SAS Welcomes 23 Outstanding Scholars for 2004-2005
The School of Arts and Sciences is proud to announce the addition of 23 exceptional scholars to its standing faculty for the 2004-2005 academic year. Recruited with an eye toward maintaining overall SAS excellence, they will also help the school achieve a leadership role in several specific departments and programs.
Here is a snapshot of the new faculty additions:
The Department of Political Science is pleased to count University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann among its ranks. Gutmann, who assumed the presidency this past summer, is a political theorist with specialties in democracy, practical ethics and multiculturalism. She has published more than 100 articles and essays and edited books in political philosophy, practical ethics and education.
The political science department also welcomes two other prominent scholars: Donald Kettl and Adolph Reed. Kettl, the Stanley I. Sheerr Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences, is an expert in public administration and policy at the federal, state and local levels. Reed focuses on African-American as well as urban politics.
Richard Leventhal, an internationally recognized scholar in Mesoamerican studies, is now part of the Department of Anthropology. In addition, Leventhal is the Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He has directed many excavations and research projects focused on the civilization and culture of the ancient Maya. He has written numerous monographs, books, reports and articles. His most recent publication is Archaeology in the Mediterranean: The Present State and Future Scope of a Discipline.
There are five new recruits in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, including Douglas Durian and Andrea Liu. Durian earned the nickname “Professor Foam” for his experiments that focus on granular flows and foams. Likewise, Liu is a theorist who studies polymers, electrostatics and “jamming” – a term she coined for the breakdown of flow in sand, glass and foam. Both scholars, formerly of the University of California at Los Angeles, will be a part of the department’s soft-condensed matter group.
The Department of Philosophy welcomes the addition of Cristina Bicchieri, a leading philosopher whose areas of expertise include the philosophy of social science as well as decision theory and game theory.
The growing cinema studies program will benefit from new faculty in the English and history of art departments. Assistant Professor of English Peter Decherney has a special interest in the history of early 20th-century American film. His first book, Hollywood and the Culture Elite: How the Movies Became American is set to be published in March 2005. Karen Beckman in the history of art department is a specialist in the history of photography, film and other new media. She is the first holder of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Professorship.
Thadious Davis is now a member of the English department. Davis, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought, specializes in 20th-century American literature with an emphasis on African-American literature and the American South.
Click here to view all the new standing faculty members.