruitful – even if her summer didn’t turn out the way she had planned. “It was a new experience,” she admitted. “It’s been a very odd summer, but an interesting learning experience as a remote intern. I think it’s a valuable one, considering how up-in-the-air a lot of jobs are right now. What does librarianship and public history look like in the COVID world where remote work and online reference and exhibits should be taking precedence?” Dickson will continue to volunteer remotely with the Library of Congress during the fall. She added that she’ll be keeping an eye out for job openings with the Library when she graduates – and hopefully by then, she’ll be able to work there in person. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 3
‘A dream come true’
UWM Engli
Reeling after the disappearance of her brother and hurting from her parents’ divorce, Andrea is looking for an escape from her troubles. She finds it in a mysterious circus called “Reverie,” a show featuring tents that house actual dreams – step into this one to leap into flight; choose this tent for a pirate treasure hunt; experience a good scare at this tent of bad dreams. But, when Andrea visits a particular tent that showcases the recurring nightmare that plagued her brother before his disappearance, she realizes that this circus may not be the escape she thought it was. It could be a trap – perhaps one in which her brother is still caught. What happens next? You’ll have to read until the end. “The book has a quick pace, something that will hopefully make it hard to put down,” author Lorelei Savaryn promised. “It’s an immersive magical world that has mystery and adventure and a bit of scariness in it, but hopefully the kind that’s fun.” “The Circus of Stolen Dreams” is Savaryn’s debut novel, which was released on Sept. 1. She still can’t quite believe it. “I remember looking at my phone and seeing the email saying I had a book deal. I was in my backyard thinking, oh my gosh,” Savaryn recalled. “I don’t know that I fully understand the scope of it, but I know that my dream has come true.” UWM aided a lifelong dream Savaryn has always wanted to be a writer. When it came time to finish up her college degree, she chose to major in English with a concentration in creative writing at UWM. Unfortunately, said Savaryn, she was probably one of the worst writers in Professor Valerie Laken’s writing workshop classes. “Valerie Laken could have written me off as a lost cause pretty quickly. I had no idea what I was doing. But she didn’t; she gave me thoughtful critique and feedback and took me seriously, even though I was clearly a beginner,” Savaryn said. “Between the first and second semester, I was able to see my growth in the stories I was writing. That helped me realize that I could learn to be a good writer.” 4 • IN FOCUS • September, 2020
After graduating in 2009 and spending a year in the private sector, Savaryn was accepted to the Urban Education Fellows Program, which allowed her to teach at an underserved school in Milwaukee while she simultaneously worked toward her Master’s in education. At home, she also worked to instill a love of reading in her own children. In fact, the idea for “The Circus of Stolen Dreams” grew out of a fateful conversation with her then 6-year-old daughter. “My daughter and I were talking once about, what if a girl had a dream and she woke up from the dream and it followed her home? I thought, that’s a really interesting concept.”
ish alumna releases her debut novel done, Savaryn had to pitch it to literary agents who might represent her to the big publishing houses. “Querying is terrible,” she said bluntly. “Between the two manuscripts I pitched, I amassed about 100 rejections from agents. That’s a lot of times to have your heart drop or to wonder if you’re ever going to get that ‘yes.’” But eventually, the “yes” came. After blitz-querying about 60 agents in five weeks, a few made Savaryn an offer on “The Circus of Stolen Dreams.” She signed with one, who began the process of pitching it to editors and publishers – including the publisher Philomel, which ultimately offered Savaryn her book deal. The process taught Savaryn how to be flexible. While she originally thought she wanted to write for an adult or young adult audience, she saw agents requesting middlegrade fiction. So, she pivoted – and found her calling. The magic of middle-grade fiction
UWM English alumna Lorelei Savaryn just released her debut novel, “The Circus of Stolen Dreams.” Photo and cover image courtesy of Lorelei Savaryn.
The writing process Of course, having children and a full-time job added some challenges to Savaryn’s writing career. She worked on her manuscripts in the evenings or hired a babysitter so she could steal a few hours to write in a coffeeshop. “I got good at writing in short snippets. I see these pictures of famous authors with their writing desks and their writing rooms, and that’s not my reality,” she laughed. “My reality is, sometimes I’m cooking pasta and I’m typing a little bit because the kids are playing nicely outside for a few minutes.” Then came the harder work: After the manuscript was
Middle-grade fiction is targeted towards a younger audience than a traditional young adult novel – think 10-year-olds instead of 16 and 17. It’s an age that Savaryn’s oldest daughter is fast approaching, and her kids have provided her with plenty of inspiration. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could have books for them at that stage in their life, that they could read that I wrote, partly with them in mind?” she asked. And, she added, middle-grade fiction is just plain fun to read and write. Savaryn fondly remembers how authors like Tamora Pierce sparked her own love of reading, and she wants to inspire other children in the same way. Middle-grade fiction helps kids (and even adults) work through hard themes like grief, loss, struggle, and fear. “But there’s always this pulse of hope in the books,” Savaryn said. “Even as adult living in the world we live in today, I feel like I need that pulse of hope in my life. If I can contribute to a canon of stories that deals with hard things but hope wins in the end, I feel that’s a great use of my time as a writer.” “The Circus of Stolen Dreams” is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, and The Book Stall. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 5
Pots, Pans, and Politics
UWM professor explores the hidden poli That shelf of cookbooks in your kitchen might actually be a library of political declarations in disguise. In fact, said UWM political science professor Kennan Ferguson, even that collection of notecard recipes from your mother’s church friends makes a political statement about in-groups and community identity. Ferguson is a political philosopher and the author of “Cookbook Politics,” a new book exploring the ways in which collections of recipes actually have a governmental and societal impact. Ferguson was inspired by the work of theorist Jacques Rancière, who argues that politics is the distribution of sensibility – “what we see and don’t see, who counts and who doesn’t,” Ferguson explained.
Take Belize, for example. The former British colony gained its independence in 1981.
Kennan Ferguson
“I was intrigued by the sensibility part of that. What does it mean to have a distribution of the human senses? The cookbook looked like a great way to explore that question in a way that other (philosophers) were ignoring.” Politicking in the kitchen Although a guide to soul food or a how-to in Mediterranean cuisine may not sound like it, Ferguson’s book identifies five ways in which cookbooks are actually vehicles that have not only been shaped by, but also have an impact on, political ideologies and movements. 1. Cookbooks are tools of nationbuilding. Thousands of cookbooks explore cuisines from nations around the world. These guides are just as much a way to showcase regional food as they are to distinguish a country’s culture and political identity. 6 • IN FOCUS • September, February, 2019 2020
“Once a nation becomes independent, nearly always within 10 years, those nation-states have a cookbook,” Ferguson noted.
“Within 10 years they had developed three national cookbooks,” Ferguson said. “People who come to Belize want to eat Belizean food, whereas back when it was a colony, there was English food, Chinese immigrant community food, the Garifuna people’s food, Mayan food – those are all distinct cuisines. A cookbook has to unify them all in some way.” 2. Cookbooks shape our understanding of international relations. Think of the food in France. Picture baguettes purchased at the corner bakery, soft cheeses with fine wine, and dishes cooked with rich cream and butter. It’s an image almost every American holds in their head, even if they have never been to France. It’s all thanks to Julia Child and her nowfamous cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” “Most people in international relations (talk) about President Eisenhower and Charles de Gaulle (French president from 1959-1969). In some ways, what those men did is a lot less important than what Julia Child did, which was to give us an imaginary of France,” Ferguson said. “For Americans, her
s
itics of cookbooks achievement has been much more long-lasting than almost anything that de Gaulle or Eisenhower did.” Cookbooks shape our understanding of foreign nations, from both a standpoint of taste and of cultural identity. 3. Cookbooks delineate social groups. The ladies of the First Baptist Church of Spence, Iowa, thought they were just collecting each other’s recipes to publish in a book for the congregation, but actually, says Ferguson, they were curating content that defines their collective social standing. Community cookbooks have long gathered the culinary knowledge of traditionally women-centric organizations, including church auxiliaries and synagogue sisterhoods. The books help define who is included in the group and showcase the ways in which traditional recipes are transmitted and handed down, both to community and family members. But, Ferguson added, these collections can be just as much about redefining identity. Take “The Settlement Cookbook,” for example. The most popular guide in its day, the cookbook was compiled by Lizzie Kander, a Milwaukee woman who was part of an organization that taught immigrants to assimilate to America in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
“Part of that process was to teach them how to cook American (food) instead of trying to make these traditional Jewish recipes from the Old World,” Ferguson said. “There’s an assimilationist ideology in both the settlement movement and the cookbooks that came out of it. Some of it may have to do with even undermining the religious identities. You teach Jewish women how to cook pork because that’s an American thing. Lizzie Kander, who was Jewish herself, had a lot of pork and shrimp recipes in the book.” 4. Cookbooks reflect political ideologies. In the early 20th century, the Futurism movement sprang to life in Italy. Closely tied to the country’s fascist political parties, Futurists idolized speed, technology, and innovation in all things – including their food. “They wanted people to stop making their own bread, and to instead buy industrially produced bread,” Ferguson said. “They wanted people to eat food that stimulated them in war-like ways – like salami dipped in coffee. There’s a recipe for chicken made with ball bearings, so you can ‘taste the steel’ of the future.” It was in a Futurist cookbook that Ferguson found his favorite recipe he encountered during his research: “A carrot with eggplant legs that represents a university professor, and you’re supposed to devour the entire thing ‘without ceremony.’” Continued on page 8 College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 7
“Cookbook Politics” Continued from page 7
Others in Italy pushed back against the Futurists and later gave rise to “slow food” movement, which is today still tied to Italian culture, economics, and tourism. 5. Cookbooks as a format are democratic. That’s democratic with a small “d,” Ferguson noted. “It doesn’t tell you what you have to do; it is an invitation to follow authority in a way that you desire. You might just cross out a line that you don’t like or write in something that you want to change. ... Usually we don’t even read most of the book. It’s a kind of democratic authority that is invitational instead of demanding.” Researching an enduring genre There’s a substantial body of academic work analyzing cookbooks and food. In addition to exploring scholarly articles, Ferguson researched his book by visiting Harvard’s Schlesinger Library, which boasts an enormous collection of published cookbooks, and Texas Women’s University, which has collected a trove of community cookbooks. While he was researching, Ferguson worried that he was exploring a dying genre. Many people rely on social media or Google to find recipes, and as at-home dining turns digital, cookbooks have the potential to fall by the wayside. But, said Ferguson, “Cookbooks haven’t actually stopped selling, and I think that’s because people look to them inspirationally as well as instructionally. There’s a pleasure to reading a cookbook with beautiful pictures that (give you) an insight into somebody or a region or particular history.” So the next time you reach for a cookbook to brush up on your favorite recipes, remember that you’re not just making food: You’re participating in a political movement right from your kitchen. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
Company licenses compounds from UWMRF New Jersey-based RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. has licensed a group of patented drug development compounds from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Research Foundation. The newly licensed compounds, developed by the laboratory of James Cook, act on a particular neurotransmitter receptor in the brain, which has shown promise for treatment of epilepsy and other convulsant disorders. New drugs are needed to treat epilepsy, according to RespireRx, because currently available anticonvulsants are often not effective or become less effective at some point in the disease’s progression. Cook, an emeritus distinguished professor of chemistry, has developed a vast library of compounds for drug development that can potentially treat illnesses of the central nervous system without the James Cook adverse side effects of existing medications like sedation, loss of muscle control, or addiction. The group of compounds licensed has also shown potential for treating other illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, and pain, without the negative side effects. According to the license agreement, royalties on net sales would be paid to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Research Foundation (UWMRF) upon the approval of new drug applications with the Food and Drug Administration and royalties on net sales of products developed with the licenses. “The recently exercised option, which licenses a portfolio of patent-protected neuromodulator compounds from UWMRF, further strengthens the collaboration and is a key milestone in realizing the progression of drug product candidates that have, from an early stage in development, garnered much promise in the treatment of epilepsy and other disorders, without the debilitating side effects of existing and less effective medicaments,” said RespireRx President and CEO Tim Jones. The UWMRF’s intellectual property portfolio includes 93 issued patents and 47 active license agreements. Cook holds 64 patents or patent applications for compounds his research group created. More than half are filed through the UWMRF.
8 • IN FOCUS • September, 2020
By Laura Otto, University Relations
With the help of undergraduate student researcher Sabita Sharma (right) and others on his research team, Ionel Popa built a device that induces the folding and unfolding of a single protein at forces equivalent to those experienced in our cells. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Studying the patterns of protein folding When we exercise, proteins in our muscles transform energy into mechanical work to produce movement. To accomplish this feat, the protein molecule acquires a specific three-dimensional shape in a process called protein folding. Biophysicist Ionel Popa is investigating how mechanical forces drive these molecules to fold and unfold as they carry out their biological tasks. This folding had been considered a once-in-a-lifetime event for a protein, but Popa is exploring the idea that it might have a functional role and occur continuously for some of the body’s proteins. He aims to uncover the rules that govern how protein folding determines protein function. And he is investigating how folding and unfolding transitions could signal processes like cellular interactions or muscle contraction. “Understanding these processes will have widespread consequences in comprehending the normal functioning of tissues, which could spur biomedical researchers to develop new therapeutic interventions,” says Popa, an assistant professor of physics in the College of Letters & Science. Using instrumentation built in-house, Popa’s research team can induce folding and unfolding transitions for a single protein at forces equivalent to those experienced inside our cells. His work recently earned an Early Career Development Award, the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious grant for younger researchers. Popa’s device tethers single proteins between a glass surface on one end and a paramagnetic bead on the other. While applying an almost imperceptibly tiny magnetic force, researchers measure the bead’s movement, and the results show how the protein folds and unfolds. When a protein interacts with one of its partners, there is a significant change in its measured response. Popa already has used his technique to study the mechanical forces of titin, the giant protein that gives elasticity to moving muscles. Studying proteins that drive muscle contraction will help inform research on diseases like muscular dystrophy, which manifests as an increasing weakening and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. By Laura Otto, University Relations College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 9
Alum working to ‘tell a different story’ a If you don’t like the story, change it. That’s the view Adam Gabornitz brings to his position as assistant director of diversity and inclusion at Northwestern Mutual. Like many Fortune 500 companies, Northwestern Mutual faces challenges in recruiting diverse talent, he said. However, Milwaukee has some greater challenges because of its reputation as a highly segregated city that is seen as not as welcoming to people of color. “One way you fix that is to tell a different story,” Gabornitz said. “That doesn’t mean you gloss over or pretend those things don’t exist, but every time I hear a negative story about Milwaukee, I feel we’re not giving enough emphasis to the great things happening and the great people here. We’re not helping our chances of getting the people to come here, stay here and make a great Milwaukee possible.” ‘Do people feel comfortable and welcome?’ Gabornitz, who graduated from UWM with a degree in communication, is a booster of both the university and the city. Both need to answer the challenge of making the city more inclusive, he said. “Universities and businesses have to be more intentional about creating environments where everybody can show up as their true selves and feel comfortable.” Creating that climate and culture is up to the businesses and universities, he said. “We’re responsible for recruiting people and building out spaces. Do people feel comfortable and welcome at the corporation or the school? If the answer is no, we need to fix that.” Gabornitz grew up in Wisconsin and chose UWM for two reasons: “I wanted to go school in Wisconsin, and I wanted to go to school in a city. UWM checked both of those boxes.” He particularly remembers one of his UWM academic advisors, Nelson Bolden, from African American Student Academic Services. “He was really helpful from the beginning. He was a great guide and was with me all the way through.” (Bolden now works for the CharlotteMecklenburg school district in North Carolina.) Communication skills important
Adam Gabornitz, who graduated from UWM with a degree in communication, is a booster of both the university and the city of Milwaukee. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
said. “I’m always using my communication skills, written and oral. I’ve spent my whole career talking, which is something I like to do,” he said with a laugh. Since graduating 14 years ago, he’s been an entrepreneur and worked in small organizations and Fortune 500 companies. He started at Northwestern Mutual as senior project manager of tech advancement and outreach, working on recruiting and retaining tech talent in the region. This spring, he was named one of the Business Journal’s “40 Under 40,” which recognizes promising leaders under 40 years old. Gabornitz recently moved to the Lake Country area, and is the father of two sons, ages 2 and 4. “It’s an evolution and an experience going from figuring out your own life and now having responsibility for taking care of other people’s lives.” He sees the young people just out of college that he’s trying to recruit as being more mobile, and willing to change careers more frequently than previous generations.
Gabornitz initially started studying marketing but switched to communication, which he really enjoyed. He’s continually using those skills in his career and within his current role. “A lot of people graduating more recently don’t typically “The job I have now is very much internal facing,” Gabornitz stay at a job for more than two, two and half years. It’s been similar for me, so I guess I can relate to wanting to 10 • IN FOCUS • September, 2020
amid diversity issues
Spotlight on the Planetarium The appearance of the spectacular comet NEOWISE in July and the Perseid meteor shower in August made this summer an exciting one for space enthusiasts. In preparation for the Perseid meteor shower, the UWM Planetarium hosted “Shooting Stars and Meteor Showers” for viewers to learn what these trails of light really are: debris from comets or the collisions of asteroids. These rocky meteorites are older than the Earth and help us understand the origins of life on Earth and the possibility of life elsewhere in space. Viewers also got tips about how best to look for shooting stars themselves. The show is available on demand at https://youtu.be/5uJuT3HqwCo.
try new things.” ‘The world of work is changing’
Planetarium programs are anticipated to continue through the fall, including a Harry Potter trivia series in October. Let us dive into space while keeping our space!
Having himself started his second career in two years at Northwestern Mutual, he sees young workers being interested in seizing new opportunities and making moves even within the same company. And he likes the area he’s now in – helping create a diverse and inclusive environment to help find and retain talent. “It’s our job to get sharp, motivated people excited about coming and staying. It’s not a space anymore where companies have the upper hand in the sense of unlimited people or being the only game in town. The world of work is changing, and companies have to become innovative.” Companies need to not only keep recruiting and retaining employees locally, they need to attract people from outside the area as well, Gabornitz said. “As people come here from other places, we need to show them how great the city is… how many cool things are here, wonderful people and opportunities to do big things. Places like UWM and Northwestern Mutual can be great amplifiers of that narrative.”
This image, taken in Glendale, Wisconsin, in July, shows the NEOWISE comet and satellites. Photo by Planetarium staff member Nathaniel Schardin.
By Kathy Quirk, University Relations College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 11
New year, new faces: Meet the incomi
Anjana Mudambi
Anne Basting
Esther Chan
Assistant professor, Communication
Professor, English
Assistant profe
PhD 1995, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
PhD 2020, Yale Unive
PhD 2012, University of New Mexico Previously Lecturer at Augusta University Research focus: Experiences of marginalized/immigrant populations in the U.S. I am interested in analyzing the discourses that marginalized groups use to respond to the dominant discourses about them to learn how they both reproduce and challenge hegemonic discourses. Research discoveries: South Asian Americans are racially positioned as a “model minority” group within the U.S. Although there is increasing awareness among this population to challenge the racism and discrimination that they face, they also tend to rely heavily on the model minority discourse to do so. Because this approach pits different racial/ethnic groups against each other and supports white supremacy, I am searching for alternative ways that South Asian Americans challenge racist discourses. Fun fact: I have lived in eight different states, and this is my second time living in Wisconsin! I previously lived in Madison for two years working for Epic Systems as a legal coordinator.
12 • IN FOCUS • September, 2020
Previously Professor in UWM Theater Department, Peck School of the Arts Research focus: Community-engaged practice; storytelling, playwriting, aging and disability studies. Current projects: I’m collaborating with an initiative called Dementia Inclusive Durham to train volunteers to engage people living with dementia in a community-wide project to answer “Beautiful Questions.” The answers will be documented, archived, and built into an original, interactive composition for the Durham Children’s Choir. I’m also working with my non-profit TimeSlips to train Milwaukee artists to engage older adults in storytelling by phone. I’m also working with the John Michael Kohler Art Center on distributing Beautiful Question cards through the Sheboygan Meals on Wheels program and sharing the responses with Wisconsin Public Radio. Goals for the year: Meet my colleagues! Write a screenplay I’ve been working on for too long... and do an amazing storytelling project with my Creative Writing class. Fun fact: I play banjo. Not well. But it brings me considerable joy.
Previously PhD candid
Research focus: Rac identity, and sexuality higher education, scie
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Nataliya Palatnik
Min Gyu Kim
Assistant professor, Philosophy
Assistant professor, Physics PhD 2012, Iowa State University
PhD 2015, Harvard University Previously Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at UWM Research focus: Immanuel Kant’s theoretical and practical philosophy, Ethics, Practical Reason, Practical Agency, History of Moral Philosophy Current projects: My first project aims to shed new light on the method and structure of Kant’s critical philosophy. As part of this project, I examine Kant’s re-conception of the core ideas of traditional rationalist metaphysics, particularly those of freedom of the will and of the self, as fundamentally moral ideas. The second project is inspired by Kant’s and post-Kantian German Idealist theories of moral personhood, practical self-consciousness, and self-knowledge. My current work on this project develops an account of practical agency that shows that our consciousness of ourselves as moral persons with the capacity for free choice is inseparable from our awareness of other human beings as free moral agents to whom we are bound by relations of duty and right.
Previously Postdoctoral Associate at Rutgers University Research focus: My research explores quantum magnets in which quantum mechanical effects are strong and lead to unique properties such as superconductivity, spin-density waves, topological states, and quantum spin liquids. Research discoveries: I developed a new x-ray imaging technique which provides a revolutionary way to visualize antiferromagnetic (AFM) domains and domain walls of many types, such as collinear or cycloidal AFM, within a fraction of a second and without any numerical reconstructions. It enables us to study the static and dynamic properties of AFM domains in quantum magnets in real-time and in real-space. Current projects: I am working on imaging antiferromagnetic domain fluctuations in competing antiferromagnetic orders. This study is essential in understanding magnetic noise in the future antiferromagnetic devices that may replace ferromagnetic counterparts.
Fun fact: I also have an MS in Applied Fun fact: I love traveling and eating Mathematics. Prior to becoming a delicious food. When our family travels, our philosopher, I had a career working in first stop is quite often a renowned restaurant software design and development, first as a in the area of our destination. systems analyst and software architect, and later as a technical project manager. College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 13
Laurels and Accolades Student Rafi Rahmani (Economics) and alumnus Ruhongeka Ntabala (’20, BA Economics) have created an e-commerce app called Dityer that offers same-day delivery services from local Milwaukee-area businesses. They and their creation were profiled in the UWM Post. https://bit.ly/31DroLm and the Milwaukee Business Journal.
Ching-Hong Yang (Biological Sciences) received a $324,901 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture for his proposal entitled, “Virulence Inhibitors as Antibiotic Alternatives in Fire Blight Management.”
Gwyn Wallander (L&S Advising) was named a winner of the Dean Gerald Lee Wilson Award for Excellence in Pre-Law Advising, conferred by the Pre-Law Advisors National Council. The honor is granted to only two advisors in the nation. http://www.planc.org/
Mark D. Schwartz and Alison Donnelly (both Geography), along with collaborators from Cornell University and the University of Arizona, received a three-year National Science Foundation grant award of $982,043 ($532,202 to UWM), entitled “Quantifying phenological coherence and seasonal predictability across NEON and USA-NPN monitoring sites”, which will start in January 2021. The project will develop more accurate and diverse models of spring plant growth stages, which will help better understand the impacts of future environmental change. Further, the project will implement national-scale, longlead forecasts for new measures representing the spring season, which will be relevant for annual agricultural, horticultural, and forestry management planning.
wilson-award
Graduate students Andrew Whetten, Joseph Paulson (Mathematical Sciences), and Ryan Whetten were awarded first place in the American Statistical Association’s ENVR Data Challenge 2020. They will present their results at the ENVR Workshop in Provo, Utah in 2021. Their project involved using functional data analysis tools to explore high-dimensional assimilated spatiotemporal atmospheric satellite data and then relating the findings to longitudinal Great Lakes water level data to assess the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes’ water levels from 1980 to 2017. Yael Gal-Ben Yitschak (Hebrew) has been named the Levy Family CJL Jewish Educator of the Year. An Israeli native, she has been teaching Hebrew to Milwaukeeans of all ages for 16 years. She is also known for her pioneering use of technology in teaching Hebrew.
Gladys Mitchell-Walthour (African and African Diaspora Studies) penned a chapter that was selected for inclusion in “Black in the Middle: an Anthology of the Black Midwest” by Terrion Williamson (Belt Publishing). Her chapter is entitled, “Tryna Make a Dollar Out of Fifteen Cents in Black Milwaukee,” and examines Black women social welfare beneficiaries’ strategies to survive in Milwaukee. Chia Vang (History) was named one of Wisconsin’s 48 Most Influential Asian American Leaders by Madison365. https://bit.ly/3hFoJ9C
Video Story UWM is excited to kick off the Fall 2020 semester, and thousands of employees are hard at work preparing campus for students to return. After months of careful and meticulous planning, which continues and will continue to evolve, here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect. https://youtu.be/_IUoMabcAbw
14 • IN FOCUS • September, 2020
Passings Dr. Joan Moore, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Sociology at UW-Milwaukee, passed away on Aug. 5. Moore received her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD from the University of Chicago. Prior to coming to UWM, she taught at the University of Chicago, as well as several universities throughout southern California. She joined the UWM Sociology Department as a professor in 1975 and was instrumental in shaping the department in its early days and beyond. Moore was also one of the main architects of the Urban Social Institutions interdisciplinary doctoral program, that became the current PhD and Master’s programs in Urban Studies at UWM. She was recognized as a Distinguished Professor of Sociology in 1994 and retired from UWM in 1995. Moore made important contributions to the social sciences in the areas of crime, drugs, and gangs, and published numerous articles, book chapters, and books. Two of her books, Homeboy: Gangs, Drugs, and Prison in the Barrios of Los Angeles and Going Down to the Barrio are widely respected for their insights into Mexican American gangs.
Joan Moore
Moore’s colleagues shared that her commitment to the professional development of minority scholars, whether they were her students or colleagues, was particularly noteworthy. She served as a mentor to many Latino and African American graduate students—most of whom subsequently went on to assume academic positions or positions of leadership in public agencies. Her students were devoted to her, and several of her past students gathered and presented at a symposium in 2016 to honor her. The UWM Sociology Department presents the Joan W. Moore Service Scholar Award to senior undergraduate sociology majors who have both distinguished academic records and a history of service in the university or the wider community.
Alumni Accomplishments Ellen Ghere Paulus (’91, MS Anthropology) was profiled in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as the owner of the Cupcake-a-Rhee, a food truck that specializes in cupcakes. Ghere Paulus owns the truck with her husband, who is also a UWM alumnus. https://bit.ly/3gncLjy
Brian Yerges (’07, Masters of Public Administration) was appointed to the Maricopa Economic Development Alliance Board of Directors. Yerges is the general manager of Electrical District No. 3 in Maricopa County in Arizona.
Aaron Weinschenk (’13, PhD Political Science) was awarded a named professorship at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, one of just seven named professorships at that campus. He is a professor of political science and the current chair of Political Science.
Nyesha Stone (’18, BA Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) is the founder of the media company Carvd N Stone, which delivers positive news to subscribers’ inboxes. Stone and her company were lauded in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for providing scholarships for local students. https://bit.ly/34jHj2Y
Denis Kitchen (’68, BS Journalism) co-curated the exhibit “Wisconsin Funnies: Fifty Years of Comics” at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, Wisconsin, alongside an additional exhibition location in Milwaukee. The exhibition features numerous works from Kitchen’s personal collection of comic book art, and features Kitchen’s colleague, artist Peter Poplaski. https://bit.ly/31H75wk
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Gretchen Papazian (’97, PhD English) was awarded the 2020 Children’s Literature Association Award for best scholarly essay in the field of Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Her essay was titled, “Color Multiculturally: Twenty-First Century Multicultural Picturebooks, Color(ing) Beyond the Lines” and was published in the journal Children’s Literature in 2018.
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 15
In the Media and Around the Community CBS 58 News detailed how Nathan Libbey (’12, BA English) is involved in the development of a swab test that will be able to detect COVID-19 on surfaces and in the air. https://bit.ly/30pzJ4K Research by a team including Dave Clark (English) was featured on “AI in Healthcare.” The article details findings that medical journals that accept reprinting fees are more likely to publish articles written by authors who accept industry payments. https://bit.ly/31bzbOQ Kristen Leer (’20, BA Classics and Psychology) reflected on her time as a student at Ronald Reagan IB high school in an opinion piece she wrote for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, following a different piece advocating to change the school’s name. https://bit.ly/3lef6AW
Current student Alexis Madison (Communication) detailed the pain of her father’s disappearance from her life in a piece she wrote for the Huffington Post. https://bit.ly/32dQBLd
There is a high potential that the UWM Cultural Resource Management team will encounter human remains as they excavate a patch of Lakeshore ahead of a redevelopment project in Neenah, Wisconsin, Jennifer Haas (Anthropology) told the Appleton Post Crescent. https://bit.ly/32a1Gx4
Mail-in ballots must be mailed to an address, which does nothing to help voters who have been evicted from their homes, Paru Shah (Political Science) said in an article published by Voice of America. (https://bit.ly/3gdw8eM) She also predicted in an article for the Star Tribune that protests against the death of George Floyd will increase turnout among black voters. (http://strib.mn/2EQ9Um8)
Paru Shah
Abbas Ourmazd (Physics) commented on the efficacy of machine learning in an article published in the journal Nature. https://go.nature.com/3gEKzIT NBA games played at Disney World to ensure social distancing have a “sit-com feel” when watched on television, Michael Newman (English) opined on the LA Review of Books website. https://bit.ly/2E2oeYI 16 • IN FOCUS • September, 2020
An undercount of the U.S. population in the U.S. Census could have decades-long consequences, Margo Anderson (emerita History) warned in a USA Today article. (https://bit.ly/3l5hgTa) She also explained how the U.S. Census has been made into a political weapon in years past in an Associated Press article reprinted in several locations, including the New York Times.
Margo Anderson
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article providing background information about Wisconsin history for the Democratic National Convention quoted Margaret Noodin (English) when outlining the meaning of Milwaukee’s name. https://bit.ly/3g9E2Ws It was disappointing that the Democratic National Convention had to be held remotely instead of where it was originally scheduled in Milwaukee, Jeffrey Sommers (African and African Diaspora Studies and Global Studies) said in an MSN article. https://bit.ly/2CKLJEV Marc Levine (emeritus History) spoke on WUWM Radio’s “Lake Effect” show about his new study showing remarkable racial disparities impacting Milwaukee’s black residents. (https://bit.ly/32bKt6d) The study was also profiled in Urban Milwaukee (https://bit.ly/3aFVUqS) and was the basis of an editorial printed in the Milwaukee Marc Levine Community Journal (https://bit.ly/2EKn18c). Woonsup Choi (Geography) was quoted in a Koreanlanguage news article regarding flood waters that flow from North Korea to South Korea. https://bit.ly/3gnExfP Peter Tase (’06, BA Italian) gave two interviews focused on international politics and geostrategy in the Russianand Azerbaijani-language outlets Day. https://bit. ly/3j3gggJ and Thttps://bit.ly/32dwNrB.
Media outlets across Wisconsin and the country turned to Kathy Dolan (Political Science) repeatedly for her analysis and commentary during the Democratic National Convention, “hosted” virtually in Milwaukee. She:
As Milwaukee “hosted” the mostly-virtual Democratic National Convention to formally nominate Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for president, Thomas Holbrook (Political Science) was an in-demand commentator on the proceedings. He: Predicted what to expect during the DNC on WUWM Radio (https://bit.ly/31eqqop)
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Predicted what to expect during the DNC on WUWM Radio (https://bit.ly/31eqqop)
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Commented on the inclusion of Progressive political figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on CBS 58 News (https://bit.ly/2FAAQ9A)
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Said in a Huffington Post article that it would be hard to determine what sort of “bounce” in polling candidates might receive after their party’s national conventions, due to the unprecedented formats each convention took (https://bit. ly/2Ell4Pu)
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Explained the nature of convention bounces for TheWorldNews.net (https://bit.ly/2E2rHqc) and the Christian Science Monitor (https://bit. ly/3aFYjlp) Commented on the lack of coverage for local leaders during the proceedings on CBS News (https://bit.ly/3iYKfWT) Explained why Biden might not receive a huge post-convention bounce in a piece published by several news organizations, including TMJ4 (https://bit.ly/2YMtUNu) Opined that protests in Kenosha following the shooting of Jacob Blake might galvanize Black voters in Wisconsin for Crain’s Chicago Business website (https://bit.ly/3lDMKAn)
Student Kaiden Schmidt (Physics) recounted how he and fellow Black Lives Matter protestors ran from men in unmarked vehicles who were arresting demonstrators in an piece for WUWM Radio. https://bit.ly/2EJthNE The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted disparities between socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups. Celeste Campos-Castillo talked about these differences on Wisconsin Public Radio. https://bit.ly/3jreN3N
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Spoke about the gender gap between Democratic and Republican voters and what that might mean for the election in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article reprinted around the country (https://yhoo.it/2YltmxR)
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Speculated on how the altered format of this year’s conventions might affect future National Conventions in the Oshkosh Post Crescent (https://bit.ly/3j0Adoa)
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Explained Wisconsin’s importance as a battleground state crucial to the Trump campaign in an article for Reuters, republished around the country (https://reut.rs/2YlFi2x)
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Had her research quoted in an article about the electability of women candidates published on AmericanProgress.org (https://ampr.gs/31cCg2q)
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Was quoted regarding the strides women have made in national politics in an article for ChinaDaily Hong Kong (https://bit.ly/3hFTY4p)
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Helped analyze the strategies used in the Republican National Convention in a Reuters article (https://reut.rs/3jqHrCb) reprinted by The New York Times (https://nyti.ms/2YOHnEB)
Gladys Mitchell-Walthour’s (African and African Diaspora Studies) book, “Racial Identity and apolitical Behavior in Contemporary Brazil,” was cited in an article published in Folha de São Paulo, a leading Brazilian newspaper. https://bit.ly/2DfrS0S It’s healthy to limit news or social media consumption if current events are causing you distress, Shawn Cahill (Psychology) said on TMJ4 News. https://bit.ly/32S83ph
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 17
People in Print Paul Barbier, Tatiana Rochat, Haitham H. Mohammed, Gregory D. Wiens, Jean-François Bernardet, David Halpern, Eric Duchaud, and Mark J. McBride (all Biological Sciences). 2020. The type IX secretion system is required for virulence of the fish pathogen Flavobacterium psychrophilum. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 86: 1-22. https://bit.ly/3lsyE4y
Joel Rast (Urban Studies). 2020. How Policy Paradigms Change: Lessons from Chicago’s Urban Renewal Program. In How Ideas Shape Urban Political Development (Richardson Dilworth and Timothy P. R. Weaver, eds.). University of Pennsylvania Press. https://bit.ly/31CBTP0
Linda McCarthy (Geography), J. Brady, and N. Moore-Cherry. 2020. “European Cities.” In Cities of the World, 7th ed. (Stanley Brunn et al., eds.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Kathryn Olson (Communication). 2020. Barry Goldwater’s 1981 Critique of Intolerance in American Public Policy Deliberations. Western Journal of Communication, 84(4): 379-399. https://bit.ly/31H5J4S
David Armstrong, Ora John Reuter (Political Science), and Graeme Robertson. 2020. Getting the Opposition Together: Protest Coordination in Authoritarian Regimes. Post-Soviet Affairs, 36(1). https://bit.ly/32FXCoj
