CONWAY, Ark. (August 23, 2021) — Hendrix College welcomes three
new assistant professors and two visiting fellows to the teaching faculty for
the 2021-2022 academic year:
- Rebekah
Aduddell, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
- Julia
Kolchinsky Dasbach, Hendrix-Murphy Visiting Fellow in English (Poetry)
- Frederick
Ernst, Assistant Professor of Psychology
- William
Murray, Assistant Professor of English
- Ruth
Yuste-Alonso, Hendrix-Murphy Visiting Fellow in Spanish
“We are delighted to welcome these colleagues to our
community for the new academic year,” said Hendrix College Provost Terri
Bonebright. “They will enrich already robust departments that are challenging
and inspiring Hendrix students to prepare them for success.”
Aduddell, a 2016 graduate of Texas Lutheran University, earned
a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Arlington in May of this year. She
prioritizes empathy in the classroom while emphasizing motivation for topics
discussed. In addition to her research in homological and commutative algebra,
Aduddell has worked on and supports further development of programs that
prioritize encouraging minority groups to seek out a degree in mathematics, as
well as programs helping younger generations discover the implications
mathematics has on technological and scientific advancement. She will teach Introductory
Statistics, Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Seminar in Algebra.
Dasbach comes to Hendrix as a Murphy Visiting Fellow in
English (Poetry) and will teach the Introductory and Advanced
Poetry Workshops this fall. She is the author of three poetry
collections: The Many Names for Mother (2019), Don't Touch the
Bones (2020), and 40 WEEKS, forthcoming from YesYes Books in
2023. She holds a B.A. from the University of Maryland, an M.F.A. from
University of Oregon, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University
of Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, she defended her hybrid
critical-creative dissertation on contemporary American poetry about the
Holocaust.
Ernst, an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin and Wichita
State University, received a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1976. His specific
areas of study have included models of psychopathology, self-regulation,
stress, and cardiovascular psychophysiology. He will teach Introductory
Psychology and Abnormal Psychology in the fall semester and Personality
Theories, Psychological Assessment, and Psychotherapy in the spring semester.
Murray, a graduate of the University of Mississippi and the
College of Charleston who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Alabama in
2019, teaches courses that focus on the relationship between narrative and
lived experience. His classes and research often examine conceptions of race in
20th- and 21st-century American and Southern literature, film/TV, and graphic
novels. Examples of Murray’s work can be found in American Studies, Mississippi
Quarterly, The CEA Critic, Eudora Welty Review, and The
South Carolina Review. In 2016, he received a fellowship from the National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to study the works of Ernest Gaines, and is
currently working on a book project that explores how post-1960 narratives
(from and about the U.S. South) protect mythologies of white innocence. At
Hendrix, he will teach Introduction to Academic Writing, American Lit & the
Good Life, and Southern Lit: Race & Region.
Yuste-Alonso hails from Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, a
Spanish archipelago off the Northwest African coast, a liminal location at the
crossroad of a flux of peoples from around the world that instilled in her the
curiosity for learning other languages and cultures. She holds a B.A. in
Translation and Interpreting and an M.A. in Teaching Spanish Language and
Culture from Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and an M.A. and Ph.D.
in Spanish Studies from the University of Connecticut. Passionate about new
media and cinema, she combines her love for language, literature and visual
culture to explore from a feminist perspective how media artifacts shape the
ways in which we see and understand the world, with a particular emphasis on
genre-bending practices. At Hendrix, she will teach Fundamentals of Spanish I
and II and Contemporary Spain through Film. Deeply committed to education and
the humanities, Yuste-Alonso strives to build alongside students a thriving
learning community, helping them hone their language skills and critical eye to
better navigate a globally interconnected society.
Earlier this summer, the College announced four new members of the
Board of Trustees.
In addition to the faculty named above, the Hendrix College
Office of Academic Affairs announced a number of faculty and staff changes for
the coming academic year.
Faculty with Changed Status in 2021-2022
Gina Bergfeld: awarded tenure and promoted to Associate
Professor of Economics and Business
Josh Glick: awarded the Isabelle Peregrin Odyssey
Professorship
Hillary Looney: awarded tenure and promoted to Associate
Professor of Economics and Business
Maureen McClung and Matthew D. Moran: awarded the Judy and
Randy Wilbourn Odyssey Professorship
Jennifer Peszka: awarded the Virginia A. McCormick Pittman
Distinguished Professorship
Gretchen Renshaw James: awarded tenure and promoted to
Associate Professor of Music
Carol West: awarded the Harold and Lucy Cabe Distinguished
Professorship
Ann Wright: awarded the Charles Prentiss Hough Odyssey
Professorship
Brent Yorgey: awarded tenure and promoted to Associate
Professor of Computer Science
New Academic Affairs Staff 2021-2022
Romain Auger: appointed French Language House Coordinator
Adrianna Davis: appointed Night Study Hall Library Supervisor
Ernest Hendley: appointed Assistant Director of Academic
Success
Brittany Hill: appointed Mail and Event Services Manager
Veronica Leonard: appointed Institutional Research Reporting
Coordinator
Lynette Long: appointed Associate Director of Spirit Store
and Mail Services
Rebekah Nelson: appointed Assistant Director of International
Programs
About Hendrix College
A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College
consistently earns recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal arts
institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools
That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.