Twenty-nine new faculty members bring diverse life stories to campus

August 31, 2009 —

A sea of fresh faces will fill the halls of SVSU this year, and the students are only half the story.

A host of new faculty and staff members were introduced to their peers Thursday afternoon in the Malcolm Field Theater.

The new hires come from around the world and include a physicist from the Ames Laboratory in Iowa, an expert in medieval Spanish art, and a theater director once featured in Sex and the City.

The incoming personnel includes 29 faculty, one assistant dean, and more than twenty staff members. The University also is hosting a Fulbright Scholar from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

“I can tell our recruitment efforts have been strong,” said Gilbertson.

“This is a very deep and eclectic mix of talent.” The number of new faculty is typical for SVSU, said Donald Bachand, vice president for Academic Affairs.

Out of 300 faculty members, the natural turnover rate leaves twenty to thirty vacancies each year. Several are temporary appointments of one or two semesters to fill staffing gaps due to late retirements, sabbaticals or unexpected enrollment spikes.

Among the new faculty are:

• Emily Kelley, lecturer of art. Kelley is completing her dissertation at Cornell University, entitled “Piety and the Merchant Patron: Two Carved Altarpieces from Early Sixteenth Century Burgos.”

• Anita Marcott, assistant professor of special education. Marcott is an expert on autism spectrum disorders and speech pathology.

• Matthew Vanette, assistant professor of physics. Vannette trained at the Ames Laboratory, specializing in experimental studies of superconductivity and magnetism.

• Anthony Bowrin, associate professor of accounting, who formerly taught at the University of the West Indies.

• David Rzeszutek, lecturer of theater. Rzeszutek specializes in directing fight choreography and played a role on HBO’s hit series Sex and the City.