Arts & Humanities | Education | Math & Natural Sciences | Social Sciences

Arts and Humanities
Zoe Beloff, Assistant Professor (Media Studies); is a moving image artist who works with a variety of cinematic imagery: film, stereoscopic projection performance, interactive media and installation. Her projects are philosophical toys, objects to think with. Zoe’s work has been exhibited internationally. Venues include: The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York , The New York Film Festival, Rotterdam Film festival, Pacific Film Archives and the Pompidou Center . She was recently awarded a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Daniel Cole, Assistant Professor (Drama, Theatre & Dance); received his MFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He has designed costumes for theater, film, opera, dance and television. His work has been seen at Seattle Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Manhattan School of Music, The Actor's Studio, The Living Theater, and Theater for the New City. Daniel's film work includes the features States of Control, and Jane Street. He has taught History of Clothing at Fashion Institute of Technology, where he has twice been awarded the Teaching Institute Grant.

Alexander Elinson, Assistant Professor (Classical, Middle Eastern, & Asian Languages and Cultures); is currently finishing his dissertation entitled “The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia: Defining al-Andalus in Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Literature” at Columbia University .  His publications include work on the Arabic and Hebrew muwashshah (strophic poem), as well as reviews of a number of novels from around the Arab world in Medieval Encounters, Edebiyât, and the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin. Future projects include research on Spanish conversion to Islam and attempts to re-appropriate and re- define the past, building upon mythical representations of the "Golden Age" of Muslim Spain . At Queens College , he teaches courses in Arabic language and literature, Islamic studies, and Comparative Literature.

Duncan Faherty, Assistant Professor (English); received his B.A. from Queens College, his M.A. from the University of Southern California, and his Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate Center. His dissertation, A "Game of Architectural Consequences": The American House and the Formation of National Identity, 1776-1858, won the English Program's Alumni and Doctoral Faculty Prize for the Most Distinguished Dissertation of the Year. The recipient of an Excellence in Teaching Award, he is the author of two articles and several reviews. His research interests are in antebellum United States culture, pedagogy, and composition/rhetoric theory.

Carole Goodman, Distinguished Lecturer (Art); has just been selected for the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA) prestigious exhibition on graphic design, 50 Books/50 Covers; received MFA (graphic design) from Cranbrook Academy of Art and BA (communication studies) from New York University. She has designed books and book jackets, logotypes, cd packages, exhibition catalogues‹‹you name it‹‹for numerous clients including Random House, PaceWildenstein, Atlantic Records, and Harry N. Abrams, among others. From post-structuralist roots, her current focus is on the re-examination of design and form from the Bauhaus School.

Rachel Lyon, Assistant Professor (Media Studies); a new assistant professor of Media Studies, has filmed on five continents as an independent filmmaker. For some 20 years, she has directed and produced documentaries, specials, and feature films, such as the critically acclaimed restoration of Orson Welles’ Othello. Her work, screened at film festivals around the world, has won numerous awards, including the National Emmy for Men Who Molest: Children Who Survive and three Telly Awards for her last film, Mr. Dreyfuss Goes to Washington (2002). She has worked with the likes of Ted Turner, the Smithsonian, and National Geographic Television, and is president of Lioness Media Arts, an independent production company. Prior to her appointment at Queens , she taught at Reinhardt College , New York University , Northwestern University, and Columbia College. “I received three different offers in three states,” she says, “but I was excited about Queens College . The student body is diverse and interesting and the Media Studies faculty are remarkably talented.” Currently at work on three films, including one on the death penalty, Lyon gravitates to such themes as gender and family and global peace and justice. “I go for issue-oriented documentaries,” she says, “from the black market in plutonium to the worldwide impact of fundamentalism to the tragedy in Tibet . I focus on the human rights of people around the world.” Lyon, who teaches video production, advanced production and documentary filmmaking courses, makes sure that her students do “real shooting, real editing, real writing, real research, and real projects. . . . We are like modern-day Homers with new equipment and new materials. Nothing replaces learning how to make a good story well told.” Find out more at www.Lionessmedia.com.

Patricia McCaul, Lecturer (Linguistics and Communication Disorders); is currently the Associate Program Director in Communication Sciences and Disorders.Her role encompasses teaching in the graduate program and assisting in the coordination of the the Speech Language Hearing Center which is an on-campus, community-based service facility involved in clinical training and research in the field of speech langauge pathology. Ms. McCaul has been a clinical instructor at the center for the past two years.  Ms. McCaul is an ASHA certified speech language pathologist with over 14 years experience. Her last position was as Supervisor of Pediatric Speech Language Pathology at  New York University Medical Center . Ms. McCaul specializes in working with children who present with neuromotor disorders, dyspraxia, dysarthria, traumatic brain injury, feeding disorders and autism spectrum disorders. Ms. McCaul has co-authored several articles for medical journals in her areas of interest.

Marcy Rosen, Assistant Professor (Music); cello, performs in recital throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. She has appeared as soloist with many noted orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic. A founding member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, Ms. Rosen also appears regularly at international festivals. She is co-artistic director of the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival in Maryland and as a long-time participant at the Marlboro Festival, she has toured on 10 occasions with Musicians From Marlboro. Ms. Rosen won the 1986 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and was the first recipient of the Mischa Schneider Memorial Award from the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. She has recorded for Columbia Masterworks, Deutsche Grammophon, Music Masters, Pro Arte, Sony Classical and the Musical Heritage Society.

Janice Smith, Assistant Professor (Music); joins the Copland School of Music after a 30-year teaching career as an elementary music specialist. In addition to her doctorate in Music Education (Northwestern University) she has training certificates in Choral music, Suzuki Piano and Orff-Schulwerk. She comes to the college with over 50 articles, book reviews and research presentations to her credit. Professor Smith is also very interested in bringing technology into the classroom. One of her most recent publications is "Using Videotapes to Improve Teaching," which appeared in the Music Educators Journal. Professor Smith will teach courses in research methods, choral training for elementary music teachers and other related courses.

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Education
Penelope Penny Colman, Distinguished Lecturer (Elementary and Early Childhood Education); a widely published, award-winning author of articles, essays, stories, and books, Colman writes for all ages. Her most recent books are Rosie the Riveter Women Working on the Home Front in World War II; Where the Action Was Women War Correspondents in World War II; Girls A History of Growing Up Female in America; and Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts A History of Burial. Her academic interests include children's literature with a focus on nonfiction literature and its use across the curriculum; teaching nonfiction writing; and history, in particular women's history. She has contributed to education as a teacher, parent, parent organization president, school board member, and as a visiting author in schools throughout the United States. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the Authors Guild. Colman has presented keynote speeches, invited lectures and seminars throughout the U.S. at conferences and professional organizations; civic organizations; historical societies and National Park Service sites; federal and state agencies; libraries; K-12 schools; and colleges and universities. She is the author of 17 books, seven curriculum guides and training manuals, and numerous essays and articles. She is currently on the board of the National Women's History Project. Penny Colman received a M.A.T. from The Johns Hopkins University in social studies education.

Jennifer Eddy, Assistant Professor (Secondary Education & Youth Services); is an Assistant Professor of Foreign Language Education in the Department of Secondary Education and Youth Services. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in World Language Education, including workshops and seminars to pre, in-service teachers and post-secondary faculty.  She has designed and implemented communicative, performance-based curricula for K-12 schools and colleges, served as Language Program Coordinator in Spanish, technology liaison and Spanish Linguistics instructor in Departments of Foreign Language. Dr. Eddy’s research interests are on learner variables and instruction, alternative assessment, and brain research and music in second language acquisition. 

Helene Furani, Assistant Professor (Elementary and Early Childhood Education); received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy with a concentration in Mathematics Education. Her research interests include mathematical thinking, toddlers' cognition, and the intersection between language and mathematics. She teaches courses in elementary education in the areas of mathematics teaching and psychological foundations, and is interested in how novice teachers acquire perspectives and practices, including the role writing can play in developing professional competence.

Dominic Gullo, Professor (Elementary and Early Childhood Education); his academic focus within the field of Early Childhood Education is early language development and emergent literacy.  He is interested in the relationship between preschool experiences and children’s social and academic competence in kindergarten and primary grades, and he investigates the effects of various curriculum models on children’s development and learning.  He writes about assessment in early childhood education, developmental nature of children, family-focused education, the role of technology in early education, and early childhood school reform.  Professor Gullo was instrumental in the development of the Milwaukee Early Schooling Initiative.  This project was focused on the integration of community resources for the benefit of children and families in public school settings.  He is a consultant to school districts around the country in early childhood education, language and literacy, and assessment.  He serves on numerous national boards, and is currently on the Governing Board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  He is the author of three books, two early childhood curriculums, and over 75 research-based publications.  He has presented his work both nationally and internationally.  Professor Gullo received his Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from Indiana University.

Susan Kirch, Assistant Professor (Elementary and Early Childhood Education); doctorate in biology from Harvard University; post-doctoral work at UCSF on nervous system development; experience in K-8 science programs, and teacher education. Her primary scholarly interests include: 1) identifying materials and practices that help teachers create inclusive learning environments for students with disabilities in science, 2) determining and describing typical misconceptions held by students of biology, and 3) identifying and/or developing resources that help promote conceptual change in biology students.

Karen M. Steuerwalt, Lecturer (Elementary and Early Childhood Education); has a background in cultural anthropology and received her M.A. in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Adelphi University.  Her work experience includes emergency intervention for families involved in domestic violence situations. Prior to joining the faculty she worked as an elementary and Preschool teacher, designing literary based thematic curriculum.  Her areas of interest include creating classroom environments that promote varied learning experiences that heighten curiosity, resulting in the child's pursing knowledge for both pleasure and information.

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Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Alicia Alvero, Assistant Professor (Psychology); received her B.A. from Florida International University, and both her M.A. and Ph.D. from Western Michigan University (WMU).  She received the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and the WMU Dissertation Fellowship for her dissertation, “Using Protocol Analysis to Help Determine the Behavioral Function of Conducting Safety Observations.”  She is the author of five journal articles and four book chapters, and has been awarded several grants and contracts.  She has also served as an organizational consultant in the areas of training and development, process improvement and behavioral safety.

Michael Barry, Assistant Professor (Biology); his research is on the sensory biology of vertebrates. His education includes a B.A. in Biology and Natural Science (University of Pennsylvania), a M.S. in Zoology (University of Hawaii), and a Ph.D. in Biology (University of Delaware). He began his present focus on the chemical senses at the University of Connecticut. The central organization of taste and multi-sensory processing is investigated in fish, rodents, and people.

Jinlin Chen, Assistant Professor (Computer Science); joined Queens College following a visiting assistant professor position in University of Pittsburgh (2002 - 2003), specializing in web technologies, embedded systems, and software engineering. He was a researcher in Microsoft Research Asia from 1999 to 2001, and a visiting scholar in Technical University of Munich from 1997 to 1998. He received his PhD in 1999, Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Economics in 1994, all from Tsinghua University.

Cherice Evans, Assistant Professor (Chemistry and Biochemistry); is a physical chemist who works in the areas of atomic and molecular spectroscopy. She also spends time studying non-linear dynamical systems which are applicable to biological, chemical and physical systems. She comes to Queens following a postdoctoral appointment in the physics department of the University of Virginia during 2001 - 2003. A native of Louisiana, she received her B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Louisiana State University.

Karen Kohfeld, Assistant Professor (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences); is a Midwesterner who came to an East Coast college to pursue journalism or music, and wound up in the natural sciences. Her research involves using the geologic record of dust and ocean productivity to evaluate global models that predict future climate change. She returns to the USA after six years of biogeochemistry research in Sweden and Germany, and will enthusiastically join the Earth Science faculty in February 2004.

Russell Miller, Assistant Professor (Mathematics); studies computability theory, the branch of mathematical logic concerning the feasibility of creating computer programs to solve mathematical problems. He comes to Queens following a postdoctoral appointment in the mathematics department of Cornell University during 2000-2003. A native New Yorker, he received his A.B. from Princeton University and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Rajeev Muthyala, Assistant Professor (Chemistry and Biochemistry); finished his undergraduate education in India and obtained a Ph.D degree from the University of Hawaii (1998). After postdoctoral stints at the Scripps Research Institute (1998-2000) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2000-2003), he joined the faculty at Queens College of the City University of New York. His research interests are at the interface of organic chemistry and biology. He is particularly interested in developing new therapies for breast cancer.

Stephen Pekar, Assistant Professor (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences); received his B.A. from Queens College and his Ph.D. from Rutgers University. His dissertation developed a new method to estimate global sea-level changes that occurred millions to tens of millions of years ago. He has been a research scientist at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University for the last three years, where he worked on paleoceanographic, climatic, and sea-level changes during important warm periods in Earth's history as an analogue for potential future global warming. He is also developing climate records for the New York City area for the past 7,000 years using sediment cores taken from the Hudson River.

Mihaela Robila, Assistant Professor (Family, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences); received a Master degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and a Ph.D. in Child and Family Studies, both from Syracuse University . She held Post-Doctoral positions at Tufts University and Tulane University . Her scholarly interests are family functioning, cultural diversity, poverty and resilience.

Joni Seeling, Assistant Professor (Biology); B.S., Biochemistry and Chemistry (Iowa State University), Ph.D., Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (Iowa State University), Postdoctoral Research in Cancer Biology and Signal Transduction (University of Utah). Dr. Seeling studies the role of the Wnt signal transduction pathway in development and tumorigenesis. Perturbation of Wnt signaling causes developmental abnormalities, while its deregulation can lead to cancer. Specifically, colon cancer appears to be dependent on Wnt pathway deregulation. Dr. Seeling's research investigates the mechanism by which protein phosphatase 2A affects Xenopus laevis development and colon tumorigenesis through its influence on Wnt signaling. 

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Social Sciences
John Collins, Assistant Professor (Anthropology); a cultural anthropologist, earned his doctorate in Ethnology from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Yale College. His current research, supported by the National Science Foundation, Fulbright Program, and Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, focuses on the politics of urban space and collective memory in the making of a UNESCO world heritage site in Salvador, Brazil.

Sarah Covington, Assistant Professor (History); received her B.A. from New York University , her M.A. from Hunter College , and her PhD from the City University of New York .  An early modern Europeanist, Sarah specializes in British and Irish history.  Her book, The Trail of Martyrdom: Persecution and Resistance in Sixteenth-Century England, is being published this year by Notre Dame University Press.  She is presenting working on a second book, Wounds of the Flesh, Wounds of the Soul: Mystical Writings and the Injured Body in Early Modern England .  

Christos P. Ioannides, Director (Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies); Received Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in International Relations and Middle Eastern Politics. Taught at Queens College, Seton Hall University, Panteion University in Athens. Served for 8 years as Director of the S.B. Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism in Sacramento, CA. Last two years I was Dean of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law at Intercollege, Nicosia, Cyprus. Research interests include, Ethnic Politics & Greek Americans; Ethnic Conflict in Eastern Mediterranean. Latest book: Realpolitik in the Eastern Mediterranean .

Jennifer Oates, Assistant Professor (Graduate School of Library and Information Studies); completed a master’s in library science from the Florida State University May 2003, where she was also the Head of Circulation/Reserves in the Warren D. Allen Music Library. She earned her Ph.D. in historical musicology from the Florida State University in August 2001 with a dissertation entitled “Opera Traditions and Scottish Nationalism: Hamish MacCunn’s Jeanie Deans (1894)” and is working on a book on the life and works of Hamish MacCunn.  Dr. Oates won the 2002 National Opera Association’s Scholarly Paper Competition with a paper entitled “The Making of a Scottish National Opera: Hamish MacCunn’s Jeanie Deans (1894), which will appear as an article in The Opera Journal later this year.  Her article “Music Librarianship Education: Problems and Solutions” will appear in the next volume of Music References Services Quarterly this fall.  Her other research interests include twentieth-century French music, and women and music.  Her previous degrees include a master's degree musicology from the University of Kansas with a thesis exploring Francis Poulenc's concerted sacred choral works.  She also holds a bachelor's of music in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma .

Ekaterina Pechenkina, Assistant Professor (Anthropology); is a biological anthropologist whose research is focused on skeletal pathology. Her interests include human skeletal biology, diet and subsistence strategies, population organization in early complex societies, and health and demography. Most recently, her research was focused on the impact of population growth and dietary changes on community health in northern China during the Neolithic. Her publications include "Diet and Health Changes with the Intensification of Millet Agriculture at the End of Chinese Neolithic," (American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2002), "Exostosis on Mandible and Maxilla Among Neolithic Agriculturists from Northern China" (Homo, 2002), and "Heritability of Fluctuating Asymmetry of Dermatoglyphic Traits" (American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2000).

Judit Santon, Assistant Professor (Graduate School of Library and Information Studies); joins the faculty with the Fall 2003 semester. She focuses on archives and records management, oral history research, technical services, the organization of information as well as information retrieval interaction both in traditional information systems and in archival collections. Dr. Santon’s dissertation focuses on user behavior in mediated information retrieval interaction. She has taught courses in Introduction to Technical Services, Indexing and Abstracting, Fundamentals of Library and Information Studies and Archives Management at Rutgers University, Pratt Institute and at Queens College .   

Wayne Svoboda, Associate Professor (Journalism); the new director of the journalism program, spent the past academic year as a Fulbright Scholar in the Czech Republic teaching American Studies and journalism at Charles University in Prague and Masaryk University in Brno. Before joining the Queens College faculty, Svoboda taught at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and served as editor of the Columbia News Service, a journalism workshop. Svoboda worked as a journalist at The Economist newspaper of London, where he served as Africa Editor; at Time magazine as a New York Correspondent; and at The Des Moines Register newspaper in Iowa, reporting and editing on the city, county and state desks and covering the precinct caucuses for president. He has reported from Kosovo, Africa, Europe and the United States. His advanced degrees are from the London School of Economics and Columbia.

Akinori Tomohara, Assistant Professor (Economics); received his Ph.D. in Economics from Johns Hopkins University. He worked for the Government of Japan as a policy planner, and served as an economic consultant at the Urban Institute, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank. His experience includes economic research at Columbia University . His fields of specialization are International Business, Public Finance, Game and Information, and Environmental Economics.

Peter Vellon, Visiting Assistant Professor (History); is also the Director of the Callandra Institute. A graduate of Queens College and a recent PhD from the City University of New York, Peter specializes in immigration history with an emphasis on Italian-American history. His dissertation focused on the relations between the Italian American community and the African-American community in New York City between 1880 and 1920. He is presently revising it to submit for publication.

Tao Wang, Assistant Professor (Economics); earned his doctorate in economics at Johns Hopkins University, among the leading institutions in macroeconomics.  His extensive research on international finance and econometrics has resulted in many peer-reviewed publications and presentations, among them “Realized Volatility in the Futures Markets,” with Dimitrios Thomakos, Journal of Empirical Finance, 2002, and “Modeling Daily Realized Futures Volatility using Singular Spectrum Analysis,” Physica A, with Dimitrios Thomakos and Luc Wille, 2002.  In addition, he has four years of teaching experience at Florida International University. His references praise his wide-ranging and active research abilities. Dr. Wang’s teaching and research experience are directly related to our new BBA program and he is expected to make major contributions to that program.

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