Faculty Tenure Decisions Announced at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – This spring, seven members of the Holy Cross faculty have been promoted to the rank of associate professor, with tenure.

Jeffrey D. Bloechl, of the philosophy department, earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (Belgium). A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1999, Bloechl is an Edward Bennett Williams Fellow. He is the founding editor and editor-in-chief of Levinas Studies: An Annual Review, published by Duquesne University Press. He is the author of Liturgy of the Neighbor: Emmanuel Levinas and the Religion of Responsibility (Duquesne University Press, 2000) and has edited and translated several other works in contemporary European thought. He lives in Dudley with his wife Catherine Cornille, a scholar of comparative theology who teaches at Boston College, and their three children Tessa, Nicholas and Julia.

Laurie A. Smith King, of the mathematics and computer science department, earned a Ph.D. in computer science from The College of William and Mary. A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1998, she has served on the College Curriculum Committee, the Committee on Faculty Affairs and the Curriculum Goals Committee. She has contributed to a number of publications on the topics of hardware/software co-design, programming languages, computer ethics and pedagogy research. She lives in Marlborough with her husband, Stef, and their children, Madison and Zephyr.

Matthew B. Koss, of the physics department, earned a Ph.D. from Tufts University in experimental condensed matter physics. He worked in the Materials Science and Engineering department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for 10 years. A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2000, he was the Lead Scientist on the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment, which flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1994, 1996 and 1997, and was the Principal Investigator of the Transient Dendritic Solidification Experiment (TDSE), a flight experiment considered for operation on the International Space Station. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 technical papers, including an op-ed in the New York Times, and has prepared or presented more than 100 technical talks, including testimony before the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives. Koss has also been involved in outreach and education. He has worked to involve teachers, their students and community members in learning about science, engineering and NASA, and is developing a workshop for teachers on these themes to be presented this summer at Holy Cross. He lives in Shrewsbury with his wife Betsy and their daughter Frederica.

Vickie Langohr, of the political science department, earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in political science. She has served as the director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Concentration committee at Holy Cross. She has published articles in Comparative Politics, Comparative Studies of Society and History, International Journal of Middle East Studies, the Journal of Democracy, and Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and is currently working on a series of articles on impediments to democratization in the Arab world. She has been awarded a summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a grant from the Council of American Overseas Research Centers for research in India and Egypt. She lives in Watertown with her husband Jai Puthenveettil.

Sarah Luria, of the English department, earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University in English. While at Holy Cross, she has served on numerous College committees, including the Planning Steering Committee, Curriculum Action Committee, English Honors Program Committee, and Graduate Studies Committee. She has been the chair of the English Department Curriculum Committee since 2004. She is the author of the forthcoming Capital Speculations: Writing and Building Washington, D.C. to be published by University Press of New England in November 2005. She lives in Newton with her husband Thomas Lewis Schwarz, professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and their two children, Martha Reading Schwarz and Theodore de Lima Schwarz.

Timothy M. Roach, of the physics department, earned a Ph.D. from Yale University in physics. He has served as Chair of the College Committee on the Curriculum and as co-coordinator of the Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium from 2000-’03. He has been published in the Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics and the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, among others. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, an attorney, and their two sons.

Mathew N. Schmalz, of the religious studies department, earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in history of religions. A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1998, he is an Edward Bennett Williams Fellow. He was the director of Asian Studies from 2001 to 2003. He has been published in History of Religions, Religious Studies Review, Journal of Theological Reflection, Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy, among others. He is on the board of directors for the Society for Hindu/Christian Studies and on the editorial board of the Journal of Christian Higher Education. Schmalz lives in Paxton with his wife Kristin Steinmetz and their two daughters, Anna Teresa Schmalz and Katherine Dolores Schmalz.