Pomona College in California Has Promoted Five Women Faculty Members

Pomona College, the highly rated liberal arts educational institution in Claremont, California, has announced the promotions of nine members of its faculty. Five of these promotions went to women.

Lisa Anne Auerbach has been promoted to professor of art. Her artwork examines the curious, do-it-yourself ways in which humans communicate with each other—through architecture, language, and knitted symbols. She teaches courses on photography and the junior/senior art major seminar, among others. Professor Auerbach is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. She earned a master of fine arts degree from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

Amanda L. Hollis-Brusky has been promoted to professor of politics. She teaches courses in American politics, constitutional law, and legal institutions and is an expert on the Supreme Court. Professor Hollis-Brusky joined the faculty at the college in 2011. Her latest book is Separate but Faithful: The Christian Right’s Radical Struggle to Transform Law and Legal Culture (Oxford Univerirty Press, 2020). Dr. Hollis is a graduate of Boston University, where she majored in philosophy and political science. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

April J. Mayes has been promoted to professor of history. She focuses her research on the Dominican Republic and is an active leader in Dominican studies. She teaches courses in colonial Latin American history, Afro-Latin American history, women’s and gender studies, and Africana studies. Dr. Mayes is a graduate of Pomona College and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Carolyn Ratteray has been promoted to associate professor of theatre and dance. She is also the chair of the theatre department. An Emmy-nominated actor and director, Ratteray has appeared on stage, in film, and on television. Ratteray is a graduate of New York University. She earned a master of fine arts degree at the University of San Diego.

Kyla Wazana Tompkins has been promoted to professor of English and gender and women’s studies. As a scholar of 19th-century U.S. literature with an interest in the relationship between food and culture, she writes about the connections between literature and a wide range of topics: food, eating, sexuality, race, culture, film, and dance. She is the author of Racial Indigestion: Eating Bodies in the Nineteenth Century (New York University Press, 2012). Dr. Tompkins is a graduate of York University in Toronto. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.