Meet the new faculty of fall 2021
Meet the college’s newest faculty, whose scholarly expertise and interests—from transnational geographies to transgender studies, culturally relevant music to immigration law, and mind and body awareness to fluids in the Earth’s crust—enrich and expand the arts and sciences at WSU.
Michelle Lee Brown
Assistant Professor
Digital Technology and Culture Program (WSU Tri-Cities)
michelle.l.brown@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Indigenous political praxis and decolonial futures through digital science fiction
Previous post: Dartmouth College, Department of Native American and Indigenous Studies
Education and training: PhD, Indigenous politics and futures studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; MA, Indigenous politics, MA, French, UH Mānoa; BA French, California State University Chico
Honors and achievements: Indigenous Protocol and Artificial intelligence Working Group member; Comp X grant recipient, Neukom Institute; Eastman Fellow, Dartmouth College
Outside of work, I enjoy running, being with and learning from nonhuman kin (dogs, cats, birds, plants, water), reading, making, and writing speculative fiction projects, scones, swimming, SUP, VR and video games.
Georgina “Georgie” Cox
Assistant Professor, Career Track
School of Biological Sciences (WSU Vancouver)
georgina.cox@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Cardiovascular responses to physiological and abiotic stress; metabolic, functional, biochemical, and morphological phenotypes that affect species sensitivity or persistence in the face of anoxia, temperature variation, pollution, and disease; teaching biochemistry and anatomy for understanding function, physiology, and human health
Previous post: University of Pennsylvania
Education and training: PhD, MSc, zoology, University of British Columbia; BSc, biology, University of New Brunswick
Honors and achievements: Co-author, invited review, “Surviving Anoxia: The Maintenance of Energy Production and Tissue Integrity During Anoxia and Reoxygenation, Journal of Experimental Biology, 2020
Outside of work, I enjoy hiking, swimming, and sailing with my family, and lying in the sun with my pet turtle of 30 years.
Avery Dame-Griff
Assistant Professor, Career Track
Digital Technology and Culture Program
avery.dame-griff@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Digital humanities, web history, media archeology, new media, LGBT studies, transgender studies
Previous post: Appalachian State University
Education and training: PhD, women’s studies, University of Maryland; MA, American studies, University of Kansas; BA, English, University of Alabama
Honors and achievements: Author, The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet, (under contract with New York University Press); digital humanities Fellow, Digital Humanities Initiative, Gonzaga University, 2020
Outside of work, I enjoy our five cats, two of which have cerebellar hypoplasia; collecting old technology; and making unusual cocktails.
Johannes Hämmerli
Assistant Professor
School of the Environment
johannes.haemmerli@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Development and application of microanalytical approaches to study fluids in the Earth’s crust and understand their role in the evolution and differentiation of the continental crust; linking small-scale geochemical signatures to large-scale geological processes
Previous post: University of Bern, Switzerland
Education and training: Ambizione Fellowship, Swiss National Science Foundation, University of Bern; postdoctoral research, University of Western Australia; PhD, James Cook University, Australia
Honors and achievements: 2018 Paul Niggle Medal, Swiss Geological Society; 2015 Dean’s Award for Excellence, James Cook University
Outside of work, I enjoy traveling, sports, and being in nature.
Joseph Kremer
Assistant Professor, Career Track
Department of Sociology
jkremer@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Environmental sociology; environmental crime; environmental inequality and justice; environmental sentencing; sociological criminology; white-collar crime
Previous post: Luther College
Education and training: PhD, MA, sociology, Washington State University; BA, sociology, psychology, Western State College of Colorado
Honors and achievements: Self-published novelist
Outside of work, I enjoy family time, yoga, supernatural horror or sci-fi novels, jigsaw puzzles, Marvel, and baking.
Alan Malfavon
Assistant Professor
Department of History
alan.malfavon@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Afro-Mexico, Latin American history, African diaspora, greater Caribbean, Veracruz history, Mexican history, Atlantic world race and ethnicity
Previous post: University of California, Riverside
Education and training: PhD, MA, history, University of California, Riverside; BA, history and Spanish language and culture, California State University, Northridge
Honors and achievements: 2021 Lindon Barrett Award in Black Studies, University of California, Riverside; Center for Ideas and Society Global 19th– Century Fellow, UC Riverside; 2020-2021 Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program Dissertation Fellowship Award, California State University
Outside of work, I enjoy performing son jarocho and other traditional folk Mexican and Latin American music; swimming; hiking; reading; traveling; and watching baseball and soccer as well as science fiction and fantasy movies.
Hillary Mellinger
Assistant Professor
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
hillary.mellinger@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Asylum policy; criminalization of migration; immigration legal profession; interpretation challenges within the criminal justice system and immigration system; research methods; multicultural issues in criminal justice
Previous post: George Washington University
Education and training: PhD, justice, law, and criminology, American University; MA, political science, George Mason University; BA, international relations and modern languages, Beloit College
Honors and achievements: Recipient, Doctoral Student Research Scholarship, American University; Fellow, Academy of Criminal Justice Science (ACJS) Doctoral Summit; coauthor, “Perceptions of Justice among Guatemalan-Mayans and Latinos of South Florida: A Call for Further Study of Procedural Justice in Minority Communities” in Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict & World Order
Outside of work, I enjoy exercise (ballet and HIIT classes); walking with my husband and our puppy, “Razzie”; playing boardgames, especially Settlers of Catan; reading for fun (especially dystopian and fantasy books); and hanging out with our cat, “Ju Ju.”
Alejandro Ramirez Mendez
Assistant Professor
School of Languages, Cultures, and Race
a.ramirezmendez@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Understanding how urban narratives and writers in Latin America and the United States portray migratory flows of people and ideas into the city, crisscrossing the political limits of nation-states, creating transnational geographies and cross-border environments
Previous post: University of California, Los Angeles
Education and training: PhD, Hispanic languages and literatures, University of California Los Angeles; MA, literary studies/Literatuurwetenschap, Leiden University; BA, literature and language sciences, Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana
Honors and achievements: Fellowship, University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States and El Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología; faculty mentor, Mellon Fellows Program, Inter-University Program for Latino Research /University of Illinois Chicago; research published in national and international journals
Outside of work, I enjoy reading—it’s my job and my passion—creative writing, hiking, traveling, watching tv shows and films, and eating good food.
Matthew Myers
Assistant Professor
School of Music
matthew.myers1@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Choral performance, choral methods, choral conducting, choral literature, programming works of underrepresented composers, assessment in music education
Previous post: University of Alabama
Education and training: DMA, choral conducting, Louisiana State University; MM, choral conducting, Northern Arizona University; BA, vocal performance and music education, Luther College
Honors and achievements: Conducted the Fauré Requiem with University of Alabama choirs; authored “Standards-Based Assessment for Performance Ensembles: A Framework to Document Student Learning” in Arts Education Policy Review; university-wide Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, Northern Arizona University
Outside of work, I enjoy hiking, running, reading, and working with community and church choirs.
Arifa Raza-Bayona
Assistant Professor
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
arifa.raza-bayona@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Immigration/Crimmigration: criminalization and racialization of immigrants through immigration laws; human trafficking; humanitarian relief for victims of human trafficking and immigrant children; comparative race/ethnic studies; human rights; prison studies
Previous post: New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
Education and training: PhD, ethnic studies, University of California at Riverside; JD, University of California Los Angeles; MS, justice studies, Arizona State University; BA, political science and Chicana/o Studies, UCLA
Honors and achievements: Served as a non-profit immigration attorney and practiced law before the Los Angeles and El Paso immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family; nature walks with my four-year-old daughter; health and wellness; and spinning.
Christiano Rodrigues
Assistant Professor
School of Music
c.rodrigues1@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Violin and viola performance and pedagogy; lutherie and archetier; baroque and classical styles; new music; music by female and BIPOC composers; mind and body awareness; cognitive psychology related to performance and music learning
Previous post: Arizona State University
Education and training: DMA, Arizona State University; MM, Rice University; BA, Nicholls State University
Honors and achievements: Arizona State University Outstanding Graduate Student Award (2019); winner, Arizona State University Concerto Competition (2016); prize winner, MTNA National Competition for String Instruments (2009)
Outside of work, I enjoy family, formula 1, traveling, cooking, arts, and animals.
Seth Rudman
Assistant Professor
School of Biological Sciences (WSU Vancouver)
seth.rudman@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: factors that influence the trajectory of populations and ecological communities; using genomics to investigate how rapid evolution shapes ecological dynamics and the persistence of populations; host-microbiome interactions; discussion-based teaching of evolution and genetics
Previous post: University of Pennsylvania
Education and training: PhD, zoology, University of British Columbia; BSc, ecology and evolutionary biology, University of Rochester
Honors and achievements: First author, “Microbiome Community Composition Drives Population Dynamics and Host Adaptation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019; Banting Postdoctoral Fellow; co-author, “Shifts in Gut Microbiome Composition and Function During Local Adaptation and Ecological Speciation,” Proceedings of the Royal Society-B, 2019
Outside of work, I enjoy skiing, hiking, breeding new caledonian geckos, and spending time with my young kids.
Darryl “Doc D” Singleton
Assistant Professor
School of Music
darryl.singleton@wsu.edu
Teaching and research interests: Culturally relevant instrumental music education; study of music from a critical perspective; teacher preparation; applied percussion; jazz
Previous post: Texas Southern University
Education and training: DMA/ME, Boston University; MM, percussion performance, Florida State University; BME, Howard University
Honors and achievements: President, Texas Black Music Educators; interim director of bands, Ocean of Soul Marching Band
Outside of work, I enjoy being with family; the “work” of making music; martial arts-based fitness; and bicycling—”Steam Plant Hill” in Pullman caused me to say to myself, “Pull, man!”