St. Lawrence in the News - Feb. 7, 2022
This regular roundup features a selection of recent mentions of St. Lawrence University and its students, faculty, and staff in regional, national, and international media outlets.
Josh Lanza
Saints Athletics Esports Coordinator Josh Lanza shared how the St. Lawrence esports team came to fruition in a piece published by NNY360.com on Feb. 5.
Lanza joined St. Lawrence University as the Saints Esports Coordinator in July 2021 after serving as the esports program advisor at Herkimer Community College since 2018. He has more than 15 years of competitive experience playing Super Smash Bros., and has logged more than 750 hours of competitive Overwatch play in the last three years.
Elisa Van Kirk
In recognition of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Elisa Van Kirk, whose research focuses on collegiate athletics and sports and gender, shared the lessons viewers can learn by watching the television series “Ted Lasso” in an op-ed published by Syracuse.com on Feb. 3.
"To ensure that there is gender equity in NIL, and for many other reasons, we need more women in sports leadership roles," wrote Van Kirk. "It’s important that NCAA college administrators, deans, athletic directors, and presidents understand the critical importance of women leaders in sports, and that is where 'Ted Lasso' comes in."
Van Kirk holds a doctorate of education in Organizational Leadership from Northeastern University and, after serving as head coach of the Saints softball team from 2012 to 2017, now teaches education courses and in the First-Year Program at St. Lawrence.
Melissa Schulenberg
Professor of Art and Art History Melissa Schulenberg’s Mokuhanga prints are on display at The World Between the Block and the Paper art exhibition at the Southern Vermont Arts Center and her artwork titled “Blast” was featured in an article published by SevenDaysVt.com on Feb. 2.
Schulenberg is an artist and printmaker whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, most notably in Australia, Ireland, Japan, and New Zealand. Her work takes inspiration from observed organic forms, the natural landscape, and her immediate surroundings. At St. Lawrence, Schulenberg teaches in the First-Year Program and Seminar, Drawing I and II, Beginning and Advanced Printmaking, Book Arts, and Senior Seminar.
Henry Baker and Saints Nordic Skiing
Saints Nordic Ski Team was cheered on at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Super Tour at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, in Lake Placid, N.Y., by Saints cross country runner, Henry Baker ’25 from Pittsford, N.Y. who got a mention in the MyNBC5.com coverage of the events on Jan. 30.
Pam Thacher
A 2015 St. Lawrence faculty-student study examining the effects that clutter has on sleep patterns was cited in an article published by TWNews.co.uk on, Jan. 30. The study was led by Professor of Psychology Pamela Thacher, whose research investigates sleep and insomnia.
Thacher recently completed a longitudinal project with several current students and alumni examining the effects of a delayed school start time at Glens Falls, N.Y. At St. Lawrence, she teaches Introduction to Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Psychopathology of Adolescence, The Science of Sleep: Seminar for First-Year Students, and Introduction to Clinical Psychology.
Atal Ahmadzai
Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Atal Ahmadzai used his expertise in global affairs to provide insight into China’s interactions with the Taliban in a piece published by ForeignPolicy.com on Jan. 27.
“China’s calculated behavior toward the Taliban is driven by a deep mistrust that has taken shape since Beijing’s initial contact with the group in the 1990s,” wrote Ahmadzai.
In a co-authored piece published by TheConversation.com on Jan. 18, he and Fatan Ghosn, a professor of government and public policy at the University of Arizona, examined how the Taliban “aren’t so different from the first regime.”
Ahmadzai’s research focuses on the thematic intersection of environment-conflict-development. His scholarly publications are in the areas of human development, global governance, and terrorism. His regional expertise is in South, Central, and Western Asia. Ahmadzai holds a Ph.D. in Global Affairs from Rutgers University.
Peter Ladd
Associate Professor of Education Peter Ladd shared the inspiration for his poem “Diamonds in the Snow” with NCPR on Jan. 26.
"I think, sometimes, we get in a mindset as the way things are and if we look at it from just a different perspective,” Ladd told NCPR on air, “We'd realize we can find not only the gray sky and all the tolerances winter, but we can also enjoy. And in this case, I felt really good about it to the point that I decided to write about it. And I'm glad I did.”
Ladd worked for 35 years in St. Lawrence University’s satellite graduate program on the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation. He has published government white paper research manuals in the area of social reform for Native people and published six books in the area of conflict resolution and counseling. Ladd has contributed to institutional reform by founding the Augsbury Institute for Youth and Families, the St. Lawrence Valley Teachers' Learning Center, the St. Regis Mohawk Counseling Center, and co-founder with Kyle Blanchfield, J.D., of the Northern New York Centers for Conflict Resolution.
Jeff Frank
Associate Professor of Education Jeff Frank’s research focuses on the philosophy of education, liberal education, and teaching and teacher education. He shared the challenges teachers and students are facing in classrooms and offered solutions to the New York State teacher shortage in an op-ed published by TimesUnion.com on Jan. 16.
“Too many teachers leave the profession because they don’t feel adequately prepared for the challenges of real classrooms," wrote Frank. "On-the-job teacher training isn’t enough. It needs to be grounded in best practices, and New York — like Michigan — should focus on preparing teachers to implement high-impact practices that make the transition to teaching more successful.”
Frank has taught a First-Year Seminar (FYS) titled What Does it Mean to be Educated and courses such as Contemporary Educational Policy, Teaching and Teachers, and American Philosophies of Education. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and education from Columbia University and a B.A. in philosophy from Middlebury College.
Aileen O'Donoghue
Henry Priest Professor of Physics Aileen O’Donoghue discussed how the deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope will help astronomers discover the Universe’s origins with NCPR on Jan. 11.
“With James Webb, the most exciting stuff is that we can look at objects very, very early in the universe, objects that were being formed 100 million years after the beginning of the universe,” said O’Donoghue.
O'Donoghue’s research is primarily in radio astronomy, and she has conducted observations with the Very Large Array, Arecibo radio telescopes, the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, the 90-inch Bok telescope at Kitt Peak, and the 1.5m telescope at Cerro Tololo, Chile. She is a member of the ALFALFA undergraduate team and regularly teaches Introduction to Astronomy with Lab, Modern Physics, and Classical Mechanics at St. Lawrence.
St. Lawrence in the News is a roundup that features a selection of recent mentions of St. Lawrence University and its students, faculty, and staff in regional, national, and international media outlets. Submit media mentions for potential inclusion in an upcoming edition of St. Lawrence in the News.
