Spring/Summer 2022 Issue
Spring/Summer 2022 Issue
Feature Story Risk and Reward: President Carol Quillen’s 11 Years of Bold Achievement
President Carol Quillen led Davidson College during a period of rapid change while maintaining the integrity of the college's mission.
Feature Story Shared Name, Shared Destiny: A Doctor's Unlikely Journey and Fight for Justice
Steeped in strange coincidences, Ben Gilmer '92 embarks on a quest to discover what led a beloved family doctor to commit murder.
Feature Story By the People: Community Spring Creates Change Through Empowerment
With Community Spring, Davidson College alum Lindsay Kallman takes aim at structural poverty.
For the Birds: Photographs Offer Glimpse of Campus Wildlife
The Davidson College campus is home to wildlife, including a variety of bird species.
On Course: Students Explore Death in the Digital Age
Davidson College Professor Mark Sample offers a glimpse into a popular course and its relevance.
The Well
The college’s newest classroom rises from the roof of the E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center. The Pat Peroni Greenhouse offers state-of-the-art features, including climate control, automated shades, and grow lights. It’s a new space for students in the classrooms below—in biology, environmental studies, chemistry, and more—to conduct research that hasn’t been possible at Davidson before.
The new greenhouse is named for beloved outdoor enthusiast and Biology Professor Pat Peroni, who died in 2019. Peroni, who began teaching at Davidson College in 1992, often took students out of the classroom and into the field for her classes. Peroni dreamt of having a greenhouse on campus to bring some of those lessons closer to students. Her colleagues in the biology department took on her dream as their own, partnering with facilities and academic affairs to make it a reality.
On April 29, 2022, Davidson College Trustees unanimously named Douglas A. Hicks the 19th president of Davidson College. He is a Davidson alum who earned a Harvard University doctorate degree and built a career of leadership roles in higher education that stretch from upstate New York to Georgia. In April he returned to campus with spouse Catherine Bagwell, who is a professor of psychology, daughter Ada and son Noah. Hicks will take office Aug. 1.
Gamut Dance Company’s 16th annual dance showcase dazzled a full house in the Duke Family Performance Hall. The showcase featured more than 20 performers and nearly as many performances, all choreographed by students. The student-run, audition-based dance company offers technically trained dancers the opportunity to perform at a high level during their time at Davidson. The group’s professional mentors include Chair and Associate Professor of Dance Alison Bory.
Sam Goldfarb '22 spent four years honing his skills as a sports announcer, and offering color commentary at sporting events from basketball to soccer. Goldfarb graduated in May with magna cum laude honors. He plans to work in the college’s athletic office as the primary ESPN+ broadcaster next year. “I’ve said to a few people that in 15 years, I want to be calling a national championship game,” he said. “I’m hoping that in 15 years, I’m good enough. That’s what I’m working towards at this point."
Behind a final-round nine-under 279 and three top-5 individual finishes, Davidson rallied past VCU to claim its second straight Atlantic 10 men’s golf championship, and third in the last four appearances.
After claiming the title of 2021–22 Atlantic 10 regular season champions with an overall 27-6 record, the Wildcats received an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament as the West Region’s 10th seed. The ’Cats made their 15th NCAA tournament appearance and 10th under Head Coach Bob McKillop, taking on seventh-seeded Michigan State in Greenville, South Carolina. A huge contingent of fans turned the stands red.
Robert Lim ’91 served as an ROTC cadet and majored in pre-medicine at Davidson. He currently serves as vice chair of education and residency and program director for the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine-Tulsa. Lim temporarily left his medical school professor duties, his research and his family this spring to travel to a war zone. The father of four, who includes a daughter adopted from Ukraine, volunteered his services as a civilian in that besieged country with the NGO Global Surgical and Medical Support Group (GSMSG).
Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic sent them home, the class of 2020 joyfully returned to campus May 22 for their long-awaited commencement ceremony. They came from as far away as Taiwan, and as close as Davidson. College trustees raised $200,000 to pay travel expenses for anyone who needed help to return. The fund also paid to house students in residence halls for the weekend.
The Union
Bookshelf
{Alumni}
By His Own Words: Robert Lathan Jr., Renowned Editor and Gentleman by S. Robert Lathan Jr. ’59 M.D. (2021, Wings Publishers, LLC). An exploration of the life and words of a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor whose work contributed to the Charleston Renaissance and the economic growth of Western North Carolina.
Son of the South: Reminiscences of a Southern Sportsman by J. Robert (Bob) Gordon ’61 (2021, Horse & Buggy Press). A dedicated conservationist and sportsman shares stories of the land and the experiences that shaped him.
No Favorite Child by Jack Hartman ’72 (2021, Fulton Books, Inc.). A medical malpractice defense trial attorney takes on a case that could alter his life forever.
Educating Marston: A Mother and Son’s Journey Through Autism by Christine Weiss and Eric Weiss ’83 M.D. (2020, Changing Lives Press). A family’s experiences with learning and autism, and the promising therapy that could be a game changer for thousands of families.
Seeing God at Work Every Day by Rev. David Dendy ’85 (2015, WestBow Press). An interactive journal that combines everyday observations with spiritual insights and invites readers to live life with the eyes of our hearts wide open.
Ship of Blood: Mutiny and Slaughter Aboard the Harry A. Berwind, and the Quest for Justice by Charles M. Oldham III ’97 (2022, Beach Glass Books). Part murder mystery, part courtroom drama, Ship of Blood explores racism and justice in a Southern port with a bloody past.
Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart ’02 (2018, Little, Brown and Co.). A story of fierce sisterhood in a world that’s determined to break you.
Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart ’02 (2019, Little, Brown and Co.). The sequel to Grace and Fury finds sisters Nomi and Serina fighting for a new age of freedom for all women.
A Season of Sinister Dreams by Tracy Banghart ’02 (2021, Little, Brown and Co.). A courtly, feminist fantasy full of intrigue, romance and shocking twists.
Add yourself to the shelf!
To submit your book for this column,
as well as to E.H. Little Library’s Davidsoniana Room, please send a signed copy to:
Davidson Journal
Box 7171, Davidson College
Davidson, NC 28035-7171
Faculty Notes
Art
John Corso-Esquivel presented his paper, “Metonymic Circulation and the Latinx Body: Michael Hernandez de Luna’s Mail Art,” as a part of the Latinx Bodies: Presence/Absence and Representation Panel (Part 2) at the 110th CAA Annual Conference (February 2022).
Joelle Dietrick and Owen Mundy (Digital Studies) exhibited artwork at East Tennessee State University’s Slocumb Galleries February 22– April 1, 2022, juried by Kevin Tucker, Chief Curator at High Museum in Atlanta, and Cosmic Rays Digital at Peel Gallery, Carrboro, NC, March 1–April 2, 2022, curated by Sabine Gruffat, Associate Professor of Art at UNC Chapel Hill. They also delivered an artist talk/ online workshop at the University of California, San Diego in March 2022.
Biology
Chris Paradise and Brad Johnson (Environmental Studies) published a paper in Hydrological Processes with former students Catie Morris ’17, Heather Mase ’18 and Peter Whitehouse ’18. The paper “Seasonal flashiness and high frequency discharge events in headwater streams in the North Carolina Piedmont (United States)” examines the ways that development impacts flow in small creeks around the Davidson area.
Chemistry
Nicole L. Snyder gave a presentation on her collaborative research with undergraduate students titled “Humans versus Microbes” as an invited speaker at the University of Maryland. Her talk focused on two papers recently published in the Snyder Glycoscience Group focusing on the development of antimicrobials for targeting viruses and bacteria. Snyder was re- elected as a Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Chemistry councilor for a three-year term (2022–2025). This is her third term as a CUR councilor. Snyder is also a member of the CUR Executive Board where she represents the Chemistry Division. Her efforts with CUR are centered on equity, inclusivity and the internationalization of undergraduate research.
Communication Studies
Amanda R. Martinez gave a research seminar for Northwestern University’s Latinx Digital Media seminar series in January 2022. In addition to her seminar, “Latinx Audiences & Laughter: The Power & Limits of Stereotype Humor,” she was interviewed about her background and career path for El Café Latinx podcast, also produced by Northwestern University. The podcast episode, “Amanda R. Martinez and Making Absences Present,” is available online.
Economics
Clark Ross has been appointed the chair of the College Board, CLEP Economics Committee (College-Level Examination Program) effective June 2022. This committee oversees CLEP exams in both microeconomics and in macroeconomics.
English
Brenda Flanagan spent the first day of spring break presenting to two middle school assemblies at Davidson K-8. In celebration of Women’s History Month, Flanagan told the students about Claudette Colvin, Viola Liuzzo, Dolores Huerta, Grace Lee Boggs and Shirley Chisholm, women from different racial and ethnic backgrounds who contributed to making America a good place for all its people.
“Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA,” an online exhibition co-curated for the Ford Foundation Gallery by Ann Fox and Jessica Cooley ’05, premiered its eighth and final commission in February. TEXERE by Indira Allegra is a global, art-based web application which transforms human losses into a new kind of memorial object–an ever-evolving digital tapestry created with posts authored by people using the site. Fox also spoke on “Building a Speculative Archive” at A Crisis of Caring: The Humanities and Our Health, an online symposium organized by the National Humanities Center.
Annie Merrill gave the keynote lecture for IDEAS week at Emory University, on the topic of “Abnormal Environments from Speculation to Reality,” focusing on climate change in contemporary fiction and parallels to current events.
French and Francophone Studies
Shanaaz Mohammed’s essay, “Coralization: Coral Materiality in Khal Torabully’s poetry,” received the 2022 Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Postcolonial Essay Award.
German Studies
Burkhard Henke has agreed to serve as chief reader designate for “AP German Language and Culture,” a course and examination provided
by the College Board through the Advanced Placement Program. The appointment is to be followed by a three-year term as Chief Reader, 2023–26.
Emily Frazier-Rath published an article titled “Sexualized Violence and Racialized Others: Syrian Refugee Activism and Constructions of Difference Immediately after Cologne” and a book review of Representations of Muslim Women in German Popular Culture, 1990–2015 in the Journal of Feminist German Studies, respectively. She also has been granted the position of executive director of the BGHRA (Black German Heritage and Research Association) Institute.
Public Health
Lauren Stutts and Laura Sockol (Psychology) published an article in Body Image with Isabella Pallotto ’19, “General and sport-specific weight pressures as risk factors for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among female collegiate athletes.” The article presents findings from Isabella’s honors thesis in psychology.
Lauren Stutts, Hannah Cha ’22 and Janina Mayers ’22 (Saint Augustine’s University), published an article titled “The impact of curvy fitspiration and fitspiration on body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and weight bias in women” in Stigma and Health.
Olivia Rostagni ’21 and Lauren Stutts published an article titled “Gratitude, self-efficacy, and health-related quality of life in individuals with Parkinson’s Disease” in Psychology, Health, and Medicine.
Hispanic Studies
Angela Willis published a review of La maldita circunstancia: Ensayos sobre literatura cubana by Damaris Puñales Alpízar in Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies (MARLAS, December 2021. She also published an article titled “Continuities of Cuban Dissidence: From Reinaldo Arenas to Patria y vida and Yunior García Aguilar” in The Florida Bookshelf.
History
Rose Stremlau organized a panel and presented her research at a meeting of the Organization of American Historians in Boston. The panel focused on “Seeing #MMIW in the Archives: Researching and Writing about Gendered Violence in Indigenous History.” A highlight
was presenting alongside a former undergraduate advisee, Jessica Markey Locklear, who is now completing her doctorate in history at Emory University and shared her work on the impact of settler colonial violence on Lumbees. Stremlau also recently gave a talk titled “‘A Sad Almost Forgotten Past’: Writing Sexual Violence into the History of the Native South” at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Stremlau
was an invited participant at a symposium at Rice University titled “Naming the Natives,” comparing the Roman and Early American empires. Her paper on Cherokee and Osage engagement with missionaries will be in an upcoming anthology featuring talks given at the event.
Music
Tara Keith made her conducting debut with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in December 2021. She conducted their holiday Cirque
de Noël program, which featured aerialists, jugglers, acrobat, and strongmen from Cirque
de la Symphonie. In response to her direction
of Debussy’s Clair de Lune (arr. Alfred Reed), CVNC (Classical Voice of North Carolina) said her “conducting shaped the piece with such elegant nuances that it became more than a simple underscore for the aerialist onstage.” Keith also worked with the Charlotte Symphony in March on their Music of the Eagles performance with the guest band Hotel California.
Philosophy
Paul Studtmann published an article titled “The Divine Fractal: First-Order Extensional Theology” in Philosophia. The article “A Causation for Narration Now: Narrative Determination” (co-authored with Christopher Shields, University of Notre Dame) is forthcoming in the Journal of the American Philosophical Association.
Physics
Anthony Kuchera and Tan Phan ’18 published an article titled “Mirror nucleon removal reactions in p-shell nuclei” in Physical Review C.
Kristen Thompson received the Best Pedagogical Paper Award for her paper “Google Sites as a Platform for Student Portfolios and Laboratory Notebooks” at a recent meeting of the North Carolina Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Thompson and Zayna Abuhakema ’24 published an article titled “Astrometric Measurements of WDS 21371- 1622” in the current issue of the Journal of Double Star Observations.
Political Science
Peter Ahrensdorf gave a lecture, “The Distinctive Character of the Education of Cyrus,” at the A.V. Elliott Conference on Great Books and Ideas, sponsored by Mercer University’s McDonald Center for America’s Founding Principles, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia. Ahrensdorf also gave a lecture, “The Freedom of the Mind and the Tyranny of the Passions: Socrates’ Critique of Homer’s Education in the Republic,” sponsored by The LeFrak Forum on Science, Reason and Modern Democracy, and the Department of Political Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.
Katherine Bersch was selected as a Fulbright Scholar for 2022-2023 (Brazil). Bersch hosted the “Charlemos” event, Authoritarian Police In Democracy, at the Latin American Studies Association Conference.
Graham Bullock and Van Hillard (Writing Program) were invited to speak at the Symposium of Collegiate Programs for Public Discourse (SCPPD) hosted by the Program for Public Discourse at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in January 2022. Bullock presented insights from the work of the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative on the opportunities and challenges facing public discourse programs, while Hillard provided a pedagogical reflection on how we might best teach students how to engage in effective argument that built on his experience teaching writing courses with such a focus.
Besir Ceka published an article titled “Political tolerance in Europe: The role of conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism” in the European Journal of Political Research.
Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall published reviews of the following books in the spring 2022 issue of Survival: James Loxton, Conservative Party-building in Latin America: Authoritarian Inheritance and Counterrevolutionary Struggle; City of Omens: A Search for the Missing Women of the Borderlands; Garibaldi in South America: An Exploration; and Persuasive Peers: Social Communication and Voting in Latin America. Britta Crandall and Russell Crandall also reviewed Eliot Higgins’s book We are Bellingcat: Global Crimes, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News for the journal Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books. Russell Crandall co- authored with Jack Richardson, “The End of the West,” for Survival.
Psychology
Kristi Multhaup and Serena Hu ’22 published a review of the book Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting in The Gerontologist.
Julio Ramirez’s work in diversity and inclusivity in the neuroscience community was acknowledged with the inaugural Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) Award for Fostering Diversity and Inclusivity. The FUN Award for Fostering Diversity & Inclusivity is to be given from time to time to recognize individuals who have made extraordinary efforts promoting diversity and inclusivity in undergraduate neuroscience education. Outstanding support of diversity may include the development of programs that substantially enhance the advancement of students and/or faculty from diverse backgrounds, successful and inclusive mentoring of diverse students and/or faculty, or fostering inclusive classroom/laboratory environments for all to succeed in science.
Laura Sockol contributed a chapter on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Perinatal Depression to the edited volume, Evidence-Based Treatment for Anxiety Disorders & Depression.
Sociology
Gayle Kaufman published an article titled “Displaying Parenthood, (Un)doing Gender: Parental Leave, Daycare, and Working Time Adjustments in Sweden and the UK” (co- authored with Anne Grönlund) that has been shortlisted for the Families, Relationships
and Societies David Morgan Prize. The main finding is that taking parental leave and making work adjustments are part of ‘good parenting’ in Sweden but only ‘good mothering’ in UK. Kaufman is a visiting researcher in the Department of Sociology at the University of York (UK), where they are conducting research related to their queer marriage project. Kaufman published an article “Organizational policies, workplace culture, and perceived job commitment of mothers and fathers who take parental leave” (with Richard Petts and Trenton Mize) in the March 2022 issue of Social Science Research, as well as a book review of It’s a setup: Fathering from the social and economic margins (by Timothy Black and Sky Keyes) in American Journal of Sociology.
Gerardo Martí published a new article in the journal Social Forces titled “Racial Dynamics of Congregations and Communities: A Longitudinal Analysis of United Methodist Congregations, 1990–2010” (co-authored with Kevin Dougherty and Todd Ferguson). Building on previously published scholarship, this new quantitatively based research uses longitudinal data from over 20,000 United Methodist congregations between 1990 and 2010, paired with census tract data for the same time period, to examine the overlapping consequences of racial change in congregations and neighborhoods over time. Martí was a featured guest on an episode hosted by Oxford University Press’s Sociology of Religion Podcast regarding Latinx Protestants and American politics, an audio compliment to a recent essay published in the journal. Both the podcast and the article describe how the rise in the proportion of Latinx Protestants in the United States may be coinciding with an increased alignment with the politics of white evangelicalism.
Theatre
Counting Together, a coalition of theatre artists and service professionals engaged in research about the representation of race, gender and/or disability in American theatre, recently won two Anthem Awards: a gold award in the category, “Community Engagement; Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion - Partnership or Collaboration,” and a silver award in the category, “Awareness (Not-For-Profit); Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion - Partnership or Collaboration.” Sharon Green’s research collaboration with four Davidson students (David Lee, Katie Stewart, Clare Harbin, Landin Eldridge) is a part of Counting Together, and Green continues to participate in the stewardship of the larger project. View the project at countingtogether.org.
Writing Program
Van Hillard has been invited to teach a course on U.S. rhetorical history at Williams College as part of their winter semester offerings in 2023.