W&L Welcomes New Faculty

W&L News Office
August 27, 2024

Washington and Lee University has welcomed 29 new faculty members who will instruct classes in the College, the Williams School and the Law School this fall.

The new members of the faculty are:

Joel Adams, Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Adams comes to W&L from Indiana University Bloomington, where he earned a Ph.D. in entrepreneurship. He also holds a Master of Arts in humanities and civic leadership, an MBA in entrepreneurship and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, all from the University of Louisville. His research and teaching explore questions of purpose, values, vision, intuition and commitment through the lens of entrepreneurial action.

Nydia Ayala, Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science
Ayala arrives at W&L after serving as a graduate research assistant at Iowa State University, where she earned a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology with a concentration in psychology and law. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Ryerson University (Canada), and her research and teaching interests include judgment and decision-making in the legal context, eyewitness identification procedures and psychology and law.

Bryan Brockbank, Assistant Professor of Accounting
Brockbank comes to W&L after six years as an assistant professor of accounting and one year as a visiting assistant professor of accounting at Oklahoma State University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting and a Master of Accountancy from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Oklahoma. His research and teaching are focused on financial disclosures, including how investors use non-GAAP disclosures to predict future earnings, recent FASB standards related to cloud computing and supplier financing and issues related to accounting education.

Jenny Carlos, Research Services Resident Librarian and Assistant Professor
Carlos comes to W&L from the College of William & Mary, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in higher education and higher education administration. While there, she served as an instructor with the College of Education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in art history from both Wells College and Humboldt State University, a Master of Arts in higher education/higher education administration from Appalachian State University and a Master of Arts in library and information science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her research and teaching interests include women in higher education, Latinx attrition and academic libraries.

Madhumita Chakraborty, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Geoscience
Chakraborty was promoted to assistant professor after spending two years as a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Earth and Environmental Geoscience at W&L. She holds a Bachelor of Science in geology, a Master of Science in applied geology from the University of Calcutta (India) and a Ph.D. in geology and geoscience from the Indian Institute of Technology. Her research and teaching interests include Earth's freshwater systems, challenges to drinking water security (contamination) and applications of modeling techniques to solve hydrological problems.

José Dominicci-Buzó, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Dominicci-Buzó comes to W&L after serving as a visiting assistant professor of Spanish at Wake Forest University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in European history from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaqüez, a Master of Arts in Spanish from Middlebury College and a Ph.D. in romance studies from Boston University. His research and teaching interests include medieval and early-modern literature and theater (Spanish and Italian) and cultural representation of the female body and marginalized communities in art and cinema.

Christopher Elford, Assistant Professor of Chinese
Elford arrives at W&L after serving as a visiting assistant professor of Asian studies at Hamilton College. He holds a Ph.D. in Chinese from the University of California, Berkeley, and his research and teaching interests include classical Chinese literature, poetry and material culture.

Tammi Etheridge, Associate Professor of Law
Etheridge was promoted to associate professor after serving as a visiting assistant professor during the 2023-24 academic year. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Arts in public policy from the University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School. She teaches in the areas of torts, administrative law, law and economics and public health law.

Shannon Fyfe, Assistant Professor of Law
Fyfe joined W&L from George Mason University where she was an assistant professor of philosophy, director of graduate studies in philosophy, an adjunct professor of law and a fellow in the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy. She received a Bachelor of Arts in music and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University and a Juris Doctor from the Vanderbilt University Law School. In addition to her position as an assistant professor in the law school, Fyfe will have a courtesy appointment in W&L's Philosophy Department. Her research interests are in legal philosophy, ethics and political philosophy, with a focus on philosophy and international conflict, particularly international criminal law.

Sarah Gottlieb, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law
Gottlieb will serve as the director of the Criminal Justice Clinic at W&L. She arrives on campus from the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she is a clinical teaching fellow with the Innocence Project Clinic. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and art history from Boston University and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. Her research is in the areas of criminal law and criminal procedure, with a focus on evaluating the efficacy of criminal legal reforms.

Alana Holland, Assistant Professor of History
Holland arrived at W&L after serving as a scholar-in-residence and postdoctoral fellow in advanced Holocaust studies at American University. She also spent one year as a contract researcher at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and was an instructor at Georgetown University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Arkansas State University, a Master of Arts in Russian, East European and Eurasian studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Kansas. Her research and teaching interests include modern Eastern Europe and Russia, the Holocaust, the Soviet Union and culture, law and historical memory.

Sarah Holland, Assistant Professor of Finance
Holland arrives at W&L from the University of Oklahoma where she was an assistant professor of finance. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Trinity University, as well as a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research and teaching interests include corporate finance, health and human capital and international finance.

Charlotte Hoopes, Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Hoopes comes to W&L from the University of Virginia, where she was a member of the faculty in the McIntire School of Commerce. She holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting and Spanish and an MBA in general management from Brigham Young University, as well as a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research and teaching interests include person-environment fit; communication, leadership and teams; and employment gaps.

Brittney Kemp, Assistant Professor of Physical Education/Head Women's Basketball Coach
Kemp comes to W&L from St. Mary's College of Maryland where she was the head women's basketball coach for three seasons. She was named the United East Conference Coach of the Year in 2023, and she has been recognized as a Women's Basketball Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 honoree. She holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Union College and a master's degree in American Studies from Trinity College.

Alexandra Klein '16L, Assistant Professor of Law
Klein returns to W&L from St. Mary's University School of Law. She had previously been a visiting assistant professor of law at W&L from 2019-2022 and received a Juris Doctor from W&L in 2016. In addition to her law degree, she holds a BFA in theater from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research and teaching interests include criminal law, criminal procedure and the death penalty.

Jessica LaPrice, Associate Professor of Biology
LaPrice joins W&L after 12 years as an associate professor of biology at Austin College. She also spent nearly two years as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. LaPrice holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Central College (Iowa) and a Ph.D. in zoology/animal biology from Colorado State University. Her research and teaching interests include mammalian physiology, ecophysiology of hibernating mammals and hormonal controls of energy balance.

Nikki Lee, Assistant Professor of Cognitive & Behavioral Science
Lee holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology and English from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience and behavior from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her prior experiences include postdoctoral fellowships at Colgate University and the University of California, Berkeley. Her research and teaching interests are neuroendocrinology, hormones and behavior and social behavior.

Suzette Malveaux, Roger E. Groot Professor of Law
Malveaux comes to W&L from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she was the Moses Lasky Professor of Law and Director of the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law. She has taught civil procedure, complex litigation, employment discrimination, civil rights and constitutional law, and her scholarship explores the intersection of civil rights and civil procedure, as well as access to justice issues.

Ryan McCoy, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
McCoy recently completed his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Kentucky. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Belmont University and a Master of Arts in philosophy from Georgia State University. His research and teaching interests include climate justice, community-engaged research, environmental philosophy and the philosophy of science.

Catarina Passidomo '04, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Passidomo returns to W&L after nearly 14 years as an assistant and associate professor of Southern studies and anthropology at the University of Mississippi. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and anthropology from W&L, a Master of Arts in anthropology from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in geography from Georgia. Her research and teaching interests include sustainable food systems, human-environment interactions, agriculture and climate adaptations and food- and place-branding.

Candice Robinson, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Robinson comes to W&L after serving as an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She also served as a social science doctoral dissertation and teaching fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, where she earned a Ph.D. in sociology. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Hampton University and a Master of Arts in sociology from the University of Iowa. Her research and teaching interests include experiences of Black Americans in the areas of civic engagement, social movements, theory and broad sociology, along with the National Urban League.

Lavanya Sabin, Director of Bar Success and Professor of Practice
Sabin has extensive experience in helping students prepare for bar exams, having been a private instructor and tutor for the exam, as well as leading bar exam preparation at Helix Bar Preparation and Kaplan PMBR. She was also a visiting professor and director of bar preparation for the Charleston School of Law. Sabin holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and history from Georgetown University and a J.D. from the American University, Washington College of Law. She is an expert in all aspects of the bar exam, both in strategies, writing and substantive law.

Lumumba Shabazz, Associate Professor of Physical Education/Head Men's Soccer Coach
Shabazz comes to W&L from Kalamazoo College where he was the head men's soccer coach for 12 seasons. He took over a program ranked last in the conference and competed in the conference championship game within three years, finishing his tenure with over 100 wins. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from Florida International University and an MBA from the Real Madrid International Graduate School.

Heather Skeeles-Shiner '04L, Legal Writing Professor
Skeeles-Shiner was promoted to a full-time legal writing professor after serving as a visiting professor of practice during the 2023-24 academic year. Previously, she was a staff attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at W&L, in addition to serving as assistant city attorney for the city of Alexandria, assistant attorney general in the civil litigation division for the District of Columbia and senior counsel in the general litigation division of the New York City Law Department. She holds a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Ohio University and a Juris Doctor from W&L.

Catherine Smith, Vincent L. Bradford Professor of Law
Smith arrives at W&L from the University of Denver where she was a professor of law at the Sturm College of Law. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and government from Wofford College and a Master of Public Administration and Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina. She teaches torts and children and the Constitution. Her teaching, scholarship and service seeks to understand and contribute to a robust children's equality law.

Alex Sutton, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Sutton has previously served as the DeLaney postdoctoral fellow with the Shepherd Program at W&L. He holds a Bachelor of Music in music composition from Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Virginia. His research and teaching interests include cultural sociology, social theory, sociology of aesthetics, music and the arts and sociology of disability.

Sheahan Virgin, Assistant Professor of Politics
Virgin comes to W&L from the University of the South where he served as a visiting assistant professor of politics. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Grinnell College, a Master of Arts in social science from the University of Chicago, a Master of Arts in political science from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. in political science from Vanderbilt. His research and teaching interests include electoral rules and reform, campaigns, political behavior comparative institutions and democratic backsliding.

Renae Watson, Head of Research Services and Associate Professor
Watson comes to W&L from Colorado State University, where she was a liaison librarian and online learning and student success librarian. She was also a disability and accessibility services associate at Berea College and was a composition instructor at Eastern Kentucky University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Eastern Kentucky, a Master of Arts in English composition/rhetorical studies from Eastern Kentucky, a Master of Science in library science and library and information services from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Science in education in learning design and technology from Purdue University. Her research and teaching interests include information literacy, instructional design and accessibility.

Benedikt Wick, Assistant Professor of Finance
Before coming to W&L, Wick held senior positions in the capital markets departments of major European financial institutions, with assignments in Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Singapore. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in business administration from Deggendorf Institute of Technology (Germany) and a Master of Arts in international business from Munich Business School, in addition to a Master of Science and Ph.D. in finance from Florida International University. His teaching and research interests include behavioral finance and investments and bank management.

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