Trinity’s Board of Trustees voted in April to promote six faculty members to the position of associate professor with tenure, effective July 1, 2018.
“The award of tenure is a very significant moment in the life of a professor and the life of the college,” said Tim Cresswell, dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs. “We hope and trust that these six scholars will be with us for decades to come, providing invaluable service to their departments, to their disciplines, and, most of all, to their students.”
The faculty members are:
Cheyenne Brindle, Associate Professor of Chemistry
B.A. in chemistry, Reed College
Ph.D. in organic chemistry, Stanford University
Brindle is an organic chemist who investigates novel catalyst designs based on replacing costly and expensive metals with “greener” organic molecules capable of catalyzing a wide variety of reactions. Since arriving at Trinity, she has published six papers in peer-reviewed journals, including a major review article in Chemical Reviews and a video article in The Journal of Visualized Experiments. She also has served on college-wide committees, including the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee, and has performed important roles with Phi Beta Kappa and the Trinity Chemical Society. Brindle earned a B.A. in chemistry from Reed College and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Stanford University before moving east to take a position as an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. At Trinity, she has taught introductory through advanced courses, both in lecture and lab formats, and a first-year seminar.
Shane Ewegen, Associate Professor of Philosophy
B.A. in philosophy, University of Colorado Denver
M.A., Ph.D. in philosophy, Boston College
Ewegen’s areas of expertise are ancient Greek philosophy and 20th-century continental philosophy. Since he arrived at Trinity, he has published a monograph, Plato’s Cratylus: The Comedy of Language (Indiana University Press, 2013), and four papers in peer-reviewed journals. He also has published three book chapters since 2015, as well as two translations. After receiving a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Colorado Denver, Ewegen relocated to Boston, where he earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston College. He spent a year as a visiting assistant professor at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. He has taught a variety of Trinity courses both in philosophy and outside of it.
Meredith Safran, Associate Professor of Classical Studies
B.A. in anthropology and in ancient studies, Columbia University
M.A., Ph.D. in classics, Princeton University
Safran specializes in Roman literature and culture and has established herself as a leader in the relatively new area of classical reception studies, focusing on the media of film and television. Her publications include two edited volumes, one published by Palgrave Macmillan and the other forthcoming from the Screening Antiquity series from Edinburgh University Press; an edited issue of a journal; and several articles. Her monograph, Battlestar Galactica: An American Aeneid for the 21st Century, is under contract with Screening Antiquity/Edinburgh University Press, and she has several forthcoming book chapters. She has been the area chair for classical antiquity at the annual Film & History conference since 2014. Beyond her work in classical studies, she has co-directed the Trinity Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, organized the annual Wassong Memorial Lecture, and contributed to the restructuring of Trinity’s Humanities Gateway Program. Safran received a B.A. in anthropology and in ancient studies from Columbia University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in classics from Princeton University. Prior to her arrival at Trinity, she spent two years as a visiting assistant professor at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Safran teaches courses in classical civilization and Latin language and is chair of the Classical Studies Department.
Kari Theurer, Associate Professor of Philosophy
B.A. in philosophy, B.S. in biology, University of Cincinnati
M.A., Ph.D. in philosophy, Indiana University, Bloomington
Theurer works in the field of analytic philosophy, where she focuses on the philosophies of science, mind, and psychiatry. She works primarily on the nature of explanation in neuroscience and psychiatry, linking her philosophical training to her knowledge of science and its history. Theurer has published seven peer-reviewed papers in venues including Philosophy of Science, Minds and Machines, and the Routledge Handbook of Evolution and Philosophy. She has served on the Faculty Research Committee, the Neuroscience Coordinating Committee, and the Athletic Advisory Committee and now serves as the faculty adviser to the Philosophy Club. She also is chair of the Institutional Review Board at Trinity and is president of the college’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Outside of Trinity, she serves on the Executive Board of the Midsouth Philosophy Conference, a meeting she co-organizes annually. Theurer received a B.A. in philosophy and a B.S. in biology from the University of Cincinnati and an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Indiana University, Bloomington.
Thomas Wickman, Associate Professor of History and American Studies
A.B. in history and literature, Harvard College
A.M. in history, Harvard University
Ph.D. in history of American civilization, Harvard University
Wickman, a scholar in the humanities, is a colonial and environmental historian working on the histories of indigenous people in New England. The main focus of his scholarship is his forthcoming book, Snowshoe Country: An Environmental and Cultural History of Winter in the Early American Northeast (under contract with Cambridge University Press). Wickman also has published in a leading journal—The William and Mary Quarterly—and in The Palgrave Handbook on Climate History. He also is an active thesis adviser, and many of his students have gone on to win prizes for their essays. He has helped form an Indigenous Studies Working Group, worked on the Facilities and Environmental Sustainability Subcommittee of the Bicentennial Strategic Planning Commission, and served as faculty liaison for the men’s basketball team. Wickman received an A.B. in history and literature from Harvard College, an A.M. in history from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in history of American civilization from Harvard University.
Abigail Fisher Williamson, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Law
B.A. in political science and Russian, Williams College
M.P.P., Harvard Kennedy School
Ph.D. in public policy, Harvard University
Williamson focuses on the politics of immigration and the responses of local government to immigration. Since coming to Trinity, she has produced an array of publications and attracted outside grant funding for her work. Highlights include the edited volume The Politics of New Immigrant Destinations: Transatlantic Perspectives, with fellow Trinity faculty members Stefanie Chambers, Diana Evans, and Anthony Messina (Temple University Press, 2017), and the forthcoming monograph, Welcoming New Americans? Local Government and Immigrant Incorporation (The University of Chicago Press). She has received funding for her work from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has served on several college-wide committees, including the Learning Spaces Committee and the Information Technology in Education Committee. She also has served as a panel chair and discussant at a number of professional conferences and has worked with refugee communities in the Hartford area. Williamson received a B.A. in political science and Russian from Williams College, an M.P.P. from Harvard Kennedy School, and a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University. In 2017, she received Trinity’s Dean Arthur H. Hughes Award for Achievement in Teaching.