Union welcomes the following faculty members to campus this year:
CHEMISTRY
Jesse Carrick, visiting assistant professor, receivedhis Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Alabama and worked as a senior research scientist for Albany Molecular Research, Inc. His research involves using applied pharmaceutical research on the process development and kilogram synthesis of an API selected for scale up.
Margot Paulick, assistant professor (effective Jan. 1), received her Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been working on proteins involved in cancer and in asthma pathology.
CLASSICS
Tommaso Gazzarri, visiting assistant professor, received his Ph.D. from Yale University. His research interests include Silver Latin literature, Roman comedy, Roman stoicism, ancient rhetoric and ancient medicine. He has taught courses at Johns Hopkins University and Yale.
ENGLISH
Jill Murphy, assistant professor (formerly a visiting professor) received her Ph.D. in English and American Literature from the University of Albany. Her teaching and research concentrations include colonial through early 20th century American literature, trauma studies, psychoanalysis and literature, and women’s studies. She has taught at the State University of New York and College of St. Rose.
Patricia Wareh, assistant professor, received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley. Her teaching interests are Renaissance poetry, prose and drama; subjectivity, virtue and rhetoric; women in Renaissance literature; and classical literature and the Renaissance. She has taught at Carleton College, Indiana University and UC, Berkeley.
FILM STUDIES
James de Sève, visiting instructor, is in the M.F.A. program in integrated electronic arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has taught at Union, Rensselaer, the Sanctuary for Independent Media, and Film/ Video Arts in New York City. He has extensive knowledge of Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, After Effects, AVID and Premiere.
GEOLOGY
David Gillikin, assistant professor, received his Ph.D. from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. He has taught at Vassar College, SUNY New Paltz and Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His recent research involves the validation of bivalve shell geochemistry as a proxy of climate change. Other interests include biogeochemistry and ecophysiology.
Matthew Manon, visiting assistant professor, received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. His research interests include: combining PT-Pseudosections with traditional thermobarometry; experimental determination of the thermodynamic properties of minerals; tectonic implications of high-pressure metamorphism; and thermobarometry of accessory minerals assemblages.
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Glenn Sanders, visiting assistant professor, received his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has taught there and has worked in many labs in New York state.
MODERN LANGUAGES
Zhen Zhang, assistant professor of Chinese (formerly a visiting professor), received his Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Irvine. He has taught there as well as at SUNY Stony Brook and Beijing University. His primary areas of interests are modern Chinese language, literature and film; critical theory and cultural studies; social ecology, urban and rural studies; and modernity, subjectivity, and the everyday.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Mark Dallas, instructor, is working on his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkley in political science. His primary areas of interest include comparative politics, methodology and East Asian politics.
Christina Xydias, visiting assistant professor, received her Ph.D. in political science from The Ohio State University. She specializes in comparative politics, contemporary political theory, and women and politics.
PSYCHOLOGY
Tina Sutton, visiting assistant professor, received her Ph.D. in cognitive and developmental psychology from the University at Albany. Her research interests include the psychology of language, cognition and emotion; emotion word representation within and across languages; and bilingualism. She has taught at the University at Albany and the College of St. Rose.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Olga Solovieva, visiting assistant professor, received her Ph.D. in religion from Syracuse University. She has taught at Skidmore College, Ithaca College, Syracuse University and Omske State University in Russia. Her teaching areas include world religions, religion and culture, Christianity, Islam, and Ancient Greek and Graeco-Roman religions. Her research areas are Christianity in late antiquity; Graeco-Roman religions; asceticism; and biblical exegesis.
THEATER & DANCE
Brittney Belz, visiting assistant professor, holds an MFA in costume design/technology from the University of Virginia. She has extensive experience in the field, having worked on productions with UVA; Glimmerglass Opera; Williams College Theatre; Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany; Weston Playhouse, Vermont; the Connecticut Repertory Theatre; Miss Hall’s School, Pittsfield, Mass.; and Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. She has taught courses and workshops in costume design, costume technology, the history of dress and basics of corsetry building.