From Our Perspective

By Elizabeth Nix, Assistant Professor of Nutrition
The pandemic of 2020 has caused major disruptions in a variety of industries, not least of which has been our food industry. Many people used this time to stock up on cooking basics, which the food system was unable to keep up with, leaving empty shelves. At the same time, we saw massive food waste. This food waste was, in large part, due to the specialization of our food system.

By Ed Kahn, Professor Emeritus of Theatre
Lessons learned from 2020 potentially will be game changers for theatre. Probably not so much for large commercial venues. I’m confident they’ll bounce back from COVID-19 just as Shakespeare’s Globe did after plague closures four centuries ago. But I suspect that something exciting might be in store for small theatres, those companies more connected with communities and their political and social issues.

By Shala Hankison, Associate Professor of Zoology
Scientists often work in a bubble. We communicate with other scientists, often using specialized language, about concepts and ideas that are specialized and complex. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has often made those scientific bubbles even smaller and more exclusive in a time that has also made clear how important scientific literacy is to nonscientists.

By Franchesca Nestor, Assistant Professor of Politics & Government
In today’s hyperpartisan, polarized environment, a filibuster on any legislation of note is expected. We’ve removed the filibuster from executive and judicial nominations in recent years. Are there other realms where we’d like to remove it? Would it be possible to reduce the threshold for ending a filibuster by a few votes? We have done so before; the threshold was once 67 votes.

By Dustin Reichard, Assistant Professor of Zoology
If all the humans suddenly stayed in their houses and kept to themselves, would nature take notice? This question is one that I never expected to answer, but 2020 has been full of surprises.

OWU faculty explore some of the most fervent, most important issues of the day. Read essays inspired by the events of Summer 2020, and watch mini-lectures getting at the kernels of issues of race in America.

Explore the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of a range of disciplines, includig science, psychology, politics, history, art, literature, economics, and more. Read essays by OWU faculty and watch a special 10-week course, "We're in this Together."

By Paul Dean, Assistant Professor of Sociology-Anthropology
When I set about to study the American Dream and social mobility with some of my first-generation students, I had no idea it would turn into one of the most meaningful experiences of my professional life.

By Nathan Rowley, Department of Geology and Geography
Could there be a connection between melting sea ice and classes being canceled at Ohio Wesleyan for the first time, due to weather, in over a decade?

By Amy Butcher, Assistant Professor of English
An Ohio woman was shot dead while cooking Thanksgiving dinner; witnesses report that at the time of the shooting, she was standing at a kitchen table, preparing macaroni and cheese.

By Laurie Anderson, Professor of Botany-Microbiology and Nathan Rowley, Assistant Professor of Geology-Geography
Our world has shrunk so much in this age of global markets and global climate change that it’s time to update John Donne: No nation is an island unto itself.

By Shari Stone-Mediatore, Professor of Philosophy
Protecting the safety of our communities is a genuine concern for many Americans. But what if the policies implemented in the name of public safety were doing the opposite?

By Shala Hankison, Associate Professor of Zoology
Those floppy ears and that curly tail - and even the barking - may be more a product of evolutionary accident than purposeful breeding.