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Faculty Fellows

The Martin Institute for Law & Society is set to launch a two-year study of globalization next fall. Integral to this study will be the work of the MI Faculty Fellows.  After soliciting nominations and consulting with the Martin Faculty Steering Committee and Office of Academic Affairs, it is my pleasure to announce the appointment of the first Martin Institute Faculty Fellows:

Scott Cohen, Assistant Professor of twentieth-century British and postcolonial literatures.  He received his M.A. from The Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia .  He regularly teaches courses in postcolonial cultural studies, world Anglophone literatures, and the cultures of globalization. He has recently published articles in the minnesota review, Modern Fiction Studies, Novel:  A Forum on Fiction, and Conradiana on globalization and literary modernism and empire.  Professor Cohen is currently finishing a book, In the Crosscurrents of Empire, which emphasizes the modern novel’s global dimensions and challenges the longstanding critical tendency to see literary modernism as a metropolitan and western cultural formation.  Among his services to the college has been his coordination of the Global Film Series. Over the past three semesters this series has featured more than two dozen films from around the world addressing the dynamics of globalization, from the musical drama of Bollywood to documentary films about the effects of transnationalism.

Claus Dierksmeier, Associate Professor of Philosophy.  He received a MA and PhD from the University of Hamburg in Philosophy, Systematic Theology, and Public Law, as well as a Dr. habil in Philosophy from the University of Jena .  Previously an Assistant Professor at the University of Jena and Visiting Professor in Spain, Uruguay and Argentina, his main areas of research are (systematically) the philosophy of economics, law and religion and (historically) the philosophies of freedom of the 19th and 20th century. He has published and edited several books on Kant, German Idealism, and practical philosophy as well as numerous articles. Currently his main area of research is the systematic relevance of the idea of freedom for the philosophy of economics and politics. Professor Dierksmeier is writing a book on how to approach the problems of globalization ethics from a concept of “qualitative freedom” that supports sustainability, social justice and structures of global governance. In addition, he actively supports the  “Global Marshall Plan Initiative” that promotes the UN Millennium Goals, and, continuing many years of social service in political and non-governmental institutions in Germany, he writes for Stiftung zum Schutze der Rechte zukünftiger Generationen (Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations).

Anna Ohanyan, Assistant Professor of Political Science. She received her doctorate in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2004. She has been the recipient of research awards from the Eurasia Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, and the Global Affairs Institute at Syracuse University , among others. Prior to joining Stonehill she was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Intrastate Conflict Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University . She is the author of the forthcoming book Policy Wars for Peace: NGO, IGOs and the Network Mechanism of Post-Conflict Governance as well as many articles in academic journals and policy reports on issues of global governance and international conflict management. Concurrent with her research and teaching, Professor Ohanyan has also worked as a consultant for the United Nations Foundation, the World Bank, the U.S. State Department, National Intelligence Council Project at Maryland University , the Carter Center , and USAID, among others. Through these appointments she has been engaged in Northern Ireland , the Balkans, and the South Caucasus .

Robert Rosenthal, Professor of Economics.  He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University has held appointments as Associate Professor in a Boston University overseas graduate program with assignments in London, Germany, Belgium, Malaysia, Israel, and Bermuda. He has been the recipient of two Fulbright Group Travel Grants – one for six weeks in Morocco (1991) and the other more recently (2006) for four weeks in China . He is currently offering an interdisciplinary course this Spring stemming from this experience entitled “ China ’s Economic Miracle: A Closer Look”.  Professor Rosenthal’s most recent research interests are in the area of forensic economics. He has gained a reputation as an effective expert witness in matters pertaining to economic losses including cases such as: wrongful death, catastrophic injury, racial and gender discrimination and other employment contract violations. He also provided consulting services on a pro bono basis for families impacted by 9/11. Professor Rosenthal authored “Economics and Crime”, a chapter published in Understanding Crime: A Multidisciplinary Approach, by Susan Guarino-Ghezzi and A. Javier Trevino. He has had opinion editorial pieces published in numerous newspapers including The Chicago Tribune, Providence Journal, Christian Science Monitor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Herald, The Detroit News and the San Diego Union Tribune.

Finally, in collaboration with the Committee on Catholic Studies and the Office of Academic Affairs, The Martin Institute is pleased to announce Vice President Katie Conboy’s appointment of the first Martin Fellow in Catholic Studies.

George Piggford, C.S.C., Assistant Professor of English.  He received a B.A. and M.A. from Duquesne University , a M.Div from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. from the University of Montreal .  His work on the Bloomsbury Group has appeared in Mosaic, The Charleston Magazine, and in Queer Forster, which he co-edited with Robert K. Martin ( Chicago , 1997). He edited Forster’s “The Feminine Note in Literature” for the Bloomsbury Heritage series (Cecil Woolf, 2001).  Essays on contemporary literature can be found in Modern Drama, English Studies in Canada, and Cultural Critique.  Most recently his “Grace and Extravagance in Mark Doty’s Elegies” appeared in The Strategic Smorgasbord of Postmodernity (Cambridge Scholars, 2007). At Stonehill he works on literary modernism, critical theory, ethics, and mysticism.  His current research interests include E.M. Forster and the religions of India , and Evelyn Waugh and aesthetic theory.  He is currently drafting a book-length study on Flannery O'Connor's fiction and global mystical traditions.

I want to thank the Faculty Steering Committee for their assistance in these appointments: Chris Ives, Religious Studies, Keri Iyall Smith, Sociology, Sharon Raymos Goyette, Biology, and Jennifer Swanson, Business Administration.  I am looking forward to working with the Fellows and all members of the Stonehill community as we begin our two year study of globalization next fall. 

Best regards,

Peter Ubertaccio

Director of the Martin Institute