East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania has announced the appointments of six women to the rank of full professor.
Sandra Eckard was promoted to full professor of English. She joined the faculty at the university in 2005. Dr. Eckard is the editor of Yin and Yang in the English Classroom: Teaching with Popular Culture Texts (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014). Professor Eckard is a graduate of Frostburg State University in Maryland. She holds a master’s degree from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Shannon Frystak was named a full professor of history and geography. Dr. Frystak’s research focuses on civil rights history, gender studies, and African American history. She is a graduate of Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Professor Frystak holds a master’s degree from the University of New Orleans and a Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire. She joined the faculty at the university in 2007. Professor Frystak is the author of Our Minds on Freedom: Women and the Struggle for Black Equality in Louisiana, 1924-1967 (Louisiana State University Press, 2009).
Chin Hu is a new full professor of sociology, social work and criminal justice. She joined the university’s faculty in 2006. Her research interests focus on immigrant society and global education. Professor Hu is a graduate of the National Taiwan University, where she majored in sociology. She holds master’s degrees in sociology and applied statistics and a Ph.D. in sociology from Syracuse University in New York .
T. Michelle Jones-Wilson was appointed full professor of chemistry. She is the coordinator of programs in biochemistry and chemical biotechnology at East Stroudsburg University. Dr. Jones-Wilson is a graduate of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis.
Elizabeth Leigh Smith was promoted to full professor of English. She teaches upper-level courses in Old and Middle English and Medieval European literature. Professor Smith joined the faculty at ESU in 2002. She is a graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas, and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston.
Beth Rajan Sockman was named a full professor of digital media technologies. She also serves as the coordinator for graduate programs in instructional technology. Professor Sockman joined the ESU faculty in 2006. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in elementary education. Dr. Sockman earned a Ph.D. in instructional systems at Pennsylvania State University.
Congratulations to all of these fabulously talented teacher-scholars. ESU is fortunate to have you all!
From Michelle Jones-Wilson’s impressive accomplishment of being awarded the largest grant in ESU history, the $4.1 million dollar NSF S-STEM Grant to Leigh Smith’s powerful and intellectually enriching poetry to Beth Sockman’s scholarship and leadership in service learning, each of these women epitomize grit, talent, and pedagogical excellence.