At the age of 83, Art Abt ’55 still is going strong as a 24-year volunteer at the Chicago Botanic Garden. He has logged more than 12,000 hours volunteering there over the years. He says would not have guessed earlier in his life that he would be dedicating this much time to volunteering, but he […]
I received my undergraduate degree in Physics in 2002 at Doane College in Crete, NE, which is a school very similar to Ripon. After graduating I continued studying physics and received my Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2007. After completing my Ph.D. I joined the group of Nobel prize winner Prof. Ahmed Zewail at Caltech as a postdoctoral researcher where I worked on developing ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM) techniques. Over the last 10 years or so that I have been a professor, I have taught most courses that are offered at the undergraduate level, with one of my favorites being Quantum Mechanics. Outside the classroom I strive to create opportunities for students and have worked with ~30 paid undergraduate summer researchers on a variety of projects. My research primarily focuses on studying the fundamental quantum properties of electrons/light interactions.
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 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, […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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, 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, 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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.
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]