The Office of the Dean of the College announces the hiring of 11 new faculty members:

Cara Marie Constance (biology; molecular genetics) received her bachelor of arts degree in biology from Hiram College in Ohio and her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Virginia, where she was recently a postdoctoral fellow. Constance, who studies biological clocks and the molecular basis for biological rhythms, will add new courses in molecular biology to the curriculum.

Kimberley Frederick Schrum (chemistry; analytical chemistry) has taught at both Maryville College in Tennessee and Whittier College in California. She received her bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis., and her Ph.D. from Purdue University in Indiana. Her research includes an interest in the development of new methods of detection using Raman spectroscopy in the field of forensics.

Robert Baumann (economics; industrial organization/labor economics) received his bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and economics from Bluffton College in Ohio and his master of arts degree in economics from The Ohio State University where he completed his Ph.D. research on poverty in Appalachia. His contributions in research and teaching will strengthen the College’s offerings in issues related to social justice.

Neva Novarro (economics; economics and ethics of health care) will join the faculty as the James N. and Eva Barrett Fellow in Ethics and the Liberal Arts. Novarro, who received her undergraduate degree from Pomona College, Claremont, Calif., completed her Ph.D. at Stanford University in California. Her position strengthens the College’s course offerings and scholarship commitment in ethics across the curriculum.

Ericka Fisher ’96 (education; social justice education) returns to her alma mater after completing her Ed.D. in social justice education at University of Massachusetts. Her course offerings will include Social Issues in Education, Oppression and Education, and Multicultural Education. Fisher grew up in Worcester.

Leila Philip (English; creative writing/nonfiction) graduated from Princeton University in New Jersey with a degree in comparative literature and completed a fifth-year degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton and the Intensive Summer Language Program in Japanese at Middlebury College in Vermont. Her M.F.A. from Columbia University, New York City, was in fiction. Philip has taught at Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y.

Sahar Bazzaz (history; Middle East history) graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor of arts degree in history and a minor in biology. She completed her master of arts degree at the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. in history and Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., where she received an award for excellence in teaching. Bazzaz received a Fulbright to study in Morocco in 1997. She will teach courses in modern Middle East history.

Daniel Frost (modern languages and literatures; Spanish) graduated summa cum laude from Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., with a degree in comparative literature. He received his master of arts degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., where he is completing his Ph.D. in Spanish literature. He has repeatedly received awards and certificates for teaching excellence and distinction while at Harvard.

Stephanie Hilger (modern languages and literatures; French) received her Licence in English and German language and literature from the Université de Liège in Belgium where she graduated with highest distinction. Hilger, who earned a master of arts degree in English literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is completing her Ph.D. there in comparative literature. Her areas of expertise include 17th- and 18th-century French and European literature, French language and culture, and comparative literature. She is fluent in German as well as French.

Rosemary Carbine (religious studies; Catholic systematic theology) graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., where she majored in theology. She earned a master of arts degree in divinity and a Ph.D. in theology from the University of Chicago Divinity School. She recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in public theology at the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University in New Jersey. Her current work centers on feminist theory and Christian theology, two areas in which she also teaches.

Oneka LaBennett (sociology and anthropology; anthropology—gender and ethnicity) majored in anthropology and sociology at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., where she received her bachelor of arts degree. LaBennett recently completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., in anthropology. Her areas of expertise, which inform her scholarship and her teaching, include Caribbean migration to New York City, ethnography of the Anglophone Caribbean, and youth culture.