Lafayette Welcomes New Faculty Members

This fall, Lafayette is welcoming 14 new tenure-track faculty and two librarians. The College has 195 full-time, tenure-track faculty members.

Joining Lafayette as assistant professor of English is Steven W. Belletto, who was a teaching assistant and instructor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been an editorial assistant for Contemporary Literature since 2004 and has published various articles and fiction pieces. The recipient of numerous awards and grants, he earned Ph.D and M.A. degrees in English from Wisconsin and B.A. degrees in English and history from Sonoma State University.

Lisa DeTora, assistant professor of English, brings to Lafayette nearly 10 years of experience in technical writing for companies such as Sanofi Pasteur, Galderma Research Laboratories, and Merck & Co. She has taught courses in writing, fiction, film, and English as a Second Language at University of Rochester and has made numerous academic presentations. She has coauthored nine scientific articles for journals and made 18 scientific presentations at conferences in the U.S. and abroad. DeTora earned Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in English from Rochester and a B.A. from Bard College.

Joining the philosophy department as assistant professor is Alessandro Giovannelli, who comes from Grand Valley State University, where he was assistant professor of philosophy and director of its study abroad program in Italy. His areas of specialization include aesthetics, ethics, philosophy of art, philosophy of film and literature, and philosophical psychology. He received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Italy and has numerous publications and conference presentations to his credit. Giovannelli received Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in philosophy from University of Maryland and a Laurea (M.A. equivalent) degree in philosophy from University of Florence, Italy.

Acquisitions and serials librarian Michael J. Hanson comes to Lafayette from Indiana University Libraries, where he served as an accounting associate in the acquisitions division since 2001. During that time, he compiled a survey on the condition and possible preservation measures for materials located in the university’s Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies Library. He also developed the web site for Indiana Magazine of History, which is one of the nation’s oldest historical journals. Hanson earned an M.L.S. from Indiana and a B.A. in East Asian history from University of Utah.

Jennifer Kelly joins the music department as assistant professor and director of choral activities. Previously, she was associate professor of music and director of choral activities at Los Angeles Valley College and worked with its vocal jazz ensemble, philharmonic choir, chamber singers, and college choir. She has worked extensively with community outreach programs, teaching music to youth from preschool through high school. Kelly also has conducting, solo vocal performance, opera, and musical theater experience. She earned D.M.A., M.M., and B.A. degrees from University of California, Los Angeles.

Kira T. Lawrence joins Lafayette as assistant professor of geology and environmental geosciences. Her research interests focus on reasons for the planet’s climate changes over long timescales. She has published in journals such as Global Change Biology, Global Ecology and Biogeography, Science, and Nature. The recipient of several grants, she has conducted research at the U.S. Geologic Survey and Woods Hole Research Center. Lawrence earned Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in geological sciences from Brown University, an M.S. in earth sciences from University of California, Santa Cruz, and an A.B. in earth sciences from Dartmouth College.

Joining the faculty as assistant professor of anthropology and sociology is Caroline W. Lee, who comes from the University of California, San Diego, where she was an associate in residence for the spring of 2005. Her research interests include law and society, and she received the Fellowship in Contemporary History, Public, Policy, and American Politics from University of Virginia for the 2005-06 school term. She holds an M.A. from UCSD, and a B.A. from Vassar College.

An assistant professor of computer science, Xiaoyan Li comes to Lafayette from Rutgers University, where she was an Internet technology instructor. Co-author of more than ten publications, she was most recently involved in work in the Proceedings of the Second IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS). Her research interests include wireless sensor networks, ad-hoc networks, distributed systems, and Internet services. She holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from Rutgers and a B.S. in computer science from Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

Mary Jo Lodge, assistant professor of English, was visiting assistant professor at Lafayette in 2005-06. Previously, she was assistant professor of theatre at Central Michigan University since August 2001. Currently the president of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Music, Theatre/Dance Focus Group, she received the Alpha Psi Omega “Mask and Hammer” Award twice for “Best Production, Main Stage and Off Main Stage” at Central Michigan. She earned her Ph.D. in theatre at Bowling Green State University, her M.A. in theatre at Villanova University, and her B.M. in musical theatre with an English minor at The Catholic University of America.

Reference and instruction librarian Rebecca Metzger comes to Lafayette from Simmons College, where she earned an M.S. in library and information science. For four years, Metzger ran Metzger Consulting, a public relations and marketing company for museums, art organizations, and artists in New York City. She also served as public relations officer for the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. She won the American Jewish Press Association Award for Excellence in Journalism. She received a B.A. in religion from Smith College.

Joining the biology department is assistant professor Manuel David Ospina-Giraldo, who was visiting assistant professor of biology at Wilkes University since 2004. With a traineeship grant and three travel awards from the Phytophthora Molecular Genetics Network, his research interests include plant pathology. He is a member of the National Science Foundation’s grant review panel on plant-biotic interactions. He received his Ph.D. in plan pathology from The Pennsylvania State University. Both his M.S. in biochemistry and his B.S. in biology were completed at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Columbia.

Coming to the religious studies department is assistant professor Asma Sayeed, former adjunct instructor at The College of New Jersey and Drew Theological Seminary in 2005. She was awarded the Princeton University Center for Study of Religious Graduate Teaching Internship in 2004-05 and has two forthcoming articles in Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Cultures. She received a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, a M.A. in history from Binghamton University, and a B.S. in politics from Princeton.

Karina A. Skvirsky joins the faculty as anassistant professor of art. She comes from the International Center for Photography and the Parsons School of Design, both in New York City, where she served as photography instructor since 2003. Her photography has been on display at numerous venues in New York and Philadelphia, and she is the recipient of more than a dozen fellowships, grants, and awards. She received an M.F.A. in photography from Indiana University and a B.A. in Spanish literature from Oberlin College.

Joining the geology department as an assistant professor is David Sunderlin, a former geology instructor at Lawrence University. He has received numerous research grants to fund projects in Alaska and Western Canada. He has published in Geology, Geotimes, and the Journal of Geoscience Education. He received a Ph.D. in geology and paleontology from University of Chicago and a B.A. in biology and geology from Colgate University.

Coming to the psychology department as assistant professor is Jennifer Talarico, a former psychology instructor at Duke University. She has published articles in Applied Cognitive Science, Psychological Science, and Memory & Cognition. Her research focuses on how different factors affect memory, and she has presented at numerous national and international conferences. Talarico earned Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in psychology from Duke and a B.A. in biopsychology and cognitive science from University of Michigan.

Miranda Teboh-Ewungkem, assistant professor of mathematics, was visiting assistant professor at Lafayette in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Previously, she was visiting assistant professor at Lehigh University. Her research includes work in mathematical biology and statistical modeling, which she has presented at a number of conferences. She received a Ph.D. in math and applied mathematics from Lehigh, an M.S. in statistics from Lehigh, an M.S. in mathematics from University of Buea in Cameroon, and a B.S. in mathematics from Buea.