Bates College Promotes Eight Women Faculty Members

Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, has announced the promotion of six faculty members to the rank of associate professor. All six were granted tenure. Four of these six promotions went to women.

In addition, the college promoted four faculty members to the rank of full professor. All four of these promotions went to women.

Following are brief biographies of the eight women faculty promoted at Bates College.

Senem Aslan was appointed associate professor of politics and granted tenure. She has taught at Bates since 2010. A graduate of Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, Dr. Senem earned a Ph.D. in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of Nation-Building in Turkey and Morocco: Governing Kurdish and Berber Dissent (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Cynthia Baker was promoted to full professor of religious studies. She is chair of the religious studies department at the college. Professor Baker joined the faculty at Bates in 2008. She is the author of Rebuilding the House of Israel: Architectures of Gender in Jewish Antiquity (Stanford University Press, 2002). Dr. Baker is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She earned a master’s degree at Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. at Duke University.

Rachel Boggia was named associate professor of dance and granted tenure. She has been a member of the Bates College faculty since 2010. Boggia is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where she majored in neurobiology. She holds a master of fine arts degree in choreography and technology from Ohio State University.

Holly Ewing was appointed a full professor of environmental studies. Her research is focused on ecosystem development and linkages among atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic ecosystems. Professor Ewing joined the Bates faculty in 2004. She is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota.

Sylvia Federico was named a full professor of English. She is an expert on late-medieval English, French, and Latin literature. Professor Federico joined the faculty at Bates in 2005. She is the author of New Troy: Fantasies of Empire in the Late Middle Ages (University of Minnesota Press, 2003).

Nancy Koven was is a new full professor of psychology. Her research concerns brain function as it relates to mental health and mental illness. A member of the Bates College faculty since 2005, Professor Koven is a graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois.

Eden K. Osucha was promoted to associate professor of English and granted tenure. A member of the Bates faculty since 2007, her studies focus on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature. Dr. Osucha is a graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree in English from the University of California, Davis and a Ph.D. in English from Duke University.

Clarisa Perez-Armendariz was appointed associate professor of politics. She came to Bates in 2010. Dr. Perez-Armendariz’s research is concentrated on the influence of international migrants on the politics and economics of their countries of origin. A graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, California, Dr. Perez-Armendariz holds a master’s degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas.