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The College of Arts & Sciences
<p>Professor Emeritus Brian Tierney, who taught medieval history at Cornell for 33 years and was recognized as a leading authority on medieval church law and political thought, died Nov. 30 in Syracuse. He was 97.</p><p>Tierney taught in the Department of History from 1959 until his retirement in 1992 as the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies.</p>
Studies exploring the effects of disadvantaged neighborhoods, a reimagined school recess and customized avatars were among a slate of faculty projects receiving grants this fall from the Cornell Center for Social Sciences (CCSS).
<p>Isaac Kramnick, the Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government Emeritus, a renowned scholar of English and American political thought and history, and a longtime champion of undergraduate education, died Dec. 21 in New York City. Kramnick was 81.</p><p>Cornell President Martha E. Pollack said Kramnick was “a beloved Cornellian; a teacher and leader who, in his time at Cornell, touched the lives of generations of students, faculty and staff.”</p>
Six of the world’s most promising early-career scholars will pursue leading-edge research projects across the sciences, social sciences and humanities during three-year terms.
<p><a href="https://history.cornell.edu/maria-cristina-garcia">Maria Cristina Garcia</a>, the Howard A. Newman Professor of American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, and <a href="https://www.human.cornell.edu/people/alb325">Anthony Burrow</a>, associate professor of human development in the College of Human Ecology, have won the inaugural Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching and Service Through Diversity.</p>
<p>When Mary Fessenden, <a href="https://cinema.cornell.edu/">Cornell Cinema</a> director, sits down to think about what films to show each semester, she has lots of movies in mind, but she also works closely with professors to find ties to the classes they’re offering.</p>
<p>With the recent emergence of the coronavirus from China’s Hubei province, another “virus” has the potential to spread, a Cornell faculty member said Tuesday at a wide-ranging panel discussion on the outbreak.</p>
The book is the first in-depth recounting of 1774 as a critical “long year” for revolutionary change.
<p>What impact does weather have on Mexican migrants’ decisions and routes? What is the connection between contemporary human migrations and the forced migration of the African slave trade?</p><p>Can we relocate a sinking city to become a new political crossroads and hub of biocultural diversity? And how are emerging diseases like COVID-19 related to the increasingly mobile practices of humans and animals?</p>
<p>Climate change, school segregation and online interaction are among the topics to be investigated by the <a href="http://socialsciences.cornell.edu/">Cornell Center for Social Sciences</a>’ newest group of faculty fellows.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cornell students who carefully followed President Donald J. Trump’s impeachment can now take a course on the subject matter starting in the fall. The course, taught by Joseph Margulies, a professor of government and law, and Edward Baptist, professor of history, will look at the politics and history of impeachment in the United States.</p>
<p>You’ve been working on your dissertation for what seems like forever, doing research abroad when you’re not teaching or holed up in the library, and making great progress – until one day, the library is closed indefinitely with your books still inside.</p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic in the United States has reignited long-standing debates about the relationship between freedom and economic and personal security, <a href="https://history.cornell.edu/lawrence-b-glickman">Lawrence Glickman</a>, professor of history and American studies, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/conservative-campaign-security/608986/">writes in The Atlantic</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in major cities across the country in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. Abe asked people to refrain from going outside in Tokyo and six other prefectures worst hit by coronavirus.</p><p></p>
<p><a href="https://history.cornell.edu/aaron-sachs">Aaron Sachs</a>, professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, nearly dropped out of graduate school because he found the assigned reading lifeless.</p>
<p>On Monday, President Trump said in a tweet that he would sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration to the United States in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. The executive order is anticipated to include halting new green cards and work visas.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://history.cornell.edu/margaret-washington">Margaret Washington</a>, the Marie Underhill Noll Professor of American History, was recently featured in the History Channel documentary “Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution,” and will appear in a CNN program focusing on women’s history. </p>
<p>Historian <a href="https://history.cornell.edu/lawrence-b-glickman">Lawrence Glickman</a> says the simultaneous public health disaster and economic meltdown may lead us to rethink the country’s values. However, “given … how rare it is for fundamental transformations to happen, my money would be on this pandemic not fundamentally altering our basic structures of society,” he says.</p>
The students come from three colleges and are majoring in 20 different disciplines.
<h3> Jesus Perez<br /> Economics & History<br /> Nacogdoches, TX</h3><p> <strong>What are the most valuable skills you gained from your Arts & Sciences education?</strong></p>
<h3> Ryan Musto<br /> Near Eastern studies & history<br /> New Canaan, CT</h3><p> <strong>Why did you choose Cornell?</strong></p>
<p> Historian <a href="https://history.cornell.edu/barry-stuart-strauss">Barry Strauss</a>, who specializes in ancient and military history, notes that plagues and epidemics have often been linked to wars. The current pandemic will accelerate the use of computer models and big data in the field of history; however, he says, COVID-19 has taught us that models are only as good as the assumptions on which they’re based.</p>
<p> Aparajita Majumdar, Ph.D. candidate in the field of history, spent six hours last summer hiking through the Khasi hills of eastern India to find one of the region’s famed living root bridges.</p><p> Ana Ozaki, Ph.D. candidate in the field of history of architecture and urban development, befriended her cab driver in Maputo, Mozambique, while investigating how race and climate meet in that country’s architecture.</p>
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<p> As a first-generation college student whose family – refugees from Indonesia – arrived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, when he was only a year old, Malikul Muhamad ’20 credits his teachers and professors with helping him chart a successful course through uncertainty and new experiences.</p>