St. Lawrence in the News - Jan. 10, 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.
Pamela Thacher
Professor of Psychology Pamela Thacher’s research investigates sleep and insomnia. A study she conducted with a St. Lawrence student in 2015 examining the effects that clutter has on sleep patterns was cited in an article published by the New York Times on Monday, December 20.
The research study was also cited in articles published by the Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, and The Baltimore Sun.
Thacher recently completed a longitudinal project with several current students and alumni examining the effects of a delayed school start time at Glens Falls, NY. 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.
Howard Eissenstat
Associate Professor of History Howard Eissenstat used his expertise in Turkish affairs to share the potential impact of the depreciation of Turkey’s currency in an article published by WTVBam.com and Reuters on Thursday, December 30.
“Emergency measures put in place are only going to give short-term relief; in the long-term, they seem likely to exacerbate the crisis,” said Eissenstat.
He also discussed Turkey’s economic crisis and potential electoral repercussions with the Finnish news outlet MTV on Wednesday, December 29.
"Turkey is entering a period of growing desperation for the country's political leadership," said Eissenstat.
Eissenstat's research focuses on nationalism and Islam in the 19th century Ottoman Empire and the history of the Turkish Republic. At St. Lawrence, he teaches courses on Middle Eastern history and politics and in the First-Year Seminar (FYS). His 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). 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.
Aileen O’Donoghue
Henry Priest Professor of Physics Aileen O'Donoghue discussed the Winter Solstice, what planetary objects people can see in the Northern Hemisphere, and the launch of a new telescope with NCPR on Wednesday, Dec. 22.
"It's amazing what we humans can build. You know, we little lumps of Earth mud have figured out how to build these things. When you live as an astronomer, everything is so big. You can feel insignificant, and yet. And yet! We've thrown our minds across 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” Bok telescope at Kitt Peak, and the 1.5 m 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.
Jeff Frank
Associate Professor of Education Jeff Frank’s research focuses on the philosophy of education, liberal education, and teaching and teacher education. He recently weighed in on the U.S. Surgeon General’s report, Protecting Youth Mental Health, in an op-ed published by Syracuse.com on Wednesday, December 15.
“No doubt, we can politicize these issues,” Frank wrote. “We can read between the lines and impute pernicious hidden motives. Or we can continue to refocus our attention on the simple fact that our children are suffering, and — as adults — we have a duty to help. This report offers a sensible roadmap to do just this.
Frank has taught a First-Year Seminar (FYS) titled What Does it Mean to be Educated and courses in 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.
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.
