Brandeis Magazine

University Professor Anita Hill and Susan Lovett, the Abraham S. and Gertrude Burg Professor of Microbiology, have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honorary society that celebrates the excellence of its members. The academy also serves as an independent research center, through which leaders from across disciplines, professions and perspectives address significant challenges. Hill, who came to Brandeis in 1998, is a prominent national voice on issues of race, gender, workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. Lovett, who joined the university in 1989, studies genetic mutation and cellular pathways that prevent mutation.

Naghmeh Sohrabi, the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History and director for research at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, was awarded an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship for a project titled “The Intimate Lives of a Revolution: Iran 1979.” Sohrabi has also been named a 2020-21 recipient of the Berlin Prize. The recognition, which includes a residential fellowship at Germany’s Hans Arnhold Center, is given annually by the American Academy in Berlin to U.S. scholars, writers, composers and artists who represent the highest standards of excellence in their field.

Five faculty members were recognized for their excellence in the classroom with 2019-20 Brandeis teaching awards. Antonella Di Lillo, associate professor of computer science, was awarded the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Hannah Muller, assistant professor of history, received the Michael L. Walzer ’56 Award for Teaching. Faith Smith, associate professor of African and African American studies, and English and American literature, earned the Dean of Arts and Sciences Faculty Service Award. Timothy Street, assistant professor of biochemistry, received the Dean’s Mentoring Award. And Michael Willrich, the Leff Families Professor of History, was awarded the Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer ’69 and Joseph Neubauer Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring.

Denise Dallamora has retired after four decades as women’s soccer coach, the only person to hold that post at Brandeis. At the end of her final season, she was ranked ninth among active Division III coaches in total victories (13th all-time in Division III history), and she was 23rd on the NCAA’s all-time list of career wins, regardless of division. Dallamora led Brandeis to the postseason in 20 of her 40 seasons, reaching eight NCAA tournaments and 12 ECAC Division III New England tournaments.

In its 2021 listing of top graduate schools of public affairs, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Heller School for Social Policy and Management ninth in the area of social policy, and 12th in health policy and management. Heller, which celebrated its 60th anniversary during the 2019-20 academic year, continues to be ranked within the top 20% of graduate schools in the overall public-affairs category and is among the top three public-affairs graduate schools in New England. 

Three faculty members have been named to the newly created Barbara Mandel Professorships of Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences. Wendy Cadge, professor of sociology, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, researches the sociology of religion; anthropologist Sarah Lamb studies aging and gender; and English professor John Plotz specializes in Victorian literature and the novel. The professorships honor the legacy of the late Barbara Mandel, P’73, H’19, who was a Board of Trustees vice chair. Mandel championed the humanities at Brandeis and was one of the university’s most dedicated benefactors.