People News, September 2017

David Ball, professor emeritus of French language and literature, was named a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques earlier this month by the French Consul in Cambridge, Mass. The Order, established by the French Minister of Culture, recognizes significant contributions to literature and the arts.

Assistant professor of engineering Kristen Dorsey is featured in an Embedded.fm podcast about how microelectromechanical sensors work, how they are made and how they will evolve in the future.

Suzan Edwards, L. Clark Seelye Professor of Astronomy, has been awarded a $67,915 grant from the National Science Foundation for “Collaborative Research Evolution of Disk Winds,” a project to study light emitted by winds emerging from proto-planetary disks around young stars. Edwards will use data from the Keck Telescopes at the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii to research how the nascent disks clear themselves out, leaving a pristine planetary system behind.

Paula J. Giddings, Elizabeth A. Woodson Professor Emerita of Africana Studies, is a judge in the nonfiction category of this year’s National Book Awards. Finalists will be announced on October 4, and winners will be honored at a ceremony in New York in November.

Mary Harrington, Tippit Professor in the Life Sciences (Psychology), has been awarded a $385,288 grant from the National Institutes of Health for “In vivo tracking of bioluminescent markers of circadian rhythms in behaving animals.”

Robey B. Champine ’07 is the recipient of an Extramural Clinical Research Award from the National Institutes of Health for her postdoctoral research at the Yale School of Medicine on intervention programs among youth and families in lower-resource communities. Champine, who majored in psychology and Spanish at Smith, earned a Ph.D. in child study and human development from Tufts University.

Kathleen A. Doty ’03 is the new director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia Law School. Doty, who majored in Latin American studies at Smith, earned a law degree from the University of California, Davis.

Sharon Sullivan ’92 has been named a 2017 Woman of Influence by GO Topeka for her advocacy work to prevent human trafficking. Sullivan, who majored in theatre at Smith, is chair of the theatre department at Washburn University, where she earned a master’s degree, and she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas Lawrence.

Mary Doherty ’90 is the new director of the Recover Project in Greenfield, Mass., a nonprofit that helps people in all stages of recovery. Doherty earned her undergraduate and master’s degree in biological sciences from Smith and a Ph.D. in science education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Ann Sweeten ’81 has released her first all-original solo piano album, “Flying Solo Silhouette,” featuring her compositions over the past decade. Sweeten, a Steinway artist and composer who earned a degree in French from Smith and studied at the Boston Conservatory, is also a member of Actors Equity Association.

Tori Murden McClure ’85, the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, spoke this month at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford on “A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean.” McClure, who majored in psychology at Smith, earned a divinity degree at Harvard University and a law degree at the University of Louisville.

Ann Sheffer ’70 is the recipient of a Leadership Award from Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Conn. Sheffer, who majored in theatre at Smith, earned a master’s degree in theatre administration from Tufts University and an M.B.A. from the University of Washington Seattle.