History Professor Nathan Braccio is a scholar of Indigenous and colonial American history and has a special interest in maps. "Like many other people, I have a fascination with maps," he says. "A map can be a legal tool that allows you to assert, 'this is where my borders are.' A map could be used to visualize an empire, to visualize a nation." His forthcoming book, “ Creating New England, Defending the Northeast: Contested Algonquian and English Spatial Worlds, 1500–1700 ,” examines how Algonquian-speaking peoples and Puritan colonists mapped the landscape of present-day New England. On this episode of Challenge. Change. , Braccio explains how maps have changed over time and how English settlers erased Indigenous populations through mapmaking practices. "One of the things that has changed in maps is the ways that they reflect our different set of values or assumptions about the land, because that is at its heart what a map is doing. It's supporting how we think about the land and the world," he says. "How someone in the 17th century thought about land may have prioritized a different set of things than we do now." Challenge. Change. is produced by Brenna Moore ’24, MSC ’25, and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

With season two of HBO Max's "The Last of Us," based on the acclaimed video game franchise created by Naughty Dog, hitting screens this weekend, we asked Clark University professors to unpack people's fascination with post-apocalyptic stories and comment on the fictional science of the series. On this episode of Challenge. Change. , English Professor Betsy Huang discusses speculative fiction and the depiction of institutions in catastrophic tales; Becker School of Design & Technology Professor Ulm explains how video games help players explore their fears; and mycologist and biology Professor Javier Tabima Restrepo comments on the depiction of Cordyceps in this wildly popular game and show. Challenge. Change. is produced by graduate student Brenna Moore '24, MSC '25, and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Geography Professor Asha Best has lived in a handful of cities across the U.S., Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and Atlanta among them. Experiencing each place’s unique culture, transportation, and education systems has given Best insight into how different cities are designed and how they function. A curiosity to understand this more drives some of her current research. Best, an urbanist who studies mobility and urban informality, is researching how planners and developers can build just cities, where everyone lives equitably. One thing she’s noticed throughout her studies is that there is no common definition of what justice looks like, however. “We often know what injustice looks like in cities, but we don't often know what justice looks like. I think that equality is a good start. Do we have equal access to shared resources, and are vital resources distributed in a way that's consistent and even — and I'm talking about things like water and food and shelter, the basics,” she says. Best believes just cities are ones in which planners and officials address current problems and work to right historical wrongs. “I think it's about how cities deliver vital resources, discovering who doesn't have access to them and how to fix that, and creating a space that's livable, where people have dignity,” she says. Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

In 2008, just as the film adaptation of "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer was about to hit theaters, Sarah Gallagher was a doctoral student in Boston and saw everyone walking down Commonwealth Avenue with their heads buried in the book with an apple on its cover. Initially, she wasn't interested. But once she inevitably got her hands on the book, she tore through it in one night. "I can never explain what it felt like to read that book for the first time and to just fall in love with it. I immediately was so obsessed with Edward. There's something in the pages of that book that makes you fall into the world," says Gallagher, now the associate dean of students and operations in Clark's School of Professional Studies . Vampires don't age, but the series did, and not necessarily gracefully. On this episode of Challenge. Change. , Gallagher explains some of Twilight's flaws and why the fandom is still so passionate about Bella and Edward despite the saga's issues. These topics are at the heart of Gallagher's book, " Why We Love (and Hate) Twilight ," which is being published in April. Gallagher encourages the fandom to think critically about the kinds of media we love. "I think if we can start being critical about things that we love, then it will be a lot easier to be critical about terrible things that are happening," she says. "I think it's an exercise in evaluating the things in our life." Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Most people aren't thinking about just how many sounds they encounter on an average day. But Professor Matt Malsky, the Tina Sweeney, M.A. '49, Endowed Chair in Music, director of the Alice Coonley Higgins Institute for the Arts and Humanities, and director of the interdisciplinary Media, Culture, and the Arts program, part of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, is immersed in it. "Our vision is something that we have some control over. We have eyelids, we can close our eyes, and we can stop seeing things," he notes. "But we don't have earlids. Hearing is always on, and there's no way to stop the sensations that come with sounds." As Malsky teaches his students about soundscapes and acoustic ecology — including walking tours around Worcester to partake in all the noises of nature and traffic — he's also thinking about the intersection of sound and our changing climate. "Lots of sea creatures depend on sounds to communicate with other creatures and to get feedback about their environment. As the climate changes, as the temperatures rise on the planet and the temperature of the ocean increases, it changes the way that sound is transmitted through water — it speeds it up, it increases the distance that it travels," Malsky says. "Combined with all the ways in which humankind is adding sounds to the ocean with increased traffic of tankers, underwater mining operations, and offshore wind turbines, we're adding an enormous amount of sound to the ocean, and it's changing the way that sea creatures are able to operate — to their deficit." Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Professor Christina Gerhardt , Clark's Henry J. Leir Endowed Chair in Foreign Languages and Cultures, Language, Literature & Culture , is an open water swimmer who typically lives near oceans and grew up with a front-row seat to her aunt's political work as one of the co-founders of the Green Party in what was then West Germany. It created a clear path to Gerhardt's current work as a scholar of the environmental humanities with a focus on sea level rise. Her book, Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean , provides a history of sea rise while telling the stories of frontline communities, with poems and art made by Islanders woven into the volume's pages. The reality of sea change is urgent and daunting, and Gerhardt prioritizes solutions and hope in her book — and in her classroom. "I'm trying to equip people with all the tools to go into the world and make it a better place," she says, "with the optimism and feeling that they have the tools in their toolbox to accomplish that work." In this episode of Challenge. Change. , Gerhardt discusses why the environmental humanities is at its best when it is interdisciplinary, and explains some of the soft and hard engineering options to address sea level rise. If you enjoyed this episode, check out " Sea Turtles and the Role Charismatic Creatures Play in Environmental Humanities with Professor Stephen Levin ." Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Is online influencing just for entertainment? Or does it have a place in the business world? LinkedIn has been a networking platform since 2002, but lately, it has evolved into something more. So-called LinkedInfluencers are using the platform in the same vein as other social media sites, injecting inspiration into their posts to boost their personal brands and shape conversations about their industries. On this episode of Challenge. Change. , Professors Lawrence Norman and Tim Hally , who teach marketing at Clark’s School of Business , weigh in on whether this kind of content is beneficial and share how one can develop their personal brand messaging to cut through the online clutter to form genuine connections. “LinkedIn has evolved from a work and internship job hub to a place to post entertainment that's linked to work,” Norman says. “It's become a powerful space where you're able to promote your brand in a way that you couldn't years ago.” Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University with the help of Brenna Moore. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

How does one write art history when there are no physical objects or archives to study? This is a question at the center of art history Professor Kristina Wilson 's latest work. Wilson came across the names of two designers, Addison "Add" Bates and Perry Fuller, in editions of Ebony Magazine dating to the 1950s. Curious about their work, Wilson tried to learn more and discovered no readily available archives to study. On this episode of Challenge. Change. , Wilson describes sleuthing through newspaper gossip columns, magazines, and more to learn about Bates and Fuller. "When you're a historian, you get used to looking at evidence and knowing how to put it together. This project has made me consider, first of all, what is the evidence that we rely on, and, second of all, what are the assumptions that I make when I put the evidence together," she says. "There is so much that we gain by learning about their careers — it offers some really interesting perspectives into life in mid-century America that you wouldn't learn about otherwise." Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Some people are led to believe that they lack motivation. Wendy Grolnick , professor emerita of psychology , wants you to know that’s just not true. “Motivation is really a function of what situation you're in, what your interests are, how people are treating you, and what your opportunities are — everyone is motivated,” Grolnick says. “The idea is that environments and people who are trying to motivate others need to tap into people's motivation, which is there.” Grolnick busts the lack-of-motivation myth and other mistruths about productivity in the book “ Motivation Myth Busters: Science-Based Strategies to Boost Motivation in Yourself and Others ,” co-written with Benjamin Heddy and Frank Worrell. On this episode of Challenge. Change., Grolnick explains strategies to boost motivation when you feel stuck, how to set manageable goals, and tips for sticking to New Year’s resolutions. “The vast majority of people who make New Year's resolutions don't keep them,” she says. “So, as we start to think about what we want to do in the New Year, it would be best to pick something that has meaning to you and value to you. If you're doing it because you feel pressure to — you feel like you should but don’t want to or somebody is pushing you — the research shows it's not likely to last.” Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

How can you identify the species living in a 38.6-square-mile section of the Amazon rainforest without stepping foot in it? Geography Professor Florencia Sangermano turns to ecoacoustics. Sangermano was among researchers who competed in the five-year, $10 million XPRIZE Rainforest competition, which challenges scientists to use technologically advanced techniques to rapidly survey the tropical forest’s biodiversity and better understand its ecosystem. Sangermano was part of the ETH BiodivX team, which was awarded the $250,000 bonus prize for groundbreaking achievements, including co-designing technology with indigenous and local communities. On this episode of Challenge. Change. , Sangermano discusses how many species they identified in the rainforest and what it was like to be recognized as a finalist. Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

In chemistry and biochemistry Professor Don Spratt ’s lab, students make ice cream in the name of science. Spratt’s Kitchen Chemistry course has become a popular selection for students who aren’t science majors. In the lab, students experiment with ingredients under Spratt’s guidance. While making butter, ice cream, root beer, and pickles, they discover how pH, elements, and molecules interact with food. “This course was spawned from trying to help students not be so scared of chemistry, but also appreciate science around us and improve scientific literacy,” says Spratt. “Food is chemistry, and if students can see that, they’ll become better cooks, and that could be a good life lesson.” On this episode of Challenge. Change. , Spratt gives us a taste of the science behind making ultra-creamy ice cream and a history lesson on pickles. Outside the kitchen, Spratt studies enzymes responsible for cancers and other diseases, neurodegenerative and immune disorders, and congenital defects. His research focuses on the structural and mechanistic studies of the HECT E3 ubiquitin ligases and homeodomain transcription factors using biophysical approaches. Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Professor Julie Frechette , Clark’s master’s in communication program lead, has long studied campaign communication. This means her phone has been inundated with text messages, emails, and push alerts from the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump for months. In the past, voters often complained about the number of negative political ads on television. Today, campaigns use social media platforms and podcasts to spread their message further, swamping voters on every corner of the internet. “We have a fractured media market, so most of us aren't only paying attention to traditional or legacy media the way that we used to. Most of us have social media and email and SMS messaging, but that has become overwhelming in the same way that negative TV ads used to overwhelm people because it really creates anxiety,” says Frechette. “When the campaign teams for either candidate are telling you how bleak things are or what their advantages are, it's like the pendulum's always moving side to side and you never know what's accurate or who's going to have the winning message.” On this episode of Challenge. Change. , Frechette discusses how Trump and Harris are using social media and how they’re persuading voters in the final hours before Election Day. Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

English Professor Stephen Levin spent his summer with the turtles. He traveled to Barbados and Trinidad to observe sea turtles and how they’ve become a focal point in tourism — a fellow tourist told Levin her motivation for visiting the turtles was “evidence of divinity.” It’s part of his latest research in the environmental humanities, which underscores the role that literature and the arts play in seeking solutions to problems such as climate change. “One of the questions in the environmental humanities is how much has to disappear before we realize that we are at risk of disappearing,” says Levin. “There's a profound awareness watching these turtles that our fate is tied to theirs.” On this episode, Levin discusses what it was like to watch six-foot-long turtles bury their eggs at the Grand Riviere beach in Trinidad, challenges the idea of human exceptionalism, and examines the costs and benefits of using charismatic creatures like lions, tigers, bears, and turtles to spread messages about the climate and environment. “How do we understand the marketing of these turtles and their status as commodities with the attendant reality that the focus on this charismatic species has brought attention to conservation efforts and it appears to have created a reverence among the tourists who encounter and visit these turtles,” says Levin. “I think it's important to recognize the complexity.” This research is part of Levin’s forthcoming book, “Figures of Disappearance: Selfhood in an Era of Mass Extinction,” which examines loss and absence in the era of the climate crisis. Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Poring through court records from the Salem Witch Trials, creative writing Professor Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez saw an opportunity to examine the violent language of the legal system and reframe the narrative. The court records became a starting point for Gutmann-Gonzalez’s retelling of the trials through original poetry. The poems were published in the chapbook “ A/An ” in January and Gutmann-Gonzalez is expanding the project into a forthcoming book titled “O/ccult.” It's a deeply personal project for Gutmann-Gonzalez, whose mother is a witch. Rituals and manifestations were common practice during their childhood. “The court examinations are fascinating, but also very disturbing. I gravitated toward certain idiosyncrasies in the language. For example, English spelling was not standardized at that point, so a lot of the words were spelled inconsistently,” says Gutmann-Gonzalez. “I tried to both reproduce and magnify these effects in my poems,” they continue. “I was interested in the power dynamics between the witches, the magistrates, and the so-called afflicted girls, but I was also interested in the texture of the language and the way that the language of the law can be used in ways that reify power.” “O/ccult” is divided into four sections — each of which corresponds with a tarot card. The sections include the Salem Witch Trials archival work, reflections of Gutmann-Gonzalez’s upbringing in Chile during the U.S.-backed military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, a polyphonic witch manifesto, and an exchange in which Gutmann-Gonzalez playfully takes the role of Salem judges and interrogates their mother about her experiences being a witch. “I grew up around all of this witchiness,” says Gutmann-Gonzalez. “I'm trying to link the historical and archival with my family history.” If you enjoyed this episode, check out " Witchcraft and Women in Colonial Society ," an interview with Rachel Christ-Doane ’17 about Salem and the youngest victim of the trials, 4-year-old Dorothy Good. Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. This episode contains music made by Brenna Moore '24, MSC '25. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Many people use life expectancy as the key metric for measuring global health. Ellen Foley and Tsitsi Masvawure know global health is much more nuanced and complicated. The two are co-editors of the new book “ The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Global Health ,” which reframes global health and asks how partnerships can become more equitable. Foley is a professor in Clark’s Department of Sustainability and Social Justice . Masvawure is a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Both are medical anthropologists who study health in Africa and HIV. Their book explores the complex relationship between anthropology and global health. Throughout the volume, scholars from around the world examine topics including rare diseases, HIV, health security, indigenous communities, decolonizing global health, and more. “There's been a huge movement to decolonize global health,” says Foley. “It should not be about wealthy Western or Northern countries coming to help and bringing money and expertise. “Why should a researcher from Clark or WPI apply for a grant to get millions of dollars to go research in Senegal without somebody from Senegal sitting on the panel, evaluating the quality of that project,” Foley continues. “I think all the stakeholders should be at the table at every stage. The most involved folks should be weighing in on those decisions, which is not how global health has worked in the past.” Masvawure notes that while many funding agencies think of health as levels of disease, global health includes upstream and downstream factors. This includes addressing factors like housing insecurity and food access to reduce levels of diabetes, for example. “If we think of global health as the state of health in the world — all of us together — that should allow movement to take place in any direction,” she says. “If malaria is emerging in the U. S., for example, then let's connect with those countries that have been dealing with malaria forever to help shape the American response. That's one way we can start to make those partnerships equitable.” Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts . Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.…