Faculty Focus-October 6 2026
St. Lawrence faculty are contributing to timely conversations—from artificial intelligence and critical thinking to migration, geology, international affairs, and belonging. Recently, they published new research, presented at a national conference, joined a philosophy podcast as a permanent co-host, and shared their expertise with international news outlets.
Gisele El Khoury
Director of the Language Resource Center Gisele El Khoury co-authored two chapters published in Exploring Complexity in Legal Translation and Discourse Analysis (IGI Global, 2027).
“Algorithmic Mediation in Legal Translation: Discourse, Ambiguity, and Authority” examines how artificial intelligence can silently shape legal meaning and argues for the centrality of human judgment, accountability, and translation systems designed to recognize ambiguity.
“Toward a Human-in-the-Loop Framework for AI-Assisted Legal Translation: A Case Study in Deontic Modality” proposes a four-stage workflow for AI-assisted translation, grounded in a cross-linguistic corpus study of how tools like DeepL, GPT-4, and Claude handle deontic modality in commercial contracts.
Both chapters sit at the intersection of AI, legal language, and translation studies, addressing critical questions about human oversight and precision in automated legal text processing.
Howard Eissenstat
Laurentian Associate Professor and Chair of History Howard Eissenstat recently provided international media commentary on political and economic developments in Turkey and Iran. Vienna’s Die Presse and Berlin’s Der Tagesspiegel quoted him about a multibillion-dollar investment scandal in Turkey, while Alhurra sought his analysis of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s United Nations address. Eissenstat said the speech offered little evidence that Iran was seeking a swift diplomatic resolution to the war.
Eissenstat was also quoted by The New York Sun about a Turkish law expanding the circumstances under which minors may be sentenced as adults. He said the Turkish system appears to be adopting some of the most troubling characteristics of the American penal system.
Read The New York Sun article | Read the Alhurra article | Read the Der Tagesspiegel article | Read the Die Presse article
Jeff Frank
Professor of Education Jeff Frank presented “Belonging in an Era of Personalization” at Harvard Divinity School’s Program for the Evolution of Spirituality conference on Sept. 25. His presentation drew on the work of theologian Walter Brueggemann and the Christian Universalists who founded St. Lawrence University.
Frank credits Giana Wayman for supporting his research into Christian Universalism and Kurt Terrell and Carol Smith in University Advancement for their support of the project. He will teach a new course on belonging and education in the spring and plans to continue his research on Brueggemann and Christian Universalism during his fall 2027 sabbatical.
Learn more about the conference
Jenny Hansen
Professor of Philosophy Jenny Hansen has joined the Philosophy vs. Improv podcast as a permanent co-host after appearing for many years as a guest on the program and its sister podcast, The Partially Examined Life.
Each episode brings philosophy and improvisational comedy into conversation as the hosts try to teach one another a lesson from their respective disciplines. The unscripted exchange produces unexpected connections between the two, followed by a “post-game” conversation reflecting on what the hosts learned and sharing recommendations and listener feedback. This season will feature guests ranging from prominent philosophers to improv teachers.
Listen to Philosophy vs. Improv
Antun Husinec
James Henry Chapin Professor of Geology and Mineralogy Antun Husinec and St. Lawrence alumna Audrey Bowman ’24 co-authored a new study published in Scientific Reports, a journal in the Nature Portfolio. Their research investigates unusual freshwater oncoids—rounded carbonate grains formed through interactions among microbes, mineral precipitation, and moving water—from Dunn’s River in Jamaica.
The study is the first to document modern freshwater oncoids in the Americas. Most previously described examples formed in relatively calm water, but the Dunn’s River oncoids occur in a high-energy tropical cascade marked by turbulent flow. By analyzing their shape, internal growth layers, mineralogy, stable-isotope composition, and age, Husinec and Bowman demonstrate how repeated movement and overturning influence the grains’ growth and preservation. The findings offer a modern comparison that can help geologists interpret similar carbonate structures in the ancient rock record.
Bowman began researching the Jamaican material as a St. Lawrence undergraduate and Clare Boothe Luce Fellow. Her fieldwork was also supported by the Geology Department’s James S. Street and Luke Harvey ’18 awards, illustrating how undergraduate research at St. Lawrence can contribute to peer-reviewed scientific discovery.
Jeff Maynes
Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Assessment Jeff Maynes published “Generative AI and Cognitive Offloading” in Oxford Intersections: AI and Society. The article examines how using generative AI may affect the development of critical-thinking skills.
Maynes argues that although AI literacy remains a worthwhile educational goal, educators should not teach critical-thinking strategies that depend on AI. He explores how generative AI can reinforce cognitive biases and weaken social reasoning strategies, including the ways people identify and rely on experts. The article contributes to the growing conversation about teaching critical thinking in the age of AI and developing reasoning practices that are more resilient to its challenges.
Melissa Schulenberg
Charles A. Dana Professor of Art and Art History Melissa Schulenberg was featured by North Country Public Radio in a story exploring how Japanese woodblock printing and the sensory qualities of artmaking are shaping her work and teaching. Schulenberg has increasingly focused on mokuhanga, a water-based technique in which prints are made by hand without a press. She has completed residencies in Japan, where she studied with master artists, printers, and carvers.
Schulenberg is also a member of the Mokuhanga Sisters, an international collective of artists who met while studying in Japan. Their exhibition, Our Listening Hands: Recent Prints by the Mokuhanga Sisters, will be on view at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in Vermont from Nov. 14, 2026, through March 6, 2027. She also has pieces on display in the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery. In the NCPR interview, Schulenberg describes how sound, smell, touch, and close observation deepen both the practice of printmaking and the way she teaches it to St. Lawrence students.
Read or listen to the NCPR feature
Madeleine Wong
Associate Professor of Global Studies Madeleine Wong published “Investigating Class Privilege Among Professional Ghanaian Migrants During COVID-19” in the current issue of Feminist Africa. The article examines the transnational lives of professional Ghanaian migrant women navigating the pandemic and demonstrates how gender continued to shape care and mobility even when class privilege offered substantial protection.
