2014New Faculty appoiNtmeNts

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An outstanding faculty, exceptional and diverse academic programs, and an institution-wide commitment to student success; all are hallmarks of our excellent public comprehensive college and a

solid foundation from which to move The College at Brockport forward.

This year, 18 new faculty join our College. Continuing our strong emphasis on the teacher-scholar model, each of those individuals brings a passion for teaching and a robust scholarly agenda from which to build upon. Please join me in welcoming them to the Brockport faculty.

Mary Ellen Zuckerman, PhDProvost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

The School of The Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Rachel Kathleen Harbin, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of Philosophy

Dr. Harbin earned her PhD in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. Her specialization is ancient philosophy. Dr. Harbin is affiliated with the American Philosophical Association and has come to Brockport after teaching at the University of Richmond and the University of Pennsylvania.

Ashley Edwards, PhDDepartment of Communication

Assistant Professor

Dr. Edwards recently earned her PhD in philosophy in communication from Michigan State University. Her focus is on understanding the messages people use to seek social support and interpersonal communication. Dr. Edwards was inspired to come to Brockport by the friendliness of the current faculty and the beauty of the area.

Barbara LeSavoy, PhDWomen and Gender Studies

Assistant Professor

Dr. LeSavoy earned her PhD in social foundations of higher education at University at Buffalo. Her research interests include intersectionality and higher education equity/success, contemporary student views on feminism, women’s stories as feminist standpoint and sex and education.

Joseph Long, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of Philosophy

Dr. Long earned his PhD at Florida State University. His dissertation was titled, “Kinds and their Terms: On the Language and Ontology of the Normative and the Empirical.” Dr. Long’s areas of specialization include philosophy of science and ethical theory (Metaethics and normative ethics).

Stevie Oakes, MFAAssistant Professor

Department of Dance

Ms. Oakes earned her MFA in dance in 2007 at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Her focus is technical training and academic interests in the facets of the world of dance. Ms. Oakes’ teaching expertise includes dance technique, choreographic composition, dance science, dance history and dance appreciation and criticism.and critical theory.

Paul SchreinerVisiting Assistant Professor

Department of Theatre and Music Studies

Mr. Schreiner is earned about coming to Brockport and the opportunity to be closer to his home of Buffalo. His primary areas of interest are the ways in which new technologies can make the live entertainment experience more vivid and fulfilling to audiences and incorporating a greater sense of interactivity between artists and audience in real-time events.

Michael Slater, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of English

Dr. Slater earned his PhD in English from Northwestern University in 2013. His dissertation is titled “Literary and Scientific Revolutions in Early Modern England.” His teaching interests include British literature, Shakespeare, the renaissance and science and literature.

Althea Tait, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of English

Dr. Tait was inspired to come to Brockport by the welcoming and supportive culture. Her focus is Twentieth-Century Black American female writers and literature, cultural studies as the discipline relates to Black women, performances of beauty for women in general, and the Black aesthetic for poetry and various mediums of art.

Kimberly YoungVisiting Assistant Professor

Department of Communication

Ms. Young is a PhD candidate in rhetorical studies at Duquesne University. Before becoming an academic, she was a radio and television anchor/reporter, news director and producer. Ms. Young chose Brockport because of the exciting potential of the broadcast journalism program, the dynamic faculty, the energy and enthusiasm of the students and her abiding dedication to and love for the SUNY system.

The School of Health and Human Performance

Catherine Cardina, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of Health Science

Dr. Cardina earned her PhD at The Ohio State University. Her major area of study was health education and promotion, and her minor area of study was teacher education. She is excited to return to Brockport after teaching here from 1996-2001.

Priyamvadha Rangan, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of Business AdministrationDr. Rangan earned her PhD in marketing at the University of Kansas. Her dissertation was titled, “Program Context Effects on Persuasion.” Her research interests include program context effects, and the impact on ambient odor on persuasion and information processing and evalutation.

School of Business Administration and Economics

Joshua M. Fegley, EdDAssistant Professor

Department of Health Science

Dr. Fegley has been part of the Brockport community since he enrolled as an undergraduate student at age 17. His research focuses on the prevention of high-risk drinking, substance use and violence among college students. He is excited to help students see the potential they have to employ their talents and passions to contribute to the development and maintenance of healthy and safe communities.

The School of Education and Human Services

Nicole Cesnales, PhDAssistant Professor

Deapartment of Social Work

Dr. Cesnales comes to Brockport with teaching experience from Colorado State University and Florida State University, as well as having served as a field instructor at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a licensed social worker in the state of Pennsylvania and was a medical social worker at the HIV / AIDS program of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Her research interests include HIV / AIDS service delivery and case management and economic, geographic and racial health disparities.

The School of Science and Mathematics

Stephen Jessup, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of the Earth Sciences

Dr. Jessup earned his Doctor of Philosophy at Cornell University in 2011. His dissertation was titled “Rainfall Organization and Atmospheric Conditions Associated with Flash Flooding in the Northeast U.S.” Dr. Jessup studies flash foods and heavy rainfall across the Northeast U.S. and is interested in understanding how patterns of heavy rainfall differ in our part of the country, how heavy rainfall arises and techniques to improve the forecasting of heavy rainfall.

Ely Kosnicki, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of Environmental Science and Biology

Dr. Kosnicki was attracted to Brockport because of its strong aquatic ecology program. His reseach is focused on multivariate analysis and modeling of freshwater macroinvertebrate communities for biological monitoring and assessment purposes. Dr.Kosnicki earned his PhD from the University of Missouri, and his dissertation was titled “Novel Approaches in Macroinvertebrate Biomonitoring.”

Nathan Reff, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of Mathematics

Dr. Reff earned his PhD in Mathematics at Binghamton University. His research focuses on algebraic graph theory and combinatorics. Dr. Reff chose Brockport due to the high level of student involvement and research, and his favorite thing about teaching is getting to witness the student realizing how much fun and rewarding math can be.

Rongkun Shen, PhDAssistant Professor

Department of Biology

Dr. Shen chose Brockport due to it being among few universities that have the pioneering view of the importance of the emerging interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics. His research is focused on bioinformatics and computation biology, which requires the combination of biology, computer science and statistics. His goal is to understand the genetic and epigenetic regulatory networks.

Christine Wania, PhDAssociate Professor

Department of Computer Science

Dr. Wania earned her PhD in information studies from Drexel University. Her two main areas of research include diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields particularly in attracting more women to computer science programs and occupations, and the impact of pattern languages and interaction design patterns on information systems design. Dr. Wania chose Brockport because, as an alumna, she knows firsthand that Brockport thoroughly prepares students for a successful future.