St. Lawrence in the News-March 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.
Sydney Peterson ’24
Saints Nordic skier Sydney Peterson ’24 represented Team U.S.A. as she claimed the silver medal in long-distance cross-country skiing during her 2022 Winter Paralympic Games debut in Beijing, China and was featured in articles published by NBCSports.com and NCPR on Monday, March 7.
“All the girls here are super strong skiers so I didn’t exactly know where I would stack up, but getting splits from coaches part-way through was a big encouragement,” Sydney said. “I just tried to focus on being super happy to be here and going out and having a fun race and not worrying too much about what every other person was doing.”
Her appearance at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Games was featured in an article published by TeamUSA.org on March 1.
Sydney is a neuroscience major at St. Lawrence.
Howard Eissenstat
Associate Professor of History Howard Eissenstat analyzed Turkey's implementation of the Montreux Convention, which is limiting access to the Turkish Straits during wartime, in an article published by The Washington Post on March 1. The article was featured by Turkish news outlets Aydinlik.com and Cumhuriyet.com.
“In this crisis, Turkey has attempted to play the role of important international participant, while doing as little as possible to antagonize either NATO or Russia,” wrote Eissenstat. “The decision to implement the Montreux Convention over this vital waterway made news headlines — but makes few waves. From Ankara’s standpoint, that makes it a perfect step to take.”
Eissenstat, who is a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, weighed in on how Turkey is navigating the ongoing crisis in Ukraine in an article published by MEI.edu on Feb. 25. The article was featured by Turkish news outlet AhvalNews.com on Feb. 26.
“The crisis in Ukraine, from the perspective of Ankara, carries significant risks, but also some opportunity,” wrote Eissenstat. “It is neither a crisis of their own making, nor one that they welcomed; nevertheless, Ankara has clearly developed a basic blueprint for weathering the storm. From the perspective of Washington policymakers, their strategy is likely to hold more frustration than reassurance.”
Eissenstats's 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). At St. Lawrence, he teaches courses on Middle Eastern history and politics and in the First-Year Seminar (FYS). 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.
David Jankowski '22
Skating Saints Co-Captain David Jankowski '22 hails from a family of professional hockey players and shared what inspired him to pursue playing the sport in an article published by NNY360.com on Feb. 22.
“I think it was kind of set in stone for me that I was going to be a hockey player,” said David. “I do it because I love it. My family passed that love of the game on to me. It’s something I have definitely embraced and they support me every step of the way just like I support them. It’s special to have that connection for sure.”
David is an economics and business in the liberal arts double major and sports studies and exercise minor at St. Lawrence.
Jeff Frank
Associate Professor of Education Jeff Frank shared the dangers of rigid thinking during the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of teaching children to tolerate ambiguity in a guest essay published by NewsDay.com on Feb. 21. A subscription is required to read the article.
“Instead of looking for things that will further divide us, we need to remember the hope that COVID-19 might bring us together,” wrote Frank. “Our children have suffered enough. When our masks come off, they deserve to see us united and committed to their futures.”
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.
Jon Rosales
A recent assessment by Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Jon Rosales, which found that natural snow and ice could largely disappear from the region by the end of the century if current warming trends continue, was cited in an article published by NCPR on Feb. 11.
Rosales is a climate change scientist whose research focuses on the impacts of climate change on native peoples in the Arctic and developing scientific field methods that measure traditional ecological knowledge of arctic climate change. He holds a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology, an M.A. in Public Affairs, and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Minnesota, and an M.A. in Economics from Mankato State University.
Aileen O’Donoghue
Henry Priest Professor of Physics Aileen O'Donoghue shared what North Country residents should look for in the night sky and recommended keeping track of the planets with the interactive 3D diagram In-The-Sky, with NCPR on Feb. 8.
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.
