Faculty News

Wendy Kozol, Professor and Acting Director of Comparative American Studies was one of six Oberlin faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Conservatory of Music to receive a 2008-09 Oberlin Teaching Excellence Award.

The College website states that:
"Wendy Kozol excels in the role of an interdisciplinary teacher scholar. Her thoughtful and creative approaches in the classroom incite students to think critically and apply methodological rigor to topics at the rich interfaces between disciplines. She has developed a very broad range of courses-from "Picturing War" to "Visible Bodies and the Politics of Sexuality"-that share important common elements. They teach students to view the world in its full complexity, to rigorously and critically engage with important questions, and to write and communicate ideas effectively. Students comment not only on her teaching style but her accessibility and the detail of feedback she provides. Moreover, her colleagues marvel at the constant update and revision Kozol applies to her courses, making sure that readings and topics reflect new scholarship and perspectives, including her own important work on topics such as feminist theories, visual cultural studies, and human rights activism. Her dedication ensures an exciting, up to date set of courses that enriches student learning each year."

PABLO MITCHEL named Emerging Scholar of the Year for 2008 from Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine.

http://www.oberlin.edu/news-info/08jan/pablomitchell.html

Awarded the 2007 Ray Allen Billington Prize by the Organization of American Historians for his book Coyote Nation

The Ray Allen Billington Prize is given biennially by the Organization of American His

torians for the best book in American frontier history, defined broadly so as to include the pioneer periods of all geographical areas and comparisons between American frontiers and others. First given in 1981, this prize honors Ray Allen Billington, OAH President 1962-1963.

PAWAN DHINGRA received the "Early Career Award" from the American Sociological Association's section on Asia and Asian America, in 2009. It recognizes "a scholar in the early stage of her/his career (no more than 10 years post Ph.D. award date) and who is conducting exemplary research on the sociology of Asia or Asian American communities."

He also guest edited a special issue of the Journal of Asian American Studies (v. 12, n. 3. 2009) on Asian American studies in the Midwest. In this issue he also contributed the "Introduction to the Special Issue" and an article, "The Possibility of Community: How Indian American Motel Owners Negotiate Competition and Solidarity."

Pawan Dhingra's book, Managing Multicultural Lives: Asian American Professionals and the Challenge of Multiple Identities, won Honorable Mention for the Association of Asian American Studies 2007 Social Science Book Award.

He is working on two book projects. One is a monograph on Asian Indian motel owners, predominantly in Ohio. The second is a solicited textbook for Polity Press, The Sociology of Asian Americans.