Faculty News

This page lists some of the activities our staff have gotten up to of late. Some are rather academic, and some are of the more fun variety.

2023

Anne McCants

Linda Rabieh

  • “On Leo Strauss’s Liberating Liberal Education.” Perspectives on Political Science 52.1 (2023).
  • OVC Infinite Mile Award for Everyday Leadership. Co-recipient with Beth Taylor (Spring 2023).
  • Interview in The New Philosopher 38 (December 2022/February 2023).
  • “The Art or Science of Socratic Politics.” Paper delivered at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting. Chicago (April 2023).
  • Panel discussant, “Reason, Desire, and The Problem of Human Agency.” New England Political Science Annual Meeting. Mystic, CT (April 2023).
  • Co-recipient of Civil Discourse Grant from Arthur Vining Davis Foundation (2023-2025).

Mary Erica Zimmer

  • School of Advanced Studies (SAS) Summer Residency in Manuscript and Print Studies, Institute of English Studies, University of London (June-July 2023).
  • “Pedagogy in Performance: Discovering Shakespeare through the MIT Merchant Module.New Technologies in Medieval and Renaissance Studies 10. Eds. Scott Schofield and Andie Silva. Iter Press and The University of Chicago Press (2023, forthcoming): 313-348.

2022

Linda Rabieh

  • Panel discussant, “Plato’s Philosophers: What Timaeus, the Eleatic Stranger, and the Athenian Stranger Teach Us About Socrates” and “Moderation and Education: Ancient Perspectives.” Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago (2022).
  • Panel discussant, “Ancient Perspectives on Love and Friendship.” Northeast Political Science Association Annual Meeting. Boston (November 2022).
  • Panel discussant, “Nature, History, Politics: Discovering Standards of Reason and the Good Life.” New England Political Science Association (April 2022).

Mary Erica Zimmer

  • “Connections and New Directions: Working Differently with MIT’s Global Shakespeares.” Co-presented with Diana Henderson. Roundtable on Archiving. International Shakespeare Conference: Shakespeare, the Digital, and the Virtual. Stratford-upon-Avon, UK (June 2022).
  • Or, The Whale by Jos Sances: Ark of the Anthropocene,” with Jos Sances and Jeffrey Peterson. Another Look at Moby-Dick: Artists at Work Panel. Melville’s Energies: Aesthetics, Politics, and Ecologies. 13th Annual Melville Society Conference. Paris (June 2022).
  • Participant, Teaching Intermediate Paleography Seminar. Folger Shakespeare Library & Queen’s University Belfast. Belfast and Dublin (2022).
  • Participant, Out of the Archives: Digital Projects as Research Objects. Folger Shakespeare Library Virtual Weekend Seminar, co-sponsored with North Carolina State University (March 2022).
  • “Expanding Editorial Conversation: Mapping, Metadata, and Mediation in Browsing the Bookshops of Paul’s Cross Churchyard.” Association for Documentary Editing Editing Outside the Walls Seminar. Modern Language Association Annual Convention. Washington, DC (January 2022, virtual).

2021

Anne McCants

  • “Polygamy, the Commodification of Women, and Underdevelopment,” with Dan Seligson. Social Science History 46:1 (2022).
  • “Coevolving Institutions and the Paradox of Informal Constraints,” with Dan Seligson. Journal of Institutional Economics 17:3 (2021): 359-378.
  • “Review Essay: Who Is He Calling WEIRD?” Joseph Henrich, The WEIRDest People in the World, Journal of Interdisciplinary History LI:4 (Autumn 2021).
  • “Nature, Culture and Development.” Economic History Association. Tucson, AZ (October 2021).
  • “The Cape Colony Project and Research in Economic History.” Cape of Good Hope Research Workshop I. Lund, Sweden (August 2021).
  • “The Wealth of Nations: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” National Research University Higher School of Economics. Moscow, Russia (July 2021).
  • “What Role for the ‘Virtues’ in an Economic History of Wellbeing?” Keynote Address: Business and Economic History Conference (May 2021, remote).
  • “Institutional Budgets and Living Standards in Early Modern Amsterdam.” European Social Science History Conference. Leiden, Netherlands (March 2021).
  • Panelist for OECD book launch, How Was Life? Vol. II. Paris, France (March 2021).
  • “Polygamy, the Commodification of Women, and Underdevelopment.” MIT Undergraduate Economics Association (March 2021).
  • “Nature, Culture and Development.” DONDENA Center for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policies. Bocconi University. Milan, Italy (February 2021).

Linda Rabieh

  • “Unravelling the Web: The Meaning and Purpose of the Eleatic Stranger’s Political Science.” Invited lecture prepared for Lefrak Forum, Political Theory Colloquium, Michigan State University (2021).
  • Panel discussant, “Authority and Legitimacy in Greek Political Thought.” Northeast Political Science Association (November 2021).
  • Guest, “The New Thinkery” podcast, on Aristophanes’ The Assemblywomen (August 2021).

Mary Erica Zimmer

2020

Linda Rabieh

  • “Gender, Education, and Enlightened Politics in Plato’s Laws.The American Political Science Review 114.3 (2020): 911-922.
  • “Humane Warfare: An Ancient Perspective on Ethics in War.” MIT Ancient and Medieval Studies Colloquium (9 March 2020).

Anne McCants

Mary Erica Zimmer

2019

Anne McCants

  • President, International Economic History Association, 2018(-21).
  • “Polygamy, the Commodification of Women and Long-Run Economic Development.” Yale (April 2019).
  • “Institutions Are Not the Rules of the Game.” Baltic Connections Conference. Helsinki, Finland (March 2019).
  • “Social Entropy and Economic History.” Oxford University Seminar in Economic and Social History. Oxford, UK (November 2018).

Diana Henderson

  • “Romancing King Lear: Hobson’s Choice, Life Goes On, and Beyond,” for King Lear on Screen. Eds. Sarah Hatchuel, Nathalie Vienne-Guerin, and Victoria Bladen. Cambridge University Press (2019): 125-139. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108589727.008.

Mary Erica Zimmer

  • “Presenting the Remix: Performance in The MIT Merchant Module.” Digitizing the Stage conference, hosted by the Bodleian Libraries and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Oxford, UK (July 2019).
  • Cuthbert, M. S., S. Risi, L. Tagliaferri, E. Zimmer, A. Abreu, I. Ademolu-Odeneye, D. Atia, R. Bansal, E. Boal, A. Castillejos, M. Duan, M. Gallegos, M. Garza, M. Kim, K. Murray, C. Pan, M. Songonuga, F. Tran, S. York, E. Caragay, A. Culbertson, H. Dacosta, A. Ismoldayeva, E. Itambo, K. Merrill, C. Minsky, I. Redlon, S. Sundaram, K. Xu, D. Yen, S. Zhi, N. Fountain, R. Ahmed. “Archival History of Computing at MIT, 1950–62.” Online resource. 2019. https://comphist.digitalhumanitiesmit.org.

2018

Anne McCants

  • Host, World Economic History Congress at MIT (August 2018).
  • “Global History and the History of Consumption: Congruence and Divergence,” in Global History and New Polycentric Approaches: Europe, Asia and the Americas in a World Network System (2018).
  • Q&A: Anne McCants on ‘Waves of Globalization,’ the 2018 World Economic History Congress at MIT” (Summer 2018).
  • “Social Entropy and Economic History.” World Economic History Congress. Boston, MA (August 2018).
  • “The Origins of Disorder: Why do Nations Fail to Thrive?” Economic and Business History Society. Jyväskylä, Finland.
  • “Polygamy, Social Institutions and Long Run Economic Growth.” European Social Science History Conference. Belfast, UK.
  • “Economic History and the Historians.” Invited panelist for The Future of Economic History at the Allied Social Science Association meeting. Philadelphia, PA.

Linda Rabieh

  • “Fellow Travelers or Frenemies: Socrates and the Eleatic Stranger on the Knower’s Need to Rule in Plato’s Statesman.” Northeast Political Science Association annual meeting. Montreal, Canada (November 2018).
  • Panelist, Professors Professing Publicly: Embracing a Religious Identity in Academia. MIT (September 2018).

Diana Henderson

  • “‘This Distracted Globe’: Broadcasting Copiousness and Commonality in the Global Shakespeare Video and Performance Archive.” Broadcast Your Shakespeare: Continuity and Change Across Media, ed. Stephen O’Neill. Bloomsbury Publishing [Arden] (2018): 67-85.

2017

Linda Rabieh

  • “Yes, We Can! The Eleatic Stranger’s Political Education in Plato’s Statesman.” Northeastern Political Science Association Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.
  • “Eros: You Can’t Live With It; You Can’t Live Without It.”  New England Political Science Association Annual Meeting. Providence, RI.
  • Review of Sophistry and Political Philosophy: Protagoras’ Challenge to Socrates, by Robert C. Bartlett. Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy 43.3 (2017).
  • “Ancient Insights on Morality and War in an Age of Drones and Cyber Warfare.” Speaker, Leading Jewish Minds @ MIT. Cambridge, MA.
  • Co-leader, Concourse/History, IAP in “ancient Greece” (January 2017).

Diana Henderson

  • Scholar Social @ Central Square Theatre, following Bedlam’s What You Will (June 2016).
  • “The Merchant in Venice: Shylock’s Unheimlich Return.” Multicultural Shakespeares 14.2: Shakespeare in Cross-Cultural Spaces. Eds. Varsha Panjwani and Robert Sawyer (2017): 165-180.
  • Reflections on Shakespeare 2016, Part One: Elsinore.” Blog for the MIT Global Shakespeares Video & Performance Archive (March 31, 2017).
  • “Genre and Modernity in Hobson’s Choice and Life Goes On.” Litteraria Pragensia: Studies in Literature and Culture 26.52: Versions of King Lear. Eds. Martin Procházka, Michael Neill, and David Schalkwyk (2016 [published 2017]): 49-57.

Anne McCants

  • “History and Social Science in an Age of Uncertainty.”  Keynote speaker, Southwestern Social Science Association annual meeting. Austin, TX (April 2017).
  • “Growth, Inequality, and Well-Being: Lessons from Economic History for Uncertain Times.”  Burchard Scholars Lecture. MIT (March 2017).
  • “Engaging History with the Beaver Press.”  MacVicar Day Symposium on Pushing Boundaries: A Legacy of Learning Through Exploration and Discovery (March 2017).

2016

Jolyon Bloomfield

  • “Tools for Digital Learning.” xTalk (March 2016).
  • “Predicting Primordial Black Hole Formation.” Astrophysics Lunch Seminar at Cornell University (January 2016).

Anne McCants

Linda Rabieh

  • Co-leader, Concourse/History: IAP in ancient Rome. (January 2016)
  • Infinite Mile Award (Spring 2016).

Diana Henderson

  • “The Importance of Being Hawkes” and “Star Wars and Shakespearean SpaceTime: On Mentors and Our Collective Future,” for “The Importance of Being Hawkes” Forum, Shakespeare Studies 44 (2016): 17-21, 137-148.
  • “Magic in the Chains: Othello, Omkara, and the materiality of gender across time and media.” The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Embodiment. Ed. Valerie Traub. Oxford University Press (2016): 673-693.
  • “Tempestuous Transitions and Double Vision: from early to late modern gendered performances on stage, film, and in higher education.” Rethinking Feminism in Early Modern Studies: Gender, Race, and Sexuality. Eds. Ania Loomba and Melissa Sanchez. Routledge (2016): 59-71.
  • “Pluralizing Performance.” Shakespeare in Our Time: Critical Perspectives; the Shakespeare Association of America Companion. Eds. Dympna Callaghan and Suzanne Gossett. Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare (2016): 311-319.
  • “Shakespeare Into Fiction.” The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare (print and online editions). Ed. Bruce Smith. Cambridge University Press (2016): 1707-1715.

2015

Anne McCants

  • “The liberal studies curriculum as the basis for an engineering education.” Engineering Studies: Journal of the International Network for Engineering Studies, (Special Issue: Liberal Studies in Engineering).
  • “Historical Demography,” in the Oxford Handbook of Early Modern European History, 1350-1750, Vol. 1: “Peoples and Place.” Ed. Hamish Scott. Oxford University Press (2015): 119-144.
  • Public Lecture, Boston Museum of Fine Arts: “Town Dwellers and Market Sellers: Economy and Society in the Dutch Golden Age,” in conjunction with Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer exhibition.
  • “Making Global Consumers: The Social Reach of 18th Century Trading Companies.”  Keynote speaker at VI Jornadas Uruguayas de Historia Económica, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Linda Rabieh

  • Leo Strauss on the Politics of Plato’s Republic.” In Companion to Leo Strauss’ Writings on Classical Political Thought. Brill Academic Publishers (2015): 321-343.
  • “Humane Warfare: An Ancient Perspective on a Modern Dilemma.” In Search of Humanity. Lexington Books.
  • “Ancient Political Philosophy and Ethics in War.” Invited lecture for the Charles Carroll Program, Department of Political Science, College of the Holy Cross.
  • “Ancient Insights on Morality and War in the Age of Drones, Cyber Warfare, and Stateless Terrorism.” Invited lecture for the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin.
  • Co-leader, Concourse/History: IAP in ancient Greece.

Elizabeth Vogel Taylor

  • Faculty guest speaker, MIT KEYs Program, Keys for Empowering Youth.
  • Keynote speaker at the CSIE UM 2015 Symposium, University of Michigan.
  • Video host for Unit 5: Making Molecules, in Annenberg Learner’s Chemistry Modules. Produced by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Science Media Group.
  • Faculty profile, in MIT’s The Techhttps://thetech.com/2011/04/26/taylor-v131-n22

Diana Henderson

  • “Shadow Soldiers and Precarious Unions: the Legacies of Shakespeare’s History Play.” Ed. Sabine Schuelting. Shakespeare Jahrbuch 151 (2015): 38-52.

Jolyon Bloomfield

  • “Technological Advances in Physics Pedagogy.” MITx Significant Interest Group presentation (15 May 2015).
  • “Formalism for Primordial Black Hole Formation in Spherical Symmetry”, with Daniel Bulhosa and Stephen Face (2015). http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.02071