News & Events

Sociology Associate Professor Daniel Herda published an article on Immigration Innumeracy in Canada in the journal Migration Letters.

Monica Cowart, vice provost, and Sean Condon, interim dean of the School of Liberal Arts, were quoted in a Sept. 13, 2017, North Andover Wicked Local story about the school’s new interdisciplinary institute, which willstudy the current political and cultural climate in the U.S., with a focus on bias. “Given recent events in our country, our focus on bias seems particularly relevant and powerfully important,” said Cowart, founding director of the institute. “This creation of the institute further underscores the college’s historical commitment to fostering social justice and to embracing diversity.” Condon said that faculty and students involved with the institute will have opportunities to become more effective problem solvers. “It will enable them to engage with others who have different perspectives and approaches, and in turn, both students and faculty will be motivated to take collaborative approaches to formulate and address complex and crucial questions,” he said.

Assistant professor of communication and media Melissa “Mish” Zimdars, author of “Watching Our Weights: The Contradictions of Televising Fatness in the ‘Obesity Epidemic,’” was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article March 24, 2020 discussing the portrayal of fat women on television.

Psychology Department assistant professor Laura Kurdziel was recently featured by KABC-TV News in Los Angelesfor a story on the benefits of napping for children. When children don’t get a nap they need, it stresses their bodies and makes it harder to go to sleep at night, Kurdziel told the news outlet.

He Li, professor of political science, waspart of a panel on “Sino-Latin American Relations in the Era of Trump” on April 19, 2017, atCornell University. Sponsored by the university’s Latin American Studies Program and the SC Johnson College of Business’ Emerging Markets Institute, the panel explored the growing uncertaintyof multilateral relations amongthe United States, China, and Latin America since the election of President Donald Trump. Li is an expert on Chinese political thought and Sino-Latin American relations.

Gretchen Grosky, adjunct lecturer in journalism and adviser to the student newspaper, The Beacon, completed two fellowships this summer — one at Columbia University’s Age Boom Academy, focusing on the international response to the aging workforce, and the other as a Journalists in Aging fellow at the Gerontological Society of America and New Media. As part of the latter fellowship, Grosky spent four days at the World Congress on Gerontology and Geriatrics in San Francisco, which attracted 6,500 experts in the field of aging from around the world. Grosky, who led a team of journalists in winning the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, is a reporter at the Union Leader newspaper in New Hampshire, with a beat focused on the state’s rapidly aging population.

Nancy Wynn, associate professor of visual and performing arts, chaired a panel, “Using ‘The Flip’: Why Your Students Want to Hear From You Rather Than YouTube,” April 6, 2017, at the eighth annual Foundations in Art: Theory and Education conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The panel presented papers on ways to integrate technology to allow students to learn, engage and get feedback quickly outside of class.

Kirstie Dobbs, assistant professor of practice in political science and public policy, was invited to the Youth Without Representation Workshop hosted by the University of Ottawa to present her research on youth involvement in political parties worldwide. In addition, Dobbs also attended the American Political Science Association Conference in Montreal to present her research on a youth civic engagement summer program called Youth Voice – a collaboration between Merrimack professors, the Merrimack Valley YMCA in Lawrence, and numerous local stakeholders.

“Digital Blockade or Corporate Boycott?: A New Tactic of War” is an article published by Dr. Alison Russell associate professor and chair of the department of political science and public policy. It examines the information warfare component of Russia’s war in Ukraine to develop a better understanding of blockade operations in cyberspace and digital corporate boycotts.

Laura Pruett, associate professor and chair of visual and performing arts, presented a research poster, “I Did It My Way: An Alternative Concept for Teaching American Music,” March 25, 2017, at the annual conference of the Society for American Musicin Montréal.