New Assistant Professors at Williams College
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass - Williams College has announced the appointment of the following assistant professors: Donald Brooks, as assistant professor of physical education and assistant football coach. He received his B.A. in business management and M.S. in sports management from Springfield College, where he was a defensive lineman and later a graduate assistant coach. He joined Williams College in June 2006 as the athletic administrative and coaching intern. He previously was athletic director of New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, Mass., and scouting intern for the Houston Texans.Fletcher Alan Brooks, as assistant professor of physical education and head coach of track and field. He received his B.A. from Allegheny College, and his Masters in Physical Education from Springfield College. Most recently he has been head strength coach, women's indoor/outdoor track and field coach, women's cross country coach, and instructor of physical education at MIT.
Leslie Brown, as assistant professor of history. She received her B.A. in sociology and English from Tufts University and her Ph.D. in history from Duke University. She has held assistant professorships at Washington University in St. Louis and University of Missouri-St. Louis. She specializes in African American history, American women's history, women's and gender studies, and documentary studies.
Jessica Chapman, as assistant professor of history. She received her B.A. from Valparaiso University and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she went on to become a faculty fellow and executive director of the Center for Cold War Studies. She focuses on U.S. foreign relations, with emphases on modern Vietnamese history and French decolonization, and is fluent in Vietnamese and French.
Jennifer Randall Crosby, as assistant professor of psychology. She received her B.A. and her Ph.D. from Stanford University. Her dissertation was titled "Targeted social referencing and the perception of discrimination," and her research interests include race and academic interactions as well as perceptions of advantage and disadvantage. She was previously assistant professor of psychology at Agnes Scott College.
Christopher Goh, as assistant professor of chemistry. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Durham and his Ph.D. in chemical and biochemical sciences from Harvard University. He first came to the college in 2005 as Williams Outing Club coordinator, and became a visiting assistant professor last year. He has also served as senior staff scientist at Symyx Technologies in Santa Clara, Calif. His core research area is the development of transition metal based catalysts.
Travis Gosa, as assistant professor of Africana studies. He received his B.Sc. from Shepherd University and his Ph.D. in sociology from Johns Hopkins University. He has held research positions at the Maryland State Department of Education and American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., and is interested in social inequality, sociology of education, race and ethnicity, as well as popular and youth culture.
Joseph Greer, as assistant professor of psychology. He received his B.A. in human development from Boston College and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Greer did postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School and the Behavioral Medicine Service of the Massachusetts General Hospital. He held a visiting assistant professorship at Williams College in 2003-2004.
Ward Lopes, as assistant professor of physics. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He then was director of product research at Arryx, Inc., before retuning to the University of Chicago for postdoctoral work and serving as visiting assistant professor at Mount Holyoke College. His research interests lie in holographic optical trapping and self-assembly of nanoscale systems.
Paul MacDonald, as assistant professor of political science. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has held research positions at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Mass., and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. His research focuses on empire, imperialism, and sovereign inequality in the international system.
Steven Miller, as assistant professor of mathematics. He received his B.Sc. from Yale University and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He has since done postdoctoral work at the American Institute of Mathematics in Palo Alto, Calif., and taught at several institutions, most recently as assistant professor at Brown University. His academic interests lie in number theory and probability, as well as the interface between mathematics and physics.
Neal Roberts, as assistant professor of Africana Studies. Roberts received his Ph.D. in political science from The University of Chicago in 2007 with a specialization in political theory. His was on "Freedom as Marronage: The Dialectic of Slavery and Freedom in Arendt, Pettit, Rousseau, Douglass, and the Haitian Revolution." He is the author of a number of articles, reviews, and book chapters in Caribbean Studies, Clamor magazine, The C.L.R. James Journal, Journal of Haitian Studies, Philosophia Africana, Philosophy in Review/Comptes Rendus Philosophiques, Political Theory, Sartre Studies International, Shibboleths, Souls, and an anthology devoted to the work of Caribbean thinker Sylvia Wynter.
Vincent Schleitwiler, as assistant professor of English. He received his B.A. from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. After completing his undergraduate degree, he worked in journalism and independent film before returning to academe. His research currently examines literatures of African American, Asian American, and Filipino migrations across U.S. imperial domains in the 20th century.
Frederick Strauch, as assistant professor of physics. He received his B.Sc. from Loyola College and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Since then, he has been a postdoctoral associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and a visiting assistant professor at Gettysburg College. He specializes in the design of "artificial atoms" made of superconducting devices operating in the quantum limit, with potential application in quantum computers.
Nicholas Wilson, as assistant professor of economics. He received his B.A. from Reed College and his Ph.D. from Brown University, and also holds an M.P.A. in international development from Harvard University. He is interested in applied microeconomics, developmental economics, and health economics, and is currently working on two research projects on sexual education programs and HIV/AIDS services in Zambia.
