Recent Achievements

• Ian Koebner recently published an article in Current Opinion in Psychology, arguing for the arts and cultural sector to include “permanent, staffed, and resourced” departments focusing on health and wellbeing in their organizational structures. ARTS IN HEALTH
• Nancy Yunhwa Rao published “Life History of Objects: The Case of a ‘Scene in the Principal Chinese Theatre, San Francisco’” in Cross-Cultural Musicology from Asia-Pacific Perspectives. MUSIC
• George Stauffer’s next book, The ABS Guide to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, is scheduled for release in November 2026 and includes a QR code linking to audio examples performed by Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan. MUSIC
• Pam Tanowitz Dance performs at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg in Luxembourg and presents Pastoral at London’s Barbican Theatre from October 1–3, 2026. DANCE
• Jeff Friedman and Javier Robles of Kinesiology and Health presented “Rutgers-New Brunswick’s Academic Programs in Disability-related Studies: Employment and Social Justice Impact” as part of the nTIDE Lunch & Learn series on August 7, 2026, co-sponsored by the Kessler Foundation, University of New Hampshire Center for Disability, and Association of University Centers on Disabilities. DANCE
• In May 2026, Nancy Yunhwa Rao was an invited speaker at the Chinese (Cantonese) Opera Translation and Operatic Culture International Conference at Hong Kong Metropolitan University and delivered the colloquium lecture “Operatic Space: Chinese Theater in 19th-Century San Francisco and the Cantonese Pacific” at the University of Chicago. MUSIC
• Barbara Angeline received an Accessible Teaching Grant to develop tools and resources for Digital Accessibility in Dance and Dance Teaching. DANCE
• Jeff Friedman presented a scholarly paper on philosopher Suzanne Langer’s ideas for creative dance works as part of the annual Mind/Art/Knowledge international symposium sponsored by the LUCA School of the Arts, part of KU Leuven University, in Brussels, Belgium in June 2026.  DANCE
• In April 2026, Nancy Yunhwa Rao published the article “Materiality, Thingness, and Memory in East Asian Contemporary Music” in The Oxford Handbook of Orchestration Studies. Rao also published “The Rise of Children’s Operas in 1920s Shanghai: The Case of the Grape Fairy” in the book Childhood and Operatic Imaginary Since 1900 from Oxford University Press in June. MUSIC 
• Christopher Doll delivered the paper “Modality as Experience” at the conference Modality in French Music at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, held at the Sorbonne in Paris in March 2026. MUSIC
• MyungJin Oh presented “Ut Pictura Musica: Embodied, Multisensory Creation in Chopin and Delacroix” as a fellow for The Sociable Fortepiano in March 2026 and again at a joint nineteenth-century studies conference in July. She presented the faculty recital Reflections on Chopin in April and “Genealogies of Korean Virtuosity: Politics and Global Circulation” at the American Musicological Society Greater New York Chapter meeting in May. In July, Oh also published “Object Lesson: The Personified Voice of Chopin’s Last Pleyel” in 19th-Century Music, examining Chopin’s 1848 Pleyel piano as a historical and sounding object. MUSIC
• Jeff Friedman authored the chapter “Oral History, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression: Theoretical Frameworks and Case Studies on the Embodied Interview” in The Handbook of Global Oral History. DANCE
• Alessandra Lebea Williams is featured in the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice‘s Archive Spotlight. Williams led a residency with David Roussève’s REALITY company, immersing Rutgers dance students in queer Black movement and intersectional choreography. DANCE
• Atif Akin created O, an installation on crude oil silos in Istanbul using Perlin noise algorithms to visualize pressure. The project merges art, science, and sustainability, with materials later repurposed into colorful blankets. ART & DESIGN
• Valerie Ramshur collaborated with Christopher Cartmill and Bret McCandless on an article titled “Wandering Minds, Staged Discoveries: Exploring Indirect and Direct Research in Dramaturgy, Design, and Library Instruction,” which was published in the Theater Library Association’s Performing Arts Resources, Volume 37. THEATER

Research Spotlights