Board of Trustees Grants Tenure, Promotion, and Emeritus Status

At its February meeting, the Ithaca College Board of Trustees awarded emeritus status to three former professors and granted tenure and/or promotion to 15 faculty members.

EMERITUS

Mildred Brammer and Lucille Schmieder were named professors emerita of biology, and Jan Saltzgaber was named professor emeritus of history.

Brammer spent nearly four decades at the College, beginning as an instructor in the biology department in 1958. Among the many subjects she taught were general biology, invertebrate zoology, and comparative anatomy. She was listed in Outstanding Young Women of America and Who’s Who in American Women, and in 1982 she was given a Dana award for teaching excellence from the College. Her memberships include the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Zoologists.

Brammer was instrumental in establishing the requirement of research experience for biology majors. After chairing the department from 1985 to 1994, she assumed the equally challenging position of chair of the Premedical Sciences Advisory Committee until her retirement in 1996. She represented the department on the Building Committee for the Center for Natural Sciences; other College service included membership on the Humanities and Sciences Curriculum Committee, Faculty Council, and Provost Search Committee.

A founding member of the biology department, Schmieder served the College with distinction for 34 years. Her career at Ithaca spanned both time and place: When she joined as an instructor in 1959, biology was taught in the old hospital building on Quarry Street, and when she retired as an associate professor in 1993, it was taught in the new Center for Natural Sciences.

Included among the many courses Schmieder taught were microbiology, human reproduction and development, and vertebrate histology. From its inception in 1966 until her retirement, she chaired the Premedical Sciences Advisory Committee. She also served as coordinator of the planned studies program from 1984 to 1993, and in 1987–88 she was assistant dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences. Her contributions to biology at Ithaca College were recognized through gifts from former students to name the Lucille Schmieder Premedical Sciences Room in her honor.

Saltzgaber spent 30 years at Ithaca College, beginning as an instructor in the history department in 1965. Educated as a geographer and specialist in Russian economic history, he later transformed himself into an expert on American history. His successful application for a $200,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities — to uncover, preserve, catalog, and make available to scholars material on social welfare in the "burned-over district" of upstate New York during the pre–Civil War period — remains the largest outside grant received by anyone in the history department. The book he wrote as a result of that grant, Revivalism, Social Conscience, and Community in the Burned-Over District, was widely reviewed as seminal scholarship.

Serving for nearly 10 years as chair of the history department, Saltzgaber oversaw a major revision of the social studies curriculum. His service to the school included memberships on the Teacher Education, Curriculum, and Foreign Study Committees. As director of the Study Center on the Early Religious Life of Central New York State, he supervised the collecting of thousands of historical records and documents, now housed as the "Ithaca College Collection" in Cornell’s Olin Library.

TENURE

Lee Byron was granted tenure.

Byron came to Ithaca College in 1998 as an associate professor and chair of the Department of Theatre Arts. As director of theater, he is responsible for the artistic, fiscal, and promotional aspects of all Ithaca College Theatre productions. An informal adviser for the Kitchen and Hangar Theatres in Ithaca, he has given presentations at the American College Theater Festival, National Symposium on Musical Theatre Training, and Screen Actors Guild. He has served on the College’s Experiential Performance-Based and Learning Task Force and as a faculty justice. Prior to joining the College he held positions with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Film Institute, Los Angeles Theatre Center, and Pennsylvania Centre Stage, among others.

TENURE AND PROMOTION

Stephen Peterson was granted tenure and promoted to professor. Mary Bentley, Jeffrey Ives, Barbara Cottle Johnson, Michael McKenna, Thomas Swensen, and Janet Wigglesworth were granted tenure and promoted to associate professor.

Peterson joined the School of Music in 1998 as an associate professor and director of bands. Included among his many appearances as guest conductor or clinician are turns with the United States Army Band in Washington, D.C., Bands of America Summer Camp in Illinois, and Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Wind Ensemble. He has been an adjudicator for the Arizona State University Band Day, Quebec Festival of Bands, and National Concert Band Festival, and he is a reviewer for Instrumentalist.

Bentley, Department of Health Promotion and Human Movement, came to Ithaca College in 1995 as an assistant professor. A member of the All-College Planning and Priorities Committee, she has also served as faculty adviser to the Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education. Among her publications is "The Body of Evidence: Dangerous Intersections between Development and Culture in the Lives of Adolescent Girls" in Growing Up Girls, and she has produced the videos Menace to Society and Healthier Schools: We Put Our Heart into It. Since 1993 she has been on the editorial board of Youth and Society.

Ives, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, joined the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance in 1995 as an assistant professor. Currently chair of the College’s Academic Policies Committee, he has also chaired the Multidisciplinary Research Task Force. He has published in Strength and Conditioning, the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sports, and the Journal for Elder Planning and Care, among other publications, and his presentations include "Exercise and Attention-Deficit Disorder: The Role of Exercise and Psychomotor Practice" and "What the Research Tells Us about Mind-Body Exercise."

Johnson, Department of Anthropology, came to Ithaca College as an assistant professor in 1991, having taught previously at the University of New Hampshire, Keene State College, and India’s Lady Doak College. A board member of B’nai B’rith Hillel, she has served the College on the Diversity Awareness Committee and the Faculty Advisor Committee for Jewish Studies. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies, Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities, and many others. A visiting scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the spring of 1999, she is currently a consultant for Israel’s Cochin Jewish Heritage Center.

McKenna, Department of Philosophy and Religion, has been an assistant professor since 1994. He is currently a member of the C. P. Snow Lecture Series Organizing Committee and has served as director of the Faculty Colloquium Series. His articles have appeared in such publications as the Journal of Ethics, Journal of Philosophical Research, and American Philosophical Quarterly, and his presentations include "Free Will and Moral Responsibility: Three Recent Views," "Moral Theory and Modified Compatibilism," and "The Limits of Evil and the Role of Moral Address: A Defense of Strawsonian Compatibilism." He spent the spring of 2000 as a visiting assistant professor at Bryn Mawr College.

Swensen, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, began teaching at Ithaca College in 1995 as an assistant professor. In 1997–98 he won the Independent College Fund of New York Teaching Excellence Award. His College service has included the Executive Committee of Faculty Council, Premedical Review Committee, and Summer Research Grant Committee. His articles have appeared in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and Sports Medicine, and he has done presentations at the American College of Sports Medicine regional and national meetings.

Wigglesworth, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, was director of the Center for Educational Services at the National Institute for Fitness and Sport before coming to Ithaca College in 1995 as an assistant professor. She has been a reviewer for the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, and her articles have appeared in such publications as the Journal of Gerontology Nursing and the American College of Sports Medicine Health and Fitness Journal. She has served as chair of the All-College Faculty Development Committee and was a member of the Middle States Self-Study Work Group.

PROMOTION

Hugh Egan, Harry McCue, Stephen Mosher, Mark Radice, and Peter Rothbart were promoted to professor; Zenon Wasyliw was promoted to associate professor; and Michael Matheny was promoted to clinical associate professor.

Egan, Department of English, joined the College in 1985 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1990. Since 1995 he has directed the School of Humanities and Sciences Honors Program. He earned a Dana teaching award in 1988, and from 1992 to 1995 he served as department chair. He has served on the Academic Program Development Task Force and Faculty Development Committee. He has several entries in the Encyclopedia of American Literature of the Sea and Great Lakes, and his articles have appeared in Studies in American Renaissance and America and the Sea: A Literary History, among others. He previously taught at Loyola University of Chicago.

McCue, Department of Art, joined Ithaca College as an instructor in 1973. The chair of the department for the past 24 years, he was promoted to assistant professor in 1981 and associate professor in 1987. He has given one-person shows at the Hand-werker Gallery and Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum, and his paintings have won awards at many juried exhibitions, including Galeria Mesa in Arizona, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, and Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn. In addition to being held in many private collections, his artwork can be found on display in museums and corporate settings in Germany, New York, Colorado, and Connecticut. His biography has appeared in Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in American Education.

Mosher, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, came to Ithaca College in 1987 as an associate professor. He served as department chair from 1993 to 1995, during which time he was also named a Dana teaching fellow. He has had articles published in the Sports Business Journal, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, and International Review for the Sociology of Sport, among others. He has given numerous presentations on sport and cultural issues, including "The Beatification of Payne Stewart," "From Sentimentality to Sentiment: Nike, Media, and Social Justice," and "Say It Ain’t So, Pete: (Im)moral Heroes in Contemporary American Sport." He has served on the College’s Academic Policies Committee and Faculty Council, and he is currently on the ANAC Workload Committee.

Radice, Department of Music Theory, History, and Composition, taught at the Eastman School of Music and San Francisco State University before joining the Ithaca College faculty as an associate professor in 1987. From 1989 to 1996 he served as chair of the School of Music’s graduate program, and he was a Dana teaching fellow in 1990–91. The organist and choir director for Grace Episcopal Church in Cortland, he has published in the American Organist, Music Review, and Musical Quarterly. Among his original compositions are The Brightest Star in Heaven, God Is Near, and Sonata for Two Trumpets and Organ. He served on the College’s Middle States Self-Study Work Group and Faculty Council, and has chaired the School of Music’s Curriculum Committee.

Rothbart, Department of Music Theory, History, and Composition, has been director of electro-acoustic music studies since 1993. He joined the School of Music as a lecturer in 1980, and he later earned successive promotions to instructor, assistant professor, and associate professor. He has presented at the International Society of Music Educators World Conference, Film Music Society International Conference, and Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States National Conference and is a contributing editor to Journal SEAMUS. He has performed with ensembles ranging from the Binghamton Philharmonic and Glimmerglass Opera Company to the Joe McConnell Jazz Orchestra and Take 3 jazz trio. He has served on the College’s Academic Policies Committee and as president of the Hillel Foundation for Jewish Student Life.

Wasyliw, Department of History, joined Ithaca College as an instructor in 1989 and was named assistant professor three years later. An affiliate with the Ithaca College Gerontology Institute, he also participates in the Partnership in Teaching program and the Center for Culture, Race, and Ethnicity. He has articles forthcoming in the Encyclopedia of New York State and East/West Education, and he has been published in the East European Quarterly and Towards an Intellectual History of the Ukraine: An Anthology. He has given presentations at numerous conferences, including the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and New York State Society on Aging.

Matheny, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, came to Ithaca College in 1987 as an athletic trainer. He was promoted to head athletic trainer in 1989, and in 1994 he was given the added faculty rank of clinical assistant professor. He has served on the Personnel Committee and Ad Hoc Governance Committee for the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance. His articles have been published in Current Topics in Musculoskeletal Medicine: A Case Study Approach, Athletic Therapy Today, Training and Conditioning, and the Journal of Athletic Training.