Adam Rozan ‘01 received a 2025 Smithsonian Education Achievement Award, which recognizes an individual employee’s “consistent and outstanding performance in education.”

Rozan, a staff member for the , was nominated for the annual honor based in part on the overwhelming success of the Smithsonian’s Staff Learning Series he developed and continues to lead.

The online lecture and discussion series invites experts from a range of industries and locations to provide professional development opportunities for all Smithsonian employees.

Recent speakers have been experts from OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta’s Facebook, the U.S. Census Bureau – even graphic designers and museum curators from Philadelphia and Virginia working on programs tied to the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary – all of whom discussed trends and audience engagement strategies.

The goal of the series: “To better support staff so they can better serve the public.”

“That’s what I love about this,” Rozan said. “It informs those who are already doing good work. It’s humbling for me to be recognized for trying to make an even better community of peers. That’s what my project is all about.”

Since 2022, Rozan has organized over 50 presentations, attracting more than 100 staff members per session and reaching 1,700 attendees in 2024 alone. The Smithsonian Institution comprises 21 museums, 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

“Adam’s ability to connect with noteworthy speakers and identify resonant topics has enriched our community with new ideas and diverse perspectives,” Monique M. Chism, the Smithsonian’s Under Secretary for Education, wrote when announcing the annual awards.

Rozan graduated from ������Ƶ in 2001 with a degree in studio art. He launched his career with Boston’s Museum of Science and has since served institutions such as the Worcester Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, Harvard Art Museums and the Boston Children’s Museum.

Rozan was named to the 2023 BlooLoop Power 10 Museum Influencers list, a top honor for those in the field.

The events, initiatives and workshops funded through Fund For Excellence mini grants will strengthen community outreach, promote deeper understanding of historical and contemporary issues, and support scholarship or enhance existing programs.

The Fund for Excellence advances ������Ƶ’s mission by supporting projects and programs that deepen the values, intellectual community, research, teaching and ways of thinking that are characteristic of the liberal arts and sciences. Faculty, staff and students are eligible to apply for funding, and proposals can be departmental or organizational, as well as interdisciplinary or collaborative across departments, schools and other campus entities.

“The purpose of the Fund for Excellence in the Liberal Arts and Sciences is to support projects that enhance student opportunities to engage with academic exploration, to deepen knowledge in the arts and sciences, and to broaden their perspectives as they prepare to become global citizens. These initiatives meet that mission,” said Nancy Harris, associate dean of ������Ƶ College and professor of biology, who coordinates the fund through the ������Ƶ College Dean’s Office. “The variety, scope and number of proposals submitted this year reflect the collaborative and innovative approaches to the liberal arts and sciences across ������Ƶ’s faculty, staff and students.”

A record 16 proposals were submitted in spring 2024. Each year, recipients are selected by a committee appointed by the president of ������Ƶ’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. This year’s committee members were Harris; Heather Lindenman, associate professor of English; Patricia Perkins, associate professor of law; Shannon Tennant, coordinator of library collections and associate librarian; and Karen Yokley, professor of mathematics.

Projects awarded funding for 2024-25 included:

STEM Saturday at ������Ƶ

An outreach program for students in the Alamance-Burlington School System to explore studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at ������Ƶ. The event is led by students in ������Ƶ’s STEM clubs.

• Submitted by Anthony Rizutto, associate professor of , and Ahlam Armaly, assistant professor of chemistry.

Making the Invisible Visible: German-Jewish Migration from Nazi Germany to Latin America

Brings scholar Bjorn Siegel, a researcher at the Institute for the History of the German Jews in Hamburg, to ������Ƶ to meet with ������Ƶ classes and deliver his presentation, “Making the Invisible Visible: German-Jewish Migration from Nazi Germany to Latin America,” aligning with curricula in the Latin American Studies, Jewish Studies, International and Global Studies and Museum Studies and Public History programs.

• Submitted by Andrea Sinn, associate professor of history, and Juan Leal Ugalde, assistant professor of Spanish.

Creative Approaches to Complex Pasts

This project will create a dance film based on one of 10 episodes in ������Ƶ’s 2020 Report from the Committee on ������Ƶ History and Memory. Assistant Professor of Dance Keshia Wall will choreograph and direct the film. The spring 2025 screening will be accompanied by a panel discussion including partners and community members.

• Submitted by Keshia Wall, assistant professor of dance; Buffie Longmire-Avital, professor of psychology, faculty administrative fellow, and director of the Black Lumen Project; Evan Gatti, professor of art history; and Amanda Laury Kleintop, assistant professor of history.

African Diasporas in North Carolina: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Understanding the History & Legacies of Enslavement

Provides three opportunities for the ������Ƶ community to engage with the history of slavery and the African diaspora in North Carolina during Winter Term. Those include a screening and panel discussion of the documentary “Talking Black in America: Roots,” and visits to the Stagville State Historic Site and Burlington’s African American Cultural Arts and History Center.

• Submitted by Amanda Laury Kleintop, assistant professor of history; Archie Crowley, assistant professor of English; Erin Pearson, assistant professor of English; Keshia Wall, assistant professor of dance; Devin Proctor, assistant professor of anthropology.

Cinematic Bridges

In association with the Global Film and Cultures Minor, this project will bring two international films to campus for discussion; invite screenwriter, filmmaker and co-creator of the Slamdance Film Festival, Dan Mirvish, to ������Ƶ as a guest speaker; and include a pre-recorded interview with Phylicia Pearl Mpasi ’15, a star of “The Color Purple,” to accompany that film’s screening.

• Submitted by Kai Swanson, assistant professor of cinema and television arts, and Lina Kuhn, lecturer in English.

Equipping the EcoVillage LLC

This project will provide workshops and guest speakers to lead events at the EcoVillage in its first year, including topics in Afro-Caribbean herbalism, nature drawing and environmental justice.

• Submitted by Jacob Rutz, lecturer in environmental studies; Michael Strickland, lecturer in English and environmental studies; and Ashley Hollan, visiting assistant professor in arts administration.

Alumni Voices: Conversations with Political Insiders on the 2024 Election

This series of events will bring alumni to campus who are working in policy, politics and journalism ahead of the November elections. They include an investigative reporter covering campaign fraud, an advance manager for a governor and a state political director for a presidential campaign who will share their experiences with campus audiences.

• Submitted by Jillian Auditori, lecturer in political science and policy studies, and Israel Balderas, assistant professor of journalism.

Engineering Takes Center Stage: Bridging the Arts and Sciences

An interdisciplinary project between ������Ƶ’s Departments of Engineering and Department of Performing Arts for engineering students to program the choreography and design artificial fur for two robot dogs that will perform in scenes of “Legally Blonde: The Musical.”

• Submitted by Courtney Liu, assistant professor of music theatre, and Blake Hament, assistant professor of engineering.

Celebration and Appreciation of Holi

������Ƶ’s Periclean Scholars will enhance the annual Holi event hosted by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life in March 2025 by adding traditional music, dance, decoration, Indian food, and cultural crafts like henna.

• Submitted by the Periclean Class of 2026

Stories Beyond Borders

Lula Carballo, a Québécois author of Spanish American descent and Emilie Guerette, a Québécois film director, will visit ������Ƶ for guest lectures, readings and a film screening. Their appearances will provide students’ deeper understanding of issues around immigration from their lived experiences and creative works.

• Submitted by Bethany Sudibyo, lecturer in Spanish, Ketevan Kupatadze, senior lecturer in Spanish, and Olivia Choplin, associate professor of French and interim director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.

Climate, Communities and Conversations

Expands the Highway 64 Project, which covers communities across the state, to include issues of climate change and resiliency in North Carolina. It also would connect ������Ƶ to communities by hosting virtual roundtable discussions and bringing expert speakers to campus for workshops and lectures.

• Submitted by Michael Strickland, lecturer in English and environmental studies.

Campus Sustainability Week Keynote Speaker

This initiative brings attorney and author Corban Addison to ������Ƶ and ������Ƶ Law as the keynote speaker of Campus Sustainability Week and to meet with students, faculty and staff. Addison is the author of the international bestseller, “Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial,” which tells the story of an eastern North Carolina community’s legal battle for environmental justice against a company in the hog industry.

• Submitted by Kelly Harer, associate director of sustainability for education and outreach, and Eric Townsend, assistant vice president for academic communications.

Analogue Experience in a Digital Age

Develops a philosophy and film course that integrates analog films and student filmmaking into an interdisciplinary study of philosophy. The course would culminate in a symposium and screening.

• Submitted by Nathan L. Smith, assistant professor of philosophy, and Stephen Bloch-Schulman, professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy.

Fifteen rising juniors at ������Ƶ have been selected to receive the 2024 Lumen Prize, the university’s premier undergraduate research award that includes a $20,000 scholarship to support and celebrate their academic achievements and research proposals.

Lumen Scholars will work closely with their mentors during the next two years to pursue and complete their projects. Efforts traditionally include coursework, study abroad, research both on and off campus, internships locally and overseas, program development, and creative productions and performances.

The name for the Lumen Prize comes from ������Ƶ’s historic motto, “Numen Lumen,” which are Latin words meaning “spiritual light” and “intellectual light.” The words, which are found on the ������Ƶ seal, signify the highest purposes of an ������Ƶ education.

2024 Lumen Prize Winners

Lillian Argabrite

• Biology
  • “The Impact of the Cystic Fibrosis Microenvironment on Pathogenic Bacterial Interactions”

Mentors: Tonya Train and Eryn Bernardy

Jo Bogart

• Creative Writing
  • “Dux Femina Facti: Feminist Translation and Re-Vision of Vergil’s Aeneid”

Mentors: Margaret Chapman and Kristina Meinking

Rony Dahdal

• Computer Science
  • “Contactless and Diagnostic Multi-Target Vital Sign Detection Using LiDAR and Deep Learning”

Mentor: Ryan Mattfeld

Kelly Donovan                                                  

• Applied Mathematics
  • “Novel Deep-Sea Coral Imputation Methods: Mathematically Filling in Missing Data to Further Coral Conservation”

Mentor: Nicholas Bussberg

Mira Fitch

• Political Science
  • “Judicial Partisan Influence on Juvenile Transfer: A County-Level Analysis in North Carolina”

Mentor: Jessica Carew

Kelsey Golden

• Art History & History
  • “New Crusaders, Old Problems: Interrogating the Use of Medieval Imagery in Contemporary Contexts”

Mentors: Evan Gatti and Lynn Huber

Madeline Hewgley

• Political Science
  • “Bullets & Bills: An Exploration of the Pattern of Policy Diffusion & Subsequent Proliferation of Second Amendment Preservation Acts at the State Level”

Mentor: Dillon Bono-Lunn

Jacob Karty

• Engineering
  • “Lensfree Holographic Imaging and Machine Learning to Protect Freshwater Resources”

Mentor: Jonathan Su

Niara Legette

• Public Health
  • Shades of Health: Exploring Colorism, Albinism, and Maternal Health Inequities

Mentor: Yanica Faustin

Rebecca Lovasco

• Psychology
  • Unraveling Neurocognitive Biases in Depression and Anxiety: An EEG Study on Reinforcement Learning and Conscious Visual Perception

Mentor: Kristina Krasich

Mallory Otten

• Public Health
  • “When Gender Matters: The Impact of Attractiveness and Sexual Orientation on Perceptions of Male and Female Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators”

Mentor: Rena Zito

Natalie Peeples

• Psychology
  • “Early Childhood Well-Being as it is Expressed through Outdoor Play: A Cultural Comparison between Denmark and the U.S.”

Mentor: Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler

Grace Rasmussen

• Elementary education
  • “Reviving Dewey, Froebel, and Montessori: Two National Studies on Progressive Education and School Gardens”

Mentor: Scott Morrison

Lila Snodgrass

• Dance Performance & Choreography
  • “Knot Theory and Parallel Process in Mathematics and Dance”

Mentor: Nancy Scherich

Athena Vizuete

• History
  • “Enslaved Labor to Black Free Wage Labor in Postbellum North Carolina”

Mentor: Amanda Kleintop

Madeleine Hollenbeck ’24 spent the fall semester curating the pieces on display in the pavilion’s first floor hallway to represent Christian, Jewish, Muslim, West African and Buddhist traditions. Pages from medieval missals, a shofar and menorah, a Qur’an, prayer beads and figures of deities from Hindu and African religions: What meanings do they confer on their own, and what messages do they transmit when juxtaposed with each other?

Hollenbeck asked students, faculty and staff to weigh in on those ideas and to share personal experiences with objects in the cases. A QR code included in the exhibit takes users to an online survey asking about their religious background and experience with ritual art as well as suggestions, questions or observations. That feedback — including comments received over J-term — will guide the exhibit’s final curation before a spring opening event.

“This exhibit is a continuous process, so while I will officially open it in the spring as a culmination of my project, I will still be accepting feedback and adjusting things in the exhibit as I learn more,” she said.

Hollenbeck is curating the exhibit as her two-year research project in the ������Ƶ College Fellows program. With her mentor, Professor of Art History Evan Gatti, she’s spent hours considering what each piece represents, digging into the history of their origins and understanding their context within faith traditions.

The project began when Hillary Zaken, interim assistant dean for multifaith engagement, saw an opportunity around the Truitt Center’s 10th anniversary to use the art cases in Numen Lumen Pavilion to create multifaith dialogue. Zaken wanted to employ artworks from the ������Ƶ Collection — and others available through faculty, staff and private sources — “to inform the community about religious and spiritual identities and traditions, challenge them to think critically, and provide creative ways to engage with the work the Truitt Center does.”

Zaken contacted Gatti and Coordinator of the University Art Collection Ethan Moore. Gatti was already working with Hollenbeck — an art history and arts administration double major from Romansville, Pennsylvania — to identify a space to curate and exhibit historical and significant artworks.

Hollenbeck leapt at the opportunity, expanding her initial focus on Italian Judeo-Christian artwork to incorporate artifacts from other faith traditions loaned by chaplains in Religious and Spiritual Life, ������Ƶ’s Hillel, Gatti, the Cowan Family and the university’s collections.

It’s already having the intended effect, Zaken said. Students and faculty visiting the sacred space or with Truitt Center staff frequently stop to explore pieces in the case and strike up conversation.

Hollenbeck recently added QR codes linking to videos of the items in use and to more information about their context within religious rites and rituals to drive engagement. She was inspired by her research in New York City and Florence, Italy — particularly at the , which houses many of the original works of Florence Cathedral. The museum uses links, videos and interactive features to engage patrons with artworks and themes.

“I was paying attention to how museums displayed religious art and was interested in ways of reanimating that art and bringing it back to its original context using multi-sensory aesthetics,” Hollenbeck said. “I want to provoke the conscious and unconscious experience of viewing art in a museum by incorporating light and sound instead of just static pieces.”

These are aspects she and Gatti have spent long hours contemplating and discussing, along with the significance of displaying the items together while remaining sensitive to each tradition represented.

Hollenbeck will continue to tweak the display into the spring based on campus feedback. She is also working on a paper about the project which she plans to present at conferences this spring.

“I was nervous to undergo such a long research project at first, but it has been such a wonderful process,” Hollenbeck said. “I realized through this that I want to continue conducting research, which is why I’ve been applying to art history graduate programs.”

Working closely with Gatti in this and other projects has broadened her horizons. She appreciates Gatti’s curiosity and attention, noting that her mentor often connects her with students and faculty whose perspectives are valuable to her research. Gatti also supported her study abroad experience in Florence, an internship in Sorrento, Italy, and her ongoing graduate school application process.

“Dr. Gatti has helped me explore the discipline of art history far beyond my comfort zone, and I can confidently say that some of my formative ������Ƶ experiences were largely influenced by her,” Hollenbeck said.

The ������Ƶ College Fellows is a four-year academic and professional program that explores the breadth, depth and connections within the arts and sciences. The program includes seminar courses and activities that form a community of learners and culminates in a two-year research project closely mentored by a faculty member in ������Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences. College Fellows receive annual scholarships, a one-time travel grant to support study abroad, and research funding as part of the experience.

On Oct. 12, Daw joined a panel of art professors from an array of higher education institutions to discuss the intersection of technology and contemporary painting. His presentation included research topics such as Jean-Francois Lyotard’s “Differend” and concepts of the post-modern sublime as described by Thomas Weiskel and later by Jeremy Gilbert Rolfe. To conclude his presentation, Daw made connections between these research topics and his own studio work.

SECAC is a nonprofit organization that promotes the study and practice of the visual arts in higher education on a national basis. SECAC facilitates cooperation and fosters ongoing dialog about pertinent creative, scholarly and educational issues among teachers and administrators in universities, colleges, community colleges, professional art schools, and museums, and among independent artists and scholars.

Likely made two hundred years earlier as part of a pair of boxes, the small ivory box (about the size of a shoebox) was later encased in a golden skeleton inlaid with precious gems. The box is decorated with the 12 signs of the zodiac, carved in niches above the heads of the 11 Apostles and Jesus Christ. The place of the creation of the box, its original function and its reuse across generations remain contested.

In the book chapter, and , who have both published on the box independently, come together to discuss the dynamic and interconnected contexts across the box’s long history: from its construction and first uses in the Early and High Middle Ages, through the town’s appropriation and the Abbey Church’s reconsecration by the Nazis during WWII, the theft of items from the church treasury by a U.S. soldier after the war, and the church and town’s designation as in recently re-unified Germany.

“I really credit the inspiration behind this book to my classes,” said Tucker. “I am truly so grateful to be at ������Ƶ. I have gotten so much interaction and feedback from my students that really made this whole process worth it that much more.”

“” was published on April 2, 2022. The work explores the harm and benefit that laughter can bring into the world and cites television shows such as “Malcolm in the Middle,” and “M*A*S*H,” insights by neuroscientists, philosophers, painters, social and political scientists, and ideas from people like C. S. Lewis, Sigmund Freud, Brene Brown, Tiffany Haddish, and Hannah Gadsby.

One of Tucker’s favorite chapters was centered around an episode of “Malcolm in the Middle” when the characters visited the infamous Burning Man festival.

“This chapter got a lot into the ethics of laughter, and the importance of dark humor,” said Tucker. “It’s not always bad, but there really is a time and a place for that kind of humor.”

The book is divided into three sections that attempt to answer the titular question; “No,” “Maybe,” and “Yes.” The “No” section explores the ethics and negative effects of laughter, such as laughing at the expense of others or laughing at inappropriate times. The “Maybe” section tackles the ambiguity of laughter, and the “Yes” section demonstrates the warmth, activism, and healing that laughter can bring.

This is Tucker’s fourth published book. His first book, “The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook,” explored the appearance of the seven deadly sins in sources throughout history. His second scholarly book, “Pride and Humility: A New Interdisciplinary Analysis” presented an innovative examination of the nature of pride and humility. Tucker’s third book “Humility: A Practical Approach,” connected themes of humility, humor, and humiliation. “Can Laughter Make the World a Better Place?” was Tucker’s first publication that was directed toward a general audience. Tucker credits his writing inspiration to Lawrence Wright, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who visited ������Ƶ in 2018.

“I didn’t realize until I started writing this book how different it was to write for a general audience as opposed to writing for scholars,” said Tucker. “Wright gave me so much insight into how to write for a general audience and that was such a beneficial lecture.”

While the book does not definitively answer the titular question, Tucker provides his audiences with a variety of solutions that they can take moving forward to answer the question for themselves. “I really want people to see that there is real variety in laughter,” Tucker said.

Both Mock and Morrison have worked with Lynn R. Huber, Maude Sharpe Powell Professor of Religious Studies. Associate Professor in Art History Evan Gatti has also mentored Mock, and Morrison has worked with Lauren Guilmette, assistant professor in philosophy. Morrison has also been a Summer Research Fellow with ������Ƶ’s Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society.

Mock’s paper is titled “Queering Ancient Sex Objects: Reading Representations of the Prostitute in Classical Greece.” In it she asks how the misuse of objects depicted in symposium scenes on classical Greek pottery help interpreters think about the human figures, mostly prostitutes, as queer. Mock, who graduated from ������Ƶ with a bachelor’s in art history, is currently applying to graduate programs to continue studying art history.

Morrison’s paper, “Apprehending the Goddess: Cybele’s Transition to Romanhood,” is part of their Honors thesis research. Morrison uses “critical fabulation,” an idea articulated by author Saidiya Hartman, to explore the trans-identity of the ancient goddess Cybele, as well as to interrogate historical re-tellings of queer figures.

This gathers together some of the field’s most prominent scholars in queer and trans studies of religion, as well as provides a generative space for emerging scholarly voices.

It first critically examines the ideological divide between sacred and secular that reduced powerful Buddhist icons into aesthetic objects within 19th century Euro-American collections of Asian “art.”

However, it then also examines how Japanese Buddhist temples in particular persevered through periods of persecution, preservation, and paradox, as they ultimately installed temple “treasure halls” (hōmotsukan) that replicated the very kinds of western-style museums that had pillaged their temple treasures a century and a half previously. If the 19th century transferred the temple out to the museum, then the 20th century transferred the museum back into the temple grounds.

She concludes that both American and Japanese museums need to be understood as hybrid spaces, where the supposed boundaries between sacred and secular are porous and continually negotiated by diverse audiences.

Panels and lectures involved ������Ƶ faculty, along with 11 scholars from three countries and a range of disciplines. ������Ƶ faculty organizers included Associate Professor Evan Gatti (Art History), Assistant Professor Sandy Marshall (Geography), Associate Professor Amy Allocco (Religious Studies), Visiting Assistant Professor Shayna Mehas (History), and Professor Brian Pennington (Religious Studies), the center’s director.

The Thursday keynote address was given by Leah Sarat of Arizona State University. Her lecture was titled, “The Terror of ‘Safety’: Christianity, Immigrant Policing, and Detention at the Nation’s Edge.” It examined the experiences and perspectives of two different Christians with very different experiences of the US/Mexico border: a detention facility chaplain and a Mexican detainee. A video recording of the keynote address is available to members of the ������Ƶ community by emailing bpennington4@elon.edu.

Participants in the symposium will now collaborate to develop a set of scholarly publications based on the research presented during the event.

To further raise awareness of life at the US/Mexico border, the CSRCS has installed a photography exhibit by the Sierra Club, “Lens on the Border,” in the buildings of the Lambert Academic Village to coincide with the symposium. Twenty-four canvas prints along with ������Ƶ student photos from course experiences along the U.S.-Mexico borders are displayed in hallways and common areas of buildings in the Lambert Academic Village. Student photos are inside the sacred space in the Numen Lumen Pavilion. Other photos are in Gray Pavillion, Cannon Pavillion, Spence Pavillion, and Lindner Hall. A Storymap guide to the exhibition is available .

The exhibition will remain throughout February, and the ������Ƶ community is encouraged to tour the buildings and see the photos. The display of Lens on the Border on campus is supported by the ������Ƶ College Fund for Excellence.