�ֲ���ý has announced four faculty promotions, including tenure awards, effective Aug. 1 for the 2019–20 academic year.

Travis Gould, physics, and Michael Rocque, sociology, were promoted from assistant to associate professor and were granted tenure. Krista Aronson, psychology, was promoted from associate to full professor. Anita Charles, education, was promoted from lecturer to senior lecturer.

The promotions were recommended by the faculty’s Committee on Personnel and approved by the �ֲ���ý College Board of Trustees.

“Their extraordinary talents are emblematic of the across-the-board excellence of the �ֲ���ý faculty.”

“The faculty whose promotions we are celebrating this year, in physics, sociology, education, and psychology, are not only leading scholars, but also, through their teaching, guides who lead our students and our community to engage with important ideas,” said Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.

“Their extraordinary talents are emblematic of the across-the-board excellence of the �ֲ���ý faculty.”

Meet the four newly promoted faculty members, learn their research fields, and discover why they teach.

Associate Professor of Physics Travis Gould

Assistant Professor of Physics Travis Gould (center) works students during his Short Term course “Microcontroller Laboratory” in 2015. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Appointment year: 2013

Doctoral institution: University of Maine, Orono

Fields of research: Adaptive optics, development and application of fluorescence microscopy techniques, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, fluorescence nanoscopy, image processing, light-sheet microscopy, STED microscopy, super-resolution microscopy

Why I teach: Having been primarily a researcher before coming to �ֲ���ý, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that teaching has been such a rewarding experience. It has also been an opportunity for me to learn — as I’m trying to work concepts out for myself, I’m sharing the thought process with the students, making connections between technologies and the physics behind them. The students and I have been able to go through the process of figuring it out together.

Our students really get into the material and many of them want to apply it in a research setting. It’s been really nice to see that excitement, and to have students come from classes into my lab to do summer research, senior thesis, or independent study.

Associate Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque

Associate Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque is also the faculty liaison to the Bobcat football team. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Appointment year: 2014

Doctoral institution: Northeastern University

Fields of research: Biosocial crime prevention, corrections, criminology theory, desistance from crime, life-course criminology, race and crime, race and school discipline, risk assessment in corrections, survey research

Why I teach: I feel like I am among the luckiest people in the world to be able to call �ֲ���ý College my professional home. It is an institution that truly values educating the whole person and allows us as professors to do that in innovative and creative ways.

As professors, we get to witness and play a small part in the development of young people as they make their way from their teens into adulthood, becoming the people they will be for the rest of their lives. It is an honor to be able to do this for a living.

Professor of Psychology Krista Aronson

Professor of Psychology Krista Aronson reviews picture books during a Short Term course trip to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass., in 2017. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Appointment year: 2003

Doctoral institution: University of Michigan

Fields of research: Digital humanities, multicultural children’s literature, intercultural competence, racial and ethnic identity development, acculturation, immigration, psychometric assessment

Why I teach: I love my job because I get to engage amazing students in meaningful work designed to affect contemporary social problems — every day.

Whether it’s in the classroom, in the library, at school, or online through the Diverse BookFinder, I love working with �ֲ���ý students to bring theory and research into practice. This is my passion.

Senior Lecturer in Education and Director of Secondary Teacher Education Anita Charles

Senior Lecturer in Education Anita Charles teaches a course on topics in special education in 2018. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Appointment year: 2004

Doctoral institution: University of New Hampshire

Fields of research: Early and adolescent literacy, public education reform, special education, teacher education

Why I teach: I come from a long line of educators — my passion for teaching is literally in my blood! After years of teaching in K–12 venues, I now teach future educators at �ֲ���ý who aim to make the world a better place for all children and youth. I hope to cultivate in my students a love of learning and teaching in relationship with young people in the community and beyond.

I believe that the work I do encourages transformative reflection and engagement, rigorous ideological exploration tied to practical civic action, and a commitment to social justice within educational institutions.

Education is the linchpin of democracy; the courses I teach in literacy, special education, and teacher education aim to disrupt hegemonies and assumptions around systemic power structures and around concepts of ability and possibility. My hope is that students leave my courses with at least as many questions as answers.

The three tenure recipients are assistant professor Pamela Johnson of the Department of Art and Visual Culture; associate professor John McClendon of the programs in African American studies and American cultural studies; and assistant professor Michael Sargent of the Department of Psychology.

All three live in Lewiston and have taught at �ֲ���ý since 1999.

Johnson teaches studio art media and techniques. A painter and printmaker, she has recently completed a body of more than 50 mixed-media pieces that use images from fairy tales and nature to explore themes of female identity. She has shown work in solo and group exhibitions at Maine venues including the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, in Rockport, and Zero Station, Portland, as well as the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art. Her work has appeared at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo., Bennington College, Vermont, and Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, Mass.

Johnson received a B.F.A. in art history at the University of Kansas, a second B.F.A. in painting at the Kansas City (Missouri) Art Institute, and her master’s at Bennington College. In 1993 and 1994, she worked as a personal assistant to Helen Frankenthaler, the noted Abstract Expressionist painter. Johnson also studied at Maine’s Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

McClendon teaches courses in cultural politics, African American philosophers, Africana thought and practice, theory and method in African American studies, and the role of athletics in African American culture. He is interested in the intersections of philosophy, social science and the African American experience, and particularly in African American expressions and adaptations of leftist thought.

McClendon is a widely sought-after public speaker and a prolific author. He has written diverse articles for scholarly journals, reference works and anthologies, served on the advisory board of the journal Cultural Logic, and served as editor of the American Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience. His book C.L.R. James’s Notes On Dialectics: Left Hegelianism or Marxism-Leninism? was published by Lexington Books in January, and he has three other book manuscripts in progress.

Before �ֲ���ý, McClendon taught in public schools and in academic settings including the University of Missouri and the University of Illinois at Champaign. He received a B.S. in black studies and political science at Central State University in Ohio, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Kansas.

Sargent teaches courses in social and political psychology, research methodology, prejudice and stereotyping, and social cognition. Most of his research focuses on stereotyping and prejudice.

Sargent has written and spoken extensively on the Implicit Association Test, an instrument for measuring attitudes and responses that individuals are either incapable of recognizing in themselves or unwilling to report honestly. He has also written and spoken on issues of race in police work and the legal system.

Before �ֲ���ý, he taught at the Ohio State University. Sargent received his B.A. in psychology at Hendrix College in Arkansas, and his M.A. and Ph.D. at Ohio State.

Rebecca W. Corrie, promoted to full professor of art, is the author of a forthcoming book on Sienese painting and urban history. She has written several articles, including “The Perugia Triptych and the Transmission of Byzantine Art to the Maniera Greca” and “The Political Meaning of Coppo di Marcovaldo’s Madonna and Child in Siena.” She has received fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Harvard University and Oberlin College, where she received bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Corrie, who received her doctoral degree from Harvard, has been an instructor in art history at Mount Holyoke College and assistant to the curator of Oriental art at Yale University. She has been teaching at �ֲ���ý since 1982.

Craig J. Decker, promoted to full professor of German, is the editor of the forthcoming book Balancing Acts: Textual Strategies of Peter Henisch and translator for the forthcoming book Stone’s Paranoia by Peter Henisch. Decker has received a German Studies Association Article Prize and a summer seminar fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as several research fellowships and grants from �ֲ���ý. He has been chairman of the Department of German, Russian and East Asian Languages and Literatures at �ֲ���ý and was director of the college’s study abroad program in Germany in 1992. Decker graduated summa cum laude with highest honors in German from �ֲ���ý in 1978. He received master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Irvine, and joined the �ֲ���ý faculty in 1984.

Baltasar Fra-Molinero, associate professor of Spanish awarded tenure, is the author of the forthcoming books Readings in Black: Race and Slavery in Spanish Golden Age Literature and Blacks and the Margins of Latin American Literature. His many articles include “The Condition of Black Women in Spain During the Renaissance,” and his teaching interests include Spanish medieval literature, 20th-century Spanish and Latin American poetry and fiction and Spanish-American colonial literature. He received the degree of Licenciatura, Filolog’a Inglesa from Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and the degrees of Grado de Licenciatura, Filolog’a Inglesa and Doctor en Filolog’a Inglesa at Universidad de Sevilla, Spain. He also received a master’s degree in linguistics and a doctoral degree in Spanish at Indiana University. Before joining the �ֲ���ý faculty in 1994, he was an assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Florida, an associate instructor of Spanish at Indiana University and an instructor of English at Universidad de Sevilla.

Leslie I. Hill, promoted to associate professor of political science with tenure, specializes in women, gender and states: global and comparative perspectives and women’s human rights in state and international contexts. She is the author of numerous articles, including “Reflections on Power and its Implications for Citizenship Practice,” and “The Black Church’s Mission of Justice: Political Roles in the Context of Racial Oppression.” She received her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College, a master’s degree from Atlanta University, and she attended Emory University before earning a doctoral degree in political studies from The Union Institute. Hill, who joined the �ֲ���ý faculty in 1988, has been a research and teaching fellow at The New School for Social Research, a project coordinator for the National Council for Research on Women and an adjunct lecturer in women’s studies at Hunter College.

Hilmar L. Jensen III, promoted to associate professor of history with tenure, is the author of the forthcoming book, The Rise of an African American Left: John P. Davis and the National Negro Congress and the forthcoming article “Roots of a Pan-African Weltanschauung: W.E.B. DuBois, Western history and the Theory of Imperialism in Africa.” Jensen, who specializes in 20th-century American history and Africana and African-American studies, has been a research fellow and associate at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute at Harvard University and has received an Eleanor Roosevelt Institute Research Grant from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. He will serve as chairman of the American Cultural Studies Program at �ֲ���ý in September. He received a bachelor’s degree from Goddard College and master’s and doctoral degrees in history from Cornell University. Before joining the �ֲ���ý faculty in 1992, Jensen was an instructor in history at Holy Cross College and a history teacher at the Commonwealth School, Boston.

Emily W. Kane, associate professor of sociology awarded tenure, is the author of the forthcoming article “Men’s and Women’s Beliefs about Gender Inequality: Family Ties, Dependence and Agreement,” which will appear in Sociological Forum. She has been an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Departmental Citation for Excellence in Teaching. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and received her bachelor’s degree with highest honors from Oberlin College and received master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from the University of Michigan. Kane has been teaching at �ֲ���ý since 1996.

Cheryl M. McCormick, promoted to associate professor of psychology with tenure, specializes in developmental neuroendocrinology and neuropsychology. She has been a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University and a lecturer in psychology at Concordia University. In August 1990, she received an American Psychological Association Science Directorate Award. A member of the �ֲ���ý faculty since 1993, McCormick received a bachelor’s degree with honors in psychology from McGill University and a doctoral degree in psychology from McMaster University.

Georgia Nell Nigro, promoted to full professor of psychology, received the Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching at �ֲ���ý in 1989. She has been a member of the supervisory board for the Maine Court-Appointed Special Advocate Program, serving abused children, and a consultant for area community agencies handling cases of child abuse.

Nigro also has worked for local schools on an HIV prevention project, raising awareness about careers in math and science for middle school girls, evaluating a sexual abuse prevention program and assessing Lewiston 6th-grade students’ aspirations for the Lewiston Aspirations Partnership. Nigro has been named one of two 1998 recipients of the Maine Campus Compact (MCC) Faculty Service-Learning Award, one of the most prestigious awards for community service in the state of Maine. She has received the John W. Dallenbach Fellowship from Cornell University and a National Institute of Mental Health Fellowship. Nigro received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, a master’s degree from Yale University and a doctoral degree from Cornell University.

Mary Rice-DeFosse, promoted to full professor of French, is the author of the forthcoming articles “Re-visioning Franco-American Identity in Maine” and “The Myth of Eurocentrism.” She specializes in the representations and discourses of history in the works of French novelist Gustave Flaubert. In addition to numerous research grants from �ֲ���ý, she has received the Kathleen Curry Akers Award and was named a Feuillerate Fellow at Yale University, where she earned two master’s degrees and a doctoral degree in French. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Boston College and studied at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, where she also was an instructor of English. Since joining the �ֲ���ý faculty in 1984, Rice-DeFosse has been chairwoman of the Department of Classical and Romance Languages and Literatures and director of the �ֲ���ý Fall Semester Abroad in France program.

Bonnie Jean Shulman, promoted to associate professor of mathematics with tenure, specializes in mathematical physics and wave propagation in inhomogeneous media. In 1994, she received the Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching at �ֲ���ý, and she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow from 1985 to 1988. She received a Hughes Teacher-Researcher Grant in 1997 to develop a new precalculus course at Hebron Academy with Tobin White, a 1994 �ֲ���ý graduate. The author of several articles, including “What If We Change Our Axioms? A Feminist Inquiry into the Foundations of Mathematics” and “Implications of Feminist Critiques of Science for the Teaching of Mathematics and Science,” Shulman graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she also received her master’s and doctoral degrees. Shulman has been teaching at �ֲ���ý since 1991.