October 6, 2003

ATHENS, Ohio – Ohio University's College of Arts and Sciences announces the hiring of 21 new faculty members on the Athens campus.

"I am delighted that we have been able to attract such outstanding faculty members to Ohio University. They are already beginning to engage students, advance our research agenda, and enhance our outreach," said Leslie Flemming, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The new faculty members are:

Ido Braslavsky, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, comes to Ohio University from his role in a postdoctoral position in applied physics at the California Institute of Technology. He previously held a postdoctoral position at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from the Israel Institute of Technology, where he also served as a teaching assistant. His current research involves DNA sequencing on the single molecule level, single molecule detection of polymerase activity using fluorescence microscopy and anti-freeze proteins.

Michelle Brown, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, recently earned her Ph.D. in criminal justice and American studies from Indiana University. She served as an instructor in the Department of American Studies and the Department of Criminal Justice at Indiana University. Her areas of specialization include sociology of punishment and risk, administration of justice, media studies, cultural theory, and law and society.

Ariaster Chimeli, assistant professor of economics, comes to Ohio University from his role as a postdoctoral research fellow at the International Institute for Climate Prediction at Columbia University and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees in economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His current research interests are economic growth and the environment, the economics of water resources and the link between climate forecasts and economic activity.

Robert Daugherty, instructor of social work, most recently was a visiting instructor in Ohio University's Department of Social Work. He is a doctoral candidate in the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville, where he earned his master's degree and served as a graduate assistant and part-time instructor. He previously was employed as a social worker at Counseling Associates of Southern Indiana, served as president and CEO/director of social service at Nightingale's Nursing Service in North Dakota, and was a clinical professor for the Health Services Management Graduate Program at the University of Missouri.

Joan Doris, instructor of social work, comes from the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is a doctoral candidate. She previously served as an instructor at the Temple University School of Social Administration, a research fellow at the Center for Workplace Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and a trainer at the Center for Social Policy and Community Development at Temple University. She received clinical training at the Penn Council for Relationships in Philadelphia and the Family Institute of Philadelphia. Her research experience has ranged from studying support groups for cancer patients to evaluating a project that teaches safer sex practices to patients with hemophilia. Most recently, she facilitated a therapy group for women veterans who were sexually assaulted while on active duty.

Jay Eungha Ryu, assistant professor of political science, was a research assistant in the Department of Public Administration of Policy at the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, where he earned his Ph.D. in public administration and policy. He previously served as a graduate research assistant in the Carl Vinson Institute of Government in Athens, Ga., and was vice-director of the office for a member of the Korean National Assembly and director of the center for civil petitions in the office.

Eric Grant, assistant professor of African American studies, recently earned his Ph.D. in African American studies and American history from Yale University. His current research focuses on the generational struggles of African Americans and their use of spirituals as a weapon in the fight for human and civil rights. His work extends the range of roles that historians have traditionally assigned to race and culture. The title of his dissertation was "Message in Our Music: Spirituals and the Cultural Politics of Race and Nation, 1871-1945."

Judith Grant, associate professor with a joint appointment in political science and women's studies, comes to Ohio University from the University of Southern California, where she was an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. She served as chair of the Gender Studies Program at USC from 1995 to 1999 and was director of the Center for Feminist Research at USC from 1998 to 1999. She previously taught as an assistant professor at California State University and Wellesley College. She earned her Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Her teaching fields include political theory, gender studies, cultural studies and public law, and her research interests focus on feminist theory, 19th and 20th century political and social theories, law and criminal justice.

Kathi Heffner, assistant professor of psychology, was a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Psychiatry and Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. She earned her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Nebraska. She previously served as a lab director and research assistant in the Social and Health Psychophysiology Laboratory and as a data analyst and research specialist at the Alan Bible Center for Applied Research, both at the University of Nevada. Her research interests focus on psychoneuroimmunological and cardiovascular concomitants of social psychological phenomena and their links to health.

Bruce Hoffman, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, recently earned his Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Washington. His teaching experience includes serving as a teaching assistant and associate instructor at the University of Washington, and he was a fellow at the University of Washington Center for Comparative Law and Society Studies. His areas of specialization include criminology, deviance and social control; law and society; medical sociology; social movements; social theory and sociology of science.

Robert Ingram, assistant professor of history, comes to Ohio University from the University of Virginia, where he earned his master's and Ph.D. in history and taught as a graduate teaching assistant. He most recently served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center on Religion and Democracy at the University of Virginia. At Ohio University, he is teaching the history of Tudor England, Stuart England, Georgian England and Western Heritage since 1500. His research interests focus on religion and society during the 18th century, and he currently is completing a monograph, "Thomas Secker: The Church of England and Public Life in Britain, 1700-1770."

Shamila Jayasuriya, assistant professor of economics, comes to Ohio University from a fellowship position at Georgetown University, where she recently earned her Ph.D. in economics. Her fields of specialization are international finance and development economics. Her current research empirically examines the implications of equity market liberalization policy in emerging market economies for various aspects of economic activity including levels, growth and volatility of key variables.

Julie Libarkin, assistant professor of geological sciences, was a research associate at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, where she also served a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education. She earned her Ph.D. in geosciences from the University of Arizona, where she taught as an adjunct lecturer and teaching assistant. Her research focuses on conception, cognition and assessment as well as tectonic development of high-evaluation plateaus.

Zanemvula "Zakes" K.G. Mda, professor of English, most recently was a visiting associate professor at Ohio University. A novelist and playwright, Mda earned his M.A. and M.F.A. at Ohio University and taught in the United States and Africa before becoming a full-time writer. His novel, "Ways of Dying," won the M. Net Book Prize in 1997, and another, "The Heart of Redness," captured the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Cape Town.

Michael Moore, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, most recently served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Arizona, where he also served as a postdoctoral research associate, graduate research associate and graduate teaching assistant. His research focuses on theoretical atomic physics.

Evan Mwangi, assistant professor of English, recently earned his Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi and served as a full-time lecturer in the university's Department of Linguistics and Literature and a part-time lecturer in the university's School of Journalism and the Department of Literature. He also was an editorial assistant at The Nairobi Journal of Literature and a contributor to The Literary Forum. He has taught courses ranging from African literature to European poetry and drama.

Alexander Neiman, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, was a research associate professor at the Center for Neurodynamics and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He also previously served as an associate professor, postdoctoral fellow and senior scientist at Saratov State University in Russia, where he earned his Ph.D. He has published 59 papers in peer-reviewed journals, one book, five book chapters and 11 articles. His research focuses on theoretical biophysics, nonlinear dynamics and stochastic processes.

Dan Shao, assistant professor of history, was a lecturer in the history department at the University of California-Santa Barbara, where she also earned her Ph.D. in history in 2002. She previously was a visiting fellow at the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and was awarded a University of California Special Regents' Humanities Predoctoral Fellowship as well as two dissertation fellowships. Shao is currently on leave at Harvard University this academic year and will join the Department of History at Ohio University next fall to teach courses on the history of China and Japan.

Tomohiko Sugiyama, assistant professor of biological sciences, comes to Ohio University from his role as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Microbiology at the University of California-Davis. He previously served as a research associate at the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases at Osaka University in Japan, where he also earned his bachelor's degree in biology and master's and doctoral degrees in physiology.

Johnnie Wilcox, assistant professor of English, was a visiting professor at Ohio University from Fall 2002 to Spring 2003. He previously served as a graduate instructor at the University of Virginia, where he is earning his Ph.D. in English language and literature. His teaching interests include 20th century American literature, film and culture; postmodernism; African-American literature; digital media; technology studies; psychoanalytic criticism, 19th century British literature and 19th century American literature.

Shiyong Wu, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, served as an assistant research scientist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Wu earned his master's and doctoral degrees in chemistry at the University of Nebraska. He completed post-doctoral training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the University of Michigan Medical School and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska.

The new faculty were welcomed to the College of Arts and Sciences at a reception from 4:00-6:00 p.m., Friday, October 3, 2003 at the Ohio University Inn.