Admissions
College welcomes seven new full-time faculty
Lake Forest, Ill. – Lake Forest College is pleased to welcome seven new full-time faculty, who will join the College for the fall semester, including a new director for the Environmental Studies Program and a Mellon grant recipient in religion.
Glenn Adelson, Director and Chair of our Program in Environmental Studies
Adelson comes to Lake Forest with a B.A. in English and a J.D. from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard, where he twice won the Joseph Levinson Teaching Award. His publications include two books, Biodiversity: Exploring Values and Priorities in Conservation (Blackwell, 1997, with Dan Perlman, Chair of the ES Program at Brandeis), and most recently, Environment: An Interdisciplinary Anthology (Yale University Press, 2008, co-edited with James Engell, Brent Ranalli, and K.P. Van Anglen). One of Dr. Adelson’s colleagues has described him as “the best teacher I have ever known.” Dr. Adelson will teach ENVR 282: “Lake Forests,” ENVR 388: “Who Speaks for Nature?” and the Introduction and Senior Seminar for ENVR.
Miguel deBaca, Assistant Professor of Art History
DeBaca received his B.A. from Stanford University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University. His research interests are American art history, modern and contemporary art, twentieth century American intellectual history, and women’s and gender studies. He has experience teaching both artists and art historians. Students in his core course at Harvard wrote that he “was one of the best [teaching assistants] I have had”, that he “truly stimulated my interest in the topic”, and that he is simply “awesome.” DeBaca has received fellowships from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and Harvard University, where he received the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning Award. He will teach ART 218: “Twentieth Century Art,” ART 217: “Nineteenth Century Art,” and ART 219: “American Art,” plus introductory courses and a new course, Art 355: “Art in the Sixties.”
Susan Long, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Long received her B.A. from our sister ACM college, Macalester, and her M.A. in Psychology from the University of Illinois, Chicago, where she is continuing her studies and will soon defend her dissertation, “Abused homeless women’s journeys from shelters to home: An examination of the coping process”. Her teaching interests include Community Psychology, Intervention Theory, Multicultural Psychology, Psychological Disorders, Psychology of Gender, and Violence Against Women, and UIC students have praised her teaching methods as “amazing”. Long’s research generally focuses on violence against women and the lives of women in poverty; her dissertation studies mothers who became homeless in part because of leaving an abusive partner. Long will teach the Research Methods and Statistics sequence, as well as introductory labs, and PSYC 355: “Community Psychology”.
Robert Morrissey, Assistant Professor of History
Morrissey received his B.A. from Carleton College, and his Ph.D. from Yale University, with his dissertation, “Bottomlands, Borderlands: Empires and Identities in the 18th Century Illinois Country.” Dr. Morrissey was selected to serve as a Graduate Fellow through the Graduate Teaching Center at Yale, where he designed and led teacher-training programs. Since completion of his Ph.D. in the fall of 2006, he has taught at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He writes, “I remain convinced that there is no better environment in which to guide students to the joys of thinking analytically, reading critically, and writing clearly than the liberal arts college. …Lake Forest College is committed to what I consider the ideal educational mission.” Dr. Morrissey studies the history of early America and the Atlantic World, from the earliest American colonial encounters through the 18th and 19th centuries. His particular focus is on frontier history and the Anglo-, French- and Spanish-colonized territories of North America and the Atlantic World. He has received many fellowships and awards, including a Mrs. Giles M. Whiting Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship. Morrissey will be teaching HIST 249:”Colonial America in the Atlantic World,” HIST 352, “The American West,” HIST 260: “American Environmental History,” HIST 350: “The American Revolution,” and sections of our introductory American history course.
Tracy Taylor, Assistant Professor of Art (Studio)
After a one-year appointment in our art department for the 2008-09 academic year, Ms. Taylor has now been appointed to a full-time continuing position in the Department of Art. Taylor earned a B.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from The University of New Mexico and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Praising her teaching this year, students wrote that she “is a very motivated, involved, and compassionate professor,” who “[a]lways brings a positive attitude to the classroom”. At The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago, her courses included: “Digital Tools for Painters,” “Portrait Drawing,” “Two Dimensional Design,” “Figure Drawing,” “Design Tools for Artists,” “Two Dimensional Imaging,” “Digital Image Development,” and “Experimental Imaging.” She also served as the External Relations Coordinator for the Interactive Arts and Media Department at Columbia. In addition to teaching, Ms. Taylor maintains a rigorous studio practice. She has participated in several one and two person exhibitions in the Chicago area, and many group exhibitions. She has also curated an exhibition entitled “Bilingual, Art at the Intersection of Painting and Video,” running at the Glass Curtain Gallery.
Nicholas Wallin, Assistant Professor of Music
Wallin received a B.A. in Mathematics, and a B.M. and a M.M. in Tuba Performance from Northwestern University. He received a M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and a D.M.A. in Conducting from the University of Minnesota. At Washington State University, where he is currently teaching and conducting the Symphony Orchestra, he has taught a variety of courses. Wallin has conducted not only professional orchestras and orchestras of music majors but also community orchestras and orchestras of non-music majors. He has been the guest conductor for many orchestras, including the Spokane Symphony and the Hartford (CT) Opera Theater. Dr. Wallin has published in print and on a commercially distributed Compact Disc, and is a member of numerous music organizations. Most recently, he was elected the Secretary of the Western Division of the College Orchestra Director’s Association. Dr. Wallin has received several awards, including the Eckstein Award for Excellence in Music and Academics from Northwestern University. In 2009-10, he will conduct the College Chamber Orchestra and teach Music Theory I and MUSC 280: “Wagner, Tolkien, and Star Wars.”
Elizabeth (Betsy) Barre, two-year ACM-Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in Religion
Barre received a B.A. in Philosophy from Bowling Green State University, and an M.A. in Religion from Florida State University, where she will defend this summer her doctoral dissertation: “Reconciled to Liberty: Catholics, Muslims, and the Possibility of Overlapping Consensus”. Barre was awarded a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for this project, in which she compares recent Muslim debates about liberalism, democracy, and the separation of religion and politics to similar debates that arose within the Catholic tradition around the time of the Second Vatican Council. As an advanced Ph.D. student, she designed, implemented and taught an introductory course in religious ethics with an intentionally comparative focus, making an effort to incorporate Jewish, Buddhist, and Muslim perspectives. She was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from Florida State University, where she has worked with pioneers in the field of comparative religious ethics as both a student and the primary editorial assistant for the Journal of Religious Ethics. At Lake Forest, Barre will teach RELG 118, “Religious Ethics,” and 231, “Islam”.
Lake Forest College is a national liberal arts institution located 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. The College has 1,400 students representing 45 states and 69 countries.
# # #
Will Pittinos '06
847-735-6177
pittinos@lakeforest.edu
Glenn Adelson, Director and Chair of our Program in Environmental Studies
Adelson comes to Lake Forest with a B.A. in English and a J.D. from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard, where he twice won the Joseph Levinson Teaching Award. His publications include two books, Biodiversity: Exploring Values and Priorities in Conservation (Blackwell, 1997, with Dan Perlman, Chair of the ES Program at Brandeis), and most recently, Environment: An Interdisciplinary Anthology (Yale University Press, 2008, co-edited with James Engell, Brent Ranalli, and K.P. Van Anglen). One of Dr. Adelson’s colleagues has described him as “the best teacher I have ever known.” Dr. Adelson will teach ENVR 282: “Lake Forests,” ENVR 388: “Who Speaks for Nature?” and the Introduction and Senior Seminar for ENVR.
Miguel deBaca, Assistant Professor of Art History
DeBaca received his B.A. from Stanford University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University. His research interests are American art history, modern and contemporary art, twentieth century American intellectual history, and women’s and gender studies. He has experience teaching both artists and art historians. Students in his core course at Harvard wrote that he “was one of the best [teaching assistants] I have had”, that he “truly stimulated my interest in the topic”, and that he is simply “awesome.” DeBaca has received fellowships from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and Harvard University, where he received the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning Award. He will teach ART 218: “Twentieth Century Art,” ART 217: “Nineteenth Century Art,” and ART 219: “American Art,” plus introductory courses and a new course, Art 355: “Art in the Sixties.”
Susan Long, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Long received her B.A. from our sister ACM college, Macalester, and her M.A. in Psychology from the University of Illinois, Chicago, where she is continuing her studies and will soon defend her dissertation, “Abused homeless women’s journeys from shelters to home: An examination of the coping process”. Her teaching interests include Community Psychology, Intervention Theory, Multicultural Psychology, Psychological Disorders, Psychology of Gender, and Violence Against Women, and UIC students have praised her teaching methods as “amazing”. Long’s research generally focuses on violence against women and the lives of women in poverty; her dissertation studies mothers who became homeless in part because of leaving an abusive partner. Long will teach the Research Methods and Statistics sequence, as well as introductory labs, and PSYC 355: “Community Psychology”.
Robert Morrissey, Assistant Professor of History
Morrissey received his B.A. from Carleton College, and his Ph.D. from Yale University, with his dissertation, “Bottomlands, Borderlands: Empires and Identities in the 18th Century Illinois Country.” Dr. Morrissey was selected to serve as a Graduate Fellow through the Graduate Teaching Center at Yale, where he designed and led teacher-training programs. Since completion of his Ph.D. in the fall of 2006, he has taught at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He writes, “I remain convinced that there is no better environment in which to guide students to the joys of thinking analytically, reading critically, and writing clearly than the liberal arts college. …Lake Forest College is committed to what I consider the ideal educational mission.” Dr. Morrissey studies the history of early America and the Atlantic World, from the earliest American colonial encounters through the 18th and 19th centuries. His particular focus is on frontier history and the Anglo-, French- and Spanish-colonized territories of North America and the Atlantic World. He has received many fellowships and awards, including a Mrs. Giles M. Whiting Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship. Morrissey will be teaching HIST 249:”Colonial America in the Atlantic World,” HIST 352, “The American West,” HIST 260: “American Environmental History,” HIST 350: “The American Revolution,” and sections of our introductory American history course.
Tracy Taylor, Assistant Professor of Art (Studio)
After a one-year appointment in our art department for the 2008-09 academic year, Ms. Taylor has now been appointed to a full-time continuing position in the Department of Art. Taylor earned a B.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from The University of New Mexico and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Praising her teaching this year, students wrote that she “is a very motivated, involved, and compassionate professor,” who “[a]lways brings a positive attitude to the classroom”. At The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago, her courses included: “Digital Tools for Painters,” “Portrait Drawing,” “Two Dimensional Design,” “Figure Drawing,” “Design Tools for Artists,” “Two Dimensional Imaging,” “Digital Image Development,” and “Experimental Imaging.” She also served as the External Relations Coordinator for the Interactive Arts and Media Department at Columbia. In addition to teaching, Ms. Taylor maintains a rigorous studio practice. She has participated in several one and two person exhibitions in the Chicago area, and many group exhibitions. She has also curated an exhibition entitled “Bilingual, Art at the Intersection of Painting and Video,” running at the Glass Curtain Gallery.
Nicholas Wallin, Assistant Professor of Music
Wallin received a B.A. in Mathematics, and a B.M. and a M.M. in Tuba Performance from Northwestern University. He received a M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and a D.M.A. in Conducting from the University of Minnesota. At Washington State University, where he is currently teaching and conducting the Symphony Orchestra, he has taught a variety of courses. Wallin has conducted not only professional orchestras and orchestras of music majors but also community orchestras and orchestras of non-music majors. He has been the guest conductor for many orchestras, including the Spokane Symphony and the Hartford (CT) Opera Theater. Dr. Wallin has published in print and on a commercially distributed Compact Disc, and is a member of numerous music organizations. Most recently, he was elected the Secretary of the Western Division of the College Orchestra Director’s Association. Dr. Wallin has received several awards, including the Eckstein Award for Excellence in Music and Academics from Northwestern University. In 2009-10, he will conduct the College Chamber Orchestra and teach Music Theory I and MUSC 280: “Wagner, Tolkien, and Star Wars.”
Elizabeth (Betsy) Barre, two-year ACM-Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in Religion
Barre received a B.A. in Philosophy from Bowling Green State University, and an M.A. in Religion from Florida State University, where she will defend this summer her doctoral dissertation: “Reconciled to Liberty: Catholics, Muslims, and the Possibility of Overlapping Consensus”. Barre was awarded a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for this project, in which she compares recent Muslim debates about liberalism, democracy, and the separation of religion and politics to similar debates that arose within the Catholic tradition around the time of the Second Vatican Council. As an advanced Ph.D. student, she designed, implemented and taught an introductory course in religious ethics with an intentionally comparative focus, making an effort to incorporate Jewish, Buddhist, and Muslim perspectives. She was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from Florida State University, where she has worked with pioneers in the field of comparative religious ethics as both a student and the primary editorial assistant for the Journal of Religious Ethics. At Lake Forest, Barre will teach RELG 118, “Religious Ethics,” and 231, “Islam”.
Lake Forest College is a national liberal arts institution located 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. The College has 1,400 students representing 45 states and 69 countries.
# # #
Will Pittinos '06
847-735-6177
pittinos@lakeforest.edu
