People News, October 2018

Sam Intrator, Elizabeth A. Woodson ’22 Professor of Education and Child Study, and Denys Candy, director of the Jandon Center for Community Engagement, have been awarded a $99,357 grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service for “Transfer and Transition: The Challenge of Sustaining Impact Beyond Community-Based Youth Programs.” The project—which builds on work that Smith’s Project Coach has been doing since 2004—positions youth and community leaders in Springfield, Mass., as lead researchers on how communities can support positive, long-term development of recent high school graduates.

Carrie Baker, professor of the study of women and gender, is the author of Fighting the U.S. Youth Sex Trade, a book that examines the politics of the movement to end sex trafficking in America.

Justin Cammy, associate professor of Jewish studies and comparative literature, has been awarded an $8,000 grant from the Naomi Prawer Kadar Foundation for “Yiddish Language and Culture Pedagogy.”

Ginetta Candelario ’90, professor of sociology and Latin American and Latino/a Studies, was a panelist for “Civic Engagement in Diverse Latinx Communities,” a daylong September symposium at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Thomas Gralinksi, STEM outreach coordinator for Smith’s Jandon Center for Community Engagement, is the recipient of a 2018 ToGetHerThere award from the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts for his work encouraging girls to participate in STEM. Gralinski amd four other winners will be honored at a ceremony in November.

Katherine Halvorsen, professor of mathematics and statistics, recently led a two-day statistics workshop for middle- and high-school math and science teachers at the annual American Statistical Association’s Joint Statistical Meetings in Vancouver, Canada.

Katie Kinnaird, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Computer Science and of Statistical and Data Sciences, has been awarded a $36,863 grant from the National Science Foundation for “TRIPODS-X: Investigations of Student Difficulties in Data Science Instruction.”

Camille Washington-Ottombre, assistant professor of environmental science and policy, gave a September talk at the University of Massachusetts Amherst about her research on how colleges and communities in Kenya and Morocco have responded to climate change.

Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, associate professor of history, spoke recently on “The N-Word: History, Race and the College Classroom” at American International College in Springfield, Mass.

Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, was a panelist for the International Olympic Committee’s recent “Olympism in Action Forum” in Buenos Aires. Zimbalist spoke about new approaches to hosting the Olympic Games.

Paralympic rower Hallie Smith ’16 won a bronze medal at the World Rowing Championship held in September in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Smith, who lives in Washington, D.C., earned a degree in psychology from Smith.

Lisa Gardiner ’95 spoke about her new book, Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us About Climate Change,at Harvard Forest in Petersham, Mass. Gardiner, who majored in geology at Smith, earned a doctorate in geological sciences from the University of Georgia.

Laura Prescott ’89, president and founder of Sister Witness International, will give the keynote at “Through Her Eyes,” a conference for girls hosted by the Center for Human Development to be held in October in Springfield, Mass. Prescott majored in women’s studies at Smith.

Jennifer Merlic ’83 has been appointed vice president of academic affairs at Santa Monica College, where she has been serving as dean of instructional services. Merlic majored in chemistry at Smith and earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in chemistry from Princeton University.

Cheryl Suchors ’72 read from her new book, 48 Peaks: Hiking and Healing in the White Mountains, at Northampton’s Broadside Books in October. Charles Cutler, professor emeritus of Spanish and Portuguese and Suchors’ junior year abroad adviser, gave the introduction. Suchors majored in Hispanic studies at Smith and received a master’s degree from Harvard University.