1. W&L Welcomes New Visiting Faculty, Postgraduate Fellows and Assistant Coaches

Communications & Public Affairs
August 26, 2024

Washington and Lee University has welcomed 26 new faculty members who will serve as visiting professors, postdoctoral fellows or assistant coaches across The College, The Williams School and The Law School this fall.

These new faculty members are:

Paul Aiken, Visiting Assistant Professor of Engineering
Aiken comes to W&L after serving as the chief executive officer of Mona-Tech Engineering Services in Jamaica. He has also been a senior lecturer for physics and engineering at the University of the West Indies, Mona (Jamaica). He earned a Bachelor of Science in applied physics from the University of the West Indies and holds a master's degree in electrical engineering and applied physics and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Columbia University. His research interests are radio frequency and microwave circuits and systems in their applications to signal and power integrity of high-speed digital systems, 4G, 5G and 6G communications systems and energy systems.

Indunil Alahakoon, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Alahakoon recently earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Toledo, where she served as a research assistant. She also earned a Bachelor of Science special degree in chemistry from the University of Colombo (Sri Lanka). Her research and teaching interests include organic chemistry, transition metal catalysis and design and synthesis of novel organometallic compounds and synthesis of small organic molecules for targeted applications in drug development.

Salman Amir, Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic
Amir holds a Ph.D. in Middle East studies from the University of Michigan. His research and teaching interests include Islamic philosophy and theology, reception of Greek philosophy in the Arab world, Isma'ili Neoplatonism (Fatimid Empire), Arabic linguistics and assessment and principles and practices of language teaching.

Jamila Baig, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology
Baig comes to W&L from the University of Oregon, where she was a graduate teaching assistant and researcher. She earned a Ph.D. in environmental sciences, studies and policy from Oregon and also holds a bachelor's degree in zoology, botany and geography from the F 7/2 College Islamabad (Pakistan), a master's degree in zoology from the University of Peshawar (Pakistan), bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Notre Dame Institute of Education, Karachi (Pakistan) and a Master of Science from Karakoram International University (Pakistan). Her research and teaching interests include climate change, paleotemperature reconstruction, vegetation change, fire history and lake ecosystem and productivity.

Emmett Buckley, Visiting Assistant Professor of English
Buckley's prior experience includes serving as the writing center coordinator at Virginia Military Institute. He holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University. His research and teaching interests include poetry, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms and ekphrasis.

Timothy Campbell, Visiting Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Geoscience
Campbell earned a Ph.D. in Earth sciences from Montana State University, where he also earned a Master of Science in glacial geology. He also holds a bachelor's degree in geology and politics from Bates College. His research and teaching interests include paleoclimate of polar and alpine environments and sedimentology.

Mayra Cano, Visiting Assistant Professor of English
Cano recently earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Notre Dame. Her research and teaching interests include digital manifestations of race and sexuality in technology, archival methodologies and horror and folklore.

Anthony Cincotta, Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and Administrator of Music Operations
Cincotta has had prior faculty appointments at Eastern Mennonite University and Bridgewater College. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Master of Music degree and Ph.D. in musical arts, pedagogy and literature from James Madison University. His research and teaching interests include pedagogical advancement, student advocacy and agency and commissioning new music.

Jawanza Clark, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion
Clark comes to W&L from Manhattan College where he taught religious studies. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Morehouse College, a master's degree in theology from Yale Divinity School and a Ph.D. in religion and theological studies from Emory University. His research and teaching interests include Black and womanist theology, African-American religions, African diasporic religions, Africana critical theory and Africana religious studies.

Samuel Concannon, Assistant Men's Tennis Coach
Concannon arrives at W&L from Culver, Indiana, where he served as the head coach of the Culver Girls Academy tennis team, an assistant with the Culver Military Academy team and as an employee of the Transformative Tennis Academy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in finance from Case Western Reserve University.

Kelley Cordova, Visiting Assistant Professor of French
Cordova comes to W&L after serving as a Fulbright postdoctoral scholar at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in modern languages from James Madison University, a Master of Arts in French studies from Middlebury College and a Ph.D. in French studies from the University of Virginia. Her research and teaching interests include contemporary French literature's commitment to marginalized groups, recent developments in the Francophone world's migrant literature amid Europe's migrant crisis, Enquête literature and sociology of literature.

Raja Das, Postdoctoral Fellow in Earth and Environmental Geoscience
Das recently earned a Ph.D. in geospatial analytics from North Carolina State, and he also holds a Master of Science in geosciences with a concentration in geospatial analysis from East Tennessee State University. His teaching and research interests include remote sensing, geographic information systems, machine learning and natural hazards.

Maria Leticia Fernández-Fontecha, Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Fernández-Fontecha comes to W&L from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she has been a teaching assistant professor of Spanish. She holds a Master of Arts from the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), an MFA from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in history and medicine from the University of Greenwich (U.K.). Her research interests include the history of medicine, history of science, history of childhood, history of emotions and European history.

Katie Garrish, Assistant Women's Basketball Coach
Garrish arrives at W&L from the Buena Vista Public Schools, where she has been a student success coach for the last two years. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in business management and leadership from Southern Virginia University. Garrish was a four-year member of the women's basketball team at SVU, serving as a team captain for her senior season. She earned three All-America accolades and finished her career with over 1,600 career points.

Niloofar Gholamrezaei, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
Gholamrezaei joins W&L from Regis College, where she served as an assistant professor of visual arts and general education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Tehran University of Art (Iran), an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and a Ph.D. in fine arts from Texas Tech University. Her teaching and research interests include studio art, digital art and design, interdisciplinary studies of art and artificial intelligence and modern and contemporary art history, global modernism and art of the Middle East.

Drew Harrell '24, DeLaney Center Postbaccalaureate Fellow
Harrell will remain with W&L after earning a Bachelor of Arts in English in May. While at W&L, he served as a program support specialist with the Law School and completed internships with the Atlantic/Cape May Superior Court and with the public defender's office in Richmond, Virginia. Harrell was a member of the basketball team, earning third team All-ODAC honors and helping lead the team to the ODAC Championship game during his senior season.

Sarah Hollen '22, Assistant Track & Field and Cross Country Coach
Hollen returns to W&L after teaching math and coaching soccer, track & field and cross country at Knott County Schools in Hindman, Kentucky. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics and environmental studies and was a four-year member of the track & field and cross country teams at W&L. She earned the 2018 ODAC Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Year award and served as a team captain for the cross country team her senior campaign.

Adrienne Jones, Postdoctoral Fellow in Southern Race Relations, Culture and Politics
Jones earned a Ph.D. in public policy and sociology from Duke University. She also earned a master's degree in public policy from Duke and a Bachelor of Science in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her teaching and research interests include poverty and inequality, employment mobility, social welfare policy, law and criminal justice and public policy.

Andrew Kirkland, Assistant Football Coach
Kirkland arrived at W&L from Monmouth University where he served as an assistant coach since 2015. He also spent three seasons as the video coordinator for the football team at Colgate University and has had coaching stops at Wesleyan University, King's College (Pa.) and as a game charter with the Cleveland Browns. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and anthropology from Colgate and a Master of Arts in liberal studies from Wesleyan University.

Tyler Linscott, Assistant Women's Tennis Coach
Linscott joins W&L after serving as the director of tennis at Willamette University for the last three seasons. His experiences also include serving as the head coach of the men's and women's tennis teams at Illinois College and as an assistant coach at Amherst College and Linfield College. He holds a Bachelor of Science in education from Linfield.

Jacob Migdail-Smith, Visiting Assistant Professor of MathematicsMigdail-Smith recently earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Syracuse University. He also holds a Master of Science in mathematics from Syracuse, as well as a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Rutgers University. His research and teaching interests include low-dimensional topology, knot theory and algebraic topolgy.

Nich Perez, DeLaney Center Professional-in-Residence in Film ProductionPerez has held a multitude of positions in higher education including as a fellow in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California and as a visiting assistant professor at St. Mary's University (Texas). He earned an MFA in cinematic arts, film and television production from the University of Southern California, and his teaching and research interests include documentary narrative and production, video and film production, screenwriting and documentary preproduction and effective media production.

Felix Puemape, Visiting Assistant Professor of PoliticsPuemape arrives at W&L from Temple University, where he was an instructor of record with the Department of Political Science. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in political science from Temple. His teaching and research interests include bureaucracies in developing countries, the appeal of public administration to individuals with tertiary education, the appeal of electoral politics to individuals with graduate degrees and the politicization of social identities by populist leaders.

Alexander Ramirez, Visiting Assistant Professor of EnglishRamirez comes to W&L from Colgate University where he was the Olive B. O'Connor Creative Writing Fellow. He earned an Associate of Arts degree in English and film from Sacramento City College, bachelor's and master's degrees in English from California State University, Sacramento and a Ph.D. in English with an emphasis in creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research and teaching interests include fiction, creative nonfiction, film and comic book literature.

Samantha Rosenthal, Visiting Assistant Professor of American HistoryRosenthal comes to W&L from Roanoke College, where she served as associate professor of history, coordinator of the public history concentration and co-coordinator of the gender & women's studies concentration. She earned a bachelor's degree in music from Bates College and a Ph.D. in history from the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Her teaching and research interests include 20th-century U.S. history, public history, LGTBQ history, digital humanities and transgender studies.

Poorya Shobeiry, Visiting Assistant Professor of EngineeringShobeiry has been a teaching assistant at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Purdue University Fort Wayne before arriving at W&L. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Razi University (Iran), a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Sharif University of Technology (Iran) and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia. His teaching and research interests include cooperative control problems, multi-agent systems and UAV path planning for wildfire surveillance.

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