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For faculty members to be granted tenure is a remarkable achievement and testament to their academic and teaching achievements, as well as their service to the College. The ability to share the news regarding our new associate professors is one of my greatest joys as president, and I offer my sincere congratulations to all.
—President C. Andrew McGadney
Knox College is proud to announce its newest tenured faculty members. At the May meeting of the Knox College Board of Trustees, four faculty members received tenure and were promoted to associate professor.
Thomas Bell
Associate Professor of Political Science & International Relations
Pre-Law Advisor
Co-Director of the Etz Family Institute for Civic Leadership & Dialogue
Education: B.A., Trinity University; M.A. & Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
What does a Knox College education mean to you?
I think that a Knox education is about equipping our students to succeed not just in their future careers, but as flourishing people. Our liberal arts emphasis means that if you go on to become a lawyer, for example, maybe you took a poetry class while at Knox and can cultivate that in your life outside of your job. I want our students to leave Knox with a wide range of intellectual interests and talents that can sustain them beyond what they do for work. In my particular role as a constitutional theorist, I hope that my students are well equipped for engaged citizenship.
Roya Biggie
Associate Professor of English
Education: B.A., St. Mary’s College of Maryland; M.A., Georgetown University; Ph.D. CUNY Graduate Center
What is your approach to making sure students get the most out of their time in your classroom?
In my classes, students play an active role in shaping both what they learn and how they learn it. I offer students opportunities to design assignments that allow them to examine the questions and ideas that have preoccupied them throughout the term. Some of my favorite meetings with students involve asking them: What did you find most intriguing this term? What do you want to know more about? How do you want to go about exploring these topics and questions? In Introduction to Shakespeare, for example, students’ final projects are always wide-ranging, and might include everything from a sonnet sequence to a podcast to a research essay. I find that allowing students to take ownership of their academic work encourages them to take intellectual risks and to recognize their own expertise.
Deirdre Dougherty
Associate Professor of Educational Studies
Peace Corps Prep Program Advisor
Education: B.A., Smith College; M.A., Georgetown University; Ph.D., Rutgers University
What is your approach to making sure students get the most out of their time in your classroom?
I like to make sure that students know that I see them as people with complex and interesting experiences. I also want them to try to forge connections between the materials that we cover in class and the world around them.
Leanne Trapedo Sims
Daniel J. Logan Associate Professor of Peace and Justice
Chair of Peace and Justice
Education: B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison; M.A.s, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, NY University Tisch School of the Arts, and Fordham University; Ph.D., University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
What does a Knox College education mean to you? My teaching and mentorship trajectory at Knox College has been life-altering. I have learned much about myself as an educator. One of the strengths I transported to Knox College is an indebtedness and commitment to critical and decolonial pedagogy—not just as rhetoric but as praxis. I carry these liberatory theories and praxes with me to all my classes. At Knox College, I am fortunate to have the freedom(s) to foster my own teaching style and pedagogy, working with intimate classes of students who are passionate about changing the world.