New Faculty Members Bring Expertise Spanning Virology to Volcanoes
Vassar’s 11 new tenure-track faculty members arrived at the College this academic year with unique and diverse talents, interests, and areas of expertise. They are teaching across 11 different academic disciplines and have grown up and lived in small towns and large cities across the United States.
One of them, Assistant Professor of American Studies Leora Gansworth, grew up on the Tuscarora Nation reservation in upstate New York. One new faculty member, Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies George Azcárate, holds two nursing degrees and recently hiked the length of the Appalachian Trail. Another, Assistant Professor of Music Alan Hankers, composes music for video games. And Assistant Professor of Earth Science and Geography John Zayac is an avid water polo player.
Dean of the Faculty Demetrius Eudell said he was impressed with the credentials of all the new faculty members. “I could not be more thrilled than to welcome the new faculty to Vassar,” Eudell said. “This cohort brings with them compelling and innovative research, dedicated teaching experience, and deep commitments to interdisciplinary collaboration. They will undoubtedly enrich the intellectual and cultural life of Vassar and the surrounding community.”
Following are brief biographical sketches of all 11 new faculty members, prepared by the teacher-scholars themselves.
George Azcárate
Department: Hispanic Studies
Education: Nursing degrees from St. Margaret School of Nursing and Chatham University, master’s degree in Iberian and Latin American Studies from the University of Notre Dame, PhD in Spanish from the University of Notre Dame
Primary areas of research or creative work: Healing, illness, and disease; biopolitics. Currently conducting research on the role of former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Description of a course I will teach this year: HISP 216–Workshops of Healing: Narrative, Disease, and Power in Modern Mexico
Hometown: I grew up in Texas between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez on the Mexico-U.S. border.
Hobbies/Interests: I like running, hiking, and camping.
Why I chose Vassar: Vassar’s teacher-scholar model drew my attention from the outset. I like feeling connected to my students and having the resources and encouragement to research and collaborate. In 2021, I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and absolutely fell in love with the Hudson River Valley.
Kyle Coombs
Department: Economics
Education: BA in economics from Macalester College; MA, MPhil, and PhD in economics from Columbia University. I am joining Vassar from Bates College.
Primary area of research or creative work: My specialties are public economics and labor economics. I focus on informal support systems—friends and family helping one another through hard times—and how that interacts with more formalized support like unemployment insurance benefits.
Brief description of a course I will teach this year: I am teaching public finance this year, which covers the relationship between the government and the market. We explore tradeoffs associated with taxation and market failures. I plan to teach a course at the intersection of economic analysis and data science methods next year.
Hometown: Scotia, NY, outside Schenectady
Hobbies/Interests: I play tabletop role-playing games and cycle quite often. I also have an over 2600-day streak in Duolingo—an easy way to casually pick up other languages.
Why I chose Vassar: I chose Vassar because of its rich history of liberal arts while maintaining a strong commitment to research. You also cannot beat the fantastic location in the Hudson Valley. I like being near cities without getting too far from nature. Plus, a job at Vassar made it possible to move into the same home as my wife, which can’t be beat.
Daryl DeFord
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
Education: BS in mathematics from Washington State University, PhD and AM in mathematics from Dartmouth College
Primary area of research or creative work: My main area of research is developing statistical, mathematical, and computational tools for analyzing political redistricting and gerrymandering. This includes creating methods for detecting when an enacted or proposed map is unfair, while also collaborating with legal scholars, public policy experts, and other social scientists to help design policies and approaches that support line drawers in using quantitative tools to generate effective and fair maps.
Brief description of a course I will be teaching this year: Introducing students to the ways that data analysis impacts their lives is one of my favorite things, so I’m really excited to be teaching Math 144–Foundations of Data Science this fall. This is a great class where students get to explore some of the key principles and tools for working with data, while also getting to pursue projects on topics they are passionate about. We also get to spend a lot of time discussing and learning to critique the kinds of good, bad, and ugly data analysis and visualizations that make their way out onto the internet.
Hometown: Kennewick, WA
Hobbies/Interests: Pickleball, reading, and gardening.
Why I chose Vassar: Both my teaching and research interests have a large interdisciplinary component, so I’m excited to be at a place that puts such an emphasis on the liberal arts tradition and values collaboration across disciplines so highly. I also really enjoy getting to supervise undergraduate research, and the fact that the students here are incredibly engaged and dedicated makes Vassar a special environment for forming these kinds of collaborations and mentorship experiences. Finally, the mathematics and statistics department is full of awesome people, which makes it very easy to feel at home here.
(Kristi) Leora Gansworth
Department: American Studies
Education: AA, Liberal Arts Niagara County Community College; BA, English, State University of New York at Buffalo; MFA, Poetry, Goddard College; MA, Environment and Community, Antioch University Seattle; PhD, Human Geography, York University
Primary area of research or creative work: Anishinaabe legal, intellectual, and cultural traditions; and Indigenous geographies
Brief description of a course I will teach this year: A Sense of Place takes a broad approach to thinking through the concept of “place” as it is internally and externally constituted. We are looking at multiple layers of history and narrative while inviting creativity and reflective expression through honoring the positionality each participant holds.
Hometown: Tuscarora Nation (NY). I am a citizen of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg nation.
Hobbies/Interests: Sewing, writing, learning from plant medicines, swimming, Anishinaabe and Lakota language, cooking for family and the people, and being a good auntie and relative.
Why I chose Vassar: The liberal arts have great value and are deeply needed, especially at this time. I appreciate the opportunity to be in a learning community where it is common to take a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach in teaching and research. I enjoy our small class sizes and hearing from brilliant and engaged students!
Alan Hankers
Department: Music
Education: PhD in music composition from Stony Brook University; BM in music composition with a minor in piano performance at SUNY Fredonia
Primary area of research or creative work: My work explores the intersections of music composition, sound design, interactive technology, and performance. I enjoy composing and collaborating across a range of mediums, including concert music, film, television, and video games. I’m currently composing original music and sound design for a video game, combining linear and non-linear audio implementation to support both narrative elements and adaptive responses shaped by player decisions.
Brief description of a course you are teaching this year: One course I’m especially excited to teach this spring is MUSI 220–Electronic Music II. In this course, students will deepen both their technical abilities and critical listening skills through hands-on exploration of music production. We’ll focus on advanced techniques in digital signal processing, audio and MIDI editing, sound design, and mixing. The course emphasizes creative freedom, allowing students to work in any style of their choice.
Hometown: I was born in Queens, New York, and later moved with my family to Long Island.
Hobbies/Interests: Cooking, hiking/backpacking, museums, video games, and film.
Why I choose Vassar: When I visited campus, I was immediately struck by the welcoming and intellectually vibrant environment that Vassar fosters. I’m excited to join a community that breaks down silos and actively supports faculty and students in exploring meaningful ideas, issues, and questions across disciplines.
Jennifer Hayashi
Department: Biology
Education: PhD in microbiology from UMASS Amherst; BS in microbiology from UC Davis
Primary area of research or creative work: Viral mechanisms of altering lipids during infection
Brief description of a course I will teach this year: BIOL377–Molecular Virology: Viruses are molecular machines that have evolved to disrupt normal host functions. One commonality among viruses is their ability to subvert intracellular innate immunity. Viral strategies to overcome these host barriers, and proposed approaches to combat these invaders, are major topics of discussion.
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Hobbies/Interests: Soccer, baking, and crafts
Why I chose Vassar: Vassar is the place where everyone’s enthusiasm for learning matched mine. From students to faculty, everyone values the pursuit of academic questions. I believe that the mentored experiences that Vassar prioritizes result in maximal student growth at the intellectual, personal, and professional levels. Vassar provides an environment where students can find their interests and dive deeply into them. Also, my dog appreciates the beautiful campus and the abundance of squirrels to chase.
Alden Sajor Marte-Wood
Department: English
Education: BA, California State University, Long Beach; MA English, San Francisco State University; Single Subject Teaching Credential, California State University, East Bay; MA Humanities, San Francisco State University; MA, University of California, Irvine; PhD, University of California, Irvine
Primary area of research or creative work: I am a cultural studies scholar whose work focuses on Global Asias, political economy, aesthetic mediation, and the environmental humanities. At Vassar, I teach courses in Asian American and Asian Anglophone literatures.
Brief description of a course I will teach this year: ENGL 257–The Asian Anglophone Novel: While the majority of this course’s novelists come from nations with long histories of English-language writing, such as India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia, the expanded circulation of the Asian Anglophone novel in the contemporary world-literary marketplace means that we also engage novelists from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and elsewhere. Throughout this course, we reflect on how the porous boundaries of the Asian Anglophone novel complicate other literary archives and interpretative frameworks linked to postcolonial studies, world literature, transpacific studies, and Asian American literature.
Hometown: All over the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area
Hobbies/Interests: Disappearing deep into the forests of the Catskill mountains, making wonky electronic music that no one else will ever listen to, going down the best slides at local parks with my young kiddos, pouring water over quality roasts in a Hario V60, and being very, very offline.
Why I chose Vassar: I taught high school English long before I began my PhD program, so teaching has always been central to how I relate to the world. I started my academic career at a STEM-focused R1 university and soon found myself longing for a humanities-driven environment where the research and teaching aspects of my scholarly identity could exist in a more balanced relationship. Vassar has proven to be precisely that type of place. I’m thrilled to be at a liberal arts institution that supports research aspirations as well as pedagogical experimentation. Also, Vassar students are incredible and an absolute joy to learn alongside with!
Heather Newman
Department: Computer Science
Education: AB in mathematics from Princeton University, MSc in mathematical sciences from University of Oxford, PhD from the Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization Program at Carnegie Mellon University
Primary areas of research or creative work: I work at the intersection of discrete math, theoretical computer science, and operations research. My research concerns algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems, such as clustering and resource allocation, with an emphasis on providing provable guarantees on solution quality, runtime, and robustness to uncertainty. Specifically, I work on approximation algorithms, algorithms under uncertainty, and new models for beyond-worst-case analysis.
Description of a course I will teach this year: I am teaching an introductory course on data structures and algorithms, which is the first in a three-course sequence in theoretical computer science that I am excited to help shape. I will also be working on designing the third course in this sequence, a 300-level advanced algorithms course that will be offered next academic year.
Hometown: New Jersey
Hobbies/Interests: Board games, reading, exploring new cities, museums, and plays
Why I chose Vassar: I’ve always viewed liberal arts colleges as the closest approximation to an academic utopia. Vassar in particular stands out for its storied role in the history of women’s education, and the Computer Science department’s history in particular tracing back to groundbreaking women like Grace Hopper and Winifred Asprey. I am excited to see the creative ways in which the students bring perspective from their non-STEM pursuits to my classroom. The gorgeous campus and its environs do not hurt, either!
Jonah Rowen
Department: Art and Urban Studies
Education: PhD, Columbia University; MPhil, Columbia University; M.Arch, Yale University; BA, Carnegie Mellon University
Primary area of research or creative work: I am an architectural and urban historian. My work focuses on the intersections between craft, technologies, construction, economics—materials, supply chains, labor—and environments. My book project, under contract with the Omohundro Institute and the UNC Press, is titled Architecture of Security: Building across the British Black Atlantic. My research pulls from archives in the Caribbean, Sierra Leone, and the U.K. I devote special attention to architectural drawings, in addition to business records and correspondence from architects, builders, engineers, fabricators, and insurance agents.
Brief description of a course I will be teaching this year: I’m teaching a class that studies architectural design for production and consumption of commodities. Each week we look at a different set of goods with regard to the labor and resources that go into their manufacture, alongside representative buildings. So, for example, in a week on chocolate, we follow production of cocoa from Trinidad, Central America, São Tomé, and Ghana to the “manufactured authenticity” of Cadbury’s proto-suburban company town of Bournville, U.K., and the iron-framed Menier Chocolate Factory in France, an emblem of modern architecture.
Hometown: New York City
Hobbies/Interests: Reading novels, drawing, and going for very long walks. I now apply all of my many years of architectural training to making elaborately constructed baked goods.
Why I chose Vassar: I was so impressed with the students’ articulateness and maturity, and the faculty seemed wonderfully collegial and welcoming. The Loeb Art Center tipped the balance: Knowing that I could go visit the Hudson River School landscapes, the Cubists, the O’Keefes, Bacon, et. al. any time I like is an invaluable privilege.
AJ Solovy
Department: History
Education: BA, Williams College; MA, University of Vienna; PhD, University of California, Berkeley.
Primary areas of research or creative work: I am a historian of modern Europe with particular focus on fascism and democracy in twentieth-century Germany and Austria.
Description of a course I will be teaching this year: Next semester, I will be teaching a 300-level course on the history of fascism. This course engages several pressing questions about the evolution and legacies of fascist movements and ideologies in twentieth-century Europe. Among many topics and themes, we will be addressing how and why fascist movements emerged in Europe after World War I; how fascist regimes used misinformation and existing legal apparatuses to consolidate power; different forms of fascist aesthetics; and the development of “ecofascist” movements.
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Hobbies: Walking my dog, trail running, reading novels, and cheering for the Seattle Mariners.
Why I chose Vassar: I was struck by the remarkable dedication of Vassar’s students, faculty, and staff to academic rigor and creativity. Vassar has such an incredible wealth of resources, initiatives, and opportunities, and I am grateful to be joining such a vibrant and welcoming community.
John Zayac
Department: Earth Science and Geography
Education: AA in biology, Modesto Junior College; BS in earth science, University of California, Santa Cruz; MS in geological sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara; MPhil and PhD in earth and environmental sciences at The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Primary area of research or creative work: My work seeks to reconstruct the eruptive history of volcanoes, the architecture of magmatic plumbing systems, and the processes responsible for the initiation of explosive volcanic eruption. To do this, I employ a variety of methods, including field work, microscopy and petrography, in situ geochemical analysis, and thermodynamic modeling. My current research projects focus on the Cosigüina and Momotombo-Monte Galán volcanic systems in northwestern Nicaragua. Feel free to swing by Ely Hall and see what our group is up to!
Brief description of a course I will be teaching this year: This fall, I am teaching a first-year writing seminar called Volcanoes and Civilization (ESCI 135) and a six-week field course about the geology of the Hudson Valley (ESCI 105). This coming spring I will be teaching Earth Materials (ESCI 201).
Hometown: Modesto, CA
Hobbies/Interests: Hiking (I am a geologist), water polo/swimming, gardening, and food.
Why I chose Vassar: I’ve been teaching at Vassar as a visitor for the past five years, which gave me the chance to learn how great the community is here. When the opportunity to join the faculty on a more permanent basis came around, I jumped at the chance. I was also drawn to the strong tradition our Earth Science program has of regularly taking our students into the field (both locally and around the globe) and inviting them to join our research pursuits in our labs.