Emory Report

December 6, 1999

Volume 52, No. 14

New Emory, Oxford college faculty for 1999-2000 Following are short biographical sketches of the new faculty appointed to Emory and Oxford colleges for the 1999-2000 year, according to the provost's office. Emory College Maria Arbatskaya, assistant professor of economics. Arbatskaya grew up in Moscow, where she received her academic training prior to doctoral work at Indiana University. Her research and teaching interests are in industrial organization and game theory. She is particularly interested in industrial pricing and recently won an award for a paper in that area. Robert Bartlett, assistant professor of political science. Bartlett did his undergraduate work at the University of Toronto and his graduate studies at Boston College. He specializes in political thought, where he has published or edited books on Aristotle, Xenophon and Pierre Bayle. He taught from 1996-99 at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., and earlier taught at Emory as a Mellon Fellow. Keith Berland, assistant professor of physics. After growing up in Minnesota, Berland graduated from Oberlin College and did his doctoral work at the University of Illinois. His research interests are in two-photon imaging and spectroscopy, near-field optics and cellular biophysics. Sandra Blakely, assistant professor of classics. Originally from Seattle, Blakely got her bachelor's in German and humanities from Brigham Young University before doing doctoral work in classics and anthropology at the University of Southern California. Her research has focused on trade patterns in the Bronze and Iron Ages, myths and cults associated with metallurgy, and how the myths relate to social and economic changes. She has taken part in archaeological digs in Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Israel. Patricia Cahill, instructor in English. Cahill grew up in New Jersey and did her undergraduate work at Wellesley College. She is completing her dissertation in English at Columbia University. She also holds a degree in rare books librarianship from Columbia, where she served as curator of the University's rare book and manuscript library from 1990 to 1993. Specializing now in Renaissance studies, Patricia focuses on the relationship between the theater and military concerns in early modern England. Rong Cai, assistant professor of Chinese. Cai earned her Ph.D. in Chinese and comparative literature at Washington University, following earlier training at the University of Nanjing, her home city. She studies the problems faced by Chinese intellectuals as public interest has shifted from Maoist morality and political intervention to material betterment. Cai has taught previously at Colby College and Illinois State University. Yuk Fai Cheong, assistant professor of educational studies. Cheong grew up in Hong Kong and received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Cheong has current projects focusing on school learning and child development in Chicago neighborhoods and on equity and resource issues. Cheong has spent a year as a high school English teacher and served as a teaching assistant while at Michigan State. Cheryl Crowley, lecturer in Japanese. A graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Crowley is completing her Ph.D. in Japanese literature at Columbia University. Her research field is the Edo period, and her dissertation is on the 18th century haikai poet and painter Yosa Buson. For the past several summers Crowley has taught in Tokyo at Sophia University. Amy D'Unger, instructor in sociology. D'Unger grew up in Reston, Va., and received her bachelor's from the College of William and Mary. Her doctoral work has been pursued at Duke, focusing on quantitative criminology to identify criminal career patterns. She integrates ideas from criminology with those from other fields such as life course studies, mental health and women's studies. Elizabeth Goodstein, assistant professor of European social thought. Goodstein comes from doctoral work in rhetoric at UC-Berkeley, followed by two years' teaching at the University of Rochester. Her general research field is modern German and French thought and culture. Goodstein's dissertation on boredom as a key to insight by certain European thinkers has been accepted for publication by Stanford University Press. Jim Grimsley, senior resident fellow in creative writing. A Chapel Hill graduate, Grimsley is a fiction writer and playwright with distinguished reputations in both genres. He has published four novels that have been praised for their understanding of poverty, class and sexuality in the American South. Grimsley is also the author of more than a dozen plays produced at Atlanta's 7 Stages Theatre and elsewhere. Mark Jordan, Candler Professor of Religion. Jordan was born in France and grew up in Texas and Mexico. He received his undergraduate education at St. John's College and earned his doctorate at the University of Texas. Currently working in scholastic theology, he has also focused on the relation of Catholic theology to other disciplines, especially rhetoric and medicine. Jordan comes to Emory from Notre Dame. William Kelley, assistant professor of biology. Kelley did his undergraduate work at Belmont Abbey College and has his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Since 1993 he has done postdoctoral research at the Carnegie Institution in Washington. Kelley has a broad background in biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics, which he is applying to the study of fundamental "germ-lin," events during early embryonic development. John Logsdon, assistant professor in biology. Educated at Iowa State and Indiana universities, John comes to Emory from postdoctoral work at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. Logsdon is a molecular evolutionist and bioinformaticist who analyzes DNA and protein sequences from a phylogenetic standpoint. Debra Mohler, assistant professor of chemistry. Mohler grew up in Virginia and earned her bachelor's at William and Mary. After doctoral study at UC-Berkeley, she was a postdoctoral associate at Stanford University. She comes to Emory from four years on the faculty at West Virginia University. Mohler is an organic chemist whose research interests combine organic and organometallic chemistry with materials science and biochemistry. James Nagy, associate professor of mathematics and computer science. Nagy was born in Chicago and holds degrees in applied and computational mathematics from Northern Illinois University. He did his Ph.D. work at North Carolina State. His research concerns numerical linear algebra and its applications in signal and image processing. He was most recently at Southeastern Methodist University, where he won a teaching award and promotion with tenure in 1997. Joseph Skibell, assistant professor of English/creative writing. Skibell grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and earned all his degrees at the University of Texas. He is a fiction writer and a playwright and will teach workshops in both those subjects, as well as in screenwriting. His first novel, A Blessing on the Moon, deals with the Holocaust. Skibell has had plays produced around the country. He is presently working on a novel set in the Utah desert. Michael Sullivan, instructor in philosophy. Sullivan grew up in Seattle and did his undergraduate work at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. He holds a law degree from Yale University and is completing his Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University. His research interests include classical American philosophy, ethics and philosophy of law. Sheila Tefft, senior lecturer in journalism. A native of Madison, Wis., Tefft holds a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and a master's in economic history from the London School of Economics and Political Science. A reporter, editor and foreign correspondent for almost 25 years-12 of those as correspondent and bureau chief for the Christian Science Monitor in Beijing, Bangkok and New Delhi-Tefft also taught journalism and writing courses at Louisiana State University before coming to Emory. Kellee Tsai, assistant professor of political science. Tsai earned all her degrees at Barnard/Columbia. Her field is international and comparative political economy, focusing on Chinese politics and grassroots entrepreneurship. She has done extensive fieldwork in rural China and is fluent in Taiwanese as well as Mandarin. Tsai held a postdoctoral fellowship last year at Harvard. She worked previously in the international banking industry, and she is a classical pianist. Kimberly Wallace-Sanders, assistant professor of American and women's studies. Wallace-Sanders holds a joint appointment in women's studies and in the ILA. With a bachelor's from Oberlin College and a doctorate from Boston University, she has focused her research on representations of the black female body in 19th century American culture. Before coming to Emory she was director of the women's center at Spelman College. Oxford College Mark Auslander, assistant professor of anthropology. Auslander received his bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago. He was at Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga., prior to coming to Oxford. His interests include sociocultural anthropology; historical analysis of power; ritual and resistance in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial societies; the cultural politics of environmentalism; money, commodities and symbolic mediation; and gender, ideology, labor migration and agrarian transformation in southern Africa. Yit Aun Lim, lecturer in physical education and dance. Lim received his bachelor's in mathematics and his master's in health and physical education from Northeast Louisiana University and his doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of Southern Mississippi. He has taught part time at Oxford for two years. He is also chief executive officer of Marlins Sports Foundation in Marietta and head coach for the Marietta Marlins swim team. Sandra Rucker, visiting assistant professor of mathematics. Rucker received her bachelor's in mathematics from Morris Brown College, a master's in applied mathematics from Purdue University, a master's in computer science from Clark Atlanta University and a Ph.D. in mathematics education from Georgia State University. She was an assistant professor of mathematics at Clark Atlanta before coming to Oxford. Nebojsa Nash Toskovic, instructor in physical education and dance. Toskovic received his bachelor's in foreign trade from University of Zagreb in Yugoslavia and his master's in clinical exercise physiology from Northeastern University. He expects to complete a Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Auburn University this fall. He taught at both Auburn and Northeastern. Emory Report will periodically publish lists of new faculty and faculty promotions and appointments throughout the year. If anyone's name is overlooked, please send e-mail to mterraz@emory.edu. Return to December 6, 1999 contents page