People News, March 2018

At this year’s Rally Day celebration, teaching awards were presented to two faculty members: Carrie Baker, associate professor of the study of women and gender, and Randi Garcia, assistant professor of psychology. Caitlin Szymkowicz, associate dean for international students and student affairs, and Poonam Kumar, dining room assistant, received Gavel Awards, presented annually to college staff members. In the Rally Day Hat Contest sponsored by The Smith Fund, Max Ranieri ’18 won most creative, and Sarah Barkey ’18 won best use of theme. Chapin House won the most creative house banner award, and Morrow House won best use of theme.

Em Papineau ’21 and Sofia Engelman ’19 have been selected from a field of 45 college choreographers to perform their work, “where the air is light and clear,” in June at the 2018 National College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Papineau and Engelman participated in the New England regional dance conference in February in Boston, along with the following Smith faculty and students: Rodger Blum, professor of dance; Chris Aiken, associate professor of dance; Julia Antinozzi ’18; Serena Anne Cattau ’20J; Reem Ibrahim ’20; Aubrey Johnson ’18; Lucille Jun ’19; Michelle Kassmann ’19; Maya LaLiberte ’18, Claire Lane ’20; Sarah Lass ’18; Anna Maynard ’19; and Sarah Seder ’18.

Haley Peterson ’19 is studying aboard a research vessel in the Caribbean this semester for “Colonization to Conservation in the Caribbean,” a program of the Sea Education Association. The program includes a preparatory course at the SEA’s campus in Woods Hole, Mass., followed by a six-week voyage and port stops, where students meet with experts and conduct field research on the region’s environment, culture and history.

Jordan Crouser ’08, assistant professor of computer science, was awarded a $38,900 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for a project “Perceptually-Optimized Approximation Strategies for Big Data Analytics.”

Jay Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor of Philosophy, published a paper in January in Cognitive Science comparing attitudes about death and the self among Hindus, Westerners and three different Buddhist populations.

Professor of Engineering Andrew Guswa published an opinion piece in a recent issue of Prism, the magazine of the American Society for Engineering Education, “Beyond Opportunity: A women’s college offers lessons in promoting diversity and engineering identity.”

Daphne Lamothe, associate professor of Africana studies, gave a talk last month at Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Center on “Blackness Unmoored: Relational Ethics and Aesthetics in Stromae’s ‘Formidable.’”

Professor of English Language and Literature Ruth Ozeki gave a reading at Central Washington University last month as part of the university’s 2018 Lion Rock Visiting Writer Series. 

Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, has received a Henry Chadwick Award from the Society for American Baseball Research for his longstanding contributions to the study and enjoyment of baseball.

Artwork by Flora Weil ’17 was shown at Nasty Women Exhibition: Empowerment, an International Women’s Day exhibition in London. Weil graduated with a degree in engineering from Smith.

Carolyn Kuan ’99 is the recipient of a 2018 New England Public Radio Arts and Humanities Award for her achievements as music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Kuan majored in music at Smith and earned a master of music degree in 2001 from the University of Illinois. NEPR called her “a true and valued asset to the greater Hartford arts community and to music lovers across the region.”

Monique King-Viehland ’99 has been appointed executive director of the Community Development Commission and Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles. King-Viehland—who earned a master of science degree in business management from Carnegie Mellon University—previously served as acting executive director of the Los Angeles agency, overseeing 580 full-time employees and an annual budget in excess of $457 million.

Margaret Everett ’90 has been named provost of Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. A Latin American studies major at Smith, Everett earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in anthropology from Yale University. She previously served as interim provost and vice president of academic affairs at Portland State University and has published research on health policy and social change.

Phoebe A. Wood ’75 has joined the board of directors of PPL Corporation, headquartered in Allentown, Pa. Wood, who is currently principal of investment firm Companies/Wood, has three decades of international, financial and operational management experience, including with Atlantic Richfield Co. and Brown-Forman Corp. She majored in psychology at Smith and earned an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.