Faculty Teaching in Honors
Arseneault, Madeleine
Teaching Rank/Department: Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
Highest Degree Earned/School: PhD University of Wisconsin-Madison
Year Joined Faculty: 2008
Madeleine Arseneault regularly teaches Symbolic Logic, Metaphysics, Theory of Knowledge, Philosophy of Language, and Introduction to Philosophy. Specific research interests in the Philosophy of Language include the semantics of non-literal language use (metaphor, idioms, irony), and theories of linguistic (especially metaphorical) representation.
Devlin, Meg
Dr. Devlin teaches upper-level courses in U.S. women’s and Native American history as well as the introductory course and senior seminar in women's, gender, and sexuality studies.
Dull, Laura
Laura J. Dull is an Associate Professor and the coordinator of the Secondary Social Studies program. She earned a B.A. from Hiram College, M.A. from Teachers College at Columbia University, and Ph.D. in comparative and international education from New York University. She taught social studies for 7 years in New York City public schools. She wrote a book about educational reform in Ghana (Disciplined Development: Teachers and Reform in Ghana, Lexington Books, 2006), based on her work as a Teachers for Africa volunteer, and has written articles on textbooks in Ghana, service learning and neo-liberalism in Serbia, and discussion in American classrooms. She received a Fulbright Scholar Award to Serbia in 2007 and a Korea Society Fellowship in 2013. She is an editor of the book, Teaching Recent Global History: Dialogues among Historians, Teachers, and Students (Routledge, 2014).
Festa, Thomas
Frank, Andrea
Frank joined the Art Department faculty at SUNY New Paltz as Assistant Professor in Art in the fall of 2012, and currently serves as head of photography. From 2003 to 2012, she taught Photography and Related Media at the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology in Cambridge, MA.
Frank is interested in a systems related approach to questions of sustainability, collective responsibility, and to psychological aspects of individual and collective human action. In various bodies of work and through a range of media, she has addressed issues such as the tension between education and manipulation, world trade, and the exponentially growing environmental problems we face.
She is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships including the DAAD, Rotary International Foundation, Danner Stiftung, Vermont Studio Center, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, and the MIT Council for the Arts. Frank's work has been exhibited internationally, with recent solo exhibitions at Galleria Michela Rizzo in Venice, Carroll and Sons in Boston, and the Kunsthalle Göppingen in Germany.
Geher, Glenn
Glenn Geher is Professor and Chair of Psychology as well as Director of Evolutionary Studiesat the State University of New York at New Paltz. He has taught several courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels – including Statistics, Social Psychology, and Evolutionary Psychology – and has recently won the New Paltz Alumni Association's Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award, along with the Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence from the State University of New York. First and foremost, Glenn is a teacher, and his primary goal is to educate and support his students and work to facilitate their success as they develop across their careers.
Glenn's publications generally address two broad themes – the interface of human mating and cognitive processes (mating intelligence) along with the state of Evolutionary Psychology within the landscape of academia. Among his publications are an edited book published with Nova Publishers (Measuring Emotional Intelligence) and an edited book with Erlbaum (Mating Intelligence: Sex, Relationships, and the Mind's Reproductive System – co-edited with Geoffrey Miller). He is also co-author of Mating Intelligence Unleashed (co-written with Scott Barry Kaufman – to be released soon by Oxford University Press). He also has two other books in contract (a textbook on statistics (with Oxford) and a textbook on evolutionary psychology (with Springer).
Glenn loves evolutionary psychology – and, with this in mind, he worked with Alice Andrews, Mike Camargo, Rose Chang, Gordon Gallup, Heather Mangione, Sarah Strout, and David Sloan Wilson (among others) to launch the NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society (NEEPS) in 2007. This society has grown, and he thinks it's the best evolutionary psychology society in the world!
In his effort to better integrate evolution into the behavioral sciences, Glenn has collaborated with David Sloan Wilson (and several other folks at Binghamton) to (a) develop SUNY New Paltz's vibrant evolutionary studies program and (b) to expand evolutionary studies across the world of higher education. Toward this end, along with Jen Waldo of New Paltz, he and David received a large National Science Foundation grant that made for great advances in the expansion of evolutionary studies in the USA and beyond.
Glenn also directs the New Paltz Evolutionary Psychology lab, which includes lots of students (both undergraduates and graduate students). In his words, "these students are awesome!"
Glenn has many hobbies, including hiking, running, weightlifting, cooking, tennis, racquetball, basketball, roller hockey, ice hockey, football, fishing, canoeing, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, caving, swimming, travel, camping, and working on his blog: Building Darwin's Bridges (at evostudies.org). He's also lead guitar player for the Hudson Valley's only all-professor punk rock band: Questionable Authorities.
Glenn lives in a house in the woods on the fringes of New Paltz, NY with his wife Kathy and their two children, Megan and Andrew – and several pets. They have a lot of fun together! glenngeher.com
Herne, Catherine
Dr. Catherine Herne is an optical physics Associate Professor at SUNY New Paltz. She teaches introductory to advanced physics courses and the advanced physics laboratory courses in the Physics and Astronomy Department, and performs research with undergraduate students in optical micromanipulation.
Heuer, Keely
Keely Heuer is an Assistant Professor of Art History whose courses cover the breadth of the visual culture of the ancient Mediterranean with a particular focus on the art of Greece and Rome. She received her Ph.D. from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, and prior to her arrival at New Paltz in 2013, she taught at Hunter College and NYU. Besides teaching on campus, Professor Heuer leads unique summer study abroad programs focused on the archaeological sites and museums of Italy and Greece. She is the faculty advisor for the student-led Art History Association at SUNY New Paltz.
Professor Heuer’s research concentrates primarily on the iconography of Greek vase-painting and the interrelations between Greek settlers and indigenous populations of pre-Roman Italy. She has presented talks on a wide variety of imagery found on vases produced in southern Italy and Sicily at conferences in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. She has published essays in the Metropolitan Museum Journal; Athenian Potters and Painters III; Hope in Ancient Literature, History, and Art; and multiple supplemental volumes of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Her current book project compares shared iconographic themes in South Italian and Etruscan red-figure vase-painting. For two seasons, she excavated at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace. She is a member of the Archaeological Institute of America, the Association for Coroplastic Studies, the College Art Association, the Etruscan Foundation, and the Society for Classical Studies.
Hewett, Heather
Dr. Heather Hewett is an interdisciplinary feminist scholar and nonfiction writer who has published on a wide variety of topics, including motherhood, disability, feminism, human rights, food, and the work of contemporary women writers from Anglophone Africa, the Caribbean, and the U.S. Her scholarship has appeared in journals such as WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, MELUS, English in Africa, and Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice. Her essays, reviews, and interviews have been published in venues such as The Washington Post, Women’s Review of Books, The New York Times, Boston Review, and several book collections.
Dr. Hewett is an associate professor of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She teaches in both departments, including classes on transnational feminism, motherhood and mothering, the literature of disability and illness, and creative nonfiction. In spring 2016, she is co-teaching “The Literature of Witness” with Dr. Jan Schmidt. She earned her B.A. in English from Yale and her Ph.D. in English, with a doctoral certificate in African Studies, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kantrowitz, Andrea
Andrea Kantrowitz, an artist and educator, is the Director of the Art Education Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She has lectured and led workshops on art and cognition internationally, and has twice served as a Singapore Ministry of Education Outstanding Educator in Residence. As a director of the Thinking through Drawing Project, founded during her doctoral studies at Teachers College, Columbia University, she co-organized 10 years of international drawing and cognition research symposia and workshops, in collaboration with colleagues from around the world. Before coming to Columbia University Teachers College as a doctoral student, she was a teaching artist in the New York City public schools for many years, involved in multiple local and national research projects. As a teaching artist with the Studio in a School organization, she co-developed and implemented an integrated art, math, and literacy curriculum for a federally funded Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) project. This project included a randomized control trial that demonstrated the impact of an integrated art curriculum for students growing up in poverty.
She holds a BA in Art and Cognition from Harvard University and a MFA in Painting from Yale. She has taught foundation drawing at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and graduate courses in contemporary art at the College of New Rochelle. Prior to her work in K-12 education, she was the visual art foundation coordinator at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. Her paintings have been exhibited nationally and are in many private collections. She has curated multiple exhibitions on themes of drawing, cognition, and the creative work of artist/educators. She is an artist member of The Painting Center in New York City, and her artwork is also represented by Kenise Barnes Fine Art. She lives, hikes, draws, and paints in the Hudson Valley, NY.
Keeling, Eric
Eric Keeling is an associate professor in Biology at SUNY New Paltz, where he teaches general ecology, conservation biology, plant ecophysiology, global change biology (non-bio majors), and human ecology (Honors Program). He also mentors undergraduate students in independent research projects in ecology and sustainability.
Maynard, Douglas
Doug Maynard is a professor in the Psychology Department and current interim chair of the Digital Media and Journalism Department. He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Bowling Green State University. He teaches courses in introductory psychology, statistics, positive psychology, and game studies for the Psychology Department. In the Honors Program, he teaches a seminar entitled “Humans at Play”. His current scholarship focuses upon play, playfulness and gaming in adults, especially as they relate to social interaction and well-being. He recently published an article in the journal Analog Game Studies along with SUNY New Paltz alumna Joanna Herron (Psychology Class of 2016) entitled “The Allure of Struggle and Failure in Cooperative Board Games”. Dr. Maynard is also a designer of non-digital games for both education and entertainment.
Mentore, Gissel
Gissel Mentore joined the Chemistry Department as a lecturer in 2004 and has taught courses in Environmental Chemistry, General Chemistry, and Experimental Physical Chemistry. She is also the coordinator of General Chemistry Laboratory Instruction, which includes selecting and scheduling experiments for General Chemistry I and II Labs and preparing and publishing the lab manuals. Gissel has a PhD in Chemistry from RPI, where her research involved the characterization of ceramics and polymers using solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. She is a member of Sigma Xi, the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the editor and publisher of the Mid-Hudson Chemist, the newsletter of the Mid-Hudson ACS local section.
Mulready, Cyrus
Cyrus Mulready's research and teaching focus on Shakespeare and the literature and culture of early modern England. He has published essays on dramatic romance and Philip Sidney's Defense of Poesy; these materials form the basis of his current book project, Romance and the Globe,which identifies a tradition of romance on the early modern stage that was shaped by England's overseas ambitions. In 2011, he was named the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year.
Phillips, Lisa
Lisa A. Phillips, an associate professor of journalism, is the author of Unrequited: Women and Romantic Obsession, published by HarperCollins. She has published articles and essays in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Salon, The Boston Globe, Psychology Today, The Washington Post and other publications. A former award-winning radio reporter, she has worked at public radio stations across the country and contributed stories to NPR and Marketplace. She is also the author of Public Radio: Behind the Voices.
Roschelle, Anne
Anne R. Roschelle is an Associate Professor. Her teaching interests include social welfare, poverty, the social construction of race, class, and gender through film, and racial-ethnic families. Anne is the author of numerous articles on the intersection of race, class, and gender with a focus on extended kinship networks, family poverty, homelessness, and work and family in Cuba. She is the author of No More Kin: Exploring Race, Class, and Gender in Family Networks, which was a recipient of Choice Magazines 1997 Outstanding Academic Book Award. Anne is an avid hiker and plays flute in a local rock band called Questionable Authorities.
Stapell, Hamilton M.
Hamilton M. Stapell is a historian of post-1945 Europe. His areas of teaching specialization include medieval and modern Europe, Latin America, and European intellectual history. He previously taught at the United States Military Academy, West Point, and for the Revelle Humanities Program at the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Stapell's research and writing focus on the political and cultural history of Spain since its transition to democracy in 1975. He has published articles on national and regional identity in the 'New Europe' and on Spanish culture. He is also the author of the new book entitledRemaking Madrid: Culture, Politics, and Identity after Franco.
Professor Stapell received his B.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.
Tromanhauser, Vicki
Vicki Tromanhauser is an Assistant Professor of English and teaches courses in twentieth-century British literature, great books, and women in literature. Her research focuses upon changing conceptions of human identity in the early twentieth century, exploring how modernist fiction engages with animals, animality, and the life sciences. Her articles have appeared, or are forthcoming, in Twentieth-Century Literature, Woolf Studies Annual, Virginia Woolf Miscellany, and various essay collections.
Varga, Andrea
Andrea Varga is an Associate Professor of Theatre Design at SUNY New Paltz. She holds an MFA in Costume Design from Florida State University, a BS in History and a BFA in Theatre Arts from Utah State University and has worked as a costume designer and assistant designer on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in television and academia for many years. Some of her favorite collaborations have been with The Mint Theatre (Off-Broadway, NYC) and include her Drama Desk nominated design for The Fatal Weakness by George Kelly, and most recently The Mountains Look Different by Michael MacLiammoire in 2019. In 2018 and 2019 she collaborated with The Studios of Key West and The Tennessee Williams Museum/Key West Art and Historical Society on the productions of Underwater and Life Story. As an educator and artist Professor Varga works to incorporate sustainability education and practice into her craft, courses, lectures and leadership on campus and in her community. She is a Sustainability Faculty Fellow at New Paltz, and a member of the Sustainability Fellows Co-Coordinator group that supports and mentors sustainability education, scholarship, research and engagement on campus and in our wider community. She is also a long-time member of the Evolutionary Studies program on campus, and her courses spanning the arts, humanities, evolutionary studies and sustainability are evidence of her passion for teaching cross-disciplinary topics. Courses include: Ethical Fashion & Introduction to Sustainability for the Honors program, History of World Dress and History of Fashion in General Education, Costume Design and Drawing & Painting in Theatre Arts. Her work is informed by years of doing laundry for theatre, working with and in the fashion industry, and growing up in a conservation-minded and activist household. She firmly believes that change can be made by individuals, and that optimism is the way forward.
Vargas, Michael
Michael Vargas (Ph.D. Fordham University, 2006) is currently an Associate Professor of History at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where his courses include Jihad and Crusades, Medieval Traveler, Inquisition, Kings and Kingdoms, Deep History, and others. He was named Mentor of the Year in the Spring of 2013 by the advisory committee of the SUNY New Paltz Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Program for his work with students on several special projects beyond regular classroom work. His book,Taming a Brood of Vipers: Conflict and Change in Fourteenth-Century Dominican Convents (Brill, 2011) received the La Coronica International Book Award for 2013 and also earned an honorable mention in the 2013 Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies Best First Book Prize competition. Michael received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to conduct research in Barcelona, Spain. He has written on the organization of religious communities, on theories of religious reform, on the use and misuse of medieval manuscripts, and on the use of the past in political and social constructions of the present. He is currently completing a book manuscript about the creative use of the medieval past in the construction of modern Catalan identity and politics.
Vermeulen, Karla
Karla Vermeulen, Ph.D., teaches undergraduate and courses in disaster psychology and developmental psychology, among other topics, and she oversees the undergraduate Minor in Disaster Studies. She has written and edited three books, most recently "Generation Disaster: Coming of Age Post-9/11" from Oxford University Press.
Wolf, Reva
Professor Wolf teaches courses in and writes about modern art and art-historical methodology. Among her most notable publications are two books, Andy Warhol, Poetry, and Gossip in the 1960s (University of Chicago Press, 1997), and Goya and the Satirical Print (Godine, 1991). Her recent publications include an essay in a book of Warhol's interviews (Carroll & Graf, 2004), and an article about The Simpsons (Art Journal, 2006).
Professor Wolf also has been the recipient of a number of fellowships to support her research. She was an NEH Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, in 1995-96, an Andrew W. Mellon Junior Faculty Fellow in the Humanities at Harvard University in 1990-91, and in addition has been awarded a Visiting Fellowship at the Yale Center for British Art, an NEA Special Exhibitions grant, and a J. Clawson Mills Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Professor Wolf received a Ph.D. and M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and a B.A. from Brandeis University. Prior to coming to SUNY New Paltz, where she is Professor of Art History, she was Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Boston College.
Woods, Michelle
Michelle Woods is a Professor of English at SUNY New Paltz and has taught here for thirteen years. She is the authoer of Kafka Translated: How Translators Have Shaped Our Reading of Kafka (2014), Censoring Translation: Censorship, Theatre and the Politics of Translation (2012), and Translating Milan Kundera (2006), the editor of Authorizing Translation (2017), and co-editor of Teaching Literature in Translation (2022). She is writing a non-fiction book about the female translators of Anna Karenina, called Reading Anna. She is co-editor of the book series for Bloomsbury: Literatures, Cultures, Translation. Her translations have appeared in Granata and Words Without Borders, and she loves to teach as much dark and funny Central European literature as she can.
