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College Hires 16 New Faculty Members

Persons of color and women each account for 38 percent of the hires. Currently, the faculty is made up of 26 percent persons of color and 44 percent women.

"Our faculty searches this year were an unqualified success," Chan said. "Occidental's reputation for outstanding students and scholarship drew thousands of applications from across the country, and once again we were able to hire the top candidate for each position. We are excited to welcome them, and expect them to have an immediate impact -- not only because this is the largest class of new faculty in recent memory, but also because of the superb qualifications they bring to campus."

The new appointments are:

Assistant Professor Bevin Ashenmiller
Department of Economics
Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara

Ashemiller’s fields of interest include environmental and resource economics; applied microeconomics; and labor economics. She also is an expert in environmental and resource economics, and the effect of income on recycling behavior.

Assistant Professor Lesley Chiou
Department of Economics
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chiou’s academic specialties include labor economics and industrial organization, and applied econometrics. She has researched consumer shopping patterns as they relate to gender, education, and the presence of children in a family.

Assistant Professor Angela Gallegos
Department of Mathematics
Ph.D. University of California, Davis

Gallegos’ specialties include mathematical physiology and applied mathematics, and mathematical modeling in biology. She wrote her thesis on the mechanical aspects of uterine contractions.

Associate Professor Lance E. Hannon (without tenure)Department of Sociology
Ph.D. University of Connecticut

Hannon’s areas of expertise include crime, violence, delinquency and poverty. His journal articles include “Extremely Poor Neighborhoods and Homicide” and “Violent Crime in African American and White Neighborhoods: Is Poverty’s Detrimental Effect Race-specific?”

Assistant Professor Laura A. Hebert
Department of Diplomacy and World Affairs
Ph.D. University of Denver

Hebert’s specialty is international and comparative politics, human rights, development, and gender studies. Her course “21st Century Global Issues” explores governance efforts that have evolved in response to the emergence of transnational threats and opportunities, including international trade and finance, and terrorism.

Assistant Professor Adrian Hightower
Department of Physics
Ph.D. California Institute of Technology

Hightower’s academic specialties involve designing nanostructured fuel cell catalysts and spectroscopy of electrode/electrolyte interfaces. He has been awarded a MERCK/UNCF Postdoctoral Science Research Fellowship and has coauthored several patents in battery and microfluidic technologies.

Assistant Professor Andre K. Myers
Department of Music
Ph.D. University of Michigan

Myers teaches composition studies. As a composer, he has been commissioned to write a dozen scores for symphony orchestras, theater departments and multimedia installations.

Assistant Professor Daniel J. Pondella II
Department of Biology
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles

Pondella ’87 is an expert in marine biology and ecology, and the ecology of California marine fishes. He has also studied the effect of man-made environments on fishes, and marine pollution.

Assistant Professor Alexandra Puerto
Department of History
Ph.D. University of California, Davis

Puerto’s expertise is in the cross-cultural history of women and gender. She also specializes in issues affecting modern Latin America, and Mexico-United States relations. She is currently a visiting assistant professor at Occidental.

Assistant Professor Kory P. Schaff
Department of Philosophy
Ph.D. University of California, San Diego

Schaff’s specialties include philosophy of economics, law, and social policy/continental philosophy; and feminist and queer theory. He is the author of “Philosophy and the Problems of Work.”

Assistant Professor Darrell F. Schroeter
Department of Physics
Ph.D. Stanford University

Schroeter specializes in theoretical condensed matter physics. His doctoral thesis was titled “Orbital Antiferromagnetism in Three Dimensions.”

Assistant Professor Joseph Schulz
Department of Biology
Ph.D. University of California, San Diego

Schulz, an adjunct assistant professor at Occidental this year, specializes in neurophysiology and neurotoxins, and fish-hunting cone snails. He has published widely on the snail’s projectile tooth and venom it uses on prey.

Assistant Professor Damian Stocking
Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles

Stocking specializes in classical studies and comparative literature. His interests center on the relationship between literature and philosophy.

Assistant Professor Kerry W. Thompson
Department of Biology
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles

Thompson specializes in neuroscience and Parkinson’s disease. He has lectured on epilepsy and has served as a research biologist with the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

In addition, the College is adding:

Visiting Adjunct Assistant Professor Lan Chu
Department of Diplomacy and World Affairs
Ph.D. George Washington University
Comparative Politics and Political Theory, Religion and Democracy in Poland, Cuba, and Vietnam (Eligible for conversion to tenure track in 2007)

Director Dr. Bruno Louchouarn
Director of the W.M. Keck Language and Culture Studio
Ph.D. in Music Composition
A.B. D. in Artificial Intelligence
Louchouarn will organize the redesign of Occidental’s Language Center.