School of Arts & Sciences welcomes nine new professors, one new director

The University of Richmond School of Arts & Sciences is pleased to announce the arrival of nine new tenured and tenure track faculty and one new director for the 2008-2009 academic year. The faculty’s combined academic and professional experiences and equal emphasis on research, teaching and advising benefit all undergraduates at Richmond, regardless of discipline.

Asli Baykal earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from Boston University. Prior to accepting the position of assistant professor of anthropology, Baykal was the Marjorie Shostak Lecturer in Emory University’s Department of Anthropology. Her interest in sociocultural anthropology, political anthropology, postsocialism and gender has resulted in research focused on the identity of women in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. Baykal is currently at work on a book, Neither Postsocialist Nor Transitioning: The Pressures of Living Under Uncertainty in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan.

Jeni Burnette earned her Ph.D. in social psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Richmond prior to accepting the position of assistant professor of psychology at UR. Her research has focused on the role of implicit theories in overcoming challenges to goal pursuits, the forgiveness processes in close relationships and intra-group processes such as decision-making and responsibility allocation.

Jennifer Glancy earned her Ph.D. in religion from Columbia University and was the chair of the religious studies department at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. prior to accepting the George and Sallie Cutchins Camp Professorship of Bible in the University of Richmond’s Department of Religion. Her most recent book, Slavery in Early Christianity, was published by Oxford University Press and named a History Book Club alternate selection. Glancy is currently at work on a new book, Early Christian Bodies.

Robert Hodierne spent 35 years as a journalist before accepting the position of associate professor of journalism at the University of Richmond. Hodierne has worked as a writer, editor and photographer for newspapers, wire services, radio, television and the Internet. Most recently, he was the senior managing editor of Military Times, a conglomeration of weekly military newspapers owned by Gannett. He planned the papers’ coverage of the invasion of Iraq and, from the Qatar bureau, ran the coverage of 13 journalists embedded in Iraq. He began his career as a freelance photographer—the youngest, fully accredited foreign journalist to cover the Vietnam War. His photographs appeared in all major U.S. and European magazines and have been included in the Time-Life series of books on the Vietnam War.

Lucas Izquierdo earned his Ph.D. in Latin American literature and cultural studies from Georgetown University and has accepted the position of assistant professor of Spanish in Richmond’s Department of Latin American & Iberian Studies. His research interests in nineteenth and twentieth century Latin American literature, literary theory, postcolonial studies, performance arts and Latin American cinema resulted in a dissertation, Torn Speech: Emergent Subjectives in Chile and Peru, that examined the nature of speech performance, particularly of disenfranchised populations, as represented in literature.

Kristen Lindgren earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Washington and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington prior to accepting the position of assistant professor of psychology at Richmond. Lindgren studies social cognition, automatic social cognition, alcohol and substance abuse, sexual aggression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She is the primary investigator on an Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute grant investigating controlled and automatic cognitive mediators of the relation between sexual assault and problem drinking in college women.

Elizabeth Outka earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia and was an assistant professor of English at the University of the South in Sewanne, Tenn. before accepting the position of associate professor of English at the University of Richmond. A book, Consuming Traditions: Modernity, Modernism, and the Commodified Authentic will be published in November by Oxford University Press. Outke has published essays on modernism and British culture in Modernism/modernity, NOVEL and other publications.

Jennifer Pribble earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is an assistant professor of political science. She is interested in comparative political economy, particularly in Latin America, globalization in the developing world and political parties and party systems. Her dissertation, Protecting the Poor: Welfare Politics in Latin America’s Free Market Era, combined an in-depth study of Chile and Uruguay’s party systems with a broader statistical analysis of Latin America.

Monika Siebert Wadman earned her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard University and was an assistant professor of English at Syracuse University prior to accepting the position of associate professor of English at Richmond. Siebert Wadman researches contemporary American literature, Native American studies and critical theory and is currently at work on a book, Indians Playing Indian? North American Indigenous Art in the Age of Multiculturalism.

Thelma Wheeler earned her Ed.D. in educational leadership and policy study from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She brings 30 years of experience in education to the University’s Department of Education where she will serve as the director of field placement, placing and mentoring education minors as they complete their student teaching experiences. Wheeler has worked as a primary school teacher, an assistant principal, a resource teacher, a staff development instructor and, most recently, as the principal of Charles M. Johnson Elementary School in Richmond.

Posted August 4, 2008