Eight Holy Cross Faculty Members Receive Tenure

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

Josep Alba-Salas, of the modern languages and literatures department, earned his B.A. in translation at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, his M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of South Carolina, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from Cornell University.  Specializing in Romance linguistics, theoretical syntax, and second language acquisition, he has been a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2002. He has been published in journals including Diachronica, the SKY Journal of Linguistics, the Revista de Lexicografía, and the Italian Journal of Linguistics. Pedagogical coordinator of the Foreign Language Assistant program since 2003, he has served on the Faculty Compensation Committee and the Committee on the Curriculum. Currently, he sits on the Study Abroad Advisory Committee and the Latin American and Latino Studies Concentration Committee. Robert W. Baumann, of the economics department, specializes in labor economics, industrial organization, and econometrics. He earned his B.A. from Bluffton University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. A two-time recipient of the Charles & Rosanna Batchelor (Ford) Foundation Grant, he is a member of the American Economic Association and the Western Economic Association. The author of many articles, his work has been featured in Urban Studies, Southern Economic Journal, and Education Economics.

Sahar Bazzaz, of the history department, earned her B.A. from the University of Illinois, her M.A. from the University of Chicago, and her Ph.D. from Harvard University. She is the recipient of the Batchelor-Ford Research Grant, the Fulbright IIE, and the Holy Cross Research and Publication Award. She is a co-founder of and instructor of the Harvard-Olympia Summer Program for Comparative Cultural Studies in Olympia, Greece and is an advisor for the Middle Eastern Studies Concentration at Holy Cross.

Mary A. Conley, of the history department, earned her B.A. from Trinity College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Boston College. Specializing in the history of 19th- and 20th-century British colonialism, Conley has taught at Holy Cross since 2002. Her teaching and research interests include the histories of British imperialism, gender and colonialism, the Irish Famine, and comparative colonial frameworks for comparing Irish and Indian history. She is the author of From Jack Tar to Union Jack: Naval Manhood in the British Empire (Manchester University Press, 2009), which examines the intersection between empire, navy, and manhood in British society from 1870 to 1918. She also serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of the North East Conference on British Studies.

Ericka J. Fisher, of the education department, specializes in multicultural education, educational psychology, academic achievement, and social justice in education. A member of the American Educational Research Association, she received her B.A. from Holy Cross and her M.Ed. and Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts. She is the author of numerous articles, on topics including student engagement and achievement, child abuse, and the importance of interpersonal relationships on student success, and is a certified Massachusetts guidance counselor. Daniel Frost, of the modern languages and literatures department, earned his B.A. from Hamilton College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, before coming to Holy Cross in 2002. He is the author of Cultivating Madrid: Public Space and Middle-Class Culture in the Spanish Capital, 1833-1890 (Bucknell University Press, 2008), and has also been published in MLN and the Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies. A recipient of publication grants from the Michael C. and Maureen Ruettgers Research Fund and Hewlett Mellon, he is a member of the Latin American and Latino Studies faculty and has served on several college-wide committees, including the Academic Affairs Council and the Educational Technology Advisory Group. Frost is a founding editor of fósforo, Holy Cross’ campus-wide bilingual journal of literature, art, and ideas.

Baozhang He, of the modern languages and literatures department, has been a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2003. He received his B.A. from Beijing Language and Culture University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.  He has co-authored two books, Elementary Chinese (Beijing: People’s University Press, 2007) and Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook (T & F Books UK, 2009), and has been published in the Journal of Chinese Language Teacher’s Association. He is a member of the Chinese Language Teacher Association of America, the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, and the International Association of Chinese Linguistics.

Alison Bryant Ludden, of the psychology department, has taught at Holy Cross since 2004. She received her B.A. from Colgate University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.  A former Peace Corps volunteer, she taught previously at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her dissertation on substance use and academic experiences during adolescence received the 2002 Outstanding Dissertation award from the American Psychological Association (Division 15). Her research, which centers on social relationships and problem behaviors during adolescence and school as a development context, has been funded by grants from the Spencer Foundation and has appeared in journals including the Journal of Research on Adolescence, Development & Psychopathology, and the Journal of Educational Psychology. Ludden is co-author of The Decline of Substance Use in Young Adulthood: Changes in Social Activities, Roles, and Beliefs (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002).