People News March 2022

A digital humanities project led by Jennifer Guglielmo, associate professor of history, Michelle Joffroy, associate professor of Spanish, and Diana Sierra Becerra of the University of Massachusetts Amherst received a 2022 Outstanding Public History Project award from the National Council on Public History. “We Make History,” created in collaboration with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, offers a multimedia timeline, two documentary films and a popular education curriculum on the history of domestic work and worker organizing.

Smith’s Project Coach is cited in a new report by the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, “Investing in Educators: How Massachusetts Can Support Teachers Through the Pandemic and Beyond.” The report describes how Project Coach’s “cascading mentorship model” has contributed to academic achievement by high school students, and has engaged undergraduate and graduate education students in tutoring, mentoring and coaching.

Jesse Bellemare, associate professor of biological sciences, and Taryn Mueller ’18 are the authors of “Of mutualism and migration: will interactions with novel ericoid mycorrhizal communities help or hinder northward Rhododendron range shifts?” published in January in Oecologia. Mueller, who is studying for a doctorate in biological and life sciences, earned a master of science degree at the University of Minnesota Minneapolis.

Randy Frost, Harold Edward and Elsa Sipola Israel Professor Emeritus of Psychology, was cited in a recent article in Psychiatric News, “Despite Addition to DSM, Few Treatments Emerge for Hoarding Disorder.”

Michael Gorra, Mary Augusta Jordan Professor of English Language and Literature, was a presenter in February at the 33rd annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration on the theme of “Mississippi: A Tapestry of American Life.”

Sara Newland, assistant professor of government, published “Paradiplomacy as a response to international isolation: the case of Taiwan” in January in The Pacific Review.

Nina C. Pelaez is the new associate director of learning and interpretation at the Smith College Museum of Art. Pelaez, who most recently served as curator of programs and interpretation at Williams College Museum of Art, received her bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in art history and English literature, and a master’s degree from Williams College in the Graduate Program in the History of Art.

Candice Price, associate professor of mathematics and statistics, served on the selection committee for the Mathematical Science Research Institute’s 2022 Mathical Book Prize. Price is co-founder of the website Mathematically Gifted and Black.

Alison Schoen, a Smith connector in the class deans office, has been appointed to the board of directors of Northampton Dollars for Scholars organization. Schoen earned an undergraduate degree in elementary education and a master of science degree in higher education administration at Bay Path University.

Professor of Theatre Kiki Smith ’71 is the costume designer for “Lemon Girls or Art for the Artless,” a piece by The Talking Band that opens in March at La MaMa in New York City. This is Smith’s 16th production with The Talking Band, an experimental theater company whose co-founder, Paul Zimet, previously taught at Smith College.

A book by Meg Thacher, senior laboratory instructor in astronomy, has been awarded an Excellence in Science Books prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Subaru of America. “Sky Gazing: A Guide to the Moon, Sun, Planets, Stars, Eclipses and Constellations,” was the 2022 Hands-On Science winner in the annual awards recognizing the best science books for children.

Hélène Visentin, associate dean of the faculty and dean for academic development and professor of French studies, will help lead a Five College Consortium project that has been awarded a $1.6 million grant by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.The project will create programming that will develop faculty members’ administrative leadership skills at member institutions, including Smith, and elsewhere in higher education.

Juliette Saux ’20 and Elias Molitors Bergman ’17 are the authors of “The Role of Slow Slip Events in the Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake Cycle,” published in February in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Saux majored in geosciences at Smith, and Bergman majored in geosciences and the study of women and gender.

Muralist Olivia Levins Holden ’09 is the recipient of a 2022 McKnight Community-Engaged Artist Fellowship from Pillsbury House Theater in Minneapolis. Levins Holden, who majored in history at Smith, is a founding member of the Creatives After Curfew collective.

Sara-Neel Smith ’07 is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities award for her book project, “Uncovering the Lost History of the American Art World’s Engagements with the Middle East, 1957-1979.” Neel, who majored in art history at Smith, earned master of arts and a doctoral degrees at the University of California.

Saadia Zahidi ’02 has joined the advisory board of The Valuable 500, which focuses on disability inclusion in business. Zahidi, who is managing director of the Centre for the New Economy and Society, World Economic Forum, Switzerland, majored in economics at Smith and earned a master’s degree in economics at the Institute for International Studies.

Natalie Belanger ’99 recently gave a virtual lecture “Beyond The Amistad,” for the Norwalk Historical Society. The talk focused on items in the society’s collection representing the experience of local Black people. Belanger, who majored in history at Smith, received a master’s degree in women’s studies and history from the University of Maryland.

Claudia San Pedro ’91 has been named Restaurant Leader of the Year by the editors of Restaurant Business for leading a “rejuvenation” of the Sonic drive-in chain. San Pedro, who is president of Sonic, majored in economics at Smith and earned an M.B.A. at the University of Oklahoma Norman.

Attorney Leticia Medina-Richman ’81 has been appointed the first chief operating officer of Community Legal Aid of Worcester, Massachusetts. She majored in English language and literature at Smith and received a law degree from Northeastern University.

Rebecca Foust ’79, published a poem, “Because” in the Winter 2021-22 issue of Ploughshares. Foust, who majored in English language and literature at Smith, earned a law degree at Stanford University.

Photograph by Shana Sureck