Founding Dean of Northeastern University College of Social Sciences and Humanities Georges Van Den Abbeele is proud to announce the hiring of 14 full-time faculty spanning 10 different disciplines and who begin their appointments for the 2012-13 academic year. These hirings particularly focus on the areas of Smart and Sustainable Cities, World History and Digital Humanities, areas in which the College can be cutting-edge leaders. Mitchell Orenstein (PhD Yale) joins the Northeastern faculty from Johns Hopkins and serves as the new chair of the Political Science Department as well as a Professor in International Political Economy. Suzanna Walters (PhD CUNY), previously of Indiana University, steps in as Director of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and as a Professor of Sociology.
Professor in Health and the Built Environment Philip Brown (PhD Brandeis) arrives at Northeastern from Brown University and holds joint appointments in the Sociology and Anthropology Department, and the Health Sciences.
The cluster hire in Smart and Sustainable Cities includes Professor Matthias Ruth (PhD U. Illinois Urbana-Champaign), who holds a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs (SPPUA), and Civil and Environmental Engineering, Associate Professor Gavin Shatkin (PdD Rutgers) in SPPUA and Architecture, Professor Brian Helmuth (PhD U. Washington) in SPPUA and Earth and Environmental Science, and Assistant Professors James Connolly (PhD Columbia) and Len Albright (PhD U. Chicago), both of SPPUA.
The English Department hired two new faculty members. Ryan Cordell (PhD U. Virginia) is an Assistant Professor in Digital Humanities, while Theo Davis (PhD Johns Hopkins) is an Associate Professor in American Literature.
Two experts in Latin America join the faculty. Daniel Noemi Voionmaa (PhD Yale) is a member of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures as an Associate Professor of Latin American Literature and Culture, while Louise E. Walker (PhD Yale) is now teaching Latin American History as an Assistant Professor in the History Department.
Elizabeth Bucar (PhD U. Chicago) rounds out the new hires for 2012-13 with her appointment to the Philosophy and Religion Department. She is an Associate Professor of Comparative Ethics and Religion.
– By Leslie Casey
