Faculty Focus-January 20, 2026
Faculty members put their knowledge into action so students and others are able to benefit from it. Recently, faculty published in prestigious journals, were cited in international press, and presented at renowned conferences.
Howard Eissenstat
Laurentian Associate Professor and Chair of History Howard Eissenstat recently contributed a translation and commentary to a new selection of primary sources on the Middle East and North Africa in the Twentieth Century. Eissenstat's contribution was a translation of a parliamentary speech by then-Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal, and highlights Ozal's embrace of a "neo-liberal wave" in the 1980s.
As Eissenstat notes in his commentary on the translated text, " for all of its profound internal turmoils and transformations, its commitment to the export-focused, market-oriented policies forged under Turgut Özal have remained central to Turkey’s policies and ambitions ever since."
Additionally, Eissenstat's comments on the likely trajectory of US-Turkish relations were included in Turkey Recap's annual round-up of predictions on Turkey. In his comments, Eissenstat argues that, while Turkish President Erdogan enjoys good relations with President Trump and has won some important gains, most notably on Syria, there are hard limits to what concessions Turkey is likely to win and that this is unlikely to change in 2026.
Eissenstat’s commentary was also featured in an end-of-the-year analysis of events in Turkey in Der Tagesspiegel.
Antun Husinec
James H. Chapin Professor of Geology and Mineralogy Antun Husinec recently presented his work at the AAPG/EAGE Petroleum Systems of the Middle East workshop in Kuwait City, an international meeting that brings together academics and industry professionals to address key challenges in understanding and developing complex subsurface systems across the Middle East and beyond.
In his presentation, titled “Carbonate Reservoir Heterogeneity and Play Characteristics Revealed by Well-Log Interpretation,” Husinec showed how geologists use well logs—geophysical measurements of borehole formations—to interpret the geological history recorded within carbonate rocks. These rocks host many of the world’s oil and gas resources but are notoriously complex because their properties are shaped by ancient environments, chemical and mechanical changes after burial, and tectonic deformation.
The research presented at the workshop directly informs Husinec’s teaching at St. Lawrence, where students learn to interpret real geological data sets in field-based geology classes. Some of the techniques discussed at the meeting are similar to the ones students practice in the classroom and apply during Caribbean field courses, where they connect outcrop and shallow-water observations to subsurface formations.
Mert Kartal
Associate Professor of Political Science Mert Kartal’s latest piece for Good Authority—a political science platform that translates academic research for a broader public audience—examines whether the European Union can meaningfully slow the recent rise in corruption across Europe.
Drawing on both scholarly research and developments from 2025, Kartal argues that while the E.U. has become more attentive to corruption, its overall effectiveness remains limited. Recent scandals involving E.U. institutions and officials have exposed a growing gap between the standards the Union promotes and its own record of enforcement. This credibility problem not only weakens the E.U.’s anti-corruption agenda but also creates political openings for populist actors who exploit perceived double standards. Without stronger enforcement and greater institutional accountability at the E.U. level, Kartal argues, corruption is likely to remain both a governance challenge and a salient political issue across Europe.
Kartal serves as a fellow at Good Authority, where he draws on his expertise in European Union politics, good governance, and corruption control to provide in-depth analyses of current events and pressing political issues for the general public.
Robin Rhodes
Director of ESOL and Multilingual Student Academic Support Robin Rhodes, currently a Fulbright Scholar, recently delivered the research webinar for the University of Rwanda academic research consortium as part of her Fulbright responsibilities. The presentation, titled “Emerging Research in English Language Education: AI, Translanguaging, and Pedagogical Change,” is part of a seminar series Rhodes is offering to those affiliated with the University of Rwanda.
Rhodes received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award in sociolinguistics and academic English education to study in Rwanda for the 2025-2026 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Rhodes, in conjunction with colleagues at the University of Rwanda, is researching the decolonization of English teaching and teacher professional development, completing a sociolinguistic study of the Rwandan language and educational landscape, studying the relationship between Rwandan culture and literacy instruction, and developing a teaching model for Rwanda and across East Africa.
Paul Doty
Curator of Special Collections & University Archives Librarian Paul Doty has published a poem in the January/February issue of Cathexis Northwest Press, which can be found on page 36.
The poem, titled “Wait for me,” is a poem about fatherhood, Doty says, and about “the recurring feeling of wanting to stop time, reverse time, so one can explain oneself to one’s children.”
Doty has been a librarian at St. Lawrence for twenty years, and at various points in time was involved with library web development, public service, and Interlibrary Loan. Among his interests and plans for Special Collections is continuing the important work of acquiring and making available materials about the North Country and the Adirondacks. Along the way he has worked any number of campus committees, taught a variety of courses in St. Lawrence’s First Year Program, and published poems or essays in the Mississippi Review, the Great Lakes Review, Poetry Pacific, the Reference Librarian, and the Cortland Review.
Thea How Choon
Flora Irene Eggleston Assistant Professor of Economics Thea How Choon recently published a paper titled, "Interest Group Information in Elections" in Games and Economic Behavior.
The paper presents a game-theoretic model studying how special interests communicate with political candidates about voters' preferred policies, and in so doing simultaneously inform and distort policy. She presented the paper at the World Congress of the Econometric Society in Seoul, Korea, last August.
In November, Choon presented "Money Talks to Autocrats, Bullets Whistle to Democrats: Political Influence under Different Regimes" as part of a Presidential session at the annual meeting of the Southern Economic Association.
Another of her research papers, titled "From Quotas to Questions: How Shifting Gender Ratios Shape Medical Research," was featured on the World Bank Development Impact blog, where co-author Fatima Aqeel explains the paper's main findings.
Choon’s research interests are mainly in microeconomic theory, including game theory, information design, and political economy. Her research examines how biased information affects the electoral process, and the effects of gender on policymakers' decisions.
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