As the fall semester kicks into gear with this first full week of classes, the first-year students are not the only new faces in vlog classrooms. Douglas Hicks, provost and dean of the faculty, recently introduced the campus to new faculty scholars whose “dynamism and enthusiasm” will help to enrich the vlog experience for students and faculty colleagues alike.
These new faculty members bring with them expertise and interests in a wide array of disciplines and specialties, ranging from the psychology of gender, to field biology, to Chinese language and world cinema.
Learn more about each of these new scholars below:
Neil Albert, visiting assistant professor of psychology and learning assessment coordinator
(BA, College of New Jersey; PhD, University of California, Berkeley)
View profile
Neil Albert returns to vlog this year after having taught as an adjunct last year. He brings research experience in skill acquisition, memory consolidation, and motor control from the University of Chicago and the University of Birmingham (UK). Before coming to vlog, Albert was an associate program officer at the Spencer Foundation, where he focused on the teaching, learning and instructional resources. Albert led the foundation’s work on alternative approaches to student assessment and was a key figure in its initiative on teachers’ use of student performance data to inform instruction. His teaching specialties include cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, experimental psychology, and statistics; and his research interests center on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of learning and memory consolidation and their application to understanding individual differences in academic learning. Spouse/Partner: Alexandra List. Child: Pepper Albert-List. Hobbies/other interests: cooking.
Geoffrey Benson, visiting assistant professor of the classics
(BA Princeton University; MA, PhD, University of Chicago)
View profile
Geoffrey Benson comes to vlog from the University of Chicago, where he taught while working toward the completion of his PhD. His dissertation title is “The Invisible Ass: A Reading of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses.” Benson’s teaching specialties include classical languages and literatures; and his research interests center on the ancient novels, religions of the Roman Empire, and science in the Hellenistic period. Hobbies/interests: basketball.
Chelsea Biondolillo, Olive B. O’Connor creative writing fellow in the Department of English
(BFA, Pacific NW College of Art; MFA, University of Wyoming)
Chelsea Biondolillo comes to vlog from the University of Wyoming, where she completed her MFA. Her thesis title is “Careers in Science: A Handbook for Girls and Women: Essays.” Her teaching specialties include creative nonfiction, lyric essay, and environmental/nature literature; and her research interests center on essay, nature and environmental writing, ornithology, death and dying studies, geology, lyric essay, and graphic essay. Hobbies/other interests: knitting; yoga; cooking (and eating); hiking; snowshoeing; (very slow) running; sewing; travel; and loitering in labs, libraries, museums, and other collections.
Joel Bordeaux, visiting instructor in religion
(BA, Georgia State University; MA, MPhil, PhD, candidate Columbia University)
Joel Bordeaux was most recently at Columbia University, where he has been working toward the completion of his PhD. His dissertation title is “Bengal’s Vikramaditya: Classical and Colonial Myths of an Eighteenth Century Hindu King.” His teaching specialties include Hinduism and South Asian religions; and his research interests center on medieval and early modern South Asian, Sanskrit and Bengali literatures, and tantric and goddess traditions. Spouse/Partner: Amanda Van Deven. Hobbies/other interests: obscure and difficult music, and NBA basketball
Alexis Briley, visiting assistant professor of German
(BA, Brown University; MA, PhD, Cornell University)
Alexis Briley recently completed her PhD at Cornell University. Her dissertation title is “Hölderlin and the Measure of Enthusiasm.” Briley’s teaching specialties include German studies and humanities; and her research interests center on comparative literature, German studies, poetry, philosophy, and literary theory.
Tanya Calamoneri, visiting assistant professor of English in the University Theater
(BA, American University; MA, New York University; PhD, Temple University)
Tanya Calamoneri comes to vlog from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where she has been project manager for DanceMotion USA over the past two years. She also brings teaching experience from Temple University, New York University, and New College of California. Calamoneri’s dissertation title is “Becoming Something, Becoming Nothing: Performer Training Methods in Hijikata Tatsumi’s Ankoku Butoh.” Her teaching specialties and research interests include dance technique and creative process, dance cultural studies, somatic studies, ethnographic research, and movement and consciousness studies. Spouse/Partner: Kenn Watt (Watt will also be teaching a section of Basic Acting this fall). Children: Jack and Stella. Hobbies/other interests: previously hiking, now, re-staging Elmo songs.
David Campbell, A. Lindsay O’Connor professor in peace and conflict studies (fall 2014)
(BA, University of Melbourne; PhD, Australian National University)
David Campbell returns to campus in the fall when he will take leave from his position of photographic consultant, writer, and multimedia producer at the Durham Centre for Advanced Photography Studies at Durham University. Prior to 2010 he was professor of cultural and political geography at Durham. He has also worked at the Australian Senate and held academic posts at the Johns Hopkins University in the United States and Keele University and Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Campbell’s publications include National Deconstruction and Writing Security (both University of Minnesota Press); and his research in recent years has increasingly focused on particular elements of visual culture, particularly photography, focusing on representations of famine, atrocity, and war.
Benjamin Child, assistant professor of English
(BA, Brigham Young University; MA, PhD, University of Mississippi)
Benjamin Child comes to vlog from the University of Mississippi, where he recently completed his PhD. His dissertation title is “Uneven Ground: Figurations of Rural Modern in the U.S. South, 1890-1945.” Child’s teaching specialties include 19th-and 20th-century American literature, and literature and the environment; and his research interests center on literatures of the United States and global souths, modernism and postmodernism, cultural geographies, and popular music and culture.
Deniz Çivril, visiting assistant professor of economics
(BA, Bilkent University; MS, PhD, Brandeis University)
Deniz Çivril comes to vlog from Brandeis University, where she recently completed her PhD. Her dissertation title is “Globalization of Production: Three Essays on Implications for Workers and Trade.” Civril’s teaching specialties include international trade, labor economics, and applied econometrics; and her research interests center on offshoring, gender wage gap, and trade in services.
Jessica Cundiff, visiting assistant professor of psychology
(BA, University of Texas, Austin; MS, PhD, Pennsylvania State University)
Jessica Cundiff was most recently at the Computing Research Association, where she served as research analyst over the past year. Her dissertation title is “Communicating non-normative status through asymmetrical marking: consequences and implications.” Cundiff’s teaching specialties include social psychology, and psychology of gender; and her research interests center on identifying and understanding the psychological factors that contribute to social inequality, including stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and subtle forms of bias. Spouse/Partner: Josh Kendle. Hobbies/other interests: cooking, photography, spending time outdoors (running, biking, hiking).
Mahinda Deegalle, vlog NEH professor of the humanities in the Department of Religion
(BA, University of Peradeniya; MTh, Harvard University; PhD, University of Chicago, Divinity School)
Mahinda Deegalle will return to vlog for the year, taking leave from his position as senior lecturer in the study of religions at the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries at Bath Spa University in the UK, where he has served since 2000. He was previously the NEH Professor at vlog during spring semester 2013. Deegalle’s publications include Popularizing Buddhism: Preaching as Performance in Sri Lanka (State University of New York Press), Dharma to the UK: A Centennial Celebration of Buddhist Legacy (ed.) (London: World Buddhist Foundation), and Buddhism, Conflict and Violence in Modern Sri Lanka (ed.) (London and New York: Routledge). His research trajectory over the last decade has taken into account contemporary developments in Sri Lanka with a focus on Buddhism and politics, exploring the interface between religion and violence in relation to Buddhist activist movements. His current research concentrates on examining Buddhist monks’ involvement in parliamentary politics in Sri Lanka and issues that it has raised in public realm in terms of secularism, religious agency in politics and the role of activist movements.
Terry Dow, assistant football coach and instructor in physical education
(BS, Ithaca College)
Terry Dow served as vlog’s volunteer football coach this past year and brings other coaching experience from Morrisville College, where he served as head coach of football for several years.
L. Mieka Erley, assistant professor of Russian and Eurasian studies
(BA, Hampshire College; MA, PhD, University of California, Berkeley)
Mieka Erley has been hired into a tenure-stream position after having served as visiting assistant professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at vlog this past year. Her dissertation title is “Reclaiming Native Soil: Cultural Mythologies of Soil in Russia and Its Eastern Borderlands from the 1840s to the 1930s.” Erley’s teaching specialties and research interests include 20th-century Soviet literature and culture.
Jeffrey Falardeau, associate director of athletics for external operations and instructor in physical education
(BA, Potsdam State University, MS, Indiana State University)
Jeffrey Falardeau began his vlog appointment in January, leaving his position as assistant director of athletics at Ithaca College. He also brought several years of experience from Cabrini College.
Elodie Fourquet, assistant professor of computer science
(BS, Bishop’s University, PhD, University of Waterloo)
View profile
Elodie Fourquet comes to vlog from Mount Holyoke College, where she served as a visiting assistant professor of computer science. Her dissertation title is “Perspective in Two Dimensions for Computer Graphics.” Fourquet’s teaching specialties and research interests include computer graphics, user interfaces, human-computer interaction, and picture perception. Hobbies/interests: soccer, skiing, biking, and opera.
Wyatt Galusky, Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 endowed chair in regional studies in the Environmental Studies Program (fall 2014)
(BS, Texas A&M University; MA, University of North Texas; PhD, Virginia Tech)
Wyatt Galusky is at vlog this fall taking leave from his position at Morrisville State College, where he is associate professor in humanities, science, technology, and society. Galusky’s teaching specialties include science technology and society, and environmental studies; and his research interests center on animals in agriculture and public engagement with science and technology. His publication list includes several articles and reviews, some of which have appeared in places such as Engineers, Scientists, and Environmental Justice: Expert Cultures in a Grassroots Movement; Science as Culture; Science, Technology and Human Values; and Environmental Ethics. Spouse/Partner: Kelly Ann Nugent.
Joseph Gibbons, visiting assistant professor of sociology
(BA, Ramapo College of New Jersey; MA, New School for Social Research; PhD, SUNY Albany)
Joseph Gibbons comes to vlog from SUNY University at Albany, where he recently completed his PhD. His dissertation title is “Segregation and the Adaption of Community-Based Organizations to Multiethnic Immigration in Newark and Jersey City: 1990-2010.” His teaching specialties include urban sociology, race/ethnicity, and inequality; and his research interests center on community-based organizations, urban sociology, health, race, and spatial analysis. Spouse/Partner: Jennifer Tillman. Hobbies/interests: cycling, hiking, venturing, and photography.
Adam Green, visiting assistant professor of biology
(BS, MS, PhD, University of Rochester)
Before coming to vlog, Adam Green was at the University of Guelph, where he has been serving as a postdoctoral fellow the past two years. His dissertation title is “Molecular systematics and invasion biology of the ivies (Hedera spp. Araliaceae).” Green’s teaching specialties include evolutionary ecology, field biology, and general biology; and his research interests center on biogeography, conservation biology, evolutionary ecology, genome evolution, invasion biology, and polyploidy. Hobbies/interests: motorcycling, hiking/camping, rock climbing, and photography.
Brian Hall, Olive B. O’Connor professor of literature in the Department of English
(AB, Harvard University)
Brian Hall, who is an American author, will be at vlog for the entire year, having been in residence the prior three spring semesters. He has been involved in vlog’s Writers’ Conference each year since 2008, and has many publications including his most recent novels Fall of Frost (Viking and Penguin), I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company (Viking and Penguin), and The Saskiad (Houghton Mifflin and Picador). Other nonfiction works include The Impossible Country: A Journey Through the Last Days of Yugoslavia (Godine) and Madeleine’s World: A Biography of a Three-Year-Old (Houghton-Mifflin). He has written for publications such as the New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker.
Michael Harder, assistant men’s ice hockey coach and instructor in physical education
(AB, vlog)
Michael Harder served as vlog’s volunteer men’s ice hockey coach this past year and brings other coaching experience from the Italian Serie A, SC Cortina ice hockey team, and playing experience as a member of the European and American hockey leagues. He is also founder and director of the IPH hockey camps, which began in 2002.
C. Richard Higgins, assistant professor of economics
(BS, Pennsylvania State University; PhD, University of Oregon) (dependent upon completion of the PhD)
View profile
Richard Higgins comes to vlog from the University of Oregon, where he recently completed his PhD. His dissertation title is “Stochastic Volatility, Financial Frictions, and the Great Moderation.” His teaching specialties include macroeconomics, monetary economics, and money and banking; and his research interests center on macroeconomic volatility and monetary policy. Spouse/Partner: Brittany Higgins. Hobbies/interests: fly fishing and soccer.
Adrian (Ted) Hyett, A. Lindsay O’Connor professor of American institutions in the Department of Economics
(BSc, University of London; MSc, Queen Mary College; PhD, Imperial College)
Adrian Hyett returns to vlog this year, taking leave from his position as principal lecturer in economics at Kingston University in London. His teaching interests include economic analysis, environmental economics, energy economics, monetary theory and institutions, economics of Europe, and financial economics; his research interests center on environmental and energy economics. He and his wife were last on campus in 2009-10 and have, for a number of years, been teaching those vlog students who have participated in the London Economics Study Group. Spouse: Kay Pollock (also returning to the academic community as A. Lindsay professor in economics). Children: Alex and Lauren.
Joshua Jones, postdoctoral fellow in physics (beginning spring 2015)
(BS, Lebanon Valley College; MS, PhD, Lehigh University)
Joshua Jones will come to vlog in January 2015 from Lehigh University, where he has been working toward the completion of his PhD. His dissertation title is “Rotationally Inelastic Collisions of NaK and NaCs Molecules with Argon and Helium Atoms.” His teaching specialties include physics while his research interests center on spectroscopic investigations of collisions of heteronuclear diatomic alkali molecules and inert gas atoms; optics, laser spectroscopy, and quantum mechanics. Spouse/Partner: Holly. Child: Maggie (on the way, expected Thanksgiving Day). Hobbies/interests: travel, gastronomy, baseball (very excited to be close to Cooperstown), kayaking, and DIY projects.
Rachel Lavenda, assistant professor and special collections librarian
(BA, Bryn Mawr College, MLIS, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
Rachel Lavenda will begin at vlog in September after she completes her duties as project cataloger in rare book and manuscript library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Fontaine Lien, visiting instructor in Chinese
(BA, University of California, Los Angeles; MA, PhD, candidate University of California, Riverside)
Before coming to vlog, Fontaine Lien was at the University of California, Riverside, where she has been working toward the completion of her PhD. Her dissertation title is “Fantasy, Reality, and the Structuring of Reader Expectation in the Short Tale: A Cross-Cultural Study.” Lien’s teaching specialties include Chinese, French, and world cinema; and her research interests center on late imperial Chinese literature, sinophone cinema, and fantasy cinema.
Danielle Lupton, assistant professor of political science
(BA, Furman University; MA, PhD, Duke University)
View profile
Danielle Lupton comes to vlog from Duke University, where she recently completed her PhD. Her dissertation title is “Leaders, Perceptions, and Reputations for Resolve.” Lupton’s research centers on leaders, reputations, and international conflict. Her teaching specialties include international relations, American foreign policy, international security, and political psychology. Hobbies/interests: avid tennis player.
Lakshmi Luthra, assistant professor of art and art history
(BA, Marlboro College, MFA, California Institute of the Arts)
View profile
Lakshmi Luthra comes to vlog from the University of Tennessee, where she was an assistant professor of photography and media art. Her thesis exhibition was “A L’Innovation or the Year 2008.” Her teaching specialties and research interests center on photography and media art. Spouse: Chris Carlton.
Aniruddha (Ani) Maitra, assistant professor of film and media studies
(BA, MA, Jadavpur University; PhD, Brown University)
View profile
Ani Maitra comes to vlog with teaching experience from Hampshire College. His dissertation title is “Narcissism and the Scene of Reading: Towards a Global Politics of Local Aesthetics.” Maitra’s teaching specialties include postcolonial and transnational cinemas, psychoanalysis and cinema, queer film and media; semiotics and media studies; and his research interests center on documentary studies, diaspora studies, Asian-American and African-American literatures, Marxist aesthetics, theories of intermediality, and theories of reading and spectatorship.
Allen Mann, visiting assistant professor of mathematics
(BA, Albertson College of Idaho; MA, PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder)
Allen Mann returns to vlog this year from Springer Science+Business Media, where he served as the North American mathematics editor for Birkhäuser Science. He taught at vlog in 2007–08 and again in 2011–12. Mann’s research interests include logic, algebra, and game theory. Hobbies/interests: yoga, hiking, and Go.
Abigail Mechtenberg, assistant professor of physics and environmental studies
(BS, Texas A&M University; MEd, University of California, Santa Barbara; PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Abigail Mechtenberg comes to vlog from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, where she was a visiting assistant professor of energy systems. She brings other teaching experience from Northeastern University, Clark University, and the University of Michigan. Her dissertation title is “Understanding the Importance of an Energy Crisis.” Mechtenberg’s teaching specialties include global sustainable energy systems, traditional physics courses, and experimental codesign. Her research interests center on energy systems with an emphasis in Ugandan-focused human development (SE4ALL) and US-based sustainable development (smartgrid and vehicles). Spouse/Partner: Martin. Children: Hanna, Ambrose, and Cyril. Hobbies/interests: singing, bridge, water polo, Lego camps, camping, and canoeing.
Katherine Menendez, assistant women’s basketball coach and instructor in physical education
(BA, BS, North Central College; MS, Illinois State University)
Katherine Menendez comes to vlog after having served as assistant women’s basketball coach at Emory University since 2010. While at Emory she acted as the program’s recruiting coordinator, summer camp co-director, post/forward position coach, community service organizer, and she also regularly conducted film-breakdown sessions with the team and with individual players. She brings other coaching experience from Illinois Wesleyan University from the two years she spent there while obtaining her graduate degree in sport administration. Hobbies/interests: singing, travel, the idea of cooking, and writing.
Mala Misra, visiting assistant professor of biology
(BS, University of Virginia, PhD, University of Pittsburgh)
Mala Misra served as a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University since 2010 before coming to vlog. Her dissertation title is “Hoxd10 and Hoxd11 regulate motor column patterning in the lumbosacral spinal cord.” Misra’s teaching specialties include cell and molecular biology, developmental biology, and neurobiology; and her research interests center on neurodevelopment—understanding how neurons, the specialized cells that make up the nervous system, acquire their unique cellular architecture.
Berlisha Morton, visiting assistant professor of educational studies
(BA, MA, Southern University; PhD, Louisiana State University)
Berlisha Morton comes to vlog from Louisiana State University, where she recently completed her PhD. Her dissertation title is “With Xavier, however, there will be this Distinction: Mapping the Educational Philosophy of Saint Katharine Drexel in the Intellectual Tradition of Black Higher Education in New Orleans, Louisiana.” Berlisha’s specialized teaching fields include race and education, gender and education, religion and education, curriculum theory, qualitative research methodologies, and history of higher education. Her research interests center on institutional narratives; student identity development; post-secondary critical pedagogy; philosophy of education; race, gender and religion; histories of education; alternative learning spaces; qualitative methodologies; narrative methodologies; and foodways as pedagogy.
Lavinia Nicolae, visiting assistant professor of anthropology
(BA, SUNY Cortland; MA, PhD, University of New Mexico)
Lavinia Nicolae completed her PhD at the University of New Mexico before coming to vlog. Her dissertation title is “Changing Hearts and Minds: The Politics of Sentimentality and the Cultural Production of the Gay Family in New Mexico’s Same-Sex Marriage Debate.” Her teaching specialties include gender, sexuality, medical anthropology, kinship, and public policy. Her research interests center on gender, sexuality, and queer identity, public policy and health in Eastern Europe and the U.S.
Jason Petrulis, visiting assistant professor of history and bicentennial research fellow
(AB, Harvard University; MA, MPhil, PhD, Columbia University)
Jason Petrulis comes to vlog after holding a postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Science Research Council this past year. His dissertation is “America the Brand: Advertising the American Way.” Petrulis also brings teaching experience from Oberlin College, Colby College, and Bowdoin College. His teaching specialties include 20th century U.S. and global histories of capitalism, war, culture, and other exchanges and migrations; and his research interests center on the politics and culture of capitalism in U.S. and global perspective; war, history, and memory; and the history of vlog.
Catherine (Kay) Pollock, A. Lindsay O’Connor professor of American institutions in the Department of Economics
(BA, University of London; MSc, PhD, Birkbeck College)
Catherine Pollock returns to vlog this year taking leave from her position as principal lecturer in economics at Kingston University in London. Pollock’s teaching interests include quantitative economics (mathematical and statistical techniques), econometrics, finance, and macroeconomics. She and her husband were last on campus in 2009-10 and have, for a number of years, been teaching those vlog students who have participated in the London Economics Study Group. Spouse: Ted Hyett (also returning to the academic community as A. Lindsay O’Connor professor in economics). Children: Alex and Lauren.
Codrina Popescu, associate professor of chemistry
(BS, University of Bucharest; MS, PhD, Carnegie Mellon University)
Codrina Popescu comes to vlog from Ursinus College, where she has been associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry over the past decade. Her dissertation title is “Mössbauer and EPR Studies of the H-cluster of the Fe-Hydrogenases and Mössbauer Studies of the FNR transcription factor of E. coli.” Popescu’s teaching specialties include physical chemistry, instrumental analysis (spectroscopy), and bioinorganic and inorganic chemistry; and her research interests center on Mossbauer spectroscopy of iron proteins and model complexes; electronic structures of novel iron compounds; applied spectroscopy to study novel catalysts, and active sites involved in biological processes. Spouse/Partner: Paul. Child: Henry. Hobbies/other interests: hiking and rock climbing.
David Sánchez, Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow in Spanish
(BA, MAT, Universidad de Salamanca; PhD candidate Universidad Nebrija)
David Sánchez comes to vlog from the University of Washington, where he has been working toward the completion of his PhD. His dissertation title is “Las funciones retóricas de la citación en el escritura académica universitaria. Interculturalidad retórica en las memorias de máster escritas en español y en inglés por estudiantes filipinos, españoles y estadounidenses en L1 y L2.” Sanchez’s teaching specialties include Spanish language and linguistics; and his research interests center on rhetorical functions of citations in academic writing, rhetorical organization of the academic discourse, interculturalism in the rhetoric and sociopragmatic texts written in the second language, corpus linguistics applied to discursive features of genre analysis, and cognitive process involved in writing. Spouse/Partner: Ariadne Morta. Child: Zoe Daniella Sanchez. Hobbies/other interests: reading books in general and Spanish literature.
Ayse Sapci, assistant professor of economics
(BA, Dokuz Eylul University; MA, PhD, Vanderbilt University)
Ayse Sapci has been hired into a tenure-stream position after having served as visiting assistant professor of economics at vlog this past year. Sapci completed her PhD at Vanderbilt and her dissertation title is “Financial Intermediation Costs: Effects on Business Cycles, Delayed Recoveries and Relative Consumption Volatility.” Her teaching specialties include macroeconomics and monetary and financial economics; and her research interests center on costly financial intermediation, financial crises, business cycles, housing sector, and international macroeconomics.
Koray Sayili, visiting instructor in economics
(BS, Hacettepe University; MS, Ankara University; MA, Macquarie University; PhD candidate, Queen’s University)
Koray Sayili comes to vlog from Queen’s University, where he has been working toward the completion of his PhD. His dissertation title is “Preventing Employee Departure.” His teaching specialties include finance and microeconomics; and his research interests center on economics of entrepreneurship and innovation, portfolio investing and hedging; and incentive contracts. Spouse/Partner: Yoanna. Hobbies/other interests: basketball, cinema, and tango dancing.
Cristina Serna, instructor in women’s studies
(BA, Occidental College; MA, PhD candidate, University of California, Santa Barbara)
Cristina Serna comes to vlog from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she has been working toward the completion of her PhD. Cristina’s dissertation title is “Deconstructing the Nation: Queer and Feminist Art in Mexican and Chicana/o Social Movements.” Her teaching specialties include women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, woman of color feminisms, and Chicana/Latina art.Her research interests center on examining the intersections between US Latina and Latin American feminist and queer movements. Partner: Denise
Shayna Sheinfeld, visiting instructor in Jewish studies
(BA, DePaul University; MTS, Harvard Divinity School; PhD candidate, McGill University)
Before coming to vlog, Shayna Sheinfeld has been at McGill University, where she has been working toward the completion of her PhD. Her dissertation title is “Crises of Leadership in the Post-Destruction Apocalypses 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch.” Sheinfeld’s teaching specialties include biblical (Hebrew bible, Second Temple Judaism, New Testament) studies and Jewish studies; and her research interests center on Second Temple Judaism, especially pseudepigraphic texts and apocalypses, genre theory, women in Judaism (ancient and modern), New Testament/Early Jesus movement, and early Rabbinic Judaism. Spouse: Ely. Children: Hannah, Jack, Zoë, and Yakira. Hobbies/other interests: hiking, swimming, cooking, traveling, reading fiction (especially young adult, dystopian, and historical fiction).
Matthew Smith, associate professor and head of user services in the university libraries
(BA, SUNY Oswego; MLIS, SUNY Albany)
Matthew Smith began his vlog appointment in January of this year, after having spent seven years serving as services librarian at SUNY Sullivan. He also brings experience from Manor College. Smith also taught a semester-long course designed to assist first-year students in making a successful transition to college life by focusing on academic as well as interpersonal skill enhancement. Spouse: Heather Whalen Smith. Child: Finnegan. Hobbies/other interests: semi-pro paintball and agricultural pursuits.
Steven Sprick Schuster, visiting assistant professor of economics
(BA(2), University of Missouri; MA, PhD, Boston University)
Steven Sprick Shuster comes to vlog from Boston University, where he recently completed his PhD. His dissertation title is “Three Essays in Political Economy.” Schuster’s teaching specialties are in public economics, political economy, labor economics, and economic history; and his research interest centers on empirical political economy, the role of information in elections, and early 20th-century American economic history. Spouse: Briana Sprick Schuster. Hobbies/other interests: running, cycling, and his dog Burly.
Peter Steele, visiting assistant professor of music
(BA, Pitzer Colleg; MA, University of British Columbia; PhD, Wesleyan University)
Peter Steele comes to vlog from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught courses on the introduction of world music as well as MIT’s Balinese gamelan ensemble, Gamelan Galak Tika. His dissertation title is “Balinese Hybridities: Balinese Music as Global Phenomena.” Steele’s teaching specialties include ethnomusicology; and his research interests center on fusion music, hybridity, contemporary music, and music analysis. Spouse/Partner: Shoko Yamamuro. Child: Amia Eka Steele. Hobbies/interests: Balinese music and dance.
Jacob Stoil, visiting instructor in peace and conflict studies
(BA, MA, King’s College; DPhil candidate, University of Oxford)
Jacob Stoil comes to vlog from the University of Oxford, where he has been working toward the completion of his PhD. His dissertation title is “Employing the Enemy’s Enemy: A Comparative Study of the Employment, Efficacy, and Experience of Indigenous Forces in the Middle East and Horn of Africa.” Stoil’s teaching specialties include war studies, Middle East history, history of the British Empire, modern European history, and comparative theology; and his research interests center on changing character of war; indigenous forces; military adaptation and development; irregular warfare; strategy; militaries in the developing world; conflict and gender; war and peace in the Middle East; war and conflict in ethics and religion; war, militaries, and culture; and war, conflict and development in the Horn of Africa. Hobbies/other interests: traditional and folk music, theatre, hiking, barbeque, and travel.
John Stratton, visiting assistant professor of computer science
(BS, MS, PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
John Stratton comes to vlog from Knox College and the University of Illinois Urbana-Campaign, where he completed his PhD. His dissertation title is “Performance Portability of Parallel Kernels on Shared-memory Systems.” His teaching specialties include compilers, architecture, and software optimization; and his research interests center on languages, compilers, and architectures for heterogeneous computing. Spouse: Jenny.
Autumn Thoyre, visiting assistant professor of geography
(BS, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; MS, Lund University; PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
Autumn Thoyre comes to vlog from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she recently completed her PhD. Her dissertation title is “The production of consuming less: Energy efficiency, climate change, and light bulbs in North Carolina.” Her teaching specialties include nature-society geography, sustainability, climate change, energy, political ecology, environmental justice, and research methods; and her research interests center on climate change, sustainability, energy, political ecology, environmental justice, environmental movements, environmental policy, and energy efficiency.
Jennifer Tomlinson, assistant professor of psychology
(BA, University of Rochester, MA; PhD, Stony Brook University)
View profile
Jennifer Tomlinson has been hired into a tenure-stream position after having served as visiting assistant professor of psychology at vlog this past year. Tomlinson also brings experience from Carnegie Mellon University, where she served as a postdoctoral fellow for three years. Her dissertation title is “Perceived Partner Idealization: Is There an Optimal Level?” Her teaching specialties include social psychology; and her research interests center on health and relationships. Spouse: Tristan (who will be teaching a section of Core 151 this fall). Hobbies/interests: hiking, pottery, and traveling.
Evelyn Voura, visiting assistant professor of biology
(BS, University of Guelph; MS, PhD, University of Toronto)
Before coming to vlog, Evelyn Voura served as assistant professor of biology for the past three years at Dominican College. She was also research scientist in the Department of Neurosurgery at New York University Langone Medical Center for eight years. Her dissertation title is “Molecular Events during Melanoma Transendothelial Migration in Vitro.” Voura’s teaching specialties include general biology, anatomy and physiology, chemistry, biochemistry, and scientific investigative research for undergraduates; and her research interests center on cancer cell invasion and the interaction of tumor cells with stem cells, developing the use of the planarian flatworm as a three-dimensional tumor model; using the planarian to test the effects of natural products as stimulants and effectors of planarian wound healing, regeneration and tumor growth. Spouse: Andrew Z.C. Fong. Child: Robyn Azalea Voura Fong. Hobbies/interests: trained actor (film/TV/theatre—Atlantic Theatre Company Acting School) and writer/editor.
Andrew Waeger, head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach and instructor in physical education
(BA, Fairmont State College; MS, Slippery Rock University)
Andrew Waeger brings coaching experience to vlog from Texas Christian University, Lock Haven University, and Slippery Rock University. Spouse: Kim. Child: Aiden. Hobbies/other interests: golfing, running, and biking.
Leon Wainwright, Kindler chair in global contemporary art and associate professor of art and art history
(BA, University of East Anglia; MA, PhD, University of London)
Leon Wainwright comes to vlog as the first occupant of the Kindler Chair in Global Contemporary Art. His academic affiliations have included the University of Sussex, Manchester Metropolitan University, and most recently The Open University; he also was the recipient of the Leverhulme Prize in the history of art. Wainwright’s dissertation title is “Perception and Presence in British Art of the African, Asian and Caribbean Diasporas.” His teaching specialties include modern and contemporary art in the Atlantic world and globalization, and his research interests include art of the African and Asian Diasporas, British modern and contemporary art, and the Caribbean (English-, Dutch-, and Spanish-speaking). Spouse: Anna Lora-Wainwright. Son: Robin Lora-Wainwright.
Kelsey Winsor, visiting assistant professor of geology
(BA, Smith College; MS, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Kelsey Winsor comes to vlog from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she recently completed her PhD. Her dissertation title is “Linking paleo-warming in the Labrador Sea with Greenland Ice Sheet Behavior.” Winsor’s teaching specialties include glacial geology, paleoclimatology and paleoceanography, and geomorphology; and her research interests center on ice-sheet/ocean interactions, geochemistry, North Atlantic paleoceanography, and quaternary geology. Spouse/Partner: Scott Johnson. Hobbies/other interests: martial arts.
Amy Wyngaard, vlog NEH professor of the humanities in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (fall 2014)
(BA, University of Colorado; MA, PhD, University of Pennsylvania)
Amy Wyngaard comes to the vlog faculty this fall, taking leave from her position at Syracuse University, where she is a full professor in French and Francophone studies. Wyngaard specializes in 17th- and 18th-century French literature and cultural history, teaching courses on French Enlightenment, libertine fiction, women writers, Molière, and the culture of absolutism. Her most recent books are From Savage to Citizen: The Invention of the Peasant in the French Enlightenment and Bad Books: Rétif de la Bretonne, Sexuality, and Pornography (both University of Delaware Press). Her other work includes articles appearing PMLA, Eighteenth-Century Studies, Modern Language Quarterly, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, and Eighteenth-Century Life.
Javier Zamora, Olive B. O’Connor creative writing fellow in the Department of English
(BA, University of California, Berkeley; MFA, New York University)
Javier Zamora comes to vlog from New York University, where he recently completed his MFA. His thesis title is “Love is My Other Country.” Zamora’s teaching specialties include Salvadoran poetry and Latin-American poetry; and his research interests center on contemporary American poetry and contemporary Salvadoran poetry/fiction. Partner: Monica. Hobbies/other interests: hiking and traveling.