|
|
Alumni Update
December 2020
| |
From Dean Chris Makaroff
Dear Alumni and Friends:
As we reach the end of a challenging year and prepare for the holiday season, I am proud to share some positive news: thanks to the unceasing efforts of our faculty, staff, and the university admissions team, applications to CAS have risen 5.6% over last year.
There is still a lot of work to be done to recruit a strong incoming class next fall. However, these numbers, on top of the pending availability of vaccines, provide an improved outlook for Miami as we begin transitioning back to normal. By Fall 2021, we expect to have returned to our traditional vibrant, in-person and highly engaged campus learning experience.
As we reflect on the past year and look forward to a new year, I want to thank all of you again for the countless ways so many of you have remained engaged with the CAS and supported our students. With most academic experiences shifted to a remote format, we have still been able to count on our alums to provide our students mentorship and experiential learning opportunities, participate in classroom visits and career panels, and provide financial assistance to our students in need. Thank you!
For those of you who have been meaning to get engaged, it is never too late. Contact us to volunteer to share your experience and expertise. Likewise, please consider giving to CAS to help support student scholarships, experiential learning opportunities, and the many curricular programs that make a Miami education so special. You can see more details at the bottom of this newsletter. I wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday season.
| |
|
 | Miami history students attending a research forum in October
|
|  | Oluwaferanmi “Feranmi” Motoni
|
| More student highlights:
- Students in anthropology chair and professor Cameron Hay-Rollins' grant-writing class are tackling global health problems in the US, Zambia, and India and engaging with expert alumni panelists.
- Two honors history students, Jessica Baloun and Taylor Bryan, placed 1st and 2nd at the 2020 Ohio Undergraduate Russian, East European, and Eurasian Research Forum. Megan Snyder received an honorable mention.
- Sophie Kullman, a senior triple major in creative writing, strategic communication, and media & culture, talks about her transformative study away experiences for NYC Media and Inside Hollywood as well as her study abroad trip to Italy.
- Alexa Lawhorn, a junior history and comparative religion major, shares what she learned as part of a research project on controversial religious groups with her professor Dr. Hillel Gray.
- Psychology major Oluwaferanmi “Feranmi” Motoni has been named Student Philanthropist of the Year for her fundraising efforts for the African Students’ Union, which helped the group launch a project page for #MoveInMiami with a goal of inclusivity.
| |
Mitchell Singstock '20 (anthropology), a former CAS Dean's Scholar and current 1st-year medical student at the University of Cincinnati, co-authored a paper with physicians at St. John's Medical College in Bangalore, India as part of his study abroad experience working with breast cancer patients.
"It was a capstone on my experience in Oxford, Ohio, and I am glad Miami invests in opportunities like this for students across the College of Arts and Science every year. Also, the fine doctors at St. John's and I are working on a second article that should be submitted for publication soon. I have certainly built a fruitful relationship with St. John's, so I am glad that Miami has decided to sponsor the travel of other students to Bangalore."
| |
"In my eyes, the heroes of the book are my Mamaw, Papaw and my mother, Aunt Wee. They were some of the strongest forces that kept J.D. and his sister, Lindsay, safe. They didn’t always do the right thing, but they loved so much and that is what kept the family together."
| |
- Political advisor and Western Program alum Steve Ricchetti '79 has been designated Counselor to the President under President-elect Joe Biden.
- MFA graduate Freda Epum '19, program director for Public Allies Cincinnati, has received a major grant from the Ohio Humanities Council to further the development of The Black American Tree Project.
- Shane Brown '96 (speech communications) was named US President of Itamar Medical, a medical device company that makes sleep apnea devices.
- Two English alums, Ellen Stenstrom '19 (literature, creative writing) and Vernon Williams '16 (creative writing) were Zoom guest speakers in professor Katie Johnson's ENG 440: Eugene O'Neill in Context seminar. Ellen, a PhD candidate at Indiana University Bloomington, won a national award with her piece. Vernon, a writer and senior editor/copywriter, had a staged reading of his play.
| |
Shelly Jarrett Bromberg, director of Liberal Education & professor in the Dept of Spanish & Portuguese, gave the 3rd Annual Luis Ambroggio Address, "Translating Diplomacy: Language, Literature & Politics in US/Dominican Relations" at The Catholic University of America.
| |
Kimberly Hamlin, associate professor of history and global & intercultural studies, published an op-ed in the Washington Post about Senator Kamala Harris's historic win as VP-elect and how this connects with other women in politics throughout American history.
| |
"Sound doesn’t respect barriers very well. As many people have pointed out, there are no ear lids." Mack Hagood, the Robert H. and Nancy J. Blayney Associate Professor of Comparative Media Studies, was featured in an episode of Freakonomics Radio.
| |
Professor of critical race and ethnic studies Rodney Coates and associate dean and professor of political science Patrick Haney were both recipients of Advancement Awards. Coates won the Spirit of Western College Award, and Haney won the William Holmes McGuffey Award.
| |
Miami's Year-End Giving Drive Ends Soon
As we come to the end of 2020, we hope that you will include Miami and the College of Arts and Science in your year-end giving plans. This year has been unprecedented, as we all have had to deal with the Covid pandemic and its impact. Our fundraising efforts have been focused on helping our students and the University replace the resources they have lost. Miami alumni, parents, and friends have continuously stepped forward and helped make a difference, and we are hoping that you will do so once again as we come to the end of 2020.
I am asking you to consider making a gift to the Miami Fund, the CAS Dean’s Fund, or the Emergency Needs Fund.
| |
College of Arts and Science
© 2020 Miami University. All rights reserved.
| |
|
|
|
