University of Alaska Anchorage Welcomes Our New Faculty for 2014/2015
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2014-15 UAA• New Faculty Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence University of Alaska Anchorage October 2014 University of Alaska Anchorage Welcomes our New Faculty for 2014/2015 Philippe Amstalavski, Associate Professor Public Health, College of Health Email: [email protected] Philippe is an environmental scientist with broad interests in geoinformatics, mapping and spatial statistics to measure and communicate data on climate, physical activity, and subsistence to improve health outcomes in the North. His interests and experience include Arctic environmental health, effects of changes in hydrology on Circumpolar health, fate of contaminants in the environment, heavy metals detection and remediation. This spring he collected 50 gallons of birch sap and made a delicious syrup for friends. Terese Anderson, Term Assistant Professor Physical Therapy, College of Health Email: [email protected] Having practiced as a Physical Therapist Assistant for 23 years, Terese was hired in April 2014 to teach the new PTA Program in UAA’s Allied Health Department. She will also serve as Academic Clinical Coordinator of Education (ACCE), working with LeeAnne Carrothers in Allied Health. She has lived in Alaska since 1967. Eric Andrews, Assistant Professor Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences Email: [email protected] Eric’s research interests lie primarily in the areas of Combinatorics and Graph Theory. He studies Eulerian and Hamiltonian properties in graphs, graph decompositions, and structures and is also interested in graph coloring problems (both vertex and edge colorings) as well as distance and domination in graphs and their applications. When not in the classroom or conducting research, he likes to play tennis, racquetball and do almost anything outdoors. Jennifer Aschoff, Associate Professor Geology, Associate Professor Email: [email protected] Jennifer earned her Ph.D. at the University of Texas Austin (2008), worked for British Petroleum for2.5 years as a sedimentologist, and was a tenure track professor at Colorado School of Mines for 3.5 years. Her research at UAA is focused on understanding the formation, fill and natural resource potential of sedimentary basins. With her students, she integrates outcrop, well-log and core data in order to reconstruct the paleoenvironments, paleotectonics and petroleum systems within the sedimentary basin. She teaches sedimentary and petroleum geology courses, as well as field geology and professional practices. Ginger Blackmon, Assistant Professor Educational Leadership, College of Education Email: [email protected] Ginger’s research agenda involves exploring the impact on student learning when schools are designed to address the learning needs, styles and opportunities for today's “digital natives”. She questions time, place, delivery method, building design, and roles of stakeholders. Additionally, she looks at the impact on student success when priority is placed on mastering how to learn over mastering content. Her teaching interest is in leadership. She is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Lindsey Blumenstein, Assistant Professor Justice, College of Health Email: [email protected] Lindsey’s primary area of research is crime and deviance with a specialty in intimate partner violence. Her teaching interests include data analysis, research methods, and domestic violence. She has done some work for the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. She was born and raised in South Florida and this is her first time living out of her home state! Pam Bowers, Assistant Professor Social Work, College of Health Email: [email protected] Pam is originally from California but has lived in Colorado and Texas as well. Her research interests include cultural humility, cultural adaptations of health interventions, GLBT populations, health disparities, and social work education. Her teaching interests include diversity, research/program evaluation, community organizing, and school social work. She was once on The Wheel of Fortune television show; however, luck was not with her! Sigrid Brudie, Assistant Professor Library Science, Consortium Library Email: [email protected] Sigrid is the medical reference librarian at the Alaska Medical Library (AML), a unit of the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Sigrid joined the AML staff in 2009 to work on the Arctic Health website and was hired as a library faculty member in 2013. She is the liaison librarian to UAA’s Allied and Public Health departments, providing library instruction and research assistance to those students and faculty. In addition to her work as a librarian, Sigrid teaches medical transcription for UAA’s School of Allied Health. She is a lifelong Alaskan with lots of family in Anchorage. RaDeena Burgess, Term Assistant Professor Human Services, Matsu College Email: [email protected] RaDeena retired after 21 years as a high school teacher in the Anchorage School District where she taught Integrated Science and Psychology ("regular" & Advanced Placement courses). She currently enjoys teaching in the Human Services department at Mat-Su College. She is also Interim Program Coordinator for the Human Services and Behavioral Sciences department as they search for a new Program Coordinator. Outside of education, she breeds, trains, and competes with her Australian Shepherds. Erik Carlson, Assistant Professor Library Science, Consortium Library Email: [email protected] Erik Carlson was born across the street from the UAA/APU Consortium Library. After a wild decade of playing really high notes on his trumpet and acquiring advanced degrees from the University of Southern California, Yale, and Drexel, he returned home to pursue his first love: organizing all things. His professional world revolves around institutional repositories with frequent diversions into metadata, intellectual property, the semantic web, and human computer interaction. Debra Crawford, Assistant Professor Math - CPDS, Community and Technical College Email: [email protected] Debra is a term instructor, teaching math for College Prep and Developmental Studies. She has taught math as an adjunct for one academic year, prior to which she taught high school science for 16 years. She also has extensive experience as an interpretive naturalist in Alaska. Debra’s husband taught at UAA for over 30 years and still continues to teach as an adjunct after retirement. Media Csoba DeHass, Assistant Professor Anthropology, College of Arts & Sciences Email: [email protected] Media is an anthropologist interested in collaborative research, virtual repatriation, working with Alaska’s Native communities, ethnohistory, and the anthropology of religion. She has been working with the Sugpiaq community of Nanwalek, Alaska, for the past ten years on a variety of projects, including her doctoral and postdoctoral research. She is originally from Hungary, but has been living in the U.S. for the past 14 years. Reed David, Term Instructor Cataloging Librarian/Consortium Library Email: [email protected] Reed is the Cataloging Librarian at the UAA/APU Consortium Library and Alaska Resources Library & Information Services (ARLIS). Ajit Dayanandan, Associate Professor Accounting and Finance, College of Business & Public Policy Email: [email protected] Ajit’s primary area of research is corporate finance and investments. He is originally from India, but has studied and worked in Australia and Canada. His current research interests include event studies (e.g., impact of profit warning on stock returns), earnings management and corporate governance issues. David Edmonds, Term Instructor Automotive Technology, Community & Technical College Email: [email protected] David has been an automotive instructor for the BMW product for 12 years, and he loves working on cars. He also loves helping people to be successful. He is relocating from Avondale, Arizona, and brought his 8 children and 2 dogs with him. Sharon Emmerichs, Assistant Professor English, College of Arts & Sciences Email: [email protected] Sharon specializes in Early Modern literature--specifically Shakespeare--and is interested in ecocriticism and cultural definitions of landscape in Renaissance drama and poetry. She is also doing research for a project about Shakespeare and the seven deadly sins, which she plans to turn into her first academic book. An interesting fact about Sharon is that she has also published two speculative fiction novels under a pseudonym and wrote two others that have not yet been published. Tammy Farrell, Term Assistant Professor Math & Process Technology, Kenai Pennisula College Email: [email protected] Tammy's back ground is in aviation, where she is an aircraft mechanic, inspector, and avionics engineer. She has worked for the FAA in the development of transceivers for control towers and as a 747 fleet engineer for United Airlines. She loves to travel and meet interesting people along the way. Sandie Gilliland, Term Instructor Process Technology, Kenai Peninsula College Email: [email protected] Sandie teaches the introductory classes for the process technology program at Kenai Peninsula College (KPC). He will also be helping place students in internships and full time positions. He is an avid outdoorsman. Lukasz Grabarek, Assistant Professor Mathematics, Kachemak Bay Campus & Matsu College Email: [email protected] Lukasz is a mathematician interested in complex function theory, location and distribution of