Scholarly Activities - May 2009
Dr. Jack Sullivan, professor of English and American Studies, appears on documentary special features for the following new Alfred Hitchcock DVDs: Rebecca (newly released by MGM), Vertigo (Universal), Rear Window (Universal) and Psycho (Universal). In addition, the paperback version of Sullivan’s book Hitchcock’s Music was cited as one of the Best Paperbacks of the Year by the London Financial Times.
Sullivan will also deliver a pre-concert talk on Mozart’s Requiem and Poulenc’s Gloria at the Spoleto USA Festival on June 4, and has been asked to write the program notes for all Spoleto’s symphonic concerts, as well as for Carnegie Hall’s Stagebill to accompany a series of contemporary music concerts beginning on June 13.
Dr. Deborah M. Rosenthal, professor of Fine Arts, is featured along with her husband, renowned art critic Jed Perl of The New Republic, in the April 2009 edition of Yale Review. The journal – the nation’s oldest literary quarterly – includes 10 pages of their collaborative book project entitled About Borromini, inspired by the Baroque architect Francesco Borromini (1599-1667). The feature includes five of Rosenthal’s prints, along with five accompanying texts by Perl. “This project, which has been great fun, was supported by Rider in a number of ways,” said Rosenthal of the collaboration. “I went to the American Academy during a sabbatical leave, and the project has been funded twice by Summer Research Fellowships. I am very grateful to Rider for all this.”
Dr. James Ottavio Castagnera, associate provost, had his latest book, Al-Qaeda Goes to College: The Impact of the War on Terror on American Higher Education, published by Greenwood Press. This volume is the first book-length treatment of how the 9/11 attacks and the American political scene afterward have affected higher education in this country. It covers topics such as the roles of universities in training counter-terrorism experts, particularly anthropologists working in Iraq and Afghanistan; bio-terrorism research on campuses; inflammatory critiques by such academics as former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill; the conspiracy theories advocated by some academics regarding 9/11; and lawsuits against universities by terror victims trying to get settlements from countries like Iran by seizing archaeological artifacts in American universities.
