Faculty: new faces, farewells

Amanda Loder

While new students get acclimated to life at Lawrence and returning students once again become accustomed to a studious life, university faculty are adjusting to the loss of some faculty members and an influx of new faculty members to the Lawrence community.Many faculty members will be leaving throughout the 2004-05 academic year. This year, 28 professors are off-campus on sabbatical. With the exception of Professor Brad Rence of the biology department, who will be off-campus during the winter and spring, none of these professors will be away from Lawrence for more than a term.

Five other faculty members – Gina Bloom, English; Alexis Boylan, art history; Kathryn Kueny, religious studies; Mark Frazier, government; and Jos Encarnaci¢n of the Conservatory – will be taking leaves of absence this year. Only Professors Boylan and Frazier will be returning before the year is out. Boylan will only be absent during fall term, and Frazier will return in the spring.

Professor Marcia Bjornerud will be teaching geology at the London Centre this fall, and Professor Rich Frielund of the theater arts department will teach with an ACM study abroad program winter and spring terms.

Some faculty, however, will not be returning to the Lawrence community. Among those resigning are Paul Bunson and Andrew Kunz, physics; Eileen Walsh, anthropology; Karen Park-Koenig, religious studies; and Susan Klotzbach, Rico Serbo, and David Sullivan of the Conservatory. Professor Robert Levy has retired.

Sixteen lecturers, visiting lecturers, and instructors who taught music, religious studies, anthropology, French, and freshman studies will not be returning to Lawrence.

To make up for these losses to the faculty, 23 new professors have been hired for positions in the education, French, English, government, theatre arts, anthropology, physics, music, East Asian studies, religious studies, and art departments. Denise Massman, theater arts, and Robert Debbaut and Steven Spears, both of the conservatory, will be at Lawrence for the entire academic year. James Dunn, assistant professor of physics, is contracted to teach at Lawrence for two years.

While many of these new professors are visiting instructors or lecturers and are here for only one or two terms, five are in tenure-track positions.

The new tenure track faculty members are John Ito and Andrew Mast of the conservatory; Brenda Jenike and Mark Jenike, anthropology; and Robert Williams, education.