HSA Department Updates, Jan. 2024

Sabbaticals Beginning and Ending

The department welcomes Marianne DeLaet—Professor of Anthropology and of Science, Technology, and Society—and David Seitz—Associate Professor of Cultural Geography—back from fall semester sabbaticals. Associate Professor of Creative Writing Salvador Plascencia is taking a one-semester sabbatical this spring.  The department wishes him a productive and reinvigorating time away!

Balseiro Awarded Prestigious Fellowship

During her current sabbatical (2023-2024), Isabel Balseiro, Alexander and Adelaide Hixon Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Comparative Literature, is a visiting professor in the Department of English Studies at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). In 2022, she was awarded a two-year research fellowship, Ayuda María Zambrano, by the Department of Universities, Government of Spain. This academic year Balseiro is doing archival work in Spain with an aim to write the first literary biography of María Acuña, a twentieth-century poet. 

Tenure and Promotion News

Alfred Flores was granted tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor effective July 1, 2024.  Professor Flores is an historian working in Asian American Studies. His first book, Tip of the Spear: Land, Labor, and US Settler Militarism in Guåhan, 1944–1962, was published last September by Cornell University Press. The department congratulates Professor Flores on both of these achievements!

Long on Remote Work and Housing Prices

A new paper by assistant professor of Economics, Dede Long, “Working From Home, Commuting Time, and Intracity House-Price Gradients,” has been accepted by the Journal of Regional Sciences, one of the top journals in the field of urban economics. The paper examines how remote work reduces commuting costs and flattens the house price gradient.

New Appointment in Sociology

After an extensive search last fall, the department has filled a new tenure-track position in sociology. Sarah Stefanos will join the department as Assistant Professor of Sociology on July 1, 2024.  Currently, Dr. Stefanos is Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Pomona College. She received her PhD in 2022 from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. The department enthusiastically welcomes Dr. Stefanos to the college!  She describes her research here: https://sites.google.com/view/sarahstefanos

Faculty Book Symposium

On April 18, the department will sponsor a symposium on recent books by three of our faculty, Ambereen Dadabhoy, Alfred Flores, and David Seitz.  For information on these publications, see here. The symposium will take place from 4:30–6:00 p.m. in the Drinkward Recital Hall.  It will be moderated by Judy Wu, Professor Asian American Studies the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and currently the director of UCI’s Humanities Center and of its Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism and Belonging. 

Following comments from Professor Wu, Professors Dadabhoy, Flores and Seitz will respond and then the floor will be opened for questions and discussion.   

Concerts and Gallery Exhibitions

The department continues to sponsor a series of concerts and gallery exhibitions in the Drinkward Recital Hall and the Caryll Mudd and Norman F. Sprague Jr. Gallery, both in the R. Michael Shanahan Center for Teaching and Learning. Information on both series is available on our Arts at Harvey Mudd College website.