Faculty
As the Presidential Inauguration approaches on Jan. 20, and the U.S. government recovers from the attack on the Capitol, we asked CMC professors to reflect on Trump’s legacy, the opportunities for the Biden White House now that the Democrats control Congress, and how the country might move forward as the power structure in Washington D.C. transitions from the Trump to the Biden administration.
As the Presidential Inauguration approaches on Jan. 20, and the U.S. government recovers from the attack on the Capitol, we asked CMC professors to reflect on Trump’s legacy, the opportunities for the Biden White House now that the Democrats control Congress, and how the country might move forward as the power structure in Washington D.C. transitions from the Trump to the Biden administration.
In June, CMC announced its Presidential Initiative on Anti-Racism and the Black Experience in America. As part of this ongoing effort, individual CMC faculty, departments, and institutes are addressing race and racism through various curricular and co-curricular actions. We asked faculty members to share their work in these areas, and what they will continue to do to promote sustained and substantive engagement with issues of racial inequality.
Prof. Briana Toole is an assistant professor of philosophy at CMC
Four government and politics professors came together for a virtual Athenaeum panel to preview the 2020 election and offer a guide to interpreting the early results of the presidential, as well as other key elections across the U.S.
CMC Professors Zachary Courser '99, Jack Pitney, and Andrew Sinclair ’08 were joined by Sara Sadhwani, professor of politics at Pomona College in a Zoom-based discussion on Nov. 2, introduced by Ath Fellow Chris Agard ’21. The panel was sponsored by the Salvatori Center at CMC.
To navigate a presidential election held during a pandemic, and amid high-pitched political polarization, CMC History Professors Lily Geismer and Tamara Venit-Shelton are offering an historical guide.
The pair came together in the days before the election to record a video to explain the various scenarios that could play out post-Election Day 2020.
Are wrongful convictions more frequent among Black Americans? In their article, “What Can DNA Exonerations Tell Us About Racial Differences in Wrongful Conviction Rates?” CMC economics professors David Bjerk and Eric Helland focused on “one set of convicts for which we know innocence with certainty—those who were convicted for a crime but later exonerated via DNA evidence of innocence.”
Three different books by CMC professors showcase their expertise, while offering three distinct ways of looking at the upcoming presidential election in November.
Jack Pitney serves up a provocative point-of-view; while Jon Shields and co-author Stephanie Muravchik share what they learned traveling to working-class communities in three states, and Ken Miller analyzes national politics by examining the rivalry between “Red-Republican Texas” and “Blue-Democratic California.”
From investigating the resiliency of young adults to turning back the clock on memory for older populations, four professors in CMC’s Psychological Sciences department are looking at how we mentally manage our world. And their outstanding work has been rewarded with five large, highly competitive, external grants—virtually unprecedented for professors at small liberal arts colleges, especially in a single year—to fund research and further teaching at CMC.
