Four Faculty Members Promoted at Holy Cross

David B. Damiano, of the mathematics and computer science department, received his A. B. from Dartmouth College and his Ph.D. from Brown University. A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1984, he received the 2011 Distinguished Teaching Award, which recognizes and honors the teaching excellence of the College’s faculty; and an Arthur J. O’Leary Faculty Recognition Award in 2005.  In the spring of 2010, he was a co-recipient of a grant to conduct workshops with middle and high school teachers in the Worcester Public Schools and the Dioceses of Worcester Schools. His research interests include differential topology and geometry and applied mathematics and he has authored undergraduate mathematics texts on linear algebra and multivariable calculus. He has also advised numerous student research projects and theses in pure and applied mathematics. He has served on numerous college committees including the Committee on the Curriculum, the Committee on Tenure and Promotion, and Committee on Faculty Affairs. He recently served a two-year term as Speaker of the Faculty.  In addition, he served terms as chair of the mathematics and computer science department, director of the College Honors Program, and director of the First Year Program.  He has also been a faculty mentor in the College’s Mentor Program. Damiano resides in Westborough, Mass.

Matthew B. Koss, of the physics department, earned a Ph.D. from Tufts University in experimental condensed matter physics. A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2000, he was the Lead Scientist on the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE), 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 op-eds in the New York Times and The Boston Globe, and has prepared or presented more than 100 technical talks, including testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Science. Koss’ research interests include dendritic solidification, the physics of baseball, and the interaction between science and religion. He lives in Shrewsbury with his wife Betsy and their daughter Frederica.

Joanne M. Pierce, of the religious studies department, received her Ph.D. in theology (liturgical studies) from the University of Notre Dame, and specializes in medieval liturgy. A member of Holy Cross faculty since 1992, Pierce teaches historical and sacramental/liturgical theology and is the president of the Catholic Academy of Liturgy. She is co-editor of "Source and Summit: Commemorating Josef A. Jungmann, S.J." (Liturgical Press, 1999); “Commentary on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal” (Liturgical Press, 2007), which received two 2008 Catholic Press Association Book Awards; and “A Commentary on the Order of Mass of the Roman Missal” (Liturgical Press, 2011). She served as a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the United States from 1992-2007, was a member of the editorial board for the publication of the Proceedings of the North American Academy of Liturgy from 1998-2008, and has served as the Divine Cluster director for Montserrat, the College’s universal program for first-year students. She received the Arthur J. O’Leary Faculty Recognition Award at the College in 2003. Pierce lives in Shrewsbury, Mass.

Rev. William E. Stempsey, S.J., of the philosophy department, received his M.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine. He was a resident in pathology at University Hospital in Boston before joining the Jesuits in 1982. After ordination to the priesthood, he studied the philosophy and ethics of medicine at Georgetown University, from which he received his Ph.D. in 1996. A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1996, he has expertise in the concepts of health and disease, clinical reasoning, religion in bioethics, and ethical issues in death and dying, organ transplantation, and medical education. He is the author of “Disease and Diagnosis: Value-Dependent Realism” (Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999) and is the editor of “Elisha Bartlett’s Philosophy of Medicine” (Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer, 2005). Fr. Stempsey serves on several ethics committees in Worcester, and also regularly celebrates liturgies on campus and in a local parish. He is a resident of Worcester, Mass.