Faculty News

National and regional news organizations regularly interview Hamilton faculty, staff, alumni, and students for their expertise and perspectives on current events, and to feature programs and activities on campus. January’s news topics included coverage of Venezuela, paramilitaries, the job market, and friendship, among others.

Professor of Religious Studies S.B. Rodriguez-Plate discussed the Erie Canal’s influence on American religion in a recent episode of “Religion in the American Experience,” a PodBean podcast.

During the winter break, Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures Zhuoyi Wang delivered three invited lectures and served as the featured speaker for two post-screening discussions while traveling in Asia. These engagements took place at National Taitung University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Communication University of Zhejiang, Duke Kunshan University, and the Movie Movie Cinema in Shanghai.

Stephen Wu, the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics, is a co-author of a recently-published paper focused on ways to incorporate the study of happiness and other measures of subjective well-being into undergraduate economics courses.

Making friends can be a challenge. In fact, one in two adults in the U.S. reports experiencing loneliness. Associate Professor of Psychology Keelah Williams studies the science behind making social connections, and we asked her to share some tips on what it takes to form new and lasting friendships.

Pavitra Sundar, associate professor of literature, was the lead co-editor of the recent special issue of the videographic journal [in]Transition, titled "Cinematic Bodies/Videographic Forms."

Associate Professor of Chemistry Max Majireck and members of his research group recently published an article titled “Room-Temperature Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution of 2-Halopyridinium Ketene Hemiaminals with Sulfur Nucleophiles.”

Assistant Professor of Economics Evelyn Skoy co-authored a paper published in the Southern Economic Journal, a publication of the Southern Economics Association.

Assistant Professor of Theatre Emily K. Harrison and Assistant Professor of Instruction in Theatre Jess Buttery presented their original work, Things We Will Miss, as part of the 2026 PhysFestNYC. The annual festival, which is highly selective, "celebrates, enriches, and envisions the field of physical theater."

Three Hamilton students – Lula Dalupang ’26, Andrea Jivanny Hernandez Ramirez ’27, and Tenniyah Jennings ’28 – presented two posters with Assistant Professor of Biology Ariel Kahrl at this year's Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Portland, Ore.