Faculty Focus - Oct. 25, 2021
Faculty members put their knowledge into action so students and others are able to benefit from it. Recently, faculty published scholarly articles and book chapters, completed National Science Foundation-funded projects, presented at conferences, and provided insight into global affairs.
Chandreyi Basu
Associate Professor of Art and Art History Chandreyi Basu, whose research specialty is in the art of early northwest India, published a chapter in the book “Exploring South Asian Urbanity.” The chapter, Elusive borders: The city in Gandhāran narrative art, examines the representation of urban culture in the well-known horizontal narrative friezes from Gandhāra (ancient Pakistan), on which multiple episodes from the Buddha Śākyamuni’s life are depicted.
Basu frequently writes about the patronage and iconography of Mathura sculpture as well as cross-cultural transmission of imagery, female ascetics, animal-human interactions, and body markings. Among the courses she teaches at St. Lawrence are Survey of Art I, Icons of Islamic Architecture, Buddhist Art and Ritual, and Arts of South Asia, Gender Issues in Asian Art. Basu holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Pennsylvania University and an M.A. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
Howard Eissenstat
Associate Professor of History Howard Eissentat’s expertise on Turkish policy and affairs was featured in a CQ Researcher report which provides a comprehensive and fact-checked analysis of current issues. The report titled “Erdogan’s New Turkey, Will it Keep Drifting Away from the West?” provided an in-depth examination of Turkish President Erdogan’s leadership as well as his diplomatic and security disputes.
Eissenstat's research focuses on nationalism and Islam in the 19th century Ottoman Empire as well as the history of the Turkish Republic. His recent work has focused increasingly on contemporary Turkish domestic and foreign policy, especially on issues of rule-of-law, minority rights, and the reshaping of political culture under the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In addition to traditional academic work, Eissenstat served for over a decade as a Turkey Country Specialist for Amnesty International-USA. He has lectured at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. military, and the Canadian Foreign Service Institute, as well as given testimony to the Canadian Senate and offered briefings to Congressional Committees.
Jeff Frank
Associate Professor of Education Jeff Frank recently shared his expertise on the philosophy of education at a virtual conference for Swedish teachers and researchers at Linnaeus University. As part of a collaborative grant project with Ninni Wahlström of Linnaeus University, Frank shared how to close the gap between high and low-performing Swedish schools while providing insight into ways teachers can use feedback to connect with students and promote deeper engagement in their classrooms.
Frank’s research focuses on the philosophy of education, liberal education, as well as teaching and teacher education. He has taught a First-Year Seminar (FYS) titled What Does it Mean to be Educated and courses in Contemporary Educational policy, Teaching and Teachers, and American Philosophies of Education.
Cynthia Bansak
Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics Cynthia Bansak, whose research interests include labor economics, international immigration, remittances, educational attainment, and the business cycle, recently co-authored two publications examining immigration with Sarah Pearlman, professor of economics at Vassar College. The article “Marriage and Immigration Enforcement: The impact of Secure Communities on Immigrant Women” investigates if increased deportations under the Secure Communities (SC) program impacted the marriage patterns of immigrant women in the United States while “The Impact of Legalizing Unauthorized Immigrants” examines labor market outcomes in countries with unauthorized and authorized immigrants.
Bansak's work has been published in various academic journals and she has co-authored a textbook on the Economics of Immigration. Among the courses she regularly teaches at St. Lawrence are Econometrics, Labor Economics, The Fed Challenge, and Money and Banking. Bansak received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at San Diego and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Yale University.
David Murphy
Associate Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies David Murphy, whose work focuses on the intersection of energy, economics, and the environment, is one of five authors of an article published in the journal Energy Research & Social Science that cautions readers about the current levels of worldwide economic growth, energy use, and how resource consumption will reach beyond Earth's limits. The article also announces the establishment of the Planetary Limits Academic Network, a group of scholars and researchers dedicated to promoting the understanding of planetary limits, envisioning scenarios for humanity to thrive within planetary limits, educating college students about these challenges, and advising government officials and communities in developing effective responses.
Murphy is an environmental scientist whose recent work analyzes the impact that the current renewable energy policies in New York State may have on greenhouse gas emissions and the energy return on investment of the electrical grid system. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Environmental Science from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from The College of the Holy Cross.
Alexander K. Stewart
Associate Professor and Chair of Geology Alexander K. Stewart, whose research covers all aspects of surface geology, completed an NSF-funded project in which he and Helen Eifert '18, Elliot Boyd '18, Zoe Soule '19, Eliza Potter '19, and Claire Bartlett '21, used Adirondack lakes as preservation sites for ancient leaf waxes. Their findings help people understand the climate thousands of years ago. This work has generated four peer-reviewed articles which have been published in Geochemica et Cosmochemica Acta, Organic Chemistry, and Quaternary Science Reviews.
Stewart has worked with students on numerous geologic research projects such as dating rockfall events in Alaska, leaf-wax work in the Adirondacks, glacier-lake sediments in the High Andes, and the impact of geomorphology on the Battle of Sackets Harbor. Stewart is retired from the U.S. Army and is a veteran of the Cold War and three foreign wars.
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