Reed Appoints 12 to Tenure Track

Kristen Anderson, assistant professor of psychology, received a B.A. in psychology from Drew University, an M.A. in education from American International College, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kentucky. Previously, Anderson was a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Institutes of Health’s Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; she is principal investigator on a project of the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study cognitions in youth substance use relapse contexts.

Mark Burford, assistant professor of music, comes to Reed from the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, where he was responsible for secondary and middle school education programs. Since 2000, Burford has taught Western classical music and American vernacular musics at Columbia University, City College of New York, and University of Richmond. He received a B.A. in music from UC–Santa Barbara, and M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in historical musicology from Columbia University.

Paul J. Currie, associate professor of psychology, joins Reed from Barnard College and Columbia University, where he taught behavioral neuroscience, and neuropharmacology and behavior. At Barnard, Currie was awarded the Gladys Brooks Junior Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award. Currie received his A.B. in psychology from Queen’s University in Ontario, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology, focusing on behavioral neuroscience, from the University of Manitoba.

Lucas Illing, assistant professor of physics, studies nonlinear dynamics. He joins Reed from Duke University, where he was an instructor and guest lecturer in the physics department. He received a Vordiplom in physics from Humboldt–Universität in Berlin; and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in physics from UC–San Diego.

Margot Minardi, assistant professor of history and humanities, received an A.B. in history and literature summa cum laude from Harvard College, and a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. She studies colonial and revolutionary America, 19th-century United States, and comparative slavery and emancipation.

Darrell Schroeter ’95, assistant professor of physics, comes to Reed from Occidental College, where he taught analytical dynamics, quantum mechanics, and introductory mechanics. Previously, Schroeter was a visiting assistant professor of physics at both Reed and Swarthmore College. He received a B.A. in physics from Reed and a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University.

Robert Slifkin, assistant professor of art history and humanities, received a B.A. in history from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, an M.A. in history of art from Williams College, and a Ph.D. in history of art from Yale University. He studies 19th- and 20th-century art, and American art.

Kjersten Bunker Whittington, assistant professor of sociology, earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Stanford University, where she also received an M.A. She received a B.S. in physics from North Carolina State University. Whittington’s current research, which is rooted in the study of gender and work, investigates whether and how the durable gender inequality in science careers is affected by the recent changing boundaries between universities and firms, and the increasing trend to commercialize basic research in academia.

Joel Franklin ’97, assistant professor of physics, received a B.A. in physics from Reed, an M.A. in physics from Brandeis University, and a Ph.D. in computational mathematics from Stanford University. Prior to coming to Reed, Franklin was a postdoctoral associate at MIT’s Center for Space Research.

Rebecca Gordon, assistant professor of English and humanities, received a B.A. in history and English from Stanford University, an M.A. in English from Indiana University, and a combined Ph.D. in English and American Studies, with a film studies minor, from Indiana University. Previously, Gordon was a visiting assistant professor in the cinema studies program at Oberlin College.

Jing Jiang, assistant professor of Chinese and humanities, received a B.A. in English language and literature from Nanjing University in China, an M.A. in English language and literature from Beijing University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Michigan. Jiang studies modern Chinese literature, translation theory, and postcolonial theory.

Dana Katz, assistant professor of art history and humanities, received a certificate of economics from La Faculté d’Economie Appliquée, Aix-en-Provence, France, a B.A. in economics and French from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, an M.A. in art history from the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Chicago. Katz studies Renaissance, Baroque, and Colonial Latin American art and architecture; Jews and the visual arts; and methodology of art history.