The University of Kansas
An Official Employee Publication From the Office of University Relations
Welcome new faculty
Glenn Adams, assistant professor of psychology, teaches in social and cultural psychology. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pennsylvania State University and received his doctorate in psychology from Stanford University in 2000. He has interests in African studies that derive from three years of Peace Corps service in Sierra Leone and two, one-year research fellowships in Ghana (with the Social Science Research Council in 1997 and as a Fulbright scholar in 1999). In 2000-01, he earned a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral training fellowship from the University of California, Irvine.
Jane Aldrich, professor of medicinal chemistry, had been a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Maryland. She teaches courses in biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, and drug design. She has also served on committees such as the grievance committee, the graduate council, and the grant review. She earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan and her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Michigan State University.
Mikhail Barybin, assistant professor of chemistry, comes to KU from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a postdoctoral associate in chemistry. He received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Minnesota and fulfilled requirements for a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the Higher Chemical College of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His research and teaching interests are inorganic, organometallic, and supramolecular chemistry. He is also a full member in Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society.
J. Christopher Brown will split his time as an assistant professor between geography and environmental studies. He earned his doctorate in geography from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1999. After receiving his degree, he lectured in the geography department at UCLA and was an adjunct professor at Santa Monica College. He earned his master’s degree in Latin American studies and his bachelor’s degree in biology from KU. His research and teaching interests are the political and ecological dynamics of rural development and conservation, biogeography, human-environment relations, and Latin America.
Monica Brown joins the KU faculty as an assistant professor of special education. She previously worked for the school district in Clark County, Nev., on assignment for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and was coordinator for the Undergraduate Cohort IV program. She was also the coordinator for the Graduate Alternative Route to Licensure III program. She earned her doctorate in special education in 2001 and her master’s degree from UNLV. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Joyce Castle returns to her alma mater as professor of voice. Her opera career spans more than 30 years. She has sung leading roles with the New York City Opera Company, the Metropolitan Opera Company, and other major opera companies and symphonies throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. She is a mezzo-soprano and has performed in many world premieres and has recorded a wide variety of 20th century music. She has appeared on PBS and Metropolitan Opera Texaco broadcasts as well as television and radio broadcasts in Europe. In October she will sing with the Seattle Opera Company in Dvorak’s Rusalka. She received her master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and her bachelor’s in theatre/voice from KU.
Katherine Clark, assistant professor of history and humanities & Western civilization, has been a visiting assistant professor at KU since 1996. She earned her doctorate and master’s degrees in history from Johns Hopkins University. She received her bachelor’s degree in English and history from Duke University. She teaches British and European history. She is the author of the forthcoming book Daniel Defoe and the Transition to Modernity.
Shannon Criss, associate professor of architecture, comes to KU from Mississippi State University. She was director of the Small Town Center, the MSU research unit that focused on design issues in small towns. She received her master’s degree in architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1992 and her bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University. In 1999, she won a design honor award from the American Institute of Architects, Mississippi chapter, and a national design award from Architecture Magazine recognizing the center as an outstanding curricular program in architecture.
Cameron Currie, joins KU as an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. He earned his doctorate in botany from the University of Toronto. He received his master’s degree in entomology and his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Alberta. He has conducted research at the University of Texas at Austin and at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. He is also the recipient of Ontario Graduate Scholarship and the Smithsonian predoctoral fellowship.
Dorothy Daley, assistant professor of political science and environmental studies, earned her doctorate in ecology from the University of California at Davis in 2001. She received her master’s degree in environmental science from Louisiana State University and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dalhousie University. Her teaching interests are in environmental policy. She has earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowship for 1999-2002.
Mary Catherine Davidson, assistant professor of English, received her doctorate in medieval studies from the University of Toronto in 2001. While there, she was also a tutor and lecturer in writing, medieval Latin, and English. She earned her master’s degree in medieval studies from the University of Toronto and her bachelor’s degree in Latin and medieval studies from the University of British Columbia. She speaks classical and medieval Latin and is involved with the Canadian Society of Medievalists, the Medieval Academy of America, and the Modern Language Association.
Michael Dennis, assistant professor of communication studies, has taught classes in health communication, new communication technologies, and public and persuasive speaking at KU since 1999. He received his doctorate and master’s degrees in communication from Purdue University and earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and communication from La Salle University. He received the Bruce Kendall Award for Excellence in Teaching from Purdue in 1999. His research interests include social influence in mediated and interpersonal health settings as well as diffusion of communication technology innovations.
Brian Donovan, assistant professor of sociology, received his doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University in May 2001. He is a cultural and historical sociologist; his work focuses on the role of moral reform movements in shaping forms of social inequality. His recent articles include “Political Consequences of Private Authority: Promise Keepers and the Transformation of Hegemonic Masculinity,” published in Theory and Society, and “Framing and Strategy: Explaining Differential Mobilization in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League,” published in Sociological Inquiry. His broad areas of research and teaching include social control, social movements, culture, sexualities, and race.
Apurba Dutta, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry, has been at KU since 1999, when he became assistant director of the Drug Discovery Program at Higuchi Biosciences Center. He also has been a research assistant professor at KU. He earned doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in chemistry from North-East Hill University in India. His most recent research project was studying synthesis of complex peptidyl nucleoside antibiotics.
Arienne M. Dwyer, assistant professor of anthropology, received her doctorate and master’s degrees in Chinese and Altaic linguistics from the University of Washington. She earned her bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of British Columbia. She is project coordinator for developing a multimedia database prototype for the documentation of endangered languages based on Salar, Monguor, and Baonan. She is also the co-principal investigator for Love Songs and Ritual in Northwest China and for a Uyghur dialectology project.
Bruce Frey, assistant professor of psychology and research in education, has been teaching graduate courses in educational measurement, statistics, and research methods at KU since 1995. He has also been a researcher at the KU School of Medicine. He earned his doctorate in educational psychology and research from KU in 1994. He also received his bachelor’s degree from KU. This year, he was accepted to the Best Practices in Teaching Institute at KU’s Center for Teaching Excellence.
Elizabeth Friis, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was a research scientist at the Orthopaedic Research Institute in Wichita where she also held an appointment as volunteer research instructor with the KU School of Medicine in Wichita, department of surgery, section of orthopaedics. She earned her doctorate in mechanical engineering from Wichita State University in 1994. She received her master’s degree in mechanical engineering and her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Iowa. Her professional interests include biomaterials and biomechanics, composite materials, novel structures, mechanical testing, and design of implants.
Nils Gore, assistant professor of architecture, joins the KU faculty after teaching at Mississippi State University, where he was an assistant professor of architecture, instructing design studios and building technology. He also worked at the Small Town Center as Project Director for the Mississippi Electronic Almanac. He received his master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University and his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Kansas State University. In 1999, he won a design honor award from the American Institute of Architects, Mississippi chapter.
Gregory Hanley, assistant professor of human development and family life, recently earned his doctorate and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of Florida. He earned his bachelor’s degree in English and pre-medical sciences from the University of Rochester. He has been a clinical researcher for Johns Hopkins University and the University of Florida and an assistant editor for Self-Injuries Abstracts and Reviews. This fall, he will serve on the board of editors for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.
Stephen Hasiotis, assistant professor of geology, has taught paleontology, mineralogy, oceanography, and geology at Indiana State University. He also is a curatorial affiliate with the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University in the invertebrate paleontology section. He earned his doctorate in geological science from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Buffalo.
E. Bruce Hayes, assistant professor of French and Italian, comes to KU from Yale University, where he earned his doctorate and his master’s degree in French. His field of concentration was medieval and renaissance popular culture and literature. He also was a part-time lecturer, coordinator for the Working at Teaching program, and the curriculum developer for language reading programs at Yale. He received a master’s degree in French studies and a bachelor’s degree in French from Brigham Young University.
Erik Herron joins the KU faculty as an assistant professor of political science. He earned his doctorate and master’s degree in political science at Michigan State University. His studies focused on the politics of post-communist states, research methods, and public administration and policy. He earned a master’s degree in Russian and East European studies from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in Russian and East European studies from the University of Michigan.
Clarence Henry, assistant professor of music history, received his doctorate in 2000 from the University of California at Los Angeles. He earned his master’s degree and master’s of education at Columbia University and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Houston. He comes to KU from Indiana State University where he was an assistant professor of ethnomusicology and African-American studies. His areas of specialization are music of blacks in the United States, the music of Africa, Latin American musical culture, and cross-cultural musical aesthetics.
Pamela Hinchman, associate professor of voice, has received critical acclaim since being named Musical America’s Young Artist to Watch. She has sung leading roles in Italy, Mexico, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, and Egypt as well as the United States. In fall 2001 she will appear as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Cleveland Opera Company and as the soprano soloist in The Messiah with the Independence Symphony Orchestra. Her most recent award was an alumni achievement award from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she earned her bachelor’s degree. She received a Certificate of Graduate Studies from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Yi Jin, assistant professor of economics, received her doctorate in economics from the University of Iowa in 2001. She earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business and economics from the Peoples University of China and completed a one-year study in economics at the China-U.S. Economics Training Center. Her fields of concentration are macroeconomics, monetary economics, and financial economics.
Bruce Johnson, assistant professor of architecture, has been a lecturer at KU and a visiting assistant professor at Kansas State University since 1996. He teaches primarily in design studios. He earned his master’s degree in advanced architectural design from Columbia University in 1995. He received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Kansas State University. In 2000, he was listed in Who’s Who in American Teaching.
Biung-Ghi Ju, assistant professor of economics, comes to KU from the University of Rochester, where he recently received his doctorate and master’s degree in economics. He also received his master and bachelor’s degrees in economics from the Seoul National University. His research interests include economic theory, mechanism design, and public economics. His teaching interests are microeconomics, game theory, mathematical economics, political economy, and public economics.
Andrzej Karcz, assistant professor of Slavic languages and literatures, received his doctorate in Slavic languages and literatures from the University of Chicago in 1999. He earned his master’s degree in Polish philology from the Catholic University of Lublin. He is a specialist in Polish languages and literature and has published articles on Polish and Russian authors, Polish autobiography, and American literary criticism. He is author of the upcoming book, The Polish Formalist School and Russian Formalism.
Paul Kelton, assistant professor of history, was an assistant professor at Southern Connecticut State University before coming to KU. He teaches courses in colonial/revolutionary America, comparative colonization, and American Indian, old South, American West, and environmental history. He received his doctorate and master’s degree in American history from the University of Oklahoma. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Tulsa.
Arne Koch, assistant professor of Germanic languages and literatures, earned his doctorate in German literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. He earned his master’s degree in German literature from Pennsylvania State University and his bachelor’s degree in German area studies from Kenyon College. His teaching interests include 19th and early 20th century literature, theories of narration, and the representation of regional and alternative communities.
Mechele Leon, assistant professor of theatre and film, comes to KU from France, where she taught theatre arts and acting classes at the American University of Paris. She earned her doctorate in theatre arts and master’s degree from Cornell University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in theatre from the State University of New York, Empire State College. She has had acting roles in plays such as The Importance of Being Ernest and Lost in Yonkers. She has also trained professionally in acting, movement, voice and speech, musical theatre, and Shakespeare.
Patricia Lowe, assistant professor of school psychology, comes to KU from the Warm Springs Counseling Center and Training Institute in Boise, Idaho, where she was a psychology resident, providing psychological services to children and adolescents and their families. She received her doctorate in psychology from Texas A&M University, where her specialization was child and family psychology. She earned her master’s degree Idaho State University and her bachelor’s degree from Boise State University.
Angela Lumpkin became dean of the School of Education in June 2001. She previously was dean of the College of Education at State University of West Georgia, department chair for physical education at North Carolina State University, and professor of physical education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas, a master’s degree and doctorate from Ohio State University, and a MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Elizabeth MacGonagle, assistant professor of history and African and African-American studies, received her doctorate in history in 2001 from Michigan State University. Her fields of study include southern Africa and Latin American and African-American history. While at Michigan State, she taught in the department of history and at the Center for Integrative Studies. She also was a team member on the Peace and Justice Initiative. She received a master’s degree in history from Michigan State and a bachelor’s degree in history from Trinity College.
Lawrence Mallett, professor and department chair in music and dance, comes to KU from the University of Nebraska, where he was interim dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts for the past year and director of the School of Music for the previous seven years. He was also a professor of music. He earned his doctorate in instrumental conducting from the University of Iowa. He received his master’s degree in clarinet and woodwind performance from Ohio State University and his bachelor’s degree in clarinet with NCATE certification from the University of Iowa. As a conductor he has directed concerts in Berlin, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, and as a clarinetist he has performed in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Patricia Manning joins KU as an assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese. At Yale University she earned her doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese in 2000, a master’s of philosophy in Spanish and Portuguese, and a master’s degree in Spanish and Portuguese. She received her bachelor’s degree from Brown University. While at Yale, she was a lecturer and a teaching coordinator. Her professional interests include golden age prose and theater, Cervantes, emblem literature, the Society of Jesus, and colonial baroque literature.
Gina Matesic, reference librarian and bibliographer, earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of Western Ontario. She received a master’s degree in American/Canadian/Native history from Carleton University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Dalhousie University. Her research interests are library and information science education programs, American and Canadian history, and student learning. She wrote a book review column called Off the Shelf and wrote a Web resources column, “Resources Sources,” for the HR Professional Association in Canada.
Genaro Mendez, assistant professor of voice, recently earned his doctorate of musical arts from the University of Oregon. His areas of concentration are in vocal performance and choral conducting. He earned his master’s degree in music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his bachelor’s degree in music from he University of Nevada at Reno. In 2000, he performed as Pong in Turandot and as Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, both with the Eugene Opera. At the University of Oregon, he taught private vocal studios, lyric diction, and basic performance and was director of the men’s chorus.
Mark Mort will divide his time at KU as an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and as assistant curator in the McGregor Herbarium at the Natural History Museum. His research involves reconstructing the relationships among the flowering plants and especially in the flowering plant family Crassulaceae using DNA sequences. Recent research efforts have focused on members of this family that are largely endemic to the Canary Islands. He received his doctorate in botany from Washington State University. He received his master’s degree in biology from College of William and Mary and his bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Eric Munson, associate professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, comes to KU from the University of Minnesota. He received his doctorate in chemistry from Texas A&M University and his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and physics from Augustana College. His research interests involve using solid-state NMR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and other techniques to characterize solid pharmaceuticals. Specific research areas include the investigation of the structure and reactivity of pharmaceutical agents in polymer matrices and correlation of solid-state NMR chemical shifts with molecular structure.
Scott Murphy, assistant professor of music theory, has taught tonal and post-tonal theory, film music techniques, computer in music education, and keyboard harmony for seven years. He is earning his doctorate in music theory from the Eastman School of Music. He earned two master’s degrees and a bachelor’s degree from KU. He is a published composer of choral music and a composer for film. He has received awards for excellence in teaching from the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music.
Yoonmi Nam, assistant professor of art, earned an MFA in painting and printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design. She received a bachelor’s degree from Hongik University in Seoul, Korea. In 2000-01, she was a lecturer at Washington University, teaching drawing, conceptual methods, and two-dimensional design. She has shown exhibits at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass., and has an upcoming exhibit at the Three Sinks Gallery in St. Louis.
Holly Nelson-Becker, assistant professor of social welfare, has teaching interests in gerontology, research, mental health, ethics, and cultural diversity. She put these interests to work as an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Aurora University. She is also co-chair of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) interest group on religion, spirituality and aging. She received her doctorate in 1999 from the University of Chicago. She received her master’s of social work degree from Arizona State University and bachelor’s degrees in modern foreign languages and international studies from Graceland College.
Elena Papanastasiou, assistant professor of psychology and research in education, earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Pennsylvania State University and recently received her doctorate in measurement and quantitative methods from Michigan State University. While at Michigan State, she was the primary investigator for the International Teachers 2000 project, a survey study that attempts to determine the satisfaction levels of teachers across the world. She also was a research assistant on projects such as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Goals 2000, and a teacher education evaluation.
Ivana Radovanovic, assistant professor of anthropology, taught for 18 years at the University of Novi Sad and at the University of Belgrade. She was also a research associate in the Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade. As a visiting scholar in the United Kingdom, she pursued research and lectured at the University of Durham, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Newcastle. Her areas of specialization include prehistoric technologies, archaeological record and interpretation of burial procedures, and ideology and belief systems of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. She earned doctorate, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in archaeology from the University of Belgrade.
Margaret Rausch, assistant professor of religious studies, earned a doctorate from the Institute for Islamic studies at the Free State University at Berlin. She earned a master’s degree in Middle Eastern history and a bachelor’s degree in French language and literature from Ohio State University. She has taught courses in popular culture in Egypt, Arabic text reading, and women in Islam at the Free State University since 1995. She is a member of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, the Associate for Middle East Women’s Studies, and the Middle East Studies Association.
Cacilda Rego, assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese, has taught Portuguese and Brazilian cinema, culture, and literature at Vanderbilt University. She earned doctorate and master’s degrees in Latin American studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where her fields of specialization were critical and cultural studies, Latin American film and television, and Luso-Brazilian culture and literature.
Paul Rehak, assistant professor of classics, comes to KU from the Department of Classical Studies at Duke University. He received a bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan and master’s and doctoral degrees in classical and near-eastern archaeology from Bryn Mawr College. He is a member of the American School of Classical Studies and the British School of Archaeology in Athens. He has a wide range of excavation experience in Greece, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom, and is co-editor for book reviews of the American Journal of Archaeology. His research and publications focus on the Aegean bronze age and Greek and Roman sculpture.
Tom Roberts, assistant professor of business, earned a doctorate in management information systems and an MBA from Auburn University. Before coming to KU, he taught at the University of Central Florida in the new management information systems department. He played an integral role in the initiation and development of the MIS department. He also developed the MIS department network laboratory, served on the UCF Computer Focus group that reorganized the university computing structure, and chaired and served on various university, college and department committees.
Jennifer Roberts-Rogers, assistant professor of geology, has been investigating microbe-mineral interactions at the USGS toxics site in Bemidji, Minn. She earned her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in geology from Trinity University. Her fields of specialization include geomicrobiology, aqueous geochemistry, and hydrogeology. She is working on patterns of microbial colonization on silicates, nutrient-driven microbial dissolution of silicates, and nutrient-cycling in Hawaiian bogs.
Edward Scanlon joins the KU faculty as an assistant professor of social welfare. He received a doctorate in social work from Washington University in 1998. He earned a master’s degree at KU and a bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. His teaching interests include social work direct practice, social welfare policy, and community change practice. He was a faculty associate for the School of Social Work Prevention Center at the University of Washington.
Roberta Schwartz, assistant professor of music and dance, will receive a doctorate in musicology from the University of Illinois later this year. Her main area of study is music of the Renaissance; her minor areas of study include Spanish music and African-American urban popular music. She earned her master’s degree and bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa. At Luther College, she taught courses in the history of western music and was also a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois.
Jeffrey Staudinger, assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology, has been working at the KU Medical Center as a senior postdoctoral research fellow. He studies the newly identified nuclear receptor superfamily member, Pregnane-X-Receptor, and its role in regulating the transcription of genes involved in mediating xenobiotic homeostasis, bile acid homeostasis and drug-drug interactions. He earned doctorate and master’s degrees in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Texas. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Mihwa Stevenson will be an assistant professor of East Asian languages and cultures. Her areas of specialty are art, archeology and cultural history of northeast Asia, with concentration in pre-modern Korea and competence in Japan. She earned a doctorate and master’s degree in East Asian languages and cultures and a master’s degree in art history and archeology from Columbia University. She speaks Korean, Japanese, Chinese, French and English.
Daniel Stockli, assistant professor of geology, earned a doctorate in tectonics from Stanford University. He received master’s and bachelor’s degrees in geology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology. His research interests lie in the areas of tectonics, geodynamics, regional geology, structural geology, geochronology, thermochronology, neotectonics and petrology and geophysics applied to tectonic problems.
Holly Storkel, assistant professor of speech, language and hearing, comes to KU from Indiana University, where she was an assistant scientist in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences. She received doctoral and master’s degrees from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University. She holds a K23 career development award from the National Institute of Health.
Hanqin Tian, assistant professor of ecology, comes to KU from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., where he had been a staff scientist. He also was a professor at the Chinese Academy of Science and the International Institute for Earth System Science at Nanjing University in China. He earned a doctorate in environmental and forest biology from the State University of New York and Syracuse University. He earned master’s degree in ecology from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and biology from Zhejiang University.
Rachel Thompson, assistant professor of human development and family life, earned her doctorate and master’s degree in psychology from the University of Florida. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland. She is a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis and is also on the editorial board for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. She was also an assistant editor for Methodological and Conceptual Issues in Applied Behavior Analysis.
James Thorp will join the KU faculty as a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and as a senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey. He most recently worked at Clarkson University where he held the Bayard and Virginia Clarkson Professorship in environmental biology and was previously dean of Science. He was also a professor in the biology department and associate director of the Center for Environmental Management. He is editor-in-chief of Aquatic Ecology. His research interests are community and ecosystem ecology of aquatic systems, especially rivers. He received a doctoral and master’s degrees from North Carolina State University at Raleigh, and a bachelor’s degree from KU.
Sherrie Tucker, assistant professor of American studies, received a doctorate from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1999. She then began teaching women’s studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She has a master’s degree in women’s studies, a master’s in creative writing, and a bachelor’s in creative writing, all from San Francisco State University. She is the author of Swing Shift: “All Girl” Bands of the 1940s.
Alexander Veretennikov, associate professor of mathematics, comes to KU from the United Kingdom where he had been a professor and chair in the school of mathematics at the University of Leeds. He is also a staff member of the Institute for Information Transmission Problems in Moscow. He taught undergraduate mathematics and stochastic financial mathematics. He received doctorate degrees from the Moscow Mathematical Institute and Moscow State University in mathematical sciences.
Michael Vitevitch joins KU as an assistant professor of psychology. He was a postdoctoral research associate and a faculty member at Indiana University. He received his doctorate in cognitive psychology from the University of Buffalo and his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Binghamton University. His research investigates the processes involved in the perception and production of spoken language.
Richard Washburn, associate professor of health, sport and exercise science, received a doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He earned a master’s degree in exercise physiology from the University of Montana, a master’s degree in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the State University of New York. He comes to KU from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was an associate professor in the kinesiology department. He writes for several health journals and is a fellow in the American College of Sports Medicine and a member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
Michael Wehmeyer, associate professor of special education, received his doctorate from the school of human development at the University of Texas, Dallas. His major was disorders of learning. He also received a master’s degree in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in special education from the University of Tulsa. He is a member of several advocacy organizations for children with mental disabilities.
Andrew Whitford will be a joint assistant professor of political science and environmental studies. He received a doctorate in political science from Washington University. He received a master’s degree in economics from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in political science and political economy from Carson-Newman College. His teaching interests lie in American national institutions, bureaucratic politics, research methodology, regulatory politics, environmental, health and energy policy, and political economy.
Graham Wilson, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, earned a doctorate in physics from the University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom. He has been a research fellow with the University of Manchester since 1998, conducting research on the OPAL experiment at CERN and on linear collider studies. He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and natural philosophy from the University of Glasgow.
Sara Wilson, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, comes to KU from the University of Virginia. She had been a postdoctoral fellow, examining the role of muscle dynamics and proprioception in motion of the spine and other joints and the effect of scoliosis and low back pain on this interaction. She received a doctorate in medical engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
— Biographies compiled by Lauren Beatty