Kudos (Spring 2026)
Dickinson scholars and leaders appeared prominently in national and international media in recent months, including CBS News’ 60 Minutes, CNN, Bloomberg News, The New York Times, The Guardian and Nature. Coverage addressed issues ranging from judicial independence, elections and artificial intelligence to global conflict, immigration and culture.
Featured Faculty
George Allan, professor emeritus of philosophy, received the Founder’s Medal from the Metaphysical Society of America in recognition of a lifetime of distinguished and innovative contributions to metaphysics. The award honors scholars whose work has had lasting impact on the field through originality, intellectual leadership and influence on subsequent philosophical inquiry.
Margarita Blush, visiting assistant professor of theatre & dance, was featured in multiple Bulgarian news outlets that highlighted her production of Where Are You Going, Little Horse? on stage in Bulgaria and New York.
Scott Boback, professor of biology, had his research on constrictor snakes highlighted by WEB.DE in Germany and on KCPR-FM through coverage of Project RattleCam.
Ben Edwards, professor of geosciences and Moraine Chair in Arctic Studies, was quoted on CNN.com explaining the scientific relationship between melting glaciers and volcanic activity.
Amy Farrell, professor of American studies and women’s, gender & sexuality studies and James Hope Caldwell Memorial Chair, appeared on CBS News discussing the Pentagon’s potential decision to cut ties with Scouting America. Her book Intrepid Girls also received two awards from the Popular Culture Association: the Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best Monograph by One or More Authors in Popular and American Culture and the Emily Toth Award for Best Single Work in Women’s Studies.
Michele Patterson Ford, senior lecturer in psychology, authored pieces on self-criticism and New Year’s resolutions for The Conversation and The Good Men Project, with her work syndicated widely, and she discussed these topics in interviews with KCBS-AM in San Francisco and KNX-AM in Los Angeles.
Azriel Grysman, associate professor of psychology, co-authored “What Might We Learn About Autobiographical Narrative Processing From Artificial Intelligence?” published in Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, which explores how humans and AI differ in interpreting personal narratives.
Marie Helweg-Larsen, professor of psychology and Glen E. & Mary Line Todd Chair in the Social Sciences, shared insights from Danish culture on reducing stress and improving well-being in The Independent. She also penned a piece on so-called generational smoking bans for The Conversation, which was republished in more than 90 outlets.
Ebru Kongar, professor of economics, co-authored a chapter in The Elgar Companion to Women and Heterodox Economics. Written with Günseli Berik, the chapter examines the development and recognition of feminist macroeconomics, highlighting the scholarly contributions of women who have reshaped heterodox economic thought.
Lorelei Koss, professor of mathematics , earned first place at the CARMA-Matrix Maths Art Competition in Australia for Cellular Automata Watch Bands, which was also accepted into the juried art exhibition at the 2026 American Mathematical Society Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, D.C.
Janine Ludwig, academic director of the Durden Dickinson Program in Bremen, Germany, shared comments on the conflict in Ukraine during a special event on the fourth anniversary of the war. German publications Anzeiger Verlag, Weser-Kurier and Nachrichten AG West highlighted her remarks.
Jeff McCausland, visiting professor of international security studies, provided regular expert commentary on global conflict. He critiqued White House messaging on Iran in MS Now, analyzed the war for Finland’s YLE and WHTM-TV, and made frequent appearances on The John Batchelor Show and CBS News Radio discussing Iran, Ukraine, NATO readiness and military leadership.
Sarah Niebler, associate professor of political science, discussed Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District race in PennLive/The Patriot-News and LNP/ LancasterOnline.
Matthew Pinsker, professor of history and Pohanka Chair in American Civil War History, received major national and international attention for his scholarship. His book Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln earned glowing reviews in The Wall Street Journal, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Civil War Monitor. Pinsker discussed Lincoln’s political leadership in The Guardian, historic resistance movements in the Chicago Sun-Times, and a unique voter in American history in The Washington Post.
Mireille Rebeiz, associate professor of French & Francophone and women’s, gender & sexuality studies, was a frequent international commentator on U.S. policy and regional conflict. She appeared on BBC News Arabic and France 24 Arabic and discussed regional security on South Africa’s Newzroom Afrika, Chile’s El Mercurio and Portugal’s Expresso. She authored analyses for The Conversation, with work republished widely.
Toby Reiner, associate professor of political science, co-authored the article “Migration and the Shared World: A Defense of Rights of Entry for Cultural Migrants,” published in Ethics & Global Politics.
Francesco Samarini, visiting lecturer in Italian, was featured by Sky TG24 in Italy in a report on the temporary disappearance of author Philip Roth’s works from Italian bookstores.
Cotten Seiler, professor of American studies, published White Care: The Impact of Race on American Infrastructure, released March 17, which examines how race has shaped infrastructure policy and investment in the United States.
Forrest Watson, assistant professor of international business & management, co authored “Facilitating Generative AI Literacy in the Face of Evolving Technology: Interventions in Marketing Classrooms” in the Journal of Marketing Education.
Chuck Zwemer, professor of biology, was featured in stories in The Sentinel and WHTM-TV about Dickinson’s new for-credit EMT course offered in partnership with Cumberland Goodwill EMS.
Administrator Accolades
Seth Allen, vice president for enrollment management & dean of admissions, was quoted in Inside Higher Ed during coverage of the National Association for College Admission Counseling Summit.
Tony Boston, vice president and chief diversity officer, and Jacquie Forbes, assistant professor of educational studies, were mentioned on WITF FM during an episode of The Spark.
Samantha Brandauer, associate provost and executive director of the Center for Global Study & Engagement, was featured in U.S. News & World Report and International Educator.
Amanda Cheromiah, executive director of the Center for the Futures of Native Peoples, and Jim Gerencser ’93, associate dean of archives & special collections, were featured in a WHP-TV special report on legendary Indigenous athlete Jim Thorpe. Anabaptist World and Friends Journal also highlighted Cheromiah’s work related to the repatriation of remains of Indigenous children from the site of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Cheromiah also appeared as a guest on the Native America Calling podcast and radio program.
Yvette Davis, director of the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity, spoke with The Burg News for two stories, one on the legacy of artist, performer and historian Lenwood Sloan and another highlighting the Craig Family African American Cemetery. She also spoke about the cemetery with WHBG-TV.
President John E. Jones III ’77, P’11, remained a prominent national voice on constitutional law and judicial independence. He appeared on CBS News’ 60 Minutes to denounce the demonization of the judiciary and resulting security threats to judges and their families and discussed similar concerns with Bloomberg News and on the Bloomberg Law Podcast. Jones addressed escalating threats to federal judges in the Pottsville Republican Herald, coverage that also ran in Yahoo! News, and analyzed a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on life-without-parole sentences for WGAL-TV. In additional television appearances and in an article in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, he discussed proposed artificial intelligence disclosure requirements in campaign advertising and warned that the SAVE America Act could restrict voter access to the polls. Jones also appeared on CNN, including Anderson Cooper 360 and CNN News Central, discussing presidential attacks on the judiciary, election administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s compliance with court orders. He authored and co-authored widely republished essays for The New York Times, The Hill, Law.com and The Conversation, including commentary on grand juries and ICE enforcement, with republication in outlets such as Fortune, Salon, MSN and AlterNet.
Lane Whigham, director of ALLARM, discussed the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative in a report for QACTV.
Sonya Wright, assistant director of dining services, and Adriana Montgomery, pastry chef, were featured in The Sentinel for sustaining Dickinson’s fastnacht tradition.
Kudos as of April 10, 2026
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Published June 9, 2026