Enhancing Academic Excellence at Providence College
The individuals introduced here represent the largest contingent of new faculty hired by Providence College in a single year. Virtually all earned their advanced degrees at institutions ranked among the country's top 100 graduate schools by U.S. News and World Report. Each of the tenure-track faculty members was terminally qualified at the point of hire. Sixteen previously held tenure-track positions elsewhere, and five began their tenure at Providence College with advanced rank. These new faculty will benefit from professional development start-up funds that have increased by 25 percent. Going forward, Providence College plans to conduct 24-26 tenure-track faculty searches for the 2009-2010 academic year. Over this two-year period (2008-2010), the College will have hired approximately 20 percent of its full-time faculty.

Tuba I. Agartan, Assistant Professor
School of Professional Studies, Health Policy and Management Program
SUNY at Binghamton (Ph.D., 2008)
Previous affiliation: Adjunct lecturer, Binghamton University
Area(s) of expertise: sociology of health and illness; health care reform
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Todd M. Alessandri, Assistant Professor
School of Business, Department of Management
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Ph.D., 2002)
Previous affiliation: Assistant Professor, Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University
Area(s) of expertise: strategic management and capital investment decisions

Christopher M. Bloom, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Psychology
St. Louis University (Ph.D., 2001)
Previous affiliation: Assistant Professor, University of Southern Indiana
Area(s) of expertise: neuroscience/psychology of fear

      
Julia M. Camp, Assistant Professor
School of Business, Department of Accountancy
University of Kentucky (Ph.D., 2003)
Previous affiliation: Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts-Boston
Area(s) of expertise: financial accounting; federal taxation
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Joseph A. DeGiorgis, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Biology
Brown University (Ph.D., 2002)
Previous affiliation: Post-doctoral fellow, National Institutes of Health, NINDS
Area(s) of expertise: neuroscience
    

Christine E. Earley, Associate Professor
School of Business, Department of Accountancy
University of Pittsburgh (Ph.D., 1998)
Previous affiliation: Associate Professor, Bentley College
Area(s) of expertise: auditing and ethics in accounting

Matthew Eriksen, Associate Professor
School of Business, Department of Management
University of Rhode Island (Ph.D., 2001)
Previous affiliation: Associate Professor, University of Tampa
Area(s) of expertise: leadership; leadership development and education
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Mary E. Harmon-Vukic, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Psychology
University of New Hampshire (Ph.D., 2005)
Previous affiliation: Assistant Professor, Webster University
Area(s) of expertise: memory processing during reading

Karen A. Holland, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of History
Providence College (Ph.D., 1996)
Previous affiliation: Director and Lecturer of the Development of Western Civilization Program (DWC), Providence College
Area(s) of expertise: early modern European history; Irish history
        

Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Political Science
University of Connecticut (Ph.D., 1997)
Previous affiliation: Assistant Professor, Howard University
Area(s) of expertise: race, gender and public policy; African American women and politics
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Sang Woo Kang, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Music
Eastman School of Music (D.M.A., 2006)
Previous affiliation: Lecturer, SUNY, Fredonia
Area(s) of expertise: piano; music theory
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Christopher M. Laperle, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, San Diego (Ph.D., 2004)
Previous affiliation: Postdoctoral research associate, Brown University
Area(s) of expertise: physical chemistry

Nicholas V. Longo, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Public and Community Service Studies
University of Minnesota (Ph.D., 2005)
Previous affiliation: Director, Wilks Leadership Institute at Miami University, Ohio
Area(s) of expertise: civic education; youth political engagement
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Patrick J. Macfarlane, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Philosophy
Duquesne University (Ph.D., 2007)
Previous affiliation: Visiting Assistant Professor, Xavier University
Area(s) of expertise:  ancient philosophy; philosophy of Aristotle

Brian M. McCadden, Associate Professor
School of Professional Studies, Secondary Education Program
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Ph.D., 1995)
Previous affiliation: Associate Professor and Department Chair, Salve Regina University
Area(s) of expertise: social/cultural foundations of education; education policy and reform
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Matthew R. McKinley, Professor
Department of Military Science
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (M.S., 2005)
Previous affiliation: 16 years of active military service
Area(s) of expertise: training and developing leaders of character
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Allen B. Moran, O.P., Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Economics
University of Illinois (Ph.D., 1999)
Previous affiliation: Dominican House of Studies
Area(s) of expertise: economics of Latin America
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Darra D. Mulderry, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of History
Brandeis University (Ph.D., 2006)
Previous affiliation: Lecturer, Harvard University
Area(s) of expertise: American history
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Kevin J. O'Connor, Assistant Professor
School of Professional Studies, Secondary Education Program
University of Connecticut (Ph.D., 2005)
Previous affiliation: Lecturer at Worcester State College
Area(s) of expertise:  secondary students with learning disabilities; gifted students with learning disabilities
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Epaphras C. Osondu, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of English
Syracuse University (M.F.A., 2007)
Previous affiliation: Lecturer, University of Maryland
Area(s) of expertise: composition and literature

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Asta Shomberg, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Mathematics/Computer Science
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Ph.D., 2008)
Previous affiliation: Graduate teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Area(s) of expertise: statistics
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Robert E. Stretter, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of English
University of Virginia (Ph.D., 2000)
Previous affiliation: Assistant Professor, Yeshiva College
Area(s) of expertise: Medieval English literature; Chaucer

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Eric Sung, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Art/Art History
Indiana University (M.F.A., 2004)
Previous affiliation: Assistant Professor, Southeastern Louisiana University
Area(s) of expertise: photography
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Jennifer L. Van Reet, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Psychology
University of Virginia (Ph.D., 2008)
Previous affiliation: Teaching Assistant, University of Virginia
Area(s) of expertise: imagination and counterfactual reasoning
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Karen S. Whelan-Berry, Associate Professor
School of Business, Department of Management
Boston College (Ph.D., 1997)
Previous affiliation: Associate Professor, Utah Valley State College
Area(s) of expertise: organizational behavior

Benjamin S. Yost, Assistant Professor
School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Philosophy
University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D., 2007)
Previous affiliation:  Lecturer, Harvard University
Area(s) of expertise:  legal philosophy; ethics