Winter 2023 Newsletter
22 April 2023
Chair Message
Welcome to the Winter 2023 edition of the Department of Humanities and Politics newsletter. It has been another busy semester and we are excited to share some highlights from the last few months with our alumni, students, and colleagues at NSU.
Winter '23 saw the return of the DHP Alumni Reunion for the first time in four years after a COVID-induced hiatus with just over 60 people in attendance. The Model UN, as well as hosting a hugely successful high school conference, brought home numerous awards from competitions in Gainesville, in Atlanta, Georgia, and in Charlotte, North Carolina, while the Mock Trial team also took to the road to compete in Tallahassee. DHP students presented research projects at a number of state and national conferences as well as at our own Center for Applied Humanities (CAH) Crossroads Student Conference. The Center for Applied Humanities IN-SIGHT student think tank, after two semesters of research, produced its first white paper and report, while the CAH also led the way in the addressing what has arguably been academia’s biggest story this year, the implications of ChatGPT and AI for college writing. The Council for Dialogue and Democracy hosted a series of groundbreaking workshops titled Dialogues in Local Democracy involving participants from across Broward County communities.
The department’s film series and language conversation hours continued to draw impressive levels of participation from students, faculty, and staff both in the department and across the campus community. And to top it all off the Department released the inaugural episode of its new Applied Humanities podcast, which you can access in this newsletter. As always, in our winter edition, we draw particular attention to the achievements of our graduating seniors and offer alumni highlights showcasing some of the amazing achievements of our graduates.
Best wishes,
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David P. Kilroy, Chair
Humanities & Politics Institutes
Center for Applied Humanities
The Center for Applied Humanities had a busy spring, beginning on February 6, when it hosted a faculty forum and workshop on emerging AI technologies and their impact on pedagogy. Following that, the second installment in its Research Reverberations faculty research series was held on February 7, featuring assistant professor of philosophy, Dr. Jeremy Weissman. Dr. Weissman discussed his recent book, The Crowdsourced Panopticon: Conformity and Control in Social Media (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).
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The Center’s biggest event of the year was the 5th annual Crossroads Student Humanities Conference, which was held on Saturday, March 25, 2023. This year’s Crossroads theme, “Metamorphosis: Courage and Change,” explored how the humanities both inspire and reflect transformative change. Paper topics ranged from the medicinal implications of folklore traditions to racial representations in history textbooks. Research was presented by students from NSU, Florida State University, Barry University, Florida International University, and Miami Dade College. The conference also offered a session on humanities-based skillsets in the workplace.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ruth Behar
The conference’s opening plenary speaker was Dr. Jose Lopez from NSU’s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences; Dr. Lopez’s talk focused on examples of marine research and symbiosis, linking interconnectedness across all lifeforms. The event’s keynote speaker, made possible by the Stolzenberg-Doan fund, was acclaimed anthropologist and author, Dr. Ruth Behar, who shared powerful stories about her own creative, disciplinary, and professional transformations over the years.
Gender Metamorphoses Panel: James Geier, Mia Marques, and Savannah V. Delano
The faculty Crossroads committee is comprised of Dr. Marlisa Santos, Director of the NSU Center for Applied Humanities, and Drs. James Doan, Amanda Furiasse, Joanne Urrechaga, Jeremy Weissman, and Vicki Toscano.
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The Center for Applied Humanities is committed to the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life and international affairs. The CAH actively promotes the humanities as a force for stimulating positive change for the public good.
IN-SIGHT Fellows Presentation
On April 20, the 2022-23 IN-SIGHT Student Think Tank fellows presented a white paper titled “Turning the Tide on Plastic Waste: Interdisciplinary Solutions from the Applied Humanities” to a large audience in the Cotilla Gallery of the Alvin Sherman NSU library. The paper represents the culmination of a yearlong research project that the students, Hailee Delgado (Political Science), Jared DeRosa (Political Science), Christophe Godbarge (Philosophy), and Aidan Kunju (Biology and Medical Humanities), conducted into plastic usage, waste, and recycling. The students worked under the direction of Dr. Amanda Furiasse, Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics. The fellows offered numerous insights on the important issue of plastic waste and recycling at the international, national, and local level and proposed a student led initiative that might begin to address some of the challenges we face in this arena on the NSU campus.
IN-SIGHT fellows presenting their findings.
IN-SIGHT is an undergraduate student think tank affiliated with the Center for Applied Humanities. IN-SIGHT’s mission is to work with businesses and community organizations to examine real-world problems and provide humanities-based solutions. The Center would like to extend its thanks to Montachem International Inc. for funding this year’s fellows and looks forward to working with Montachem next year on a continuation of this project.
From left to right: Dr. Holly Baumgartner, Dean of the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, Jared DeRosa, Christophe Godbarge, J.C. Avila, Chief Operating Officer of Montachem International Inc., Aiden Kunju, Hailee Delgado, Dr. Amanda Furiasse
For more information on IN-SIGHT you can visit the Center for Applied Humanities website.
Council for Dialogue and Democracy
​The Council for Dialogue and Democracy (CDD), a joint venture of the Departments of Humanities and Politics and Conflict Resolution Studies, proudly announced in the last Newsletter how it had received a $9,000 grant from Florida Humanities (a part of the National Endowment for the Humanities) to run a series of workshops on local government. We are happy to announce that we held these workshops during the Winter semester of 2023. Titled “Dialogues in Local Democracy,” the workshops brought together members of the Broward County community drawn from all levels and aspects of society to work out what we need from local government, what we want from local government, and what we get from local government. The core concept behind these workshops is that to get the local government we want, we first must talk to one another in a productive manner about just what local government is and can be. These moderated workshops provided a forum for just such dialogue about the workings of local government.
Participants in a Dialogues in Local Democracy workshop
To learn more about the CDD contact Dr. Charles Zelden ( zelden@nova.edu ) or visit our website: Council for Dialogue and Democracy | Halmos College of Arts and Sciences | NSU
Applied Humanities Podcast
The Department of Humanities and Politics is proud to share the first episode of its new Applied Humanities Podcast. The inaugural episode features several DHP faculty discussing what the applied humanities mean to them and how it impacts their research and teaching. Beginning in Fall 2023, DHP will be releasing two new episodes of the podcast each semester. Click here to access the first episode.
Student Organizations & Events
Model UN
On March 23, 2023 the Nova International Relations Association (NIRA) flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, to compete in the 11th Annual Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference (SRMUN). The theme of SRMUN this year was “Reimagining Peace, Reclaiming Human Rights, and Restoring International Law.” Impressively, the team competed against more than twenty-five colleges and universities from around the country.
Joining the SRMUN team was NIRA President Mohammed Husein and four other graduating seniors: Lucas Pires de Freitas, Hailee Delgado, Jordan Parris, and Emily Velazquez, as well as five underclassmen: Kiara Coleman, Alexis Lass, Olivia Jones, Paula Recio Rey, and Sridevi Gundimeda.
The students represented Uruguay and Chile on several different committees including the General Assembly Plenary (GA), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The students did an excellent job representing NSU and walked away with an Honorable Delegation Award for the Uruguay Delegation!
This marks the 11th year that NIRA has participated in SRMUN Charlotte, and the 11th time the team has returned with at least one award at the conference!
From left to right: Professor Nelson Bass, Alexis Lass, Sridevi Gundimeda, Olivia Jones, Paula Recio Rey, Hailee Delgado, Lucas Pires de Freitas, Jordan Parris, Emily Velazquez, Mohammed Husein, and Kiara Colman!
Mock Trial
The Mock Trial team competed in the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) competition at the Florida State University College of Law over the weekend of February 5, 2023. The students learned a great deal, had fun, and showed tremendous improvement.
Our team was competitive, batting .500 with one win, two draws, and one loss (1-1-2). We were disappointed we did not advance, but we are well within striking distance to advance next year.
The mock trial team pose with Coach Bill Barner (left) and Judge Florence Barner (right).
On each ballot, the judges mark who they deemed the most outstanding attorneys and witnesses of that round. All of our competing students received "outstanding" ballots:
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Christophe Godbarge and Robert Milman competed as attorneys in two rounds and got two outstanding attorney ballots.
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Alexis Lass and Sophia Wehle competed in two rounds and were marked as outstanding attorney on all four ballots.
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Jocelyn Vega and Jessica Pridgen also competed in two rounds and received outstanding attorney ballots.
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Jordan Parris competed in all four rounds and received three outstanding witness ballots.
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Bruna Acevedo participated in two rounds and received three outstanding witness ballots.
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Christophe Godbarge competed as a witness in two rounds and received an outstanding witness ballot.
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Mikayla Apicella competed in all four rounds and received six outstanding witness ballots.
Mikayla Apicella also received an award for best witness and was notably ranked the highest of any participant in the whole tournament.
Working behind the scenes were Coach Bill Barner and Judge Florence Barner, and the following students who prepped our attorneys, backed up our witnesses, and did research throughout the tournament: Bryan Soudrain, Nick Pena, Andrea Price, Angelo Fleurime, Abby Leep, Alvaro Castillo, Juan Perez, and Montunique Van Staden.
Modern Language Activities: Winter 2023
Language Conversation Practice
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Our department hosted two in-person El Cafecito Spanish Language Hour events this semester, on Wednesday, March 15 from 12-1 p.m. and on Tuesday, April 11 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Both events were held outside in the Patio of the Student Affairs Bldg. and were moderated by our full-time and part-time Spanish faculty. Participants were divided by levels and in addition to engaging in conversations on a wide variety of topics, they had the opportunity to play Scrabble, Bingo, and Hangman. Light refreshments were provided. The events were co-hosted by the Spanish Club and NSU’s Alpha Alpha Zeta Chapter of Alpha Mu Gamma.
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Our department hosted two in-person Au Café French Language Hour on Tuesday, March 14 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. and on Tuesday, April 4 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Patio of the Student Affairs Bldg. These events were moderated by our part-time French faculty, Maud Cassagnol and Athena Gounis. Participants engaged in conversations on a wide variety of topics and played several interactive games. Light refreshments were provided. NSU’s Alpha Alpha Zeta Chapter of Alpha Mu Gamma co-hosted these events.
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Alpha Mu Gamma:
National Collegiate Foreign Language Honor Society
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NSU’s Alpha Alpha Zeta Chapter of Alpha Mu Gamma: National Collegiate Foreign Language Honor Society held its annual induction ceremony on Thursday, April 6, 2023, in the Levan Center. Chapter President Kathryn Macias, Dr. Yvette Fuentes, Associate Professor and AMG Faculty Advisor, and Dr. Joanne Urrechaga, Associate Professor of Spanish presided over the event. The new members and their languages of study are:
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Full Membership
Megan Boddiger, ASL
Ester Ferreira, ASL
Amber Marie Hockaday, Spanish
Anastasia Humberson, ASL
Mille Langaas, English and Spanish
Tanya Pedrosa, ASL
Eden Pressley, ASL
Alexandra Ramistella, ASL
Saya Seraj, ASL
Else Snoonian, Arabic
Melanie Urena, ASL
Jocelyn Vega, Spanish
Faculty Membership
Riva Markowitz, ASL
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For more information about Alpha Mu Gamma go to https://www.amgnational.org
El Cafecito Spanish conversation hour
New Spanish Course!
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Given the recent growth of the Spanish-speaking population in the world, and the growing number of Spanish speakers in the United States, students entering the workforce will undoubtedly need to be able to communicate with their clients. This is especially true in the health professions where an error in communication can make a difference between appropriate diagnoses and treatments, life, and death. According to numerous sources, including CNN.com and the Observatory of the Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures in the United States at Harvard University (http://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu/en), Spanish is currently the second most spoken language in the world with about 850 million people. In the United States there are approximately 50 million Spanish speakers, surpassing that of Spain. And by 2050, the United States is projected to have more Spanish speakers than any other country in the world. Given these statistics, and to better serve the needs of NSU students interested in pursuing a health profession, DHP will be offering a new course called SPAN 1231: Elementary Spanish for Healthcare in fall 2023. Dr. Yvette Fuentes designed the course and will be teaching it. The course will introduce students to the necessary vocabulary, medical terminology, and grammatical structures needed to communicate at a basic level with Spanish-speaking patients and their loved ones in medical and clinical encounters. Additionally, special emphasis will be placed on developing a cultural understanding of medicine and illness in the Spanish-speaking world, as well as on acquiring oral, listening, writing, and reading skills for effective communication in the workplace. Dr. Fuentes is hopeful that students who take the course will benefit from the material studied and will use what they have learned to be more compassionate healthcare professionals in the future.
The Reel
NSU’s Annual Film Series, The Reel, is wrapping up an incredible sixth year. This past semester featured our annual international cinema pick, Official Competition directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, as well as the wildly popular horror film, Nope directed by Jordan Peele. A wide range to be sure. Both films spoke in extreme ways to the humor and anxieties that define our modern lives and attracted diverse audiences of over 30 students, staff, faculty, and members of the community.
Dr. Marlisa Santos leads discussion at The Reel’s screening of Nope.
Each movie night was supported by the work and enthusiasm of co-sponsoring programs and student organizations. This semester, The Reel was proud to partner with the Department of Humanities and Politics’s Modern Language program, the Spanish Club, Fin Films, and the Society of Anime, Gaming, and Entertainment (SAGE). We were also joined this semester by discussion facilitators, Drs. Yvette Fuentes and Marlisa Santos, whose expertise in Spanish culture and in film respectively inspired eye-opening conversations after each screening.
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This Winter 2023 semester also marks an important chapter in the history of The Reel. Dr. Aileen Miyuki Farrar originally founded The Reel in 2017 with the goal of bringing filmic experiences and expressions to the wider campus community. After her co-founder, Dr. Kate Waites, retired in 2021, she was excited to take on her current co-coordinator, Dr. Yair Solan, Assistant Professor of Literature and Film, who has been assisting with the series this past 2022-2023 academic year. After six gratifying years of guiding and growing The Reel, Dr. Farrar has announced that she is passing the torch to Dr. Solan: “It is my pleasure to see that something I worked so hard to establish—something that every campus needs—will now reap even greater benefits at the hands of someone so knowledgeable and talented.”
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If you missed our events this past year, no worries! You can always catch up by downloading the discussion handouts archived on The Reel website, and it is never too late to catch us in the future! Future titles, dates, and locations can be found on The Reel website: https://nsudhp.wixsite.com/reel.
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The Reel is a series hosted by the Department of Humanities and Politics that offers NSU students, faculty, and other members of the university community free, curated film screenings throughout the year. For more information contact The Reel coordinator, Dr. Yair Solan (ysolan@nova.edu).
Dr. Yvette Fuentes leads discussion at The Reel’s screening of Official Competition.
Brain Bowl
March 9 was our fifth annual Brain Bowl, the Jeopardy-style trivia competition. This year Phi Alpha Delta, Math Club, Model UN, and Pi Sigma Alpha battled it out in an exciting contest of will and wits. Phi Alpha Delta, led by Alexis Lass, Juan Perez, Lucas Pires De Freitas, and Christophe Godbarge had a historic comeback in the final round to wrestle the title away from Math Club.
From left to right: Lucas Pires De Freitas, Juan Perez, Christophe Godbarge, and Alexis Lass
Story Booth
This past Winter 2023 semester, the Department of Humanities and Politics hosted Story Booth: Love Edition on February 14th. We asked you:
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What is love?
What is the greatest love story?
What is the best love song?
How do you show your family and friends love?
Is there anything special that you do in your family or culture to celebrate love?
And we crowdsourced three-and-a-half sonnets! The first of which begins with the line, “A chemical reaction started by the eyes.”
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We received emails and video recordings from over 70 people, with answers that ranged. While some responses connected love to the little things—like laughter, sleep, and watching TV together—others connected love to timeless ideas—like beauty, pain, and God.
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This project is still being processed and will become available this May 2023 via the Story Booth site: https://nsudhp.wixsite.com/storybooth/our-stories
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Explore this site for all our past stories as well! Story Booth is an archiving project series that invites the community to tell their stories and fosters diverse cultural and social expressions. We host one event each semester and have been running since 2019. For more information contact the Story Booth coordinator, Dr. Aileen Miyuki Farrar (afarrar@nova.edu).
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Thank you to all who contributed to this project!
Style Us
What is the purpose of a conference? What can I expect in a panel? What are methods for addressing tough audiences? What is my responsibility as an audience member? How does one 'network'? These are the types of questions we addressed in our latest “Conference Etiquette & Conventions” workshop, hosted in partnership between the Style Us: Writing and Professionalization Series and NSU’s Crossroads Humanities Student Conference. In this workshop, Dr. Aileen Miyuki Farrar led students through exercises and discussion on expectations for conferences in humanities areas including (but not limited to) Film, History, Legal Studies, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, and more.
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If you missed the workshop, you can still work through some of our exercises and explore tips from professors in your area on our Style Us Conference Conventions & Etiquette site: https://nsudhp.wixsite.com/styleusconference/about
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The Style Us: Writing and Professionalization Series is a series housed in the Department of Humanities and Politics that focuses on preparing students with the skills necessary to navigate writing and professional expectations in our fields. In the past, the department has hosted workshops focusing on topics ranging from creative writing and academic publishing to interview and career preparation for students majoring and minoring in the humanities. Explore our archived resources, created and collected by your Humanities and Politics professors, on the Style Us website: https://nsudhp.wixsite.com/styleus/index
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For more information, please contact the Style Us coordinator, Dr. Aileen Miyuki Farrar (afarrar@nova.edu).
Honors Societies
On April 12 the NSU chapters of Alpha Mu Gamma, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Sigma Tau Delta, national honor societies in Modern Languages, Political Science, and English respectively, held induction ceremonies for new members which were followed by a reception for the students and their guests hosted by DHP in the Levan Center. Congratulations to all the new inductees.
Faculty, students, and guests at the honor societies reception
The Alpha Nu Iota chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, English Honor Society, inducted two students:
Sigma Tau Delta inductees Bruna Yara Ribeiro Azevedo and Anaya Avila, with Alpha Nu Iota chapter president Janelle Giannetta (left) and Dr. Farrar (right).
Pi Sigma Alpha inductees.
Alumni Gathering
On Saturday February 25, 2023, NSU’s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences hosted a reception for alumni of the Department of Humanities and Politics. The reception was held in the Arena Club Room at the Rick Case Arena during an NSU’s men and women’s basketball double header. This year about fifty alumni representing each of the undergraduate and graduate programs in DHP attended, along with most of the faculty in the department. Many more alumni sent in updates which were shared throughout the event on the monitor in the club room. The Dean of Halmos College, Dr. Holly Baumgartner, and Department Chair, Dr. Kilroy, were there to welcome the group.
Alumni enjoy the 2023 Department of Humanities and Politics Alumni reception at the Rick Case Arena.
Attendees enjoyed some excellent food and got to witness the NSU Mens’ basketball team win their final home game of the season over Embry-Riddle University, 98 to 90, on their way to an historic undefeated season and a NCAA Division II national championship title.
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For two years, the Alumni Reception got sidelined by Covid-19. However, it had a new burst of life this February and is becoming something of a tradition again. The Department plans to continue giving alumni a chance to reconnect with each other and with faculty in this elegant setting overlooking NSU basketball games.
Recognitions
Faculty Recognition
The Department of Humanities and Politics congratulates Professor James E. Doan on becoming this year an Emeritus Professor.
James E. Doan first came to Nova (as it was then known) in 1988. Over more than thirty-five years, he developed a high degree of expertise not only in the fields of Folklore and Celtic Studies, in which he had obtained a doctorate from Harvard University, but also in the arts, drama, history, politics and foreign language. His Ph.D. research on Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh led to a book with Garland Press in 1990 as well as a number of shorter articles. Dr. Doan has written over twenty journal articles which have appeared in publications ranging from The Brazilian
Journal of Irish Studies to The Journal of Scotch-Irish Studies, from Working Papers in Irish Studies to The New Hibernia Review. He has done work on ancestry and regional history which includes both the story of the Irish in the Caribbean as well as his own family’s Finnish and Welsh roots. He has presented no less than thirty-three major papers at conferences and learned societies. He has more than thirty book reviews. In the last ten years, Dr. Doan edited a number of books with Dr. Barbara Brodman. These books published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press include: Utopia and Dystopia in the Age of Trump: Images from Literature and Visual Arts (2019), The Supernatural Revamped: From Timeworn Legends to Twenty-First-Century Chic (2016), Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic (2013), and The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of the Legend (2013).
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Professor Doan taught many interesting courses over the years that have received awards for their originality. Students treasured these courses. Some of Dr. Doan’s creative courses included: The Vampire, Irish Art and Architecture, Finnish Literature, King Arthur, as well as Myth and Art. For many years, Dr. Doan taught History and Structure of the English language. With Dr. Emily Schmitt, Dr. Doan created a wonderful course for the Honor’s College on Genetics and Genealogy.
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Dr. Doan provided a generous gift to the Department of Humanities and Politics that created the Stolzenberg-Doan Scholarship Fund. Each year six students are awarded money to assist them with study-travel expenses. As well the scholarship pays for an international scholar to deliver a lecture to students and faculty at NSU.
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In the Department, we will all miss Dr. Doan’s creativity, originality and scholarship. Nonetheless, his colleagues, friends, and former students wish him all the very best as he enters a new chapter of his life.
Senior Highlights
Congratulations to all our graduating seniors. Here is just a sample of what some of future alumni will be doing next year.
Jason Acker, Legal Studies with a minor in Criminal Justice, plans to take a gap year to work before applying to law school.
Evi Aliaj, Political Science major and Law, Science, and Technology minor, plans to study abroad in Europe next year before attending law school.
Rebecca Barnet, Political Science major and Psychology minor, will be starting a new job as a child investigator for the Florida Department of Children and Families.
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David Bulmer, Legal Studies with minors in History and Philosophy, is applying for admission to the officer training program at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England.
Hailee Delgado, Political Science major, will be pursuing a master’s in Sustainable Urban Planning at George Washington University in D.C.
Lucas Pires de Freitas, Political Science major and History minor, will be pursuing a master’s in Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Christophe Godbarge, Philosophy major with minors in Legal Studies, Economics, and History, has been accepted to several law schools and is deciding which to attend next Fall.
Amanda Hall, Political Science major, is pursuing an MBA program beginning next Fall and has plans to go on to law school.
Mohammed W. Husein, Political Science major and Anthropology minor, will be attending Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University next fall.
Meroshah Khan, Political Science major, has been accepted into the JD program at NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law.
Destiny Nicholson, Political Science major with an International Studies minor, is applying to graduate school in South Korea to pursue a degree in international studies with a focus on peace and security.
Jordan Parris, Political Science major, will be attending law school at the New England Law School in Boston, Massachusetts.
Juan Perez, Legal Studies and Political Science double major with a minor in History, has applied to several laws schools and is waiting to make a decision.
Andrea Price, Legal Studies major, has a full remote position which she will take up this summer and is planning to apply to law school either at NSU or at schools in California.
Cambre Pullen, International Studies major, is going to take a gap year to work as a paralegal and engage in community activism, after which she plans to pursue a master’s degree in international relations with a long-term goal of working as a foreign service officer in the U.S. State Department.
Alicia Sucre, Political Science major with minors in Paralegal Studies and Honors Transdisciplinary Studies minor, plans to attend law school after graduation.
Natalie Toops, Interdisciplinary Studies major, is seeking full time non-profit or humanitarian work and looking to further a career as a yoga instructor.
Christian Vasquez, History major, is planning to pursue museum work in Ft. Lauderdale.
Koral Wizst, Legal Studies major with minors in Criminal Justice, Political Science, and History, is planning to attend law school in the future.
Alumni Profiles
Sophie-Anne Sachs (Baril) received her B.A. in International Studies from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in 2016. She then went on to complete her M.A. in International Affairs from the Elliott School at The George Washington University (GWU). During her undergraduate program, she studied abroad in Dublin, Ireland, and completed undergraduate courses at NSU such as U.S. Foreign Policy and Intercultural Communication that propelled her further in her studies and career. In her GWU graduate program she concentrated in International
Economic Affairs, completing coursework in finance, development, and trade. While undertaking her master’s degree, she managed a membership portfolio of approximately 300 international development organizations at Humentum (formerly, InsideNGO). Sophie’s public service career began at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where she was a Policy Advisor in the Office of Investment Security. In that role, she coordinated the reviews and investigations by the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment of the United States (CFIUS) of the national security effects of cross-border mergers, acquisitions, and other investments. Currently, Sophie works as a Foreign Affairs Officer within the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Investment Affairs, where she contributes to the department's role as a CFIUS member agency, among other investment-related projects.
Nikky Suárez graduated with a B.A. in English from NSU in 2019 and is graduating this spring with her Master’s in English from the University of Central Florida. Her thesis conducts cross-cultural comparative literary analyses on twentieth century female autobiographical texts from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Iran. She has accepted an offer to attend Cornell University’s PhD in Comparative Literature
program with a Dean’s Excellence Fellowship Award for the Fall 2023 semester. She plans to continue her research on bridging the scholarship of Latin American and Middle Eastern literary culture and identity. Her emphasis on decoloniality, “scriptotherapy” narratives, and border migration will enhance postcolonial and transnational focuses on the voices of women of color.
Recently, she presented her work at an inaugural international conference in Alexandria, Egypt, titled, “The Global Woman’s Autobiographical Resistance: Decoloniality’s Reterritorialization in the ‘Legending’ of the Self” centering on Gilles Deleuze’s “minor literature” through scriptotherapy narratives. This past summer, she completed an independent directed study in the United Kingdom uncovering unpublished archival documents of women’s writings through prints, letters, and journals at the British Library. Before the global pandemic, she worked abroad in Abu Dhabi as an English instructor to bilingual Arab students where she obtained her Professional Diploma in Teaching. Throughout her life, exposure to a multicultural environment brought appreciation and relationship to marvelous stories about the traditions and histories of the countries and people she connected with.
Faculty Highlights
Nelson Bass, JD PhD, published a co-authored piece on the exploitation of minor league baseball players with Dr. Ron Cox (FIU) titled “Class (AAA) Conflict: 100 years of Exploitation” in Class, Race and Corporate Power, April 2023.
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Nelson Bass, JD PhD, presented “The 2022 World Cup – Human Rights and Neoliberalism” as part of the Open Classroom Series in conjunction with the Alvin Sherman Library and the Honors College, March 19, 2023.
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Katy Doll, PhD, presented “‘The only way outside of a bullet to probe the innards of a skull’: Military and Media Practices in Psychological Warfare during the Korean War” at the Organization of American Historians (OAH) Annual Conference, April 1, 2023.
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Aileen Miyuki Farrar, PhD, led the workshop “Conference Conventions & Etiquette: Redux Bis,” Style Us: Writing & Professionalization Series & Crossroads Humanities Student Conference, 14 March 2023.
https://nsudhp.wixsite.com/styleusconference
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Aileen Miyuki Farrar, PhD, presented “The Speaking Eye and the Unsound: Epistemologies of Truth from S. T. Coleridge to H. G. Wells,” Lifelong Learning Institute, 2 February 2023.
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Aileen Miyuki Farrar, PhD, presented “The Origami Metaphor: How Folds ‘Seam’/‘Seem’,” Candid Conversations Series, Farquhar Honors College, 18 January 2023.
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Aileen Miyuki Farrar, PhD, presented “Women’s Writing & White Spaces,” Lifelong Learning Institute, 10 January 2023.
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Yvette Fuentes, PhD, published a review of Casa en que nunca he sido extraña: Las poetas hispanoamericanas: identidades, feminismos, poéticas (Siglos XIX-XXI) by Milena Rodríguez Gutiérrez (New York: Peter Lang, 2017), in the Journal of Gender and Sexuality Studies /Revista de Estudios de Género y Sexualidades, 48:2 (November 2022): 187-190.
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Yvette Fuentes, PhD, served as a peer reviewer in February 2023 for academic papers and roundtable proposals on Spanish for Heritage Speakers, Second Language Acquisition and Culture submitted for acceptance to the annual American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Conference, to be held in November 2023.
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Yvette Fuentes, PhD, served as a Graduate Faculty Fellow (University of Central Florida) and external committee member for Ms. Nicole Suarez, NSU alumna, who is pursuing her MA in English in the Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies track program, 2022-2023.
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Amanda Furiasse, PhD, published “Sailing on Encrypted Seas: The Archive and Digital Memory in African and Diasporic Futurism.” Journal of Cultural Analytics 7 no. 4 (2023) https://doi.org/10.22148/001c.55508
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David Kilroy, PhD, presented “Current Issues in U.S. National Security,” Lifelong Learning Institute, January 10, 2023.
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David Kilroy, PhD, was interviewed about his book, For Race and Country: The Life and Career of Colonel Charles Young, for the World War I Podcast presented by the MacArthur Memorial on February 9, 2023. Charles Young: For Race and Country (buzzsprout.com)
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David Kilroy, PhD, presented "Joe Biden and the Irish American presidency" to Tír na mBláth, the Southeast Florida branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, in Delray Beach, FL, April 2, 2023.
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David Kilroy, PhD, published an Op-Ed, titled “Why are U.S. Presidents so Drawn to Ireland" in the Irish Times, April 13, 2023.
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Stephen Levitt, LLM, presented “Naples: Vesuvius, Pompei and Herculaneum,” to the Lifelong Learning Institute, November 29, 2022.
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Teng Li, JD PhD, presented "Popular Justice: Three Stages of People's Tribunals in Early People's Republic of China, 1947 - 1954" in an organized panel "Rethinking the Mass Line" at the Association for Asian Studies' 2023 annual conference.
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Marlisa Santos, PhD, published “‘Like a crazy nightmare’: Noirish Vampirism and Deviance in Bowery at Midnight.” in The Films of Wallace Fox. Ed. Gary Rhodes and Joanna Hearne. Edinburgh University Press, 2022.
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Marlisa Santos, PhD, presented “‘I am the shadows’: The Batman, Trauma, and Teaching Noir,” South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference, November 2022.
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Yair Solan, PhD, had his National Film Registry essay on Buster Keaton's The Navigator featured on Now See Hear!, the blog of the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, in February 2023.
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Yair Solan, PhD, is presenting "Jack London's Alcoholic Memoirs on Screen: John Barleycorn and Film Censorship" at the American Literature Association conference, Boston, MA, in May 2023.
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Jeremy Weissman, PhD, published an op-ed, titled "ChatGPT is a Plague Upon Education," in Inside Higher Ed, February 8, 2023.
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Jeremy Weissman, PhD, published an op-ed titled "Artificial intelligence has instantly changed my job. And it will change yours too" in the Sun Sentinel, December 19, 2022.
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Jeremy Weissman, PhD, was featured on California State University's podcast Higher Ed Rewired about the potentially negative impact of ChatGPT on education, April 2023.
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Jeremy Weissman, PhD, was a featured presenter for the Research Reverberations series from the Center for Applied Humanities, February 7, 2003. He discussed his book The Crowdsourced Panopticon: Conformity and Control on Social Media (Rowman and Littlefield, 2021).
Credits
DHP Newsletter Committee
Stephen Levitt, LLM
David Kilroy, PhD
Katy Doll, PhD
Aileen Miyuki Farrar, PhD