Maccolades is a monthly round-up of the most recent accolades and accomplishments earned by members of the Macalester community. Below are highlights from September 2026.
A global honor for promoting world peace
The STAR Scholars Network named Macalester a recipient of the 2026 Global Education for Peace Award, which recognizes higher education institutions advancing peace through education, global citizenship, and intercultural understanding.
The network highlighted Macalester’s longstanding commitment to internationalism, including its global curriculum, study-away programs, Dialogue Across Differences initiative, Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship, and International Roundtable series. The college also counts former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan among its alumni.
Macalester will be honored at the 2026 STAR Global Conference in Sonipat, Haryana, India.
New books on Black feminist politics and Meghan Markle
DeWitt Wallace Professor of American Studies Duchess Harris published two new books with several Macalester connections.
Meghan Markle: Essays on Monarchy, Race, and Colonialism, co-edited with Julie Schwietert Collazo, examines how Markle’s experience within the royal family illuminates broader questions of race, colonialism, media representation, mental health, and the politics of belonging. Macalester alumni Amelia Ryan ’23 and Lily Talmont ’23, both former students in Harris’ “Blacks in Paris” course, contributed essays.
“I am interested in Black Americans and their relationship to Western Europe,” Harris said.
Harris also published Black Feminist Politics: From the Voting Rights Act to the Kamala Harris Vice Presidency (1965–2025), which examines six decades of Black women’s political thought, activism, and institutional engagement. Bernadette Whitely ’26 served as Harris’ research assistant. Harris launched the book at the India Rose Collective on Martha’s Vineyard.
Free Swap earns national recognition
Macalester won the Waste Diversion category of the 2026 Campus Race to Zero Waste case study competition. Basilia Cruz Blue ’27, an English major, wrote the winning case study about the Macalester Free Swap.
Run through the Sustainability Office, the Free Swap redistributes thousands of items each year, reduces textile waste, and promotes a culture of reuse on campus. In recent years, the team has made the space more accessible and organized by creating a thrift store-like layout, increasing advertising and events around reuse, maintaining consistent open hours to improve access to the reuse space, organizing donation collection at move out, and more.
This marks Blue’s second national case study competition win for writing about a Sustainability Office project.
Helping medicines work better
Leah Witus, associate professor of chemistry, received a multi-year R15 grant from the National Institutes of Health for her project, “Enzyme-based evaluation of polysarcosine as a shielding polymer.”
This funding will allow her to work with Macalester students to study protein-polymer conjugates for biotherapeutic applications. Biomolecule-based medications are often attached to a polymer to improve their circulation; however, immune responses to the main polymer used have been increasing. Professor Witus and students will evaluate alternative polymers by attaching them to model and therapeutic enzymes and studying the impact on enzyme activity and stability.
Award-winning work in antiracist education
Macalester graduate Jesse Hagopian ’01 received the 2026 David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English from the National Council of Teachers of English for his book Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education. The honor recognizes outstanding scholarship or research in language, literature, rhetoric, or pedagogy and learning.
The selection committee cited the book’s “extraordinary timeliness,” broad relevance to educators across the profession, and “well-written and engaging accessibility.”
Hagopian is a Seattle educator and organizer, editor for Rethinking Schools magazine, a founding steering committee member of Black Lives Matter at School, and the director of the Teaching for Black Lives Campaign of the Zinn Education Project.
When mourning goes digital
Aisling Quigley, digital liberal arts librarian and program manager, co-authored a chapter in Libraries, Archives and Collective Grief. Her book chapter, “Forever or for Now: The Role of Information Professionals in Supporting Online Memorialization Practices,” explores how online memorials create spaces for collective grieving and remembering while raising questions about long-term preservation and access.
“My co-author and I wrote this book chapter after doing research on personal digital memorials during our graduate studies, after both of us had experienced the loss of close friends and the subsequent online memorialization activities that surrounded their deaths,” Quigley said.
The work connects closely to Quigley’s teaching, including courses on digital cultural heritage and digital memorialization, and a future course on Data Afterlives.
Assessment on a national stage
Nancy Bostrom, director of assessment at Macalester, was selected as a senior fellow with the American Association of Colleges and Universities for the 2026-27 academic year.
Bostrom is one of 14 higher education leaders chosen to support the association’s work on initiatives spanning leadership development, public trust in higher education, program development, civic learning and engagement, and career readiness. She will serve in the Office of Curricular, Pedagogical, and Digital Innovation, with a focus on how colleges assess student learning and strengthen educational practices.
Learning beyond the classroom
Macalester faculty and staff received multiple awards through Project Pericles’ new Periclean Grants Program, which supports efforts to embed community-engaged civic learning into undergraduate education.
Derek Johnson, associate director of the Community Engagement Center, and Ruth Janisch, co-director of the Community Engagement Center and associate dean of the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship, received a Periclean Catalyst Grant. They will pilot a faculty fellowship model to deepen community-engaged learning courses and infrastructure in underrepresented disciplines at Macalester, with a primary focus on STEM.
Erik W. Davis, professor of religious studies, received a Periclean Faculty Leader Course Grant. His course will engage students with Buddhist philosophical and meditative traditions through community-based collaboration with Twin Cities Buddhist communities. This work will result in public-facing digital and educational projects co-created with local partners.
Sustainability success, year after year
For the third consecutive year, Macalester ranks No. 2 among baccalaureate institutions in the Sustainable Campus Index, earning a gold rating. Published annually by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the index celebrates colleges leading in sustainability as measured through STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System).
Used by more than 1,200 participants in 52 countries, STARS is the world’s most widely recognized framework for publicly reporting comprehensive information about a college or university’s sustainability performance.
A national nod for civic leadership
Theodore Darci-Maher ’27 was selected as a Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities dedicated to higher education civic and community engagement.
The yearlong fellowship recognizes students for their leadership potential and commitment to creating positive change in their communities. Fellows take part in learning, networking, and professional development opportunities designed to strengthen their civic leadership skills.
The program includes the Annual Convening of Newman Civic Fellows, a three-day gathering focused on skill-building and networking. Fellows also can apply for exclusive opportunities, including mini-grants for community projects, scholarships, and post-graduate opportunities.
Memories across lifetimes
Erik W. Davis, professor of religious studies, published a new book, Each Other’s Destiny: Rebirth and Relationship in Cambodian Buddhism. The book shares stories of contemporary Cambodians who remember past lives and explores how memories of these pasts shape their present.
“I hope that this book is accessible to a wider readership than academic books often reach,” Davis said. “I wrote it by focusing on the stories of individuals, and on telling those stories with enough context to make sense of them.”
Davis said the book may especially appeal to readers interested in alternative ways of thinking about personal identity, relationships, and different ways cultures imagine existence before and after death in this life. At Macalester, his teaching includes Buddhism, ritual, death and death practices, and related areas reflected in the book.
Creativity in service of community
Madeleine Salunga ’27 was selected as a 2026-27 Imagining America Joy of Giving Something Fellow, one of eight undergraduate students selected for their creative use of art to uplift diverse
stories, create connection, and build community. The national program is aimed at elevating photography and digital media as pathways for undergraduate students to pursue their
careers and make a difference in their communities. Fellows receive a $2,000 tuition scholarship, mentorship, and financial support for a community project. They attend the 2026 IA National Gathering at the University of California, Davis, participate in regular virtual learning exchanges, and are connected to the consortium’s national network of scholars, artists, and community organizers.
From first year to first album
Macalester students Riley Gaikowski ’29 and Nathan Sibila ’29 wrote and released their first album. The 12-track indie folk pop album is called The Distance Between Us.
“This is something we were working towards all of freshman year, and we’re thrilled the album is finally out,” Gaikowski said.
Gaikowski and Sibila plan to start work on a second album this year.
Doctoral scholars in the making
Macalester has received a renewal award from the Mellon Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies for the 2026-27 cycle of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program.
The program supports students interested in doctoral study and academic careers through faculty-mentored research, summer research funding, and graduate school preparation.
At Macalester, the program is led by Principal Investigator Ruth Janisch, co-director of the Community Engagement Center and associate dean of the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship; Faculty Coordinator Karin Vélez, associate professor of history; and Program Coordinator Nadia Linoo.
How to be considered for future Maccolades
If you or someone you know recently earned an award, fellowship, or honor and would like it to be considered for inclusion in next month’s Maccolades, please let Communications & Marketing know by filling out this Maccolades form. For recent book publications, please use this book publication form.