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Alvarez receives Fulbright award for research on feminism in Brazil

Sonia E. Alvarez, Leonard J. Horwitz Professor of Latin American Politics in the Department of Political Science and director of the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS), has received a Fulbright Lecturer/Research Award to support her research on feminism in Brazil.

"Feminism in Brazil today not only has been 'mainstreamed' so that it extends vertically across different levels of government, the full party spectrum, and a variety of national and international policy arenas," says Alvarez.

Collura honored for contributions to transportation education

John Collura, professor of Civil Engineering and director of the Transportation Center, was awarded the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) S.S. Steinberg Award on Jan. 14 during the association’s annual Research & Education Division (RED) meeting in Washington, D.C.

Named after the founding president of the ARTBA’s RED, the award recognizes individuals who make remarkable contributions to transportation education.

According to the association, Collura has established himself as a leader in the transportation profession by integrating research and technology transfer

Sinha to give annual Lincoln Lecture at Washburn University

Afro-American Studies professor Manisha Sinha will speak on “Race and Equality in the Age of Lincoln,” at the annual Lincoln Lecture at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, on Feb. 6.

Recently, Sinha was a featured commentator on “The Abolitionists” part of the “American Experience” series on PBS. Sinha consulted on the script for the series and is featured prominently on screen discussing the era and her upcoming book on the abolitionists.

Brandon’s photos exhibited at Providence City Hall

Photographs by Liane Brandon, professor emerita of Education, are featured in the exhibit “Masters of the Craft: Gallery of Memory,” on view through March 15 at Providence City Hall.
 
The exhibit commemorates the 80th anniversary of the founding of the city’s Local 1329 of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the first labor union in New England organized predominantly by Cape Verdeans.
 
The formal portraits by Brandon feature members of Local 1329 longshoremen, their families and descendants, and are part of the project Working the Boats, a documentary-in-progress about the

Espada interviewed on 'Moyers & Company'

English professor Martín Espada was interviewed about poetry's power to capture ideas on the PBS series "Moyers & Company" on Jan. 18.
 
Espada also read his poem, "Litany at the Tomb of Frederick Douglass," which he wrote at the time of President Obama's first inauguration.
 
Watch the interview
 
Photo by Dale Robbins
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Obituary: Grace E. Markert, helped establish Copy Center

Grace Edith (Taylor) Markert, 97, of Chicopee, who helped establish the Copy Center, now Print Services, died Jan. 14.

Born in Chicopee, she lived in Willimansett until her marriage to the late Herman A. Markert in 1948.
 
Her campus service began in 1962 as a part-time clerk in the University Store. She later worked in the Library as a part-time desk assistant and then as a junior clerk in the Student Union. She transferred back to the University Store in 1964 and then to its new Copy Center in 1968. She left in 1980 but did some work as a clerical assistant in 1981.

She was a member of

Randhir advises Turkish researchers on dealing with climate change

Timothy Randhir, associate professor of Environmental Conservation, served as a scientific advisor on modeling climate change and ecosystem services during a trip to Turkey from Jan. 6-15.

The visit was supported by TUBITAK, Turkey’s counterpart of the National Science Foundation, which aims to strengthen efforts in climate and landscape research in the country.

Randhir addressed several research groups at Istanbul University on advanced modeling techniques in landscape modeling and evaluating climatic impacts in watershed ecosystem services.

La Raja discusses effects of Citizens United decision at Cato Institute

Ray La Raja, associate professor of Political Science, participated in a Jan. 23 panel discussion about the effects of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision on elections at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.
 
He was joined on the panel by Robert Bauer, former counsel to the president and general counsel for Obama for America 2012, and Bradley Smith, the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law at Capital University Law School and former commissioner at the Federal Election Commission.

 
 

Brandt’s asthma paper among top environmental health research of 2012

A paper published last year in the European Respiratory Journal and co-authored by associate professor Sylvia Brandt, Resource Economics and Public Policy, has been named by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) as one of the top research papers of 2012.
 
In the paper, “Costs of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic-Related Pollution in Two California Communities,” Brandt and her fellow researchers estimate that childhood asthma associated with air pollution in Long Beach and Riverside, Calif., costs $18 million each year.

Fountain gives keynote address on digital governance at Turkish National Assembly

Jane Fountain, professor of Political Science and Public Policy and director of the National Center for Digital Government (NCDG), gave the keynote address on Dec. 17 at the Turkish National Assembly as part of the national awards ceremony to honor recipients of the “eTurkey Awards” for outstanding e-Government innovations and practices.

Building on the belief that Turkey’s transition to an information society depends on an effective eTurkey transformation, TÜSÄ°AD, the Turkish Industry & Business Association, and the Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV) have organized the “eTR Awards” since

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