Introducing new faculty members for the 2024-25 academic year
SUNY New Paltz is pleased to introduce the scholars, educators and creators who are joining our academic community as new, full-time, tenure-line faculty in the fall 2024 semester.
Please join us in welcoming them to New Paltz!
Mengfei Chen, Business
Mengfei Chen joins the School of Business as Assistant Professor of Business Analytics. She earned her Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and her B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China. Her research interests include data-driven optimization and physics-informed machine learning, with applications in predictive quality in manufacturing systems and supply chain network design.
Sreya Banerjee, Computer Science (Starting January 2025)
Sreya Banerjee is currently a Research fellow at Harvard Medical School Core of Computational Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. She received her Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. Her primary scholarly interest is in creating novel, real-world applications through machine learning and computer vision. Specific areas of research include image enhancement for object detection and recognition, Extreme Value Theory models for visual recognition, biologically inspired learning algorithms, and digital phenotyping for monitoring depression and anxiety through smartphone sensors and applications of large language models in education.
Kathleen Blackburn, English
Kathleen Blackburn joins the English Department as an Assistant Professor. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Blackburn’s research interests include narrative responses to the demands of a rapidly changing climate, environmental justice frameworks, research methods for literary writing, and forms of the literary essay and memoir. Her memoir, “Loose of Earth,” published in April 2024, explores the crossroads of water toxicity, religious fundamentalism, and her family’s quest for a miracle that never came. Other work has recently appeared in The New York Times, Texas Observer and Guernica.
Zachary Brown, Educational Studies & Leadership
After earning his Ph.D. in higher education at the University of Arizona, Zachary R. Brown was the Pathways to the Professoriate Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Black Studies and School of Education at the University of Rochester. His research prioritizes an interdisciplinary approach to thinking and reading about the cultural politics of higher education. Drawing from Black Critical Theory, gender and sexuality studies, and psychoanalysis to inform his scholarship, Brown writes across various topics such as antiblackness, the politics of student protest, Black feminist critiques of the university, archival methods, and the psychic life of Black education.
Katelyn Clark, Teaching & Learning
Katelyn Clark is the new Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Department of Teaching & Learning in the School of Education. Clark completed her Ph.D. in early childhood education at Rutgers University, where her research focus was teacher reflection and play memory. She is the author of the forthcoming book “Play Stories: Using your play memories and perspectives to inform teaching practice.” She loves to spend time with her husband, two children and many, many pets.
Dan Daly, Theatre Arts
Dan Daly joins the Department of Theatre Arts as an Assistant Professor in scenic design. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in technical theater from Fitchburg State University and a Master of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon in scenic design. Daly is currently a member of the National Queer Theater’s Collective and is a resident artist at Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre for the 2024-25 season. His design work has been seen off-broadway with the immersive play “Tammany Hall” at SoHo Playhouse, at the Under the Radar Festival at The Public, at South by Southwest with Third Rail Project’s site-specific work “Yours to Lose,” at RuPaul’s Drag Con, where he designed the booth for Monét X Change, and at the Barn Arts Collective in Southwest Harbor, Maine, where he built an inflatable theater for performance events, among other recent credits.
Meg Davis Roberts, Teaching & Learning
Meg Davis Roberts joins the Department of Teaching & Learning as an Assistant Professor of Adolescence English Education after receiving a Ph.D. from Teachers College Columbia University. Her research focuses on K-12 poetry pedagogy and philosophy of education. She looks forward to working with new colleagues and students and is particularly enthusiastic about the Hudson Valley Writing Project.
Seth Dornisch, Communication Disorders
Seth Dornisch joins the Department of Communication Disorders as an Assistant Professor. He is a certified speech-language pathologist, specializing in acquired neurogenic disorders of speech, language, and swallowing, and has a background in anthropology, psychology and communication disorders. His research has examined biomedical (swallowing) and psychosocial (quality of life) outcomes of neurologic decline in older adulthood.
John Drew, Communication
John Drew s a digital media scholar and practitioner in the Department of Communication whose research interests and creative practice explore intersections between neoliberalism, technology, immigration, border zones and spatial justice. His most recent digital media scholarship is funded by a $150,000 grant from the Mozilla Foundation’s Responsible Computing Challenge. Prior to joining the SUNY New Paltz community, Drew was an Associate Professor at Adelphi University on Long Island.
Sarah Ficucello, Communication Disorders (Started January 2024)
Sarah Ficucello ’04 ’05g (Communication Disorders) is a two-time SUNY New Paltz alumna returning to the Department of Communication Disorders as Director of Clinical Education and instructor of graduate courses related to assessment and treatment of communication disorders. Ficucello brings a wealth of experience in the field of speech-language pathology, specializing in the treatment of adults and adolescents with complex swallowing and communication disorders across various settings. Ficucello plans to use her knowledge to educate and mentor the graduate students as they progress through their clinical experiences.
Kerry Ford, Engineering
After serving as an adjunct faculty member since spring 2021, Kerry Ford ’19 (Computer Engineering) ’21g (Electrical Engineering) returns to his alma mater in a new role as Lecturer for the Division of Engineering Programs. Ford brings contemporary industry experience to his teaching, having served as a Hardware Developer for IBM’s Microprocessor Test Development Lab. He is eager to share his experience with his students and is looking forward to giving back to the SUNY New Paltz community.
Jessie Fredlund, Anthropology (joining in January 2025)
Jessie Fredlund will join the Department of Anthropology as an assistant professor. She is a cultural anthropologist with research interests including the political history of rain in key water catchment in Tanzania. Lying at the intersection of environmental history, agrarian studies, the anthropology of religion, and gender studies, Fredlund’s work rethinks urgent issues around climate justice through a decolonial and feminist lens while placing contemporary struggles over water in historical perspective. Her research has been awarded grants from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, Fulbright, and the Global Religion Research Initiative.
Eunkyung Hwang, Art Education
Eunkyung Hwang holds a dual-title Ph.D. in art education and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies from Penn State University. She has a background in elementary and museum education in both South Korea and the U.S. Her recent research focuses on anti-ableist art education pedagogy and the experiences of children with disabilities in art education, explored through the lenses of critical disability studies and Asian critical race theory.
Kelly Kearns, Counselor Education
Kelly Kearns joins the Department of Counselor Education as an instructor. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of New York and a Nationally Certified Counselor. Her love of the SUNY system began at SUNY Oswego and has only grown since she attended her first Institute for Disaster Mental Health conference at New Paltz. Kearns is completing her doctoral degree in Counseling and Counselor Education at Syracuse University, where she studied mindful eating in preschool students and female undergraduates’ interactions with foodways and wellness, suggesting implications for heightened awareness and discussion of foodways in the counseling field and an exploration of prejudice surrounding body size. Kearns is originally from Lockport, New York and has spent a significant amount of time living and playing across upstate New York and Eastern Canada. She is thrilled to now get to explore this new place called home.
Kasra Khademorezaian, Economics
Kasra Khademorezaian joins the Department of Economics as an assistant professor. He has a diverse background in industrial engineering, management, computer science, and economics. He received his doctorate in economics from the University of Oklahoma. His work focuses on industrial organization and microeconomics, with an emphasis on sectors such as airlines and the NFT market. His research interests include auctions, machine learning, econometrics, networks and applied microeconomics.
Greis Kim, Physics & Astronomy
Greis J. Kim joins the Department of Physics & Astronomy as an Assistant Professor of physics. She received her doctoral degree at SUNY Buffalo. Her work has focused on understanding and predicting the electronic properties of materials using computational techniques. She has paid special attention to studying intermediate band semiconductors for applications in solar cell devices. Kim is originally from Bogotá, Colombia, and in New Paltz, she has found an equally charming mountain view.
Elizabeth Lee, Art History
Elizabeth Lee joins the Department of Art History as an assistant professor and will also teach courses as a member of the Asian Studies Program. Her research specialization is East Asian Buddhist art with a focus on medieval stone sculpture from Korea and China. Her work incorporates digital humanities methodologies and new materialism frameworks. Lee completed her doctorate in art history at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and has worked as a post-doctoral teaching fellow in the school of Liberal Studies at NYU. She is deeply invested in promoting interdisciplinary pedagogies and community engagement in the arts.
Woojin Lee, Design
Woojin Lee has joined the Design Department as an Assistant Professor. She holds an MFA in digital interdisciplinary art practice from the City College of New York and an MS in communications design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Her work explores the intersection of art and design by creating both physical and virtual representations of workplace environments, investigating the complex interplay between technology, humanity, rituals, behaviors and social relations.
Helen Lu, Business
Jiahui (Helen) Lu joins the School of Business as an Assistant Professor of Accounting. She holds a doctorate in business administration with a concentration in accounting from West Virginia University, an MBA in public accounting from SUNY Oswego, and a BA in economics from Syracuse University. Lu’s research focuses on conducting behavioral research in managerial accounting. Specifically, she integrates insights from psychology, sociology and other social sciences to examine how accounting information (e.g., controls and incentives) impacts managerial decision-making and employee behavior. Her current research covers topics such as performance feedback, whistleblowing and corporate social responsibility. Her goal is to enhance practitioners’ understanding of managerial accounting practices, bridging the gap between academia and practice.
Joseph Schaefer, Business
Joseph R. Schaefer joins the School of Business as an Assistant Professor or Entrepreneurship. He earned his Ph.D. in business administration, with an emphasis in management, from the University of Mississippi, his MBA from the University of Southern Indiana, and spent a year as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Louisiana State University. Schaefer’s research focuses primarily on the idiosyncratic ways that entrepreneurs define and evaluate the success of their businesses, as well as the meta-analytic examination of individual-level entrepreneurial characteristics. He lives in Highland, New York, with his wife and son.
Ksenia Sergueeva, Business
Ksenia Sergueeva joins the School of Business as an Assistant Professor of Marketing. She holds a Ph.D. in business administration from Drexel University, a Master of Science in retail management from Toronto Metropolitan University, and a bachelor’s degree in science from the University of Toronto. Sergueeva’s research focuses on the impact of new technology, including AI, in marketing. She aims to understand how consumers’ interactions with technology influence their thoughts, emotions and decision-making in the marketplace. She also explores how technology can be leveraged to create positive social outcomes. Sergueeva taught advertising and integrated marketing communications at Drexel and is excited to teach Marketing Principles and Digital Marketing at New Paltz this fall. Outside of teaching, Ksenia enjoys visiting museums, trying new recipes, and staying active with exercise.
Alex Sistko, Mathematics
Alexander Sistko joins the Department of Mathematics as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. He holds a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Iowa, where he studied subalgebra structures of finite-dimensional algebras and their related symmetry groups. His current research centers around finitary proto-exact categories, particularly those which act as categories of representations defined over a “field with one element.” He is passionate about undergraduate mathematics education, supporting undergraduate research, and the mathematical preparation of teachers.
Karyn Stuart-Röhm, Music
Karyn Stuart-Röhm joins the Faculty of Music as an Assistant Professor Of Music Therapy. She obtained her Bachelor of Occupational Therapy degree at Stellenbosch University, her Master of Music Therapy degree at the University of Pretoria, and completed her doctorate in music therapy at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include music interventions in the fields of elder care, neurology and dementia, caregiver support, and cultural and community music therapy. Karyn and her family have just moved to New Paltz from Cape Town, South Africa.
Hilary Tackie, Educational Studies & Leadership
Hilary Tackie joins the Department of Educational Studies and Leadership as an Assistant Professor of Social Justice Educational Studies. She received their Ph.D. from the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago. Tackie’s research is focused on teachers’ agency, discretion, and how teachers’ understanding of their own purpose and responsibilities shapes their practice. Overall, their work explores educators’ roles in schools as potentially liberatory spaces. They are especially interested in how educators prepare to engage students in meaningful lessons about race, racial injustice, and sociopolitical concepts.
John Wilson, Music
John Wilson joins the Music Department as an Assistant Professor and the director of choral activities. He holds degrees from Rutgers University and Westminster Choir College. Prior to this appointment, he served as the choral director at Bridgewater-Raritan High School for 17 years. Wilson’s ensembles have been featured at regional choral conferences run by the American Choral Directors Association. He is in demand as a clinician and honor choir conductor. Wilson’s doctoral work examined the music of Caroline Shaw, focusing on the means and artistic ends to which she employed preexistent musical material in her new compositions. His musical interests span the entire choral tradition, but he has a particular affinity for chamber music in all of its many forms. Wilson lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with his wonderful family.
Christine Woodcock, Teaching & Learning
Christine A. Woodcock joins the School of Education, Department of Literacy, as an Associate Professor. She received a Ph.D. in reading from The University at Albany and a Master of Education in elementary and special education from Binghamton University. Woodcock’s research focuses on social justice pedagogies in literacy education, the role of literacy in the lives of adolescents’ negotiations of gender, as well as the growing interest in the science of reading and how best to support students with dyslexia.