Vassar Quarterly - Spring 2018 - 9
Vassar News President Elizabeth H. Bradley was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) this past fall. Membership is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievements and commitment to service. Bradley is highly regarded for her international leadership in health-care delivery. She has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and three books, including the acclaimed The American Health Care Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less, which she co-authored with Lauren A. Taylor. Courtesy of the Vassar Review Renewed Vassar Review Enters Third Year The original Vassar Review (VR) ran from 1927-1993, but readership dipped as other campus journals gained popularity. VR was revived three years ago and continues to publish rigorous and diverse work from emerging and acclaimed writers and artists. VR, issued each May, differs from other Vassar journals in that it seeks submissions almost exclusively from outside the college (the exception is two student pieces selected in a contest in conjunction with the Vassar Student Review). It has included work by fiction writers Lydia Davis and George Saunders, digital literature by Stuart Moulthrop, poetry by Matthew Shenoda and Dean Rader, and art by Catherine Chalmers and Rachel Hovnanian 'P18. Led by its founding editors Palak Patel '16 and Alyx Raz '16, with help from the English Department, President's Office, Dean of Faculty's Office, Special Collections, and the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, the project moved into full production during the 2015-2016 academic year. Patel and Raz have continued to assist on the project, joining the growing ranks of alumnae/i who have contributed to or worked on the journal. The journal receives hundreds of submissions for each 116-page edition, which is divided into seven sections: archives, arts, fiction, literary nonfiction, digital media, poetry, and reviews. For each section, two students and one faculty member collaborate on the editorial work. "The fact that students are such an integral part of the journal really separates us from other literary journals," says Patel. English Department Professor and Chair Mark C. Amodio says: "The opportunity the journal provides for students and faculty to engage with the creative and professional worlds of publishing is wonderful. It's an opportunity for students to start building their own professional networks. It's easy to imagine that the Review will be the jumping-off point for many exciting artistic and publishing careers." According to Raz, "Alumnae/i continue to offer their time and editorial experience, which has helped us expand our network and name internationally." So far, the Review has published 72 contributors, seven of whom have been alumnae/i. Two of its section editors, Farisa Khalid '05 and Sebastian Langdell '06, are also alums. "I'm hoping we can gain enough alumnae/i support to see this journal make more of a mark on Vassar than it already has," Raz adds. "And, personally, my dream is that in nine years we'll be celebrating its 100th anniversary." For more information or to volunteer, visit review.vassar.edu or write to vassarreview@vassar.edu. Nancy Ide, Professor of Computer Science, has received the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO) 2017 Antonio Zampolli Prize, which is awarded every three years for a "singular project or accomplishment" in the field of digital humanities. Ide is a foundational figure in the history of text encoding. Leah Isseroff Bendavid, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, was awarded a four-month Visiting Faculty Program Fellowship in the Department of Materials and Interfaces at the Weizmann Institute of Science, one of the world's leading research institutions. The institute's 250 experimental and theoretical research groups across five areas-biology, biochemistry, chemistry, mathematics and computer science, and physics-pursue advances in medicine, technology, and the environment. Professor of History Joshua Schreier's book The Merchants of Oran: A Jewish Port at the Dawn of Empire (Stanford University Press) was named a finalist for the Sephardic Culture Mimi S. Frank Award, a National Jewish Book Award. The book focuses on the history of the Algerian port city Oran and the lives of its Jewish mercantile elite during the transition to French colonial rule. VA S S A r Q U A r T E r LY 9