Faculty Focus-May 20, 2025
Faculty members put their knowledge into action so students and others are able to benefit from it. Recently, faculty were appointed to high-profile advisory positions, were interviewed in impactful publications, and won prestigious awards.
Sarah Knobel
Associate Professor and Chair of Art and Art History Sarah Knobel was recently awarded one of the 2025 Light Work Grants in Photography.
The Light Work Grants are part of an ongoing effort to support and encourage central New York artists working in photography and related mediums. They are among the oldest photography fellowships in the nation.
Knobel’s photography invites viewers to contemplate the enigmatic nature of everyday objects and our waste. Her work weaves together optimism and hostility, beauty and repulsion, exploring the collision between the natural world and opposing forces.
Knobel holds an MFA from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. You can learn more about her and her work on her website.
Sara Ashpole
R. Sheldon and Virginia H. Johnson Professorship in the Sciences, and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Sara Ashpole was recently appointed to a four-year term with The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as co-chair of the Amphibian and Reptile Specialist Sub Committee by the Canadian Federal Minister of the Environment.
COSEWIC represents about 50 of Canada's most elite wildlife research scientists who help identify species at risk in Canada. The organization’s assessment of wildlife is considered the global gold standard.
Ashpole is also the Canadian co-chair for the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Amphibian Specialist Group.
Jungjun Park
Assistant Professor of Economics Jungjun Park was recently accepted to the Yale Financial Machine Learning Summer School 2025, part of the Society for Financial Econometrics Summer School series. This prestigious week-long program is designed for early-career faculty and professionals working at the intersection of statistics, econometrics, and finance.
Hosted annually, the program focuses on the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in financial econometrics, with a particular emphasis on asset pricing. It brings together a global community of leading scholars and offers an intensive environment for deepening technical expertise and engaging with cutting-edge research.
Howard Eissenstat
Laurentian Associate Professor and Chair of History Howard Eissenstat was recently quoted in multiple German-language press publications on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) decision to unilaterally disband and disarm, seemingly ending a conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives since 1978.
While positive, Eissenstat argues, both the PKK and Turkey are “deeply undemocratic and highly non-transparent.” Even if there is progress in the peace process, Eissenstat says, “it will probably not lead to a more democratic Turkey.”
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St. Lawrence’s Faculty Focus is a regular roundup of noteworthy faculty news.
