Explore ideas that are captivating our faculty at the fall lecture series

By student writer Ava Ayotte '27

Is album versioning ethical? What can we do to better protect the mental health of children in the welfare system? How can we mend the rift between jazz music and jazz dance? These are some of the questions our faculty are exploring in their research and sharing with the Salve community through the McKillop Library Faculty Lecture Series.

October: A call to reunite jazz dance and jazz music

On Oct. 29, Lindsay Guarino, professor and chair of the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance, will explore the core values of jazz, taking a deeper look at the connection between jazz dance and the music it comes from.

Guarino’s lecture addresses questions concerning race and culture and how they have shaped jazz over time. She said, "Jazz is Black American music and dance, but jazz dance is often considered separate from jazz music. I'm interested in realigning the values of jazz dance with jazz music, which has more closely retained its connection to Black American culture."

She notes that her research methods are interdisciplinary and include field research in jazz music spaces. "As a white person, I use antiracism as my lens so my voice can support and not replace the voices of Black Americans," Guarino said.

Guarino is a founding member of One Jazz Collective, a collaboration of jazz musicians and jazz dancers working together "in a way that is intergenerational and brings conversations between jazz musicians and jazz dancers into the same space," she explained.

They use performance, community and education together to amplify the values of rooted jazz dance through a contemporary lens. Her work with the organization and the Newport Jazz Festival has given students the opportunity to immerse themselves in jazz culture outside the classroom.

Guarino’s lecture offers a look into American history and culture, Black American expressive arts and the ways we can all honor the cultural legacies we participate in.

November: Exploring Taylor Swift’s album versioning strategies

Taylor Swift may be known for her sold-out tours, award-winning music and insanely devoted fanbase. However, the star has also made headlines for her marketing strategies that have inspired a new academic field of study called "Swiftonomics."

Shelly Nicholas, a lecturer in the Jean and David W. Wallace Department of Business and Economics, is taking a closer look at Swift’s multi-billion-dollar brand. On Nov. 5, Nicholas will present her findings on the artist’s strategic marketing plan known as "versioning," or releasing multiple variants of the same album.

"Whether you love it, whether you hate it, it’s driving conversations online," Nicholas said.

Her interest in Swift’s marketing plan began to deepen while she was teaching a special topics class examining the singer’s 20-year career. As she dug into the subject, Nicholas said, "I started to come back to certain questions, and one was, is album versioning or creating variants of albums ethical?"

Ethics is only part of Nicholas’ research question. She also examines why this strategy works so well for Swift and how the musician was able to reinvent the ways artists can use marketing to drive sales and fan engagement.

Nicholas’ lecture gives anyone with an interest in music, marketing, business, and a look behind the scenes of the entertainment industry, an opportunity to explore Swift through the lens of a marketing case study.

September: Suicide screening in the child welfare system

Assistant professor in the Department of Psychology Dr. Crosby Modrowski presented the first lecture in the series on Sept. 24, which focused on suicide prevention among youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile legal systems in Rhode Island.

Modrowski, who is also a clinical psychologist and director of the Court Improvement Program at the Rhode Island Family Court, is working to address a key factor that impacts the issue. Rhode Island, like most states in the U.S., lacks a universal suicide screening protocol for youth in this population. "My project focuses on logistics and what types of procedures we would need to establish this type of protocol specifically at the family court," she said.

In graduate school, Modrowski worked in various labs and volunteered at local nonprofits at the University of Utah where she discovered her passion for helping children involved in the child welfare and juvenile legal systems, "My research now is focused on those particular populations,” she said.

While she is just at the beginning of her research, she proposes that Rhode Island could lead in implementing brief suicide screenings safely and effectively by removing systemic barriers.

The Faculty Lecture Series gives students a great opportunity to learn more about their professors and their passions. “Through this series students can get a sense of who their professors are and what they’re interested in,” Modrowski said. "As professors we want to provide students with the best education from a course perspective, but I think the lecture series allows students to see what people are up to outside of their classes."