{"id":16242,"date":"2021-04-30T13:18:44","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T13:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=16242"},"modified":"2026-03-03T17:42:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:42:01","slug":"maccolades-april-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2021\/04\/maccolades-april-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Fulbright to France, NEA grant, and new books on salvage tourism and Shakespeare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maccolades is a monthly round-up of the most recent accolades and accomplishments earned by members of the Macalester community. Below are highlights from April 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From Mac to Africa by way of France: Professor awarded Fulbright to study colonial legacies<\/h2>\n

Dr. Lisa Mueller, professor of political science and director of African studies, has been awarded a <\/span>Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award<\/span><\/a> to conduct research at \u201cLes Afriques dans le Monde,” a research laboratory at the University of Bordeaux in France. \u201cI am eager to learn what concrete steps academics in France are taking to redress legacies of colonialism and racism in the classroom,\u201d says Prof. Mueller. Her book project explores the effects of French and American aid on political parties in Africa and its implications for democracy and political behavior. Noting Fulbright\u2019s emphasis on intercultural exchange, Dr. Mueller says, \u201cI am thrilled to have received a grant so fitting Macalester’s traditions of internationalism and multiculturalism.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When DOVE\u2019s fly<\/h2>\n

Graduating senior Zahara Spilka \u201921 (Mequon, Wisconsin) was awarded the <\/span>Diversity of Views & Experiences (DOVE) fellowship<\/span><\/a> from the University of Minnesota, where she will pursue a PhD this fall, studying the intersectionality of computer science, studio art, and psychology. The fellowship includes funding for tuition and summer research, as well as a $25,000 living stipend. Spilka will conduct research with her advisor, whose work focuses on virtual reality, immersive coding, and computer graphics. According to the University of Minnesota website, <\/span>DOVE fellowships<\/span><\/a> assist graduate programs in enhancing diversity through recruitment and support of students whose background, experiences, and achievements contribute to the University\u2019s goal of promoting excellence through diversity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dancing with the truth: Theater professor sets NEA grant in motion<\/h2>\n

Praised by a recent<\/span> press release<\/span><\/a> as \u201cimaginative, thoughtful, and provocative,\u201d the performance \u201cHere Lies the Truth\u201d by Li-Chiao Ping Dance was awarded a $10,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant. Choreographer Li Chiao-Ping, visual artist Douglas Rosenberg–both professors at UW-Madison–and <\/span>Prof. Cl\u00e1udia Tatinge Nascimento<\/span><\/a>, theater artist and chair of the Theater and Dance Department at Macalester, will collaborate in this project’s next iteration starting this summer. A timely and topical multimedia dance work, \u201cHere Lies the Truth\u201d explores how truth and lies infiltrate our personal and political environments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What could go wrong? New book details exploitation of Native American history for tourism<\/h2>\n

Dr. Katrina Phillips<\/span><\/a>, professor of American Indian history and a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, has published a <\/span>new book<\/span><\/a> entitled <\/span>Staging Indigeneity: Salvage Tourism and the Performance of Native American History. <\/span><\/i>Salvage tourism refers to \u201cthe continued use of Indians and Indianness as a means of escape, entertainment, and economic dev<\/span>elopment,\u201d says Dr. Phillips. In the book, <\/span>she explores how communities capitalized on the histories of Native American people to create tourist attractions in the 19th and 20th centuries. Locals staged performances that claimed to honor an Indigenous past while depicting that past on white settlers’ terms. <\/span>A Wallace grant enabled Prof. Phillips to hire Kasia Majewski \u201919 as a research assistant. \u201cShe was integral to the final outcome,\u201d says Dr. Phillips. \u201cHer research opened up a whole new scope.\u201d While aimed at people who enjoy history and the performing arts, the book is accessible to a wide audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you confidently say \u201cnew doctor\u201d in French?<\/h2>\n

Longtime French language instructor Claude Cassagne has earned a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Concordia University in St. Paul. \u201cIt is an accomplishment I never thought I would do,\u201d he says. His dissertation, \u201c<\/span>Alleviating Oral Communication Anxieties in College French Classes: The Impact of Professor-Student Connections<\/span><\/a>,\u201d is a direct example of his dedication to helping Mac students improve their language skills. \u201cThis affects how empathetic I and other professors are toward students who experience anxiety speaking a foreign language,\u201d Dr. Cassagne says. \u201cI use my research to help my students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To punish or not to punish: New book examines justice in Shakespeare\u2019s England<\/h2>\n

English professor <\/span>Penelope Geng<\/span><\/a> has published a <\/span>new book<\/span> called <\/span>Communal Justice in Shakespeare’s England: Drama, Law, and Emotion<\/span><\/i>. Early modern English drama celebrated the ability of individuals to work alongside members of their community to restore justice. <\/span>Praised<\/span> as \u201crich and rewarding,\u201d the book explores how playwrights such as Shakepeare used the participatory nature of theater to deepen public understanding of and respect for communal justice. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we know more about the history and literature that shaped modern beliefs and practices of law, punishment, witnessing, and judgment,\u201d says Dr. Geng. \u201cI also wanted to challenge the idea that \u2018law\u2019 was made for and by the professional class.\u201d Macalester students who took Shakespeare classes with Prof. Geng \u201cdeserve special recognition for illuminating details in the plays that I hadn’t fully appreciated until I read these plays alongside them in class,\u201d she says. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

How to be considered for future Maccolades<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019ve recently earned an award, fellowship, or honor and would like it to be considered for inclusion in next month\u2019s Maccolades, please let Communications & Marketing know by filling out this <\/span>Maccolades form<\/span><\/a>. For recent book publications, please use this <\/span>book publication form<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A monthly roundup of achievements by Scots<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1077,"featured_media":16245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-newswire","mediatype-articles","collections-supportmachomepage"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"fields":{"article_type":[8],"flickr_photoset_id":"","youtube_id":"","square_thumbnail":false,"press_photos":false,"story_title":"","story_caption":"","rotations":[152],"maps":false,"marker_title":"","marker_text":"","geographic_location":false,"feature_embed":"","custom_link_url":"","news_icon_name":"","image_options":false,"main_feature_story":"","custom_image":false,"custom_feature_title":"","custom_feature_caption":"","custom_markup":"","custom_markup_link":"","custom_markup_title":"","custom_markup_caption":"","byline":"","post_thumbnail_style":"default","press_downloads":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1077"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16242"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31075,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16242\/revisions\/31075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}