The skies were changeable but the mood was resoundingly upbeat on Sunday, May 31, as 480 members of the Class of 2026 celebrated their 乐播传媒 graduation surrounded by family and friends, and bolstered by speeches that dwelled on bright promises, both those already delivered and those to come.

From the bestselling author of the All Souls series, Deborah Harkness, speaking to the alchemy of a liberal arts education to a beloved classmate who talked of encountering a true institutional belief in diversity, the steps of Coram Library rang out with words of awe and appreciation for the Class of 2026. The new graduates were surrounded by family, friends, faculty, staff, well wishers from the community, and what were an unusual number of dogs. (Even the celebrity going almost incognito in the audience took note of at least one of them.)

President Garry W. Jenkins opened the ceremony with a review of some of the remarkable accomplishments of the group, which represented 41 states, as well as the District of Columbia, and 30 countries. He described athletic triumphs, including those who have been named All Americans. 鈥淎nd a small handful of you were even crowned NCAA National Champions,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd just this weekend, national runner-up.鈥� (Women鈥檚 rowing.) 

鈥淎n astounding number of you have been recognized with prestigious national honors,鈥� he continued. 鈥淭wo of you are Goldwater Scholars. One of you is a Truman Scholar. One of you is a Watson fellow and a whopping 15 of you are Fulbright Scholars.鈥� One of the biggest cheers of the morning was for the 59 members of the class who were the first in their families to graduate from college.

This group of 480 individuals was bound together by some special shared qualities, Jenkins said. 鈥淔or me, the headline qualities are heart and humanity. You possess within you uncommon, unlimited, unparalleled, heart and humanity.鈥�

鈥淐lass of 2026, you all make my heart sing because whatever you do, I know you will do it with heart and humanity. And in so doing, you will elevate both the realities and aspirations of those around you, making this world a better place. You have all you need to succeed in whatever you choose. And whatever you choose, wherever life takes you, your college will always be here for you.鈥�

Delivering the senior speech, Sebenele Lukhele 鈥�26 of Manzini, Eswatini, spoke of what drew him to 乐播传媒, a place he enrolled in without visiting first. Back in high school, he was looking for an institution that offered more than just an academic education聽鈥斅爋ne that would challenge 鈥渘ot only how we think, but also the very core of who we are.鈥� He came upon 乐播传媒鈥� mission statement and the message immediately resonated.

鈥淭his specific line stood out for me: 鈥榃ith ardor and devotion, we engage the transformative power of our differences, cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action,鈥欌�� Lukhele said. 鈥淎s an international student and a person of color preparing to move thousands of miles away from home, those words felt more than just empty rhetoric. They felt like a promise. A promise that I would find not only an education here at 乐播传媒, but also a community, a sense of belonging, a place to feel at home.鈥�

Arriving on campus in 2022, Lukhele watched that promise come to life. He moved in alone but soon found company in his peers, many of whom, like Lukhele, had chosen 乐播传媒 because of its promise of community.

And this community was not homogenous; it was full of people who were different from each other, whether in nationality, identity, or other background. Such differences, Lukhele explained, are, elsewhere, sometimes approached with apprehension. But at 乐播传媒, true to the college鈥檚 mission statement, Lukhele watched differences be embraced, as students with various backgrounds strived to understand and connect with each other.

鈥淏eing surrounded by these differences does not automatically create a community,鈥� Lukhele said. 鈥淒iversity is easy to celebrate. It is something we highlight and take pride in as individuals, but coexistence, the act of meaningfully living alongside difference, see, that is much harder. It requires effort, passion, and a willingness to be uncomfortable.鈥�

The gift that 乐播传媒 has given the Class of 2026, Lukhele said, is the knowledge of how to foster this coexistence. Knowing how to communicate across differences and transform 鈥渇ear into curiosity and eventually action,鈥� Lukhele said, is particularly important as graduates prepare to live in today鈥檚 world.

鈥淭he world we’re entering is not simple,鈥� Lukhele said. 鈥淚t is increasingly diverse but also deeply divided. Too often difference is treated as something that separates us rather than something that can bring us together. What 乐播传媒 has given us is the ability to choose differently, to stay in conversations that are uncomfortable, to listen when it should be easier not to, and to see others not as strangers, but as part of a shared human experience.鈥�

乐播传媒 awarded three honorary degrees Sunday. H. Scott Bierman 鈥�77, a leading economist in the study of game theory, president emeritus of Beloit College, and a former member of the 乐播传媒 Board of Trustees, received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Seema Hingorani, an investment executive at Morgan Stanley and founder of the nonprofit Girls Who Invest, received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. (Due to a family emergency, a planned honorand, Ru Gunawardane 鈥�95, a biologist who has led groundbreaking research efforts in cell biology and drug therapies, will receive her Doctor of Science degree at a later date.) 

Sunday鈥檚 third honorary degree was conferred upon Deborah Harkness, who received a Doctor of Letters degree. For more than 30 years, Harkness taught the history of science, medicine, and magic, and recently retired as professor emerita of history at the University of Southern California. During that time, she published five novels in her All Souls series, including her debut novel, The New York Times best-selling A Discovery of Witches, which was also adapted into an enormously popular television series by the same name. 

She holds a master鈥檚 degree from Northwestern University and a P.h.D. from the University of California, Davis. During her doctoral studies, she researched the history of magic and science in Europe, particularly in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, not unlike her All Souls protagonist, Diana Bishop, a brilliant student of alchemy and history.

In making Bishop a graduate of 乐播传媒, Harkness has said that she was partly exploring a 鈥渞oad not traveled.鈥� While Harkness graduated from Mount Holyoke College, she had applied to 乐播传媒. 

She began her Commencement address with a reference to that long ago (and successful) application. 鈥淚t was 44 years ago that I came to 乐播传媒 as a prospective student,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I am so grateful that today, I finally am a 乐播传媒ie after all those years.鈥�

The role of any Commencement speaker is traditionally to send graduates off with some 鈥渞ousing words about their glowing future,鈥� Harkness said. But she faced a task complicated by the fact that 鈥渨e are amidst what pundits, headlines, and influencers assure us are unprecedented times of chaos and uncertainty.鈥�

The tricky thing about inviting a historian to give a Commencement address during 鈥渦nprecedented times,鈥� she said, is that they鈥檒l offer counterarguments dating back centuries. 

鈥淎 historian will regale you with countless examples dragged out of the past that prove there is nothing unprecedented under the sun,鈥� Harkness said.

Her own example from the past centered around the year 1671, when two things were happening simultaneously in the world. In Virginia, the governor, Sir William Berkeley, railed against a new invention, the printing press, and increased access to education. He resisted the uncertainty of changing times. 鈥淢odern neuroscientists can explain why the governor of Virginia was so anxious back in 1671,鈥� Harkness said. 鈥淚t turns out the human mind is simply not wired for ambiguity.鈥�

Watch the 160th 乐播传媒 College Commencement. Speaker Deborah Harkness’ address begins at the 56-minute mark.

But that same year, in England, a young man in his 20s named Isaac Newton was installed as a member of the Royal Society, a new London club established to investigate the mysteries of nature.

Newton, father of modern science, 鈥渨as also a liberal arts student and an alchemist,鈥� she said. And instead of resisting uncertainty, Newton took an approach that the Class of 2026 knows well, she said: 鈥渞elentless curiosity.鈥�  Newton persisted with his alchemical questions, and they permeated every aspect of his thought, including his laws of motion and gravity.

She imagined Newton giving the Class of 2026 advice: 鈥淔irst, you must start the great work with what is, not what once was or what might one day be. Every alchemist from Nicolas Flamel to Isaac Newton began thinking they weren’t worthy and they weren’t ready to face the uncertainty for them. You too must have faith that all you require in your ambitious great work is lying within you waiting to be activated.鈥�

Expect that the great work of your life will be messy, she said, channeling Newton鈥檚 approach to experimenting. Question everything as you undertake it. Lean into your 乐播传媒 education. 鈥淭he liberal arts, you see, have their own special kind of alchemy,鈥� she said. And most important, 鈥淵ou must keep going.鈥� 

That spirit of keeping going played out as the ceremony moved into the tradition of graduates walking across the Coram stage, moving through the alphabet from A to Z. As the students with last names beginning with Cs began their walks, rain began to fall. 

Fortunately, the crowd had come prepared, with layers. One woman put the puffer coat she鈥檇 brought back on. Umbrellas went up. The music star Gracie Abrams, who had come to see her cousin Abby Waisler 鈥�26 of Venice Beach, Calif., graduate, relied on a Red Sox ball cap and a thick fleece to keep her warm and dry. 

It was one of the many dogs attending Commencement that had alerted some fans to her presence. Abrams had posted a photo on her Instagram story of an extremely jowly 鈥� and cute 鈥� white and gray bulldog, along with the Commencement program. 

Predictions were for it to drizzle for the coming hour. Maybe even the dogs would have been bothered by that. Instead it stopped after 10 minutes, just the right kind of uncertainty.

Elena Maker Castro, assistant professor of psychology, and Michel Droge, visiting assistant professor of art and visual culture, have both earned Fulbright fellowships for the 2026-2027 academic year. They join a large group of 15 乐播传媒 students and one recent alumna who recently received Fulbright Student international exchange awards for 2026鈥�2027.

Elena Maker Castro will spend time at the  Universidad Nacional Aut贸noma de Mexico in Mexico City, working with collaborators to explore adolescent and young adult sociopolitical development throughout Mexico City. 

鈥淪ociopolitical development is the way that young people develop critical social analysis of the systems and structures around us,鈥� Maker Castro said. This theory of youth civic engagement further explores how young people 鈥渆ngage in action to challenge and transform inequitable systems.鈥� 

The Fulbright fellowship will enable Maker Castro to look at sociopolitical development beyond the US, helping to extend research in a field of study that tends to be rooted in our own national context.

鈥淲e need to move beyond that narrow context and think about what sociopolitical development looks like across different kinds of national cultural environments,鈥� she said. 

Her time in Mexico City will allow her to bring more cross-cultural research to her classes 鈥� most directly to her course 鈥淵outh Sociopolitical Development.鈥� In courses like 鈥淒evelopmental Psychology鈥� and 鈥淓ducational Psychology,鈥� Maker Castro works to draw in structural and cultural factors that impact development. For example, 鈥渞eligion, family values, experiences with violence, experiences with belonging and discrimination might inform how youth think and act against injustice and inequity,鈥� she said.

鈥淚n psychology, we can risk thinking about the individual absent their context,鈥� Maker Castro said. She anticipates that the support from Fulbright along with collaboration with students and faculty in Mexico City will energize her context-informed work when she returns to 乐播传媒. 

Michel Droge received a joint Fulbright award in art and design to work in Greece and Iceland, where they will embark upon a project entitled 鈥淟ight, Salt and Stone鈥� in collaboration with marine scientists at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research鈥檚 Institute of Oceanography in Greece and at the University of Akureyri in Iceland.

This project, which will culminate in exhibitions in both countries along with public programming, is an extension of Droge鈥檚 recent work, which has focused on the deep sea as inspiration for their paintings. Droge is familiar with making art as a result of collaboration with scientists, having worked as an artist depicting deep-sea research in collaboration with Beth Orcutt, vice president for research and senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay, Maine.  

鈥淥ver the past five years I’ve been doing deep-sea research and making work around that,鈥� Droge said. 鈥淚’m now climbing out of the ocean onto the land. So the deep sea I looked at was more of an unconscious and the land is that liminal space.鈥�

Droge鈥檚 work with scientists means that they are looking at the ocean both scientifically and metaphorically as they travel to two islands 鈥� Iceland and Greece 鈥� that are a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. 

鈥淥ver the past five years I’ve been doing deep-sea research and making work around that,鈥� Droge said. 鈥淚’m now climbing out of the ocean onto the land. When researching the deep sea, I thought a lot about the metaphor of the unconscious dream state mind. My newer work will be exploring tidal marshes and rivers and become a metaphor for the liminal space between the dream world and the tangible world, the unconscious realms and the conscious, the unseen becoming visible.鈥�

Droge鈥檚 time working with scientists shows up not only in their painting, but impacts the ways that they approach the classroom and the curriculum. “To have time to really immerse myself in my research is such a gift, such an honor, and it’s such an important thing for both my practice, but also the rest of my teaching career.鈥�

Nine members of the faculty have received promotions, including seven tenure awards, effective Feb. 6. The promotions were recommended by the Faculty Personnel Committee and approved by the 乐播传媒 College Board of Trustees. 

Brett A. Huggett, who joined 乐播传媒 in 2014, has been promoted to professor of biology. Huggett, in addition to teaching courses on dendrology 鈥� or tree science 鈥� also serves the faculty liaison for women鈥檚 cross country and is the chair of the department. Huggett is often found taking his students out of the classroom in order to understand what can be learned about responses among tree species to long-term or seasonal stress factors. 

Huggett initially set out to be a jazz guitarist, earning a B.A. from Temple University in music. But when he hiked the Appalachian Trail after college graduation, he emerged with new ideas about his career. A circuitous route brought him to 乐播传媒. After working as a teacher and naturalist for the Massachusetts Audubon Society; a ranger and land manager for the town of Lincoln, Mass.; and a curatorial and lab assistant at the Harvard University Herbaria, Huggett eventually earned a master鈥檚 degree in forest biology from the University of Vermont, and a doctorate in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard.

Jakub Kazecki, who joined the 乐播传媒 faculty in 2012, has been promoted to professor of German. Kazecki teaches a range of courses from introductory language courses to seminars like 鈥淲eimar and Berlin: German Culture in European Context.鈥� In his recent First-Year Seminar, 鈥淗umor and Laughter in Literature and Visual Media,鈥� Kazecki led students to consider the uses of humor not only in texts, but also in relationships. 

His foundational research focuses on World War I military literature and the intersection of humor with serious literary genres. This work is found in his monograph Laughter in the Trenches: Humour and Front Experience in German First World War Narratives (2012). His upcoming monograph, Framing Neighbors: Poland in German Cinema after 1989, analyzes the depictions of Poland in German film, documenting the evolution from colonially-coded spaces to sites of creative hybridity. Kazecki is currently the chair of the Department of German and Russian Studies

Yunkyoung L. Garrison, who joined 乐播传媒 in 2020, was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of psychology. Garrison鈥檚 work in and out of the classroom centers on psychological well-being and vocational outcomes among people of color and immigrant and refugee communities. Garrison is a licensed psychologist, providing clinical services in the community.

In addition to her work directly linked to psychology, Garrison has worked with , a Somali woman-led organization serving Somali girls, women, and families, and other refugees in Lewiston. Along with 乐播传媒 students, Garrison and Somali community leader Fowsia Musse have created written and visual artworks, weaving in fabrics that symbolize resilience across generations and continents. This project, 鈥淜a Bogso,鈥� received the Award for Outstanding Community Project from the Harward Center in 2025. A scholar-activist, Garrison wants her research to be a 鈥渃atalyst for individual and societal change.鈥�

Lisa R. Gilson joined the 乐播传媒 faculty in 2020 and was tenured and promoted to associate professor of politics. Gilson teaches courses on social movements, Black political thought, literature and politics, and democratic theory. Her work focuses on political reaction that rejects institutional paths toward change, from abolitionist movements to contemporary far-right groups.

A political theorist, she is working on a book about the relationship between such social movements and social critics, including artists and writers, and the idea that the various political actors involved in a movement 鈥渁re each doing particular kinds of things. Each has strengths that are particular to what kind of organizing they鈥檙e doing and what kind of protest they are doing.鈥� Gilson has been published in the American Political Science Review, Political Research Quarterly, American Political Thought, and Perspectives on Politics. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Yale University, and prior to her arrival at 乐播传媒, was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard. 

Seulgie Claire Lim, who specializes in comparative politics and international relations, was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of politics. Her research focuses on gender equality; women鈥檚 political movement and participation in West Africa, specifically in Senegal; and African feminism and the interactions between politics and Islam. Lim grew up in Mauritania in West Africa, where her family moved from South Korea.

Lim received her Ph.D. in political science from Boston University with a certificate in African studies in May 2020 and began working at 乐播传媒 that fall. She has been the representative of the Emerging Scholars Network for the since 2024. Lim鈥檚 courses include 鈥淧olitics of Sub-Saharan Africa鈥� and 鈥淕ender, Power, and Politics.鈥� 

Zhenzhen Lu, scholar of Chinese literature and culture, was tenured and promoted to associate professor of Chinese. Lu鈥檚 work focuses on the practices of reading, writing, publishing, and performance in the 16th to 19th centuries. Her book, (Brill, 2025), examines a diverse body of local writings in the manuscripts of village scholars from Shandong in northern China. 

Before coming to 乐播传媒, Lu was a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures at the University of Hamburg in Germany, a visiting scholar at New York University, and a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her Ph.D. At 乐播传媒, Lu teaches a wide range of courses in Chinese language, literature, and culture.

Sarah B. Lynch, who teaches courses in classical and medieval studies and history, was tenured and promoted to associate professor. Lynch鈥檚 work focuses on the social and cultural history of the Middle Ages, particularly through the lens of medieval education, tracing the lived experiences of teachers and pupils and the impact of education on society. Lynch has published two books on this research, Elementary and Grammar Education in Late Medieval France: Lyon, 1285鈥�1530 (Amsterdam University Press, 2017) and Medieval Pedagogical Writings: An Epitome (Kismet Press, 2018).

Currently, Lynch is researching how seasonal festivals and rituals helped create, maintain, and remake communities in western Europe between the 12th and 15th centuries. Lynch joined 乐播传媒 in 2022 and teaches introductory classes on the Middle Ages, as well as classes on medieval education, magic and the supernatural in the Middle Ages, and the medieval year. 

Courtney P. Smith, who joined the faculty at 乐播传媒 in 2024, was granted tenure as an associate professor. Smith is a lighting and production manager and digital media designer, whose work spans many genres and media including live theater, dance, television, film, and events. Smith鈥檚 designs have received several awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Additionally, his work received a 鈥淒istinguished Achievement Award in Design鈥� from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Smith鈥檚 work has been seen in theaters from coast to coast and internationally, and some of his notable projects include work for Victoria鈥檚 Secret, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and window display design and fabrication for Saks Fifth Avenue.

Smith brought this experience to 乐播传媒 last fall when his course, 鈥淚ntroduction to Digital Media,鈥� cross-listed between theater and digital and computational studies, created a digital portrait of Lisbon Street dating back to the days of electric trolley cars. Fifteen students looked at the street’s rich history, diving deep into archival material at the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and the Androscoggin Historical Society. Smith was also essential in the Fall 2025 production of Metamorphoses, which was a technical feat involving filling a pool in Schaeffer Theatre. Smith is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and has an MFA in design and technology from the University of Idaho.

Mark L. Tizzoni has been awarded tenure and promotion to associate professor of classical and medieval studies and history. Tizzoni earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in medieval studies at the University of Leeds, specializing in late antique and medieval studies. Tizzoni鈥檚 teaching focuses on the history of a broader, more globally-defined Middle Ages that centers Africa in wider Mediterranean and Afro-Eurasian worlds. His course offerings consider the Mediterranean world broadly, but give particular attention to the Maghreb, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, and the Iberian peninsula.

Tizzoni鈥檚 research focuses on the transformation of the Roman world in the fifth through seventh centuries C.E. He is particularly interested in questions of identity, social cohesion, and how cultural production can be used to help understand and navigate times of drastic social change (such as those witnessed in the aftermath of the Roman Empire in North Africa). As an interdisciplinary cultural historian, Tizzoni employs late antique Latin poetry to engage with these questions, focusing on the collections that have survived from sixth-century North Africa and seventh-century Iberia. He is currently writing an open-access book with K谋smet Press entitled The Maghreb in Late Antiquity.

Before coming to 乐播传媒 in 2020, he taught pre-modern African, Iberian, and United States history at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, and worked as a professional horticulturalist in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

In 鈥淓conomic Sociology,鈥� Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology Francesco Duina presents students with a social and philosophical question. 

鈥淚 ask, 鈥楬ow many of you like a lot of inequality?鈥� Usually none of them raises their hands. But then I say, 鈥楬ow many of you would want perfect equality?鈥欌�� He shakes his head. 鈥淣obody raises their hand. They鈥檝e never thought of that.鈥� 

Duina brings questions like these to his classes, never revealing much about his beliefs because his focus is on helping students examine their own tendencies. 

鈥淪o, where are you and why? Why do you accept some degree of inequality?鈥� he asks.

Students are thus encouraged to understand or at least see their own ways of justifying the world around them, including inequalities. His most recent book has a similar aim. 

The Social Acceptance of Inequality: On the Logics of a More Unequal World (Oxford 2025), a collection that Duina co-edited with Luca Storti, an associate professor of economic sociology at the University of Turin, Italy, dives in deep on why people across the world accept economic inequalities (understood to be those related to income and wealth). The question is all the more salient because over the past several decades economic inequalities have in most cases grown a great deal. In other words, the real issue is actually not why small inequalities are accepted, but why massive amounts of inequalities are in fact accepted, and even approved of, by significant amounts of people. 

Using four logics of acceptance as a framework for the vastly different contexts across the globe from which their 19 contributors write, the book makes visible to readers the assumptions, biases, and worldviews that people bring to their thinking about inequality. 

This interview with Duina has been lightly edited for clarity and space. 

Meredith McCarroll: You write, in the introduction, that while there is a range of feelings about increased economic inequalities, the aim of the book is to focus on 鈥渢he logics by which these inequalities are accepted.鈥� How did you and your co-editor come to determine the need for this volume? 

Francesco Duina: Inequalities have gone up in most cases, and so we chose this because there’s so much written about how bad these things are and why they’re bad and what we can do about it. And there isn’t a whole lot written about why people accept them when they do. We were very eager to understand that acceptance 鈥� it is, after all, a major factor that sustains those inequalities and something that we may want to grasp if we in fact want to do something about those inequalities.  

MM: So why an edited collection? 

FD: Because matters are so complicated. If you’re really interested in the question of why economic inequalities are accepted across the world by a wide variety of people, you need extensive knowledge and expertise. No single person can have that. Who am I to write about Southeast Asia and Latin America and Scandinavia and the United States and China? We figured that if we collect various perspectives and voices, and we get a much bigger umbrella and better coverage, then we can really figure things out a little bit.

Of course, we recognize that there are works in different disciplines, such as economics or psychology, that point to single logics of acceptance. Our goal was to identify and contrast and compare all the major logics, and to see what we can conclude by doing so.  

MM: You outline in the introduction four logics of acceptance: market/economic, moral, group, and cultural. Can you briefly describe those four logics? 

FD: Sure. In a shorter piece that we are publishing about the book, by the way, we are actually calling them 鈥渏ustifications鈥� for the inequalities. The term might be a little easier to grasp than 鈥樷�渓ogics鈥� of acceptance. 

So, when it comes to market/economic logics, people accept inequalities because they believe that they are byproducts of a well-functioning economic system. Trying to eliminate inequalities would mean that wealth production overall would be reduced, investments would go to the wrong places, innovation would be discouraged, and philanthropy would suffer. Importantly, these sorts of logics do not see inequalities as desirable but as inevitable outcomes to be tolerated given what else is being promoted.

Next, we have moral logics, which are based on notions of fairness and justice. In this case, inequalities are seen as actually something that is desirable. There is something good in them. For instance, if you worked hard you deserve to have more. And of course they take different articulations, including inheritance, where one might say, 鈥淲ell, it’s my grandfather鈥檚.鈥� If asked, what does it have to do with you, we hear, 鈥淲ell, in the end, it is fair that it comes to me rather than to somebody else because I am of that lineage.鈥� 

Group logics offer a third ground for acceptance. These are the hardest to see in practice 鈥� at least in their purest form. They are predicated on the idea that a group is, by virtue of who they are and not necessarily what they have done, entitled to more. The clearest example I can think of is the caste system in India. It鈥檚 preordained religiously. So the upper caste should have more 鈥� it doesn’t matter if they sit around and just do nothing 鈥� by virtue of who they are. You see articulations of this in Scandinavia. The Danes believe they are more entitled to the welfare system than immigrants. For instance, they resist giving those immigrants many years of unemployment benefits. Why? Well, some would say that it鈥檚 鈥渂ecause we’re Danes. They’re not.鈥� Of course here many would quickly add that they have worked hard to contribute to that system 鈥� and in this regard their logic is also moral. 

Racial distinctions are also at work in group logics. Gender distinctions, age distinctions, and even class distinctions fit into this mindset. 

The fourth set of logics is cultural. In the case of the United States, for instance, the American Dream is a pervasive set of ideas that most people know about. Most of us grew up with it, and assume it is a fair description of what life in this society is like. You’re going to go from poor to rich if you do the right things. It is easy to see how someone who is born and raised in this cultural milieu might be quite likely to tolerate inequalities. Inequalities 鈥渕ake sense鈥欌�� given what Americans know about their society and world. 

MM: What is new about your volume? What contributions do you see it making to the field or beyond?

FD: Multiple perspectives and an appreciation for the fact that income and wealth inequalities manifest themselves in different settings. And that the same inequality means different things in different places, comes from different places, is or is not problematic in different ways, and is sustained in similar or different ways. Sometimes we find the same logics at work across the world. Others can be more very peculiar to a place. The collection offers an ability to see how the logics themselves compare to, and differ from, each other.

MM: What role do you hope the book might play in terms of solutions to this problem of growing inequality? 

FD: There is already so much written on solutions. We knew that if we wanted to stay consistent with the message of the book, we needed to focus on the logics. We are therefore asking whether there are things in the logics themselves that someone interested in reducing inequalities could tackle. Are there unfounded biases in the logics? Are there faulty assumptions? If the logics themselves inherently have contradictions and or faulty elements, highlighting those things could dissuade some people at least from embracing them  

MM: Are there ways that this approach shows up in your teaching? Is part of your work making the invisible visible? Just allowing students to see that this is part of what’s shaping their core understanding of inequality or fairness? 

FD: Yes. I think my role is to shed light on things. Then students can draw their own conclusions, but the light helps to dissipate the cloudiness and the fog. That’s my goal.

乐播传媒 is welcoming a large group of new faculty this year. Seventeen tenured or tenure-track professors will join the college over the course of the 2025-2026 academic year. 乐播传媒 News will introduce them in groups over this semester.  

Ifrah Shahi, assistant professor of biology

Focus of teaching and scholarship:

I will be teaching microbiology classes, and my research focuses primarily on bacteriology. In particular, my lab will be researching the bacteria Kingella kingae, which causes bone and joint infections in children. I, along with students in my lab, will be investigating how K. kingae responds to and behaves in the presence of factors it might encounter in the human body during the course of infection 鈥� factors such as components of blood and the extracellular matrix. In addition to working on these questions in the lab, students in my 鈥淟ab-Based Biological Inquiry鈥� classes will also start playing around with these ideas as part of their class research projects! 

What are you most looking forward to in the coming year at 乐播传媒?

I’m really looking forward to teaching new classes and new materials, as well as working with students in my lab and getting some fun research done. But more than that, I鈥檓 really excited about being a part of the 乐播传媒 community. Being at 乐播传媒 is a real throwback to my own time as an undergraduate in a small liberal arts New England college (Mount Holyoke College), and I鈥檓 thoroughly exhilarated about the opportunity to be for my students the same kind of a mentor that my undergraduate professors were for me.

What is your favorite part of teaching?

First and foremost, the best part about teaching is getting to meet new students 鈥� I always come out of a semester feeling invigorated by all the amazing student interactions, learning new things, and creating long-lasting connections with the students. Secondly, I always love the active part of teaching: figuring out new ways to teach science that interests, excites, and intrigues students. I am very fond of bacteria, and imparting that affection for microbes and microbial research to students is always a wonderful full-circle moment for me.

Anderson C. Moss-Weaver, assistant professor of religious studies

Focus of teaching and scholarship:

My teaching and scholarship are relatively wide. My research focuses on how 20th-century African American poets and novelists create Black religious worlds that are grounded in the creation of sacred Black collective memory and the mystical sensations and experiences of freedom. I often joke that I am really interested in how Black people imagine what liberation feels like, smells like, tastes, and sounds like. My research is partially interested in African-American uses of East and South Asian religious and philosophical thought for the purposes of thinking through liberation from unique and alternative angles apart from the standard Western canon.

Here at 乐播传媒, I鈥檓 excited to teach courses in African American religious traditions and a course on the concept of 鈥渟piritual but not religious.鈥� I also hope to develop a seminar that helps students think critically about the complex and intertwined history of American evangelicalism and Christian nationalism. Finally, I hope to integrate my passion for TTRPGs (tabletop role-playing games) and fantasy/sci-fi into a class focused on religion, worldbuilding, and speculative fiction. I hope that students can work together to build their own fantasy world while learning how authors, from J.R.R. Tolkien to Octavia Butler, created their literary worlds by drawing on mythology and religions from our own world.

What are you most looking forward to in the coming year at 乐播传媒?

You know, I went to a small liberal arts college when I was in undergrad, and I loved it whenever a professor would come to campus events and lectures; their presence really made the small college environment feel unified. So, I really look forward to doing the same for students here at 乐播传媒 College. In that sense, I鈥檓 excited to contribute to the unique intellectual and creative reciprocity between faculty, students, and staff that can be cultivated in a small college setting.

What is your favorite part of teaching?

Learning is a transformational experience; I really mean that! But that experience we call learning, genuine learning, is challenging to provoke, and I think the best way to do it is to think alongside my students. Where are they coming from? What are they bringing to the table? Excellent pedagogy requires a dedication to understanding your students’ interests, strengths, and areas where they need improvement.

When I know my students well enough, I can ask them a question in a way that I know will push them specifically to think outside their comfort zone or really boost their confidence. By getting to know my students 鈥攖hat is, by thinking and teaching alongside them 鈥� I can see those moments of learning. They’re striking. Moments that I might call epiphanic, or someone else might call a 鈥渆ureka!鈥� moment, or what most often creates the 鈥渙h wow!鈥� expression in the classroom. So, my favorite part of teaching, really, is learning.

Robin B. McDowell, assistant professor of environmental studies

Focus of teaching and scholarship:

My teaching and scholarship live at the intersections of several fields (environmental history, Black studies, and art and design) that, taken together, animate the dynamic space of environmental studies. My work explores historical dimensions of environmental racism and environmental justice for Black communities in south Louisiana, inspired by years of community organizing and work as a walking tour guide in New Orleans鈥� French Quarter. My source base is vast 鈥� archives, oral histories, earth sciences, graphic design, and multimedia art 鈥� and I try to share as much of that material as possible in my classes.This semester, I鈥檓 teaching 鈥淟ives in Place: Introduction to Environmental Humanities鈥� and 鈥淔ree The Land: Histories of Environmental Racism in the United States.鈥� We鈥檙e doing a ton of multimodal learning grounded in iterative design thinking. I can鈥檛 wait to develop new courses that convene in critical and creative studio models and collaborate with units across the college to not only talk about but practice interdisciplinary teaching.

What are you most looking forward to in the coming year at 乐播传媒?

To be honest 鈥� office hours! Since I did not come from a liberal arts undergraduate background, I am continually awestruck and invigorated by a campus culture in which professors and students form such rich relationships and really go on the college journey together. In just the first three weeks of teaching, I鈥檝e discovered that I have sailors, knitters, dancers, bird call enthusiasts, photographers, and watercolor artists in class. I am excited to learn more about the full range of activities that inspire my students.

What is your favorite part of teaching?

I love when students start to 鈥渢rust the process,鈥� engage with a method, activity, or concept that seems intimidating at first, and then completely surprise themselves! We all have ideas about our place in the world, our strengths and challenges, and the contributions we鈥檇 like to make to the world. But often, even for young people, how we approach these ideas may be shaped by a more siloed understanding of learning 鈥� and teaching!

By exposing students to a vast array of methods in an inviting classroom environment, I start to hear things like, 鈥淚 never thought of myself as a creative person, but collaging just unlocked ideas I never considered while reading the text!鈥� Whether it’s discovering a writer, thinker, or maker whose work shifts their perspectives on events in their own lives, or working on a project that unlocks a perspective they never knew they could express, students remind me to never stop approaching the world with wonder and openness.