Tracy Hudson ’89, M ’93
Tracy Hudson ’89, M ’93, Physical Education Department, initiated a program to create a culture of care in the Physical Education Department. The goal of “Wear to Care in PE” is to engage students in different ways so they learn what a culture of care means and to start a conversation of how to create a culture of care. Students and staff can wear a color on a certain day which can inspire classroom discussions about what it means to care for others and to develop a culture of care within the Physical Education Department. This project has shown success in Dr. Hudson’s EDU 470: Foundations of Education in American Culture course.
Rhiannon Maton and Jessica Carrick-Hagenbarth
Rhiannon Maton, Foundations and Social Advocacy Department, and Jessica Carrick-Hagenbarth, Economics Department, had their article “This Could Be Me': Simulation of Refugee Experiences” published in Kappa Delta Pi Record. The authors discuss how the kinesthetic, affective and conceptual learning triggered through simulation can support future teachers in building empathy for refugees and immigrants.
Alexis Blavos
Alexis Blavos, Health Department, recently conducted an invited national webinar for the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) titled “Next Steps: Advocating for Gun Violence Prevention after the Advocacy Summit.”
Seth N. Asumah
Seth N. Asumah, Africana Studies and Political Science departments, was invited by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the National Security Education Program (NSEP) and served as a 2016 Boren Fellowship Merit Review Panelist for the Africa Region and the Africa Flagship Languages Initiative. Asumah and two colleagues from Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Arizona, reviewed and selected top applicants for the National Security Program Boren Fellowships for 2016 (Africa Region/AFLI) from Feb. 23-25 in Washington, D.C.
Mechthild Nagel
Mechthild Nagel, Philosophy Department and the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS), presented “What to do with the dangerous few? Empathy deficit reconsidered” at the conference titled “The Politics of Plasticity: On Solidarity and Mutual Aid with Catherine Malabou,” held Feb. 23 and 24 at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. Nagel is a research fellow at the Czech Academy of Sciences Department of Contemporary Continental Philosophy.
Robert Spitzer
Robert Spitzer, Political Science Department, is interviewed in a new feature-length documentary, “The Price of Freedom.” Produced by Flatbush Pictures and Tribeca Films, it takes a fresh look at America’s gun history and the contemporary gun controversy from multiple perspectives, including a deep dive into the pivotal role of the NRA. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City at Hudson Yards on June 16. Spitzer, who also served as a consultant, attended the premiere. The film is expected to have a July theatrical release.
Alexandru Balas
Alexandru Balas, International Studies, published a book chapter titled "Mixing Western and Eastern Medical Practice in the Ottoman Empire: the Adventures of a Transylvanian Doctor in Constantinople, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq (1815–1838)" in the edited volume Travellers in Ottoman Lands II: The Balkans, Anatolia and Beyond. (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2025)
John Hartsock
John Hartsock, Communication Studies Department, was invited to give a reading from his book Seasons of a Finger Lakes Winery (Cornell University Press) on April 29 at the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center in Sleepy Hollow (formerly North Tarrytown), N.Y. He read from the first chapter of the volume. Afterwards he discussed the challenges of making wine in the Finger Lakes, and the similarities and differences between Finger Lakes and French white and red wines. The audience then tasted wines from Long Point Winery, which is located near Aurora on Cayuga Lake and is the subject of the book.
Mechthild Nagel
Mechthild Nagel, Philosophy and Africana Studies departments and Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies, gave an invited talk titled “Reconsidering the US’ Prison Dilemma: A Critique of the Affective Economy of Mass Incarceration” at a special seminar for the Microeconomic Seminar Series held June 11 at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona.
Thomas Hischak and Mark A. Robinson ’98
Thomas Hischak, emeritus professor of theatre, and theatre major Mark A. Robinson ’98, have co-written a book about musicals since 1989 that misfired on Broadway. The e-book, Musical Misfires: Three Decades of Broadway Musical Heartbreak, examines 151 musicals that did not run long enough to be considered hits. Such shows were once called flops but that, the authors argue, is no longer an appropriate description. The book cover is designed by graphics design major Karen Hischak ’12.
“Some of these were superb pieces of musical theatre that, for one reason or another, couldn’t find an audience, did not please the critics, couldn’t pay the high weekly bills, or just were not right for the time and place in which they opened,” Robinson said.
Oft-overlooked gems like “The Scottsboro Boys,” “Grey Gardens,” “Sweet Smell of Success,” “Xanadu,” “If/Then,” “Caroline, or Change,” “Bright Star,” “Steel Pier,” “The Last Ship” and “Tuck Everlasting” are explored alongside such famous musicals as “American Idiot,” “Victor/Victoria,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “Sister Act,” “All Shook Up,” “Be More Chill,” “Shrek the Musical,” “Seussical” and “Young Frankenstein” that never reached hit status on Broadway.
“This is a book for anyone who loves musical theatre, both its triumphs and its heartbreaks,” said Hischak.
Juke box musicals, cutting-edge musicals, movie adaptations, teenage musicals, biographical musicals, history musicals and even horror musicals are among the many genres included in this journey through Broadway shows from 1989 to 2020 in search of success.
Robinson is the author of such books as the two-volume reference series The World of Musicals and Sitcommentary: Television Comedies that Changed America, as well as a regular writer for various theatre websites and records companies.
Thomas Hischak is the author of The Oxford Companion to the American Musical and more than 30 other books on theatre, film and popular music.
Together, Robinson and Hischak penned the popular The Disney Song Encyclopedia in 2009.
Karen Hischak is a graphic designer for Hampton Golf Corporation and a freelance designer of print and online graphics.
Illustrated with 42 photographs and filled with backstage stories, reviews from the press, and commentary on why the musicals were not hits, Musical Misfires: Three Decades of Broadway Musical Heartbreak is available on all sites in which e-books are sold.