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Paul D. Barclay
Assistant Professor of History
Barclay earned a Ph.D. in history this year from the University of Minnesota. He also holds an M.A. in history from Minnesota and a B.S. in secondary education and history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Anne C. Barnhart-Park
Reference/Instruction Librarian
Barnhart-Park earned an M.S. in library and information science this year from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At Indiana University she earned two M.A. degrees, in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and in religious studies, and a B.A. in Spanish and religious studies.
Ethan J. Berkove
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Berkove comes to Lafayette from the U.S. Military Academy, where he was an assistant professor since 1996. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a B.S. with a double-major in mathematics and Japanese from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor.
Ricardo Jose Bogaert-Alvarez
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Bogaert-Alvarez, who was visiting assistant professor at Lafayette last year, has nine years’ professional experience at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Arco Chemical. He holds a master’s and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware. He was an assistant professor at New Mexico State University and department head at the Universidad Catolica Madre Y Maestra in the Dominican Republic, where earned a B.S. in chemical engineering.
David Brandes
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Brandes comes to Lafayette from Penn State University, where he was a post-doctoral scholar in the department of civil and environmental engineering for a year after earning a Ph.D. in 1998. He holds an M.S. in environmental systems engineering from Clemson University and a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Maryland. He has professional experience with Christopher J. Duffy & Associates and ENVIRON Corp.
Galen Brokaw
Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Brokaw earned a Ph.D with a major in Hispanic literature and a minor in Latin American history this year from Indiana University, where he also earned M.A. degrees with majors in Hispanic literature and Latin American studies. He holds a B.A. in Spanish and political science from Weber State University.
Laurie F. Caslake
Assistant Professor of Biology
Caslake comes to Lafayette from the SUNY College at Fredonia, where she was an assistant professor since 1997. She has also taught at Warren Wilson College and South Puget Sound Community College, following a year as post-doctoral research associate in the department of microbiology at the University of Georgia. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology and an M.S. in cell biology from Penn State University and a B.S. in biology from Arizona State University.
Arthur D. Kney
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Kney earned a Ph.D. with a major in environmental engineering this year from Lehigh University. His professional experience includes nine years as part-time site investigator for Merritt/Osborne Environmental Consulting. He holds a master’s in civil engineering from Lehigh, a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts—Dartmouth, and a B.A. in biology from Saint Francis College in Maine.
Laura A. Ruhala
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Ruhala earned a Ph.D. in engineering science and mathematics this year from Penn State University. She has experience as a project engineer with General Motors’ North American Truck Platform and AC Rochester Division. She holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from GMI Engineering and Management Institute.
Joshua Sanborn
Assistant Professor of History
Sanborn comes to the College from Stephen F. Austin State University, where he was an assistant professor last year. He has also served as a lecturer at Purdue University–Calumet. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Russian history from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in history from Stanford University.
Andrea L. Smith
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology
Smith earned a Ph.D. with a major in cultural anthropology and minor in history from the University of Arizona in 1998. Her professional experience includes three years as program officer at the National Academy of Sciences. She holds an M.A. from Arizona and a B.A. in earth sciences from Wesleyan University.
Derek A. Smith
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Smith earned a Ph.D. in mathematics this year from Princeton University. He also holds an M.A. in mathematics from Princeton and a B.S. in applied mathematics from North Carolina State University.
Louis Zulli
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Zulli comes to Lafayette from Union College, where he was a visiting assistant professor since 1996. He has also been an instructor of mathematics at Rice University and Cornell University. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in mathematics from Cornell and a B.S. in mathematics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
New Visiting Faculty
Joanne Curran
Visiting Instructor of Computer Science (fall semester)
Curran has 14 years’ experience in computer systems design and development with AT&T Communications, Vydec Inc., and Lockheed Electronics. She holds an M.S. in computer science from Stevens Institute of Technology and a B.S. in mathematics from Saint Peter’s College.
Richard A. Hall
Visiting Assistant Professor of Government and Law
Hall comes to Lafayette from Providence College, where he was an adjunct assistant professor of political science for one year, following a year as visiting assistant professor at New College of the University of South Florida. He also was a lecturer in the USIA-funded Social Science Curriculum Development Project at Babes-Bolyai University in Romania. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Indiana University and a B.A. in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.
Qin Lu
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Lu joins the College from Ohio State University, where she was a lecturer last year. She holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Ohio State and a B.S. in applied mathematics from Tsinghua University in China.
Chip Nataro
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Nataro comes to Lafayette from the University of Vermont, where he served two years as a post-doctoral fellow in the department of chemistry. He holds a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Iowa State University and a B.S. in chemistry from Messiah College.
Douglas E. Selvage
Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Selvage earned a Ph.D. in modern European history from Yale University in 1998. He also holds an M.Phil. from Yale, an M.A. in U.S. history from the University of Wisconsin, and a B.A. in German and international studies from Macalester College. He studied political science on a Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Bonn.
Andrew M. Smith
Visiting Instructor of English
Smith is pursuing a Ph.D. in English language and literature at the University of New Mexico. He holds an M.A. from New Mexico and a B.A. in English from Hamline University.
Jim Toia
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
Toia has been a visiting part-time instructor of art at Lafayette and has taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Morris County College in New Jersey. He has had many solo exhibitions and served residencies at Reed College, the Cisterna Di Latina in Italy, and the Lawrenceville School. He holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and a B.A. from Bard College.
Elissa Wurf
Visiting Associate Professor of Psychology
Wurf comes to the College from Green Mountain College in Vermont, where she has been associate professor of behavioral science since 1996. She was assistant professor at Lehigh University from 1989-1996. She holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor and a B.A. in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She served post-doctoral fellowship in personality and psychopathology at Stanford University.