Dear Kenyon, Wish You Were Here

Faculty who traveled this summer to continue their academic work write virtual postcards to the campus community about their research and other pursuits.

Faculty

Date August 6, 2024

For many, summer is a time for travel — whether it’s filled with road trips, beach reads, or a walk in the woods. But for some faculty, these adventures remain academic as they travel the globe to conduct research, attend workshops and engage in other professional development.

This year, faculty rolled up their sleeves and got to work all across the world — from West Africa to Cape Cod to the Baltic states. Here are some messages and photos highlighting the high-brow studies and high-energy fun that they took part in.

Greetings from Ghana

Emily Ibrahim, assistant professor of anthropology

Dear Kenyon,

Hello from Ghana, West Africa! I’m spending eight weeks in the capital of Accra researching creative communication strategies among stranger communities called zongos and working with students on a storytelling project about local cultural understandings of tolerance. In my downtime, I’ve been enjoying live music, rich conversation and cold drinks (hot here!) with Kenyon alum Jonah Meisels ’24 (left) and Kenyon Affiliated Scholar in Music Ibrahim “Baba” Saani (right). Looking forward to bringing alive these experiences for my students in my anthropology courses this fall!

Sai Anjima,
Emily

Labanotation in Latvia

Julie Brodie, director of the Office for Community Partnerships and professor of dance

Dear Kenyon,

I am back in lovely Riga, Latvia, for six weeks continuing my research and notation of Latvian folk dances. I thought of you all while dancing my heart out at a local folk dance club (pictured) — can’t wait to teach you what I’ve learned! It’s also been wonderful leading workshops and reconnecting with dear friends. My time here ends with running the Riga Marathon — wish me luck on 26.2! Here I am after a training run on the Daugava River.

Much Love —
Julie

Mutant Frogs in Massachusetts

Wade Powell, professor of biology

Greetings from Woods Hole, Mass!

I spent the entire summer here with Keller Bueneman ’25, Bo Huang ’25, and Hugo Li ’25, joining with our collaborators at the Marine Biological Laboratory. We are based in the National Xenopus Resource (NXR), a core facility that hosts scientists like us to perform genome engineering, creating mutant frog lines to characterize the function of individual genes in the animals’ development. Our studies extend my longtime research focus on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which mediates the toxic effects of chemical contaminants like PCBs, dioxins and oil spill hydrocarbons.

See you in a couple of weeks.
Wade

Initiating Change in India

Marci Cottingham, associate professor of sociology

Namaskar, Kenyon community,

I spent two weeks in Pune, India, collaborating with faculty and students on a new project on informal caregivers. Participants are submitting audio diaries of their experiences so that we can better understand the challenges and dilemmas they face. We are particularly interested to see what emotional nuances might be lost when we translate Marathi and Hindi into English emotion terms.

Marci

Building Bridges in Bulgaria

Irene López, professor of psychology

Irene and Tom — Professor of Psychology Irene López and Dean for Academic Advising and Support Tom Hawks.

Dear Kenyon,

This summer, I conducted a series of workshops on globally connecting courses at the American University of Bulgaria. As part of that experience, I discussed what works and what doesn’t work in globally connecting courses and worked with a number of Kenyon professors on their own global course connects. Afterwards, Dean (Thomas) Hawks and I did our own global explorations in Greece for our 25th anniversary. Looking forward to showcasing the work of our Kenyon peers when classes commence.

Irene