School Welcomes New Faculty Members
September 2007
The School of Arts and Sciences has appointed 23 new members to its standing faculty for the 2007-08 academic year. The new hires join the faculty at the junior and senior levels across the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
“We are so pleased to welcome these superb scholars to our faculty ranks,” said Dean Rebecca W. Bushnell. “Their extraordinary talents will bring new energy to our programs in research and teaching.”
Two professors were hired under the University’s Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) initiative, which promotes interdisciplinary research by recruiting innovative scholars to hold appointments in two Penn schools. Philippe Bourgois, Richard Perry University Professor, is based in the Department of Anthropology in SAS and the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health in the School of Medicine. He studies medical and urban anthropology, with a special interest in substance abuse and violence in urban settings. Richard Perry University Professor Adrian Raine holds a joint appointment in the Department of Criminology in SAS and the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine. He examines the neurobiological and biosocial bases of antisocial and violent behavior.
Key appointments were also made in the thematic areas of "integrated knowledge" identified in the School’s strategic plan, especially in the areas of "Democracy and Constitutionalism," with several related appointments in political science, “Genes to Brains to Behavior,” with new hires in biology and psychology, and “Cross-Cultural Contacts,” with new faculty adding coverage of diaspora studies and important global regions in a number of humanities departments.
This year’s other new senior appointments are:
Jeffrey Bode, who joins the Department of Chemistry as an associate professor. He is a specialist in synthetic organic and bioorganic chemistry who comes to Penn from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
David Eng, a full professor in English who comes to Penn from Rutgers University. His scholarly interests include American and Asian American literature and film, race and gender studies and queer theory.
Cynthia Damon, who joins SAS as full professor in the Department of Classical Studies. Her research interests include Latin literature, Roman cultural history and Roman historiography. She comes to Penn from Amherst College.
Paul Saint-Amour, who joins the Department of English as an associate professor. He comes to Penn from Pomona College. His research interests include Victorian and Modernist studies, copyright and intellectual property, and postcolonial literature and theory.
Click here to view the entire list of new standing faculty members.