St. Lawrence Welcomes New Faculty for 2022-23
St. Lawrence University has appointed 11 new tenure-track faculty and welcomes 15 visiting faculty and scholars for the 2022-2023 academic year.
The new faculty bring with them expertise and experience that will provide students with abundant opportunities to explore, discuss, and engage with the world's most pressing issues. New faculty research interests include computer science and engineering, intercultural communication, investors’ speculative behavior in financial markets, social/health psychology, the design and synthesis of new degradable polymers, transnational feminism, and the intersection of American political parties and the United States Congress with a focus on factionalism. And much more.
Newly-Appointed Tenure-Track Faculty
Kevin Angstadt '14, Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics
Kevin Angstadt ’14 is continuing with the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics as an assistant professor of computer science, having served as a visiting professor since 2020. His research spans the intersection of computer architecture, software engineering, and programming languages, with a particular focus on improving programming support for emerging hardware technologies, including both the development of new programming models as well as automated techniques for adapting existing software. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2020 and was previously a fellow with the Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia.
Emanuele Citera, Economics
Emanuele Citera comes to St. Lawrence University as an assistant professor of economics. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from The New School for Social Research (May 2022). He has been a Teaching Fellow at Eugene Lang College for Liberal Arts as well as a Research Fellow at the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi Onlus (Turin, Italy). His research focuses on the stochastic structure of financial markets and investors’ speculative behavior. Furthermore, he does research on monetary economics, complexity economics, and history and methodology of economics.
Andrew R. Donofrio, Rhetoric and Communication
Andrew R. Donofrio comes to St. Lawrence as an assistant professor of rhetoric and communication. He is a rhetorical critic, holds a Ph.D. in media and communication from Bowling Green State University, and for the past five years taught at Columbus State University in Georgia. His research and scholarly activity are situated at the intersections of rhetorical criticism, organizational communication, and intercultural communication.
Gabriel Dorfsman-Hopkins, Mathematics
Gabriel Dorfsman-Hopkins (he/they) comes to St. Lawrence as an assistant professor in mathematics. They specialize in arithmetic and p-adic analytic geometry, with a particular interest in the use of perfectoid spaces. They also have research interests along the intersection of art and math, working with 3D printing, fiber arts, electronics, and other media, with an eye toward interactive models and installations. Gabriel completed their Ph.D. at the University of Washington and conducted postdoctoral research at Brown University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Brian Giesler, Psychology
Brian Giesler comes to St. Lawrence as an associate professor of psychology. He earned his B.A. in psychology from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Most recently, he was an associate professor of psychology at Butler University. As a social/health psychologist, his research addresses quality of life issues in cancer survivorship, the role of spirituality/religiosity in health, and how cognitive and affective states during goal adoption affect goal achievement. He will be teaching Motivation and Emotion, Introductory Psychology, Research Methodology as well as several other courses.
Patrick Lutz, Chemistry
Patrick Lutz is an assistant professor of chemistry. He completed his undergraduate studies at Hope College, then earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Princeton University. He completed a postdoc at the University of Michigan and taught at Oberlin College before coming to St. Lawrence. He primarily teaches organic and general chemistry, and his research focuses on designing and synthesizing new degradable polymers.
Zachary McGee, Government
Zachary McGee joins St. Lawrence as an assistant professor of government and will teach introductory courses on American politics as well as upper-division courses on Congress, political parties, elections, and public policy. McGee completed his Ph.D. in government at the University of Texas at Austin and spent the previous academic year at St. Lawrence as a visiting professor. His research lies at the intersection of American political parties and the United States Congress with a focus on factionalism.
Jungjun Park, Economics
Jungjun Park comes to St. Lawrence as an assistant professor in economics. He is a financial economist, holds a Ph.D. in financial economics from the Claremont Graduate University, and has taught finance courses at the School of Business at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on the impact of non-normal risks on asset markets and machine learning (ML) methods in asset pricing.
Tyler Rife, Rhetoric and Communication
Tyler Rife comes to St. Lawrence as an assistant professor of rhetoric and communication. Dr. Rife is a recent graduate of Arizona State University where he studied critical rhetoric, performance, and cultural studies. His research centers rhetoric as an ecological phenomena in the context of the climate change-inflected Anthropocene epoch.
Zeyno Ustun, Sociology
Zeyno Ustun will join St. Lawrence for the Spring 2023 semester as an assistant professor of sociology and digital media and film. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research. She was a 2019-21 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Media at Risk, at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the intersection of networked movements, digital action and media infrastructures, and Internet law.
Stephanie (Yingyi) Wang, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Stephanie (Yingyi) Wang comes to St. Lawrence as an assistant professor in gender and sexuality studies. Dr. Wang graduated from the University of Washington where she earned her Ph.D. in feminist studies in 2022. Her decade-long activism in the feminist and queer movement in the People’s Republic of China and the region of Asia has led her to research interests in transnational feminism, LGBTQ+ studies, feminist political economy, labor, affect, social movement and NGO politics, and China studies.
Visiting Faculty and Scholars
Lori Clark, Environmental Studies
Lori Clark comes to St. Lawrence University as an instructor of environmental studies in waste, marine science, and environmental health. Her research studies at Stony Brook University include a master’s degree in Marine Environmental Science and Ph.D. work in technology, policy, and innovation related to waste, climate, and energy. She has taught earth, ocean, and environmental science for 15 years at Stony Brook University, Moorpark College, Cal Poly Pomona, Chaffey College, and Mt. San Antonio College. She is a former researcher for the Hudson River Foundation, instructor for Women in Science and Engineering, and advocate for Utah wilderness preservation.
Robert Flahive, Global Studies
Robert Flahive is an incoming visiting assistant professor in the Global Studies Department. His research interests include the intersections of the built environment, settler colonialism, and international politics. He is a recent Ph.D. with a focus on cultural and political thought from the interdisciplinary Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought (ASPECT) program at Virginia Tech. He also holds an M.A. from the American University of Beirut and a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Sean (Song Yeol) Ha, Asian History
Sean (Song Yeol) Han is a visiting assistant professor in Asian history. He is a historian of modern Korea and China and earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and B.A. from Seoul National University. His research focuses on China's interaction with Korea in the age of modern imperialism. Before coming to St. Lawrence, Dr. Han taught at various institutions, including Princeton, Seton Hall, Dickinson College, and Yonsei University. He is the associate director of the Choson History Society, a public learned society promoting the study, research, and teaching of Korea's past.
Alison Jenkins Jayman, Global Studies
Alison Jenkins Jayman returns to St. Lawrence as visiting assistant professor in the Global Studies Department. She will teach GS 102 Race, Culture and Identity and GS 264 Global Public Health. She holds an M.A. in sociology focused on mental health and a Ph.D. in sociology focused on women’s health from York University, Canada. Her doctoral research on breast cancer care examined experiences here in St. Lawrence County and in the United Counties of Leeds & Grenville in Ontario. Her critical global public health approach includes issues of equity and public policy in Canada and abroad.
Thiru Kanagasabai, Public Health
Thiru Kanagasabai comes to St. Lawrence as a visiting assistant professor in Public Health. She completed her Environmental Epidemiology Postdoctoral Fellowship at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) in the School of Population and Global Health, and her Ph.D. (Epidemiology) in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University (Toronto, Canada). She also trained in Toxicology (MSc and HBSc) at the University of Toronto. Dr. Kanagasabai’s research interests include behavioral and environmental determinants of cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases, with a focus on sleep, physical activity, dietary micronutrients, and air pollution-related cardio-renal and metabolic diseases.
Billy Keniston, African Studies
Billy Keniston comes to St. Lawrence as a visiting assistant professor in history and African Studies. Both his Ph.D. (University of Illinois) and M.A. (University of the Western Cape) were focused on the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. His book, Choosing to Be Free: A Life Story of Rick Turner is a biography of a white left-wing professor, assassinated in 1978. While much of his work is biographical, and draws extensively on interviews, his research also analyzes the mechanisms of state surveillance and repression.
Ben Luongo, International Politics
Ben Luongo comes to St. Lawrence as a visiting assistant professor in international relations and comparative politics. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of South Florida where he’s also been teaching for several years. His research focuses on the role that emotion plays in mediating issues of human rights and international conflict. Before earning his degree, he was an activist and campaigner for several human rights and environmental groups.
Jessica Madden, Dance
Jessica Madden comes to St. Lawrence as a visiting assistant professor in dance. Jessica started her career as a teaching artist for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and earned her M.F.A. in dance with a concentration in choreography from The University of Iowa in 2021. Her research centers on the body as a source of embodied experience and memory in movement generation and seeks to employ dance as a catalyst for human connection and empathy. She will be teaching courses in both modern and jazz dance this Fall.
Okey Ndibe, Creative Writing
Okey Ndibe joins St. Lawrence as the Viebranz visiting professor of creative writing in the English Department.
Michael Osinski, Theatre
Michael Osinski joins St. Lawrence as the visiting assistant professor of Theatre and Performance. He earned his M.F.A. in directing from DePaul University in Chicago, and he spent the past few years teaching at universities in the Philadelphia area, including Rowan and Temple. He is a director, deviser, and producer, and his work has been featured at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. He is interested in finding ways for canonical works to intersect with pop culture to make them less problematic and more appealing to a young audience. He also co-produces a music podcast on Spotify called This One Goes to 11.
Cristina Robu, Film & Francophone Studies
Cristina Robu comes to St. Lawrence as a visiting assistant professor of film & Francophone studies. Dr. Robu is a recent graduate of Indiana University where she earned her Ph.D. in French & Francophone studies with a focus on sick body narrativization in Québec literature and cinema. She has another Ph.D. in Literary Theory from the Academy of Sciences of Moldova (2018). Dr. Robu will be teaching the Cinematic Gaze, Francophone Cinema, as well as introductory French courses.
Kumars Salehi, World Languages, Cultures, and Media
Kumars Salehi, joins St. Lawrence University as a visiting assistant professor world languages, cultures, and media.
Nathan Scoll, Digital Media and Film
Nathan Scoll, joins St. Lawrence University as a visiting assistant professor of digital media and film.
Ana Maria Spagna, Environmental Studies
Ana Maria Spagna, joins St. Lawrence University as a visiting assistant professor of environmental studies.
Michael Westberg, Government
Michael Westberg comes to St. Lawrence as a visiting assistant professor in government from Atlanta, Georgia. He is a recent graduate of Georgia State University with a degree in political science. His studies afforded him the opportunity to specialize in comparative and international politics with a primary focus on Eastern European politics and the politics of democratic erosion. He has studied the Russian language and has spent time in Eastern Europe conducing his research. At St. Lawrence, he will be teaching courses on comparative politics as well as the politics of Eastern Europe.
