Ripon News

Nicholas Eastman

• Ph.D., Georgia State University
• M.A.T., Southern Illinois University
• B.A., Southern Illinois University

Julia Manor

• Ph.D., University of Minnesota
• B.A., Macalester College

I study animal cognition and neuroscience. My courses focus around these two areas as well and include: Learning and Behavior, Behavioral Neuroscience, Sensation and Perception, Drugs and Society, and Inside the Animal Mind. My lab tests a number of species including rats and dogs. We love trying to understand what animals are thinking! Outside of the college, I spend time with my own animals and enjoy performing in community theater.

Nine students, two faculty collaborate on publication about patent

Nine Ripon College students, along with Assistant Professor of Chemistry Patrick Willoughby and Associate Professor of Chemistry Joseph Scanlon, wrote about a pharmaceutical patent in the Oct. 13, 2016, issue of Tetrahedron, a leading scientific journal highlighting experimental research. The students are: Robert N. Enright ’17, Jeffrey L. “JJ” Grinde ’17, Lincoln I. Wurtz ’17, […]

Matthew Knoester

• Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Ed.M., Harvard University
• B.A., St. Olaf College

I became an educator because I find it endlessly fascinating. There are so many angles to think about teaching and education at all levels, from how to build trusting relationships with students, to thinking about ways to pursue research and inquiry with students, to analyzing educational policy. I began my career as a teacher at the high school level, then later became an elementary school teacher, then pursued a Ph.D. and became a college professor. Most of my K-12 teaching was in the Boston Public Schools. But my graduate work, research, and family connections brought me back to the midwest, and to a focus on educational research and teaching pre-service teachers. I teach courses generally focusing on literacy, elementary curricula, differentiating instruction, and educational assessment.

Fan Zhang

• Ph.D., West Virginia University
• M.B.A., West Virginia University
• M.A. in economics, West Virginia University
• M.S. in finance, West Virginia University
• B.S. in economics, Shandong University, China

New autobiography highlights alumnus’ life among Hollywood stars

After 82 successful years in the entertainment business, David Mirisch ’59 looks back on his life in his recently published autobiography The Man with The Gold Rolex — PR to the Stars. Mirsch has been close to the entertainment business since birth. His father, Irving Mirisch, was one of the Mirisch brothers, owners of The […]

Director of student activities facilitator at interfraternity conference

Sharon Jackson, director of student activities and orientation, was a facilitator for one of the 14 sessions at the Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI) earlier this month. Only about 250 fraternity and sorority life campus and headquarter professionals from around the world were selected. For 28 years, UIFI has proved an experience for collegiate fraternity and […]

Associate professors, recently graduated student publish joint paper

A collaborative paper recently was published by McKenzie Lamb, associate professor of mathematical sciences and chair of the department; Andrea Young, associate professor of mathematical sciences; and Mitchell Eithun ’17 of New London, Wisconsin. “Long-Term vs. Short-Term Strategy in the Game of Monopoly” was published in the Spring 2017 issue of UMAP Journal: the Journal […]

Al Jarreau ’62, Ripon College and Badger Boys State alumnus, to be honored at this year’s gathering

Al Jarreau ’62, who died in February, will be honored at this year’s meeting of Badger Boys State June 10-17 at Ripon College. Ripon College has been the home of Badger Boys State since it began nearly 75 years ago. Each year, approximately 870 young men from every part of Wisconsin participate in Badger Boys […]

Rebecca Matzke publishes blog post about World War I

Rebecca Matzke, associate dean for faculty development and associate professor of history, wrote a blog post that was published at “Munitions of the Mind” by the Centre for the History of War, Media and Society at the University of Kent. “Imperialists Like Us: British Pamphlet Propaganda to the USA in the Great War” can be […]

Jerry Thompson honored with commemorative brick at Selma, Alabama, museum

The Rev. Jerry Thompson, a former professor of religion and chaplain of Ripon College, has been honored with an engraved brick at the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, Alabama. The museum is creating a walkway made of bricks engraved with the names of those who played an important part in the civil […]

Social history of Byzantine law explored in alumnus’ new book

Zachary Chitwood ’06 of Berlin, Germany, has published a book with Cambridge University Press. Byzantine Legal Culture and the Roman Legal Tradition, 867-1056 examines the social history of Byzantine law, offering an introduction to one of the world’s richest yet previously understudied legal traditions. In this first study of its kind, Chitwood explores and reinterprets […]

Colucci publishes opinion pierce on counterterrorism

Following the London terror attack this summer, Associate Professor of Politics and Government Lamont Colucci published an opinion piece about the future of counterterrorism. In the USANews.com piece, Colucci argued that the only way to seriously deal with terrorism is to focus on the factors that enable terrorism. In “Time to Take Terrorism Seriously,” Colucci […]

Alumnus Todd Johnson publishes opinion piece in The Hill

“Trump’s on the hot seat now — can he handle the heat?”, an opinion piece by Todd Johnson ’94 of Allentown, Pennsylvania, was published recently on The Hill online.

Article addresses collaborative work with Associate Professor of Art Mollie Oblinger

“To the Quarry, Together,” a first-person account by poet C. Kubasta about the collaborative work between her and Ripon College Associate Professor of Art Mollie Oblinger, is featured in the Spring 2017 magazine of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters. Kubasta is the author the chapbooks, A Lovely Box and &s, and a […]

Erin Canon ’17 ‘goes for it’ – and wins pageant title

The lights flash on, the music plays, and Erin Canon ’17 glides across the stage in a black evening gown. On Feb. 11, Canon, of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, took home the title of Miss West Allis. Now she is preparing for the Miss Wisconsin Scholarship Pageant, to be held June 17 in Oshkosh. Prepping for pageants […]

Sam Sondalle ’11 publishes preview in molecular biology journal

Samuel B. Sondalle ’11 of New Haven, Connecticut, had a preview of a paper published in Cell, the most prestigious scientific journal in the area of molecular biology. It was co-written with Susan J. Baserga, Sondalle’s adviser at the Yale University School of Medicine. Sondalle credits learning how to critically review a paper in Mark […]

‘The Government Inspector’ to be presented by Ripon Summer Players June 2-4

Take one rural Russian town, add a greedy mayor, a corrupt group of officials, and one charming con man, and you have the ingredients for a classic comic romp. The Ripon Summer Players will present an updated adaptation of the play “The Government Inspector,” one of the world’s great farces, June 2-4. Show times are […]

Jacqueline Clark publishes blog about AHCA and women’s health

Jacqueline Clark, associate professor of sociology and chair of the sociology and anthropology department, had a guest blog published in Sociological Images, May 15. The title is “Why the American Health Care Act is bad for women’s health.”

Grant money received to support student travel in Germany

A total of $12,000 dollars in grant money was awarded for the Bonn Program and support for student travel to and in Germany. The Max Kade Foundation in New York awarded Bonn Program participants travel grants of $1,000 each to nine students participating in the program this spring. Six of the students are Ripon College […]