Yoav Arieh
Psychology Department
B.A. Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Ph.D. Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

Dr. Yoav Arieh comes to MSU from Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, where he was a Postdoctoral Fellow. He was also a Postdoctoral Associate in the J.B. Pierce Laboratory at Yale University. He will be joining the Psychology Department as an assistant professor. Dr. Arieh has numerous publications and professional presentations in the area of perception and psychophysics. Some of his research interests include: conditions that govern selective attention; the various effects of successive and auditory/tactile stimulation on perceptual/sensory sensitivity; application and theory of simple and of choice reaction time paradigms; interactions between sense modalities and intra-modal interactions between stimulus dimensions. He has taught: history and systems of psychology, cognitive psychology, sensation and perception, and research methods for social sciences. Dr. Arieh has been described as "a sophisticated researcher and thoughtful scholar". The Psychology Department is pleased to welcome Dr. Yoav Arieh to MSU and looks forward to working with him.

Andrea Dini
Spanish/Italian Department
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Laurea, Letteratura Italiana, Universita degli Studi, Firenze, Italy

Andrea Dini received his Ph.D. in 1998. He is a specialist in Italian language, Medieval and Modern Italian literature, and also has expertise in Second Language Acquisition/Applied Linguistics. He is a native speaker of Italian with several years of language teaching experience at all levels of instruction, program and curriculum development, teaching of Italian Literature and Italian Studies and administering Study Abroad Programs in Italy. Dr. Dini was previously an Assistant Professor of Italian in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Hofstra University, and we are delighted to have him teaching in our Italian major program.

Senta German
Department of Classics and General Humanities
Ph.D., Columbia University

Senta German received her Ph.D. in Art and Archaeology from Columbia University in 1999. Her field of specialty is ancient Greece, particularly the Bronze Age. She has over ten years of excavation experience in the U.S. and the Mediterranean and has guided academic groups to Greece. Her areas of current research are gender and the Aegean Bronze Age and ancient performance. Dr. German was previously Assistant Professor and Director of the DePree Art Gallery at Hope College and Lecturer in Visualand Performing Arts at Rutgers University. At Montclair, she will be teaching General Humanities as well as art and archaeology courses. In addition to Classics and General Humanities, her home department, she has a partial appointment in the Department of Art and Design in the School of the Arts.

Jonathan Greenberg
English Department
Ph.D., M.A., Princeton University
BA, Harvard

Jonathan Greenberg (BA, Harvard; MA, PhD, Princeton) completed his doctorate in 2002 in English and American Literature. His dissertation, which he is preparing for publication, studies the intersection of cruelty and sophistication in modernist fiction. He has received a Mellon Fellowship for study at Princeton's Center for Human Values, and has published articles on Salman Rushdie and Evelyn Waugh (forthcoming). He has also worked as a writer for film and television and won an Emmy award in 1995 for his work writing for the popular cartoon series "Rugrats." At Montclair, Professor Greenberg will be teaching in the English Department.

Dawn Marie Hayes
History Department
Ph.D., New York University

Dawn Hayes received her PhD in Medieval European History from New York University in 1998. Her field of specialization is Western Europe with an emphasis on France. Dr. Hayes has a strong background in religious and social history. She has written one book, Body and Sacred Place in Medieval Europe, 1100-1389 and is currently working on a second, Medieval Maternity: Pregnancy and Childbirth in Medieval Europe. In addition she has contributed several chapters to a forthcoming work. Dr. Hayes methodologies include the use of audio visual technologies to illuminate medieval societies. She is a practitioner of using past experiences as a guide to present. Prior to her arrival at Montclair, Professor Hayes has taught at several metropolitan area institutions including Borough of Manhattan Community College, Iona College and the College of Staten Island. She will be our medieval specialist teaching survey courses as well as upper level electives.

Yasir Ibrahim
Philosophy and Religion Department
BA Florida State University
MA Florida State University

Yasir Ibrahim will receive his Ph.D. from Princeton University in the Fall of 2003. While a graduate student at Princeton he was awarded fellowships from both the Center for Human Values and the Center for the Study of Religion. Dr. Ibrahim is a specialist in 20th Century Islamic reform movements. His dissertation focuses on the previously neglected "maqasid" or "aims" movement and its relation to modern religious reform. He is currently at work on a translation of and critical introduction to the Kitab-al-Jihad, al-Tabari's writings on the rules of war and the administration of conquered territories. Dr. Ibrahim holds MA and BA degrees from the Florida State University and he has done undergraduate work at the Baghdad University School of Medicine. He will be developing courses in all aspects of Islam for the Department of Philosophy and Religion.

Julia Ann Landweber
History Department
Ph.D., Rutgers University

Julia Landweber received her PhD in History from Rutgers University in 2001. Her fields of expertise are early modern European history and the history of women and gender from antiquity to 1800. Dr. Landweber is a specialist in the history of eighteenth-century France, and is also knowledgeable about the history of the Near East during this same period. She has explored the cross-cultural encounters between France and the Ottoman Empire in four separate publications. She is currently working on a book manuscript titled "French Delight in Turkey: Nations, Selves, and Identity Construction in Early Modern France." Prior to joining the Montclair faculty, Professor Landweber was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Dr. Landweber holds a joint appointment in the History department and Women's Studies program, where her broad range of talents will be greatly welcomed.

Patricia Matthew
English Department
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Patricia Matthew received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2003. She specializes in nineteenth century literature, with research interests in Romantic fiction, gender, and the history of the novel. While at the University of Massachusetts, Professor Matthew guided students in the University's Oxford Summer Seminar at Trinity College. She was also a Mellon Fellow in the University's Seminar in Interpretation and worked as an editorial assistant for the __Dickens Quarterly__. Dr. Matthew's extracurricular interests have included theater production, including production work for the New York City International Fringe Festival. At Montclair, Dr. Matthew will teach seminars in nineteenth-century fiction and poetry, as well as survey courses in British literature and English composition.

Wendy Nielsen
English Department
Ph.D., University of California, Davis

Wendy Nielsen received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory from the University of California, Davis, in 2001. Her field of specialty is nineteenth-century British, German, and French drama, with particular emphasis on gender and nationalism. She has nine years of teaching experience at the post-secondary level in the US and Germany and has published on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German and French writers. Her areas of current research include the politics of performative violence, the proto-feminist revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the ways in which European nationalism intersects with the aforementioned subjects. Dr. Nielsen was previously University of California Fellow in the Writing Program and the Comparative Literature Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. At Montclair, she will be teaching English courses on the novel, drama, and culture of modern Europe as well as college writing courses.

Tanya Pollard
English Department
Ph.D., Yale University

Tanya Pollard received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale University in 2000. Her field of specialty is English Renaissance drama, especially Shakespeare. Her areas of current research are early modern medicine, gender, and drama, as well as controversies and censorship involving early theater. Other interests include ancient Greek drama, contemporary drama, and literature and science. Dr. Pollard was previously Assistant Professor of English at Macalester College. At Montclair, she will be teaching courses on Shakespeare, drama, Renaissance literature, and writing.

Deborah Fish Ragin
Psychology Department
A.B. Vassar College
MA Harvard University
Ph.D. Harvard University

Dr. Deborah Fish Ragin comes to MSU from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, NY, where she was a research assistant professor. Her principal responsibilities at Mount Sinai included designing and conducting health-based research and grant writing, which focused on the psychosocial, factors that impact health care. She will be joining the Psychology Department as an associate professor. Dr. Ragin comes to MSU with numerous publications, professional research reports, grants, professional presentations and considerable experience in program design and evaluation. Some of her research interests in the area of health psychology include: substance abuse, domestic violence, and HIV/AIDS. Dr. Ragin served as Chief of Research and Evaluation at the Urban Women's Retreat/Urban Resource Institute, Inc. NY, NY, where she designed and supervised all research in the Human Services Division on Domestic Violence. In her capacity as an American Psychological Association representative to the United Nations continues to do work related to domestic violence and HIV/AIDS. As an assistant professor at the Hunter College School of Health Sciences, Dr. Ragin taught undergraduate and graduate courses in public health, health psychology and research methods. She also served as Director of the Undergraduate Program in Community Health while at Hunter College. Students describe her as "one of their most outstanding teachers.' The Psychology Department is pleased to welcome Dr. Deborah Fish Ragin to MSU and looks forward to working with her.

Jess Row
English Department
M. F. A., University of Michigan
BA, Yale University

Jess Row received his MFA in fiction writing from the University of Michigan in 2001 and his BA in English from Yale University in 1997. He has taught at the University of Michigan, the College of Mount Saint Vincent, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he was a Yale-China teaching fellow from 1997 to 1999. His fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, Ontario Review, Harvard Review, Threepenny Review, in The Pushcart Prize XXVI, and in The Best American Short Stories 2001 and 2003. His first collection of short stories will be published by the Dial Press in 2004. At Montclair State he will teach courses in creative writing, literature, and composition.

Valerie I. Sessa
Psychology Department
BA University of Pennsylvania
MA New York University
Ph.D. New York University

Dr. Valerie Sessa comes to MSU from the Applied Research Corporation in Edison, NJ, where she was a leadership consultant. She consulted with external clients in assessment centers serving as an assessor, and a report writer. Dr. Sessa also developed new products such as an assessment center simulation, multiple leadership development programs and career development workshops. She will join the Psychology Department as an assistant professor in industrial and organizational psychology. Dr. Sessa served as a research scientist and research associate at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC, where she designed and provided cutting edge research on executive selection to the business and research communities. Dr. Sessa served as the company expert and spokesperson to clients, professional audiences, and the press. While at the Center, Dr. Sessa was instrumental in the development of a multimedia executive selection simulation call the Peak Selection Simulation. Dr. Sessa comes to MSU with numerous publications, professional research reports, and professional presentations. Her research interests include executive selection and systemic leadership development. She has taught Statistics and Industrial and Organizational Psychology as an adjunct professor at New York University, Marymount Manhattan College, and Yeshiva University. Dr. Sessa has been described as an "outgoing personality, who knows her stuff and cares about learning." The Psychology Department is pleased to welcome Dr. Valerie I. Sessa to MSU and looks forward to working with her.

Selcuk Sirin
Psychology Department
B.S. Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
M.S. The University at Albany, SUNY
Ph.D. Boston College

Dr. Selcuk Sirin comes to MSU from Boston College, where he recently completed his Ph.D. in Applied Educational/Developmental Psychology with a concentration in research methods. Dr. Sirin brings experience as a respected Statistical Consultant. As a Research Fellow on The Comprehensive Child Development Project, Dr. Sirin analyzed the data from a longitudinal study of children living in poverty from kindergarten to 5th grade. The project was funded by the MacArthur Foundation, W.T. Grant Foundation, and OERI. As Program Analyst on the Brookline Early Education Project (BEEP), Dr. Sirin developed longitudinal models analyzing data from the project. The project was a multidisciplinary family support and childhood program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded. Dr. Sirin also served as a Statistical Consultant at Boston College, where he developed a cumulative collection of web-centric resources for statistical computing. Dr. Sirin will join the Psychology Department as an assistant professor. Dr. Sirin comes to MSU with numerous publications, scholarly reports and professional presentations. Some of his research interests include: components of school engagement among African American boys and girls, psychological and contextual factors influencing academic performance among African Americans, and the development of a computer disk version of the Racial Ethical Sensitivity Test (REST). He has taught: Research Methods and Data Analysis, Child Growth and Development, and The Social Context of Development and Learning. Students describe him as "an excellent and enthusiastic instructor." The Psychology Department is pleased to welcome Dr. Sirin to MSU and looks forward to working with him.

Henry Tischler
Visiting Professor, Sociology Department
B.A. Temple University
M.A. Northeastern University
Ph.D. Northeastern University
Post-Doctoral Studies Harvard University

Dr. Tischler is a professor of sociology and former chair at Framingham State College in Framingham, MA. He has also taught at Northeastern University and Tufts University. He is the authors of eight editions of Introduction to Sociology, one of the most used sociology textbooks in the country. He has authored four other sociology texts. Professor Tischler has also been active in making sociology accessible to the general population and until recently was the host of an author interview program produced at WGBH in Boston for National Public Radio called "Cover to Cover".

Neeraj Vedwan
Anthropology Department
Ph.D., University of Georgia

Neeraj Vedwan received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Georgia in 2001. His fields of speciality are: cultural ecology, climatic change and society, Peoples and Cultures of South Asia, and development anthropology. He has conducted extensive research in the Indian Himalayas on the modernization of agriculture and responses to climatic change and the role of non governmental organizations in farmer adaptation and agricultural policy making. Most recently, Dr. Vedwan is a post doctoral associate at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami. He is currently studying water resource management in South Florida to delineate aspects of competing pressures related to social and environmental factors on water resources. One quarter of Dr. Vedwan's line is dedicated to the Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, where he will be teaching a pro seminar on the human dimensions of climate variability and change.

Yong Wang
Sociology Department
Ph.D., Iowa State University
M. S., Iowa State University

Yong Wang received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 2003. His field of specialty is Social Change and Development. He also received a Master of Science in Statistics from Iowa State University in 2003. In addition, his studies include earning a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China in 1994. Dr. Wang's teaching and research interests include Sociological Theories, Sociology of Culture, Globalization, Sociology of Emotions, Research Methods, Statistics, Theory Formalization, Text Analysis and Media. Dr. Wang was previously an Instructor and Research Assistant at Iowa State University. At Montclair, he will be teaching Research Methods, Sociological Theory, and Statistics.