At a small liberal arts institution like 乐播传媒, says biochemist Lori Banks, 鈥測ou get to interact with students differently than you would at a larger kind of school. There’s a different kind of connection, a different vested interest in the success of the students.鈥�
That connection 鈥渟eemed to be especially strong here,鈥� a factor that attracted the new assistant professor of biology to 乐播传媒.
The same is true of philosopher Paul Schofield. At a different kind of school, he says, there might not be the same opportunities to get to know students. 鈥淏ut because of the size of 乐播传媒 and the kinds of things that the students are looking for, you鈥檙e able to build intellectual community.鈥�
Assistant professors Banks and Schofield are among the faculty appointed to tenure-track positions this year. Others are Stephanie Pridgeon, in Spanish; Ian Khara Ellasante, gender and sexuality studies; and Asha Tamirisa, music. Those five have found that their values, interests, and goals as teacher-scholars are reflected in the 乐播传媒 community.
Tamirisa was drawn to 乐播传媒鈥� aspirations and initiatives toward equity and inclusion. 鈥溊植ゴ� seemed to be a step ahead of a lot of other institutions in terms of not thinking the remedy would simply be changing the demographics, but also changing the way the college itself works. 乐播传媒 is willing to say, 鈥楾his is what we could be doing better,鈥� and then take action.鈥�
Ellasante agrees. In particular, the gender and sexuality studies mission statement spoke to them 鈥� 鈥渋ts commitments to anti-racist, decolonial, feminist, and trans work and histories,鈥� they say, 鈥渁nd its focus on action and practice and reciprocal engagement.鈥�
For Pridgeon, who like Schofield has been at 乐播传媒 for a few years as a visiting professor, an enduring appeal of 乐播传媒 is the campus community鈥檚 commitment to take on 鈥� and see through 鈥� the tough and complex kinds of discussion without which, often, nothing really meaningful gets done.
鈥淲e’re thinking about difficult, sometimes uncomfortable, problems and challenges on topics that I want to be challenged on, that I want to be forced to reckon with,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e’re having conversations I want to be having.鈥�
That determination to challenge our understanding of the world while attending to community life is central to the value of the 乐播传媒 education, says Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.
鈥淥ur latest tenure-track appointees bring expertise and a creative spirit to our talented academic community. We look forward to benefiting from their contributions in the years to come.鈥�
Let鈥檚 meet Banks, Ellasante, Pridgeon, Schofield, and Tamirisa.
Lori Banks, Assistant Professor of Biology
An early inspiration for professor Lori Banks was the “Magic School Bus” television series. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)
Name: Lori Banks
Position: Assistant Professor of Biology
Degrees from: Baylor College of Medicine, Ph.D., Molecular Virology and Microbiology; Prairie View A&M University, B.S., Biology
Before 乐播传媒: Postdoctoral researcher in molecular virology and microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine
Her work: A protein biochemist engaged in preclinical drug development, Banks studies ways that microbial pathogens sense their host environments. She has studied gene expression in the anthrax bacterium and is currently exploring approaches to more effectively treat rotavirus.
Tell us more: 鈥淎 horrible downstream effect of rotavirus, especially in small kids, is that repeat infections can be associated with cognitive delays,鈥� Banks explains.
A rotavirus vaccine exists, 鈥渂ut in the parts of the world where it’s most endemic, the vaccine doesn’t work very well. So we have to attack the public health problem from a different perspective, that of treating people once they’re infected.鈥� Banks calls her search for an off-switch for the virus 鈥渧ery low-tech鈥� 鈥� but notes that it could eventually 鈥渋nform drug discovery work that affects millions.鈥�
A sense of purpose: Banks was headed to an anatomy class at Prairie View when she saw a newscast of the second World Trade Center tower going down. The Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent anthrax mailings galvanized her interest in biology research. It was a feeling she likens to the call that her grandparents鈥� generation felt to mobilize for World War II. 鈥淚 remember thinking that I had this skill set or gift for thinking about biological and chemical questions,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or me it was just like, 鈥榃e’re the people that are going to be out there saving lives, designing medicine.鈥欌��
Sample lesson: 鈥淥ne of my favorite things to discuss with students is being aware of what your own personality is telling you, what skill sets you’re developing, what things you’re drawn to 鈥� and how you might be able to best serve the world, the community, your school, whatever, just by being you.鈥�
Ian Khara Ellasante, Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies
Ian Khara Ellasante, new to the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, is a poet as well as a scholar and teacher. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)
Name: Ian Khara Ellasante
Position: Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies
Degrees from: University of Arizona, Ph.D. and M.A., American Indian Studies; University of Memphis, B.A., Sociology and English.
Before 乐播传媒: Visiting scholar in residence, Washington & Jefferson College
Their work: 鈥淭here are global similarities in the ways that indigenousness, embodied blackness, and marginalized gender identities are targeted and defined,鈥� says Ellasante, a cultural studies scholar. 鈥淚 am trans, nonbinary, queer, and a person of color. I work to translate the lived experiences at that type of nexus into scholarship that is broadly and compellingly legible.鈥�
Ellasante鈥檚 recent work has involved the 鈥減eoplehood matrix,鈥� a theoretical construct developed by Indigenous scholars. In this concept, an Indigenous people鈥檚 relationship to four elements 鈥� land, language, ceremonial cycle, and sacred history 鈥� can help delineate their cultural identity. 鈥淚 argue that when a people align around these four elements, they’re able to persist despite settler colonialism and enforced assimilation.鈥�
Finding their path: Ellasante is a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, focusing on housing instability and bullying in schools. As a researcher at the University of Arizona鈥檚 Southwest Institute for Research on Women, 鈥淚 got a lot of experience in community-based participatory research.
鈥淚n that work, I saw a pathway: I could merge being an advocate, working within communities, with being a researcher and scholar. I have pursued it, and 乐播传媒 feels like a good place for me to continue that path,鈥� thanks to the robust community-engaged programming of the college鈥檚 Harward Center.
A sample lesson: 鈥淓arly in the semester, I like to have students simultaneously write brief definitions of gender on the board. Then we can see that even in a small classroom, there can be many definitions of gender. Students can better understand its nuances, and the idea that gender is a social construct becomes very clear.鈥�
Stephanie Pridgeon, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Stories are central to the work of Spanish professor Stephanie Pridgeon. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)
Name: Stephanie Pridgeon
Position: Assistant Professor of Spanish
Degrees from: Emory University, Ph.D., Spanish; University of Virginia, M.A., Spanish Language and Literature; College of Charleston, Honors College, B.A., Hispanic Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Before 乐播传媒: Visiting Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies, The Catholic University of America. Pridgeon joined 乐播传媒 as a visiting professor in 2016.
Her work: Pridgeon studies intersections of ethnicity, gender, religion, and politics as depicted in Latin American film and literature. She鈥檚 drawn to characters 鈥渨ho don’t do what they鈥檇 necessarily be expected to do based on a category with which they identify,鈥� she says.
For instance, in Revolting Jews on Screen, a book manuscript under publisher review, she uses a variety of films to explore the contradictory effects of Jewish political involvement in Latin America. 鈥淚 became fascinated with all these retrospective stories about how fraught it was to identify simultaneously as Jewish and revolutionary.鈥�
Why teach? 鈥淚 love hearing other people’s stories,鈥� says Pridgeon, 鈥渁nd I love sharing stories with students and giving them an appreciation for the stories about, effectively, what it means to be human 鈥� the messiness of it, the nuances, and the challenges of everyday life.鈥�
Pridgeon values interactions with students that spark different directions for a course. Ditto for current events that change her teaching: for instance, the #MeToo movement gave her a new perspective on Argentinian novelist Claudia Pi帽eiro鈥檚 Tuya, about a woman who finds out her husband is cheating on her. 鈥淭hose moments where our students can see that I’m learning with them and thinking about things in new ways with them are really productive.鈥�
Why the liberal arts? For Pridgeon, 鈥渢he core of a liberal arts education has to do with understanding what it means to be human in a variety of cases and contexts. I鈥檓 teaching the ability to gain knowledge and critical language skills in order to relate to somebody else鈥檚 story, to relate to something that’s a part of human experience.鈥�
Paul Schofield, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
A teaching objective of Paul Schofield is introducing students to overlooked philosophical works by women. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)
Name: Paul Schofield
Position: Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Degrees from: Harvard University, Ph.D., Philosophy; University of Wisconsin鈥揗ilwaukee, M.A., Philosophy; University of Notre Dame, B.A., Liberal Studies
Before 乐播传媒: After completing doctoral studies, Schofield came to 乐播传媒 in 2013 as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow and has since served as a lecturer and visiting assistant professor.
His work: Two themes stand out among Schofield鈥檚 research. One, he says, is the question of 鈥渨hether you can owe moral duties to yourself.鈥� He explains that where contemporary moral philosophy tends to examine our interactions with others, 鈥淚 argue that the relationship that you have to yourself is morally inflected 鈥� that you owe certain actions or behaviors to your own self.鈥� His book on the topic is scheduled for publication in 2020 from Oxford University Press.
Schofield also studies philosophy and film, focusing on the medium鈥檚 strengths and weaknesses as a form of philosophical text. For example, he has written about the ballet film The Red Shoes as a distinctively deep representation of agency over one鈥檚 movement of one鈥檚 body.
Why teach? 鈥淚’ve always been intellectually curious,鈥� says Schofield, who was reading philosophy and competing in debate in his teens. 鈥淚’ve always liked sharing that with others. Even when I did high school debate as a junior or a senior, I liked to teach the first-years what I knew, which was a lot less back then.鈥�
The liberal arts: 鈥淭here are philosophers interested in the philosophy of science, philosophy of mind and psychology, political philosophy, aesthetics and the arts.鈥� And because such philosophers are 鈥渁ttempting to answer the fundamental questions about other disciplines,鈥� Schofield situates philosophy at the very center of the liberal arts education.
乐播传媒 students: 鈥淭hey’re willing to challenge themselves to take on difficult projects, to be told that there’s more work to do. I find the 乐播传媒 students to be the most intellectually curious group of young people I’ve ever been around.鈥�
Asha Tamirisa, Assistant Professor of Music
Asha Tamirisa has taught sound and video production to middle- and high-school students. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)
Name: Asha Tamirisa
Position: Assistant Professor of Music
Degrees from: Brown University: Ph.D., Computer Music and Multimedia; M.A., Modern Culture and Media; M.A., Computer Music and Multimedia; Oberlin College, B.A., Musical Studies
Before 乐播传媒: While doing her postgraduate work, Tamirisa taught courses on multimedia art and electronic music at Brown and in community workshops in Rhode Island.
Her work: Harnessing a variety of technologies in performance and installations, Tamirisa describes herself as a sound and media artist. 鈥淭he research that I do really informs the creative work that I make,鈥� she says.
鈥淚’m interested in fields like feminist science and technology studies and media archeology, which look critically at the stories behind our machines and can inform technological use and design.鈥� For instance, motivated by the interrelated histories of textiles and digital technologies, Tamirisa is currently working on converting a small loom into an interface for audiovisual performance.
Tell us more: 鈥淚 see teaching as an opportunity to rethink epistemologies of technology, music, and sound,鈥� Tamirisa says. 鈥淗ow do gender and race fit into the histories of the technologies that we’re dealing with now? How does that shift our engagement or our understanding with them now?
鈥淯nderstanding how gender and race have been imbricated in the histories and practices of these fields have shifted my engagement with these fields as an instructor as much as they have as a practitioner.鈥�
Sample lesson: In the music theory course that she鈥檚 teaching this semester, Tamirisa鈥檚 students will select a piece of music and, throughout the semester, 鈥渁pply the techniques that we’re learning in class to that piece. This is a way for me to get to know the students and their musical tastes and to demonstrate how the course material connects to music across genres and styles.鈥�
She says, 鈥淚 love the push and pull of starting a class with an idea of where it鈥檚 going to go, and then hearing from the students about where they want to go and where that takes us collectively.鈥�
