Spotlight on faculty faces continues

Author: Dina Magaril

JOHN MALLUCIO

If you thought Economics was strictly for business-oriented individuals, talk to the new Assistant Professor of Economics John Maluccio to get a different perspective.

Originally from Connecticut, Maluccio attended Amherst College and holds a doctorate degree in Economics from Yale University. After working in D.C. on various projects Mallucio delved into research in Nicaragua. Started in the year 2000 and still active, his work includes an anti-poverty program called "Red de proteccíon Social." The program's main goal is to send more children to school in poverty-striken regions. Families involved are given a transfer if they comply with requirements that include sending their children to school and taking them to health check-ups.

Maluccio also worked on a project in Guatemala that explored the effects of nutrition in the region's population. This particular program was started in the 1970s, when a group of five-year-olds received highly nutritious food supplies. These children were followed and interviewed 30 years later to determine the effects the supplements had on both health and economic activities.

Aside from participating in these projects, Maluccio teaches Regression Analysis. Next semester he plans to teach a class on Latin American economics, trade and foreign aid. Mallucio has also expressed interest in attending the Spanish Language School to hone up his skills.

Mallucio will also start work on a new research program with some students in Haiti focusing on "food for peace".





ERIN KOCH



Professor Erin Koch, who grew up in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles, is one of the newest additions to Middlebury's Sociology and Anthropology department. Koch, who received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz, says she knew she wanted to study anthropology five minutes into taking her first anthro class. Koch later moved to New York City, where she received her docorate from the New School University.

In 2001 she traveled to Georgia to study Post-Soviet transformations through the lens of Tuberculosis (TB) and healthcare reform. During her 10-month stay, Koch interviewed hospital staff and evaluated how knowledge about TB was being produced. She was also allowed access to a Georgian prison and studied the ways in which TB was spread.

"The conditions in the prison were abominable and heartbreaking," Koch said. "A lot of the arrestees had been sent there for petty crimes that were usually linked with poverty." Koch, a Medical Anthropologist, currently teaches two courses at Middlebury: Anthropology of Post-Socialism and a seminar on Medical Anthropology. Koch is enjoying her first year at the College, saying that the Middlebury environment is very conducive to learning. In the spring she plans to teach a course titled the Anthropology of Science and Technology, as well as Topics in Anthropological Theory.



REBECCA BENNETTE





A new class was introduced this fall called "The Holocaust," and with it came a new faculty member. Professor Rebecca Bennette is thrilled to be at Middlebury, where she is also teaching a History class on 19th century Germany.

Bennette previously held a position at Harvard University where she lectured for two years. Most recently, she worked at the University of South Dakota in the History department. Though Bennette has yet to familiarize herself with the campus, this is not the first time she has stepped foot on Middlebury's campus. "I vacationed here once and I remember standing by Mead Chapel and thinking that I would like to teach here," she said.

After graduating from John Hopkins University and later receiving her doctorate from Harvard in Modern German History, Bennette began her research work in Germany, studying the 19th century conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. Rather than looking at the conflicts from a strictly theological perspective, Bennette says she "looked at them as cultural and social conflicts."

Whether or not her students have yet learned to appreciate History, they have definitely been persistent in pursuit of her class. Bennette said that she had little access to her e-mail account over the summer and that when she got to campus she had quite a surprise. "I had 423 emails in my account and dozens of students had written to try to get into [The Holocaust] class. It took a few days of sorting."