New and Old Faces
by: Eduardo Soto ‘11Professors entering faculty this year a mix of international scholars, H-SC alumni
As many of us know, Hampden-Sydney has made a few additions to its faculty. This year the college hired seven new faculty members for tenure-track ap-pointments, and six for part-time or single semester employment. In the follow-ing article, we’ll learn more about five of the seven tenure-track professors from the departments of History, Fine Arts, Economics, Biology, and Mathematics.
James W. Frusetta earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and then started working here in the History Department. Before Hampden-Sydney, he taught at the American University of Bulgaria, and later, at the College of Wil-liam and Mary. Dr. Frusetta was looking for a small liberal arts college where he would be able to do further research.
Like most of the new faculty, Frusetta has only been working here for a few months, but so far, he says he really “likes everyone knowing everyone else.” He says it is nice to know students who know other students and professors and it leaves an interesting impression of the College. Being new to H-SC, Frusetta is still trying to get used to the classes. However, he is glad that “students are willing to help and give feed-back.” He is also glad to see that many of our students are politically active, which makes for a good Eastern European history class. Frusetta’s projected goals for this year—which includes organizing his office—consists of fine tuning classes so that they “click.” “One of the best things about being a professor here,” he says, “is keeping in touch with students [and] a great faculty” that is friendly and helpful. Dr. Frusetta is very excited about being here at Sydney because the “liberal arts lets you develop and expand.”
For our next interviewee, Hampden-Sydney is his first independent teaching job. Richard D. Salvage comes to the Fine Arts Department from the City Uni-versity of New York, after tutoring there for three years. Dr. Salvage is a pianist, composer, and theorist, with a liberal arts background at a single-sex institu-tion. So far he “absolutely loves” Hampden-Sydney and is impressed by our ex-perienced teachers and how much attention they give to the students. Salvage is no stranger to a small rural community, but after living in New York City for over five years, the biggest thing to overcome is driving to get anywhere. Never-theless, he is extremely happy that he has more freedom to work with the cur-riculum here. It is much easier to propose courses or books at H-SC than in the hierarchical departments of CUNY.
Another plus is the Honor Code, which we pride ourselves on, and rightfully so. Dr. Salvage was impressed that stu-dents leave their book bags outside of Settle Hall, trusting that no one will steal anything. Hampden-Sydney also has traditions which make it “unique and builds affection” and creates a “pleasurable, friendly community.” Salvage has two types of goals: lofty and specific. Specifically he wants to build basic knowledge and skill in music theory and fundamentals. On the larger scale, he wants to eventually have a song-writing seminar with constant student partici-pation. Overall, he wants to develop a “music program at a higher level.”
Another of our new faculty hails from Xi’an, China. Jinzhuo Zhao went to school in Beijing, but in 1998, she started undergrad at Wells College in up-state New York. She wanted to study applied mathematics, so she got degrees in economics and computer science. At the time, Wells College was a small, single sex, liberal arts college that is not so different from Hampden-Sydney. For graduate work, Zhao went to the University of California in Santa Cruz. While there, she missed the small class and community feel of a liberal arts college.
So when she was hired at H-SC, it was a “dream come true” to be back at a similar college. Zhao is very impressed with the curiosity of students “who connect current events” with class topics. For short-term goals, she wants her students to give a presentation on the economies of different counties; for long-term, Zhao hopes to have a class that focuses on Asian economics and how economies have grown there and why, along with a possible May Term to China for academic credit.
This year, the Biology Department has added three new faculty members. One of these professors is Rachel M. Goodman, who recently earned her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Goodman loves the change to a rural community that is “safe, clean, and nice.” Since her first week of class, she has appreciated how close-knit the Hampden-Sydney community is. One of Good-man’s graduate colleagues, our very own Michael Collins, got her interested in H-SC. Initially, Goodman did not know what to expect, but through the many new faculty workshops, she has developed a sense for H-SC’s unique student body.
The “friendliness of the student body and small atmosphere” makes it easy to get to know students and creates “a general level of respect.” Our Honor Code has allowed for “more focus on teaching rather than policing,” she adds. Being able to trust the students also helps to build relationships and greater trust. In the classroom, Goodman wants students to volunteer for an environmental science project and write a blog about their experiences, fol-lowed by a presentation on a local environmental agency. Concerning the school as a whole, she feels the college needs to expand on its understanding of diversity.
Goodman says, “College is for opening minds and growing beyond individual influences,” thus exposing students to many kinds of political views, religious affiliations, sexual orientation, and ethnicities.
The final new professor is himself a Hampden-Sydney Gentleman. Nolan Wages ‘04 comes from Dothan, Alabama and attended UVA for graduate work. Wages has a unique perspective that fewer and fewer of our new faculty have. Coming from the “inside,” he has been able to build a relationship with his students because he too was once in their exact shoes.
As a new faculty member, the mathematics department has been very welcoming and accommodating to-wards Wages. Interestingly, his focus is quite different from his time here as a student. Our Honor Code is “nice and unique” and applies across the board; “few places take an honor code seriously,” he adds. Fortunately for Wages, the mathematics department of UVA was small, so the transition from H-SC to UVA and back to H-SC was not too stressful. Furthermore, Wages wants to strengthen the statistics field of mathematics so that a statistician, rather than a mathematician, can teach statistics. Doing so will give a different perspective and enrich the quality of statistics courses.
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